Sekyoshi no Jinsei yo!

March 11, 2016

Dear Friends and family, 

This has been one of the best weeks in the Mtc. I only have about 15 minutes to write, so I will try and focus only on the most important things. First off, this wednesday we got Cohai (new Missionaries that are in our zone) So on Wednesday they came in. But going back to Wednesday morning, I talked one on one (Coaching) with one of our best teachers named Brother Crandell) He really understands missionary work in Japan, and taught me a lot about how to become a great missionary. He, along with other teachers here,(most of the teachers here were quite literally considered the best missionaries in their missions, there is about 50 applicants per one spot to be a teacher here) but along with other teachers here, he explained to me all of these things that we work on. We work on Japanese, we work on teaching skills, we work on teaching people, etc. But all of those things line up and progress the most quickly if we think about, study and do everything we do because of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus Christ is what we are sharing with people. Our purpose in coming to earth is to change and to become like God, and How do we do that? Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Atonement is not something you use when you feel you need to repent of something you did wrong, although it can be used do do so, but The Atonement is much more. As we depend on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we become changed in ways that we could never change ourselves, because we can overcome, and become anything that God wants us to become through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is thorugh our faith in Jesus Christ, and his Atonement that we can become prepared to become like God. Please study Jesus Christ's life, and the Atonement. Please access the Atonement daily, think about it all the time, and remember that it is a catalyst for change. And we are always changing, the question is: Are we moving closer or farther from God? 

Also mom, those Emails that you are getting are from our good friend Junichi! He is a "Gold tag investigator" which means that he is potentially a real investigator, but we know for sure that he isn't. haha. He will probably talk to you more after we leave, and tell you who he is and stuff. He is super awesome! He is from Japan, and is fluent in Japanese! Hess choro and I teach him every Wednesday for like an hour and a half! This Wednesday he ate lunch with us and watched us at gym too! He's the most nice person! It's awesome! During our lessons, he asks some super hard questions that we as church members know little about, Like "did God have any siblings?" and when were we all created as spirits? (we have to divert to english for some of those questions) haha. 

Later that day we had our first Skype TRC(home evening/Member lesson sort of)!!! It was so awesome! We skyped this Japanese man: Taguchisan! We had been planning to talk about the role of the spirit in our lives and how to recognize and understand the promptings of the Holy Ghost, but after talking to him and trying to understand his needs we found out that he was divorced, he lives alone, he is 60, and that his daughter is doing very well, and is married to a great preisthood man, but that his son was a drug addict and had been in and out of prison for that past few years. I felt inspired to change the lesson to be about hope, which I had actually been studying a lot about this week! I started by sharing Moroni 7:41-42. We talked to him about the power of the Atonement, and I had written about ten sentences just as practice in Japanese for another lesson topic, and 3 of those sentences seemed to be perfectly worded for what I wanted to say to him. They seemed to be catered specifically to what he needed, and I wouldn't have been able to say them without having already ready. It was truly a miracle. It was the first lesson that we really were completely guided by the spirit, and were able to actually teach to someone's needs in a way that mattered a lot. After the lesson was over, (it was about a 40 minute lesson) The Teacher over the Skyping talked to us about our experience, and we told him a little bit about our experience, and he said this: "I have been doing this with these members for the past few months, and I know those things about Taguchisan, but no missionaries have ever known that he was divorced, has a drug addict son, and that he lives alone." It was really cool to hear. It is really hard to find the japanese people's needs, but when you do it is immensely rewarding. It was an amazing Experience. 

Then Hess choro and I as zone leaders, and Pearson shimai as sister training leader, had a new missionary orientation with our new missionaries. It was super awesome! It was so cool to be able to share my testimony of obedience, and of the power of missionary work. The spirit was so strong! I wish I had more time, but I don't. I love you all!!! 

Love, Elder Conover

Weekly email

March 4, 2016

Well hello!
How's everyone doing? This week has been so awesome!! (Despite being
on crutches, and probably not being able to go to Japan on time).

This weeks Tuesday's devotional was the best devotional We've had here
for me. It was an absolutely amazing talk. Elder Neilson of the
seventh. (Look him up) he's a straight up G. When he was called to the
seventy they showed him his office in slc and in the room next to him
was Elder Holland, and then In the other room next to him was Elder
Scott! He got a masters degree in English and also went to law school,
and was practicing law when he was called to the seventy. He has
traveled with all almost all of the apostles, And gave his talk on
some of the personal teachings of the prophets. It was incredible. The
prophets are truly called of God and they are such incredible examples
of representatives of Jesus Christ. Did you know President Monson was
called to the quorum of the twelve Apostles when he was 36?? Crazy! We
must study the prophets and follow their examples.
This is a copy of my notes from the talk, I edited my more personal
revelation from it, but this was what the talk was about.

"Elder Neilson(of the seventy)

Sister Neilson:
Everything that I have experienced in my life is enough to prepare me
for my mission. I have enough to become a magnificent missionary. I am
not inadequate, because the lord will make up for the rest that I
cannot. The lord calls those who are willing to change and who are
humble to do his work. The lord has children prepared for me to teach.
Heavenly Father will teach me far more about the Holy Ghost. The Holy
Ghost will become my companion, un an incomprehensible way. The lord
will guide me in all things through the spirit. SMILE MORE!! God will
fill in the gaps, I just do the best that I can do.

Elder Neilson
My patriarchal blessing is from God. I will follow it perfectly from
this day forward. I will make goals to follow its warnings and become
what it says I will become, regarding attributes. President Monson
says often "He whom the lord calls he qualifies".

President packer- In the church of Jesus Christ we have no fear. The
quorum of the twelve has no fear. Where faith is present fear cannot
exist. Fear and faith cannot coexist. Faith will dispel my fear.
Always move forward with faith.

Elder Holland- "remember lots wife." Don't look back. I must look
forward and never look back on past sin and want it. Satan always
wants us to look back. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a forward moving
gospel. As soon as we have repented we must look forward and not look
back. "I'm always looking forward". It's time to look forward. My
future is forward. No more looking back. Only forward.

Elder Bednar Alma 23. Do I keep all of the commandments? Do I carry a
"weapon of rebellion?" Bury the weapons that we have carried. Bury
anything that could be a weapon against God's will, like the lamanites
buried their weapons.

Packer- Doctrine of proximity- revelation does not come until you are
on your way acting in faith. Nothing happens without the action of
faith, we need to be out and moving and then the revelation will come.
The spirit works in miraculous ways. We must persevere and have faith.
Elder Neilson didn't know how to help his home teaching do not contact
brother, until many times and then on his porch he was inspired by his
last name to speak Finnish and then he was able to get in and teach
this man and translate his documents from his parents! God is so good.

Elder Anderson- always ask and talk about the people you are with.
This is about others. I must never talk about myself. That's the key
for me to learn humility!!! This is not about me! I must show interest
in and learn about others! I must learn to show all my interest in
others and not talk about myself. Don't talk about myself! You can't
be a me monster and be on a mission!

One thing to take into the mission field if anything: the healing
power of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
John 6- feeding of the 5000.
Jesus Christ's grace is sufficient, for all people, for anything.
"Come unto me all he that are heavy laden, come rest and follow me."

This talk changed who I am and made me feel a very strong desire to
Want to be obedient and follow God as close as I possibly can. I hope
you can feel that too from my notes from this talk.

So on Tuesday, as many of you know Hess Choro and I went to dr.
Jackson in Provo to get my knee looked at. The results were
really....great! Haha he didn't do an MRI and decided that it was
indeed a slight dislocation of the patella. See where the band aide
is? There was a lot of swelling right there and the doctor decided to
pull some fluid from the swelling. First off I REALLY hate needles! So
he took this small needle to numb it and he stabbed it in and it stung
a lot and felt like it was puncturing my knee to the core. It was bad.
And then he had this needle that was huge! And he stabbed that in me
and it wasn't quite as bad as the first because of the numbing but I
could feel him move it around and could feel my blood being sucked
out. (Sorry for the detail) but then he held it up after and he had
pulled out 44cc's of blood from my knee! It was crazy! But because of
that the swelling went down a ton to where it is right now in that
picture I took just barely! Haha. So now I just have this fancy brace
and need to be careful and it will fully heal and I'll be playing
basketball again in a month or so! (Just to be safe. At home I would
be playing sports already..;)) I got 21 free throws today! I can bike
strong on the knee and am strengthening it a lot!

Crazy Week

February 19, 2016



Hello! How is everyone doing? I love getting your emails, and am truly touched and blessed by your support. So we sent our sempais off on Sunday Night to Japan. Elder Monopori (The Polynesian from Australia) is the biggest G of all time. I've told you about him before. All of the Polynesian Elders here from new Zealand Australia came to our residence Sunday night, and we sang hyms and then they did the Hakka to say farewell!! It was insane!!! Did you get the video I shared with you? Be aware, The video is a little bit scary. The Hakka is a war dance, and this was a REAL Hakka. I've decided that Islanders are the biggest G's of all time, and they really know how to love people. They have such a good culture! We need to change American culture to be more like their's! I was playing basketball on Tuesday, and I went up for a rebound and I was jumping one way and this other Elder was coming in from the other direction. I went above him, and his leg and my knee smashed into each other. My Knee cap felt like it got completely knocked sideways and then back. It was pretty scary. I hit the floor and it just hurt a ton. I was able to move it so I was grateful for that. The Physical trainers there ran over and took me into the sports med. room, where they did some ligaments tests and stuff, and then iced it. They said that the ligaments seemed to be okay, which was really good news. I was able to walk on it okay the rest of the day.

Elder Rasband talked at our Tuesday night devotional! He is super awesome! He talked about the divinity of our call as a missionary, and about a lot of super awesome stuff. Later that night our Branch president, Butler Keisho (President) was at our residence talking to us. I was looking at my knee which was at least two times as big as my other knee because of the swelling, and was a little bit worried about it. He looked at it and let us know that he is a physical therapist!! How cool is that? It was a cool tender mercy, because he had been leaving, but an elder wanted to talk to him, and when they came back he saw me and my companion assessing my knee. He did some movement tests and also confirmed that the ligaments seemed good, but that the swelling was concerning. He talked about a couple of things that it could be and was confident that I could heal before it was time for us to leave for Sapporo. He said that I should see a doctor sooner rather than later though, so that if something needed to be done it could be done quickly and in time for me to not be delayed going to Japan. So I went to the doctor yesterday, and he said that it could be a couple things as well, and then sent me over to the byu student health center where this hilarious guy named skip gave me an xray. He was a character. The xray didn't show the Doctor and I too much, except a lot of swelling and that no bone chips had been broken off, and that nothing super major could have happened. At this point the doctor is just having me wait until next thursday, icing it and taking 3 doses of 3 ibuprofen a day, to try and get the swelling down, and then we will see where it is at, and if I should see a specialist, or possibly get an MRI. So that's fun!!! haha it hasn't been too bad though, I can still shoot free throws in gym, I just can't jump, and I can study Japanese like crazy!!! I can still walk at a pace that seems unbelievably hard for the Elders in our district to be able to keep up with.

I can still function well, I just really hope that my ligaments are okay, and that I can just heal in the time that I am here. So pray for my knee! This Wednesday Hess Choro,(My companion) and I taught 5 lessons in Japanese on that day! It was crazy! They were all pretty good though, which was somewhat shocking! Maddy Dyer, Amanda Crawley, Brandson Gifford(from School) and Andy from my soccer team all came in this Wednesday!  Also a really good friend from BYUI came in too! I see all of them all of the time, which is super fun! Sister Dyer, and Elder Gifford, and my friend from byui will all be here for the rest of my time here! The weather is getting nicer which is super awesome here! I miss the sun! Harper Choro (the DJ) has some interesting logic regarding any rule he doesn't want to keep, which keeps us on our toes, because he can literally "logically" convince himself, even if it makes no sense of anything! haha it's quite hilarious actually. I think that he even convinces himself that something that he says that is a lie, is actually true! He has the potential to become a great missionary, right now we are just trying to help him become more willing to change, which is hard! It can be frustrating, but we love him and just want him to progress, and become the fourth missionary! haha that talk is so amazing by the way Eric. Thankyou so much for giving me that talk and the talk "Become a Consecrated Missionary" Those talks are shaping our district and have shaped my foundation of what kind of missionary I want to become. Those talks are being passed around the district, and are helping our elders be able to see the vision that the Lord sees missionary work as!

Missionary work is awesome! We get to go out and share the most valuable gift in the world, the thing that will cause people more happiness then anything that the world can offer them, and we get to do that all of the time. That is our full purpose. How great is that? Missionaries and members should be literally be filled with an overwhelming desire and enthusiasm to share the gospel with people! It is the best thing ever! Never take the gospel for granted! If you are not happy, look at what part of the gospel you are not applying! I PROMISE that If you are trying to live the gospel the best that you can, and are trying consecrate your will to God's will, you cannot be unhappy!! That is the beauty of the Gospel, it causes us to become joyful, and we find that joy by losing ourselves in the service and love for other people. Here is my challenge to you: Look outward, think outward. This life is not about us, it is about what we can do for others. Change your heart not just your behavior, when our heart has the burning desire to do God's will then we will understand charity, then we will understand the enabling power of the Atonement. Look not inward but look outward; only then will you find what you were looking for within yourself, to be there. We become who we want to be by not thinking about ourselves, but by thinking about others! "For he who shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it." Consecrate all you have. Hold nothing back! Give everything to God, and he will make you a person you are happy to be. I promise you that. The gospel is amazing and the Church is unbelievably true. Share the gospel with everyone, members and non members. Helping members to not fall, is definitely just as essential as helping investigators join the church, a soul is a soul and the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. You can be that influence and tool for the Lord to save his souls. We are God's servants, and to be a servant for God, is a humbling and amazing responsibility to have. This week choose something that you will do to give your will to God. Give something up, work harder to be patient, humble, kind, etc. Choose something that you can do to submit your will to his. I love you all so much, and am so grateful to be able to have the opportunity to share the gospel with sons and daughters of God. I know that the church is true and I know that our weaknesses are made strong if we will humble ourselves and give them to the lord.

Thank you,

Love, Elder Conover

Ps: Thank you family so much for the package this week!!! They were so fun, and really meant a lot! Thank you to Jacob and Jenn and Macy and Olivia, and Ty, for your very thoughtful package! I feel your love, and am so grateful to have inspiring and loving family close to me. You are amazing people, thank you for your example.