Old Friends

Last week, in an area on the other end of the mission, an investigator
that Elder Strain (my companion) once taught asked for Elder Strain to
perform her baptism.  So yesterday, we went to the other end of the
mission!  Fortunately our mission is geographically very small.  It
took about two hours by train.  It was a very joyful baptismal
service, and while we were there we talked to one of her friends and
helped her understand what was going on.  Her friend is really
interested.  It was a great experience overall  ^__^

This week, we have a conference with Elder Russell M. Nelson about
digital missionary work on Wednesday, and then we all get new iPads on
Friday.  (We're handing in the "test" iPads and getting the "official"
ones, which are a later model.)



Here are some pictures of my area~ It goes all the way out past Landmark Tower, which is about a 45-60 minute walk from the apartment.

There's a lot of history in our area.  We came across this memorial one day as we were exploring.

Also, you know how some people, when giving a presentation, toss candy to people who answer their questions?  Our mental health advisor gave us onions instead.  o.0

"Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded."  

--2 Chronicles 15:7

Deviating from the Order of the Universe

Sorry for not writing in so long!

I threw all my long-sleeved white shirts into the wash this morning, and then they weren't done when it was time to go out, and we're not allowed to just wear short sleeves in public during the winter season (it's a rule of Japanese business attire or something), so today I'm wearing a suit jacket over top of a short-sleeved shirt.  It feels weird.  Hence, the title of this post--it describes my feelings today.  I don't plan on doing this again.  o.0

This past transfer has been rather slow.  Because of that, I've had more time to reflect on the past and future.  I learned a lot, seeing patterns I hadn't seen before.  It's one thing to know God loves you, and another thing to feel that love, and yet another to grasp the deep and apparently subtle implications of that love as it connects with God's wisdom and foresight.  I feel like it was really good for me, but towards the end of this six-week period I've been feeling like it's time for a change.

Yesterday was transfer-announcements day, but it was also the day Elder M. Russel Ballard decided to have a combined mission conference with the Tokyo and Tokyo South missions, so transfer calls became transfer emails this week.  And we got the emails after the conference.

Elder Ballard was traveling with his wife and with President Rasband of the Seventy and Bishop Stevenson (the Presiding Bishop) and their wives.  They all got to speak to us.  It felt so good to hear Elder Ballard's voice at the beginning of the conference as he greeted us and announced who was going to speak in which order.  

In the second half, when Elder Ballard gave his talk, he spoke about teaching people who don't have a Christian background.  He said, "You have to be the best teachers we've ever produced." He said that part of the reason for that was because the world today is full of clutter (mobile devices, the Internet, so much information everywhere)--it's hard to get people to settle down for a minute.  Another thing is, we have to make sure they understand clearly who God is before we can really move on to any of the other doctrines we teach, or it won't quite make sense to them.

The awesome thing, I thought, was that if we link what Elder Ballard said to 1 Nephi 3:7, we effectively have an apostolic promise that we can be the best teachers the Church has ever produced!  But that, along with what Elder Ballard's companions said, made me realize that I really need to get on the ball, because I'm not getting nearly enough teaching practice right now.

Elder Ballard read Acts 3:1-11 to us, particularly drawing our attention to the phrase "fastening his eyes upon him" in verse 4.  He used that as a theme for the rest of his talk.  He told us we had to be able to teach any doctrine, at any time, in any circumstances, by the power of the Spirit, and he talked about "fastening our eyes" on individuals--making sure they understand what we've taught; making sure their needs are met.

Before he left, he shook hands with all the missionaries.  ^__^  Then he directed the mission presidents to spend a bit of time with us, so President Wada and President Budge switched off sharing their thoughts and impressions.  Then we went home and got our transfer emails!

I'm transferring to Yamate (山手), in Yokohama City.  That's the area where the first LDS missionaries to Japan, including Alma O. Taylor and Elder Heber J. Grant, landed.  It's where Elder Grant gave the dedicatory prayer for Japan.  My new companion (who I'll be meeting on Thursday) will be Elder Strain.

I'm looking forward to it.  ^_____^

"Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded."  

--2 Chronicles 15:7

Transfer Shock

So.  I'm in Kawasaki now.  It's a city area unlike any other I've been
in.  My other areas except for Kichijoji were "countryside" areas.
They had big shopping centers and lots of people and lots of houses
and lots of really tall buildings; it felt certainly felt like city.
Kichijoji is a "city" area, but it's designed to attract shoppers and
tourists, so it's more organized and pretty.  Kawasaki is just city.
It's like a network of canyons, except it's made of buildings instead
of rock.  So many people, so many shops, so much stuff packed together
so tightly.

I haven't really noticed the noise, though.  There's plenty of noise
out on the street, but it doesn't bother me.

My companion is Elder Brooksby.  I don't have time to explain it, but
I had this image of him in my head based on what I'd heard people say
about him (including his past companions), but then upon meeting him I
found out that he doesn't match his reputation very much at all.  He's
pretty awesome though.  He only has a few months left on his mission.

New Year

The assistants decided to do transfer calls on Sunday night this week
instead of Monday, which actually kind of made it harder to sleep.
I'm transferring from Atsugi to Kawasaki on Thursday, and my new
companion is going to be Elder Brooksby.

The new year is one of the most important holidays in Japan.  We got
four meal appointments with members on the week of New Year's Day
(usually we get around two or three a month in this ward, I think).
There wasn't a very good place anywhere close to our apartment to
watch the first sunrise, but we did end up finding an arched bridge
that worked pretty well.  My first food and drink of the new year was
a cheeseburger and a warm lemon drink from Circle-K (convenience
store).  I didn't think of that until after I ate it.  o.0

It snowed on New Year's Day, too.  Not enough to shut anything down,
but enough to surprise everyone.  Snow doesn't usually happen here for
another couple of months.  It stuck for about a day, as I recall.

Christmas in Japan

So.  On Saturday the 20th, we had the ward Christmas party.  There was
singing and guitar-playing and ocarina-playing and a shadow-puppet
show and delicious chicken and cake.

On Sunday the 21st, we went to an old folks' home and sang Christmas
carols and old Japanese songs.  One of the ward members dressed up as
Santa and gave presents to everyone.  Afterwards, the ward gave us
each a big box of presents from the ward.  Mostly candy.  ^___^

On Monday the 22nd, we all got sick.

On Tuesday the 23rd, I was the only one still sick.  I was well enough
to leave the apartment, but not well enough to eat a proper meal.  We
did P-day today instead of Monday because we were all too sick to do
our shopping on Monday.

On Wednesday the 24th, we all went up to Kichijoji for the
mission-wide Christmas conference.  We watched presentations by
President and Sister Wada, and then we all sang Christmas songs
together.  We all have the LDS Music app on our iPads, and some
Spanish-speaking missionaries in the mission, so they told us we could
pick whatever song in any language we wanted.  The entire Japan Tokyo
South Mission ended up singing Silent Night in German.  XP  After
that, we all got to watch Meet the Mormons!  (It's really good, I
highly recommend it~)  We had a white elephant gift party, too, in
which I got hot chocolate mix from the Czech Republic.  I haven't
tried it yet.

On Thursday the 25th, I got to skype with my family.  It was still
Christmas Eve where they were.  My Christmas package had arrived the
day before, so I got to open presents with them.  :D  Other than that,
it was a pretty standard day with weekly planning.  Japan doesn't take
a day off for Christmas; they just eat chicken and cake.  And go see
pretty lights sometime during the month.

Boxing Day passed without incident.

On Saturday the 27th, we met a drunk guy with a guitar.  He was like,
"hold on, I'll go get you some coffee", and Elder Parks was like, "We
don't drink coffee", so he said, "how about tea?" and Elder Parks
said, "We don't drink tea either," so he was like, "okay, I'll get you
some juice."  So he ran off (leaving us with his guitar and all his
other stuff) and came back with a warm lemon-honey drink for Elder
Parks.  We talked to him for a minute, and Elder Parks played that
guitar behind his head because he's really good at guitar, and then
this guy said to me, "hey, I'll go get you some coffee," and I was
like, "I don't drink coffee", and the guy said, "okay, how about tea?"
and I said, "no, I don't drink tea either", so he was like, "okay,
I'll get you some orange juice."  And then he ran off to 7-Eleven,
bought himself another beer, forgot to get the orange juice, and came
back and was like, "oh, I forgot the juice."  We had to leave at that
point, but we left a flier with him.  <shrug>

On Sunday the 28th (yesterday), we went to a fireside for Spanish and
Portuguese speakers.  Elder Soto (my MTC companion~!) interpreted it
into Japanese with the missions's radio interpretation kit, but there
weren't enough headsets for the missionaries, so I didn't understand
much of it.  I did sing Away in a Manger in Portuguese with my zone.
President Wada gave the closing remarks (in English, with three people
interpreting into three languages xP), in which he said he'd been
praying for a way for all of the South/Central American people here to
be able to hear the gospel in their own language.  I realized at that
point thatt's a miracle that the missionaries have been able to gather
these people together, strangers in a strange land.  I'm glad I got to
be there to see it.

Dawn

Last night, my companion and I walked to the church after dinner, and there we saw a police car sitting in the parking lot.  (The church parking lot is not a normal place to see a police car!)  We walked in the front doors, and found a large gathering in the foyer: the other two elders, their investigator, our bishop and our ward mission leader, and two police officers who were getting everyone's names and addresses.  

Turns out that what happened is that while the other two elders were walking to the church before us, they stopped at a crosswalk because the light was red.  There was another guy standing next to them waiting for the same crosswalk, so they asked him how he was doing.  The guy responded that he was not doing well, he had no money, he was coming home from trying to jump off a bridge, and he was planning to kill himself at home.  And then he walked away, and then the elders called the police to go get him.

While the officers at the church were collecting everyone's information and the details of the story, they got a call from another officer who said they'd found the guy (still alive).  I suppose it turned out all right.  

A few days before, we had a lesson with a young man.  We taught him about our premortal family--how we all lived together and knew and loved each other before we were born.  He said it was a miracle that we met.  We taught him to pray (Alma 34:17-27), and he said his first prayer to Heavenly Father.  The Spirit filled our hearts with joy--and a testimony that God, too, was rejoicing to hear from His child again.  

Holiday Season in Japan

So, transfer calls were today, and I'm staying in Atsugi with Elder Parks for another six weeks.  :3

We didn't do anything really interesting for Thanksgiving.  Japan just doesn't celebrate it.  Christmas lights started going up about a month ago.  I don't know how many people actually do anything special for Christmas Day here, but the stores are all doing Christmas decorations like American stores do.  They put up a Christmas tree at the church, too.  They also put colored plastic paper on the front doors to make it look like stained glass.  It looks really cool.  :3

The new year is a really big deal in Japan, but it'll be a few weeks before I know much about what goes on then...

These are the Christmas decorations they set up at the church.  Apparently the Primary added more decorations to the tree since I took these pictures, though...