The Gospel Magic (Happy Birthday Mom)

We had a role play lesson with the bishop on Saturday night. It was good food, good learning experience and I hope the Bishop didn't lose complete faith in the Numazu missionary's teaching skills but at least me and my companion taught in unity.  Not really many questions asked during the role play, but at least we are improving.  Anyways, after the dinner, we had that awkward moment where there wasn't enough time to visit the person we planned on visiting but there was still time to do something.  So, we went very original... housing!  Trick or treat but there is no costume and we are the ones giving away the candy. #feastuponthewords  Usually in housing you just go say, "We are missionaries and we do..." and pick something that you want to share. Plan of Salvation, families, Joseph Smith etc.  However, after a couple houses of nothing special, I decide to draw on my companion's talent to make some magic happen, quite literally actually.  "How can we tie in a magic trick into the gospel?"  I turn and ask Elder Silva before heading over to the next house.  We brainstorm and go through a couple of cheesy things but we decided to go with "Do you want to see a magic trick?"

We walk to the next door on the fourth floor of the apartment complex we are at and the door is slightly held open with a door stop. "Sumimasen!", we say and nothing happens. So, I hit the door bell and out comes a mid-20s or so man with a young girl. "You want to see some magic?" I ask. They seemed busy but Elder Silva started with his magic trick anyways and wows them with a crazy trick dealing with changing an ace into a queen of hearts. He is pretty good by the way. Then he finishes and I pop my head in the conversation. "He is a really good magician but he is also a missionary. He came to Japan for two years to share the gospel which makes him happy. His magic made you happy but Christ will make you more happy". At least that is what I hope I said. Silly Japanese... They didn't become investigators but they said we could come back in a couple weeks. So that was definitely pretty cool. We also found a less active who didn't know they were a member but they seemed interested when we invited them to the ward's food party after church for next Sunday.

The weather here is so hot that we sweat whenever we enter the apartment. July is the worst month for weather here I believe and by the end of August it should be bearable. Maybe it is so hot because of the recent dendo fire that has been burning here from my bean. We had another half un-planned lesson after church with our favorite sandal wearing, sunglasses rocking, slightly handicapped from a car accident Mukasa San. This time it involved answering some questions on the three kingdoms of glory. "Because God loves us, he has made an awesome kingdom of glory for everybody! (Except for that outer darkness)". Then we showed how baptism was necessary to enter the Celestial Kingdom and live with your family forever! So, will you be baptized...? The response in English was 'No Sir'. He told us afterwards he thought that God was kind and that he saved everyone and that by Him asking for us to receive baptism was too much. We will keep working with him but the lesson went well as my bean talked a lot.

Oh, and happy birthday Mom!  6.... 29 right? Ha ha... (I am already regretting writing that). But yeah!
Another magical experience is that of the Holy Ghost! As a trainer, I lead but really sometimes I have no idea what is happening. We were invited to lunch today with a member and her recent convert nephew and it was P-day so we didn't really anticipate sharing anything but then she told us in English to share something that would help him commit to come to church instead of work. So, being without anything I turned to my bean and say go ahead.  I didn't think he would do anything and I would take over but he was like, let's share 1 Nephi 3:7! We had practiced how to share a scripture in companionship study and I had used that one to practice introducing scriptures in Japanese. So I gave the background of the story, he told a personal story about when he worked on Sunday decided to go to church instead, and then I ended with the promise. (The Sandwich Testimony Method)  The Lesson I learned today from that was that if we prepare and do our part, the Holy Ghost will tell you the rest. My bean had the answer on what to share on the spur of the moment but I didn't know what to share so I feel like I was nudged to half-jokingly ask him to take the lead and it worked out. Sometimes we don't know where we are going or what we are doing but if we try our best, God will do the rest.  We might think it is magic but really, we just don't quite know how to perform the trick just quite yet and God performs the miracle through his own power.  So study hard, cram it all in, and have God help you take the test that is called life!

 I love you everybody and have a good, wait no, a GREAT week! Enjoy the pics!

Stonehenge or my lunch

Elder Shawn Hall

l

The Lucky Number and New Reign of the King

This past week we had an unfortunate thing happen.  My new fresh outof the MTC Beanchan started counting every single person he talks to on the street. He uses a metal counter and clicks it whenever he is the one that starts the conversation on the street. A week or so ago, he reached the number 16 and that was the first person he talked to that had become an investigator. Then number 32 came along (GO JIMMER!!!) and that person became a new investigator too.  So, we had it figured out that every 16th person that Elder Silva talked to would become a new investigator. This week Elder Silva stopped a guy and I got talking with him after he did his amazing Spirit-filled, Beanchan-level Japanese "Do You Want To Hear Our Message" spiel and we were pretty close but in the end the guy opted out and decided a return appointment was beyond his capacity. So, we ride away a bit disappointed and then Elder Silva clicks his clicker. "Oh, no! He was number 48!" So 16 ain't a magic number, unless you are waiting to date members of the opposite sex. Never fear though, number 57 became an investigator so we are back on track!

 That story basically describes this last week. I have never before found so many people on my mission and they have just been people we have talked to on the street! Yeah, we have met a lot of people that are just being nice and will listen for a minute or two but also people who have given us their digits. Now the problem is we have a ton of potential investigators or people that want to met but have no time! So I have been forced to hit up the phone a lot they recently. Hopefully we can get more lessons with people and not just numbers. We did have a totsuzen lesson after church that I wasn't prepared for. Mukasa (not Mufasa) San showed up to sacrament meeting when he told me over the phone Friday night that he couldn't because he was sick. Luckily the Spirit got my back as I had no idea what to do when the opening prayer was offered. It turned out alright though for the first legit Japanese lesson I took the lead as Senpai for. We committed him to ask a question in his prayers as he had never done before. Will follow up with him tonight to see how it goes so more phone dendo for me!

We went to the big city of Nagoya this week to meet our new mission president Ishii Kaicho. He is not a member of the Seventy but he is still super awesome. We thought he would tell us a lot of changes but I liked his approach of just building upon what President Yamashita has taught us. He did introduce himself and gave these really cool five points about missionary work (and life in general):

1. Obedience is the price
2. Faith is the power
3. Love is the motive
4. The Spirit is the key
5. Christ is the reason

 So cool, right? I especially like number 2 because I have seen the power of faith a lot more with my bean. Before I had the faith, I think, to see success but it was always "I have faith God can do anything BUT me, not so much. or "I have faith that he could get baptized BUT he is no where close." I think the change has been the unqualified faith of my new companion. No is just not an answer for him. Just when I was about to confine myself to being a missionary that worked but never saw a baptism, here comes my bean with "We will find a baptism!" I think we get caught up in excuses or little things that in the end God can take care of. He can increase our weak abilities, influence others to righteously use their free agency, and get rid of obstacles through our faith. Just as the Lord tells us in 2 Nephi 23 "I work among the children of men according to their faith." Faith really is the power for Christ and His Atonement to propel our inner change, our self improvement, and our eternal conversion. I hope you all have have the faith this week to follow Christ and improve in any way possible! I love you and Christ does too!

See you next week!

 Me and my doki (people that came with me to Japan) after meeting President Ishii Kaicho

Fermented Soy Beans, Portuguese Bean, and and Green Beans (a.k.a. America and Canada's Birthdays)

Random note, my bean doesn't like fermented soybeans all that much but
I guess they are just Nato for him.  He also doesn't like boring
P-days so we went and ate at an all we can eat place today.  Sadly, I
forgot about a member dinner appointment with a recent convert in the
ward tonight so my body is going to hate me.  Whateves I guess.  He
does like finding new investigators too which has been fun.  No
appointments really since everyone is too busy or just doesn't
understand what I am saying but we have definitely added to the list
of people to make appointments with.  And I've said some really weird
stuff this week to people on the street.  I learned the five kanji
word for Independence Day and went around the street telling people
Happy Fourth of July!  My bean wanted to tell people more about Joseph
Smith so then I segwayed into religious freedom and Joseph Smith.  I
told a guy that he wasn't Buddhist, I'm not Christian but we are just
all children of God.  A guy told me he won't give me his number
because we aren't friends so I told him to come to church so we could
be friends.  I'm kind of going crazy as senpai if you couldn't already
tell.

Fourth of July was pretty fun.  I wore a red tie with a white shirt
and blue pants.  It was pretty badly matched and you could have
definitely put me on "What Not To Wear" but it was worth it to show my
patriotism.  It was my only Fourth of July in Japan since the last one
I was in the MTC but I enjoyed it. It was weird being the only
American but I think I was obnoxious enough about it when I told
everyone on the street I was happy today because of it being the
Fourth and playing the national anthem on my IPad at night in the
apartment as I stood up with my hand over my heart because I have the
LDS hymnbook app.

Being Patriotic in Japan

This week's spiritual thought is never lose faith, even when you can't
see the end.  We found a guy on the street and swapped numbers.  Elder
Silva was so happy and he bought me dinner that night to celebrate.
So then I call several times throughout the week but it doesn't even
go to an answering machine so I lose hope and figure he gave us the
wrong number.  Then last night, HE CALLS US!  That humbled me a little
bit...  Life is like the terribly confusing streets of Numazu, with
very few checkpoints and so many intersecting small roads without
names.  I ride down streets only knowing a general direction towards
the place where I am wanting to go.  On these streets, I get unsure if
I am going the right way, so I keep on going anyways.  Eventually I
get to a road I know and can find people, the church, or my apartment.
So a lot of times in life, we have to ride down unfamiliar roads and
make choices on our own without knowing the whole picture.  We keep
going and trying our best, and we will eventually run into a familiar
road or into a faraway place which tells us to turn back.  God knows
the road map and we can always ask for directions too.  Just remember
to follow his traffic laws and he will protect you.  I haven't failed
to get back to the apartment so neither will we fail to get back to
our Father in Heaven if we try our best!  You'll always find your way
back home!  Keep pedaling and everyone have a great week!  

Love you!

Re-inventing the Wheel (Fake It Unless you Make It)

That is probably the best way I can describe this past week, re-inventing the wheel.  Now, by doing so, I have learned a lot more about wheels but nevertheless, following the blueprint is a lot easier.  Now being the full-time go-to-guy in the companionship, it has made me rethink a lot of things.  In planning, I have always been able to say, `Let`s go see this Less Active and invite her to do roleplay lessons with us to help us teach!`  Easier said than done.  Then we would go, me and my companion, and I would say hello, have some small talk, and then my senior companion would take over and get the good stuff done.  Sadly for me, I don`t have a senior to do that anymore.  So, when I say let`s visit this less active, well, now I need to know what to say and how to do it.  Let`s ask for this in Ward Mission Co-ordination Meeting, well, now I have to know how to say it.  So while I could have learned how to do simple stuff like that or calling people on the phone, now I have to relearn how to do it.  Sometimes I don`t know how to say stuff in Japanese and other times I don`t know how to do stuff in English.  So yes, the stress is real.

Now more about my bean.  There were three elders coming in, one from Japan, a half-Japanese elder from Utah, and a bean from Portugal.  Guess right now which one I got and you have only a two in three chance of being wrong.  I thought I might get the Japanese elder to improve my horrid ability (or lack thereof) to speak Japanese or the half Japanese so that he could be almost as good as me, but, instead I got the one that had no clue of what was going on from Portugal.  Probably the Lord knows that the best way to improve is to just be thrown into it.  Elder Silva (apparently the Smith of Portugal) thinks I am pretty fluent so, on the plus side, I don`t have to worry about my companion judging my crappy language skills!

Left to Right:  Elder Siedschalg, Elder Shawn Hall, and Elder Silva. Shawn was trained by Elder Siedschalg and now Shawn is training Elder Silva.

Apparently he is the third Portuguese missionary to come to Japan but I heard that about Chile too so I don`t know exactly how accurate that is.  But, it sounds cool so I believe it.  He actually is not in a Japanese speaking mission but is instead in a Portuguese speaking misson, which makes no sense whatsoever to my lower than His thoughts human self because I don`t know anyone who speaks Portuguese in my area.  Maybe we will find a bunch.  I have been tempted somedays to just find a bunch of Portuguese and Brazilian investigators so I could just sit back and let my companion do his job but I have a hard enough time finding people to speak Japanese instead of English with me anyways.

We still haven`t been able to buy Elder Silva`s bike because of some of his card problems he has recently been having with the bank so that has put a halt to a lot of things we could be doing because the apartment is in the middle of a bunch of factories where no one lives.  But, we have just been talking to people on the street.  I was doing pretty much all the talking last night so I remembered what the assistants told us about giving our bean good experiences while they are young to speak and testify.  So, I turned to Elder Silva and said, `You got this next one.  Don`t worry though, I got your back.  When you can`t go anymore and don`t know quite what they are saying, I`ll step in.`  So, I stopped a guy riding his bike towards us and he went for it!  Nothing necessarily different was said, just basic stuff about God being our Heavenly Father and us coming to Japan, but it turned about to be the best conversation we had that night!  He wouldn`t give us his phone number but at least we had a good talk and gave him our phone number so he could call back.  So beanchan power is real and I got to use it before I lose it!

Today`s mantra comes from a comment I got from a certain friend on the outskirts of Colorado next to the border of Nebraska: fake it until you make it!  With his permission, I`d like to change Elder Bacon`s words to, fake it unless you make it!  Maybe it is my training experience or just a pessimistic view of life but I don`t think everyone quite knows what we are doing, even 93 years olds or transfer 16 missionaries!  God has always got it though and we are nothing compared to him.  All we need to do is perserver and do what we know how to do and rely on God for the rest.  I guess what I am trying to say is, keep pushing, don`t give up, keep putting forth your effort to live the gospel and help others in your life, and don`t quit because you don`t know everything because you won`t ever make it 100% of the way in this life.  

Keep being awesome everyone, love you all and have a great week!

Bye Bye Yamashita, Bye Bye Ottey, Hello Beanchan

Our recent Assistant to the President would always ask other missionaries as a joke if they had ever thought that their wife wasn't born yet. While not the most serious of questions, I would like to ask a similar question: Have you ever wondered if your next companion isn't even born yet? This question didn't quite occur to me until Saturday morning. My companion Elder Ottesen is flying back to America tomorrow so I knew for sure I would receive a call but it was quite an excruciating wait. Twice investigators called us during the hour of impatience and I almost died with a heart attack. I had no idea what was going to go down but I got a clue when I heard the phone ring and it was a call from President Yamashita. He only calls you if you are in serious trouble so I figured I was in for it. Turns out they hate me so much they are making me senior companion, giving me a missionary straight from the MTC who probably knows no Japanese, and tacking on District Leader for a fun side job. So that was a bit of a surprise! Send an old elder home and receive a new fresh one. I get him Wednesday and don't know anything about him! I know the church doesn't believe in reincarnation but I am expecting a similar companion this transfer as last time. The cherry on top though is that I get to train him for an extra week because next transfer is seven weeks because this one was five.

I thought I would become a father later but why not become the father to a new young missionary right after Father's Day instead of waiting around any longer? I luckily banked on the promise I made to my trainer that I would produce offspring before his death. Now I just hope he gets to meet him before he dies. I thought it would be cool if someone trained twelve times and then have a Joseph of Egypt rivalry going on but I will pass on being the Jacob of that scenario. Well that was random.

So this weekend I have been thinking a lot about faith and the Spirit. All of Sunday was focused on the Spirit: Priesthood was from President Benson, we taught in our English Sunday school class about the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and all the talks were on following the Spirit. So I am definitely scared out of my mind to be thrust into a situation in which I have to do everything when I feel like I know nothing. I asked President Yamashita at his last zone conference in a Q&A session what do I do when I just feel like going outside and working effectively is just too far beyond my reach and what can I do to want to work more. He surprised me and simply said, and I quote: Strengthen your testimony. What was that? I guess if I value my testimony more then I will want to share it with others. But I realized this week that I fear failure, I fear going outside and changing nothing. Just working hard without any results. But if I strengthen my testimony, then I will have more faith and I know that something will come about because of me choosing the right. Luckily, Christ and God both fluently know Japanese and perfectly know the Japanese people. I am really just the same as my next companion. I don't know how to help people and change them, I don't know Japanese, I don't know how to teach. But luckily, God does, and he is willing to help us and he will show us the way through the Spirit, if we are worthy. So it really comes down to, how strong is your testimony? Can you believe in Christ enough to change and do what is right no matter what the result? We all falter, we all fail, but God never does. We can lean on him to grow and to do his work.

So yeah, I am scared. I'll miss President Yamashita leading us as we get a new mission president and I will miss Elder Ottesen leading us around but willing, it is Christ who is doing the leading, it is the Spirit telling us what to do, and all we have to do is be in the right place and have the right tools of obedience and faith in order to pick up the Spiritual Wi-Fi hotspots. As Elder Ringwood told us at Christmastime, the problem isn't the message, it is the messenger. So take the leap of faith, step outside your comfort zone, follow the Spirit and wait for the miracles that are about to happen, because I sure will be trying to do the same with my new missionary following behind me.

 Shout out to all the Dad's today and to my dad for being a good example and friend to me!

 Love you all and hope you have a good week!

The Revenge of Ka (Can I call you Ka?)

It all started Friday after District Meeting when I lost the keys to the apartment.  Luckily they were in the senior couple`s car but at the time we tried to jam the window open to get in but it was foolproof.  We forgot to shut the window and the next morning when we woke up, my comp found 15 or so mosquitoes (ka in Japanese), all fat and juicy.  `I wonder why they are so big!`  We found out when we squashed them with our hands that they were fat because they took our blood!  Nice, fine, probably AB negative blood popped out onto the wall and on our hands!  I slept with Off! bug spray and we killed most of them but I am still finding random bumps all over me that itch so that sucks.

I have a homework assignment by the way.  Go to Google and look up the name Riley Ottesen.  You might find some pretty cool accolades and potential to be a big baseball player.  Think of that and then realize that is the guy I follow 24/7.  Yup pretty cool.  He was always humble about his baseball life but the story finally cracked open when he was helping coach a middle baseball team and they asked for autographs.  So yeah, it is pretty legit.  He is going home next Tuesday which is sad so someone new will be chilling with me here in Numazu.  At least we went out and had fun with the district bowling today!  I was 114 for the first game with a strike and then slowly I sucked more and more and only got 81 the next game.  It was still worth it.  This week too a member took us out to ramen and then we took us to a batting cage where I learned I can hit a baseball, just not very far.  Soon I hope to find a way to play basketball so I will continue searching.

My thought for the week is, everything ends.  It has been weird spending time with a missionary that will be home very soon.  It reminds me that there really is end to this mission one day far out there.  I never thought I would graduate from high school but here I am, two years after my graduation ceremony.  It creeps me out but life moves on.  I wish sometimes I would have enjoyed life more earlier on.  I am glad I prepared for the future but also living in the moment once in awhile is good.  So as a missionary I need to be more focused and work harder because one day it will all be over.  My stake president told me to live my mission so that when I get on that plane I will have no regrets.  Everyday, even though that sometimes feels like an eternity, I get closer to that plane ride but each day I have less and less time to help others as a missionary.  So don`t blink because life goes fast.  Take a moment to appreciate where you are in life, a mother of an elementary school kid, a high school student, a grandfather, or even a missionary and just realize the way things are won`t last forever.  So work hard now, live like you were dying, enjoy the little moments in life, and keep on working so that your future is better than your present. 

I love you all and have an amazing week!

Pilipino Love!

BLT in Japan

Exotic Gaijin Bingo

So I have a competition with myself so far on my mission that I need to meet a person from every country.  Ever since I got to Japan, I have been shocked by the numbers of non-Japanese people there are that lived here.  Like, I still don`t know why they have a large minority of Brazilians here.  And it doesn`t stop there.  I have talked with people (most living permanently in Japan or married to a Japanese) from Canada, America, Peru, Columbia, France, Thailand, Germany, England, Guinea, India, New Zealand, Nepal, Malayasia, Singapore, Australia, China, Sri Lanka, Italy, Angola, Poland are the ones I can think of so far.  Last night though we were going to visit someone and on the way we were stopping to talk to people and there were two kids we stopped that had no clue what we were talking out.  They only knew enough Japanese and English to tell us they didn`t know Japanese or English.  They both had soccer shirts on that said Azerbaijan and they didn`t look Japanese so I think they were legit from Azerbaijan.  Don`t know why they were there but there is another one off of my Exotic Gaijin Bingo!

In other news, I went on a companion exchange to Fuji, which, if you know more about Japan than I did a year ago, you might know that it is the city that is home to the grand Mt. Fuji.  It was raining a lot and I was working with a younger elder who was trying to just use parables when he was talking to people on the street so he made an analogy to an umbrella being preparation for the rain as the gospel is preparation for meeting God.  So that was cool.  Other highlight was this kid was just being a punk to us and deflecting off everything we were telling him so I just straight out told (or tried to in Japanese without being offensive) to just pray once to see if God was there and to call us back that night.  No phone call but I am sure he will remember two crazy gaijin riding around on our bikes soaking wet at least.

My companion Elder Ottesen told all the members he plays college baseball (at none other than U of U) so they hooked him up to practice with a middle school to help coach the kids.  So we both went and me being a clown and not knowing the least about baseball I brought jeans.  I did participate in some running, a game of catch, and getting ground balls despite my outfit, poor knowledge of anything, and the diamond being muddy after the rain of the day before.  I still don`t know if the kids were making fun of me by saying good job and nice try after a terrible throw or a slip because of my lack of cleats or if they were being nice.  Good old language barrirers!  And angsty teenagers...  But it was nonetheless fun.

Today`s talk, miracles.  Many of us look at miracles as what Jesus did on Earth like feeding the five thousand and healing the sick and raising the dead.  Those definitely are important and truly spectacular since they help us build our faith in Christ but I think the thought of a miracle being just that is limiting us to see just what everyday miracles we see in our lives.  To be honest, I`ve been a bit disappointed with what you might call a lack of miracles on my mission.  I thought I would just every week write home telling about an investigator we helped overcome a concern to get baptized or a person we found as a minute before 9:00 or how we got a less active to come back after struggling with the Word of Wisdom.  That stuff has never really happened to me all that much though on the mission.  Not saying it can`t but it just hasn`t.  Someitmes to think of my mission like that, it gets discouraging to not really see much change or grand things.  But God told us that it is by small and simple things that great things are brought to pass.  So I think going along those lines a miracle is something of an everyday occurence.  It could be making a train on time, meeting with a former investigator and building a relationship with them or maybe somedays it is even that you stayed on your feet the whole time and survived the day.  So in that case I`ve seen a lot more miracles on my mission than I would have hoped and I am sure everyone sees a miracles everyday.  So keep your eyes open to see the small little miracles that you can`t quite explain or understand and you might be surprised by what you find. 

I love you all and have a great week!

My companion and I in the Ward Bulletin