Dear Family and friends,
This week has been wonderful! On Tuesday Yabutani Choro (Japanese) and I were on splits! He is from my doki (entered the mission on the same day as me!) and so I was pumped!! We were in my area, so I was sort of senior companion, but he knows Japanese perfectly, so it was more like 50/50. None of our usual investigators were home, but we had a good time finding people, because everyone was out barbecuing! We found a family! It is this really cute mom and dad, and their 16 year old girl! They are so awesome! I made a solid commitment with them for being able to meet with them next Tuesday and they agreed! It was so great! I really tried to develop a relationship first, and make them laugh, and have a good time with them first, before trying to get an appointment or teach any principles. I showed them my family, and asked them what age I looked like, and they said like 27 and 25 and 28 haha it was awesome, and then they were so shocked by how young my parents looked! They were all really fun! Yabutani Choro did a really good job explaining who we were, and how important our message is. I loved being companions with him, we worked really well together!
On Thursday I was on splits with Yamaoka choro In shibetsu! (That area is about 2 hours away from ours, we took a cool train there!) In his area, We took a different train to this other area, and met this really awesome investigator named Sasaki San at this big grocery store! He really likes studying English, and he really had really cool style, even though he was very old. He lives alone, because his wife died, and seems a little lonely, but he really is so prepared to receive the Gospel. He bought us some super good paan from the bakery there! I love the paan here! It is so good. We walked back to his apartment, and he got our paan all laid out for us and this super good milk, and then said, "Inori masho ka?" (Should we pray?) That got me pumped!! We ate the paan and drank the entire carton of milk, shared a short message, and I helped him a lot with English. I wrote down how to pray in English, and I also wrote down an example prayer for him. But after we taught him, we were going to be late for the train back if we didn't run, so we had to book it! We ran pretty fast for most of the time, and it was sad how fast I got tired! But we made it to the train, and were super hot from running! After we got back to Shibetsu, we housed for a little bit, and I talked to Yamaoka choro about SYL, and about a lot of stuff regarding the way that everything works in the mission. He is awesome. He went sempai on transfer 4! That is so crazy to me! After we housed for like 10 minutes (No one answered), we went to this awesome restaurant called hillside cafe! The owner is an investigator, and loves the missionaries so much. She is awesome! We got some really good pizza, and then I got cordorva pasta that was soooo good! It was the first thing here that was like regular Italian food at home! It was very similar sauce to Alfredo sauce, and the Cordova meat was so good. I drank some great Ginger ale and then we ate a huge brownie sundae thing that was such a good dessert. It was seriously such a great Goch. (member/Investigator meal, usually free) After that we walked back to the apartment, and had a really good rest of the night with Yamaoka choro and Yabutani Choro. Splits was a really fun, great experience!
The next day we traveled back to our area, and then studied and then went to lunch with Agaishi shimai, for Scheidt choro's birthday, at this place right across from co-op in Shunko. It was so good! I got this amazing steak meal, with squash and peppers too. It tasted so good. We went with the Shimaitachi, and with Saiki shimai, and sawakata (?) shimai, because they were on splits with our sisters. Those sisters are so awesome. It was a really fun time. After that we decided to go and visit Ishikawa San, and he let us teach him a little bit, and we had a good talk with him. Then we went to Tedayama kyodai, which was normal, he opened up a little bit more, showed us his Pokemon team on his Nintendo DS, but he still spoke less than 40 words while we were there probably. He is a really interesting cool guy though. Finally we taught Uchida kyodai again. He is so kind, and so great. I hope that he will be able to get the priesthood soon.
Yesterday I got to call my family!! It was so great to see them. I am so grateful for all of you, and especially for you Mom. I am so happy that we have a special day to recognize our Mother's. I have the best Mom in the world. After that we had stake conference! This was such a cool experience! I didn't understand really any of the talks, but it was really fun to be able to visit with and hangout with the members of our stake! And I met a lot more missionaries! All of the missionaries stood at the entrance to the church, and shook everyone's hands and welcomed them. It was really fun. This was the first time I really saw a good amount of little kids! Little kids are so cute here!! It was so fun! The minami de's brought a ton of food for all of the missionaries to eat, which was so nice. They are such nice people. During Stake conference it was really hard to not fall asleep, and it was so funny when Scheidt choro pointed out Reese choro's head bobbing, as he was fighting falling asleep. It was a real crack up. Omura shimai is 99% sure that she is transferring, so it was pretty sad talking to her, when we realized that we wouldn't be having any more goches, or activities together anymore, and it's sad actually! She is such a kind person, and I have really had a lot of fun with her. I'll always remember how she cried when she lost my family picture. I will miss her. After stake conference we came back and studied, and then went to visit some people, we had a really good time with Mitsuishi San! She is so nice, and I really feel that she is so prepared to receive the gospel. I hope that she will become less busy, and make more time for our message, the MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE OF HER LIFE. She made an appointment with us though, and made it a dinner appointment, so that was awesome! We gave her some homework, and she wanted to know what homework was in English, and so we told her, and while she was really having a hard time pronouncing it, her husband just busts up laughing out of nowhere in the background. It was the funniest thing ever! It is Crazy that transfers are this Thursday!
That was this last week. Splits was an awesome experience. I am so grateful for other missionaries and their example's. I am learning so much everyday about what it means to truly be a member of the Church. I know that this church is true. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. It is of Jesus Christ: Our Savior. Through Jesus Christ, we can change and become better. What a great blessing. We must always be pressing forward, and trying to become greater disciples of Jesus Christ. I love learning about Christ. If you want to become more happy, strengthen your relationship in Christ. Learn to rely on the Savior, in all things. Use the Atonement, to repent, to forgive, and to receive the strength that you need. I know that because of the Sealing ordinance in the Temple, I can live forever with my family. This is the Plan of Happiness. "Wickedness never was happiness!!!" This is not an unhappy thing, this is the greatest thing, and it will bring you the greatest joy! But the joy is not cheap. All things that bring us true joy in life, have taken considerable work, haven't they? I would concur that they have. Salvation is the same way. It is the greatest joy that we can ever receive, therefore it also is going to take the most work. But we shouldn't be scared of work, Joy is the fruit of work, is it not! Let us not fear work, let us embrace work. Let us work hard to become better, to be more kind, to become more like Christ. Let us work hard to keep the commandments, and be more true to our covenant. Let us pray with "tremendous effort", let us do all things without the thought of it being easy. If we do not do hard things frequently then we should check ourselves, and ask ourselves if we are really happy; if we are really living life with a purpose. If you want something out of life, work hard and go and get it! "Ask and you shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you, seek and ye shall find". (That is the most reiterated scripture in the standard works.) It is true! Think about what you need, and want, and then follow those steps, and watch the Lord work miracles. Trust in the ability that God has to cause miracles to happen. They are not a Joke. LIVE LIFE MORE JOYFULLY. WORK MORE DILIGENTLY. LOVE MORE FULLY. I know that the Savior lives, I know that he loves us. I know that if He is our rock we can do all things. I know that this is His church. I love you all, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love, Elder Conover
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