Weekly letter 10/30-11/15

November 19, 2017

Dear Family and Friends, 

Monday 10/30: Zone Activity at Toyohira church. It was fun, we had amazing taco salad thanks to Elder and Sister Van Forell. Tonight we had President McClure's FHE. The yoneta family came! They brought another young woman with them, and I was very surprised to find out that Miyu, the best friend of a recent convert that we taught in Toyohira, was the daughter of yoneta Miki San 

Tuesday 10/31: Today we went to Muroran for Zone conference. We were able to teach the yoneta family by video call which was super cool. Yoneta father said the prayer at the end of the lesson and they committed to pray as a family. It was super special. 

Wednesday 11/1 last Zone conference. It went well. I really love the process of inspired planning. We drove home. On the way home we discussed goals and DTM, and raising he standards and expectations of the mission. I love President McClure. 

Wednesday night: Discussed with President McClure about Mission Leadership council; how to better work with members, setting goals, the place that the mission is, and where it needs to go. We talked until too late, but it was really good. Elder Takamasa and I came home and ended up having a really good honest talk in the bathroom, (6 other elders in our apartment, because of the meeting the next day.) we talked about our relationship, and were able to resolve a lot of misunderstanding, very good, but not very good as far as sleep. 

Thursday 11/2: Woke up the next morning had mission leadership council, it was a lot of fun, we talked about a lot of stuff, and I really was able to be reminded of the importance of really committing myself to my goals. I am 100% in, or 0% in, but I need to make all of my goals goals that I will really commit to and do everything I possibly can to fulfill. Elder Takamasa didn't really want to translate, and I like translating, but on little sleep for the past few days; translating a 5 hour meeting into Japanese was quite the task. Translating is kind of a miracle. To be able to listen and speak at the same time, and transform English into Japanese is something that I wouldn't think that the brain is really capable of, but it is! Haha. I can really feel the gift of tongues, now probably more than ever, as I try to help the Japanese people to really understand what is being said.

After MLK I went on splits with Elder Bede: we made a plan, and went out and made it happen. We taught the first vision a bunch; a member saw us teaching someone on the road, and he was early for the institute class that he was going to, and so he agreed to come with us for the next 30 minutes or so. It was super awesome. He was able to share his testimony, find 2 investigators, one of which is really prepared, accepted a BOM and prayed that night. Super great miracles. We found him in the food court of this big mall kind of place. The member had never heard of doing finding at a place like that, and was pretty afraid to do it, but it was cool because he said "it is okay, because I know that missionaries receive a lot more revelation, and so I trust what you want to do. It turned out great, and this whole experience was such a building of that members faith. He is 20 years old, and is debating on whether or not to serve a mission. Great tender mercy to be able to "accidentally" get to work with him. 

After finding with this member we came back to the church and participated in a little bit of English class, where we were able to meet the yoneta family! They are so awesome! It was really fun, we talked a little bit about the differences between Japan and America, especially in terms of what is cool. Haha that always becomes the funniest conversation. We stepped out for a minute and were able to video call Takeshita kun. (A 14 year old member, who we are working with to help his friend get baptized.) it was way fun to talk to him. We used the planning process and planned with him for his friend Co-chan. It was a really powerful experience to watch him really think and pray about his friend who he really loves. 

We were able to call co-chan and work out them meeting together the next day and going to see the temple and talk about it together. Takeshita kun loves the temple and he really wants ko-chan to be able to go in it with him. 

After talking with them and after English class had ended, we were able to talk with Yoneta mom and dad, and ended up being able to teach about Jospeh smith and the restoration. The spirit was strong, and they committed to try and see how they could make coming to church work. (Right now they have some schedule conflicts with work and with yui chan's swimming program.) 

It was an awesome afternoon and evening with Elder Bede. We were together for his first 3 transfers in Toyohira. I really love him, such a great friend, and missionary. Also the funniest guy you will ever meet. Straight up comedian. 

Friday 11/3 

Today we had a really fun time with President McClure talking about transfers anplanning transfer week. We had leftover pizza from Costco that we had eaten yesterday at MLK. It has been awesome to have Costco pizza a lot here in Japan. There was a temple tour activity that we had here which a lot of missionaries also came and brought people to. Probably about 50-60 members/missionaries/investigators. President gave us the assignment of teaching the first lesson, especially the first vision from wherever he left it off. I translated for him, this type of translating is nice because it is not at the same time. It is one sentence at a time, but it is really hard to remember what was said sometimes. Then we went into the lesson and it was really powerful. The Spirit was really strong, and it was a really big blessing to be able to share our testimonies with all of those people that were there. 

After that ended one of the people that had come with two member friends, heard about priesthood blessings, and then they asked me to explain to her what a priesthood blessing is, and she said that she was getting surgery in a few days and she would like a blessing. So we were able to give her a blessing, which was a really cool experience as well. I could really feel God's love for her. 

 (Btw it was awesome to see elder Akamatsu and elder Smith there too.) 

After we finished everything with that we met with kaicho and were able to finish the process Of planning transfers for the sisters! Great to get that done. It was a really good day. 

Saturday 11/4  

Today we finished transfer planning! It was a really cool experience to as President says, "help create something." I feel like this transfer a lot of missionaries  will be able to work really well and fulfill what God has planned for His children. 

After we finished we did a little bit of office work, and went out to sushi as a last a

Apartment meal basically! Sushi here is absolutely amazing. We then had Stake Conference adult session tonight, which President McClure wants missionaries to attend because missionary work is always talked about during that time, and we need to know what is being said about missionary work, so that we can work better with members. Great night.

Sunday 11/5 

It was an awesome Stake conference today. All of my 4 areas, except my first area, are all in the this Stake, so I have lived in this the Sapporo Stake for about a year and 3 months. Crazy. So Toyohira and Eniwa and of course right now, Atsubetsu members were all there, himawari chan and Noguchi kyoudai, converts that I got to see be baptized from Toyohira, and the Yokoishi family from Eniwa, were there. Many glorious reunions with them, and with many members. I really love this Stake. Elder hiyashi, of the seventy came and gave us an awesome talk. He has power and is filled with the Spirit, I love the leaders of the church. They are always such great examples and so impressive. 

After the meeting I tried to pass out as many meishis as I could before people left, and it went pretty good. It was really good to be able to talk with Noguchi kyoudai and himawari chan. 

After people had left we were able to teach Naori shimai's friend; koyanagi san. He came to church 2 weeks ago, and to stake conf. This week. So awesome that Naori shimai just shared the gospel with him through going to his vegetable stand place that he owns/runs. We taught him about the plan of salvation, because that was what he said that he wanted to learn about, and then we connected it to the restoration, and were able to teach about Joseph Smith, and give a Book of Mormon to him with the invitation to find out for himself whether or not it is true. We invited him to pray at the end and he did! It was so awesome! 

After that we quickly came back, prepared taco rice and brought over the stuff for taco rice to the shimajiri Family's home where Hayashi kyoudai, a recent convert, and again Naori shimai and her friend koyanagi san, all came. It was super great. We ate together and the members were able to build strong, and really important relationships with koyanagi and with Hayashi.

From there we had to race over to the church, where the bishopric had planned a dinner activity to talk with and try and work with the missionaries. (Huge miracle.) The bishopric with all of their families were there and we ate dinner, (yes, this was the second time eating dinner, back to back.) We were able to talk with and really become seamless with the bishopric. Bishop Ono is 35, has 5 kids, and is just so cool, and such a fun, outgoing and character of a person. He doesn't follow any of the traditional Japanese customs, and his family is basically just this beautiful model family that is super strong in the gospel; and pretty crazy. I talked with Bishop Ono about Yoneta family and ko-chan, and he told me about several part member family's and less actives, and I really felt like we were a team. Such a great evening. This ward has such amazing people, so many such strong members. I always joke that Atsubetsu ward to Hokkaido, is like Utah to America, in terms of just being super strong and having a lot of members. It would really help some areas to have some of these awesome members move to less strong areas, but of course people want to live where the church is strong, where their kids can at least have 1 member friend or somewhat of a youth program. 

Monday 11/5

Today was a really crazy day. We went to Otaru. It took about 45 minutes to get there; all of the district in our area plus us, 8 people, in the mission home assistants car! It was a party! We made it there and walked all around otaru, and I was able to have a really interesting conversation with sister Iwasa. She is such a complex, but ina different way, a very Japanese way, very simple. I was able to help her understand a lot of misunderstanding that had caused her frustration or hurt, or just less enjoyment. As we were talking it was really interesting how I realized that sometimes in some situations, the most selfless thing to do is to accept service from others, and the more selfish thing could be to take the service role; especially if taken all the time, and not allowing others to take it. This is a really interesting phenomenon. Perhaps sometimes we need to be willing to accept service graciously, and not be the one to do all of the service. I love learning about life and about myself from a people and a culture that is so completely opposite of the way that my personality is configured, and the way that I was raised and grew up. I also talked with her about how she feels like people don't want to talk to her because they'd rather talk in English and she doesn't speak English, and so she really wants people to talk to who they want to talk to and not be burdened by having to talk with her, and in Japanese; so sad and not true at all. I had thought, along with everyone else, they when she was kind of quiet and a little apart from everyone else, that she liked to be alone with her thoughts, and didn't necessarily want to talk. The truth is is that sister Iwasa is a very interesting person, and everyone wanted to talk to her, but because she didn't think that, and she was so quick to sacrifice herself that she was depriving herself of a more enjoyable experience, and others also of a more interesting fun experience. When we discovered this together she really was pretty shocked. It was cool how much we learned about culture, personality, and communication, throughout our discussion. 

We got back in the car to head back and I needed to stop in teine, a town just outside of Sapporo, right before Otaru, to get a reservation to practice for my driving test. (You HAVE to go in person, just to reserve it.) but we got it reserved, headed back, and when we got back my new, and old, companion elder Satou, was there!! Elder Satou has become the new assistant, and I get to be companions with him again! Exactly a year ago we were companions, and he is such a great missionary, I am so excited to work with him again. We went to mini-volleyball tonight, and Elder Satou was going too hard and sprained his ankle pretty bad! Pretty rough for him first day here! He seems like he'll be okay though! I have also  been very sick, which has been really annoying, and a struggle. I hope to get better quickly, but it is hard when I keep on getting cut on sleep, and being so busy! Now we are starting transfers week!! 16 new missionaries coming, and 10 going home! The biggest there has ever been! It's going to be insane! So yes, that was this week. 

I know that this work is God's work. I know that God Loves His children, and that he has a specific and perfect plan for each of us. I love this Work. 

Love, Elder Conover

Zone conference

October 29, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,
Well hello!! I hope that you are all doing wonderful. Today we were able to go to the temple, and so our Pday was today.

I don't how to explain what has been happening here since last Monday, but I will try to help you get a little bit of a feel for what has been going on. 

So on Tuesday last week, we had our first zone conference, with the Atsubetsu Zone. (One of the two Sapporo zone's, Toyohira is in that zone which is where worked for 9 months.) It was cool to see all that we had really planned and worked on come together and happen. President McClure is having us do quite a bit during this round of Zone Conferences, and so there was a lot of pressure, but I do well with pressure, and so despite the stress it was really fun.

Rundown of Zone Conference:                                                                                                                        

1. New Culture of Obedience. (President McClure) All mission rules went away, and we just need to rely on the Spirit, follow the Missionary handbook, and desire to do the right thing. In the church we gain obedience by teaching freedom. We are now giving Freedom to missionaries, and they can choose to be obedient and to follow God, and to what degree, on their own. I have learned a lot from President McClure about this, and I have really gained a testimony of the importance of honoring people's agency. But of course missionaries can also use their agency in a way that will wind up in them also having made the decision to go home. But it will have been them that chose it. President McClure does not send missionaries home. Missionaries send themselves home. 

2. New Chapter for PMG with a new Planning process. (Elder Takamasa and I were in charge of this part.) 

This new chapter of Preach my Gospel has a truly inspired process that has changed the way that I will plan and approach problems and solutions for the rest of my life. 

Planning process: (The beauty of this planning process is that it is carried out for each individual, one person at a time.)

1 Pray for and seek inspiration

Brigham Young taught, "Your spiritual life can never exceed the strength of your prayer life." This principle has proven true to me time and time again. I have decided that a companionship's ability to receive revelation, work in unity, and have the spirit, can also be very reliant upon how they are praying. Prayers should be focused on something, specific, and answerable. We can recognize if our prayers are effective if we can see how a prayer was answered. So in the planning process our prayers are directed towards receiving inspiration about an individual, and about what they need, these prayers are probably not very long. 

2 Review Progress

In this new chapter it has example questions that serve as a guide for us in directing out we would review progress, set goals, and make plans. 

Review Progress:

◦How has this investigator’s faith in the Savior grown this week? Is he or she developing “faith unto repentance” (Alma 34:15)? If not, why? 

◦Is [name] preparing for baptism and confirmation on a specific date? Is there anything keeping him or her from progressing toward that goal? 

◦How are members, including the ward council, helping? If they are not, how can we encourage them to help? 

◦Did [name] attend church this week? If not, why? 

◦Is he or she praying daily? If not, why? 

◦Is he or she reading the Book of Mormon every day? If not, why? 

◦Is [name] keeping other commitments we have invited him or her to keep? If not, why? ◦Did we ask [name] about friends or family who might be interested in and benefit from our message? If not, when will we do that?

As we talk about some of these questions as a companionship will find a need and then we can make a goal that will meet the need that has been given to us through inspired conversation. 

Then you work through these next 3 steps and that is how you can plan in a way that you will receive inspiration, and really help people to progress and come unto Christ. 

3 Set Goals

4 Make Plans

5 Pray Again

^^see "how do I fulfill my purpose" a new planning chapter for PMG, replacing the old chapter 8. 

President McClure prophesied that this new way of planning if carried out diligently, will change our mission, and will bring the blessings and miracles that are promised, to Hokkaido. 

3. The first vision- in a contact being able to share Joseph smiths experience and a tiny bit of background, and your testimony in 1-2 minutes. We gave demonstrations of these, and asked them to prepare, and then had 2 of them share what kind of thing they had come up with to share. It was so powerful. Every time it came to Joseph Smith's words, the spirit really became so strong, and every time you could feel the power in what was being shared. I know that Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration. When Joseph Smith went into the Sacred Grove, I know that he really did meet Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

4. Online Proselyting. We gave everyone in the mission permission to start using Facebook and line. We talked about some of the precautions, passed out the new pages to the missionary handbook regarding social media and technology use, answered some questions and testified of the trust that God has in us, and of the importance that we honor that trust. 

5. President's closing thoughts. 

It has been such a wonderful experience to be doing these Zone conferences. It is also a really fun challenge for Elder Takamasa and I, and usually someone in the zone, for when we are presenting, to translate these meetings from English to Japanese for the Japanese Elders and Sisters. I am convinced that there is nothing that takes more brainpower/mental capacity than translating in live time. 

So that is is the rundown for Zone conference. Now I am going to send another email about what has happened in between and throughout these two weeks as zone conference has taken place. 

Thank you for reading my long letter, and if you didn't that is totally okay too!!!! I love you! 

コノバー長老
Elder Conover

Last week's adventures.

October 23, 2017

Hello Again!
Okay so I am going to try to make up for the last couple weeks, so
this first email will be last weeks email.

Monday 10/16
Monday night we had a "mini" volleyball activity with some older
ladies and a member, and the missionaries. It was really fun. Haha but
I got way to into it. Everyone told me to take it easy and not go as
hard in one of the games, and so I did, and we ended up being down
6-0. (Play to 11.) so then we started working hard and it got to be
6-6, then it went back and forth, and to me, I couldn't help but get
super into it! Haha so then I kind of became the laughing stock, and
the missionaries couldn't understand why I cared so much. Anyway, we
actually ended up losing after several deuces. (I kept my composure
pretty good with that though. Don't worry. ;))


Tuesday 10/17
Zone Conference. (See other email.)
This was our first conference, and it went pretty good! I have decided
that Zone conferences are kind of like running a musical. Five nights
where you preform, and 5 different kinds of energy. So it was like
opening night; just in the morning. Adrenaline, a bit nervous, and
slightly underprepared, first time really doing it.
That night we had a sign language class that some of our members, and
investigators go to. It is really cool to learn some Japanese sign
language.

Wednesday 10/18
Today we got fed by a member at this curry and naan restaurant. It was
so amazing. I love those places here in Japan so much.
Today we also were able to have kind of part of our pday in a way, and
we went to round 1 with Kasey (Mission president's 18 year old
daughter), her 2 friends Lev and Daniel, and the sister missionaries
as well. Round 1 is kind of like a big play place. They have bowling
as like half of the building and then the other half of the building
is all kinds of full size sports, mini sports, arcade sports, roller
blading, batting cages, mini golf, ping pong, pool, massage chairs,
mechanical bull, etc. it was really fun, and we were able to teach lev
and Daniel about church and they committed to come on Sunday! (They
were planning on coming, but then accidentally slept in Sunday morning
and didn't come.:/)


Thursday 10/19
Today we had zone conference in Kotoni, the other zone in Sapporo.
Just like second night, we fixed the little kinks, things went more
smooth, we still had adrenaline and were still on our toes, and it was
a really good zone conference.
Tonight we had english class, which I still hadn't been to here, but a
new family came, and I was able to exchange Facebook with him, and
have been able to start teaching him and his family a little bit
through Facebook! This family is super awesome! The Yoneta family! I
really think that they are prepared to receive the gospel, and I am
really excited to see them progress.



Friday 10/20
This was a really cool day. I have been able to recently reconnect
with shuichi, who was a Japanese foreign exchange student in my house
for a week, and then came back a year later and went on a vacation
with my family as well. Now that we can use Facebook, I decided that I
should reach out to him and so I did, and he was very surprised to
know that I was in Japan, and was even more surprised that I could
write to him in Japanese.
He still couldn't really speak too much English, which surprised me
because he is so smart! He is going to Osaka university which is
probably the 3rd best university in Japan. We ended up being able to
do a video call on line today. It was so cool. We were able to also
have him invite his friend to participate, and after talking about the
time that we had with him in Utah, and with my family, and asking him
if he remembered the temple, and Jospeh Smith and church, and prayer,
(he remembered all of it.) Then we taught them the message of the
restoration, and about Joseph Smith's experience. It was really
wonderful. They listened to every word, and to bring the spirit before
we shared Jospeh Smith's words, we played the song Jospeh Smith's
first Prayer (In english) and then recited Joseph Smith's words. At
the end I gave them an example of prayer, and then they both gave
prayers right then. It was so awesome! I love it when people pray for
the first time! We committed them really strongly to pray that night
before they sleep, speak out loud and ask if what we had shared with
them was true, and if Joseph Smith's experience was real. Such a
tender mercy, I really feel like one of the reasons why I may have
come to Japan is for him. We are hoping to get them in touch with the
missionaries there soon as well.


We realized that we have to do a splits tomorrow otherwise we would
not be able to do them all, and so I came to Kotoni tonight, and get
to go on splits with Elder Graham tomorrow! I love splits, and I
really love working and being with Elder Graham!

Saturday 10/21
Splits with Elder Graham. We were able to teach the first vision a lot
this morning, and find a lot of new investigators. It was really
awesome. I love just going out and sharing the gospel with people. It
was so fun to be with Elder Graham. We were also able to play tennis
with some random kids that were playing at a court for a little bit,
which was super fun!
I was able to talk with one of my favorite missionaries, Elder Saito
about really meeting his potential, and really doing what is necessary
to not just be in the called category, but to make it into the chosen
as well. "Many are called, but few are chosen." We have to choose to
follow God and to be obedient, and to really be converted and
consecrated or we won't, even if we are called, be able to be chosen.
We talked about living a spiritual lifestyle, and about how the
missionary schedule really helps us live a lifestyle that will give us
the best sensitivity to the Spirit.
Then we had a little English class, and a sports activity, which a lot
of people came to, and it was a little bit crazy, but really fun, and
hopefully good for the investigators there.



Sunday 10/22
Today we had church, and it was a really awesome meeting. I really
love the members here. Daniel and Lev didn't come to church, and
neither did our other newer investigator that said that she would
come, so that was unfortunate. It was kind of a normal Sunday day, we
were able to do some normal teaching and finding and felt the Spirit
of missionary work. We also are working really hard to work with the
members.



Monday 10/23
Today we woke up and after doing a little bit of preparing for the
week we started the drive to Kushiro a little before 1pm. It was
really fun driving with President and sister McClure. We planned a
fireside that is this Sunday, and talked about a lot of different
things, and they shared some really wonderful experiences with us. We
got to Kushiro at 4:30 pm, and drive through some pretty good snow as
we passed through the mountains, so that was awesome!
We got there, and got to participate in their Zone activity their as
president started interviews. I was able to play ping pong with a lot
of elders who I haven't played with for a long time, or with who I've
always wanted to play. We slept in Kushiro apartment tonight with 17
missionaries. Lol. So every inch of room in he whole apartment besides
the bathroom was used for sleeping. It is my first time coming to this
region of Hokkaido! I have been everywhere else, but I have never been
to the eastern side, it was a cool feeling! Kind of feels like
Northern California, the redwoods area, kind of feeling, but I still
don't really know either place too well.




That is what has happened this week! It has been crazy, wonderful,
slightly stressful and very much a growing and learning experience. I
love missionary work. I love this gospel.
Love,
コノバー長老
Elder Conover