HAPPY APRIL! So it's the 16th here, which means that in 4 days, this Friday, I will hit 1 year on the mission! What in the world, how did this happen? That's super fast, I'm not ready for that kind of speed yet!
It has been a hectic week here. We were hoping for it to culminate in a baptism this past weekend, but it ended up getting pushed back about a month, which is alright, if it'll help make her a stronger member and keep her closer to Christ. I think this'll be a good month!
Ok, so we had the Zone Leaders over for Companion Exchanges (Junkai) this past Monday and Tuesday. On the mission we talk a lot about 'Junkai Miracles', because things just seem to come together on a junkai. And, man, can I attest to that! So the first day we ended up hitting the streets around Oita, we met people from pretty much all over the city (Even somebody from Kumamoto, and one from Osaka) I even ended up exchanging e-mails with somebody (that's big thing for a missionary, you know). Now the challenge is whether any of them will contact us back, or if contact will ever be made again.... One of the main things we try to do as a missionary is to teach people, whether it be on the street, in their homes, at the church, or wherever we may be. Something must have been in the air in Oita because just from the streets, we ended up teaching 5 different people, in one night!
Then on Tuesday we went to work again. One of our members contacted us a little before and offered us lunch in the park! Which was super awesome because 1) Sister Miyatake's cooking is super delicious and always the best! and 2) it was the last day of the Cherry Blossom season in Oita, so the trees were absolutely full of pretty pink flowers! Oh man, why isn't there an SD reader here?
Tuesday means that we had District meeting, which is currently done over the phone. It's a huge difference from when I was up in Hiroshima. In Hiroshima, everyone from all over the Zone meets up at one building, but Oita is the island of the mainland, so we're completely separated from everybody else. But that doesn't stop the spiritual insights that come from district meetings! We talked about Prayer, and its supreme importance for personal testimony and growth. We talked about one sign that Elder Gregory saw a couple of years ago: 'If you meet the Mormons, don't pray; that's how they get you!'
Prayer opens the conduit to Heaven, prayer will calm the raging soul, prayer will give you your testimony. Prayer might be the way we 'get you' but it's more like, prayer is the way we get to God. Prayer isn't even that hard a thing to do. We can pray at any time, any place, and essentially about any thing. The most important thing though, is to pray with a pure heart, with real intent (the conviction to act on your answers) and, when necessary, on your knees. "When you can't stand life, kneel."
The rest of that Tuesday was spent meeting people around the city and with a couple of our members. Somehow, throughout all of the meals that we had to eat that Junkai (breakfast excluded) we didn't have to make or buy one meal, it was all provided by members! Miracles do happen once in a while :)
Wednesday we ended up meeting with 2 very different 21 year-olds. One, we met for lunch and talked about his studies to get into medical school. We talked about the gospel, how it can help us, and really, who we are and our relationship to God. He's working to help other people and strives for service, and the gospel is waiting, or rather, he is waiting for the gospel.
The second one works around the city and spends all his free time watching Anime, and doing what just about any normal 20 something year old does in Japan. We ended up talking about the gospel, how it can help us, and our relationship to God. And now he is waiting for the gospel.
These are two very different people. But they both have a place in the Gospel. My descriptions of them do no justice to the extreme juxtaposition we experienced that day, or the revelation I found that it doesn't matter who we talk to, what kind of person we think they are, or what kind of personality, desires, manners, or habits we have, there is a place in the Gospel for us, and the Gospel is waiting for us.
The rest of the week was filled with meeting new people and several new friends. We have just one more week left in this transfer, and the pace is furious!
Saturday we had a family home evening over at one of our member’s house in the next city over. She invited everyone from that other city for the activity and we ended up having a Family Home Evening with 24 people! It honestly felt like a ward activity! There was a ton of food (oh man, so delicious too) and a ton of people. We ended up with 3 non-members, and 4 less active members at the event. It was a very good Saturday night, and it was totally worth the hour long bike ride both ways! :)
Sunday, we pretty much came to an impasse as to what to do, we just couldn't find out which way we were supposed to go, or who we were supposed to meet. We eventually decided on this one area and to try and visit as many people as we could around that place. Just when we were about to go I saw this one name in our Less Active book and decided to write down the address, in case we had time to go and visit. We ended up working a little late and it didn't seem like we were going to have time, we came to the crossroads; continue working on the apartment where we were now (about 200 families) or to go a visit the less active member on the other side of the city, who we didn't know if they would even be home or not. Something told me that we should go, and we went.
So we made the journey over to the house. We were really excited because the light was on (the sign of hope for a missionary) and knocked, nobody came. We knocked again, and nobody came. I figured it'd be nice at least to leave a note or something for them to look at again. So I take out one of our pass along cards and start to write. It's a good thing it takes me so long to write in Japanese, because about half way through the note a bicyclist came up to the door. I don't know if there's anything creepier than having two 20 year olds hunched over writing something in front of your door at 8:15 at night, but we definitely surprised her. We just decided to be straight up and told her that we were from the Church, working as missionaries. To which she then answers "Oh, you’re church people, oh okay.....Here, have a drink, you look thirsty."
I'm still not sure how it happened but, we met the member’s mother, talked to her for a while and somehow came back home with a bottle of lemonade, kit-kats and 2 bananas....and a possible meal appointment in the coming weeks. We had no plan, no real reason, to make our way over there that day, but only a “feeling” that we should. I don't know how this will end, or whether it will go anywhere beyond that night, but I do know that if we had not gone that night, we would never have had that conversation. Listen to your little impressions!
Today we're making our way to Nobeoka (2.5 hours away by train) for this next week’s junkai. And I'm fully expecting a wonderful junkai miracle!
Have a good week, and keep in mind those little impressions that will tell you all things which you should do!
Love you lots!
Elder Everett
It has been a hectic week here. We were hoping for it to culminate in a baptism this past weekend, but it ended up getting pushed back about a month, which is alright, if it'll help make her a stronger member and keep her closer to Christ. I think this'll be a good month!
Ok, so we had the Zone Leaders over for Companion Exchanges (Junkai) this past Monday and Tuesday. On the mission we talk a lot about 'Junkai Miracles', because things just seem to come together on a junkai. And, man, can I attest to that! So the first day we ended up hitting the streets around Oita, we met people from pretty much all over the city (Even somebody from Kumamoto, and one from Osaka) I even ended up exchanging e-mails with somebody (that's big thing for a missionary, you know). Now the challenge is whether any of them will contact us back, or if contact will ever be made again.... One of the main things we try to do as a missionary is to teach people, whether it be on the street, in their homes, at the church, or wherever we may be. Something must have been in the air in Oita because just from the streets, we ended up teaching 5 different people, in one night!
Then on Tuesday we went to work again. One of our members contacted us a little before and offered us lunch in the park! Which was super awesome because 1) Sister Miyatake's cooking is super delicious and always the best! and 2) it was the last day of the Cherry Blossom season in Oita, so the trees were absolutely full of pretty pink flowers! Oh man, why isn't there an SD reader here?
Tuesday means that we had District meeting, which is currently done over the phone. It's a huge difference from when I was up in Hiroshima. In Hiroshima, everyone from all over the Zone meets up at one building, but Oita is the island of the mainland, so we're completely separated from everybody else. But that doesn't stop the spiritual insights that come from district meetings! We talked about Prayer, and its supreme importance for personal testimony and growth. We talked about one sign that Elder Gregory saw a couple of years ago: 'If you meet the Mormons, don't pray; that's how they get you!'
Prayer opens the conduit to Heaven, prayer will calm the raging soul, prayer will give you your testimony. Prayer might be the way we 'get you' but it's more like, prayer is the way we get to God. Prayer isn't even that hard a thing to do. We can pray at any time, any place, and essentially about any thing. The most important thing though, is to pray with a pure heart, with real intent (the conviction to act on your answers) and, when necessary, on your knees. "When you can't stand life, kneel."
The rest of that Tuesday was spent meeting people around the city and with a couple of our members. Somehow, throughout all of the meals that we had to eat that Junkai (breakfast excluded) we didn't have to make or buy one meal, it was all provided by members! Miracles do happen once in a while :)
Wednesday we ended up meeting with 2 very different 21 year-olds. One, we met for lunch and talked about his studies to get into medical school. We talked about the gospel, how it can help us, and really, who we are and our relationship to God. He's working to help other people and strives for service, and the gospel is waiting, or rather, he is waiting for the gospel.
The second one works around the city and spends all his free time watching Anime, and doing what just about any normal 20 something year old does in Japan. We ended up talking about the gospel, how it can help us, and our relationship to God. And now he is waiting for the gospel.
These are two very different people. But they both have a place in the Gospel. My descriptions of them do no justice to the extreme juxtaposition we experienced that day, or the revelation I found that it doesn't matter who we talk to, what kind of person we think they are, or what kind of personality, desires, manners, or habits we have, there is a place in the Gospel for us, and the Gospel is waiting for us.
The rest of the week was filled with meeting new people and several new friends. We have just one more week left in this transfer, and the pace is furious!
Saturday we had a family home evening over at one of our member’s house in the next city over. She invited everyone from that other city for the activity and we ended up having a Family Home Evening with 24 people! It honestly felt like a ward activity! There was a ton of food (oh man, so delicious too) and a ton of people. We ended up with 3 non-members, and 4 less active members at the event. It was a very good Saturday night, and it was totally worth the hour long bike ride both ways! :)
Sunday, we pretty much came to an impasse as to what to do, we just couldn't find out which way we were supposed to go, or who we were supposed to meet. We eventually decided on this one area and to try and visit as many people as we could around that place. Just when we were about to go I saw this one name in our Less Active book and decided to write down the address, in case we had time to go and visit. We ended up working a little late and it didn't seem like we were going to have time, we came to the crossroads; continue working on the apartment where we were now (about 200 families) or to go a visit the less active member on the other side of the city, who we didn't know if they would even be home or not. Something told me that we should go, and we went.
So we made the journey over to the house. We were really excited because the light was on (the sign of hope for a missionary) and knocked, nobody came. We knocked again, and nobody came. I figured it'd be nice at least to leave a note or something for them to look at again. So I take out one of our pass along cards and start to write. It's a good thing it takes me so long to write in Japanese, because about half way through the note a bicyclist came up to the door. I don't know if there's anything creepier than having two 20 year olds hunched over writing something in front of your door at 8:15 at night, but we definitely surprised her. We just decided to be straight up and told her that we were from the Church, working as missionaries. To which she then answers "Oh, you’re church people, oh okay.....Here, have a drink, you look thirsty."
I'm still not sure how it happened but, we met the member’s mother, talked to her for a while and somehow came back home with a bottle of lemonade, kit-kats and 2 bananas....and a possible meal appointment in the coming weeks. We had no plan, no real reason, to make our way over there that day, but only a “feeling” that we should. I don't know how this will end, or whether it will go anywhere beyond that night, but I do know that if we had not gone that night, we would never have had that conversation. Listen to your little impressions!
Today we're making our way to Nobeoka (2.5 hours away by train) for this next week’s junkai. And I'm fully expecting a wonderful junkai miracle!
Have a good week, and keep in mind those little impressions that will tell you all things which you should do!
Love you lots!
Elder Everett
Elder Benjamin C Everett
Japan Fukuoka Mission
9-16 Hirao-josuimachi
Chuo-ku
Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka
810-0029
JAPAN
