Elder Conner Brown

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!

Muroran Week 14

Hello there!

 

Happy Chinese New Year! Hope you're all doing great back home. Sounds like life is pretty normal back there. Things are doing pretty good over here. Here's the gist:

 

Tuesday, January 21: had Zone Training Meeting in the morning via line. Our zone leaders made a goal of one baptism or baptism date per companionship this transfer. Later in the day, we went housing and met a nice older lady who said we could come back Saturday and share a message with her. 

 

Wednesday, January 22: did some housing in the morning. Later tried to visit a man we met earlier who said we could come back, but he had a cold. Went housing later and met a nice lady who we gave a Book of Mormon to. Kaga 長老 is really good at having conversations with people, on the street or housing, and finding stuff to talk with them about. He's not too good at ending conversations, though, but we both need to work on that.

 

Thursday, January 23: DKK went a little long, but it was alright. Got a team-up for our Saturday appointment. Fun time in eikaiwa. Not much else besides that.

 

Friday, January 24: lots of kids were at kids eikaiwa, so that was a blast. Played "Simon Says", and taught them various body parts. Next week I'll teach them the "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" song. Toeic was super fun as well.

 

Saturday, January 25: did our usually kids feeding service. Afterwards, we had our lesson with the nice lady we met Tuesday. We talked about Heavenly Father, his gospel, prophets, and the Restoration. She seemed to understand it all. We went pretty slow. She's busy this next week, so the week after we might be able to meet again.

 

Sunday, January 26: had a nice time at church. Kaga 長老 got to bear his testimony in Sacrament meeting. Housed a little after church, then tried to visit the guy we visited on Wednesday again. According to Kaga 長老, he said he had no motivation today. We'll try one more time next Sunday. 

 

Elder Brown and Elder Kaga

 

Have a great week! I'll let you guys know how Zone Conference goes.

 

愛しています！

Elder 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