Elder Conner Brown

Coronavirus Update Feb 26

On February 26 the church issued the below letter to all members in Japan.  It lists additional coronavirus precautionary measures that affect both members and missionaries serving in Japan.

You can also read updates from church regarding missionary service in Asia: COVID-19 and Its Impact on Latter-day Saints Around the World

 

The mission president sent a copy of this letter to parents along with a message that he had just had a ZOOM meeting with all missionaries.  Everyone is healthy and well. Missionaries will now work out of their apartments and the church.  They will not be contacting people directly, but rather they will use online methods of finding and teaching.

He also sent a document that outlines what the reduced public missionary activity should look like.  In addition to basic health practices (washing hands, avoiding close contact with others, cover nose & mouth when coughing/sneezing) it adds that the missionaries may

.... Reach out to other people through phone calls or other technology only.  Do not visit homes of people being taught or members.

.... Stay 6 feet away from other people when traveling. Do not speak to people while traveling.

.... Exercise outside while staying close-by to the apartment

.... Hold missionary meetings through phone calls or other technology.  Do not gather with other missionaries.

Muroran Week 18

Hello there!

The Lord gave us an opportunity to teach! That and a few other fun events happened throughout the week. Here's the report:

Tuesday, February 18: DCM in the morning! The night before, I got assigned a workshop on expecting baptisms for about 5 minutes. I got a little worried when the zone leaders came and joined us on the group chat, then got a little more worried when President and Sister McClure joined as well. Thankfully, they left before my workshop, so that was kind of a relief. The workshop itself went pretty well. I went a little overtime, but it's kind of hard to make a good workshop that lasts exactly five minutes. Dendoed in the afternoon until sports night.

Wednesday, February 19: lots of finding today. Had an appointment with a returning member, but he had a bad back, so he couldn't do it. Also cut my thumb while chopping carrots. That probably won't be the last time this mission. Other than that, nothing too eventful happened.

Thursday, February 20: dendo in the morning. Weekly planning in the afternoon. Eikaiwa in the evening. Nothing much to report other than that.

Friday, February 21: today, Kaga 長老's tablet died. It's got cracks all over the surface and especially in one corner. That means I'll do the majority of Area Book updates from now on, but whatever. We're not entirely sure what to do about, but I'm sure a solution will present itself. I at least was able to pirate the P90X videos off his SD card so we can work out.

Saturday, February 22: In the morning, Kaga 長老's dead tablet went off its normal alarm, and we can't urn it off, so we stuffed it under some cushions and went about our day.

Had a special Zoom Meeting with the mission about the Corona virus. They gave us some general guidelines to stay safe. Stay a certain distance from people. Don't touch people. Take 2000 something of Vitamin C every day. The mask is up to you, but they said it wasn't completely preventative, so I'd rather be able to more easily talk with people. If you do get really sick, probably get tested at a hospital. They also gave us some info like church is now one hour, eikaiwa is canceled for the time being (that means kids eikaiwa and TOIEC are done).

Had a great lesson with Kuroda-san later on. Kaga 長老 and I just need to work on shortening our lessons, which I think is a general thing in the mission. Hard to balance us teaching and involving him in the lesson. After that, we went and housed. Kaga 長老 somehow lost his glove while we dendoed, so that was interesting. We did meet a really nice old man and had a great conversation. Gave him a pamphlet, so hopefully he'll read and see. It was funny, though, cause when Kaga 長老 said he was Japanese, the man said his Japanese was bad. Must have just been the accent.

Kaga Choro is from Aomori, Japan.  This area is known to have a distinct dialect/accent that is quite different from standard Japanese speakers and can be difficult for some to understand.  Tsugara dialect

Sunday, February 23: Holy cow, we found that glove! First, it was good day at church. Kuroda san was there, so that was great! The stake president was there as well and he gave a nice talk. The wind picked up super hard in the morning and continued throughout the day. We headed back to the place we housed before, prayed, and started retracing our steps to see if we could find the glove. We found it sitting in a pile of snow next to a house we did. Talk about miracles!

Transfers this week! We'll see if my Muroran time gets cut off, or if I'm staying here for a quarter of my mission. That sure would be interesting if so.

Hope you all have a great week! Tell you where I end up next Sunday!

愛しています！

Elder Brown

 

*****************

Also, we received the following email from Conner on Friday

 

I'm alive

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Corona virus. Had a zoom meeting today about and they said we could contact home and say we're safe.

愛しています！

 

Imagine our fret (well, mom's fret) when we read the words "I'm alive" with no further context.  Finally we realized we needed to scroll down to read the rest of the email.  Conner intentionally included all of that blank space as a "joke".  Ha. Ha.  The zoom meeting and the extra email were prompted by the news that Sapporo had it's first confirmed case of the coronavirus this week.  There have been a few more cases in Hokkaido since then.

 

Updates on what the church is doing about the coronavirus and missionaries in Asia - READ HERE

WHO report (2/24/20) - HERE

Muroran Week 17

Hello there!

Hope you like all the pictures! Some were by me, and some were by other people. We had a pretty warm week last week, then the snow started coming down in truckloads yesterday. Good opportunity for Yukikaki (snow shoveling) dendo.

Monday, February 10: did our normal stuff as quickly as we could. Went shopping. Our apartment food bill came out to exactly 3000 yen. Kaga 長老 couldn't understand why I was so happy. Raced to the train and wrote emails on the ride. 

The district activity was lit! We hung out at the Bay Area of Hakodate. Got these sweet rolled up crepe cones, mine with whipped creme and bananas. Took pictures with some awesome swords and I found two with the most gorgeous sheaths I've ever seen. Might stop by in a couple years and get them. Got burgers at a place called the Lucky Pieret.

More pictures at the end of the letter

Did dendo before the night was over. Then, hung out at the Hakodate apartment. Super fun because all the other guys in the district are Japanese. Nerded out about pokemon, tried to mash English and Japanese.

Tuesday, February 11: had DCM in the morning with the district all together in one building. Super fun. Went on splits with a Japanese elder named Funato 長老. It was some kind of holiday today, so we didn't find too many people. Did visit a recent convert who was super fun to talk to. Kaga 長老 got hit with a pretty bad cold. My throat started to itch a bit, but other than that not too bad.

At night, we found out one of the people in our sports night group tried to go, but nobody was there and the door was locked, so he got pretty mad. After a game of rock paper scissors, I was the one to call the bishop. Turns out he was out of town for the day and has the key, and the kendo class next to us canceled today, so the usual church members couldn't get in. I told Kaga 長老 something along the lines of "I called the bishop, you deal with the teen."

Wednesday, February 12: took an early train ride back to Muroran. On the ride, we sat next to a nice man named Scott from America. We chatted a good amount. If I had an English Book of Mormon, I would have given it to him, but I at least invited him to meet with the missionaries if he had the chance. When we finally arrived, we walked out of the train station to home sweet home, Muroran. It kinda hit me just how long I've been here, just looking at the courtyard that spreads out from the station. Lots of taxi cars in the middle. A couple small shops and restaurants on either side. The road leading forward to our main streeting area. 

Anyways, Kaga 長老 was still a little out of it, but he did have enough energy to do some housing before he crashed. I wasn't quite dead, so I made myself some dinner, received a couple calls from the district and zone leaders. Called Sister McClure because they want us to report any diseases. 

Thursday, February 13: we felt pretty good health-wise in the morning so did some DKK. Dendoed in the afternoon. On the way to eikaiwa, met a nice lady who lived near the church. Invited her to come any Sunday to church. Eikaiwa was good. One of the students brought chocolate.

Friday, February 14: kaga 長老 got hit pretty hard again by the cold, so it was kinda rough dendo wise, but we did squeeze in an hour or two in the afternoon. Kids eikaiwa and toeic were fun.

Saturday, February 15: our colds mostly disappeared. Our throats just needed to repair themselves. Visited old investigators and returning members in the morning. Housed in the afternoon. Made an appointment for a mogi lesson with a returning member. Had a possible investigator ready to come to church tomorrow.

Sunday, February 16: yeah, couldn't quite get him there. Got an email from honbu requesting we don't touch people for a while because of coronavirus, so went through the awkward moments of telling members we can't shake their hands for a while. Good day at church. Snow started coming down near the end. Grabbed some shovels and went housing. Got to help out plenty of people clear out the truckloads that were coming down. Also got a Book of Mormon handed out, so that was great.

That's about the week. I hope you're all having fun at home! Thanks for all your love and prayers!

愛しています！

Elder Brown

 

Pictures from the district activity in Hakodate Bay

Conner was eyeing this sword and the store clerk asked him if he'd like to hold it.  Yes!

 

"two of the most gorgeous sheaths I've ever seen"

 

 

A map of historical sites in Hakodate Bay.  One site in the very center was pretty amusing for Conner that he had to draw arrows and a circle around it ..... "Japan's oldest concrete utility pole"

 

Lucky Pieret for burgers. The burgers in Japan are very different -- the patties are more round and very thick in the middle

 

There are 3 companionships in his district -- 2 in Hakodate, 1 in Muroran.  The 3 other Elders are all from Japan.  The two sisters are from the Phillipines.

 

The rows of brick buildings are full of shops.  This is a popular tourist area.

 

A Samurai sword umbrella

 

 

Muroran Week 16

Hello there!

So, I'm writing this on the train to Hakodate. We have District Activity and then splits there, so I'll see if I can get a picture or two. Anyhoo, we were in kinda a rush and I forgot my journal, so there'll be plenty of holes in the week, but here's the report:

Tuesday, February 4: had DCM in the morning. Then after lunch went to go see Nakada-san. She's the lady we taught a lesson to a couple weeks ago with a couple members. We chatted a bit to see how she was doing, then tried to set another appointment. She said she's learned everything she wants to know, so she's good. Bummer.

Wednesday, February 5: mostly just more finding, streeting, and housing.

Thursday, February 6: had DKK in the morning, a little finding in the afternoon, and then eikaiwa. A couple old students from back before I even got here came. Some high school students who have been busy lately. The missionaries before I got here left a couple letters for them, so we were finally able to deliver them. Tried to make a phone call to an old investigator. My Japanese sucked, but he said he'd come to church this Sunday (The 16th). 

Friday, February 7: Lol, today was a little bit of an adventure. Housed a bit in the morning. Streeted a bit in the afternoon. In the morning, we also messaged a bunch of people to try and get a team-up for Kids Eikaiwa. We even asked Kids Eikaiwa, but nobody replied, so we said at 5pm on the line chat that we were gonna cancel. We start streeting and think nothing more of it. About 5:20-5:30pm, Kaga 長老 suggests we check line, so we do. One of the parents says her husband can come. So, we message kids eikaiwa is happening, then book it over to the church to set up. Lol. Fun time. Only two kids, but I taught them the "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" song. TOEIC is always such a fun time. One of the students can pretty much say anything he wants in English with little to no accent.

Saturday, February 8: called a returning member in the morning. Did the kids feeding activity at noon. Visited Mimasa-san a couple times in the afternoon. This is the guy who we housed our first week and said we could come back, but that was three attempted visits ago. The first time we tried today, he wasn't home. The second time, he was, but he said literally "because my dog is here please leave." As we walked home, Kaga 長老 said he wanted to do something in Japanese with his feet but I couldn't figure out what. I pulled out my dictionary and realized he wanted to shake the dust off his feet! Lol. Also did some housing in the evening.

Sunday, February 9: helped shovel the snow off the church parking lot, then had a nice church meeting. Visited and had a lesson with a nice returning member in the afternoon with another member. It was pretty funny, we get inside and take our jackets off. Kaga 長老, as always, has his sweater on underneath, but the member and returning member both gawk at the bare white dress shirt I'm wearing under my jacket and ask "Aren't you cold?" (If I had five yen for every time somebody asked me that question) I replied in Japanese. "Nope, I like the cold."

The Lord knew exactly what he was doing sending me to the coldest place in Japan. Granted, it was negative 8 or 10 degrees Celsius, but the wind had stopped blowing for a day, so it was actually better than it had been before. Anyhoo, did a little dendo the rest of the day, mostly streeting.

Monday, February 10: little bit of a crazy morning, since our train was at around noon, but got pretty much everything done. Needed some more rice, so we stopped by this one rice place we pass by every once in a while. Kaga 長老 picked out some stuff and as we headed back said something along the lines of "this is going to be the best rice you've ever had on this mission". Not sure what the difference is, but we'll see I guess. For the District Activity, we're spending the afternoon at the Hakodate Bay Area. Kaga 長老 said something about swords there, so you know I'm hyped!

Short thing that I learned from studying:

Helaman 5:10:

10 And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.

 

While reading this, I thought about how Christ redeems us from our sins and an interesting thought struck me. 

 

Upon the conditions of repentance, Jesus Christ can redeem us from our sins so that we will be guiltless before the father after this life, but he redeems us in another way as well. 

 

As we repent, Christ can redeem us from our sinful state in this life and help us become better, with the strength to resist future temptation. Of course this cannot happen in the act of sin, as doing so pushes us away from Christ. But, as we strive to turn away and run from sin, rather than indulging in it, Christ can help us learn from and escape from our sinful habits, thus redeeming us.

 

Hope you all have a fantastic week! Talk to you all next Monday! 

愛しています！

Brown 長老

Muroran Week 15

Hello there!

Pretty busy week with zone conference, but here's the report on what's happening:

 

Tuesday, January 28: we woke up in the morning to the sound of rain. We stood up and found a couple of our windows were open. Neither of us remember opening them. Sleepwalking? Anyway, later we did lots of finding, but nothing really interesting. Streeted a bit and tried to invite more high schoolers to sports night. Sadly didn't have anybody new that night. Before we went to sleep, I set the camera up just in case to see if somebody sleepwalk again.

 

Wednesday, January 29: yea, the camera turned off after about six minutes by itself, but the windows were still closed. Snowed truckloads throughout the day, then started raining as night came. We went and dendoed at some apartments later in the night, then as we came back, Kaga 長老 spotted two ladies shoveling snow. We had asked several people doing the same thing throughout the day if we could help, but they all turned us down, so I seriously doubted they would accept help, but Kaga 長老 really wanted to ask so we did. They accepted our help and we were able to get done pretty quick with four people. Good opportunity for service.

 

Thursday, January 30: dendoed in the morning, then took a bus to Sapporo in the afternoon. Had interviews at Honbu, great talk with President McClure and Sister McClure had a cute presentation about charity. She set up a little hearts display on a whiteboard and handed me a bow and suction cup arrows to shoot at them.

 

photo of Elder Minegishi (Conner's previous companion) playing the charity game with Sister McClure.  There wasn't a photo of Conner on the Facebook page, so Elder Minegishi is the next best option. :)

 

Afterwards, we had Zone activity in Kotoni. Made a nice dinner of pasta and salad and chicken and sauce. The noodles got cooked a little long, so they ended up the consistency of mashed potatoes, but it was all good. Super fun time chatting with the zone. Camped in the Kotoni apartment for the night. Loved hanging out with the guys.

 

Looks like the noodles were a bit over-cooked.

 

Friday, January 31: great zone conference! President McClure gave a super cool presentation about the Tabernacle from Moses' time and compared it to the holy temple and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about becoming disciples of Christ and Networking our teaching through referrals (Kaga 長老 and I will probably mogi* that stuff later on, cause I don't know the Japanese for that). Talked with Massey and Minegishi 長老, who are working in Ebetsu. They said they're still teaching Kameoka-san, he believes in God, and his faith is building. That just about made my day. Also got a copy of the Japan Sapporo Mission Song and will probably work on that on the piano today. 

 

*mogi - role play

 

Elder Brown, Elder Kaga

They are all wearing matching ties -- a Christmas gift from the McClures to all the Elders.  The Japanese characters for "Joy" are embroidered on the bottom

 

Atsubetsu & Odori Zones

 

 

Saturday, February 1: Weekly planning (DKK) in the morning. Lots of stuff to talk about. Did streeting later on and visited old investigators. Before the last two, we took a detour to visit an additional person, then when we got to the last person, it was getting super late, but we got there at almost the same time he did. Super fun timing! Then on the way back, boarded a bus to try and save some time, and met a kids eikaiwa family on there. Super fun!

 

Sunday, February 2: did our fast for the Lord to pour out his spirit on the mission. Had a good Sunday at church. Met a somewhat returning member there and did a little lesson with him afterwards. Wanted to visit an investigator nearby who we'd tried over and over, but as we got to the door, we really weren't feeling it, so we did comp study and then were determined to go. On the way, we met a nice lady and had an awesome conversation with her. Gave her a Book of Mormon and our contact information. Afterwards, it was getting toward dinner time for most people, so we tried to think what we could do. Kaga 長老 wanted to talk to a certain person walking away from us, so we tried to chase him down. By the time we got to him, he was in the train station and out of reach. While we were there, we tried the normal streeting route, and found a nice man who we also had a great conversation with and gave a Book of Mormon to. Super cool miracles of little things adding up to great things!

 

Hope you all have a great week and everything goes well back home! Hope Payton enjoys his glasses and Anna her Honor band! (Still bitter she chose the wrong music group)

 

愛しています！

Elder Brown

 

Conner's call home this week fell on Payton's birthday and he came prepared with cake!