A week full of memories

May 29, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been pretty crazy! An elder In our apartment actually
had to go home to get surgery on his broken hand, and so we ended up
becoming a trio! He left yesterday, so I have been a trio for the last
24 hours, and it has been an interesting experience! Definitely
something new to get used to, but a fun learning experience. Our new
companion is elder Bailey. He is a really good missionary, and a
really nice guy, so it is good to be with him.

We had an investigator come to church yesterday, and he had a pretty
good time so that was really good! At first it was kind of boring to
him, but he really liked talking to one YSA girl, and so that made it
all so funny. She was the reason that he was so willing to come to
church in the first place, and so the whole situation just made for a
lot of laughs. Japanese people are the funniest when it comes to
flirting, and relationships. It is so normal for everything to just be
so awkward here, and I love that, because it's hilarious!


This last week we had the opportunity to have the whole Area
presidency, and President Oaks come and give us a mission conference!
It was a very powerful experience. We were able to shake Elder Oaks
hand and be right up close to him as he spoke to us about the
importance of missionary work. His talk was simple, but you could
really feel that he was close to the Lord, and that he has a love for
his Savior. It was a very memorable experience. Sister oaks served in
Japan, and she has such a special love for this place, which was
really inspiring, and made me realize who much I do love this place,
and also how important it is for us to love everyone, and really try
to feel God's love for the people who may be hard to love. She asked
if someone had PMG, and I raised my hand and then she asked me to come
up. I was not expecting that, but I went up, and she ended up having
me read her the baptismal interview questions, and she pretended to be
an investigator! haha it was super awesome, and she read her answers
in Japanese! We also sang the mens version of I need thee every hour,
the missionaries in my area right now. It was a really cool experience
to be able to sing for our mission, and for an apostle. We didn't make
any mistakes, so that was really a blessing. It was a very powerful
day, and I great highlight of my mission. Probably my last apostle,
and was an extra bonus as it was, Because president Nakatsuka had
actually told me 5 months ago that Elder Bendnar was the last apostle
that would come while I was here, but then Elder Oaks! So awesome!!!

It is truly a blessing to be a missionary. I have learned to love
everything about missionary life. The change, the stress, the
struggle, and the boring. I love being close to the spirit, and
constantly striving to have the spirit to be with me. I know that the
Spirit is real. I know that God loves you. I love you, and I want you
to always remember to not question your faith. Trust in what you do
know, and lean on those who do know, because simply believing is okay,
and soon enough you will know. Always remember to focus on the basics.
Remember to always be consistent in the basics, and you will
consistently feel the support of God and the enabling power of
Christ's Atonement in your life.

Love,

コノバー長老
Elder Conover
1. Last English class of last transfer
2. Ooki, an awesome investigator that we found through basketball!!

Transfers

May 22, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been a good week. I have been feeling especially excited
about the work and wanted to continue to find new, more effective ways
to find the elect, and so I had this one idea that I had heard about
of going to businesses, and asking to talk to the boss and talking
with and sharing a message with whoever they would let us talk to. My
companion thought this was a really really rude idea, because Japanese
is a hard working society and so to go in and interrupt them would be
a really offensive thing to do, and because of that he was scared that
people might be really rude. I did agree that it might be a little bit
scary, but told him that I would just like to try and, and so he
complied. Fortunately both of us were surprised by how receptive
everyone was, and by how willing they were to hear our message, and
have our English flyers at their business etc. I even got to ride this
bull riding machine that is for exercising inside an insurance company
building. It was so fun, and we were able to have some really awesome
conversations with some really intelligent people, which was really
rewarding. Also a bunch of people were willing to hear more about God
and our message! So we are really excited about them!


Yesterday we also received our transfer calls! The next transfer is
only 3 weeks, and then the next transfer after that is 9 weeks, so it
is kind of a weird situation, but after the three weeks we are getting
a new mission President, so that is really crazy! But as far as his
next three weeks, me and my current companion Elder Kim, stayed
together. I am really happy to be able to keep working with him, he is
a really solid missionary, and it is really awesome to be with a
companion that can really handle himself in the language.


We did a barbecue here this last Saturday, and it turned out to be
such a great activity! Tons of investigators came, and it turned out
really fun, and very successful in building relationships with the
members and the investigators. We should have a lot of baptisms here
in the next few months. Some of the members here are so awesome and
really have done a great job at sharing the gospel, even though it is
still pretty rare, there are 2 families here in particular who are
fantastic member missionaries and it is such a blessing to have them
helping the work.


We had an English class student take all 6 of us missionaries out to
sushi last week! It was so incredible! He wanted us to eat as much as
we possibly could, and wanted us to get the most expensive sushi, and
just really do as much of whatever we want. It was hilarious and so
fun. Sushi is one of the best things about Japan.
I love being a missionary, and I know that this is God's work. I love you!!!
Love, Elder Conover





1. Sushi pics
2. Barbecue pics (after it was over remembered we should at least take a pic.)

Heighten your spiritual life

May 14, 2017

Dear Family and Friends, 

Today I was able to talk to my family! Happy Mother's Day Mom! I am so Grateful for eternal families, and the knowledge of the plan of Salvation. It is such a blessing. I love my family!

This week has been a great week of spiritual growth for me and for our investigators! I am so grateful to be a missionary. This last week we were able to have some really awesome experiences. Last night we actually went out and stopped a few 16 year old kids, 1 guy and these two girls. They were really funny about meeting Americans, and we went into a food court with them, and then the guy, hiroki tried to get the girls to leave, because he wanted to talk with us, and so they just asked to take pictures of us, and then they left. We were able to sit down with him, and taught him a lot of different stuff. He was so receptive and asked so many questions. At first he said that he was from this other city that is actually not in our area, so I was just kind of like thinking it would still be good to teach him what we could, and then set him up to meet the other missionaries, but then he actually ended up explaining that he was just going to high school in the other city, but he is moving back to his families home next month, which is where we live, in our area! So awesome. So we taught him about God, and about how we can communicate with God. He was super awesome, making tons of insightful observations, and insights on his own. We gave him an example of prayer, and then right there with lots of people around, and with some friends who even saw him, he PRAYED in front of us! It was super awesome!!! So we are excited to continue to teach him. 

I want everyone to remember how important smiling is! I did a little exercise as part of district training meeting that I learned from good old J Allen, an old teacher from high school. It is called the "Energizer!" I will attach the video of it, it is really funny, but it really does help!! Be happy and love life!! 

I have been pondering and studying a lot recently about spirituality. What it means to live a spiritual life. I really want to be close to the spirit, and I have realized that everything that we do has an effect upon our spirituality, and our ability to feel the spirit. We need to strive to be spiritually prepared, spiritually heightened in order to have the spirit to always be with us. We have to consistently block out nonspiritual things and search for light and truth so that we can be spiritually prepared to be guided by the spirit when we need it the most. Everything counts, the way that you eat, sleep and talk. The music you listen to, the movies you watch, the thoughts that you have; all these things make up our spirituality. It is so important that we control these things and give our spirits many things that will bring us closer to the Spirit, and avoid the bad that wants to drive the spirit away. When this is done, so much joy is brought into life; much greater purpose and meaning in life is waiting for anyone who heightens their spirituality and makes it a goal to seek out spiritual things. I know that this is true, because I have been trying to apply it recently, and I have felt the spirit so much stronger in my life. I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Love, 

コノバー長老
Elder Conover

A great week!!

May 8, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you for all of your love and support. I am sorry that I have not
been as good about emailing lately. We have had a lot of crazy Pdays
these last few weeks. I am in another really fun area, that makes
emailing really hard, because there are always a lot of distractions,
and interesting conversations going on.


I am in a suburb of Sapporo in an area that is two different cities;
Eniwa and Chitose. Today we rode our bikes from Chitose to Eniwa, and
so that was super fun. It is a pretty long ride for mission standards,
about 6 miles straight, on a road like the freeway. I love getting to
ride my bike! It is such a blessing to have bikes!


We have been doing a lot of finding lately and have had a lot of
success with getting phone numbers and making second appointments, but
have had a really hard time being able to actually get them to show up
to the second appointment. This situation had been kind of testing my
faith, and I was getting a little bit discouraged.





With that in mind, on Saturday we were able to talk to two kids who
were eating dinner in a food court in the shopping center by our
apartment. They were 16 years old, and really willing to listen to our
message. We made an appointment with them for the next day, and one of
the kids said that he would invite some of his other friends too! We
were able to meet them all yesterday, and have a really good time with
them! We taught them some English, had some arm wrestles, and
explained to them that they were sons of Heavenly Father, and that we
can talk to Him through Prayer. We committed them all to pray and ask
if Heavenly Father is really there and they all said that they would
do it! We have another appointment with a couple of them this
thursday, so I am looking forward to that.

I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that the
gospel is the way to happiness. True joy comes from working hard and
doing things the best that you can, for God. False joy is temporary,
and comes from many different things. Wickedness never was happiness.
I know that as we strive to consecrate our will to God's, and seek the
Joy and light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can feel more joy that
we could have ever imagined. I love you all and wish you a great
week!!!!

Who are you? Or, who were you?

May 8, 2017


Dear Family and Friends,  

This week we have been able to find tons of new investigators, and have really been working this area!! We had an investigator come to church on Sunday! His name is Kihara and he is about 60 years old. He is retired from the Army and he rode a motorcycle to church that is some sort of special old model that he has been riding for the last 30 plus years. Haha he had such an awesome time at church, and really seemed like he was willing to give our church a chance, and take our message seriously. Such a nice, very humble guy. Please pray for him. 

There was a free day at the gym here and so we went to go play basketball and see if we could pick up any investigators through playing basketball! We were able to meet 5 different college students and play ball with them! They were really good and it was super fun! It is so fun to play some really high level bball! I exchanged numbers with all of them, and we were able to teach them a little bit, and they seem so receptive! One of them has been to st. George in Utah, and did homestay! He has even been to our church before, with the family he stayed with!! So awesome! 

We had about 30 minutes left in the night last night, and we went to a big mall where we talk to people in the food court. (Super good way to find people) but on our way in we stopped someone, and he was willing to exchange numbers and give us a time where he could meet, and then inside we were able to find another guy who was 22 years old, and he also exchanged numbers and made an appointment with us! Super big miracle! 30 minutes and 2 investigators! The power of prayer is real!!

It is so crazy how fast the mission continues to fly onward. It is so sad to think about how long ago it seems that I was in my first area and with my first companions. It is so important that in life we always treasure each moment that we have, the hard and the fun, the beautiful and the destructive. We are Spiritual beings, experiencing a mortal experience. 

I have thought recently about who I really am, who we really are. Of course the first answer to that question is the beautiful amazing truth that we are children of God. I love this truth, and I love being able to testify of this truth to so many people that we meet everyday. Most people really like this idea, and they've never even heard of this kind of idea before, it is very interesting. No one here thinks of God in the way that we as Christians do traditionally. They believe that if their is a God, first of all He would be an "It" and God is in many things, and doesn't care about or love us, but is just kind of an illusive mysterious being. Very interesting. I love knowing the simple truth that I am a child of God. I know that I and you and he and she and all of us are children of God. He lives and he has a body that is not so different than ours. We look like him, and our potential is to become like him. He created a plan for us so that we might be able to progress, and Jesus Christ was central to that Plan. We must follow Jesus Christ and his teachings, and rely on His Atonement, and then we will be able to return to our Heavenly Father and become like Him. These are eternal truths. I love eternal truths. No sort of worldly wisdom or philosophy can ever rebuff an eternal truth. 

Beyond us being children of God; we also ourselves, are eternal. We have no beginning and no end. We have an eternity of existence that right now in mortality we don't know about. Think about who you really are. You are so much more than you can ever imagine. You were a soldier in God's army in Heaven. You and I were Generals in the army against satan, we as members of the church were born into the church not just because of chance. We came at this time, and into the church because of what we did in the premortal life. 

These are two different quotes from talks that were given by Elder Hyrum W Smith in a devotional at ricks college: 

Brothers  and sisters, I  would like  to suggest  to  you today  that  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  was  restored in 1820 because that’s  the  only  time  it  could have  survived. There  is  a  more  pointed question  that  needs  to be  asked. Why were  you born when you  were  born?  Why  weren’t  you born in 911, or 1215?  Is  it  because  some  computer in  the  cosmos blipped and you came  out  now?  I  don’t  buy  that. I  believe  you were  born  in this  dispensation, with  the  gospel  of Jesus  Christ  on the  earth today, because  you  were  somebody  before  you  got  here. If  you had any  idea  of who  you were  before  you  got  here,  the  hair would stand up on  the  back of  your neck.  Joseph Smith said on one  occasion, “If  I were  to  tell  you who  I  am,  you’d slay  me  for blasphemy.”  Wisely  never told anybody  who he  was, but  he  knew. 

I  have  a  testimony  of  that, brothers  and sisters. If  you were  to  know  who you  were  before  you  got  here,  it  would scare  you. You know  what  that  means?  It  means  we  don’t  have  the  right  to do  all  the  dumb stuff  a  lot  of  the  other young  people  in  the  world  are  doing, fooling  around with drugs  and alcohol  and premarital  sex and  all  that  dumb stuff.  We  don’t  have  the  right.  Why?  Because  we  know  too much. Why?  Because  we’re  here  because  we  were somebody  before  we  came  here  and  the  Lord  has  sent  us  here  to accomplish some  great  task. And  that  task is  to take now  and  export  the  reality  of  the  fact  that  the  gospel  has  been restored. No one  between 96 and  1820 could authoritatively  say  “Thus  saith the  Lord.”  Now  we  can. Why?  Because  there  is  a  man on the  planet  today  that  can say  “‘Thus  saith the  Lord’ because  I  speak  with him.” 

I know that we have eternal value, and that we are not nobody. Think about the part of yourself, the majority of yourself, that you don't even know! I don't want to disappoint my full self. I want to be pleased with my actions and with who I've become during this journey when I reconnect with my full eternal self and the vail is lifted. Thinking about my true self, my full self gives me greater motivation and desire to overcome the petty things of the world and become who I am meant to become. I encourage you all to do the same. God loves you, trust in him, and trust in yourself, you are not an accident, and you are not just another person. You are priceless and your potential is limitless. You are a Son or a Daughter of God. In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Pics:

1. The guys that we were able to play basketball with. 

2. District lunch last week! Such an awesome district!

3. Despite my better judgment, and fighting sickness hard, we made Oreo milkshakes.

4. Our investigator leaving Church. #straightG 

Love, 

コノバー長老
Elder Conover