E-mailing from a New Computer! 27 Aug 2012

Oh my, this has been a bit of a crazy week!  I wouldn't be exaggerating very much at all to say that this was one of the BEST weeks for Oita in the entire time I have been there!  (And we were only there for half of the week too!)

And it all capped off with the events of Thursday night and Sunday (all day)

Ok, so Monday we went over to Nobeoka to have our one real district meeting a transfer and for Junkais.  It's always fun to see other missionaries every once in a while.... Oita would have been a pretty rough 4 transfers without it going to a 4-man area.  Basically we just played ping-pong all day and tried to get something done that night as far as dendo goes.  But that was just our time in Nobeoka (cool things happened: I actually won some ping pong games, met some awesome members, had famous chicken, and got some letters written).

There was something going on in Oita this week, I think something must have been in there air, because everything was just going right.  Well, we got back to Oita Tuesday afternoon and were trying to figure out what to do.  We only had a couple of hours left, but we decided to go and visit some people about 45 minutes out of town on the off chance that we could finally get in contact with them again.  Both visits were awesome in their own way.  One of them was the speaker for that buddhist group and we had a really good lesson with him that essentially covered our entire missionary 4 set of lessons!  Then we met the younger brother of the person we were trying to visit, and he is just about the coolest, nicest high school student I think I've ever met in Japan!  It was way fun talking to him, now if only he'll go to the website we referred him to and will accept the lessons, then it would be perfect.  These are a couple of people that we just haven't been able to get in contact with for some reason or another, and it was super good that we finally got to meet up with them again.

Wednesday we had our last lesson with our investigator before her baptismal interview and actual baptism!  She's now pored through the Book of Mormon 2 full times and is cross referencing every footnote along the way, and has been teaching everyone that she can come in contact with at the hospital!  For her baptism we had to be a little creative because she can't actually stand, so Elder Gandy AND I performed the baptism.  Elder Gandy was the voice for the prayer, and I held her up and supported her head and back as she was baptized.  It must have been quite the sight to see both Elder Gandy and I in all white with a woman in a wheel chair in all white, radiating with the spirit.  She's a keeper!

Thursday and Friday we had a ton of success in just finding people to talk to.  People actually listened to us, and we even got called out by a couple wanting to talk to us (that never happens).  So Thursday as we were housing we got a call in the middle of a contact.  Elder Gandy was doing the contact so I had time to check to see who it was, and my heart skipped a beat.  I looked at the phone and in big letters it said "PRESIDENT GUSTAFSON", our Mission President.... well, I couldn't very well ignore that one so I stepped to one side and picked up the phone.  We exchanged some pleasantries, then he dropped this question: "Will you accept the call to be the Mission Recorder and come to the Mission Home this Sunday?"  Well, there wasn't a whole lot of options to answer that question but yes, so that's what I said.  

Fast forward to Sunday, well, actually Saturday night.  The plan was for me to pack throughout Friday and Saturday in order to leave right after church on Sunday.  But with the way the week went, we were so busy talking to people that the time never really was there to pack, so Saturday night I finally finish packing around 11:30 that night.  I don't think we actually got to bed until about midnight thirty or so, and I was only asleep for about an hour before I woke up itching everywhere.  I sat up in bed and immediately my mind went to 'BED BUGS'.... I got out of bed and took all the sheets and threw them into the wash and started filling up the tub.  My whole upper torso was covered in red marks (partly from scratching) and strange welts.... so I just soaked in the tub until the wash was done and hung it all up to dry before I had to leave the next afternoon.  The whole ordeal lasted from about 1:30 until a little past 3:30..... and by then I was so awake that there was no hope for sleep right away... somehow I finally got to sleep about 4:30 just in time to get woken up by the alarm at 6:00.... What a way to spend the last night in Oita!  But It was all good; nothing is wrong and there were no bugs in sight!  

Sunday was just perfect!  We had our baptism before Church that morning but, none of the dresses fit our investigator because using the wheel chair made her shoulders too buff, so we had to ask a member to come and borrow a dress from her.  The member had been to the Temple the day before and was planning on taking the day off to rest and recover, but she accepted the call to help with the baptism and ended up staying for church as well. I'm truly grateful for her sacrifice because the call I made at 8:45 for the 9:00 baptism woke her up, and she came right away … what a champion!

Somehow the news that it was my last day got around... ;)  and there were a ton of people that came out!  We ended up having 4 investigators attend all of church, 2 of them for the first time, and had another one come at the end!  We also had a visit from the Stake President and the Area 70 who I happened to run into in the bathroom and  I got called to give my testimony before the start of the meeting.  Neither of them had any idea that it was my last day in Oita, but somehow they got the impression that this missionary needed to bear his testimony to the ward that he had so closely worked with for the past half a year!  Oita really has been a special place and I'm deeply grateful for the chance that I had to serve there with so many great people.  Elder Gandy was there for most of the ups, the downs, the miracles, the baptisms, the best time I have had on my mission.  It was a little sad to see him off... but he's going to be a stud of a missionary (not that he isn't already, but he can only get better from here!). I know that Oita is being left in good hands with Elder Gandy and his new Companion that I still haven't told him who it is... he's going to have to wait just like everybody else (even if your old companion is now in the Honbu).

Sunday I made it to Fukuoka on a two hour bus ride and met with Elder Oba (who I'm replacing) and Elder Yamanashi who is going to be my new companion.  To put it simply, life in the Honbu is different, but it's going be an awesome time!  There are a lot of new responsibilities that have just come, but I know that all calls are from God and that we are given the skills and ability necessary to do all things that are expected of us.  Because the Lord will never expect anything of us that we cannot do.  From here on my P-days are going to be on Saturday, so the updates are going to be a little off from the times before.  This area looks like an awesome area and I can't wait to get down into it all!

Do cool things (and be careful of 4-wheelers... I hear they're dangerous!)
Elder Everett
エベレット長老

Oita's Heating Up! 20 Aug 2012

Good morning everyone! (It's 7 in the morning here so I feel justified in saying that, regardless of whether you're reading this at 9 at night or not :D)

This week has been pretty busy.  It ended up not being as busy as we had previously thought (several people ended up canceling on us or knocking their appointment a couple of days later) so it was a lot more manageable. Monday went really well with visiting a less-active couple in our ward who used to be super active in the church.  Well, the husband had back surgery and the wife is working as a cleaning lady at a hotel to provide money for the family, so it's been really hard for them to come to church.  While they were mostly bedridden this past couple of weeks, they found a lot of time to watch the Olympics.... I was very jealous.  (I wanted to watch the Olympics so bad.  Granted, I did get to see some of the rhythmic gymnastics [the ball and hoop event] on the bus ride to Kumamoto, but, well, without music it's a little strange to watch, especially when you see a woman throw a rubber ball into the air and catch it behind her back with her head and her thigh, and immediately turn it into a back flip... cool, but a little strange.)  The sad thing about the couple though, is that while they've been really busy with various hardships that have come up, they've stopped reading their scriptures and have forgotten a lot of the teachings of the church.  We've been working on helping them realize the importance of taking the small and simple steps every day to read the scriptures and have heartfelt prayer unto the Lord. 

That's something that Elder Gandy and I have been teaching and discussing a lot recently: what it really means to have a sincere prayer.  We noticed that we say a ton of prayers every day: a prayer when we wake up, for breakfast, when we leave, before study, when we get back, throughout the day..... we pray a lot!  But we realized that even while we're praying that much, if we don't take time out in the day and have our own special prayer, heartfelt and sincere, all the other prayers seem to be just words.  Our heart isn't in our prayers, and our prayers aren't in our hearts, and the work cannot go forth without a prayer in the heart that calls out to the spirit. 

Recently in Oita we've been having a lot of unexpected success and surprise joint lessons that have come up.  On Tuesday we were housing and decided that it would be good to visit one of the part member families that we haven't been able to work with in a couple of months.  So we knocked on the door and the member wife came out and talked to us in the entryway for a while, but couldn't invite us in because of missionary rules.  It turns out that they had just gotten back from a family reunion (for Obon, the Japanese festival for the dead) and the non-member husband had stepped out for a bit.  So we talked for a while and while we were talking the husband returned home and invited was like "Hey, come in, come in, stay a while, let’s talk."  So, we ended up going in, and they gave us all of their left-overs from the family reunion and we ended up having a surprise meal appointment and a joint lesson.... You know, if the Lord chooses the mysterious way of surprise meal appointments and perfect timing to meet people’s needs, I'm perfectly fine being His tool to accomplish them! 

Wednesday we met with a woman who was referred to us from one of our members.  I was really excited because, well, a missionary is always really excited when they get to have somebody to teach, and it didn't take a full day of housing do find them.  The investigator already has a friend in church, they have a good image of the church, they're a lot easier to meet, more willing to listen, the missionary has plenty of time to prepare a good lesson to teach them, and it's just all around a better method!  How easy and effective our job becomes when we have the work of members to complement all we do.  The change is almost irreplaceable. 

One of our other main investigators, who is planning on getting baptized this coming Sunday, has been just awesome every time we meet her.  This past Sunday she was sick and wasn't able to come to church, but we went to her hospital room and were able to have a really good lesson with her there.  We only have a few lessons left, and she looks like she is going to safely get to the 26th with little to no hitches!  It's been amazing to see the change in her that has taken place in this past 5 weeks; she's an amazing example of how the Gospel of Christ gives hope to the grieving soul and comfort to the weary!

Friday we had our big meeting with Naoya!  Because it's been Summer Break we've been having time to meet with him and we've nearly finished teaching him the lessons!  He said that he would definitely like to be baptized, but he first has to know for himself whether he can really believe in God and Jesus Christ.  So in order to help him we've challenged him to read the Book of Mormon, and create a pattern of prayer and study in his life, to see if he can really come to believe that God is his Father in Heaven and if Jesus Christ really did perform the atonement and allow us a way to become better and rid ourselves of every sin that so easily besets us.  He really understands the big step that baptism is and the blessings that come from it, and he is taking the path of true conversion.  He may be a little weary because of the pressures from College, but the great thing about the gospel is that it gives us the confidence to do hard things and the courage to be a disciple of Christ.  Because it really is something that takes courage and faith to continue in, and it is hard, but nothing in life that was easy was ever really worth it anyway.

Well, I hope you all have a really great week and do lots of fun things back in the other side of the world. 

Do something hard.
Elder Everett
エベレット長老

The End of the Cicadas (hopefully!) 13 Aug 2012

Greetings from the land of the blazing sun! (I think that's how that goes, right? ;) )

Wow, this was a busy week, and with what's been happening around here recently, it looks to only get busier from here!  Sunday was fast Sunday, right, and we had a mission wide fast so that people around and in the mission boundaries would open their hearts to be more receptive to the Gospel... well, I'm pretty sure it's working!  

This week we didn't really get to do a whole lot of dendo done in the start of the week; either people weren't home or we had external influences that we couldn't really control.  Monday we visited a less active member who painted a portrait of me a couple of weeks ago and wanted to paint one of Elder Gandy too.  So we went and picked up my portrait and we have it sitting next to our study desks.... it's only a little creepy.... and Elder Gandy's should be done in the next couple of days. But for Monday, that was about all that we got to do;  all our other plans fell through, and for the first half of the week that was the story of our dendo.

Tuesday rolls around and we decided that we wanted to go and visit some members that are a little further out and see how they are doing.  Little did we know but there's one family that lives out there that is cursed for missionaries to go and visit.  As we make our way over there (it's a good hour or so bike ride out there) we kept getting turned around and lost because it's in the middle of nowhere with nothing but fields of rice EVERYWHERE.  So we keep going and we run into this history museum in the middle of these fields and I start hearing this strange sound coming from my front tire, but I decided to ignore it because I was pretty sure I had just run over a leaf or something and it was rubbing up against it weirdly.  Well, we took a bathroom break at the museum and as we go to leave I hop on my bike and notice that the front tire is entirely flat!  That weird sound I heard was a tack going into my tire and the tube rubbing against the rim!  So now we were in the middle of nowhere, a good hour or so out by bike, and 20 minutes from the next closest bike shop.  I couldn't very well roll my bike on the rim, so I ended up having to pick up my bike and carry it up over the mountain to the next closest shop.  As we were walking we got stopped by this old man who saw our predicament and decided to help us out.  He pointed us toward the bike shop and walked us half way there (at least as far as his own house).  That was really helpful.  So we get to the shop and there's this old guy sitting there in his shop, and it's probably the ghetto-est bike shop I think I've ever seen.  Odd parts and rusted tools lying on top of each other all over the shop and bike odds and ends scattered everywhere.  So he goes and starts fixing the hole in the tire and ends up finding another hole, and tries to patch both.  The old man seemed about to collapse half of the time he was working on my bike, but somehow he got it up and running, and we were able to get off riding again.  We ended up having to skip the member that we wanted to visit and going to the next person the next city over, oh man, that was a taxing day on the legs... but hopefully something will come out of it, we didn't actually get to visit anybody that we planned on that day but we left some notes along the way so, hopefully one of them will contact us from that.

Wednesday we had our meeting with our new investigator before we left for Kumamoto for Zone Conference again.  We met her at her hospital and she took out her copy of the Book of Mormon, and we saw that it was covered in sticky-notes and highlighted all over the place!  She had spent every night since the first time we met searching through the Book of Mormon, finding everything she could find online from members, reading journals, insights, and anything she could get her hand on in the meantime.  She even came across a good number of anti-mormon literature but scolded them for not doing proper research and seeing how the real members of the church are.  To be frank, Elder Gandy and I were blown away.  She's scheduled to be baptized the 26th of this month!  The only problem we have is figuring out how we're going to perform the baptism for somebody in a wheelchair, but I think that's a problem that I would much rather have to figure out.

Wednesday brought us on our 5 hour bus ride to Kumamoto (there was flooding again and a landslide that took out the main road from Oita to Kumamoto, so the 3.5 hour ride became a 5.5 hour ride..... through winding mountain roads... blech!)  Zone conference was amazing as usual!  We learned a lot about how we should interact while we're finding, reactivating less actives, and teaching our investigators. It was an awesome training and we got to learn just how important it is to make somebody feel like they're needed and a part of the group.  I know how important it is for everyone to feel the love of the Savior in their life, the sense of belonging in the church, and a friendly atmosphere or friendly face that they can always look forward to seeing as they come to church!  How much I want to try and remember to do when I get back, and how many chances I've recently noticed that I never took while I had the opportunity.... don't make that mistake, do what you can now to help who you can, there's no reason or time to wait, show the love!

Friday we were back in the land of Oita.  After a good bout of planning we went to take our bikes to where we were going to go housing and lo and behold, the front tire was entirely flat!  Turns out that the man back at the sketchy bike-shop had a little bit of difficulty in getting it fixed and, well, I ended up having to get a brand new tube.  But it's all good, the bike works perfectly now (well, once I tighten the brakes).  We ended up bumping into the member that we were originally going to meet when I got a flat tire, and learned that I'm the 3rd or 4th Elder who that's happened to, who all then went to the same old man, and all had another flat tire 2 days later.  I'm now part of the legend! :D

The rest of the week was just filled with us having great success while going out to go find people to teach.  We ran into a member while housing and had him help us go house; found a great new place to talk to people with families willing to talk and listen; and Elder Gandy can even do a whole contact, with a lesson on his own now in Japanese!  It's been a good week, and with the appointments that have come out of the woodwork this past 2 days, next week is going to be awesome as well!  

Well, I hope you all have a great week and go do great things!

エベレット長老
Elder Everett

August Showers Bring ... lots of investigators to church!

Well, it seems like I'm not going to have a ton of time to make an e-mail this week so here we go - it's speed typin' time!

Little did we know, but this week was our 'have a ton of exchanges' week!  We ended up being on an exchange Tuesday and Thursday, and had no idea about either until the day before!  I think it turned out all good though, we ended up getting a lot done!  

Let's start at the beginning, Monday.  Ok, so we had our lunch with Naoya which was really cool, and we talked about the plan of salvation and what it means, really what it is, and he was like "wow, I've never thought of things like this before, so it'll take a little getting used to" but he seems to be doing really good!  He couldn't make it to church today but that's just because he was in China!  He'll be there for a week :) and then he'll be back for Summer Break and hopefully we can talk more then!

Also on Monday we were trying to figure out what in the world we were going to do that evening after p-day, and somehow we decided to move our Friday night plans to Monday night, and see what happens.  So we get out there and we stop by to get a drink (because it is very hot in Oita) and when we came out we got flagged down by this one lady that was standing outside.  She turned out to be this one investigator who randomly showed up at church a couple of months ago looking to learn some more, but that we haven't been able to get in contact with since.  We've been trying to call or talk to them for 3 months now, so it was really a miracle that she saw us, recognized us, and flagged us down at a random convenience store on the outskirts of Oita!  Something that I've noticed recently, is that whenever we run into times where it's hard, or we don't seem to know what we are doing, or what to do, the Lord is always waiting to put a miracle, or your own personal pick-me-up in your path; it's a pattern that I've seen time and time again in the mission!

Tuesday we had one of our exchanges over in Beppu (the second area in Oita that's soon to be a branch...hopefully!)  We were kind of having a rough time as far as finding people who would listen goes, and we decided to take a break on a park bench in the middle of Beppu Park.  After sitting there for a little bit, and collecting our thoughts, we were approached by this guy in a business suit.  I totally thought he was going to try and sell us something but the first thing that he said was, in English by the way, "Are you two missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?"...... I can honestly say that that is the FIRST time in my mission that I have EVER been asked that question!  It turns out that he was an old Eikaiwa student that was looking for more information on times and locations for Eikaiwa.  He started to learn English when he was in College about 20 years ago, and he has been excited to learn more, and hopefully will come to Eikaiwa!  The Lord works in mysterious ways!

Thursday had our other junkai, this time with the Elders from Kumamoto.  I got to go on a split with Elder Stirland, who I haven't seen since the MTC, and Elder Gandy had a good time with Elder Hoffman.  It was really cool because Elder Stirland and I ended up visiting a family in the ward that I haven't visited yet in Oita, and it was awesome.  It really is great to go and visit members around the ward because they always have a great spirit about them, and while they re-energize us to get out and do more work, they also get a spiritual boost to press on throughout the week!  It's a win-win for all!

The biggest thing that happened this week though was this past Sunday when we had a special visit from the Mission President!  We've been planning this visit for about a month now, so it's been a good rallying point for getting people to church!  We ended up having 4 investigators to church (the most I have ever seen at a church meeting) 3 less-actives, and about 90 in all came to the meeting!  It was awesome!  Now the goal is to see if we can get these investigators continuing to come to church and if we'll see some more miracles here in Oita.  The mission president found time to talk to each and every one of our investigators.  I think it was a great experience for all involved, and hopefully, it was the right kick-start that this ward needs to just explode!  But you know, in a good, get a lot of work done sort of way.   :D

Ok, so time is up, I'm kind of getting really hungry, and my mind is still fresh with images from the sweet fireworks show from last night (who knew you could make so many shapes out of explosives?) So have a good week and do lots of cool things.

Elder Everett
エベレット長老

The Last July Update!

Ben would love to get letters from friends and family that he can read during the week!

Elder Benjamin C Everett

Japan Fukuoka Mission

9-16 Hirao-josuimachi

Chuo-ku

Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka

810-0029

JAPAN

Happy July 30th!

I'm not entirely sure what there is to celebrate on the 30th of July, but I'm sure it's good to celebrate it anyway (oh wait, today is Naoya's birthday!).

I think this week was a pretty good week, and it was definitely a week on the road!  I think I was on my bike for at least half of this week...  Ok, so we pretty much have our area split up into different sections of the city to help us organize where we go and who we visit, and I think we hit every section of the city this past week (which is crazy because it covers our entire map, and that's well over an hour bike ride to some of those places). 

One of the places we go (we deem it East Oita) we visit this one man who is like a pastor for the church he goes to.  He really enjoys reading the Book of Mormon, and wants to find out what it has written within it so that he can develop his own faith better.  He has a really good fire for learning all that he can about God and it will be wonderful if he can learn for himself the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and accept it in his own life!  He's a really strong personality with a great focus on service and community awareness!  After visiting him we wanted to go and see if we can find some of the less active members in our ward that we haven't been able to meet yet.  I don't know if any of you know how Japan's roads are set up, but I'm pretty sure somebody got one of those swirly paint things and put the city layout on top of it.  Anyway, finding places in Japan is really difficult, especially when you don't have a map with you, and when your phone's GPS doesn't work!  It does work as a pretty good way to dendo though, because we can just ask people, "Hey, do you know where this place is?" and start a conversation that way.... the problem most times is then finding it again, and, you know, the whole time thing also gets in the way too, but we did get to visit one of the people we looked for, and even began teaching their son (sort of).  It also helped me learn, that even though I have been in Oita for nearly 6 months now, I can still find places that I've never been to before and have new adventures always!

This past Tuesday we had an interesting District Meeting where we were told to make a companionship theme for this transfer.  So we split up into different rooms, and had 15 minutes to meditate and think about where you are, what you want to accomplish, and to pray for inspiration.  (I like that, it can apply to anything you do actually, take 15 minutes, collect your thoughts, and pray for inspiration, what a lovely idea).  Elder Gandy and I came up with a theme based off of Alma 32:41 which reads

41 But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.

So our theme is "Feed the tree of..."  but personally, I call it "Feed the Trees!" So we've been talking about how we can grow trees in any part of our life: the tree of faith, the tree of knowledge, diligence, hope, hard work, companionship unity, good investigators, a strong ward, physical fitness, cleanliness... anything you want!  Many of our planning session have begun now with "So what tree are we feeding tomorrow?" and "What tree did you feed today?"  What a way to put your mind into focus and get down to what you really want to work on. 

This past Friday we had another apartment check (that makes my 5th one, which I think is the most in the mission right now...definitely the most by the Christensen Couple though) and we got another Celestial rating!  (The tree for that day wascleanliness)   It always feels much better in the apartment right after a cleaning check, there's just open space and a general good feeling in the apartment....who would of thought you would have ever heard that from me?  I think it's because of the free ice-cream afterward that really propels me to clean though ;)

Well, this was an awesome week, and I hope you all had a great week too (let me know how it was, I haven't heard anything for a while now, except thanks Family and thanks Shelby for the letter!)  Have a good week everybody! Go do cool thing!


Elder Everett
エベレット長老