December 21, 2016
Hello family and friends!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
It is a great time to be a missionary! I love it because here in Japanthe girl that I baptized a few weeks ago, Himawari chan, has a bigschool test on Christmas!! Despite the fact that it is Sunday, andalso CHRISTMAS!! I couldn't believe it. So everyone be grateful thatIn America and other places Christmas is so widely recognized, here itis not too much! But despite that, there are a lot of members feedingus, and we will be ha I a very merry Christmas here, as missionaries!!Also we had our ward Christmas party is last Saturday, and it was sofun to be able to sing I. The choir, and also to play Santa Clause!!Super fun!
We were able to go to the temple again today, so that was reallyspecial! It is crazy that elder Graham and I have gone to the templetogether since the first time the missionaries were allowed to go;right when it opened! It was our 4th time! We are very lucky.
It has been a great opportunity, and experience to be training! It isso fun to watch someone who hasn't experience Japan get to experiencethings and get all pumped about things that have unfortunately becomenormal for me. We cracked a raw egg into a bowl, and ate this meet andvegetable mix, where you take it and dip it into the raw egg, and theneat it. It had oysters in it and a lot of other really good stuff, butmy comp had a really hard time with that! Haha it takes some time toget used to I guess, especially if you don't like sea food!I know that this Church is true. I know that we can be healed andbecome clean again through Christ. I love President Uchtdorf's warningto not take the gospel for granted. We are so very blessed, and weshould never allow ourselves to become numb to the blessings of churchand temple attendance, Book of Mormon, and prayer, and following thecommandments. I love you all so much and I love Jesus Christ. I am sograteful for him, and for his birth. Take some time and really reflecton what Jesus has done for you, and try and give him the one thingthat you can give him; your will.Have a great Christmas!!Love,コノバー長老Elder Conover
December 12,2016
Dear Family and friends,
This week has been crazy!! I don't even really know where to begin,but I guess I could start with last Monday night. We got back to theapartment, and I raced into the bathroom. In the middle of using thebathroom my phone rings. No big deal, but I pull it out, and see thatit is the AP's. I was already finishing, so I quickly finish, andanswer the phone, and then proceed to receive my transfer call. Ifound out that I would be Staying in Toyohira!! So that was asurprise, and really if you receive your transfer call on Monday itmeans that you are training a new missionary, so that basically toldme that, before he told me that I would be training! It was quite ashock, because I really thought that I was leaving, but I was thrilledto be able to stay in Toyohira, and to be able to train a newmissionary from the MTC. The other elders came home, and we played agame where we both hadn't received a call from the AP's, but then weboth found out, and I found out that Elder Graham, who came in and satnext to me in the MTC, and who came and transferred into my area thislast transfer was also going to be going trainer, so we were going tobe training together!! Craziest thing ever!! I've never heard of twoElders who came into the mission at the same time, training twomissionaries who also came to the mission at the same time, in thesame area!!
And then the next few days were like this...Wednesday Dec. 7Today we went to honbu and were able to receive training on how totrain our beans. After training we took Elder Pace, and Elder Yabutani(I love him), back to Toyohira, and I went on splits with both ofthem. I was feeling the power of God, and we were able to find 3really good investigators. The first investigator we found was namedSatou San. He was shoveling snow, and I pressed him to let us help, bypicking up a shovel myself, and just doing it. We served him, and heopened up really well to hearing our message. We were able to makeanother appointment for Friday, so that was really exciting. Then wefound a family!! A mom and dad, with a little 1 year old. They alsoagreed to listen to the message. And then we found an older guy whoseemed not too open, but was okay with talking to us. We talked witheveryone, and Yabutani choro was a little bit amazed by how muchsuccess we were able to have in just 2 hours. It was pretty amazing.It made me feel adequate to train, which was a really great blessing.
Thursday Dec. 8Today was a really cool day. I met my new missionary! He is fresh outof the MTC! His name is Elder Bennion, and I love him already. He is areally good guy, and I am so happy to be able to be his trainer. Weall walked into the room in President Nakatsuka's Home, and there wereall of the beans, just sitting there. The first person I saw was a guywho was from my high school!! Matt Jenson! haha I remember when wewent on a group date for a dance in high school. So funny! I thoughtthat I would train him, but then I didn't, but I was kind of happytoo, because it would have just been like in high school. Anyway wewere able to get our beans, and then get going! I ripped my pants, sothat was kind of sad and akward. Especially when Coyama shimai, (Sheis so cool, and is training and is stl on transfer 6, (BOSS)) but shejust told me, "did you know your pants ripped?" (In japanese ofcourse.) So I just laughed, and told her yes, she asked how. lol, justfrom kind of falling I guess! But I was able to lower my back enoughto be able to make it so most people couldn't see, but she is reallyshort, so she was able to still see apparently. haha. Anyway, we madeit back to the area, and were able to have a good first day! We workedreally hard, and found 4 new investigators!! The coolest thing everhappened! We found this guy named kuroki san; I started talking to himon the street, and he just said that he was going home. We talkedabout his hobbies, and found out that we were the same age. I askedhim if we could come back with him to his apartment and talk with him.To my pleasant surprise, he said okay, and so we were able to go backand talk to him. I thought that he would just talk to us in hisgankan, but he let us in, which was so cool!! Nothing like that hasever happened in my mission before! We came in, sat on his couch, andtaught him about God's plan for us as his children. The spirit wasthere, and it was a really good lesson, and it was weird that for thefirst time in my mission my compaion not only knew less what was goingon than me, but didn't know anything that was going on. It was sointeresting. It was kind of cool to be able to have full control..lol.Although Elder bennion did add a nice, "Do you have any questions?",at a time that was really great, so that was awesome!! I thought alittle bit too much about how cool it would be to make a baptismaldate on my first day with my bean, so I asked him to be baptized, butit was too much for me, and not enough t for him, and so he did notrespond too well to it. He wasn't all that interested in the idea ofbeing baptized. I have to always remember to listen to the spirit, andreally not think about myself when teaching people. I still felt goodthough, because I know that we should always be asking more people tobe baptized. After that we were able to meet with Himwari chan. Shesaid something really cool: I knew that you wouldn't trasnfer, becauseI prayed that you wouldn't! Such a cool thing to hear! God really doesanswer prayers! Then we were able to go play kingball which was reallyawesome for our brand new beans to be able to experience. It was areally great day. I am really looking forward to this transfer.
Friday Dec. 9Today I had a really good time with my companion. Elder Bennion issuch a great guy. He is so willing to work, and has such greatdesires. I hope that I can be able to become really great companionswith him. It is so fun watching someone experience Japan for the firsttime. We were able to go and meet with Satou San, who I found byhelping him with shoveling his snow, with Yabutani and pace choro. Hewas really awesome! He is not quite a golden investigator, but Itseems like we will be able to meet him really well twice a week, sothat seems like it will work out really good, and he should be able toprogress! Also today we were able to meet with Chi San! He was doingreally good. It was really great to be able to visit with Chi San. Heis a really good guy. I really hope that Chi San can develop realfaith, and become a member of the church. It was overall a reallygreat day.My companion is really hard on himself, and had a hard time in theMTC, but I think that it is so cool the experiences that God has givenme in order to be able to train him right now. It is really cool howGod's timing really is all perfect, and I really am supposed to behere right now. A great testimony builder that I am worthy, and that Idoing what the Lord wants me to do.Saturday Dec. 10Today was a really crazy day. It snowed all day!! Literally like 4feet. I have never seen anything like it!! We shoveled the snow in thechurch 3 times, because it just kept on coming down, and making itnecessary to be done again! Haha so crazy. It was a really fun day. Wewere able to really experience some snow that I was always wanting toexperience, and walking around, and wearing my boots all worked reallygreat!! Such an awesome day! My companion is really great!Sunday Dec. 11Today was a crazy miracle. We were able to talk with a member BrotherKonno. He was able to open up with us, and take us to three differentfriends, and introduced us to them at their houses!!! I have nevereven heard of that kind of thing even being possible in Japan!! Such acool experience. My faith and testimony was strengthened so much!! Ilove the mission!!!Sorry this is all over the place!! It has been an insane week!! I loveand miss you all!! Thank you for all your support and love!Love,コノバー長老Elder Conover
December 4, 2016
This letter is a history of the events that have taken place this lastweek!!' Very crazy!! It is dated so you can kind of have a betterunderstanding of what happened and when!11/30/2016 WednesdayToday was a very special day on my mission. I was able to teach anawesome Ekaiwa class with my homie Bede choro! I made the theme"Fear", and got really pumped about helping people be able to overcometheir fear of failure. It felt really good, especially since it wasalmost all girls in the class! Haha. It was great because,ゆきなちゃん、ひまわりちゃん、ごと姉妹 and, 森兄弟 were all there!! It was a really greatclass to be able to talk about that stuff with. I committed them allto make a plan as to where they see themselves in 1 year, 5 years, and10 years. But then to think about how fear would get in the way ofthem getting to where they want to be, and make a plan to overcomethat fear. Also in this plan to plan for failures!! I created a quotethat I will probably use from now on! "Don't plan for perfection, planfor progression."
But the real best part of the day is what happened after we finishedteaching class. Himawari chan. Okay so a brief background about her.She is 16 years old, and met the missionaries in another area inAugust, we met her at the end of September, when she came to ourchurch with her best friend who is a member. After church that day,her friend called our ward mission leader, Brother Masashi, and toldhim that Himawari chan wanted to take the lessons from the cool, イケメンforeigner that she had met at church. That ended up being me, so thenAkamatsu choro and I were able to teach her! We taught her once withthe sisters, and then Sister Koyama got injured biking, so for thenext month and a half, Akamatsu and I taught her the lessons, and wehad many very special and spiritual experiences together. Himawarichan has strengthened my faith, in a way that I didn't think waspossible. Her sincere faith, despite having any background inChristianity, or religion at all, is very admirable and inspiring tome. It is so beautiful to watch a person come to know for themselvesthat this church is true. She truly has learned from the Holy Ghost,and only from the Holy Ghost, has she been able to find faith, andbelieve in the Gospel. After the Sister's got better, and transfershappened, we were able to teach her with the Sister's for the past 5weeks, but the sister's kind of became a little bit more in charge, sowe had to trust in them, and the timing that they moved things in.Last week, they made a new baptismal date for December 11th becauseshe still did not have her parent's permission. The transfer date ison the 8th, and so it was sad that she would not be baptized beforethen, because Oshiro Shimai is finishing her mission, and I will alsomost likely transfer, and so that was sad, but I knew that she wouldstill get baptized, as long as she got permission from her parents, soI was okay with it, but then this last Saturday, I just felt like Ishould text her.
So I texted her on Saturday, and asked her if she had the confidenceto ask her Mom if she could be baptized, and she said yes! I asked herif she would ask her Mom that night if she could be baptized, and shesaid yes! So she did ask her Mom, and as a total miracle, her mom saidyes!!! She said, "I don't understand it all, but if that's what youwant to do, then I will let you." Best thing ever!! Then Himawari chancame to church the next day, and I talked with her, and told her thatshe could get baptized before Sister Oshiro finishes, and also beforeI possibly transfer, and she wanted to do it sooner! But we still hadthe problem of her dad. She still needed to talk to her dad, but shedoesn't talk to her dad a lot, so this was really hard for her. Nobodyreally said anything to her, but then we got a text Sunday night,saying that she had asked her dad, and that her dad said it was okaytoo!!!! Total miracle!!! It was still up in the air though if we couldmake a date work before the transfer, but when Himawari chan came toour English class on Wednesday, the sister's and I talked with her,and we were able to work out Sunday night for her to be baptized!! Shewas so excited, and we were so excited, and it was just awesome! Theykept on talking about details for a little bit, and I talked to someother people at English class. Then Himawari chan came up to me, andsaid the most rewarding thing that I have heard on my mission. "Willyou baptize me?" It was such a special moment. I felt very humbled,and very very grateful to God. God is so kind, and is such a God ofmiracles.4 days later...(In the last four days we had a thousand differentproblems with both Himawari chan and the other Investigator,Tsuchitoriba San, who was also hopefully being baptized on this comingSunday..but in the end they were both able to pass their interviews,and the bishop and one of the awesome return missionary sisters in ourward were able to meet Himawari chan's parents, and everything wasconfirmed, and all of the problems were resolved.)Sunday 12/4/2016Today was the best day of my mission so far!!! Himawari chan was ableto be baptized, after all. We got to the church at 5:50, and did allthe rest of the preparations, and practiced the song that we weresinging as missionaries. "I'll be with you my friend". Then Himawarichan and Tsuchitoriba San got to the church, and the sister's tookthem to change, Bede choro (Such a homie!!! So happy to have had thelast three transfers in the same area and apartment as him! I amreally hoping that we transfer to the same area this next transfer,even though the chances are not too high...) But Bede choro and I wentand got changed, and then we sat with them up on the stand, and OshiroShimai gave a really great talk about the Holy Ghost. Himawari chan'sparents came!! With her 10 year old little brother!! It was so specialto have them there, and such a surprise to everyone, includinghimawari chan, that they actually came, but truly such a miracle. Wethen all went to the font, and Bede choro asked who was going first,and Tsuchitoriba San just said, "Me." Which was so awesome, becauseshe is usually the most quiet, and passive person, so it is so awesomewhen she makes a strong decision. So Bede choro went first, and did areally great job. It was very special. Then Himawari chan and I wentinto the font, and I asked for the order of her full name like 3times, because I didn't want to mess it up, but it was a littleawkward, because everyone saw, and kind of laughed, but it was such ahappy moment, that nothing mattered. Her parents were less than 5 feetfrom me, right in the front watching the baptism, which made me alittle bit nervous, considering that they had only just barely evenapproved for her to be baptized, probably not really evenunderstanding exactly what baptism means, but the ordinance went well.It was so special to be able to baptize her. She has grown so much,and is truly converted, such a special day in her life. She wants togo to byu Hawaii, and will probably serve a mission too, so that is soawesome!! After the baptism, we all got changed, and then got backinto the chapel, where Tsuchitoriba San, and Himawari chan both gavebeautiful testimonies. It was one of the most powerful moments on mymission. To have Himawari chan, who I had just had the opportunity tobaptize, bear such a strong testimony of God, and of Jesus Christ. Ittruly strengthened my testimony, and I am so grateful to God, for theblessing of being able to be a part of this special day.Also a story about Tsuchitoriba San, Graham choro and Bede choro'sinvestigator.She was found 5 weeks ago, and was able to be baptized very quickly,which is such an awesome thing, especially since nobody thinks thatthat is possible, and that it always just takes time, in Japan. But acouple weeks ago (I hadn't had time to write it when it happened andhad forgotten since, but it was a very defining moment for me on mymission, so I will share it now.) Graham choro asked us if we wouldteach Tsuchitoriba San the Atonement with them, because he had a goodexample that he wanted to use. This was on Tuesday night, 2 weeks ago.I said okay, and so we went to the lesson, and Graham choro explainedthe Tatoe that we were going to do, to Tsuchitoriba San. Satou choro(My companion) was going to represent us, in this life. Bede chorowould represent Satan, and Tsuchitoriba San would represent God. Satouchoro had to not blink for 30 seconds in order to return to live withGod. So Satou choro was able to do that, and he returned to God. Butit is not actually that easy. Satan does not want us to return to God,and so Satan makes it so that we are tempted to blink. This next time,Bede choro came in, and snapped at Satou choro's eyes, and blew onhim, ect, and Satou choro blinked 6 times. The price that had to bepaid was 10 push ups per blink. Satou choro had to do 60 push ups tomake it back to Heavenly Father. Satou choro started doing push ups,and he couldn't make it past 26. Then Graham choro pulled me in andsaid that I represented Jesus Christ, and he explained that JesusChrist takes our punishment upon himself, and saves us, so that we canstill return to God.I got down and started doing push ups...I had already done 50 push upsthat morning, and I have not done push ups all at once in a set over30 in a long time, and so I was a little bit worried. In this examplebreaks were not allowed, it had to all be at once, I could not get offof my hands and feet. I started going, and got to 25. Then I starteddoing push-ups 2 by 2. (Form had to stay perfect too, Jesus Christ didnot cheat, suffering the Atonement.) I had an occasional 3, but mostlydid the push ups 2 by 2, for the next 10 minutes. Tsuchitoriba San wasin charge of counting, and when I got to 50, and looked like I wasgoing to die, with my arms shaking and head bulging, she said thatthat was enough, right? It was okay, I could stop. Graham choro lookedat her with tears in his eyes, and shook his head. The price had to bepaid, and it had to be paid in full. (I didn't actually see thishappen, I was a little preoccupied by that one number; 60.) I prayedharder than I ever have, to have the strength to be able to make it to60. I thought about Christ, and was able to see a glimpse of how muchhe suffered, how incomprehensible his pain must have been, and Ilearned what Jesus Christ's Atonement truly means for each and everyone of us, perfectly and individually. I pressed forward with nothingleft but faith, and with my arms as shaky as you can get, I almostfell on 56, but I barely pulled back up, and then continued andstrained through the end. I thought I might fall coming up on thatfinal push up, but I somehow was able to very slowly push through andmake it all the way up. I went over and plopped down into one of thechairs, and we all sat in silence. After a good minute and a half, Igot up, and walked over to Satou choro and said, pointing tot where Ihad just done the push ups, "Because I love him. Christ suffered forus, because he loves us. Without any motive less powerful than love, Iwould not have been able to do all of those push ups. But I thoughtabout Christ, and what He suffered for me because of his love, and Iwas able to do it. I know that Christ was able to accomplish theAtonement, because of his amazing love for us." Then everyone elsebore testimony to her of the reality and power of the Atonement.Graham choro and I grew a lot closer from that experience. We saw aglimpse of what it is like to be eternal beings, and to be able to usethe power of faith to accomplish things that seem out of reach. I know that God lives. I know it with all my heart. I know that Christ isour Savior. They are waiting with open arms. Let us come to them.Love, Elder Conover