Monday, July 23, 2012

Whose idea was it to swap heat for rain anyway? 23 Jul 2012


Wow man, it's almost the end of July?!  How in the world did that happen?

Ok, so the big news that everybody wants to know.... Transfer calls.  Ok, so here's the low down: I've been here for 3 transfers, Elder Gandy for 2, Elder Tipton for 1 and Elder Peterson for 1.  So with the Beppu elders, well, they whitewashed in (came in as two new missionaries to the area) so they both stayed for a second one together, and Elder Gandy gets to stay another one in Oita, and his companion for next transfer is going to be..... Me again!  That's 3 transfers that we'll be together, or in normal people time, 4.5 months.  If you're interested at all, here's how the rundown of my companions has been.  Elder Clements: 1 transfer, Elder Koyama: 1, Elder Beckstrand: 1, Elder Okada: 3, Elder Takahashi: 1, Elder Gandy: 3...... I think I'm just not a fan of even numbers.

This is going to be interesting staying in Oita for a 4th transfer!  It means that I'll be here for about 6 months as well, but, man, in no way does it feel like that at all!  Oita has been one of the places that I've most enjoyed in my mission (which probably explains why when I went through my pictures almost all of them are from Oita!).  There's just been a ton of work to do here, and it never seems to stop.  One of the hardest things that we've done so far this transfer, that both Elder Gandy and I agreed on, was to drop a good number of our investigators, those who just weren't going anywhere, and look for people that will be more receptive and excited for the gospel.  It's hard to stop working with people that you've worked long and hard with, but we feel like it is for the best.  One of the most important things that I've learned in the past couple of weeks is that, just as important as doing the right thing, is doing the right thing at the right time!  That's a little bit of advice that we got from Elder Dallin H. Oaks when he came to visit the mission earlier this year.  And it's one of the things that I have been gaining a greater testimony of as the weeks past, timing is just as important as almost everything else we do!

One of the less active families that we've been working with has been having a pretty hard time coming to church recently.  We've been having a hard time meeting with them too, but we finally managed to get in contact with the mother this Sunday and had a super lesson with her.  We talked about the importance of church attendance, and how possibly the hardest step is making it back to church on the first Sunday after being absent for a long while.  We talked about how the devil hates it whenever we decide to make a decision to better our lives and will do all in his power to bar our way.  Elder Gandy has a sweet quote that he has hanging on his wall.  It goes something to the effect of "The closer a man comes to God, the greater effort the Adversary will exert to prevent him" (yeah, I kind of forgot how it went but that's kind of close to it.)  But it's so true.  Every time we go and try to do what's right there will always seem to be something to distract us, stop us, side track us, or makes us feel like we're not even worthy to take part of the gospel, and there is nothing that could be further from the truth.  You are all a son or daughter of God, and He is waiting for you with open arms, for whenever you finally decide to come.  

Well, at least for the next couple of weeks I am going to continue to e-mail from Oita, and I'm sure we'll have many more stories and adventures to explain along the way!

Oh, speaking of adventures (before I forget) … This past Saturday we went to visit an investigator who lives in Usuki city, about an hour or so away, and stayed and watched a samurai festival there.  The city is the home of the Samurai Otomo Sorin, who was the only Christian Samurai.  During the time of the unification of Japan, there was an extermination order for all Christians, and Otomo Sorin created the cities of Oita to be refugee cities for what they called kakure kirisutokyou or the Hidden Christians. They had a sweet festival with people dressed up as oni (demons) and the holy warriors that slay the beast!  There was also akenka matsuri or a fighting festival where they had two groups of young men gather together to pull a wheeled shrine and race toward each other with the shrines making a crisscross across the city.  The whole time they had people banging on the Taiko drums and making all the noise and racket they could.  It was probably one of the most Japanese things I have seen on my mission, and all in the shadow of the remains of the castle from Otomo Sorin!  Cool stuff with the summer festivals all over Japan!

Well, have a great week everybody, and go do something cool!


Elder Benjamin C Everett
Japan Fukuoka Mission
9-16 Hirao-josuimachi
Chuo-ku
Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka
810-0029
JAPAN

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