Elder Conner Brown

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 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.

 

Ebetsu - Week 4

Wednesday, Oct 2nd: Zone games were great. We played capture the flag and kickball. Afterwards, they did a bean shower. They sat me on a rock, then showered me with all sorts of treats. It was so nice! I'll add a pic of the treats.

One of the Mission APs, Elder Dawdy, Elder Brown

 

**Bean shower:  Apparently this is a tradition in the mission used for welcoming the new missionaries, a.k.a. "Green Beans".  Hence the name, "Bean Shower".  As Conner described, the unsuspecting Green Bean is seated on a chair (or a rock in this case), while the other Elders & Sisters surprise him with a shower of treats, food, and snacks that they drop into his lap.  

 

Thursday, Oct 3rd: Zone conference itself was good. I'm kinda with you both, mom and dad. The joy they focus on in these conferences is great and a nice break from routine, especially in a tough mission like this one. However, this energy is very temporal. The real joy and motivation that lasts the longest is through work. Like that one talk from general conference mom shared, joy is doing our best and knowing the lord accepts our efforts.

 

**Conner's comment stems from a video that we saw posted to the mission facebook page.  All of the missionaries were standing up, singing a peppy/cute song called "I've Got Joy in my Heart" with playful hand motions.  We have noticed that they use fun, joyful music a lot in the mission to encourage & motivate the missionaries.  Here is the comment that I sent him that he is referencing:  I just love that President & Sister McClure infuse so much JOY into missionary work.  I also think there should be much happiness & joy in serving the Lord.  That's why He sent us here right?  Men are that they might have joy.  And when YOU are joyful, that will radiate through your countenance and touch the people that you come in contact with.  They will want to know where your joy comes from.  The gospel & missionary work is not a drudgery ..... it is joyful.  We teach & preach that there is a plan of happiness, right?  But there is also plenty of hard work and maybe that joy isn't always felt as glee & excitement -- it's a feeling deep in your heart that comes from knowing you are serving the Lord and giving your all.  In general conference today there was a quote along these lines . . . "joy is enduring, and knowing that your efforts are accepted by the Lord."  I love that -- we do so much in keeping the commandments, serving others, holding to the rod & staying on the covenant path and it requires a lot of endurance.  Sometimes, we may wonder if our quiet efforts are being noticed.  But I love that we can KNOW that the Lord sees our efforts, He accepts our offering, and we can have peace & joy in knowing we are doing our part.

 

 

 

Performing another joyful song - "Dendo Makes Me Happy."  Dendo is the Japanese word for missionary work.

And one more "bean shower" -- a little bit smaller than the first one.

 

Friday: weekly planning session. visited with a member named 新田兄弟 (Nitta Kyoudai). Fun discussion/lesson. Went tracting around in the rain for a while. Other than that, not much happened.

 

Saturday: another rainy day. The APs passed over a woman named やまもとしまい(yamamoto shimai). We gave her a brief tour of the church building. Introduced her to some members. She's very interested in eikaiwa and wants to come to church sometime, but she has work (usual problem).

 

Sunday: downloaded some General Conference, went to church. After church, helped the ward pass out flyers for the Halloween party. After that, went with the ward mission leader to edit some eikaiwa posters. After that, walked forty minutes (because companion's bike brake is still broken) to a member's apartment because the ward missionary was worried about him. Found that nobody lives there. Weird. Especially since the ward missionary visited him literally that week and confirmed the correct address with us. Anyway, walked forty minutes back, tracting as many people as we found. Did some housing and scheduled an appointment with a guy for this next week. Should be fun.

 

Monday: made some french toast for breakfast with some bacon a member gave us last week. Super nice! Made our own syrup-like stuff with random stuff we found in the apartment: milk, honey, margarine, vanilla extract. Runny, but delicious. Then went and stocked up on food for the next two weeks. 

 

That's about it, for now. 

愛しています

ブラウン長老

 

We won't hear from Conner again for about 10 days as his typical Monday P-day is being moved back a couple days so they can attend the temple in Sapporo next week.  The temple is only open Wednesday - Saturday.