How can it be February?!

I don't know how it was for all of you back in the western hemisphere, but man, it feels that January hardly even happened at all.  Thinking back on it, I've been in Mihara for a full month now, which I'm sure isn't true, except for the fact that I know it is.  Oh man, that wibbly-wobbly time vortex, it's coming back to haunt me!

So I vote that this was a pretty good week for Dendo.  This past District Meeting we discussed the importance of sharing your own personal experiences, and how that is one of the best ways we can improve our teaching.  I love sharing my own experiences as I teach, it always seems to make what I teach 'real'.  You can flap your mouth all you want, and say some really good things, but when you show it, and demonstrate how it’s true, that's when the spirit can come in and testify of truth.  Recently one of my favorite quotes is thus, "What you do speaks so loudly that I can hardly hear what you say."  Oh how true that is.  Anybody can say something good, but it takes somebody truly special to go and do something good.

One of the main investigators we've been working with is also progressing really well.  She's really hesitant about setting a date to get baptized, but she's already inviting her friends to go and hear what the missionaries have to say!  She's found the joy of living the Gospel and is so close to having the spirit with her to help her more fully polish and let her faith flourish.  I can only imagine how hard it is to change your lifestyle in your 70s but, she's going strong and is a great example to me. 

Elder Urakami and I were also happy because we were able to find more time to go Finding this week!  We've been so focused on contacting members, investigators, and so many people that we've been sacrificing time to just go out and find people who are waiting.  Now we've been working harder on finding people and trying to help them see the goodness of the Gospel.  We've both become more proficient at starting and holding a conversation, and even teaching as we go.  Sadly people don't quite seem so ready to meet again, but that's going to be our next step, transferring from a good conversation on the street to a second meeting!  It makes me think of the scripture "Many are called, but few are chosen".  We call out to many people, but only few ever agree to hear more.  I've got the influence of the world against me, but that's okay, because I have the power of God behind me. 

Its great to see the power of God work in people, especially as we go and visit the less active members in the church.  So far while I've been in Mihara we've had 2 people reactivated, coming to Church regularly, and have 5 more promising people that we are working with.  Most of whom have non-member families who are bound to see the difference of the Gospel in the lives of their family member.  The work of the Lord continues to go forward, and no un-hallowed hand can stop the work!

Go out and do something good in the world today.  Make it a habit and before you know it you'll find yourself surrounded by friends and those who will go and help you, too. 

Elder Everett

エベレット長老

It Snowed in Mihara!

Greetings from the newly snow-blanketed Mihara! Well, it’s a little bit later in the day now, so most of it has already been melted, but it's all good, it’s always nice to wake up to a white world!

It's been an interesting week, not to mention the fact that it was the half-way mark in the transfer!  I'm absolutely positive that 6 weeks is not nearly as long as I once thought it was.  Next transfer, because of all of the new missionaries coming in, is only going to be 4 weeks; I can't even imagine how fast that is just going to fly by, which would take me to my last transfer in the mission!  All right, that's the end of that talk.....

But this week was a ton of fun.  We visited this family in one of the bordering cities around here in Mihara.  She's been visiting with the missionaries for nearly 9 years now, which is amazing to think because she has a 12 and 11 year old son and daughter, they've grown up with the missionaries and were excited to "see how this new one is."  In the 9 years she's experienced a lot of things and learned that there are many different types of people, not only in missionary work, but also in the church as well.  Sadly there have been some rather unfortunate experiences with members in the past, and they are proving to be a very large obstruction in her growth.  But I'm thoroughly convinced that this family is waiting for the Gospel in their lives, and I can see how it will bless their lives immeasurably.  The goal now - help them catch the vision.

As we've been working on unity in the Branch we've seen great success in bringing people back to church.  This past Sunday was Stake Conference, and one of our members, a Brother from Hawaii here teaching English, provided all of the priesthood holders Hawaiian Neck-ties to wear to the conference.  We went and gave them to all of the priesthood holders, the active and the inactive, and saw the bond of brotherhood strengthened in large ways. 

Elder Tashiro, of the 70, was there at stake conference and noticed our ties.  Now I've met Elder Tashiro at a couple of different places now, so he already knew me a little and he called me out in the middle of the meeting to ask why our neckties were the same.  After a brief explanation he took a pause in the meeting and asked everyone to discuss how can they, in their own wards and branches, invite the unity and brotherhood that the Mihara branch is developing.  I know that the work we do here is the Lord's work.  I have seen miracles here in Mihara and it’s only been 3 short weeks.  I'm very excited to see what the next 3 weeks has in store. 

As we've been visiting other members we've met a man who knew Jimmy Carter, and sang Karaoke with him (twice), found two families with non-member sons start to show interest toward knowing something more, and may have even helped in kick-starting the home teaching in the ward.  (With the neck-ties we came up with a priesthood theme for the branch.  BBS: Brotherly Love, Brotherly Kindness, Share the Load, yes we do say it in English; it's not quite as good in Japanese 兄弟愛・親切・重荷を負い会え)

Well, I hope you all have a great week, and I've got to go clean (we were instructed that today would be an all-day cleaning day, and we're not allowed to go out until it's all clean) so let's get to it!

Love you lots and wish you the best!

Elder Everett

エベレット長老

What?! 21 months OVER!

So I get an e-mail from my mom today and I'm way excited because it starts with some updates on how BYU Basketball is doing (Taking down San Diego and ruining their undefeated streak!) and was way excited.  Then I continued reading and the very next sentence is this: "So, Dad and I have our American Airlines tickets to Fukuoka!"...... WHAT!  There's no way it's time for that yet!  But then I thought about it and realized... yesterday was the 21 month mark for my mission!  NO WAY!

 

Well it was a good 21 month mark.  We had a zone conference/p-day with the Mission President and his wife.  That was a ton of fun.  We talked about the importance of cleanliness in the apartment (I've been keeping it good, just to let you know.... I still stand as having the most cleaning checks of any other missionary, all of them with the Celestial rating!) and the principle of no-fear contacting.

 

We watched this video called "Fear Not" made for missionaries in Japan.  Something I've noticed is that a lot of people think of missionary work, especially Finding, to be us, as Mormons, shoving our religion down everybody's throat.  We go out, talk to you in the streets, visit you in your home, we're everywhere.  We're not here to pull out somebody's interest, teach people who do not want to learn, or do any such thing. Instead we are going out into the world to find the people who are interested and willing to learn at least a little bit of the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us.  I'm not going to lie, it's hard when you go through a week talking to every person you see, literally hundreds a week, trying to share with them a little bit of the happiness you've felt, only to have them ignore you, demean you, or any manner of other things you can imagine, abuse, threats, and physicality not restrained.  But I can stand with confidence to whatever comes this way because I know that I am on the Lord's errand, and I know that they too are a Child of God who is just as lost, just as confused as everyone else.  If it's not somebody’s time to hear the Gospel, it’s just not their time.  That's when I step back, send them on their way, and continue on the search to find the people willing to listen.  One of the hardest things for me in my mission has been to go and contact people out on the streets.  I don't know what to say, how to approach them, or even what they'll think, but I've learned that it doesn't really need to be that trying.  If they don't want to listen, that's fine, we all have our agency and neither their time, nor my time, will be wasted in the process.  But after all that searching, all that work, all that effort, when somebody finally listens, when somebody finally lets you know that your efforts are not in vain, that makes a whole day, a whole week, heck, even a whole 2 years worth it! 

 

The conference was way fun because I got to see a ton of missionaries that I love to see!  Also, the AP's brought over the Suit that I bought on the last day before I left Fukuoka (which just so happens to be almost the exact same one that Elder Gandy bought...).  Later during the zone P-day activities we played this game called "Punny Punny" I can't really explain it now, but it's definitely one that I'm going to have to bring back with me, don't forget to ask me when I get back (in 3 months..... !!)

 

Oh, so my Mom has reminded me that I have neglected to talk about my companion at all... oops, my bad.  His name is Elder U....., he's half Japanese and half Hawaiian.  He speaks perfect English and Japanese, and he wants to work more on his English, so we speak English in the apartment.  It's kind of weird because I haven't spoken that much English in a very long time.... Is it weird that it now feels weird to speak English? 

 

I admit, I'm a bit of a geek, but I've got to say, I've got nothing on Elder U......  It's been good though because he's been the only companion that will play Shogi (Japanese chess) with me.  The apartment here in Mihara is pretty big.  Usually missionary apartments are 3 rooms, the study room, sleeping room, and the kitchen with the bathroom shoved in there somewhere.  But here in Mihara we've got an extra 4th room, which basically becomes a place to put all our stuff, it's actually pretty 便利.... I can't think of the word for benri right now.... convenient?

 

Ok, so I don't have too much more time, we've got to get ready for Eikaiwa, so until next week!

 

Elder Everett

エベレット長老

Greetings from Mihara, Japan!

Greetings from the cold outreaches of Mihara!

This has been an interesting week... So I've been a little bit sick for the past week or so which has brought our Dendo down a little bit, but luckily it hasn't derailed it yet.  One of the good things that's happened from it is that we've found more time to keep contact with the people we've started to teach with anything from a phone call, a text message, or making them cookies! 

Recently we've undertaken a task to go and visit every less active member in Mihara.  We've got about 100 people that we have to visit/find with information that hasn't been updated in years!  It's been a little sad to see just how far some of them have been separated from the church, and just how out of touch many of them are with any members.  I'm really excited to see how many people we can visit and to help Mihara keep it's records updated for all who come after me.  It's been an adventure with our bikes going to search out these wandering souls, but I figure its got to be good for our health, or at least I know  the Lord will see our efforts and I am a firm believer that the Lord loves to help a hard worker.  And I will be that worker that he can use to accomplish his purposes.

We also met with a family that's been investigating the church for the past 8 years or so!  The mother really likes the missionaries and wants to help us out in all that we do, but it more than a little reluctant to come to church.  There have just been too many unfortunate events that have happened in her live whenever she's made the effort to come that it's going to be hard to help her overcome her anxieties.  But they are a great family with 2 kids, a 12 year old boy and a 11 year old girl both of whom I'm super excited to work with! 

So here in Mihara 三原 we cover a couple of other cities as well.  We have the main place where we work in Mihara, but we also have members and investigators in the neighboring cities as well.  Onomichi 尾道, where the church used to be several years ago, that's a good 1.5 hour bike ride away.  The good thing is that it’s all along the coast so we have a really pretty ride down there.  Another city we have is called Takehara 竹原, which we have to either take a train to get to, or take our bikes up and over a mountain!  Mihara also has a series of smaller islands that we go to visit as well.  Here in Mihara (the meaning is 3 fields) we have mountains villages, isolated islands, and cities in the valley!  I don't know if my body is ever going to get acclimated to any one sea level!

One thing I'm really excited about here in Mihara is our refocused efforts on going out and serving in the community.  We signed up with the local volunteer organization and our first activity is a board game conference later this month!  Hah, I knew there would be something good about knowing a thing or two about Japanese board games.  There’s going to be quite a few people there that are going to be more than a little bit taken aback at a foreigner coming in to play their country’s games!  We're told to build relationships of trust with people that we come to teach, and I figure this is got to be an interesting way to do it.  We're told to use our talents as we go and find … Let’s see how it goes!

We all have something that we can do, a talent that we have that we can use to serve those around us.  Hopefully this week we'll all find something we can do to go and serve those we love with something that we love to do! 

Have a great week!

Elder Everett

エベレット長老

The Most Far East Missionary in the Mission!

This week was transfers!  So I'm finally out of the Honbu, and now  I'm in this branch called Mihara, back in Hiroshima!  It's the farthest East unit in the mission, so I've been telling everyone else that Honbu is just trying to make me more far eastern.  :)

I don't know if I've ever had a more bi-polar week in my mission.  The first of the week was new year’s eve, the biggest celebration in Japan, and it was also transfer week, the busiest time in a transfer!  From Monday until Thursday morning we were rushing around trying to meet with members, get ready for the new missionaries and for the returning missionaries, and I was working on training a new recorder!  There just didn't seem to be enough hours in a day to do everything that needed to be done.

Then Thursday came around and I got shipped off to Mihara.  I left around 9 AM and came in around 3 that evening.  Ever since then we've been going Mihara pace.  Mihara is this little town on the outskirts of the Hiroshima Prefecture that essentially closes up by 8:00.  So we're usually back around that time to the apartment to eat dinner and call our investigators and members.  By the time that's all over, we've planned and done everything else, we still have like an hour left in the apartment!  I've got time to write in the journal, read the scriptures, study the language, and there's still time to spare.  I'm still not sure what to do with all the time.  It's been a crazy experience to see the 2 different worlds.  I don't know if anyone else can quite understand the juxtaposed lifestyle switch I've had this week mid mission, I can only imagine come April when it all goes topsy-turvy again.

Here in Mihara though, I feel like I'm a completely different missionary.  I've been going out to talk to everybody within sight, trying to find like I've never found before.  I can clearly tell that I am a different missionary now from the Elder Everett who went to the Honbu a couple of months ago.  It's too bad to think that I only have 3 and a half months left now that I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of it, but rest assured, I will do all within my power to make the best with whatever time, wherever or to whomever I'm called to serve. 

I'm reminded of a quote from Heber C. Kimball after being called to serve in England:

"Once I understood the will of the Lord, I knew that I would go forth under any hazard, knowing that the Lord Almighty will guide me in the path that I must go."  (I may have fudged it a little bit...)

I hope you all have a great week and good luck with your new year's resolutions! 

Elder Everett

エベレット長老

Thus the Snake takes the Place of the Dragon 12/30/12

It's the end of the year of the Dragon!  Upcoming now is the year of the Snake, and I'm pretty positive I've seen more snake drawings and items in the last week than at a pottery class at scout camp.

So, this week was CHRISTMAS! ＊<<<<<== And I have to say that it has to be one of the more unforgettable Christmases I've ever had.  So as the Recorder I'm in charge of forwarding everybody's mail and all their packages, which, as you can image, has been crazy over the Christmas season.  There have been some days when there were so many packages that they couldn't bring in any at all and I just had to go out and make a list of all the packages to be forwarded and then make the stamps for them!    One main problem for Christmas packages overseas is that you have to write in all of the contents, so I took the liberty of taking a black marker over everybody's package as they came in (there's no fun in knowing what you're getting for Christmas you know).  But here's where the problem came in.  Christmas eve is a national holiday in Japan (the day after the Emperor's birthday) so all of the Post Offices are closed, and even if I did send out packages, there would be no way to ensure that the missionaries would get them before Christmas.  That's when President Gustafson gave me the assignment to be Santa Claus. 

So this is how it worked.  We took in all of the packages on Monday that were going to either Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Yamaguchi, or Hiroshima Zones and forwarded out all of the rest (sorry Okinawa, you're just too far away) and Elder Tanaka and I took all of the packages and hopped on a bullet train to go deliver them to the missionaries before Christmas day.  We made a stop in Tokuyama (one of my previous areas) and delivered 2 packages, and then made it over to Hiroshima where we had 5 packages to deliver!  Through a series of phone calls, plans changing, and a slew of other events, I eventually was greeted by Elder Gandy and an investigator (now a new member) who I had worked with in Hiroshima at the Hiroshima Station.  I'm taking that as my best Christmas present this year.  The investigator that I had been working with was having a super hard time when I was with him, and now 1 year later, to see him baptized as a new member in the Church, that was amazing.  And it was awesome to see Elder Gandy, who has now been with other companions almost as long as he was with me!  It was awesome to see how he'd grown and progressed, not only in Japanese, but also as a missionary as well!  We were planning on being back in Fukuoka that day, but with holiday travel and missing a connecting train, we ended up staying the night in Hiroshima at the Zone Leaders apartment.  I can now officially say that I have spent every Christmas of my mission in Hiroshima, the 2nd being literally 10 minutes away from where I had it last year! 

Later that day we had a zone P-day with everybody in Fukuoka, which was a blast.  We had everybody come to the Fukuoka Building and watched "It's a Wonderful Life"!  It just wouldn't be Christmas without Jimmy Stewart, you know.  We set up a projector in the gym and hooked the laptop to an amp left over from the caroling event a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome.  It was the first time a lot of people had seen the movie, and everyone agreed that it was definitely a keeper.  We also did a sort of missionary superlative list for the zone with such categories as "quickest to get married after the mission" or "Most likely to marry a Japanese person" to "Most rebellious before the mission" or "Most Nerdy before the mission" and so forth.  You might be interested to know that I was voted the most nerdy pre-mission, most likely to marry a Japanese person, most likely to have 10 kids, and most likely to return to Japan.... strangely enough a pretty common assessment from what I've heard throughout all my mission (I swear every transfer I've heard somebody tell me that I should marry a nice Japanese girl and come and live in Japan, that or be a TV comedian...)

Here's the big news though!  So this coming week is Transfers, and the weird thing about being in the Honbu is that you know all about transfers way ahead of time, and if you are transferring, you'll know at least a week ahead of time because you've got to train your new replacement.  That being said, starting from this past Wednesday I have been training my replacement, Elder Trane.  That's right, I'm heading back into the field!  It's been a great experience and a blast to work in the Honbu, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.  But I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to get into the field.  The past 3 transfers I've been an Office Elder, and it's been a time that was needed, and it was a time for a lot of growth, but now as I head back to the field, it’s time to apply all the lessons I've learned and keep the dendo going strong!  I know where I'm going but I can't quite announce it to the world yet (that's on Tuesday) but I can tell you that I am super excited for my new area and my new companion!  Honestly though, I'm most grateful for the time that I'm going to be gaining once I leave the Honbu.  I do not know how anybody could keep that kind of pace up for any extended period of time, but I know that I've done my best here, and I can honestly say that I am proud of the work that was accomplished.  Everything I wanted to see happen didn't happen, but I made great friends, and met people that I don't want to forget for anything in the world!

Well, it's time for a new year and for new ideas.  I wish you all have a happy new year and have a great start to next year (the year of the snake).  Make your resolutions great!

Love you Lots
Elder Everett
エベレット長老

It's CHRISTMAS TIME which means lights, songs, and tons of miracles in Japan!

Oh, so I need to apologize for not e-mailing last week.  We seem to be continuing this pattern of not really having a P-day here.  Last Saturday we had activities from 12 all the way until 9!  It was a crazy busy day, but it was way fun, and way worth it. 

Ok, so this is what's been going on the past couple of weeks.  We got a challenge from the Mission President to go and participate in what he called the 12 Days of Christmas.  The theme was, "What Shall we Give" to Christ (Click the link) the answer being to spread his word to all those who would hear.  What better gift to give Christ than to serve those around us with increased emphasis and zeal.  The goal was for every zone in the mission to contact 1000 people and focus on finding, then the following week (this week) to meet with them or talk with them every day focusing on teaching them Christmas' true meaning.  With that goal, we were hoping for 8000 contacts throughout the mission.  Well, in the Fukuoka zone alone we broke 3000 contacts and over all of the zones we spread the Christmas message to over 10,000 people during that first week of focused finding.  But even beyond that, more than just talking to people and spreading the message, is the hope to find someone who will want to hear more, who will continue to hear more about the Gospel, and out of those contacted in the Fukuoka zone alone, more than 30 new investigators were found, and are hearing the lessons of the Gospel of Christ. 

Even Elder Tanaka and I were able to find extra time to go out and put extra time into dendo.  We didn't have as much time as other companionships to go out and find, but with the time that we had, we were truly guided by the spirit, and our time, regardless of how short it was, resulted in the highest effectiveness of any other companionship!  Of 41 people contacted, 11 contacts turned into a lesson on the restoration of the Gospel, and 4 people agreed to hear more about the Gospel.  I can't think of a single other time in my mission where every 1 in 10 people I talked to had a desire to learn more.  The normal seems to hover around 1 in 100 or even 200. Christmas is truly a special season. 

While we were finding out on the streets on Tuesday we found this one guy walking down the street talking on his cell phone, we went up to him just kind of saying "Hello, we're missionaries."  Usually at that point we get 1 of 2 responses.  Either a flat out turn on the head, trying to put on a face as if they never heard us, or a hand up between their face and us saying "Kekko desu" (meaning: I'm good).  So you can imagine our surprise when he puts down his phone and says "あ、聞いてみよかな”Oh, let me listen for a bit".  That's one reaction that you almost never get!  After we talked to him a bit he got another phone call, but he quickly told the guy on the other end that he was talking to some missionaries and that he'd get back to him later.  After talking some more he was like "It's way cold out here, lets go talk in the cafe."  For the next hour or so we ended up talking to this guy eventually leading to an invitation to the Ward Christmas party and the young single adult activity that weekend to which he even brought a friend, who seems even more interested in the message than the first guy.  I don't think it's any coincidence that this 12 Days of Christmas activity came right at the end of the 40 day fast for the ward.  I know that it set the tone and prepared the way for the success we've seen this past 2 weeks.

On a slightly sadder note though, one of our main investigators has been absolutely swamped with work, and hasn't returned calls, texts, messages, or anything that we've been leaving for him.  We're really worried about how he's doing.  He works really hard and he's been loving reading the Bible and learning about the Gospel, but I think he let his work life get the most of him and I think he's losing the sight of what the Gospel is for.  There's not much we can do now but keep leaving him messages and notes, and hoping that through some small act that he'll be able to feel the savior's love for him and, when he's ready, come and continue in his progression towards Christ and our Heavenly Father.

This past Wednesday I was called on to be Santa Claus for our parent-kid English class.  It was way fun to come bursting into to the gym with all of the kids screaming "SANTA PLEASE."  Most all of them were still little enough to believe that I was the real Santa Claus, so I had to make sure I did a good job of representing the Jolly Old Man.  I taught them about the true meaning of Christmas and how we can all do and say kind things to make the baby Jesus happy.  We practiced saying nice words like "Thank you" "Please" "I love you" and "Merry Christmas."  There were some kids that were absolutely terrified of me, but for the most part, I think they had a really good time. 

The caroling activity that we put together for the Ward activity a couple of weeks ago has become a hit, and we've performed it 3 times now in various locations.  This past Monday and Friday we had an open house at the mission home for investigators and for the leaders of the ward.  Sister Gustafson and a couple of helpers were working overtime to prepare for the events making the most delicious cakes and sandwiches and my favorite Swedish Meatballs.  I even got into the food making mode and taught them all how to make the pretzel, hershey kiss, M&M treats!  I'm not sure if I can classify them as a hit or not, but I know I definitely had a fun time making/eating them.

Merry Christmas to all of you, and I hope you all have a great New Year! 

Elder Everett
エベレット長老