June 6, 2016 - Opportunites

Everything went wrong this week.

-my comps bike broke right after a member lesson and right before an investigator lesson

-most of our investigators couldn't meet this week

-our investigator with a bap date was met by the other elders and apparently was a little drunk

This is the true highlight of the week!  Elder Daniels and I got a referral from a member this week.  (She is the member that always post pics on Facebook of the missionaries.  So mom you probably know her.)  She gives us the referral and sets up an appointment for us.  We get to the appointment and it is us and 2 members but the Q is not there.  We wait and wait and it turns out that the member doesn't actually know what this person looks like.  They have only met once before and it was 5 years ago.  Because she doesn't really remember what the person looks like see gets up out of her seat whenever somebody walks into Mister Donuts where we are meeting her.  Ok so this girl finally arrives and Fotoma Shimai brings her over to the table and she is a young girl that just graduated from college is awesome.  However, I am pretty sure that she doesn't know that we are missionaries.  The member didn't give us anytime to talk and introduce ourselves, she basically told her that we are volunteers who teach English and she may have slipped in that we teach about God, purpose of life, and happiness, etc etc.   Long story short it felt like we were on a blind date.  So that beats my record of blind dates at home of 0!    She accepted a return appointment and she is now a new Q!  So, Japan is great!

Let's end on a spiritual note.  I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week and read again a very popular scripture.  Ether 12:27

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

As missionaries we are coming into Christ and I'll be honest I am finding weaknesses left and right in myself.  But his grace is sufficient for all men (me) that humble themselves before him and the weak things that I see in myself can and will become strong!  I have been thinking recently how can I help Heavenly Father make my weak points strong points and its in the first part of the scripture, I will approach God in humility and listen to the spirit.  My invitation to everyone is just keep reading and applying the scriptures in your life. Keep studying. Keep reading.  Keep praying! 

Love you all!

 皆さん頑張ってください。今週は楽しかったですよ。ダニエルズ長老と私が宮古でいっぱい奇跡を見ています。宮古支部が大好きです。これから英会話の生徒と共にゴルフしに行きます。じゃね

 

Elder Halverson

ハルバソン長老~日本仙台伝道部

May 30, 2016 Elder Stevenson, two 70s and the best mission in the world.

Ok first of all, I'll just start with what most people want to know.  I'm loving my mission and there are earthquakes all the time.

On Wednesday the entire mission had the opportunity to go to Sendai and hear from an apostle of the Lord.  Elder Stevenson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles came to Japan to visit all the Japan missions.  A little back ground on him.  He served as a missionary at the same time as President Smith in Fukuoka Japan many years ago.  They actually lived in the same apartment for a good majority of that time.  He was the Mission President in Nagoya after President Smith's brother was the president there.  Up until he was called as an apostle, he was the area president over all Japan, China and Korea.  Elder Stevenson came to Japan quite often to see over the tsunami aftermath here in Sendai so he is well acquainted with Japan.  All the missionaries gathered together in Kamisugi to listen to him.  We had to wait some time and during that time I had no idea what to expect.  It was all quiet waiting while we were waiting.  Amazing considering we are normally loud.  Although Elder Stevenson's talk was inspired, it was the special musical number that we sang before he spoke that really got to me.  It's called the "EFY melody" or "as sisters in Zion".  It is a song about missionary work and being chosen of the Lord.   Elder Stevenson finally arrives and we all stand.  He is accompanied by his wife, Elder Gong and Elder Yamashita and their wives.  First we hear from Pres and Sister Smith.  They are both still amazing.  After the Yamashitas and the Gongs spoke, we all stand and sing the song.  As we are singing I am feeling all tingly and I'm thinking that it is special but I have had that feeling before both here and back home when listening to the choir music.  But I climb out of myself because the spirit is whispering to me, I look around and I see President Smith, the music director, and just about everyone with tears streaming down their faces.  My heart is touched and I realize just how sacred this is and how awesome it is that I am a missionary.  How cool it is to listen to an apostle, and that this music is a gateway to heaven.  Being the teddy bear that I am I start tearing a little and when it pours!  But, let's not focus on that!  Elder Stevenson talked about how he has the opportunity to assign mission calls.  He said that they look at our picture individually and decide where we are going.   The thing that he said that stuck out most was. "You are a child of God, God sent you here to the Japan Sendai mission, and you are called for a reason."  Now I have known this ever since I got my call, but sometimes you forget the vastness of the call.   I keep having to remind myself of the simple but true fact that, I am called, called by a Prophet of God, I was called here for a reason!  When I submitted by papers, I thought I was going to Europe.  But when I open that call, I was called to the other side of the earth.  I'm humbled to know that God needs and wants me here.  To be honest sometimes (the family probably won't like to hear this but) I never want to come home.  Japan is a special place, a sacred place and I'm blessed to be here.

Lastly, I love this gospel and I testify that this gospel is the way to true happiness. 

Love you all and have a good week!

Elder Halverson

ハルバソン長老~日本仙台伝道部

 

 

 

 

 

May 23, 2016: Nature🌿 Miyako is small but big!!

This week was fantastic.  We set a baptism date with an investigator who believes in all of the teaching just needs to overcome some problems - some habits are hard to break.  He is a past investigator but he is on his way.  This week at DTM we created a Miyako standard.  We are all together on changing the culture and helping Miyako become a very fruitful area. Simply we have been working our tails off!  Elder Daniels and I have found 2 new Q's, one new bap date and accomplished the Alma!  I've been so tired that when I finish my nightly prayers I am out cold! 

But this week I have studied a lot about God and just basically tried to dive into the scriptures. I love the scripture Alma 24:10-11

10 And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted  unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath  forgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the guilt from our hearts, through the  merits of his Son.

11 And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain. 

Every day I tell people that God has given us everything.  Sometimes and sadly we forget what He has given us but the scriptures wrap it all up nicely.  Eternal life, forgiveness, repentance, power, His only begotten son, just to name a few! 

Yet again it's been a good week!

So Tuesday is where I will start.  We met with an investigator who has been one and off for a long time but hasn't meet with the missionaries for some time.  We sit down with him and start to review the first lesson with him and he says, "I have heard this many times already".  Then I asked him, "Well, do you believe it??"  He says yes then I start the questioning him,  asking him if he believes in God, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith?  Yes Yes Yes he answers.  Finally I ask him, "Well will you be baptized?"  He pauses and says that he will think it over.  When we asked him, he set a date and he said that he will prepare for that it!  Although we are very excited, when he walked into the church he was chugging his coffee.  But hey, great things aren't hard! 

This week we had another batch of miracles.  While streeting around the Eki,  we streeted into a past investigator.  He tell us that he has had the missionaries over at his house, been to the Hawaii temple, heard all the lessons and he said "I should get baptized".  I asked him "Do you want to??"  He said that doesn't do the "strict things" of the church, I go on to tell him the story of my family overcoming those "strict things" and being baptized.  It was cool to see him have the glimpse of hope.  It was like, Ok I can do it!  He had to take off but he said that we should go and eat some time!  Yet another miracle.

I have learn a lot and especially appreciate the miracles.  You have to work for them and be willing to recognize/acknowledge the miracles.  Miyako is a miracle for me!  It is exciting to see the miracles happening around me daily.  For those of you that don't know, Miyako was one of the most damaged places in Japan when the tsunami hit in 2011/3/11.  Around town there are signs that show how high the water level reached.  In some spots you can still see where the high water mark was and it is twice and sometimes 3 times taller than I am.  If you watch news clips,  you can see homes and shops were taken away by the water as if it they were toys.  Within two years of the tsunami the Miyako branch is close to seeing new 5 baptisms and a lot of less actives being reactivated.  This place is a place of miracles.  Japan is place of miracles.  The Japan Sendai mission is exploding! 

 It's real fun!  I love Japan, the people, the gospel and the opportunity I have to be here.

 Love you all and it's been a great week in the land of the rising sun!

 Elder Halverson

 ハルバソン長老~日本仙台伝道部

 

 

May 16, 2016: The Ghost House 宮古

Ok first of all, nothing to crazy has happened in the ghost house.  My first week I have slept like a rock.  My dad sent this scripture to me last week and it applies 1 John 4:4. 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

He is bigger in you than the boggy monster or the "ghosts" in the Miyako apartment.

 The last two days, all the missionaries in the Morioka zone and all the branches in the zone had a conference.  It was really good to get with all the friends, but the best part were the speakers.  We were blessed with a member of the 70 to come to the conference and he talked about not giving up on people.  When his father was younger, he was a less active and did not want to meet with the missionaries.  But the missionaries kept visiting and ask if he was home or not but he would lie to them and say he wasn't.  Finally the missionaries said your home right? Haha kinda with a joke and that lightened his heart.  Long story short, he was reactivated and now his son is a member of the Quorum of the 70.  It is a short story that goes a long way!  Don't give up on anyone especially yourself or the people around you.

 
This week was really a fun one, I don't know how to describe it!  Every day I was excited to just tell someone that I am a missionary and get to know them.  It is exciting to explain and apply a gospel principle to them and see how it can change their lives.  By doing that, we found about 6 new pis this week. It's true the promise that if you open your mouth, the words will come. It has just been awesome. For example last night we were coming home at like 8:40 trying to make it in time for reporting, when I passed a guy on my bike. I remembered that in our prayers earlier today, I had promised to talk to everyone. So I stopped my bike, got off and ran after the man. I told my comp that I was going to go talk to him, but the thing is that I didn't tell him that I was going to run.  I ran across the street, leaving Elder Daniels in the dust, just as the light was about to turn red, I caught up to him.  I talked to him a little and had a great conversation, however sadly to say he had no interest, but I had no regrets because I know he felt the spirit when we talked about God.

Really a fun week and I am really finding the joy in the work, the heat, and talking to random people.  It's been really fun this week!

Love you all and have a good week!!

 Elder Halverson

ハルバソン長老~日本仙台伝道部

 

 

May 9, 2016 Leaving Odate and going to Miyako

We had another great week!!  Too bad it's the final week for Elder Sato and me in Odate.  Like they say it's time to move on.

I feel really satisfied with my work here in Odate.  I believe I accomplished my desire to turn around the culture here in Odate.  I thank the Lord for the opportunity to work and I mean really work.  Odate has some really great leads, great investigators, more dendou Fire, and great missionaries here!

And with that I am getting transferred to Miyako!!  My new companion is Elder Daniels.  I know him very well, we were in the same zone in the MTC and up until this last transfer, had been in the same zone in Japan.  I am really excited to go there and work with him.  Bad news, the Miyako house (not an apartment) is haunted.  Everyone in the mission refers to the  Miyako house as the ghost house.  Haha Everyone that knows me knows that I HATE scary things, so this transfer should be a fun one!!

This week we had a lunch/dinner appointment with an investigator who is progressing very well!  All he wants to talk about are his questions about what he has been reading in the Book of Mormon.  It is true the promises.  It's written in PMG, that the more you study the gospel the more you will want to learn and the more you want to change your behavior and actions.  This is Ishikawa San! He drinks heavily, the first visit he said that there was no way he could stop drinking, therefore no way to get baptized.  But since this last visit he said "I will get baptized if there is some way that I can stop drinking."  The gospel is true and can change hearts and minds!  With this I want to share a quote from Elder Packer also from PMG. "the study of the gospel will change behavior faster than the study of behavior will change behavior."

I am seeing this to be true with Ishikawa San.  My invitation is the same to everyone that I give a Book of Mormon to; read the scriptures little by little 10 minutes at a time and ponder what you read.  It's simple and easy.  Just do it please.

That is all just remember that God loves you and be willing to see the small miracles and blessings he gives everyday.

Have a good week everyone!

Happy Mother's Day

 Elder Halverson

ハルバソン長老~日本仙台伝道部

 

 

May 2, 2016 Namida Susi Roll....beware

After the Hirosaki Festival we got home and changed as fast as we could and went out housing as usual and we found this really great guy!  Apparently he had been taught about Mormonism in college. (Which is incredibly rare) but he had been taught all the crazy weird things.  For example he said with surety that Mormons don't believe in taking medicine for some reason.  He wants to learn from the missionaries and he set up an appointment for us!  Haha we didn't even ask.   Seeing miracles!

At ZTM and after, I've been pondering about the lessons taught during the week.  Specifically I realized the importance of making eye contact when talking with people.  We did a role play of committing somebody to be baptized at ZTM and I noticed the power the one missionary had that made eye contact verses the other who didn't.  Really the eyes are the gateways to the soul and though the eyes you can really see the presence of the Holy Ghost.  I can see that people are really meaning what they saying threw their eyes.   It shows that you are serious about something.  Lastly when eye contact is added with a smile and with the presence of the Holy Ghost, wonders are accomplished!

Sorry this is from my spiritual revelation journal. 

An eikaiwa student took us out to eat at a local authentic sushi place.  They had this sushi called the "namida" which means tear and when I ate it I cried.  It was like fire consumed my entire head.  It was crazy hot!

Sorry forgot my journal but this is how the investigators are doing!

The two newest are both really good.  The one with the Book of Mormon is reading it at a really fast speed and has lots of questions and we committed him to baptism and he said that with his personal choices, he would say no for now but we still have a next appointment so it's all good.  The dog investigator is good and we had a really good lesson with him.  It was on a split so it was two Americans teaching him.  He understood the true power of repentance and the freedom that we can receive from it.  It's kinda confusing because I don't really know if he is all there cause he always talks about the same things but when the lesson comes, he has really good insights.  I really have no idea it's hard to figure out but he is a great guy and we enjoy teaching and talking with him.  ITs been a really good week as far as investigators are concerned.

Ok so on the split, me and Elder Barton witnessed a miracle together.  We had some extra time before a lesson with an investigator.  We went housing around the area and we found a man that had meet the missionary's before and matter of fact has an old missionaries meishi.  Kobayashi chourou to be exact, I am not sure how far back he was but we asked domon and we couldn't come to a conclusion.  We knocked on his door and he opened almost immediately and he knew who we were.  He had lots of questions and he talked very fast.  Elder Barton and I both agreed that we believe we received the gift of tongues at that time because really before we knew it we were teaching the last 2 principles of the first lesson.  By this time he still had lots of questions about why there was so many churches in Odate especially Christian churches.  We ran out of time and had to take off to the other lesson!  But it was great cause we made an appointment and handed a Book of Mormon and a lesson one pamphlet!  I am excited for him, we have a lesson today with him! 

All in all it was an exhausting and good week.  We are hoping that one of the people that we invite to church ends up coming because that is how a member that is here was found!

It's transfers next week so don't plan on the mother's day skype.  Sorry Mom!

Love you all and have a good day!

Elder Halverson

ハルバソン長老~日本仙台伝道部

 

 

April 25, 2016: The Gift of Tongues

Things are looking up in Odate!

Last week as we were leavin the church, this man walks into the second floor of the church (where all the missionaries are) and starts to talk to us about an event that is going on close in the area.  Then the conversation switches to when the tsunami hit in 2011 and then he goes on to say that he had a lot of questions about God.  He then shared a story about an LDS man in Miyako that helped him.  Long story short he gave us his business card and we gave him a Book of Mormon!   Really solid pi and the better news is that he works really close by to the church and the apartment! 

This week I experienced the gift of tongues the strongest I ever have on my mission!  So here is the story.  The other day we were housing (as usual) but we were a little short on time. So we decided to split up and take either side of the street by ourselves so I took the right and Elder Sato took the left.  After a couple houses of nobody home suddenly a lady from Jerusalem appears!!  Then the next house I get to is the money maker!  This mom comes out and I start talking with her and I ask her the purpose of life and explain it briefly.  She starts to talk and normally I can understand when people are talking normal to kinda slow speed but this lady was just a little on the fast side.  The thing is I understood everything!  She says that she is Buddhist but she believes in it because in her words (shinjou dekinai). Basically is that Buddhism is the only religion she can believe in because she can't do faith.  We talk some more and I can tell she was feeling the spirit and so was I! She took a pamphlet and said she will listen and made an appointment!  I want to share a quote from President Smith that I think applies and what I have been trying to do.  "Obedience is the first law of heaven.  To the degree we are obedient, the heavens will poor out its miracles.  We don't wait for the miracle or blessing to come before we are obedient.  We are obedient from the start with faith, hope, and trust that the blessings will come according to the Lords time!"  We are praying for miracles in Odate!

Yesterday we watched a fireside of the Sapporo temple from the chapel in Odate.  Crazy enough we had a FHE lesson on temples this past week!  It makes my so excited to finally be able to go back when I have the chance!  And with that the biggest temple in the Asia area is now finally complete and it makes it so much easier for the members I am serving right now to go to the temple.  Because the next closest one was in Tokyo which is very far and very expensive.  I am seriously so glad that the temple is done and the open houses are starting.  The temple will start running in August!!  It's beautiful!  

 That is all, everyone have a good week!!  Love you all!

 頑張ってください愛してます

 

Elder Halverson 

ハルバソン長老~日本仙台伝道部