First week in the field!!

April 4, 2016 





I am officially in Japan. It has been a great experience full of
 trials and joys, hard work and patience. The language is not easy, the
work is hard. We have taught 8 lessons, found two investigators, and I
have met the ward, and experienced some of the food, and a little bit
of the different culture that Japan has. It is still pretty cold here,
but apparently the snow melted in my area 2 days before I came. My
area is in a city called Suehiro, but it is very annoying because the
areas where we actually do most of our work in, (Where most of our
investigators are) is an hour away. There are three areas that we work
in mainly, and they are all a 1 hour walk away in any direction. Which
is why hopefully we will get bikes this week! I am trying to figure
out my bike situation, but hopefully I will be getting a bike that is
very nice, from one of the Aps that is about to go home, which he got
from an elder that was 6'6 and already went home, I will buy it from
him, but it is a nice specialized bike that I will be so pumped if I
can get. 


The food here is great! I have not eaten sushi yet, but even
the bread here is amazing! I am learning a lot about what it actually
means to be a missionary, and to be with just your companion for days
on end without talking to anybody else in english, is very difficult
at times. My trainer is only on transfer 6, which is extremely young
to be training, and is very rare, but he is doing a good job, and he
is capable of doing it. The only thing that is frustrating at times is
how set he is in doing what has always been done in each area by other
missionaries that were above him. It might be easier, but that doesn't
mean it is the most effective. I went to my first daiso today! It's
basically a glorified dollar store. It is so awesome! They have like
everything! It's crazy how much stuff they have that would be like 10
bucks in America! It is very fun. I am learning that you have to
really rely on The Lord while you are on the mission, that is part of
what makes missions so rewarding. Without the strength from the Lord
and from the Spirit, we would not be able to be missionaries, not only
would we physically and emotionally be too overwhelmed, we would have
no success at all, without the spirit. I love being a missionary, even
though at times it is hard. Life is not about easy, you don't get good
things out of life without working hard, and going through hard
things. Always remember that the Savior loves you and is watching out
for you. He has a plan for you, and you just need to align your will
with his. Don't fight it. Submit your will to his, for this is the way
to become happy.


I hope you all enjoy General Conference. Remember that you get out of
it what you put into it. We are so blessed to be able to hear from the
prophets of God. We do not get to watch it until next week here, but I
will be able to watch it in English fortunately. I love you all so
much, keep working hard, and never give up. The Savior loves you, and
his hands are always open, waiting for you to take them.
Love, Elder Conover

If you want to read more specific about my experience, below is one
of my first Journal entries:


4/01/16


Today was a great day! It was my first real day in the mission field!
We woke up, I did some push ups and situps while studying Japanese
words, and then showered and got ready for the day. We ate some really
good granola, that is apparently super expensive, but it is soo good!!
We then did personal study, where I learned a lot about
sanctification, and really changing myself to have my desire be to do
exactly what God wants me to do. We then started companionship study,
which is two hours while I am being trained. We talked about what we
learned, and did a few different types of learning activities but
mostly studied what we were going to need to study and do for the next
12 weeks. There is so much to learn, but it is all so good. There is
something called an Alma O Taylor award, which is this award that you
get for doing various missionary work tasks, such as, Talk to 100
people, or get this many referrals from members, many things like
that. It is a lot to handle, but I want to get it really fast. Anyway
after learning and studying for those two hours, we then did language
study, I learned 18 new words today. and will try to learn 20 new
words tomorrow. Anyway then we went ate lunch, Elder Shidt made curry,
which was way good, but took a very long time to cook the rice, and so
we started eating at 12:52, and had to leave the appt, at 1. We rushed
through it, and barely made it. We then walked an hour away to this
other area where we were trying to visit with these other
investigators; the Barber, and this nice lady, whose mom has been in
the hospital. The barber totally blew us off, and wouldn't let us even
have 2 minutes to share a message with him. The lady was not home, and
so then we defaulted to Housing. For a while all we heard was "Kekko
desu" or nobody was answering, then we knocked on this next door, and
this guy who was way nice and cool, who used to be a science teacher
answered, and his dog jumped out, this way nice small lady in the
tramp dog. The dog was very cute. We then talked to him for a while
about his hobbies, and about what we were all about. We gave him one
of the BOM that I got from Hombu! He accepted it, but asked, "How
much" it's free! He says that he is Buddhist, but he is willing to
hear our message, he isn't a way serious Buddhist. He asked if we
could come by next week and teach him, and we were like, "Oh Sweet!"
So we will teach him next week! He is my first Kudosha! It is way
cool! The next house was the same thing with this other awesome lady
who has been to akaiwa! We talked to her for a little while and then
pretty much just walked back and grabbed some food at a convenience store,
which was way good. The breads here are way cool! I ate this chocolate
chip, chrystalysed. sugar bread that was awesome, and then I ate this
bread that was like a PBJ without any crusts, but inside was way good
pudding like stuff, that was caramel and butter based! It was way
good. I then taught Akaiwa. It was way fun, I taught about 10 Japanese
people how to pronunciate, and expanded their vocab. We then came
home. I am so unbelievably tired. We walked so much. I am so grateful
that we are getting bikes. Things that are hard to me about the
mission, are things that are just the mission culture, and no one
really with authority, decided to either do, or do not do. I love
being a missionary though. I just don't believe in doing that which
isn't working, or doing things, just because that's what missionaries
do, or what this mission does, when that is not what we are being
asked to do by our mission president. I want to aways work hard, and
change mission culture.