Uganda Freak Out When I Tell You This!!! (The Best Christmas Ever!)

Wow, what a week!  It all started out last Monday morning when I woke up and just had that terrible feeling in the back of my throat.  It came out of the blue so it was a disappointment for sure.  So Monday night and Tuesday night I rested a tad bit but the rest of the week was a go.  The throat only hurt the first couple of days.  By Christmas Eve I thought I was coming out of it but to my dismay on Christmas morning, my voice was half gone.  At least I felt better!  Christmas Eve was a split with good 'ole Elder Sato.   He has interviews with the mission president that day and had some trainings by him too.  After that we went back to the apartment and Elder Sato got a couple of hours of rest because he had a killer cold that he hadn't got rest from in like light years.  He used to serve here in Fukutoku before me so after his little time of shut eye we went to the church and had two lessons with two people that we weren't quite sure about their interest level but with Elder Sato help they turned into solid investigators.  Pretty solid day.  That night the assistants stayed over at our apartment as well because they came to our area for interviews.  We bought these cheap stakes kind of things that were super good and we rushed to cook them and eat them in time.  I will send pictures later.

Then Christmas came!  I woke up that morning a lot like those in Whoville after the Grinch stole all their presents.  The package from the family had not arrived in time on that Christmas morning.  Usually I'd be distraught but really it is an interesting feel.  I didn't stand up, hold everyone's hands, and sing Kum-Ba-Ya Christmas Hymns with everybody nor did a ugly, Green monster deliver the package to me but I did really understand more fully the Christmas Spirit.  This Christmas as I sat at my desk just pondering, as cheesy as it sounds, without the gifts and family traditions I was really faced with the question of "What makes Christmas special?"  The only answer there was was to realize that it was Christ who loved us enough to come into this world of sin to save us all.  I will always remember this as a special Christmas where I for the first time truly did just celebrate Christ's life and birth for us.  I will always hold that moment near to my heart...

Yesterday was a whirlwind ride.  We had an appointment cancel right after church so we had some free time which had us running around doing random things.  Then the sisters last week had visited a less active who lives in our area but goes to a different ward and the less active's son is a non-member and we were invited over to meet him and a couple other people.  So, not knowing exactly where it is we head over in the general direction.  Turns out we came right up against the border of another area in a city called Kasugai and were a bit lost.  We stop at a Circle K and try to find the address.  While there, we get a call from a member who was coming to teach with us tonight telling us he couldn't make it.  Usually that would be okay but we then couldn't go to the Christmas Party with the lesson active because we would be the only adult aged man there which isn't allowed for us missionaries.  Then, we are about to go and I find my back tire is flat and a scrap piece of metal had completely deflated my tire.  I am not a fan of Kasugai...  The sisters weren't picking up either so we begin our trek to a nearby train station on foot in the cold winter night.  It looked like our night would be filled with trying to find our apartment and salvage the night by talking to people on the street.  Alas, a super good lesson had fallen through and a less effective back-up would be launched into effect... or not...

The sisters called us in our downtrodden, poor, wayfaring state of grief and told us they had miraculously found a man to come with us to the party!  A man from Uganda named Baker had been sitting outside in his wheelchair and stopped the sisters and talked to them!  So, they asked him if they could go to the party with and found out he lived inside of the same apartment building as the less active!  So, we go to the train station (which is next to the apartment with the party), go inside, and the sisters take us to Baker's apartment.  Only us elders enter inside because there are only men inside as the sisters wait outside.  Baker is there with his other Ugandan friend Moses and he invites the sisters in.  We all tell him they can't and he takes us as racists, sexist Americans who just suppress females but after we explain the whole rule thing as missionaries he understands and lets it slide.  Next thing we know we are on the floor above them in a crowded apartment eating sushi with a Filipino family and our two new friends from Uganda who are WAY good at Japanese, like, literally fluent!  Moses is way cool and kind of quiet and had a lot of good questions when we were talking about the gospel while Baker was one of those guys who would take 10 minutes to prove his point and would go on tangents and try to teach you how to not offend foreigners living in Japan so we didn't get as far into the gospel as we would have like to.  I don't know what to do with people that already believe in God.  I might actually have to go in depth into the Apostasy!  Weird...

Anyways, I hope that everyone had a amazing wonderful Christmas and that everyone enjoys the college bowl season for me!  I love you all and I wish you a Merry, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Elder Hall
ホール長老

Ponderizing Scripture:

"Come unto me... I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief."

- Ether 4:13

Chilling with my homeboy Shinji

Skyping with the FAM  BAM

S

Hey, Santa! Are You Coming to Nagoya Are You Coming to See Me?

This whole week has felt like a one week long kokan.  After Elder
Moulton left, I went and stayed the day in a nearby area and had a
wonderful dinner with some members.  It was pretty funny because I
just show up and they had to bring in an extra chair because the
members weren't expecting me at all but it turned out okay.  That
night was pretty fun and then I went and picked up Elder Callahan!
We've been having a lot of fun and been settling into the area.  We
didn't have very many set appointments this week but we have been
visiting around talking to everybody on the street.

Highlights of the week were:
1. Went to a member's middle school (and younger) English Class's
Christmas Party.  I told about Christmas traditions in English and
Elder Callahan translated.  It was pretty fun to talk to the kids
afterwards as we ate sushi and other stuff.  Just being dorks with our
English.  The members really appreciated it and it was pretty fun.
2. Mission Leadership Council.  We went to the mission home and talked
with other people around the mission about some stuff.  We basically
just made a HUGE list of specific ideas on how we can help the mission
improve and reach our goals.  Everything from giving investigator's
parents who happen to be against the church a pineapple to soften
their hearts to not just teaching people lessons but actually helping
them progress.  I learned a lot and got to see some good mission
friends.
3.Ward Christmas Party!  It was pretty legit.  At the beginning before
we ate each table was taken into a room downstairs and we had to dress
up as characters of the nativity and take a picture representing a
different part in the Christmas story.  Then, later in the evening,
they told the Christmas story as they put the pictures up on the
screen.  We only men in our group so I volunteered to be Mary.  I wish
I had the picture but I will ask around.  Then we ate a bunch of
unhealthy cake and food and chatted up some people.  A couple of
members had brought friends and we had about five investigators there
so it was super cool!  Also, Santa called us during the middle of the
Christmas Party and said that he couldn't make it that night because
of a malfunction with the factories in the North Pole so he asked me
if I would fill in for him since I was the one that looked the closest
to him.  I happily accepted and even though the kids were sad that the
real Santa couldn't show up, they were still happy to get candy.

As far as Christmas goes, well, for New Years we have a lot of
appointments!  The Japanese like to celebrate stuff at New Years so
most people are still working.  Most kids don't have school then
though so it is good.  We are doing an exchange on Christmas Eve with
the assistants after we have interviews with the mission president so
that should be good!

Recently I have been reading through 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon and
it is really cool to read about the Savior's visit to the Nephites
during Christmas season.  Today I read about how Christ had everyone
pray and there is like almost a whole chapter were they were all just
praying.  First to God, then once to Christ, and then Christ prayed a
couple times.  They partook of the sacrament and basically prayed for
a long time.  I love when Christ says, "ye must watch and pray always
lest ye enter into temptation."  I have been thinking a bit recently
about how to truly just stay active in the church and how to help
people re-inactive or just start living the gospel principles by
receiving baptism.  I think it really comes down to the three basics
of praying, reading the scriptures, and coming to church.  Prayer is
something we can always have in our heart and it is something that is
a constant action, 24/7.  Prayer is like air as we breath it all the
time and it keeps us alive spiritually.  Without prayer we don't have
that essential connection with God.  Scripture study is a daily thing
and act as food that gives us the spiritual nutrients that helps us
keep going.  We really can feast upon the word and fill spiritually
full afterwards!  Then comes church once a week which is almost like a
weekly vitamin that helps us become strong and gives us the things
that we don't quite get in our daily diet.  I have seen many people
who claim to do only two things, like prayer and reading scriptures
but because of time or not liking the members, they don't come on
Sunday.  They might claim they are alright but if we don't have all
those three things, eventually our spiritual vitals signs will begin
to fail.

Last General Conference, Elder Anderson taught us: "How we live our
lives increases or diminishes our faith. Prayer, obedience, honesty,
purity of thought and deed, and unselfishness increase faith. Without
these, faith diminishes."  We need to daily take action to give our
bodies our daily nutrients that are essential for living, if we just
sit back and relax on our spiritual journey, we will begin to decrease
along with our faith.  If you don't eat, you aren't really harming
your body in anyway.  Heck we fast sometimes right?  Why can't I just
stay where I am with my body right now and never eat again?  Our body
would start to malfunction and eventually stop working.  Let's not let
our testimonies starve to death this Christmas season.  It is a great
wonderful time to re-evaluate our spiritual course in our lives as we
think deeply about Christ and what he has done for us.  Just pray,
study and live the scriptures and go to church and you are well on
your way to eternal life.  I pray that everyone has an AMAZING
Christmas and that you go hard on that Christmas meal for me.  Love
you all and have a great week!

Elder Hall
ホール長老

Ponderizing Scripture:
"For with God nothing shall be impossible."
- Luke 1:37

MLC with the doki

Elders Moulton and Hall Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!!

Santa's Big Helper

To Kill A Moulton Kai and The Font Awakens

Wow, what an emotional week.  Killing an elder always drains me and it sucks.  It is so cool to see an elder finish off his mission strong after two years of hard work but then again it is also depressing to see them go and realize that missionary death is an actual thing that happens.  I've got four transfers left which feels like forever but really it is quite short.  Hopefully Elder Moulton (I guess Kai Moulton from now on) will email me.  I just got reminded though of how I want my mission to end.  It is so worth it to work hard until the last minute because when it ends you can look back and see just how far you truly have come and how much you have been able to serve the Lord.  When my stake president set me apart to start me on this journey, he told me to work so that I can get on that plane coming home with no regrets.  I don't think that means mistakes because we all make them.  I don't think it means sometimes being an idiot.  What my companion told me was that you only have regrets when you make mistakes and don't learn from them.  Just never give up, keep improving and work hard.  Once a missionary gives up, then failure has settled in.  His example motivates me to work harder and although it might seem far away, to dedicate myself so on that ride to the mission home or the plane ride to America, I can feel peace, knowing that I did the work the Lord would have me do.  Next transfer I am getting Elder Callahan my kohai from the MTC.  He is super fun and hard-working (and I'm not just saying that because he is on my e-mail list or anything...) and we had a couple exchanges in the past when I was like transfer 6 so it should be fun next transfer!  I'm excited!

This past week was a lot of good-byes which has always been hard for me to handle.  President Utchdorf once said in a talk somewhere that we as Celestial Beings made out of eternal matter don't like endings because we weren't made for them, that God created us to enjoy life forever!  I think that is part of the reason I hate saying good-bye, even though I am still staying here.  The highlight, of course, was on Saturday night when we had dinner with the Bishop's family and Makino San, the eternal investigator who has been the Primary Pianist for a few years.  It was then, late Saturday night, that he decided to get baptized the following day!  It was crazy!  We were just over at the Bishop's house for a couple of hours getting the program all set for who should do what and everything.  Everyone was surprised the next day in sacrament meeting when they announced he was getting baptized.  Finally!

So, on Elder Moulton's final day in the mission field, he got the opportunity to baptize Makino San.  It was a beautiful experience.  It was very surreal.  I always believed I could see a baptize but it was actually happening.  It was cool too.  I have really grown to love this guy and am super excited he is baptized and a member now!  It is just like this over-whelming joy.  Like it actually happens!  People are baptized here in Japan!  It is crazy!  It actually happened!  Too many exclamation marks but really it feels amazing!  To be honest, the mission life can be hard, heck, who am I kidding, it's tough.  Sometimes it is easy to get discouraged.  It is easy to think what you are doing isn't going anywhere.  It is easy to think your best won't amount to anything.  It is easy to see others go home and wish you were on that flight instead of them.  It's not a 24/7 challenge but it gets hard a lot of the times.  It is hard to see the whole purpose of it all.  You know it in the back of your mind but sometimes when you are faced with the small choice of working hard or taking a little break it isn't that evident.  One good thing though I learned from yesterday is that it truly is all worth it.  As cliche as it is, you hardly ever see the results of your labors.  It really does take faith to give it your all especially when we don't see the outcome but it is all worth it in the end.  It is all worth it though.

I know that this church is true.  I have seen it change me into a better person and I know it will one day change me into the person and missionary I want to become.  I know that Christ lives and that he loves us each individually no matter our circumstances or who we are or even what our choices are.  I know he is always watching over us and each day gives us the strength to keep going and pushes us closer, although we might not recognize it, to God and true joy.  I know that baptism is the gate we must enter to go on the pathway to eternal happiness and that through keeping those covenants throughout our lives we can truly find joy and help others receive that same feeling of peace.  I know I am supposed to be here in Japan although I  don't know why for sure.  I know that the Lord will support me as I do my best the rest of my mission and give it all I got and that he will support me as he has in the hard times.  Until that end comes, God be with you all!  I love you all and thank you for all of your support, prayers, and faith.  I couldn't be out here without you all!  I love you all and have a great week!

Ponderizing Scripture

And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. 

Alma 32:21

Elder Hall, Makino San, Elder Moulton

To Kill a Moulton kai

My Week 'N My Late General Conference Notebook #Ponderization

This past week in a paragraph: I went on a split with my good old friend Elder Laumatia on Tuesday whom I roomed with back in the MTC.  It was really fun and we talked to a lot of people on the street that night.  We ran into one guy who was fluent in Japanese but wasn't Japanese so he had us guess where he was from.  Korea?  It is Asia right? Laos? Sri Lanka?  It turned out he was from Mongolia which definitely was a first in my life.  He seemed interested and he gave us his meshi for his wife's business of making French Pastries.  We tried it out the next day and it was quite delicious.  The next day I went on a kocan with Elder Nakatsuka (yes Japanese) and we had a lot of fun talking to people on the street OYMing.  No new investigators but we almost had a guy meet us again.  We testified about God's help and I talked about when I first came to Japan how it was hard but God helped me learn a little bit of the language so I could speak with people.  Other than that last night we finally met with a Brazilian less-active we had been trying to meet with for awhile and set up an appointment to come back later and teach her and her non-member boyfriend about temples.  That should be fun!  The Brazilian candy was a nice treat as well.  I think I am addicted to Pacoquita now!

Well, another part of my week was consumed with GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!  AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!  Sorry, with this excitement you might have thought Christmas came early in Japan or I was just going back to my half-Canadian roots to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving but as a missionary General Conference is basically our March Madness.  One and a half days of just pure spiritual revelation!  So cool!  It was definitely an exciting conference even though it was bittersweet a little bit.  It was hard to say good-bye to the deceased Elder Packer, Elder Perry, and Elder Scott who I had grown up listening to in conference for the past twenty years.  I really loved Elder Bednar's talk about the last testimonies of those who he had served with in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and to see their witness of the Savior.  It was a fitting good-bye to those humble servants of the Lord who had been in His cause serving us for a large portion of their lives.

Recently as a missionary, I have been given the opportunity to get to know or meet a few of the brethren speaking this year.  My former mission president President Yamashita gave a closing prayer and I had previously met Elder Aoyagi, Elder Whiting (he said a prayer), had heard from four of the twelve apostles when I was at the MTC and had Elder Ballard and two of the newly called apostles, Elder Rasband and Elder Stevenson, come to our mission back in February and had the opportunity to shake their hands.  With this rare opportunity as a missionary to see so many great men, my testimony has been really deepened in the leading brethren of the church.  A great theme this conference was that God calls the weak and magnifies them.  I have learned of the truthfulness of that statement.  Those General Authorities I have met have seemed like normal men besides the fact of the Spirit emanating from them as they speak with power and insight from God.  I remember a time in the dark, cold winter of Takayama when President Yamashita visited our four man District Training Meeting.  I will forever treasure that experience to be with a member of the Seventy and his wife with only four of us elders.  I have a personal testimony that our leaders are truly here to serve us and the Lord and their humility is a witness of their dedication and service to the Lord.  Most of my testimony in the leading brethren of the church have been following their counsel long after the closing prayer of General Conference or after having seen them.  I bear my testimony that God's servants will never lead us astray and that God stills directs his church today through the strong and the weak.  I understand the feeling of being inadequate to a calling given to you as a missionary and I have seen in my service how the Lord leads and directs those weak ones he calls.

One talk specifically that struck me this week was by Devin G. Durant.  'Ponderize' is making a strong run to make it into to Webster's Dictionary next year.  My goal is that we will use it so much that it becomes official by the next time he gives a talk in General Conference.  How amazing it will be once we all take one scripture a week to memorize and to ponder about throughout the week.  How many of us will be scriptorians in no time!  How many blessings there will be once we pick a scripture once a week to ponderize!  We will all be bouncing up and down with joy when it becomes our turn to share a spiritual thought in our weekly meetings.  All seminary students will have scripture mastery finished in 25 weeks.  Our non-member friends will be able to see our weekly scripture as we post it on Facebook, tweet about it on Twitter, or make a board of Pinterest just for Ponderization.  No missionary will have to think twice about which scripture to share when they visit a member.  All families will have an opportunity to grow together in their family scripture studies.  The possibilities are endless!  From now on, each week, I will post my own ponderized scripture at the bottom of my e-mail in order to catch the fever.  So pick a scripture today as a family or with your friends or as a seminary class.  Or, you can just use the one I send out too!  

I'd like to give everyone else a challenge as well.  Ponderize General Conference and the words of the living prophets! Take one each week and Sunday (to keep it holy) study and ponder it and apply it throughout the week.  I will be sharing my thoughts on a General Conference talk each week in my e-mails for awhile so if you have a hard time deciding which one to study I got your back.  So everybody log out of your e-mail and get to ponderizing!  I know that as you do so you will be able to accomplish all the goals you set during conference weekend and be able to follow all of the Spirit's suggestions to improve you have received!  

I love you all and have a great week!

"Is any thing too hard for the Lord?' -Genesis 18:14

Pictures from the week

1) McDonald's swag with my homeboy Elder LAUMATIA!!!

2) Welcome to Nagoya

Lucky Charms and Arabian Knights

This week I got more adjusted to my new life in Fukutoku.  We
had a lot of random things pop up that took away some dendo time (like
prepping for Zone Training Meeting) but we still had a lot happen.
Tuesday was a split with the Assistants.  Elder Tanner (who actually
is from Las Vegas and went to Centennial High School) kocaned with my
companion and I went with Elder Sato.  It was pretty fun.  He had been
here in the area before so he took us out and visited a few people he
hadn't said goodbye to and tried to get things going with them.  We
actually randomly on the street met an investigator that was wanting a
meshi (a business card with your name and address on it) from him.
Because of that we have been able to start lessons again with her so
it was a cool little miracle.

On the other side of the kocan, Elder Tanner and Elder Moulton were
teaching our French investigator when his friend from Iran randomly
came over.  He could only understand a little bit of the lesson in
English but he was SUPER interested.  So, they made an appointment
with him two days later.  So we went and met him and he is SUPER
SICK!  When we met him I thought he looked more European because his
skin was a little lighter but I guess Iranians come in a different
array of colors too.  We had to speak really simple Japanese with him
since his Japanese is better than his English but it was super cool!
He had been away from his family for eight years; I thought two
was bad.  His real name is hard to pronounce (or even remember) so
everyone calls him Jack.  He likes super hard-core Persian poetry from
the 12th century (which if anyone looks up anything about the Persian
language, it is supposed to be super in depth and super hard to
understand) and loves reading!  So, we taught him lesson 1 centered
around the Book of Mormon and he asked us if he could read it all.  OF
COURSE YOU CAN!  He even said he would be baptized if he came to know
that it was all true!  And did I forget to mention he is super buff
with flowing long brown hair?  He would totally pass of as a Knight
any day of the week!

On Friday we taught at ZTM.  We had prepared a lot for it the last two
weeks and have been praying about it a lot.  It went really well and
it was cool to see us be lead by the Spirit.  We had a whole plan laid
out with the two Sister Training Leaders in the zone but we followed
it a lot less than we thought we would.  Randomly in the meeting,
scriptures or quotes popped into our minds we shared and members of
the zone shared some really good insights.  A couple things we had
planned at the beginning were skipped at the beginning and then shared
at the end instead, without any of us planning it with the other
people!  We talked a lot about being ourselves as we dendo and we had
all the missionaries write their name on the top of a piece of paper
and pass it around to everyone in the zone so they could write on of
their talents on it.  So at the end, everyone had a piece of paper
with compliments from everyone in the zone!  It was so cool!  Not to
mention the Sister Training Leaders dressed up Harry Potter style to
give a training about how missionaries are all wizards.  Wand equals
faith but we still have to find out how to use the wand/our faith in
order to use it.  Cool huh?

The rest of the week we tried to practice what we preached and be
ourselves and make friends when we OYMed and talked to people on the
street.  It worked out really well and we have had a couple of really
good talks with people, even if some of them were drunk coming back
from a wedding or not interested in the end.  Also, we visited a few
members' homes this past week and one family didn't have any rice to
feed us so they instead gave us Lucky Charms.  Let's just say I have a
new favorite family in the ward, even if they technically live outside
of the area and our zone and we had to get permission from the
assistants to even visit them.

The spiritual thought for the week is about prayer.  I have had two
different experiences with it this week in regards to teaching.
Before ZTM, I was able to take a couple minutes to pray to God to help
guide us as we taught since I was kind of a little nervous about
addressing the whole zone.  God answered my prayer in a very evident
way and it was rather a miracle in how we were lead by the Spirit to
change some things around on the spot.  The next experience I had was 
Sunday when I was teaching the Gospel Principles Class in Japanese all
by myself.  I was able to pray before this lesson began too in order
to ask to be lead by the Spirit.  I started out and the results were
quite different compared to ZTM.  I was slow to speak, made a lot of
mistakes, and it was hard for people to follow along with me in the
book.  It was luckily on prayer so it was something I always teach but
the group setting was still a bit rough with not many of my questions
being answered.  I shared a video at the end and bore my simple
testimony about prayer.  After the closing prayer, people thanked me
for teaching like they always do even though I did a sub-par job.  I
felt good after the lesson though and felt like the recent converts
there were touched by the Spirit.  I didn't flow perfect Japanese or
even keep the class's attention for the whole time, but, nevertheless
my prayer was answered and my teaching and preparation helped them in
some way or another.  I know that God answers every one of our prayers
and is always listening.  Sometimes the answer might come in an
unexpected way, in what seems like a delayed time but it comes.  The
prayers that all of you say on us missionaries' behalf are answered
everyday and the Lord protects me and others here in Japan and
throughout the world and our investigators all the time.  

I pray that you all have a great week and enjoy the cooler Fall weather.  
I love you all!

Elder Hall

1) Me accidentally burning myself with cooking oil...

2) Me with all of the zone

3) My week described in a picture #dokireunion


4) Selfie (using infrared because there wasn't enough light at night)
with some kids at a members house

A Whole New World

Well, this week is a bit hard to put in words.  I don't think quite
many people understand what a transfer feels like unless you have
actually gone through one.  Just imagine having less than three days
to pack all of your belongings, say good-bye to everyone you know in
your city, and then you change the person you have been living with
24/7 for three months or so and go to a completely foreign place where
you don't even know how to return to the apartment.  That is basically
what happened this Thursday.  Everyone I knew in Numazu, all the plans
I had, and all the inside jokes had to be tossed aside for my move.
That would be enough but on top of that, I suddenly have more than
twenty missionaries under my belt and have to get used to again living
with someone who leads me around and showing me around.  It has been a
bit of a shock to the system going from trainer to Kohai Zone Leader.
I feel like I'm adjusting a little bit now though and things are
smoothing out, even if I still don't quite know the area.

Luckily for me, there is a lot to know over here in Fukutoku.  Many
investigators, a HUGE ward filled with various people, and a lot of
missionaries in the zone I haven't met yet.  The first order of
business as zone leader was to help keep a companionship safe from a
crazy less active we wanted to shoot them and later to make sure an
elder was safe after some crazy guy accidentally hit him with his car
(shout out to Elder Yamada and Elder Laumatia in Gifu).  As far as the
ward goes, we got free pizza and some pretty good sandwiches and
various other foods my first Sunday there but I don't know if that is
because of me being a new arrival or just because everyone had to eat
something before ward council started.  Also there was a Hall family
that had recently moved away from the Fukutoku Ward a few months
before I got here and all the ward thinks I am related to them because
the Dad is Canadian.  The building here is HUGE and basically is a
normal American stake center without the second best part, the
basketball court (first is the chapel guys...).  The city wasn't close
to being as busy and crowded as I thought it was.  Yeah, I don't
really have to worry about finding people on the street but I do all
the same stuff as I would in my previous banished areas.

We had a meeting with all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training
Leaders in the mission and we all got together and talked about some
things we could do to help the mission.  To start it off we had a
really experienced teacher at the MTC and former Fukuoka Mission
President teach us how to start the conversion process while teaching
Japanese, non-Christian background people.  He told us (as PMG says)
that the conversion process is the same regardless where you are in
the world or regardless of who you are.  The only difference here in
Japan is not that they need to do more to progress and become
converted, but they just start a little bit behind.  A normal American
will at least understand who Christ is and the basics of him dying for
us and preaching the gospel.  In Japan, we often have to teach this
part and establish with them a emotional connection to Christ (a.k.a.
the Spirit).  So we talked about how to introduce the gospel to them
so they could more simply understand what we do.  The church even made
new pamphlets for us missionaries to use that talk about "Who is God?"
"Who is Jesus Christ?" and "What to Expect when meeting the
missionaries?"  I am excited to use them and I think that they will
really help new investigators open up and be in the right mindset to
understand better what we teach and to feel the Spirit.

Along the lines of conversion being the same for everyone, I was also
thinking about the differences between me now and before I
transferred.  I always get into the rut of thinking about quick fixes.
Earlier in my mission I thought, "If I just went senior, then all my
big problems would go away."  Then when I got to that point, I thought
"Maybe if I go zone leader and be the junior again, all my problems
would be a lot better."  Allow me to let you in on a secret folks,
when it comes to ourselves, there is no quick fix, no easy way out.
No move, no position, and no man-made program can truly change us and
help us successfully get over our problems once and for all.  Being
called as Zone Leader didn't all of a sudden elevate my teaching
skills, it didn't all of a sudden make me 110% obedient, it didn't
make me this spiritual giant with thousands of baptisms.  It doesn't
work that way, no matter how much I might have thought it would
earlier.  God is about processes, especially repentance and grace
improving our everyday lives.  Alma the Younger didn't just get zapped
by an angel into a baptizing-machine prophet.  He still had to repent
and suffer for a long period of time before he changed.  He had to do
all he could to mend the broken fences, to call back those he lead
astray.  We too can't move forward unless we choose to.  It takes
work, it takes time, it takes sacrifice.  But just as when we bust our
butt to climb a mountain and get to see, at the top, a beautiful vista
of the surrounding area, we will soon one day look back and see
just how much we have changed and the person we have become.  So let
our spiritual diet start today and not tomorrow.  Anything that
travails you or burdens you can be taken away through faith and
repentance through Jesus Christ.  All we have to do is to start our
change and continue forward in order for Christ to bless us with his
grace and love.  I pray that we all may do that this upcoming week and
for the rest of their lives.

I hope everyone enjoys conference this upcoming week and don't forget
to email me after the last session on Sunday!  I love you all!

Fortune and the Swan Song

One year and a half or so ago, I got a letter from President Monson himself calling me on a mission to Nagoya Japan Most of you email readers thought I was in the third-largest Japanese city in a mini-Tokyo like atmosphere for the last year a half but actually, I've only been in Nagoya about ten times, just to do mission business and see General Authorities. I actually have been living in three different areas that are an average of a three hour train rides from Nagoya. That is about to change as I am transferring to Fukutoku which is home to the Nagoya Stake Center and in the heart of Nagoya. I will be surrounded by people who need the restored gospel everywhere I go. I feel anxious, excited, scared, nervous, stressed and amazed at the prospects lying before me. I have never had so many people around me at one time. Not only will I have all these new people to look after, I will also have the privilege of looking after the whole Fukutoku Zone as a Zone Leader. Luckily I have an experienced half-Japanese elder from Texas named Elder Moulton to guide me around the big city. I sure do have an adventure in store for me with the big move!

With me transferring, I have been able to reflect a little bit on my time here in Numazu. It all started with me coming to Japan last year in late July. I got to learn how to be a missionary from Elder Siedschlag (who just went home today) in Numazu, and then I got the opportunity to come back to Numazu and train the fabulous Elder Silva. I am leaving a lot unfinished. Mizuguchi San's Mom got really sick and went to the hospital so we weren't able to have lessons with him until Sunday. It was a really good lesson about Law of Chastity, Prophets and Temples and he is really ready. We ask him questions and he knows all the answers already. I am excited to see pictures of the baptism next Sunday. Also yesterday we met our Vietnamese friend at the eki and started having really simple English lessons. He doesn't really know a lot but since our language is limited it is very direct to his needs. He agreed to pray about the Book of Mormon (which he read already a 100 pages of and promised to read to the end) just for us but it is a good start. He even told us he wants to be a better person and asks us if he couldn't just do it without Christ's help. We explained you could try but Christ will make you SOO much better. A lot of other loose ends are hanging out too but I trust Elder Silva and his new Japanese companion to take care of things. God hasn't transferred from Numazu so I can leave happy, knowing that I helped a little bit in the end.

Today in personal study, I reflected a little bit on my experience in Numazu (where I have spent half of my mission) as I read Alma 26 from the BOM. This chapter is the quintessential missionary chapter where Ammon glories in God for all the success he has seen on his mission. This chapter comes after 14 years of hard labor amongst his brethren the Lamanites and it is after he sees his recent converts strong in the gospel. He starts out by saying how no one ever could have expected the miracles he and his brethren have seen. And then he says in verse 8, "blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever." And in verse 16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord?" And in verse 30 "We have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some. Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors."

 I think sometimes we as missionaries are so focused on improving that we view ourselves as the dust of the Earth, terrible at everything. It is true we are all natural man and our point in life is to improve but I think this viewpoint sometimes gets in the way, for me at least, at appreciating the things God has been able to do because of your faith and obedience, even though you are not perfect. So look around, see what you have done, praise the Lord for what he has done through you. Then, after you bumped up some self-esteem, get back to work and do your very best to improve even more, to be that much more of a parent, a teacher, a young men's leader, a spouse, or even a missionary. So as Ammon did, I too would like to thank my Lord for all the miracles I have seen in this tiny outcast city of Numazu. This place will always have a special place in my heart for the work I have been able to play such a small part in as I was the Lord's hands. And may I continue to see the little things as I go to Fukutoku and may you as well as you go about in your everyday lives.

 I love you all and have an amazing week!

One last time with my B.F.F. Mizuguchi

Numazu District

Last Numazu English Class.. (I don't know where the vampire came from...)

My favorite 4 year old, Masamichi!!!!

Me and my trainer (Siedschalg) before he went back to Brazil