It's Beginning to Look a lot Like December in Japan!

You know, for being the southernmost mission in Japan, the "warmest" in the country.... it's awfully cold.  All this week the weather has been in the single digits (granted that's Celsius so it's really 30's to 40's but that's still cold).  I've definitely been getting some good mileage out of my vests, jackets, and scarfs! 

Well, Happy December!  This week, all week, we had 2 main themes:  1) Get everything ready for the interviews around the mission throughout this and next week  and 2) Somehow get prepared for the caroling event (which just so happens to be tonight!).

We've been working on having a practice every day, as time permits, and it really seems to be coming along.  We're singing 6 songs, a good mixture of common secular songs and mostly religious up-beat and feel good songs.  We're starting with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" followed by a quick introduction to who we are and what all these foreigners are doing in Japan.  Then we go into "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas".  They're both kind of a jazzy version of the songs, and we'll be using that to transition into "Little Drummer Boy."  We somehow got hold of a drum set and an electric guitar for that piece, and it's looking really good!  We'll be following "Little Drummer Boy" with "The First Noel" before finishing it off with "O Holy Night".  All the while members will be going around to everybody watching, passing out flyers and bags with cookies, inviting them to the ward Christmas activity and to come and learn more about the church.  It looks like it's going to be pretty intense rain today, but I have confidence that we'll still be able to get it all together!   (Thank you President and Sister Maxwell for the picture I used to make the Flyer for the Caroling event!)

Speaking of storms ….  Yesterday as we were running through the program a huge storm rolled in!  It started with this HUGE crack of thunder shaking all of the windows in the cultural hall!  It stopped all of us in our singing tracks.  After that the clouds just opened up and dumped everything they had on Fukuoka.  Luckily Elder Tanaka and I had brought the car to drop off the amp, because we were able to pack everybody and their bikes into the Vanimal and take them home in the squall.  We've had a recent rash of accidents in the mission and I didn't want anybody getting hurt again, so we dropped everybody off by car.  It might be a terrifying thing to drive in Japan, but it sure is useful to have a car sometimes.

Monday we had dinner over at a member's house.  She shared at least part of her conversion story, which spanned more than a decade.  She was like, if I could get baptized, anybody can.  Don't give up on your friends, family, or anybody because they don't seem like they’re open to the Gospel right now.  Everybody has their own time, everybody has their own season, and this Gospel is for everyone.  So don't be discouraged because they don't come when you want them to; know that the Lord is in it, and He has a plan for them and you.  Now that doesn't mean that we can slack off.  In that same meeting the member also shared a story about a group of people, Jesus Christ, and a rock.

Now there was a group of people walking down a path when they ran into a giant rock.  They weren't really sure what to do about it, but as they were conversing the Lord came to them and told them to push the rock.  So they, being obedient, pushed the rock.  All of them exerted all of their effort, tried with their whole might to move that rock.  Eventually they heard another voice telling them, "it's impossible to move that rock, try as you might it'll never budge, you might as well give up and not even try."  As they worked and pushed, they began to listen to the other voice and eventually all of them quit pushing.  It was just too hard, and that rock would not move.  At that point the Lord came again and asked them, "Why did you stop pushing the rock?" To which they answered, "We tried with all we had to do like you asked and move the rock, we exerted all our efforts, and tried to work together but it wouldn't move, so we quit, realizing it was impossible."  Then the Lord said to them "I never told you to move the rock, I only told you to push it.  You'll never be able to move the rock alone, only I can do that, all you are required to do is push, and I will move the rock for you." 

How many times do we come upon a giant rock in the middle of our path, and try with all our might to move along, only to become discouraged and eventually give up?  The Lord never asked us to move the rock, to move the work forward on our own.  He has asked us to push the rock, and when the time is right, when we need it most, He will move the rock for us, and our path will be made open.  But this freedom, this new vision comes only after much trial and after all we can do.  That is the way of the Lord, that is the hope for a better day.  So don't give up thinking that your efforts are in vain, because no effort is wasted on the Lord, and it time, all will be made right, if we let Him make it so.

This is a special Christmas season and a time for everyone to be of good cheer and to bask in the light of the Lord.  I hope that you all have a great week and feel the spirit of Christmas in all that you do!

Elder Everett
エベレット長老

HAPPY DECEMBER! 1 Dec 2012

Holy cow, how is it already December?  I wonder what that means for the imminent end of the world, that's supposed to be on the 21st of December right?  Well, that's not for another 3 weeks, so no need to worry about that now right... ;D

Well, this has been a pretty good week for finally getting done several of the small projects that seem to pile up here.  I finally got all of the proofs sent in and finalized for the Christmas card and the new Temple Recommend holders.  I'm not sure how I got roped into designing both of them but I think they turned out pretty well.  Now if I can just finish up some of the other projects that pile up on my desk, that will be perfect.  It's always a good feeling when you can look at something that you made and can be like, "Yeah, I made that, and now it's all done and I don't have to worry about it anymore." 

This week we had the Zone Leader Conference here in the Honbu, which had a whole other set of preparation leading up to it.  One of the things that I have to do is create the Newsletter at the start of every transfer.  However, this transfer our printer went down right as Tokyo left their office, and we ended up being without a printer for quite a while!  I finally found a place around Fukuoka with the right parts and Elder Tanaka and I ended up buying them during the conference and then made a mad dash to get everything printed before it was over!  We ended up printing out the last couple of pages just as they all came pouring into the office.  A good thing about having an army of missionaries flood your office, they all want to help, so we put them all to work folding the newsletters and sorting them out.  I'm pretty sure that was the fastest I ever saw the FM news get out, but it was just a little bit of an ordeal.  But that's all good now and I've started to get really good at making split second decisions for problems as they arise.  I guess those critical thinking questions they had us do throughout school end up being of more value than I ever gave them credit for....

That's something that I've noticed recently too.  Everything in our lives seems to prepare you for whatever is ahead of you.  In just about every challenge I've run into I can think back to an experience where I was prepared to answer that specific problem.  I'm sure that that pattern will continue throughout my life as well.  And if I ever wanted a crock-pot of experiences to prepare me for later, I can think of no better place than the mission!

This past week one of our investigators was in Tokyo touring the church's headquarters over there.  I'm still not sure how he gets over to places like that, but somehow he manages it.  He made it back this past Thursday but we still haven't been able to meet with him to see how it went.  However, one of our other investigators finally got a day off of work (well, a lunch anyway) so we're going to meet up with him and have a nice lunch with him.  I'm very excited for this chance because he's been swamped with work 7AM-10PM every day!  We were talking about the importance of personal relationships with God and how we can always pray or read the scriptures even if we can't go to church, and he said that it's already been a great strength to him in the past weeks.  Every Sunday that he hasn't made it to church, he's been thinking about what all of his church friends are doing, and right around 10AM, whatever he's doing at work, he'll take time to pray because he knows that that's where and what he should be doing.  Even in the midst of all his work, stress, everything working against him, he still remembers what's important.  I'm absolutely positive that I'm learning more about what it means to be a true latter-day saint from working with this man, than I would ever have learned on my own.  He's definitely someone that everyone needs to learn from!

Things are going great in Japan, the weather is getting colder (I'm already wearing sweaters and scarfs and gloves!) but it's still beautiful.  Even if we do get the occasional murder of crows spreading trash all over the front entrance, it's still beautiful outside.  I've also started decorating the Honbu with Christmas decorations, so soon it will really be the Christmas season, even in the office!  I've already been playing Christmas music the past couple of days while we've been working, but now I feel like I can go all out. 

I hope you all have a great week and a wonderful Christmas season!

Elder Everett
エベレット長老

PS:

It would be cool to get a bunch of cards, letters, and pictures for Christmas!

Elder Benjamin Charles Everett

Japan Fukuoka Mission

9-16 Hirao-Josuimachi

Chuo-ku

Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka

810-0029

JAPAN

Life in an empty office 17 Nov 2012

HAPPY NOVEMBER, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Well, this was an interesting week.  President Gustafson went to Korea for a Mission President's conference, the AP's were out doing a week of companion exchanges down in Okinawa and everywhere else, so it was just the Beus', Elder Tanaka and me in the office.  I would say that it was a little more quiet this week, but with more phone calls, things breaking down, and all of the other crazy things that came up this week, there wasn't really any quiet moment at all.  One big thing that we got done this week was getting Elder and Sister Beus' driver's license. 

So the two of them had served together previously in Germany, and the surrounding area.  They actually led the introduction of the institute buildings in Europe and helped it grow to the force that it is today.  So they had to move around Europe, all across the autoban and everywhere else, so they had a German License.  Apparently if you get a German license, it doesn't ever expire.  So they held on to that German License, which was a great thing for when they came to Japan because switching over a license from Germany doesn't require you to take the driving test.  What it does require, however, is several more levels of bureaucracy and red tape.  Let it suffice to say that, well, the third time is the charm when it comes to the driver's license palace.  The best thing about going to the PMV ('P' stands for Palace :D) though is the awesome Udon shop just in front of the complex.  (Now this palace-complex is roughly the size of a small airport, and has over 5 floors of just, space.  It's a pretty great and spacious building) Something I learned about Udon though, is that it originated here in Fukuoka, which explains a little bit of why there are so many udon shops everywhere. 

This past Monday one of our investigators took his place in the 40-day Fast for our ward.  We still haven't been able to sit down and talk with him yet, but we visited his house while he was still at work and left note cards and a bag of candy in his mailbox as a way for him to break his fast.  He gave us this sweet, awesome text the next morning talking about how much his life has changed ever since coming to church and just how grateful he is for all of the experiences he's had from the members and from all of the missionaries he's met in the past couple of months.  There's nothing greater for a missionary than to hear and see the love of Christ work through the people that we love and work with. 

Then on Wednesday we met with our investigator who's writing his thesis on missionaries and had a really great lesson on the importance of prayer.  In our conversation we talked a little about how his paper was going and we found out that starting on Wednesday he was going to be going up to Tokyo to take a tour around the Church Headquarters!  I'm still not entirely sure how he gets around to all these places, or how he even got in contact with them up in Tokyo, but, I figure the more he goes the better.  I don't know if he realizes just how close he is to finding the truth.  Right now he's looking at the structure, the infrastructure, the church as a well-oiled machine, and he's just off the line from letting himself feel the truth of the gospel.  We said that he's looking at the church from his scholar glasses, and that he just need to let himself look at the church through his spiritual glasses.  There's so much more that he could have in his life if he would only let himself.  I'm so glad that he picked up on the difference that happened in Amulek when he said "I said I never had known much of these things; but behold, I mistake, for I have seen much of his mysteries and his marvelous power...for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things; but I would not know." My prayer and my hope for him is that he would let himself know.  He knows more about the church, its organization, the logistics of it, more than any other member that I know, but he will not know..... not yet, but it's coming.

Thursday we had a family home evening at a member’s house and I somehow ended up teaching the lesson.  I taught about having life goals and using the correct tools for our lives through the example of archery and riflery. I figure if I have 3 years of experience with something, I might as well use what I know to teach.  I think it went really well and I'm going to see if I can fine-tune it a little more and show it next time as a more polished lesson.  It's always a good thing when you can find gospel relations to the things in your life.  They are always there, we just need to find them.

Japan is great, I love working here and to have the opportunity to work with all of the great people here in Fukuoka.  It's definitely one of the busiest times in my mission. I made a to-do list that took a whole page on my planner and then some (and that was just the projects, not the small needs within each project!) but it's been great!  I figure if this doesn't prepare me for living a gospel centered life in the real world, I don't know what will.  Granted, I may not be “under” the Temple everywhere I go, but I will have to balance the time I have between that which is good, that which is better, and that which is best.  And it is my hope that both you and I will always choose the best.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Elder Everett
エベレット長老

We got a DRYER! 10 Nov 2012

Big news this week! We finally got a dryer in the house!  Oh man, living in a house of 6 people with only hang-dry options was really hectic.  This new dryer should prove to be a life-saver!

HAPPY NOVEMBER!! I know it's already the 10th but it's never too late to celebrate. 

So last weekend one of the Sister missionaries got sick here in Fukuoka ward, and we were trying to figure out what we could do to help her feel better.  Well, on Monday we had a cleaning check for our house and the Mission President and his Wife came and did it personally.  The first time they came was a couple of weeks ago and it was out of the blue with no preparation time, after a month straight of no P-day to clean it up... the first time wasn't pretty at all, but this second time they passed us with a celestial rating and then decided that they should go take us out for Ice Cream!  Well, the President was kind of busy at night, so I ended up driving everybody in the mission van to a Baskin Robins (they call it "31" in Japan, and I think there's maybe 1 or 2 per prefecture, so we were super lucky to find one!) and while we were their somebody brought up the plight of the Sister missionaries and everyone agreed that we should buy them some ice cream too.  I'm not sure if ice cream is the best thing to help a cold or not, but I figure it's good for the soul.  So I led the attack group to the Sister's apartment and there we had the Mission President's wife hand-deliver the ice cream.  You can just imagine the surprise on the Sisters' faces when they opened the door and Sister Gustafson and 4 missionaries were standing outside their door!

Also, we recently started having Monday office meetings that I'm in charge of, and this past Monday was the grand start!  I'm not sure how I get put in charge of running office meetings, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I figure if I fake like I know what I'm doing, one of these days I'll eventually fool even myself.  I feel like that's been my train of thought for the majority of the jobs that have come up while here in the office: Making the Christmas card, fixing internet and computer problems, creating a weekly newsletter, creating a running inventory list, writing the mission's yearly report to be filed in Salt Lake, and a bajillion other small projects that seem to come up out of nowhere.  Looks like it's time to put into practice all of those time management lessons I've had over the years!  Somehow during this I'm supposed to find time to go and teach people the gospel too, which we've been able to do more and more each week! 

In working out our balance of office work and Dendo time we've been finding more and more the importance of scheduling and planning ahead of time.  E-mails and texts have become a great tool in finding times to meet with investigators and to just keep in contact with them throughout the week.  An e-mail or text will never be able to take the place of meeting them in person and actually talking with them, but it's a lot better than leaving them in the dust with not contact at all!  This week we were able to get in several lessons, which was a great relief!  Everyone that we work with is progressing so well.  I know that they've felt the love and the truth of the gospel, and now the goal is to have them know that it's from God. 

We have 2 investigators that are progressing really well in the Gospel, learning, reading, praying, and coming closer to Christ, and we have many other investigators who are great people and who are working on coming closer to the Lord.  I know that as we find time to work with them and focus our work on their lives that there is a joy that is waiting for each and every one of them!  This Gospel has a way that it changes and improves people's lives. I've seen it time and time again, as people take the work of the Lord seriously in their lives, do the activities that bring them closer to Christ, read the scriptures, pray, go to church, there is a very visible difference in their lives.  How great it is to bring joy and happiness into the lives of those around us.  It's so true, as you focus on the people around you, all of your own doubts, fears, hardships, and worries seem to melt away and both you, and the people you serve have an increased light of Christ in their life. 

One of the greatest joys that the Gospel brings is the happiness from eternal families, something that we get to see today as Fukuoka Ward is hosting a reception for 2 young adults who just got Married here in the Fukuoka Temple!  We were asked to set up a stand of pamphlets and hand-outs that focus on the family to be offered at the Reception so we set up a display board with copies of the Family, A Proclamation to the World, A pamphlet on 3 ways to a happier family, and pictures of the Temple.  Hopefully the people at the reception will take at least something from the display and learn, even a little more, about the plan God has for families and for their eternal happiness!

Fall is a beautiful season here in Japan and I just love seeing all of the beautiful colors everywhere around us.  But it's getting awfully cold, I'm already bringing out the sweaters, and I can only imagine how it's going to be come January or so here in Fukuoka!  If this is supposed to be the warmest mission in Japan, I feel very sorry for everyone else... it's cold!

Well, I hope you all have a great week and are able to go do something awesome!

Lots of Love,
Elder Everett

Where has the time gone? 1 Nov 2012

Ok, so I don't have a lot of time, but I do want to give a quick update one what's happening before I have no time left at all.  A more full e-mail will come out tomorrow when I actually have my p-day.... (if I end up having a p-day or not... I'm still not even sure if we have time for that tomorrow or not.)

It's getting cold here in Fukuoka!  I've started wearing my vests again, and the heater's even been a major part of the daily routine now too.  I don't know who decided that every house in Japan should be without central heating, but it's a bugger getting out of the shower.  We're also in the middle of a make-over for our house here in Fukuoka, because when the missionaries who originally moved in there, they compiled all of the items from 3 apartments and had it filled to the brim.  So now we're gutting the place, scrubbing all of the surfaces, and stripping it down to the necessities and starting over fresh!  It's been a bit of a project here, which has been taking up our p-days and we've even had to dedicate a work day to it as well.  It's a good thing I got a little experience with new house furnishing in Yasufuruichi, because Elder Tanaka and I have been making it back and forth to the appliance stores and I've been the major head in gathering items for the apartment.  I'm not sure how that came to my desk, but, it's been a different sort of experience to say the least.

I've somehow managed to lose weight since coming to the Honbu.  I'm not entirely sure how that worked out, but I was talking to some of the Sister Missionaries who worked in Fukuoka before, and they said that there are two types of office missionaries, those who gain weight while in the Honbu, and those who lose it..... I guess I'm the losing kind... I think I'm all they way back down to the 130s now  I'm not entirely sure because all of the scales are in kilos, but I'm at a pretty firm 64 (nearly 3 kilos off from my time in Oita!)  Speaking of weight, we've been getting invited to more and more dinner appointments, and they've all been super delicious.  This ward definitely has the most number of kids that I've seen in any other ward so far in Japan, so it's a blast whenever we get to spend time with the families with tons of kids.  I even got to see a cowboy/space ranger fight while eating Gyoza with an investigator last week (with legit Woody and Buzz Lightyear dolls!).

Our investigators have also been doing really well.  We started a 40 day fast with our ward to prepare for the Christmas season, and the focus is on missionary work.  The goal is to have everyone in the ward invite someone to the church, either for an activity or for Sunday services, and to look for opportunities to have the Missionaries into their home.  Our investigators are even participating in the 40 day fast, and are searching to know whether this church is the one for them or not.  We have great people to work with here and I am so excited to see them grow and come closer to the Savior.  I've seen the change in their lives just in the short time I've been here, but they are some of the most genuine people I have ever met, and I just want them to do good! 

It may be November now (that means I'm old) but with the last 2 months of the year, we can make it a blast!

Have a good Week and I'll write again Tomorrow for the full follow-up for this week!

Elder Everett

What's this? We already had a Halloween Party?!?

It's beginning to feel a lot like Halloween, pumpkins everywhere.  Well, not really, only at the church building.  Halloween isn't really a thing here in Japan, but it certainly makes for fun ward activities!

You know, this was a good week.  Yes, it was busy as all get out (I think there were a couple of times I got back home close to midnight) but we got a lot done and started really getting into the groove of this transfer again!  So for the mission home the most hectic time is always the last and the first week of the transfer; incidentally, those occur one after the other, so we basically have 2 weeks that are just jam-packed!   Everything from new missionaries coming in, to old missionaries finishing their missions, to conferences for leaders from all over the mission, to introducing new missionaries to the district, and getting everybody's stuff to their new area....I think we've got it about covered now.  Usually we have a couple of weeks to get the items that everybody ordered ready for them to send at zone conference, but there is no zone conference this transfer, so we had to get everything ready by the first Tuesday of the transfer, and the day before that we had a slight car accident in the mission, so everything happened to come on the same day!  I don't think my desk has ever been so messy, with things just being thrown on it without me knowing!  I think it's mostly clean now... mostly.

But it's all okay!  Everybody got the things they need and we even had time to visit our new investigator who just got out of the hospital!  He was an alcoholic looking for a way out, and was told to ask for the help of God, and that's when he ran into the missionaries.  Since meeting with the missionaries he's stopped drinking alcohol, but has various different obstacles left on his path to baptism and a clean life, but that is his desire and he said he'll do what it takes to be rid of his addiction!  He's one of the more humble people I've met in the mission, and he's way excited to learn more about Christ and come closer to him. 

Speaking of people coming to Christ, we have a baptism today!  He's a homeless man that we've been working with here in the mission home and he's finally made all the preparations to come and be ready for the ordinance of baptism!  He's a little older, and he might take a little longer to understand principles, but he's honest, and is so ready for his baptism today!

The cool thing about Saturdays here in the mission home is that every week we have people come from all over the mission to go to the temple upstairs.  Today we had members from the Hiroshima stake, Yamaguchi stake, and Kagoshima district!  So we had the whole ward come over from Yasufuruichi!  It was way nostalgic to see all of the members here.  Of the 50 people that came over from Hiroshima stake, Yasufuruichi still holds the greatest portion at 25 people!  It always nice to see a ward do everything they can to stay active, not only in the church, but in the gospel as well.

On a slightly lighter note.... I think I've gotten used to driving in Japan now!  I've taken the big ol' vanimal down the tiny streets of Japan many a time now, and I think I've even gotten used to backing up between two tight spaces now.  I totally understand what Elder Clements felt when I first came in and he said, "I'm essentially the honbu taxi driver"..... Well, that spot's been passed down to me now :D  At least I get to see a lot of people! 

One of the other investigators that we've been working with, the one in line to inherit a giant shrine, is doing super well!  We had a dinner appointment with him at a member's house and he always has a great time with everybody.  He was busy over conference weekend so he didn't have a chance to watch conference, but we got him a DVD of the sessions and passed them along to him to watch.  Hopefully something in the words of the speakers, or in the spirit of the conference will ring with him and he'll be able to work out his feelings and come closer to God and begin his path on the journey back to him! 

Speaking of conference ...  Normally we all watch it over at the church building, but President Gustafson had an emergency come up and ended up having to stay at home, so he called me over to set up the system for him.  Well, it ended up taking a little longer than expected, and we would have missed some of the conference if we had gone back to the church, so we just ended up in the Mission President's living room watching conference with them.  For a session it was just the Gustafsons and Me and Elder Tanaka.  It was definitely like watching Conference back home.  Then we had the APs come over and it was the 6 of us for the last bit of Saturday's Conference.  It was a way nice time, and a really great conference.  I encourage everyone to go and see it again (especially Saturday morning.... that one is just something else!)

Ok, well, we've got to go get ready for the baptismal service and fix my glasses (I've been wearing my sports specs for the past couple of days until I can get them fixed....)

Here's some pictures from the Office (I do legit things I promise... it's not all play)

Elder Everett
エベレット長老

Transfer Week is a little hectic! 13 Oct 2012

Ben's 21st birthday is coming soon on November 1.  More than anything, he would love to get letters from family and friends!

Elder Benjamin C Everett

Japan Fukuoka Mission

9-16 Hirao-josuimachi

Chuo-ku

Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka

810-0029

JAPAN

*********************************************************

Ok, so I'm not entirely sure who decided it would be a good idea to schedule a re-wiring for the Honbu's phone and internet system during transfer week, but it's been a bit of a rough week as far as computer use goes.  For about a week or so my computer was the only one connected to the internet, and the internal drive for the office, so just about everyone was using my computer this week!  But it's all switched out now and all the missionaries are in their new places, and it's all good.

My companion, Elder Yamanashi ended up getting transferred this time around :(, but I have a new companion, Elder Tanaka!  He came to Japan the same time I did (well, two days before, but we try not to talk about that too much.....) Elder Tanaka was actually my roommate in the MTC for a couple of days before he ended up moving to another room (a fact that I haven't let him forget since coming to Japan).  He's actually been one of the missionaries that I look forward to seeing whenever I get a chance at a zone conference or something like that, so I'm way excited to be his companion this transfer!  He came in early like I did to get trained so we had a good week or so of a three man companionship, which lets us visit people that we don't normally have a chance to visit.  It was a really good, super fast week!  

So, after doing some more digging into the international license, we realized that it's only for people who go traveling so that they can use a rent-a-car in that country; if you actually live in that other country you have to get that country’ license.  So I had to take that Japanese Driving test after all.  Things I've learned from the experience:
1) I never want to work at a DMV in Japan
2) You are not tested on how well or safe you drive, but on how well you follow the rules of the DMV
3) Japanese DMVs are roughly the size of a small airport with their own test course; they can upkeep such a facility because it costs an arm and a leg to go through the system
4) There are a lot more foreigners in Japan than I thought (I met people from Nepal, India, China, Korea, Ireland, France, A US Consulate....)
5) DMV Dendo works out pretty effectively, and a ton of people are open to hear the gospel while waiting the 3 hours for a chance to drive the course.
6) The DMV in Fukuoka has a really good Udon shop right in front of it, and they all know me there now!

This week was what we would call a bitter-sweet experience.  It was way cool to have all of the missionaries come in, fresh out of the MTC with tons of Dendo fire, and to have meals at the mission home again!  But with each new wave of missionaries comes a group going home after 1.5 or 2 full years of service.  This group had Elder Clements go home, who has been a huge part of my mission.  He was my trainer, and set the tone for the rest of my mission, and it was a sad thing to see him go, but exciting to know that the 2 years were well spent.  It always hard to see people go that you've grown to know over the past while, but it's good to know that they are in the work of the Lord their whole lives.  

The other interesting thing that happens being in the honbu is that whenever things go wrong for transferring missionaries, we become the only source of help for them!  This go around there was only one missionary that had a hard time transferring; incidentally, it was Elder Gandy!  The connecting bus to Hiroshima ended up not being at the station, and the station manager said that they don't have such a route from that station!  Elder Gandy ended up having to go to a payphone and call the APs here and try to get it all figured out.  But the APs were out and about, so the call came to me to figure out his route to his new area.  After some frantic searches on the internet we finally found a route that would take him there and sent him on his way.  But the train he got on ended up taking a lot longer to arrive at the connecting station than planned so once again we had to change the plans.  Elder Gandy kept calling from payphones that only last 26 seconds per 10 yen you put in, and I don't think he realized you could put in multiple coins..... But 9 calls later we finally got him on a bullet train, and all is good now!  I remember him telling me earlier that he was really worried about transferring because he thought that something might go wrong and he'd have to find his way on his own... well, it happened, but he took it like a champ and survived Japan all on his own!  He even was talking to the Station Managers on his own!  That's a really cool thing to see.

Ok, well, we are going to see general conference (we watch in a week late here in Japan because they have to translate it and send it out to all of the stakes).  I'm really excited to watch conference because I've been hearing rumors of great talks and great things to come to pass!

Here I go to hear the Prophet’s voice, and to have a great time with our investigators hearing the counsel from the Living prophets in our day!

Do cool things,

Elder Everettエベレット長老