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!
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!!!
3) Awkward kocan selfies with Elder Makatsuka!
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