Dear family and Friends,
This has been one of the craziest weeks of my mission! I will try and
give you a quick rundown of the experiences that we had.
Monday 8/28
Today we went to the temple with one of our junior high school
investigators for the family home evening that President has in the
mission home every month. It was really fun and there were a ton of
people there. It was a really fun night, and we were able to teach
Te-chan about the Book of Mormon, and commit him to start reading in
the Book of Mormon and praying everyday. We accidentally took a train
that came 3 minutes before the train that we were supposed to ride
came, so we got on the local train, which stops at all of the stops,
so we got home even later than we would have, but I could really see
that this was God's hand, because we ended up being able to have a
really good lesson with te-chan on the train, but if we had taken the
right train, then we would have had not as much time, but also would
have been with the sister missionaries, so we all probably would have
talked to te-chan, and not been able to teach him the way that the
were able to. I really saw throughout this week that God really does
plan accidents, and coincidences, and He uses them to further His
work.
Tuesday 8/29
Today we went to Hakodate. Hakodate is the very bottom of Hokkaido;
which isthe top part of Japan. We got there and started splits with
the Elder's there right away. I was on splits with Elder Murdock, who
goes home in 2 months. He is the district leader down there, and is
really doing a good job, finishing his mission really strong. We
started streeting, and I realized that I had lost my name tag at some
point from when we got off the train. (4 hour train to Hakodate btw.)
We prayed and retraced our tracks. We weren't able to find it, but I
decided that we should continue, and hope that the train people would
maybe find it, I had given my number to them. We kept talking to
people, and in the parking lot of a McDonald's we stopped this 17 year
old High school student. We shared with him the Message of the
Restoration and gave him the Book of Mormon, committed him to read the
introduction after having read the last part of it with him, and
taught him how to pray, and invited him to pray that night. He really
felt the spirit and readily accepted everything that we taught him. We
were able to make a really solid appointment for that next Saturday,
and were able to exchange numbers. It was a really powerful experience
again of God's timing. God really does know his children and it was
His plan for us to meet him at that time in that place. God is
wonderful. We had a great rest of the day, and talked with and were
able to teach a lot of people.
Wednesday 8/30
Today we participated in District Meeting in the Hakodate district. It
was a really awesome meeting, and it is really fun to be able to go
and participate and give training in the districts in the Zone. We
finished splits, also went to a really cool Hamburger place that is
only in Hakodate, and then went to go home and Elder Kikuchi had left
his train ticket in the Apartment! Our train was at 2:56 and he
realized that he didn't have his ticket at 2:40. We had the other two
elders (good old Elder Kim, my old companion) to book it down and
bring his ticket for us. We got our bikes up next to the train and had
everything ready, we just needed to get his ticket in the next 2
minutes. We got his ticket in 3 minutes, and so the train left. We
literally only missed it by 1 minute. So we defeatedly walked down the
platform and had to wait for the next train which was at 4:34. We were
able to talk to a few people and finish doing feedback about our
splits, so it worked out not too bad. Then we got on the train and
rode back...we made it to Muroran train station, where we had actually
wanted to get off and help some missionaries there, but then after
consulting with Elder Akamatsu, we decided that it would be better not
to go and so we weren't going to.
But when our train got to that train stop, it just stopped, and sat
there for an hour. We started wondering what this might mean. There
was apparently trouble on the tracks, and they kept on walking up and
down the train apologizing in this very non-apologetic voice. Haha so
funny. My companion is hilarious and his way of imitating other
Japanese people is hilarious. So we ended up being in a situation
where we had been sitting there on the train for an hour and a half,
and we had no option other than to either be home past 10:30, or get
off and go stay at the elder's apartment there that night. So we chose
the latter and went and scared them out of there mind by kikuchi choro
pretending to be the Japanese mafia. Haha funniest thing of my life.
That was the first night that I have had with 3 other Japanese elders
and so it was way fun to hear so much real Japanese and really be able
to talk with them.
President McClure Called us the next morning and was really happy that
we had ended up in Muroran, because he needed us to be there to help a
sister who needed to go home, to go home smoothly. We were able to
really help the sisters and it was a really big miracle that we were
there. Again God's timing and God really does create "Coincidences".
With Kikuchi choro forgetting his ticket, with the train stopping for
an hour and a half at the one stop of many that we actually knew, it
was all very odd, and it really ended up being God's will for us to be
there. It was really cool to be able to be used in helping God bring
to pass a miracle. That is the thing that I love the most as a
missionary.
Friday 9/1
Today we had mission leadership conference, where we learned so much
about Goals, and about making plans. There is a new process in a new
chapter of PMG that the church has made. This process is truly
inspired.
1. Pray and seek for revelation.
2. Set Goals
3. Make inspired plans
4. Pray Again
We follow this process in planning for people, and it really is
amazing how when you use this proccces you can actually see people
progress as you carry out the plan that you made for them, and God
really helps our goal to be accomplished, because through planning and
really seeking for guidance, we made it his plan and not our own. His
goal and not just our wish. This is truly the key to us not being
alone in trying to do His work. we need God's help because this is His
works, and if we do it on our own then we cannot do anything.
Saturday 9/2
Today was the most full day of my mission. We had an early lunch and
did service for an older sister in the ward with te-chan. It was
really awesome. Then we taught him the first vision, and invited him
to be baptized, we made a weak baptismal date, but decided not to set
it until we could get him to feel more comfortable to with the date
that he was thinking about. Then we booked it back to the other city
in our area and went to another meal that we had with a member there,
and then went to a festival around that members house where we met a
ton of investigators and had fun there. Then we rode back to eniwa,
our other city again and taught our investigator Brother Takahashi. We
were able to also invite him to set a goal for when he would be
baptized, but he said that he would do it the next Wednesday, and so
we weren't able to make a date with him yet.
9/3
On Sunday after church we went with one of our new cool new younger
investigators to a festival and walked around outside and talked with
him. Then we went to the church and had a family home evening at the
church with him and with another family that we're working with to be
baptized soon; the sister's family but mikoto is 12 and he has such a
high desire to be baptized; we are working with him a lot. It was a
great day. While we were in the car with our investigator, he tried
turning on his music to show us what music he listens to, and a
strange miracle occurred, the music would only come out with static,
and he couldn't make it work, even though everything was set up to
work perfectly! Then when we got to the church he went back out into
his car to fix it, and got it to work. He took us home, tried to play
it when we got back in the car, and again it wouldn't work! It was so
cool! God really does help people to recognize who the missionaries
are and helps them see that there is something more to the message
that we are sharing. Wonderful day.
That was last week, I will try and get out this week's letter next
week, but last week was to full of miracles to not have a record. I
love you so much! I know that this is God's work. I love this work
with all my heart might, mind, and strength. This last week was one of
the most life changing weeks of my life, so I will write you about it
in detail, but we had a visit from Elder Gay the new area President
here. He is an amazing man, and completely changed our mission. So
exciting. I love you and am so grateful for your support and love.
Love,
コノバー長老
Elder Conover
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