Elder Conner Brown

Muroran Week 13

Tuesday, January 14: had DCM, but the only other pair in our district, the Hakodate sisters, were busy, so we crashed another district's DCM. That district was missing their sisters as well, so it was just two district leaders and their companions. Got our transfer calls, that I'm staying right put and Minegishi 長老 is going to my bean area, Ebetsu. Did some sports dendo later and met a guy we played with earlier. Hopefully he'll come with his friends to Sports night. Slipped on the ice for the 4th time this winter. Did studies at the library. Some more students were attracted by my sign. White-guy-power! For our last dinner, Minegishi 長老 and I had Pizza Hut (way different here than america), and hamburgers.

Wednesday, January 15: Minegishi 長老 headed off to Ebetsu and I called another Elder until my new companion arrived so that I wasn't technically alone. My new companion is Kaga 長老. He isn't quite as good at English as Minegishi 長老, and apparently he has the hardest Japanese in the entire mission. Upside: when I learn to understand him, I can understand almost everyone. Did some DKK weekly planning for two hours. Had some bento for dinner, which was delicious.

 

Thursday, January 16: did more weekly planning for another 3 hours. After all that talking, I was dog tired and for the first time in my mission took a 10-15 minute nap. Minegishi 長老 would request one from time to time, but I would usually just study during that time. Had eikaiwa, which was great.

 

Friday, January 17: went and housed in the morning. Got an appointment with a nice man for Sunday afternoon. Did some streeting in the afternoon. Met a less active on the way. President McClure had a big Zoom Meeting to initiate a mission wide 40 Day Fast for more success in the mission. One of the beans was a brave soul and asked if we were fasting from food or something else. President McClure explained it was a fast from negative behaviors or worldly things, or even things that are good, just not best, and replacing them with things that are best.

 

The mission president also posted the following message & invitation on the Mission Facebook page:

Dear Friends and Family of the Japan Sapporo Mission,

 

We humbly ask for your help and invite you to join us for a “40 Day Fast”.

 

What is a “40 Day Fast”? It is an extra-effort-attempt to pray mightily for heaven’s help in this great work we are engaged in. To demonstrate our desire for help, we try to better ourselves—for example to replace a natural man habit with something higher and holier. The only day we will actually fast is on the regular Fast Sunday, 2-2-2020.

 

As we begin a new year and a new transfer (which is about a 40-day period), we hope your participation can help magnify our efforts to find those who are seeking for truth. Alma’s prayer is our prayer, too, “Please pour out thy Spirit on all the face of this land, to prepare the minds and hearts of these people to receive thy word which should be taught among them.” (Alma 16:16)

Thank you for your love and support! We know that any effort will be a blessing to you and us--A win-win for all!

 

Ai Shitemasu!

President & Sister McClure

 

Conner also shared with us this story, explaining the concept behind a 40 day fast:  Download 40 Day Fast.ENG-JAP_(1)

 

Saturday, January 18: We were going to do some sports dendo, but Kaga 長老 didn't have his clothes shipped here yet. More dendo stuff.

 

Choro Kaga was transferred from an area far north in the mission.  When they do transfers like that, the missionaries only take with them enough things to get by for a few days, while the rest of their luggage along with their bike is shipped to the new area.

 

Sunday, January 19: surprisingly, the ward didn't have Kaga 長老 bear a testimony at church. We talked with lots of members. I took this as a great opportunity to take notes on a couple names of people I didn't know. I think I have the last names of most of the ward by now. Visited the guy we met a few days ago, but his wife answered the door and said he was taking a nap. We left them a pamphlet we planned to introduce and she said we could come back another time. Visited Kamada-san, one of our investigators, and introduced Kaga 長老. Transfers are a nice excuse to meet with people again so that we can do introductions.

 

Not much to report besides that. I'll send a picture or two to the shared file. Quick note: apparently a long-lasting joke Kaga 長老 has in the mission is always having a straight face in pictures.

 

Hope you all have a great week!

愛しています！

Elder Brown

 

Muroran Week 12

Hello there!

 

Transfers coming up. I'll be interested to see what happens. Here's my report:

 

Monday, January 6: After calling you guys, finished up sign 2.0. One side says "I want to learn Japanese. Please talk to me." The other side has general missionary information. Dendoed near the college afterwards.

 

 

Tuesday, January 7: spent most of the day at the college. It was kind of a trial and error day to figure out when people wouldn't be so busy. I think we narrowed down a good time for that.

 

Wednesday, January 8: The snow came down pretty powerfully today. We tried to house a little in the east, but Minegishi chourou remembered the place, so we're pretty convinced that literally all of Muroran has been housed. Came back and studied. The snow didn't slow down, so that wrecked our streeting plans. Sat around a bit wondering what to do. I kinda thought "well we aren't doing anything here. We might as well get out there". I kept thinking about the library, so we grabbed our signs (I almost left mine) and headed out.

 

We sat down in the library and I attached my sign 2.0 to my bag. A couple girls at a nearby table started giggling when they saw it. I said "konnichiwa" and we started to study. All while we're studying, the girls are giggling and talking about our posters, but we pretend not to notice. Then they run off and come back with two more friends. They all start talking about us and start playing rock paper scissors (you can guess why). Finally, one of them stands up and starts inching over to us, clearly unsure how to start the conversation. As she's almost here, I suddenly stand up and say in japanese "hi, my name's Elder Brown". We had a great conversation with the four of them and introduced them to sports night and eikaiwa. 

 

Later, had indo curry for dinner. I don't know why everybody in the mission is crazy about it. 

 

Thursday, January 9: Tried out some store dendo. We walk around with our signs and I pretend to be a clueless American. I'm having a hard time coming up with pickup questions, though. Had eikaiwa later, which was fun.

 

Friday, January 10: Tried some sports dendo in the morning, where we go to a local gym and play games with people and invite them to sports night. Pretty fun and rather effective. Couldn't get a team-up for kids eikaiwa so that was a bummer, but toeic was super fun as usual.

 

Saturday, January 11: stressed over my talk. You know I always write them word for word and I have to do it in Japanese.

 

Sunday, January 12: finished my talk on the walk over. Between the amount that I wrote and trying to read all of it, the talk took about 20min. I think. The next speaker Hayashi きょうだい was happy I took so long. 

 

Monday, January 13: made some mochi. One of the members in our ward is a recent convert and absolutely awesome at dendo. She invited somebody she met at the store to the new years party and to learn about kids eikaiwa. Absolutely awesome! Everybody had a great time, even if it went a little long.

 

 

 

The Ward New Years Party was held Monday morning at the church.  Which is also Conner's p-day. He always video chats us from the church because that is where they can get wifi.  During the party (which stretched out 3-4 hours long) he finally called us before it was too late in the evening America.  When he came on we were surprised to see him joined by a couple little friends! They hung over his shoulder the whole time just watching the screen with their sweet faces.

Then a counselor in the branch presidency stopped by to wave hi and share some nice things about Conner which he translated for us.  

 

Hope you all are doing great as school's starting up again. Talk to you again next week!

 

愛しています！

Elder Brown

 

Muroran Week 11

Happy New Year! We did not stay up for that, though I'm sure some missionaries did. Last TOEIC, I tried to explain what we did last New Years with the Thanos snap* to the students. I think they understood what we did, but they obviously had no clue why. I don't think memes are a thing here. Shame.

 

*Last year on NYE, the boys pulled out Avengers: Infinity War and cued up the scene where Thanos snaps his fingers to play exactly when the clock struck midnight.

 

Monday, Dec 30: Went to that Samurai Village. Already talked about that in the last email. Went housing after calling home. One house, the doorphone was at the front gate. We pressed it and the second story window opened. A lady popped her head out and asked something like "What is it?". Nothing came from it, but it was a fun experience.

 

Tuesday, Dec 31: that wind mom was talking about yesterday hit us pretty hard. I've never really needed the thermal underwear since I've gone so many years with nothing but shorts, but this day, I was thinking about them. Also, met an Indian guy on the way back who tried to bash Christianity. Kinda funny, though, cause he never posed a question I couldn't answer if he cared to learn. 

 

Wednesday, Jan 1: Happy New Year! Had breakfast with a member who said he'd have a less active there, but the less active never showed up. He also took us to see a rice smashing ceremony and a Japanese drum presentation, which was pretty fun. Had interviews afterward via Zoom chat. Then, went and visited a jinja (shrine) with lots of people. Couldn't proselyte, but good to be where the people are. Minegishi 長老 shared some super cool similarities between the shrine and Moses' time, like how the typical Japanese red-colored gate thing is in the exact shape as how the Israelites marked their doors with blood in Egypt to avoid the destroying angel. Also, there is a washing station like what priests would do before entering the tabernacle. Also, there was a rope and paper decoration thing above the door to the shrine which symbolized the clouds and lightning of Mount Sinai. Cool stuff.

 

Thursday, Jan 2: DKK in the morning. Not much that's noteworthy other than that.

 

Friday, Jan 3: Went and did normal dendo efforts. While we streeted, we saw a guy a little ways off smoking a cigarette. We got closer and Minegishi 長老 recognized him as a less active. He recognized us some time before that and the cigarette went behind his back, lol.

 

Saturday, Jan 4: nothing too noteworthy to report. Normal dendo. Met with Kamada-san. I don't understand him at all, but it feels like nothing happens with him.

 

Sunday, Jan 5: went to church. Afterwards, went to the bus station and figured out what bus routes we could take to cut our walking time. Did some housing later. Slipped on the ice for third time this mission. And this time, landed flat on my hydroflask. Ouch. On a lighter note, had a good conversation with the last person we housed. Went a little long, so we barely missed our bus back. As we walked down a street toward the main road, our bus passed right by. It was a fun opportunity to teach Minegishi 長老 the English word "taunt".

 

*****

New Year is the most important holiday in Japan, families spend time together, and most businesses shut down from January 1 to January 3. It is tradition to visit a shrine during the first few days of the year -- Hatsumode -- and it looks like Conner did just that on January 1st. Here is a little article about New Years traditions in Japan.

 

Because of the holiday and people being occupied with family & celebrations, President McClure suggested that the missionaries add to their daily schedule an hour of cleaning and an extra hour of study to fill the time.

Muroran Week 10

Hello There!

 

Glad you all made it home safely through that snow. It's crazy some of the bullets our family dodges sometimes, right? Good blessings. Glad you all saw Star Wars and loved it. Maybe its just a movie strategy to pump out two movies for people to hate and argue over before delivering something everyone loves so they get more revenue from it. Anyhoo, here's my report:

 

Monday, Dec 23: played some super fun volleyball for zone games today. Had it in the Kotoni church building gym. Then we played some signs. My sign is still the Darth Vader force choke. Some of the Japanese girls thought it was so cute. Did our district activity of checking out the lights in Sapporo. Near the end, we realized Minegishi Choro lost his name tag. We checked through our pictures and traced our steps until finally we found it at the very first picture spot!

 

Elder Brown's District -- one Elder companionship and one Sister companionship.  Minegishi Choro is the District Leader

 

We asked: What's the story with the candy cane?

Conner's response:  The candy cane is literally to just attract attention, lol.  The Kotoni Elders let us borrow it.

 

 

Stayed the night with the zone leader trio.  Anyhoo, our Zone Leader was singing "Savior Redeemer of My Soul" at the talent show and his pianist got transferred, so i offered to fill in.

 

Tuesday, Dec 24: Yeah, I had Elder Embley take that over, since he did the song in the MTC already, so he knew it all. Great Zone Christmas Conference. Learned some good stuff. Played a game where we tied a balloon to our foot and tried to stomp on other people's balloons. Had a great talent show with some good performances and some really funny ones too. President McClure sang last with our zone leader, so that was fun.

3 Zone Conference - Asahi, Odori, & Betsu Zones

All of the sisters received red scarves/shawls as Christmas gifts from the mission.  The Elder received a tie with the kanji for "Joy" embroidered on it.  Joy is their mission theme.

Accompanying a group singing I Am A Child of God for the talent show

 

The Odori Zone

 

Wednesday, Dec 25: continued on the splits with the zone leader trio. Had an appointment with a couple members in the morning. Shared a nice Christmas message. We almost left on time, but they brought out hot chocolate and cake. Note to self: lovingly emphasize mission rules on time before the lesson. Anyhoo, we were a little late for lunch with the other splits duo and the sisters for Kotoni. Had lunch at a nice curry place with really low tables and cushions. We were gonna try and take a slightly early bus, but we forgot something on the way, so we hung out with the missionaries until the next one was scheduled. I should have taken a picture of our Christmas dinner. We got back late, so it was a fabulous, microwaved beef stew with rice and fried chicken the sisters gave us at lunch.

 

Thursday, Dec 26: not much to talk about. Called home. Dendoed. Had eikaiwa in the evening, but nobody was there. We kinda expected one person or less anyway. The others gave us some notice that they wouldn't be there.

 

Friday, Dec 27: dendoed throughout the day. Had an end of the year kids eikaiwa which was awesome. Sang some christmas songs like "once there was a snowman", "jingle bells", and "we wish you a merry christmas". Minegishi chourou set up a fun game of alphabet bingo. If you won, you got to pick from a set of strings hanging over a whiteboard. Behind the whiteboard, some of those strings would have a candy tied at the end. Super fun! Then had Toeic which was also fun. They asked me when Americans take down their christmas decorations. I told them it depends on the family and how lazy they are, lol. I really like teaching the Toiec class. We have some fun and interesting conversations. For instance, today, I tried to explain the difference between "lately" and "recently".

 

Saturday, Dec 28: had one good conversation in the morning, followed by two people who didn't like us very much. Bummer. It's probably easier for me to shake it off since I didn't understand their rants too well. Kinda makes me think of the Amish Paradise song right now. Dad and Payton probably know what I'm talking about. 

 

Sunday, Dec 29: like I said while talking, there wasn't much that was noteworthy.

 

Monday, Dec 30: that samurai village was awesome! The buildings looked so cool! The samurai show was awesome! The ninja show was awesome! The fights were so legit! There was also a super funky maze with little tricks and stuff, like multiple doors and slanted floors. A couple little haunted house type things as well. 

 

Have a happy new year!

Aishiteimasu!

 

On preparation day a member of the ward invited the missionaries to join him to visit a local Samurai Village with his half off coupon.

 

Muroran Week 9

Hello there!

Christmas coming up! Good time to dendo.

 

Monday, Dec 16: Yeah, tried out caroling dendo a bit. Nobody knows what caroling is. And, when we did get a chance to sing a song, no clue what to do next. Dropped the idea pretty quick.

 

Tuesday, Dec 17: had Zone Council Meeting instead of district today. Good stuff. Had a new person come to sports night, so that was nice. Opened up the Christmas package! Thanks so much for all the awesome stuff!

 

Wednesday, Dec 18: did lots of dendo stuff. Visited a guy named Kamada-san. He's got a few health problems and a smoking problem, but he's listening. We invited him to pray.

 

Thursday, Dec 19: Weekly planning. Eikaiwa at night. Dendo in between. Not much else.

 

Friday, Dec 20: dendoed in the morning. Got a notification that some members were doing a little pizza making party on Saturday. Invited a person or two. In the evening, we met a high schooler named Kento-san. He seemed pretty interested in what we were sharing. Invited him to the pizza party and to have a quick lesson afterward, and he said he'd come.

 

Saturday, Dec 21: yea, he didn't come. The other guy we invited came, though. Talked with a boy named Tenma-san. I don't see him at church very often, but his parents are members. Weeks ago at church, his mom told me about him, that he likes Star Wars. When she saw us chatting at the party she was super happy. Anyways, he shared some epic spoilers about Star Wars episode 9. I won't spoil. A seperate email is going to Payton about it all. That night, we went around to a couple returning members to see if they could come to sacrament meeting. None of them could, but we gave out a couple of the fold up nativities as gifts.

 

Sunday, Dec 22: the ward really hooked us up on food and treats for the winter. It was pretty epic!

 

Did some dendo after church. Went to visit Kamada-san. Kinda hard for me to participate as usual. But, with dictionary in hand, I was at least able to write down a new word or two. (Smelling my jacket right now. I can't tell if the smoke scent has disappeared yet. Don't want that kinda cologne at zone conference, lol)

 

random breakfast photo

 

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Probably call on Christmas Eve!

愛しています！

Elder Brown

Muroran Week 8

Hello there!

 

Still little to no snow here. Pretty different most other places.

 

Tuesday, Dec 10: had a lesson planned with Usui-san, but he was busy. Kinda wish he'd told us he couldn't make it earlier than twenty minutes after it was supposed to start, but it worked out alright. Shame, we had a team up and everything. We at least got rescheduled for Friday.

 

Wednesday, Dec 11: normal dendo, then took a train up to Shinkotoni to stay the night for mission tour. Got to hang out with Bird 長老, so that was awesome. Got to catch up a bit on how things have been going.

 

Thursday, Dec 12: Went to mission tour. Got to meet up with Bird 長老, Schwarze 長老, and Embley 長老, so that was awesome. (These Elders were in Conner's MTC District). 

 

Elder Wada shared some great stuff with us. One of the things he talked about was working hard, then working smart, then working inspired. He also talked a lot about a nice chart he gave each of us we can use for our investigators to show how they're coming closer to Christ. Also, he talked about how we should study the scriptures: reading, pondering, applying, and then acting on them.

 

A group picture with all of the Sapporo Japan missionaries who are assigned on Hokkaido.  Elder Wada visited the missionaries assigned to Northern Tohoku in a separate meeting.  It is too difficult & expensive (not to mention the amount of travel time) to have the entire mission gather together in one place).

 

Photos taken by Sister McClure

 

 

Elder Wada

Food pictures!

 

Friday, Dec 13: had a great lesson with Usui-san. Taught him the rest of lesson 1. He's kinda busy the rest of the month, but hopefully we'll be able to meet with him again soon enough. Normal stuff the rest of the day.

 

Saturday, Dec 14: had our weekly planning today, because Thursday was mission tour and Friday was busy. Dendoed the rest of the day. An old man let us in, but he talked for like an hour, and I can't understand a word he's saying, so I don't know the polite place to say we have to go. Also, a package tried to come while we were gone.

 

Sunday, Dec 15: pretty great day. Went to church. A member invited a friend over to church and we taught a quick lesson to her during Sunday school (I was kinda looking forward to talking about the end of the world (Book of Revelations), but I'll take an opportunity to teach over that any day). In the afternoon, we went out with the Elder's Quorum President to visit some old investigators and less actives. Literally everybody we visited was home, and four people let us inside to talk. We got a new investigator from that. Awesome miracles! There's power when members and missionaries get put together. 

 

See you in a few!

愛しています！

Elder Brown

 

From our video chat this week .... 

 

He wanted to demonstrate his growing language skills with a little game. We selected a random verse in the Book of Mormon - he reads it in Japanese - and then while using his Japanese Book of Mormon, translates it into English.

Muroran Week 7

Hello there!

Snow is finally starting to come in permanently here. The weather's been pretty funny lately.

 

Monday, Dec 2: Had a great lesson with Usui-san! First Mr Donut appointment to actually show up! He has a christian background because of his family and seems kind of interested in the message. Did dendo later in the day and visited a returning member.

 

Tuesday, Dec 3: powerful wind today. So strong, that they canceled school today and tomorrow. It's supposed to be the strongest the wind can be right now. We didn't learn how bad it was until sports night, so we dendoed anyway. When he heard, though, Minegishi 長老 was a little concerned for our safety. Here's my opinion though. The wind means two things. 1: People are shut in their houses and can't escape us. 2: Extra element of pity when people see us in the wind, smiling, and talking about Jesus Christ and happiness. 

 

Got transfer calls today. Staying right put with Minegishi 長老.

 

Wednesday, Dec 4: a nice member sent us the weather. We studied in the morning when the wind was strongest, then dendoed after lunch. Not too much else happened.

 

Thursday, Dec 5: weekly planning in the morning. Dendo in the afternoon. Minegishi 長老 followed up with Usui-san on his prayer. He said he really feels that God exists! Can't wait to teach him next! We have an appointment now for next Tuesday.

 

Friday, Dec 6: kids eikaiwa kinda stressed me out. The next day is the Christmas party, and the kids don't know the song very well. Also, three of the oldest kids caught the flu, so they weren't there and couldn't perform the next day.

 

Saturday, Dec 7: the performance at the Christmas party was actually pretty great! Super cute to see them do that song. I'm pretty sure a mom or two got a video of it. The Christmas party itself was awesome! Three members brought a friend, two of which turned into possible investigators. There was cookie decorating and eating, pine cone decorating (making trees and wreaths), and the ward shared a couple Christmas videos.

 

Sunday, Dec 8: Went to church. Got a team-up for Usui-san's lesson. Went housing afterwards. My companion and I were out knocking doors, when suddenly, I needed to use the bathroom. It was weird, cause that pretty much never happens for me. We stopped at a minimart and when I came out, my companion was talking with a middle aged man. They had just had a fun conversation about where my companion was from and the man invited us over for dinner. He's a pretty cool guy. Really into heavy metal, and knows English very well. We were able to bond over favorite bands. Tried to sing "Hotel California" with him, but still have no head voice. We ate, we sang, we chatted, Minegishi 長老 shared a church video. He doesn't seem to have much interest, but who knows? Maybe he'll change his mind some day.

 

Hope you're all having fun back home! Eat a bunch of Christmas cookies for me! 

 

Talk to you in a few!

愛しています！

Elder Brown

Muroran Week 6

Hello there!

Transfer 2 coming to a close soon! Here's the weekly report.

 

Wednesday, Nov 26: for zone games, we were gonna do sports, but the gym was getting its ceiling painted, so we played signs and a liar game in another room. Had interviews, then camped out with the assistants to the President for the night with a bunch of other missionaries. There were like eight of us in total. Fun time.

 

Sapporo Temple in the snow

 

Thursday, Nov 28: Zone conference! Had a great time learning from the workshops and hanging out with the other missionaries. Between workshops, they do this thing called a Situational Solution. Basically, they call a random companionship to come up on the spot and are given a problem to act out. For instance: what do you do if your companion won't wake up in the morning? One person would pretend to be the disobedient missionary and the other would try to solve the problem (all in Japanese). 

 

 

Minegishi 長老 and I got called up for one. The situation was the lesson is going too long, and your companion won't stop talking. Minegishi 長老 was the elder who was talking too long. He started talking on and on about the topic of sin to the person we were talking too. I interrupted and said this was important, but we probably don't have any time, so next time we should talk about that. I also added in Japanese, "Us taking up so much time is probably a sin." The whole zone got a good laugh out of that. 

 

 

Also, we had an awesome lunch. I ordered a nice katsu cooked in egg. Thanksgiving feast of champions right there. After zone conference, went back to the assistants' apartment to grab my tablet, then walked through the torrents of snow to honbu, where we did some weekly planning while we waited for the time our bus would arrive.

It is a 2 hour bus ride from mission headquarters (Sapporo) to Muroran

 

Elder Brown and another Elder stood in front of the group and were recognized for their recent birthdays.  He got to choose something from a gift basket and selected a tie.

 

The photo projected on the wall was taken in August when Elder Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife visited the mission (seated front and center).  The entire mission gathered to hear him speak.  The small photos at the top are the missionaries who have been added to the mission since that group picture.  

 

Combined Atsubetsu & Odori Zone Conference

 

 

 

Friday, Nov 29: finished up weekly planning and dendoed. Had kids eikaiwa and toeic that night.

 

Saturday, Nov 30: wrote a melody for "Five Little Christmas Trees" because the concept of a song without notes is kinda foreign to them. Sent a video of the melody out to everyone so that they could practice. Good stuff. Did more dendo. We decided to go visit an old investigator who popped up in our area book. Took a long time to walk there. Met a nice high school kid and had a nice conversation with him. He's too busy, but he said he'd tell anyone who was interested in our kind of message about us. 

 

Met the old investigator at the door. Turns out, he had the lessons two years ago! He's so old, that the person who taught him was Minegishi 長老's trainer! He's still in college and has been a little lonely lately. We invited him to the Muroran Christmas party and he said he'd come. Hopefully, he'll take the lessons again.

 

Sunday, Dec 1: Church and dendo and so forth. Found that talking with members is a good way to practice Japanese. Also, we have a Christmas presentation we are going to give next Saturday at the Christmas party. Should be a great opportunity to share the gospel with nonmembers. 

 

Hope you all have a great next week! We'll see next week whether or not we're both still here.

 

愛しています！

Elder Brown

 

the view from his apartment

 

Pokemon Donuts at Mr. Donut -- it is a chain in Japan.  Elder Brown & his companion have set up several appointments to meet investigators at Mr. Donut.  The first two fell through.  On Monday, Dec 2nd they had plans to meet a potential investigator -- no report on whether or not the appointment stuck, but we can only hope the third time is a charm!

 

Mom Note:  Receiving this photo from Conner just about made my heart burst! 🌲❤️ We have a tradition of watching Mr. Krueger’s Christmas on Christmas Eve. It is one of my favorites and the kids know that my love runs deep. (For the most part, I think they just humor me). If you know the movie, then you know the connection to this photo. Sweet little Clarissa leaves her mittens in the basement apartment of the lonely, widowed building custodian, Mr. Krueger, after her family makes a caroling visit. Mr. Krueger then places them on his sad little Christmas tree. Because it reminds him of all that is beautiful and good about Christmas. 🌲❤️ The point is, we sent this little tree to Conner and I was so touched that his first thought was to add his gloves and send a picture because he knew how much I would love it!

 

 

Muroran Week 5

Hello there!

Man, it feels so weird that transfer two is almost done. I've almost graduated from being a bean! Thanks so much for the birthday package! It was awesome!

 

Monday, Nov 18: you know mostly what happened*, but a quick note. I still have my poster that says "Learning Japanese. Please help." It kinda failed streeting wise, but it's fun when people read it casually. While we were riding the bus this day, someone commented on it, and we were able to tell them why we were here. Fun stuff.

*Elder Brown and Elder Minegishi traveled by train to Hakodate today to meet up with other missionaries in their district for activities and a couple days of splits. Pictures from the train ride

 

 

Tuesday, Nov 19: did a splits with our district leader, Ono 長老 today. He's a pretty cool guy. He and his companion are a little more bold in sharing the gospel than Minegishi 長老 and I, just in conversation and invitation. Different styles. Also, he seems like a pretty active guy. Though, he was pretty sick today, so we had to slow down a bit for him. Also, went to a Japanese burger place. I'll send a pic of what I got. The fries have cheese and tomato beef sauce, I think.

 

 

Wednesday, Nov 20: did splits with Kartchner 長老 today. It was pretty fun, since I was transfer 2 and he was transfer 3. He seemed to have a pretty good grip on the language, though. We found two new investigators, so newbie power!

 

Thursday, Nov 21: woke up early to get back and dendo. Weekly planning as usual. Not much else to report.

 

Friday, Nov 22: normal dendo stuff. Had kids eikaiwa and TOIEC. There were more kids than last week, so I think that helped with the "Five Little Christmas Trees." Good stuff.

 

Saturday, Nov 23: this was a day. Weather warmed up like ten degrees, so we were able to use our bikes, but I made the big mistake of bringing my big jacket on the long bike ride we took. Got hot and sweaty by the time we got there. Also, my brake started to break as well.  Biked all the way back .... At least we got the brake fixed when we got back. Had an appointment at Mr. Donut with a guy, but he never showed up. That night, I called Ebetsu to ask about my tennis shoes. (He left his tennis shoes in Ebetsu when he transferred to Muroran). Elder Clinger said he found them and would bring them. I asked how Ebetsu was going, and he talked about Sister Yamamoto, a lady we met in Ebetsu, but we transferred before we could teach her. He said she and her son were taking the lessons! That pretty much made my whole day.

 

Sunday, Nov 24: birthday! Technically, monday was by american standards, and I was born in america, so when i was born, it was the 25th in japan. Anyhoo, went to church. In DCS, we tried to brainstorm ways to work better with the ward. Kinda hard when we have nobody to teach. Normal dendo the rest of the day. We met one nice lady while housing and told her about the Book of Mormon. She was shocked after the introduction when we gave it to her as a present. She said she'd read it, so hopefully she'll join the church someday. That night, Minegishi 長老 made me an EPIC birthday dinner! I'll send a pic of it. The hamburger had some awesome cheese filling! Opening the package, finally, was so much fun! I got plenty of snacks to keep me going a while. Minegishi 長老 seemed impressed by the ramen bowl thing.

 

 

Monday, Nov 25: had some good dendo today. Trying to focus more on the people as I talk. A couple more words are popping out as people speak, but still pretty difficult to get much. 

 

Tuesday, Nov 26: had a couple good conversations while dendoing in the morning. Did what your card suggested and got some McDonalds, but sadly, the credit card did not work. It was only 750 yen anyway. Also, we found somebody later in the day while streeting. Made a Mr. Donut appointment. Third time's the charm.

 

Almost through Mosiah for reading through the Book of Mormon in Japanese. Thought it was interesting the difference between the Lord delivering the people of Limhi and the people of Alma.

 

The people of Limhi rejected the words of Abinadi and the people of Alma accepted them, yet they both fell into the hands of the Lamanites.

 

The people of Alma, rather than murmur about their undeserved trials, accepted them and faithfully waited on the promises of the Lord.

 

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord

 

The Lord responded by miraculously making the Lamanites fall asleep so that the people of Alma could escape unharmed.

 

The people of Limhi, on the other hand, tried not once, not twice, but three times to rid themselves of the Lamanites, suffering much loss. Finally, after being humbled by their losses and afflictions, the Lord provided a way through Gideon and Ammon for the people of Limhi to escape.

 

The Lord will always help us in our trials and eventually provide a way to overcome them. We just have to understand the Lord's will is what is most important. If we disobey God, or kick against the pricks, like the people of Limhi, it will only cause more sorrow. 

 

See you again in a few days!

 

愛しています！

Elder Brown

 

Side note: 

 

23 And now the Lord said unto Alma: Haste thee and get thou and this people out of this land, for the Lamanites have awakened and do pursue thee; therefore get thee out of this land, and I will stop the Lamanites in this valley that they come no further in pursuit of this people.

 

When I read this, I was so interested as to how the Lord stopped the Lamanites. Was it just contention amongst themselves, or fire from heaven?

Muroran Week 4

Hello there!

Kind of shocking that I'm already halfway through transfer 2. Here's my report for the week.

 

Tuesday: had Zone Conference Meeting. Gave my workshop on joy. I'll share a bit on that in a sec. Other than that, pretty basic day. Did some dendo. Visited a sick member. Had sports night. There was a high schoolish kid who came who was a non-member, so that was great. He gave me a tip or two on shooting hoops.

 

Wednesday: not too much happened today. Lots of searching, little finding.

 

Thursday: weekly planning today. I tried messaging of our investigators who's a college student, shared a scripture. Asked for some of his thoughts on it, (still hasn't responded). Just trying to let him know we know he exists between meetings. Made a bookmark for Sakamoto-san at a 7-11 with a picture of Jesus Christ. The printer gave us a hard time for a while, until we finally realized we had to convert the picture from .png to .jpg. The wind also started to really pick up today. There was literally nobody at eikaiwa today, so we waited 30 minutes, then did some housing.

 

Friday: Went tracting out in the snow today. Didn't find anybody, but some people pitied us walking around housing in the cold. The hope is somebody will think, "Man, why are these young boys doing this out in the freezing cold? They must have a pretty good message!" Anything it takes to bring people closer to Christ. Also, kids eikaiwa was interesting. I'm kinda glad there were only a couple kids, cause "5 little Christmas Trees" is a little too advanced for them 😭. I'll probably just have to do songs like "Once There Was a Snowman" or "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". Oh well. Also, did a water blowout today, or at least tried to. We followed some instructions, which were somewhat vague in a place or two.

 

 

Saturday: housed a bit in the morning, and met some Jehovah's Witness people out doing the same thing. Figured we should move to a different area. Got the tickets for our splits in Hakodate. I'm starting to see why our leaders want us to keep 10,000 yen on hand. Also, took the True North test for Japanese. Have yet to receive the results of how fluent I am. It mostly had me listen to phrases once and then try to repeat them. It got pretty rough at the end. A super nice member gave us deer meat and deer liver. Met a guy while streeting who had a bit of interest. We're meeting him this Saturday at Mr. Donut. Finally, did some housing, picked the deer meat up at the church, went to the apartment, went back to the church, grabbed the keys we left there, then came all the way back.

 

Sunday: got that break-up letter from Sakamoto-san. Bummer. Pretty good day other than that. Had some of the deer meat. Not a fan of the liver, but the regular meat was delicious!

The break-up letter: their one investigator left a letter at the church for the missionaries, letting them know he didn't want to meet with them anymore.

 

Monday: man, a little while after we stopped talking, it rained HARD. I am loving that compact umbrella I can keep in my bag's bottle holder. I just hope the wind doesn't destroy it someday. Went and did shopping after a bit of dendo. After putting everything away and getting the remaining stuff packed up, we had to run (literally) to the train station for Hakodate. And now we're sitting safely on board. I'm typing this, and I just finished a delicious bento of katsu.

Today, on P-Day, Elder Brown and his companion traveled to Hakodate (another area in their district) to meet up with the missionaries there.  There is a companionship of Elders and a set of Sisters serving there.  They were planning to do an activity together on P-day.  And then Elder Brown & his companion will stay in Hakodate with the other Elders and do a couple days of splits before returning to Muroran.

 

Let's see, my Joy workshop.

The brunt of it was me sharing three things I found gave me joy in the past couple transfers as I've started as a missionary. They were staying focused on what's most important, truly giving our all, and knowing what we have. One of the quotes I shared was from I think my favorite talk of last general conference.

 

Terence M. Vinson, "True Disciples of our Savior"
Giving our all doesn’t mean that we will be continually enveloped in blessings or always have success. But it does mean that we will have joy. Joy is not fleeting pleasure or even temporary happiness. Joy is enduring and is founded on our efforts being accepted by the Lord.

 

I should frame that and put that in every apartment I go to. As long as we're focused, diligent, and have the right attitude, we can have joy no matter what.

 

(Exhale)

Aishiteimasu!

See you next Wednesday, probably.

Elder Brown