This is the end

26 October 2016

This is the end. We are now daisempai. Three Nihonjin came in
yesterday and maybe five more will get here today. They are really fun
to talk to. Also, we get a ton more kohai today as well.

Saying goodbye is going to be really hard. Saying goodbye to our
sempai (A really small group. Just one class of them.) was hard. We
may have had a better relationship with our daisempai, but because
there were fewer sempai, we knew them a lot better. Also, with them
the two Nihonjin shimai and the Kankokujin shimai left with them. They
were all so great. I'm really going to miss them. And because they all
went to the north side transfer, it's likely I may not see them again
for a very very very long time.

Waddel shimai told us something on Monday. She said because we are so
close to the end of our stay here, we need to think of where we want
to get our investigators before we leave. That was pretty much heart
breaking. I realized that not only do we have to say goodbye to our
branch presidency, each other and our teachers, we have to say goodbye
to our investigators. It sucks. I love our teachers so much. I have
grow to love our investigators so much. And now, it's almost done.
We're leaving to Japan. It should be exciting. But it's also just so
sad. I'll survive probably. I'll have a million hour plane flight to
get over it, haha.

I kind of makes me wonder if this is how we felt in the pre-existence.
If despite we knew where we were going was exciting and where we
wanted to go, if it was hard to say goodbye to everyone. I'm sure it
was.

I'm so thankful for the infinite and eternal gift of the Atonement. I
don't understand it as well as I could. I may never fully understand
it. But the more I learn about it, the more I am reassured that it is
the most incredible event that has ever taken place on earth, and
maybe the greatest event that ever will occur. It's the pinnacle of
our entire existence. Without it, we never could amount to our
potential. It would have been impossible. To read about the things
that happened as part of the Atonement is heartbreaking and inspiring.
To think that Christ has literally felt every single feeling that
every single person has ever felt is impossible to comprehend. And he
did it for us. So that he can take our pains, our sins, our
disappointments, our sadness away and there is no law that can
justifiably stop that. He literally stands with OPEN ARMS OF MERCY. He
waits for us to come to him and to willingly and courageously allow
him to take these things away from us.

19 October 2016

19 October 2016

Snippets from emails - no big email today. :(


Nothing really happened this week.. I don't know what to write about.

I've been district leader for like two weeks now I think. It changes every transfer.

That was really cool about the Woods [Tom and Tammy Wood, who ran the homestay program we have been involved with for years,finally took a trip to Japan to visit all the people that they have hosted and worked with for the past 20 years]. I'm jealous. Haha. But I guess I'll be there soon. Maybe too soon. I feel like I know less Japanese than I did when I started after yesterday.

I have to get a haircut today. Nobody has anything good to say about getting a haircut here.. haha.

Singing time and sitting at the feet of an apostle of the Lord

12 October 2016

Received this gem today -

I wish I would have brought my journal so I could remember what happened this week. I've been taking NyQuil every night which has been awesome haha. 

Something I would like to talk about though is that repentance is a
horrible word.

It does not accurately describe the action it represents. Repentance
is joy. You may have noticed that it was talked about a lot at general
conference. Not that it is a surprise of course. (Elder Bednar
reminded us yesterday in our devotional that the conference talks are
NOT assigned. They are NOT coordinated by the prophet, the quorum of
the twelve or anyone else here on earth. Heaven directs and
coordinates the messages that we receive in conference. Also he is
leaving for Sapporo tomorrow.). If you look at the Greek word used for
"repentance" you'll notice a very different meaning in the word. I
believe it was mentioned specifically by Elder Nelson but I can't
remember. Repentance is about a change. It's a about a return to doing
the things that we should be doing and feeling JOY. Notice how often
JOY and REPENTANCE are used together. The devotional on Sunday night
given by Brother Heaton (Who served a mission in Japan), was maybe one
of the best messages I've ever heard. He talked about wanting to be in
the hall of fame for repenters. His testimony of the power of daily
repentance was incredible. I wish everyone could understand what he
had to share.

I challenge everyone to learn to find the joy that comes from
repentance. Learn to love repenting and changing you heart and your
path to line up with what God would have us do. Repentance is a
blessing. Christ did not perform to atonement to be wasted. He didn't
perform the atonement so that we could put our sins in the back of our
mind and simply go on uncaring. He performed the atonement so that we
can feel joy. He performed the atonement so that we can become joyful
penitent saints who love the gospel and act in faith and hope and love
in everything that we do. All of us need to repent. Let us find the
joy of repentance!

Bednar said the most miraculous thing being an general authority is sitting on the stand and watching the general topic of conference be played out in front of them. I didn't know that none of it was assigned. I thought the prophet assigned the talks.

It's funny that since our branch has to set up the gym for devotionals, we kind of get to know when someone important is coming. The people were pretty frantic making sure that everything was set up correctly and there were a lot more chairs than usual. And the song we sang was a special one. Of course we didn't know who it would be but we were pretty sure it was an apostle. Apostles are kind of scary when they aren't talking in conference. Haha. At least from the devotionals that I've seen. Or maybe that's just because I've only seen Elder Holland and Elder Bednar talk... They are really bold and direct. It's awesome of course, but super intense. Our sempai have now seen four apostles since they've been here. Which is insane apparently.

Sick

5 October 2016

Ugh. After everyone in my district has been sick, and I think one of them twice, I have finally picked it up. I picked it up HARD. I was fine last night but today, I'm a walking dead man. It sucks. I don't know if I can really send an email. I'm having a hard time sitting and concentrating. Well, it's just my throat is swollen really bad, I'm super sore, and I have a headache. It's not as bad if I just stand.

So yeah. It has been a pretty weird week since last Wednesday. It's been really sad saying goodbye to our Daisempai. We miss them a lot and the MTC feels really empty without them. They were such amazing people. Also, all of them that are in our residence gave us EVERYTHING they weren't taking. So we got A TON of candy, cookies, chips, some toys, laundry stuff, waterproofing, a gatorade drink mix, and more. It was really funny. They just kept bringing more and more. But, they are finally in Japan! And I bet that is super awesome considering some of them were only supposed to be here for 3 weeks, and had to stay the full 9. Haha.

Also, yes, about half our zone was in the MTC choir. Sooo many people in our zone are incredibly talent when it comes to music. So if you saw the MTC choir on tv, there probably wasn't a single shot that you couldn't see at least one Japanese missionary in! It was fun to watch everyone there! 

So for those of you who noticed that Japan was mentioned about three times this conference, there is a reason for that. We learned in a devotional given by another missionary, Mueller Choro, (And I had heard it from Shigeta Choro as well) there was a prophecy given around twenty years ago to the missionaries in Japan that they were preparing the people of Japan for a powerful work. The temple in Sapporo, was built in a part of the country that only has 1% of the population. Japanese is the THIRD most taught language in the MTC (English being first, and Spanish second.). There are many things that we've witnessed that show this is the time that they were talking about. The gospel is going to the people of Japan.

Linda K Burton was the devotional speaker yesterday. I really enjoyed the message that she had to share about repentance and missionary work. 

Whew, ok I can't really use my brain anymore because I'm sick. Which sucks. I have a testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior. We have the privilege of displaying our gratitude for the his immeasurable gift the Atonement. I'm thankful for missionary work and this time that I can be out here learning how to help people and growing into the mantle that was placed upon me. Thank you everyone for your love and support. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect and true. Iesu Kirisuto no mina ni yotte akashi shimasu. Amen.

How in the world did Goeido win the Yuusha?? Is it possible that he could be the next Japanese Yokozuna? 

Oh, I totally forgot! We ARE getting Kohai! We were told there were only three Japanese sisters that were coming this Wednesday. But I guess there is an actual transfer coming in NEXT Wednesday. We met one of the Japanese Sisters yesterday. Her name is Morita Shimai, and she is from Sapporo. So far I think she is the only one to have arrived. She is really happy and likes talking to us even though she really doesn't speak much English. She said she was happy to help us with our Japanese, haha! Yay for Kohai that are way better at Japanese than us!

Another great memory this week was the Sunday night devotional. They had the MTC Choir stand up and sing along with themselves on video haha. It was really powerful though.

Oh, and we decided to watch the new meet the mormons for our sunday night video, which of course had the Japanese group in it.

https://www.lds.org/church/news/sapporo-japan-temple-is-a-fulfillment-of-repeated-prophecy?lang=eng&cid=email-shared