Office Days Are Long...

Good morning ladies and germs,

This is your desk flying friend cruising in 本部. To me this has been a really long week and it always felt like P-Day just wasn't going to come. A lot did happen, but just at a different pace than what I'm used to.

Saturday night Nakamoto and I had to go to the airport to pick up a missionary who was returning to the mission after going home for a couple of months. We once again were able to hit up CostCo and purchase some good items. That evening after picking up this sister with the 石井's (Ishii's) there was a musical family home evening at the 本部 with the Meito and Nonami missionaries and their investigators. It was way fun! Sister Thomas sang, Elders Abe and Masuko played the guitar and sang, and even President Ishii surprised us with his talents and sang "My Way" by Frank Sinatra in English with his own twist of Japanese lyrics. 

The next morning Nakamoto and I took the returning sister missionary out to her new area in Shizuoka which is a 2 1/2 hour drive away. We attended church out there so I still haven't even been to church here in my own area of Meito yet. Shizuoka is a pretty city right on the ocean and it's reasonably close to Mt. Fuji, but it was too cloudy to see it well so I was pretty bummed out. It's way crazy to be able to drive in a car for a long distance and see Japan from the road. I really can't wait until I can start driving. 

Speaking of driving: so this week I went into the DMV to go take my written test for my Japanese drivers license and everything just got more complicated. In Japan, in order to get a license as a foreigner without having to take special classes and such you need proof that you have been driving in your home country for three months. I thought I would be ok because I renewed my license in August and left America in October, but because it wasn't a full three months they won't accept my license. They asked me to bring in my old license for evidence (which is ridiculous right) which meant I needed to email home to ask my mother dearest to find and send my old license out to me. Incredibly Mom found my license and it's on the way, but I can't believe how picky the DMV is no matter which country you are in. I swear they are out to get you no matter what.

I got kind of frustrated this week by being in the office so much. I feel kind of trapped and unproductive at times because we don't necessarily have a set list of tasks to do and the APs share a computer and so usually one guy (me) gets left without too much to do which makes me wish I could do something more. It makes me feel guilty that I'm not out proselyting like I used to do. I have never claimed to be a dendo-machine that talks and preaches the gospel with every person he sees, but by not working outside and doing normal dendo all day just makes me feel like I'm not being a good enough example. I was once told that there are three ways to lead: example, example, example. It's just been hard not to be able to do so with the new responsibilities that have come my way. I guess the best thing that has come because of this frustration is that I have come to appreciate every chance I get to teach and proselyte. I'm by far not the best missionary, but I am learning to enjoy the work more. When I do get to go out and share the gospel I feel better. I feel like I have gotten more accomplished in my 3-4 hours of dendo a day verses my 8-10 hours in the office. 

I received a letter from a member from 松本 named 五味姉妹(Sister Gomi) that raised my spirits a little bit when I was kind of down sitting at my desk the other day. This lady was my favorite member in Matsumoto and is someone Jeff knows really well. While I was in 松本 we (Tu'akoi, Andrade, and I) were trying to get her grandkids interested in the gospel by playing soccer with them and little by little sharing simple messages with them. Not much progressed while I was there, but Andrade on his last Sunday in Japan baptized one of the grandkids we were working with. Anyways that's the background info for the letter. What she wrote to me was what kind of touched my heart. She expressed to me her gratitude for Elder Andrade's and my patience and diligence to work with her grandkids. She told me how she thought that things were maybe being taught a little too fast for them, but Andrade recommended her to pray and ask our Father in Heaven what was right. She said that as she prayed she felt immense peace that it was the right thing for him to be baptized.  She kind of testified to me about how the missionaries are truly the Lord's tools and told me about how much her life has been blessed by missionaries. She thanked me for my service in helping her family and told me that even though I don't have that much more time left as a missionary I should keep having fun as I work and feel the joy and happiness that comes from it because it will bless someone else. I didn't think much would come from working with her grandkids and I never thought that I made too much of a difference, but I learned a lesson here. You never know how you can affect someone's life. As a missionary sometimes you wonder how much good you actually do. By small and simple things great things come to pass. As long as you fulfill your purpose to the best of your ability you may never know what kind of an affect you could potentially have.

The last major event this week was attending the Meito Zone Conference. No travel for that since it's our backyard, but it was really good to see all the members of my last zone. The conference went well and afterwards I was able to go to Nonami and go on an exchange with Tommy. We were able to go visit Roberto for a couple of minutes and he was really surprised to see me and lit up with a huge smile. He is such a nice guy and he is doing so good as a recent convert. He told us that he has been reading scriptures that we gave him about the Plan of Salvation and he said everything makes more sense when he reads the Book of Mormon. I love that guy to death. Even though communicating with him is sometimes kind of hard, I've never felt such brotherly love from an individual before. He's someone I'll never forget.

Lastly I got visited by another dead missionary yesterday. Alli Patrick came back to Japan after only a week and a half of "death." I think that's a speed record for a missionary to return back. This is my second encounter (first was Rhys Tramacchi) with "dead" friends on my mission and it's cool to see how happy they are and how much joy they have after their mission. The blessings don't stop at the end, they just keep rolling. 

I hope you enjoyed your novel again this week. Things should be picking up again soon as we head out to two zone conferences a week for the rest of the transfer with exchanges mixed in there. Fewer office days! It should be a lot of fun. Best of luck this week and go do a good turn daily.

スピードと天使

堅城長老

Pic 1- 石井会長 and his pipes of gold

Pic 2- 静岡(Shizuoka) I know it's not the best pic, but I'll try again when I go back on Sunday

Pic 3- Meito Zone Conference

Pic 4- How we 交換

Pic 5- It's a little snug, but it works

Pic 6- At our favorite Indo Curry shop

The 本部(Honbu)

Hello ladies and germs,

How to even describe this week? It has been one heck of an emotional
roller coaster ride ride. I guess my story all begins on Sunday:

Well I got to go back to 'Nam for church to help out a recent convert
so I was reunited with Tommy and had a great final Sunday there. I
love the members of 野並! They have been by far the best on my mission.
They've been so nice and such great examples of good, strong members
of the church. After church 落合兄弟 (Brother Ochiai) invited us over and
we went with the Branch President since we didn't have bikes and had a
fantastic last meal with them. They are one of my favorite families
I've met in Japan. It was a great opportunity to spend my final
evening in 野並 with them.

Monday I started my morning off by collecting reports from three of
the zones in the mission that I am responsible for. I spent three
hours talking to Nagano, Okazaki, and Fokutoku Zones. Then after
reporting we had a staff meeting with President Ishii and the other 本部
staff where we each reported on all of our respected responsibilities
that cover the whole mission. After that meeting Nakamoto and I had to
type up some mission statistical results and write an email to all of
the Stake Presidents in the mission to report on the week. While we
were doing that missionaries who were to return home this transfer
slowly began to trickle into the office. Some of my best friends in
the mission like Sister Patrick, Elder Andrade and Rufatto came in to
"die" as we like to call it. I was able to get to talk to them while
they waited for their final interview with President Ishii and see how
they were doing on their last day as missionaries. I was able to see
their excitement and their sadness as they were about to finish their
missions. I am going to miss these missionaries a lot.

Tuesday was one of the craziest roller coaster rides ever. It all
began at 0500 to take the seven "dying" missionaries to the airport.
Nothing seemed quite real until we arrived and unloaded the bags and
started helping everyone get their stuff checked in. That last
goodbye was hard. We said goodbye to the first group of missionaries
which included Sister Patrick with three other sisters and one elder.
It was hard to watch them go through security and disappear. Next we
went to drop the Brazilians off at their counter and then saying
goodbye to Andrade and Rufatto was tough. They were the last ones to
watch leave. As I watched them leave and I turned around and walked
away I was very verklempt, but not quite to the point of tears. I've
seen missionaries leave to go to the 本部 to die before, but now as AP I
am very actively involved in watching them leave and sending off a
group of such fine individuals is hard on the soul. It was the first
time in my mission I felt like I would never want to leave here
because of all the good people I would leave behind.

Later that day is when the roller coaster of emotions starts to climb
again out of the trough. In the late afternoon we rolled out to go
pick up the new bean-chans from the airport. On the way we stopped by
a CostCo right next to it and got to shop for some stuff. It looks
just like America inside! If the people weren't all Japanese I
would've thought I was back in Sam's Club in Logan. After buying a
good supply of stuff I haven't eaten in forever (brick of cheddar
cheese, salsa, etc.) we arrived at the airport and anxiously waited
for the beans. We only had five come in this transfer and watching
them be "born" into this great adventure can't help but make you
excited. They are a very fun group and they were all smiles and
laughing nervously with each other. Quite a contrast from what I'd
seen 15 hours earlier. That evening and the next day was getting them
oriented to the mission and "in-processed" with their necessary items.
Watching them all receive their trainers was way fun as well. I
haven't seen that since I was a bean so everything was all very
nostalgic. I love all of their trainers and they're fantastic
missionaries and the adventures will all have a great start. I love
missionaries; they're so cool!

The rest of the week was office work and MLC. Office work means that
we do whatever President Ishii wants us to do and other things that
correlate with transfers. A day in the office starts at 0900 and is
supposed to end at 1700. However on Thursday we didn't leave until
1930 so I was in the same building for almost the entirety of the day
to do assignments that came our way. Being stuck inside shuffling
papers, writing memos, and having staff meetings is definitely not the
most exciting thing. We want to get out and dendo and I know that if
we use our office time as effectively as possible we can do so but, we
often get things thrown on us at last minute. For example last night
at around 1930 President Ishii asked us to put together a stats report
for a meeting he has this morning that included graphs and charts and
other number crunching tools, but there was missing information that
needed to be found so I spent three hours on the phone calling people
to confirm information and then we had to edit our sheets and then
print it all. Nakamoto and I successfully displayed some excellent
teamwork and finished the whole project by...0045 this morning! Yay!
I've firmly decided that I don't like office work and that in my
future career I will avoid it at all costs. The plus side is that by
working here I am learning how to do and complete things in an office
environment which will help for any office assignments in the future.

Our big event of the week was yesterday's Mission Leadership Council
which went really well. Working with the Zone Leaders is really fun.
Some of my best friends in the mission are on that council and I love
working with them. I've worked with most of them for my entire mission
and they are some of the most stalwart people I know. Coming up next
week we have Zone Conferences so I be traveling to those and will get
to work with these ZLs throughout the transfer.

This email is ridiculously long, but that's a snapshot of the new
life. I hope you enjoyed it. The adventures continue as I go to
Shizuoka tomorrow to take a missionary out there with Nakamoto so stay
tuned next week.

I love you all and I feel your love, support, and prayers.

スピードと天使

堅城長老

Pictures

Pic 1- Last meal with the 落合s and our 

Branch President 有坂(Arisaka) and 萩原(Hagiwara)

Pic 2- Goodbye Team 野並: 

Sister Erin Thomas, Sister Allison Patrick,

Elder Tommy Eadie, & me

Pic 3- See You Sister Patrick

Pic 4- Bye Bye Rufatto and Andrade

Pic 5- Sunset at the Airport

Pic 6- Bean Chans!

P-Day? Again!?

Good morning sports fans,

Yes it's true it's P-Day again. I got here on Wednesday night and
haven't stopped running since. On Thursday morning I went with my new
companion, Elder Nakamoto on a companionship exchange to Matsumoto!
Nobody in the mission knew I was an AP so the missionaries flipped out
when I walked in. I was able to spend the whole day with my good
friend/ former companion from Brazil, Elder Andrade. It was a great
day! We met a lot of people who Andrade and I actually found and
taught together and it was such a great experience to go back and work
with him again. We were able to visit Aoki and Preto in the evening
and they were so surprised and happy! I love those two. It was so good
to see them and others doing so well in the area.

Yesterday we returned from 松本 and did some office work to prepare for
transfer calls, which were today, and then we headed out to start
getting paperwork done for my application to get a drivers license and
that took a long time. Nakamoto and I had time to go dendo at night
and that finished off our day.

This morning was actually a pretty cool experience to actually call
people for transfer calls. Being the guy behind the phone call and see
how it all works is a pretty neat experience. It's way interesting to
call and hear people's reactions, both good and bad. After the calls
were done we had a ZL and DL phone conference call. Since then we've
had our P-Day of eating out with the district and shopping. Next week
should also be exciting because we get to pick up the new bean chans
on Tuesday and have Mission Leadership Conference on Friday. It's
going to be way busy. I more fully understand what I do next week once
I've actually experienced it.

It should be a great transfer. I really like my new companion and he's
ready to work and so am I. It should be a lot of fun and a lot of work.
Let's roll.

Best of luck his week and have an adventure wherever you are!

スピードと天使

堅城長老

Pic 1- Cool Shrine in Nonami

Pic 2- Looking over 名古屋 (Nagoya) in Nonami

Pic 3- Working with Dave in on my last day in Nonami

Pic 4- Toyoshina Eki in 松本

Pic 5- Andrade and his companion with a guy we found together

Baa Baa Blacksheep

Good afternoon sports fans,

Another week has come and gone. It's been pretty good. I got to go on
another exchange and get some work done. The week was a little slow
teaching wise, but we finally managed to meet up with 松本 (Matsumoto)
and her kids again. We were able to see how she's been lately and she
seems to be doing pretty good at the start of this new year. We are
hoping to rebuild a good relationship with her again and help her
start coming back to church again.

On Thursday I headed out to the city of 春日井 (Kasugai) to go on an
exchange with Elder Ence who is a bean-chan out there. It was his
Senpai Week and so he had his day planned out and we were ready to
execute it. Everything was going well until after we tried visiting an
investigator and headed off to look for a former investigator where we
got lost for a couple of hours. Ence just transferred into the area a
week and a half ago during an emergency transfer so he was trying his
best to get around the area and was doing pretty well. He is such a
good missionary. Way better than I was when I was transfer 2. It was
so much fun working with a young missionary! I'd love to train again,
but I'm pretty sure that's not an opportunity I'll get again.

Yesterday we also went on an exchange with a DL by the name of 増子
(Masuko) who actually works in the 本部 (Honbu=mission home) so because
of all his office work he can only exchange on Sunday's after church.
We went out to work as a three some which is hard, but we made it
work. We housed an apartment building and then visited and had an AB
Lesson with Roberto. He is doing so good. He came to church yesterday
and he was trying to speak to the members in Japanese and they were
kind enough to help him practice. Tonight we got him set up to do
family history online so he can begin to find family names to take to
the temple. Every time we visit him he grows more and more spiritually.
It was a little hard for 増子 because we taught everything in English,
but he tried his best to speak in English.

This morning something happened which will change the pace of my
mission a little bit. I received a phone call from President Ishii
where he extended to me a call to become of of his two assistants. I
accepted and I will be leaving Nonami on Wednesday to go work in the
本部 as an Assistant to the President. I have no idea what I will be
doing there and I'm a little confused about why they chose me, the
most black sheep zone leader in the mission, but I'll do my best.
With becoming AP my new P-Day is going to be on Saturdays so you will
all get my e-mails on Friday. So look forward to that. I'll have
another P-Day this week so you'll probably hear from me then.

Ok folks, that's a wrap. I hope you're having a great midwinter and
MLK day. Thanks for all the love and best of luck this week!

スピードと天使

堅城長老

Pic 1- Big City

Pic 2- Words of Wisdom in 春日井

Pic 3-12 Floors