June 26, 2017: As I walked through the valley of rejection and rain

hello everyone it’s getting hot here in Sendai!  It’s 100% humidity every single day. Wednesday, we gladly got rained on really hard and that wraps up the weather report.   

 

We meet with a bunch of investigators!!  We have this one kid who is around 21 years old and he is fluent in English.  He is studying to become a doctor and knows more words in English than I do.  He is way intelligent and really fun to teach.  We read the Book of Mormon with him and then teach from the portion we read and then he will take it and run.  We talked a lot about how we need to act to learn and need to be prepared.  Way fun kid to teach, his name is Yoshio btw if you want to add him to your prayers.  But there is always a catch, he studies so much to be able to get into a good hospital that he only has 20 minutes for lunch and sleeps 3 hours every night.....  we are talking to him when he has time on the phone so it’s technically ok..  haha 

 

Forgot my journal again but it has been a really good week and always looking on the bright side of things.  We had a few great contacts with people who are not from Sendai, mostly from Tokyo or Chiba ken.  I’ve learned a greater meaning to the saying “no effort is wasted”.  Also, I know that God is looking over all of us and directs people to us and us to others. I know that God loves all of us and wants our happiness.  It’s been a great week and see yall next week.

 

Love ya!

--

Halverson Chourou

 

 

June 19, 2017: Kamisugi: Bright lights, Big City

hello everyone!  It's been a great 4 days in Sendai.  There is so many people here it is almost over whelming.  Most of all my mission I have been in the booneys so coming here to this city with over 1 million people is a bit of a change.  However, the ward is great and the dendo is going great. 

yesterday it was my first Sunday in the ward so they like to bring the new missionaries into priesthood meeting in front of everyone and have a question and answer session.  I do get asked questions like "what is your favorite food", "how tall are you", "how big are your feet", etc.   The funniest one was when I was asked how old my dad was.  When I answered the stake patriarch pointed to the oldest priesthood member (seza kaichou, who is president smiths adviser) and asked if he looks like him. idk how to answer so I just said probably, but I don't know cause I haven't seen him in almost 2 years and I have started to forgot....lol just kidding dad, love ya! haha Everyone thought it was very entertaining haha The stake patriarch was the one making the most noise and off the wall comments haha  it was way lit!  (had to back to high school for that phrase)  The common thing said about the kamisugi ward is that they will treat you well if you treat them well.   I defiantly felt that yesterday.  On top of that, they is a ton of ysa in the ward and there is about 5 RMs from Kobe and 2 from Tokyo and Nagoya.  So fun!!

Well recently my work load has increased and as a consequence, my time is starting to dwindle down down and down.  I didn't have a good opportunity to write in my journal this week.  Also, I forgot it again at the apartment.  Sorry mom!  The last couple of days in Iwaki was good.  I'm glad I got to stay till Thursday.  At English class I was able to say the last bye before I packed up and went to Sendai on a 3 hour bus.  So next year when we come back, an English student said I could come and stay at his house.  Ill tell ya, the Japanese people are so nice it blows me away!  Iwaki is probably on the list for places to return to next year. 

I find joy in the simple things; whether it's having a fun conversation with someone on the street or teaching an investigator and seeing them understand a concept by using an example or just having a good time with everyone in the apartment.  Those things are good and simple.  A quote from Larry H. Miller, "Continue to do good things in the world until you can no longer do any good". 

Romans 12:21

Alright you all have a good week and see ya next week!

--

Halverson Chourou

 

 

June 12, 2017: いわき さらば 上杉へ

Well the calls came and I am going to spend my last bit of time of the mission in the place that I've spent over a year.  I am transferring to the biggest city in the mission, Sendai.  There I will be comps with Elder Free.  He and I lived in Miyako when he was a first transfer elder.  Way excited! On top of that, I get to go back to Izumi and Furukawa.

 As far as this week goes, it was a lot of planning.  We are prepping for an explosion of miracles in Iwaki.  We divided the map, visited a lot of member who have fallen away, and getting rides to far places to go house as a district.  It's been really fun!  With the huge Filipino community and sisters in Onahama and new sister missionaries (one Filipino) coming to Iwaki this place could be the next Africa.  In order to prep for all this, we increased the chapel size and added two rows of chairs.  Iwaki is blowing up!

 For the last time, I had interviews with President Smith in Koriyama.  As usual, it was awesome.  I love sitting down with him.  He has been my mission president for almost two years and I asked the typical question.

What can I do better?  Where do you think my improvement points are?

I was expecting a ground breaking answer, but what he told me was very simple and profound.  He said don't let there be a day that goes by that you forget to pray and start the day reading from the Book of Mormon.

The spirit is the most important thing in missionary work, don't let a prompting go by unnoticed.  Don't forget to repent and always strive to follow the commandments.  His recommendations might not carry the same meaning/power to all of you that it did to me but I found it was simply profound.  Every day read and pray, it's that easy!  Next time I'll be addressing you, I'll be in Kamisugi! Love you all!  God lives!

 Elder Halverson

ハルバソン長老~日本仙台伝道部

 

 

 

June 5, 2017: Too Busy

To start things off this week we got a lot of help from the senior couple, the Pounds!  Not only this week but really ever since they have been here.  So since it was Fast Sunday and all, we decided to host the Pounds for dinner at the apartment.  Elder Dance cooked the best thing that he could make in a hour and the result was goulash!  Cooked a big pot of it and had a good dinner within an hour!  It was lit haha.  The original plan was to go over to their house and eat but some things came up where the Branch President needed a blessing and just flipped the appointment and we had it at our house.

Good time!

Again we were busy.  Tuesday Elder Dance and I left Iwaki to participate in MLC in Sendai.  The meeting was focused around the change of the missions and the focus of our work.  The rising generation is the key to longevity in not only the church but in Japan.  We are really doing all we can to help the youth by teaching about Jesus, English, encouraging strong values, and etc.

And our investigator Hakozaki san came to church yesterday!  He loved it!  Finally broke the streak of no one at church.  On his way for baptism on the first of July!

Tuesday was MLC all day, then we took the bus to Aizu and participated in English class where we meet a guy who was taught by the missionaries (Norm Chow's son) when he was 15 years old.  He is now 38 years old and just moved back from America where he lived the last 28 years.  He played college tennis and become fluent in English.  Now he is back in Japan and wants to bring his family to church!  He is way sick haha He gave me a business card for Norm's son who is a NFL agent and who works for the company that reps Tom Brady!  Way legit right??!?  Any way we gave him to the Aizu elders and they now have an investigator!

 Well, those are the highlights for the week.  I've been reading the Book of Mormon everyday as usual.  The book has power to make you feel better.  I look forward to reading each morning because it gives me the power to take on the day and be a better person!  I know it is true and that it brings happiness!  Read and pray about it!!  Love you all from California Utah Iowa Idaho and Washington and everyone in between!

Have a good one!

 Elder Halverson

ハルバソン長老~日本仙台伝道部