HEY! is that COCA-COLA?!?!?

Yes the Japanese members believe (for the most part) believe that caffeine is strictly against the word of wisdom and we found that out at eikaiwa this week when we walked in with a bottle of Coca Cola each Duren Choro and I, and Tetsuya Kayama (the mentally handicapped kid in the ward who isn`t really a kid he`s 26 and I can tell you about him in a later email I suppose) shouts at us, HEY, IS THAT COCACOLA?! SORE WA DAME DA YO!!! and could not focus for the rest of eikaiwa. Basically I am not a big advocate for caffeine either, but it does bring back a sense of American-ness so that is nice sometimes.So I always get to p-day and realize that I have forgotten everything that happened in the last week even though it seems like P-day was just yesterday. I don`t get how that works.We finally met with Yoshinaga again this week who hasn`t kept ANY commitments shame on him. And always talks to us about how he wants the spirit to guide him and yet he does NOTHING to invite the spirit into his life whatsoever! I have taught him 4 lessons about the spririt and nothing ever sticks! GRRR. Also he tells us he is going to move in May...

So I realized this week that if I don`t take time NOW to be well, I will surely take time LATER to be ill. I found that out as I was staying up way too late to study Japanese and getting up early to get extra revelatory study without the distraction of Dragonball Z Duren Choro and it finally caught up to me and I was then confined to the apartment for 2 days with illness most likely caused by fatigue. I even wore a little asian sick mask because I wanted to feel Japanese. I realized that they are quite comforting, but it doesn`t work with glasses because my face isn`t as flat as the Nihonjin`s are.

We were out and about the next day going housing and lately I have found more and more that you are guided more by the spirit when you are DOING THINGS, rather than just SITTING, WAITING for guidance. We were out housing and I figured we would go visit a potential investigator from 2006. I don`t really know why but we were close so we figured why not. Turns out that the Mother was the potential investigator from the past and the daughter is very open and it was the same situation as with Suzuki san a few weeks ago and basically the moral of the story is kind of `The Lord doesn`t steer a parked car`YAY LIVERPOOL IS DOING WELL! I knew my serving the Lord would bring Blessings! 笑Well I want to have more to say, I did `get mad at` Elder Duren for being lazy and making me do everything and he didn`t like that very much.

I feel like I should have more to say... sorry. Love you all!ペース長老

けっこですわ！‏

So I am starting to feel like my emails and letters are all really repetitive and just not fun for anyone to read and stuff. And it probably doesn`t help that my english is slowly deteriorating and yeah. anyway let me know more of what you want to know and I will try and be more interesting.

So Duren choro left the garbage outside the window one day because it smelled bad, and Japan has crazy strict rules with what days you can and can`t take out certain garbage and it`s very complex. Long story short we now have a friend ferret who scavanges our garbage for anything worthwhile and Duren choro won`t take care of the mess he made, and won`t go with me to kill the ferret. (lame lame lame!) We have since named the Ferret Nusumuto and even though I want to kill it, Duren Choro won`t let me because `it has a fluffy tail` You`ve got to be kidding me.

On Tuesday I went on an exchange with the district leader and I forgot the map of this neighborhood and so I was really frustrated because this was taking way too long to find this person and blah blah I was really mad and our lesson fell through on top of that so it was a rough day until EIKAIWA!

I finally brought pictures of our family to eikaiwa and showed the students and everyone was like all bug-eyed and could not believe SEVEN KIDS?! That is completely unheard of to them! They just couldn`t get over it. Then right as that thought was settling in their mind our district leader pulls out his family pictures. He is one of ELEVEN children. I thought their little Japanese heads would explode haha I don`t think I have seen anyone so surprised in a long time haha.

We finally met with Yazaki and he is doing well, he loves the scriptures and believes very strongly in God and Jesus Christ and he now understands AND accepts the principles of the gospel but he struggles to understand the priesthood and what authority has to do with anything.

Miyawaki (mr. kitchen god) finally accepted our free english program and so we will help him out. When we went to visit him this week it was snowing like crazy, and so we got there and he was awed by our diligence in coming all the way in the snow (barefoot, uphill both ways...) We also ran into another lady named Suzuki San who let us in (miracle in itself) and she expressed to us how she doesn`t really get what we`re saying, not like the words, she gets what we are saying, but struggles to internalize it, but she wants to learn and understand more and feels it is good. She also wants her family to learn too, but right now if she asked them she thought they`d probably say no so she wants to learn a bit on her own first and then introduce it to them. I think so often that Christianity just has this kind of label here and it leads people to regard it as weird without really knowing anything about it. Most people I talk to LOVE the idea of the gospel and the doctrine, but don`t want to join a church or be labeled as Christian, because that is odd in Japan a country where religion isn`t something that is practiced, or necessarily even organized.

SIDE NOTE: Elder Duren likes Dragonball Z and has a weird action figure dude of one of the characters and is talking about it all the time and I want to melt his little action figure on the stove.

Let me know if anyone at Olympus gets their mission call to Kobe! (or anywhere in Japan honestly) One of the girls in the Kitarokko ward went to stay with family in New York and sent me an email about how weird it was to run into missionaries who didn`t speak Japanese haha. I really do feel like being here on a mission in Japan is evidence that God knows me better than I know myself. I love Japan and even though I never would have called myself here, I am so glad that Heavenly Father did. I love just being out in Japan and experiencing life here on P-Day and Elder Duren tells me he likes to sleep on P-Day. LAME! I can sleep when I am dead! I love this country and I love these people even though they are super hard to teach the gospel and not as receptive generally as I would hope, I really do love them and I love Japan!

COOL THING! so now that I am better at Japanese I really enjoy reading the scriptures in Japanese. In english, the scriptures are written in a very archaic older english, which sometimes makes them harder to understand. However, the Japanese scriptures are written in more day to day Japanese and sometimes are much easier to understand I feel. 

Someone once told me Japanese is similar to Hebrew but I really have no idea if it is or not.

ANYWAY, I love you all and really hope you have the most fantabulous week ever!

Love,

ペース長老

Mission Tour

This week was the mission tour, or as they told it to us missionaries the mission inspection from Salt Lake. Elder Whiting from the Quorum of the Seventy and the Asia North area presidency came and had a few conferences and what not and it`s so funny because everyone made such a huge deal out of it, and I just hated feeling like we all kind of were told to put on our brightest smiles and wear our nicest clothes and stuff and just pretend like everything is wonderful for the general authority visit, when really I wasn`t feeling to good about things at the time of the conference. Although Elder Whiting did congratulate me on being a `mighty Olympus Titan` so there is that.

 

People on the mission often make bold and sometimes I feel untrue statements about missionary work. like `if you aren`t seeing success it`s because you don`t have enough faith, you`re not focused enough, you`re a bad missionary, etc.` and I just want to be like, no, you can`t know anything about another persons life, mission, effort, etc. `who am I to judge another when I walk imperfectly....` I know people mean well when they say that, but I feel like I`m already bothered enough that I`m not seeing success to have the mission leaders try and tell me it`s because my faith is lacking or that I`m not relying on the Lord enough. give me a break. God`s plan for me is different than his plan for you and even though I didn`t see hardly any success these past couple weeks I am working just as hard as any other missionary who sees 20 baptisms a month in Ghana! grrr! OH, other pet peeve about weird things mission leaders say. `exact` obedience. There is no such thing. I mean waking up at 6:30 isn`t `exact` obedience, it is just obedience. nobody can be `exactly` obedient because that would mean perfection, and we are obviously not perfect.

 

Everything this week just seemed to fall through. Investigators would call us the day of and cancel the lesson, not show up to their appointments, not answer their phones, and even our meal appointment with the members fell through for tonight. I feel like everything that can go wrong, either is going wrong, or will go wrong shortly. Really missionary work is so frustrating because people don`t like to change. Japanese people (particularly the older generation) are very traditional and don`t like the idea of changing anything. Many people have trouble while investigating because being Christian in Japan is odd, or strange to people who know largely nothing about christianity. At the conference Sister Whiting shared an interesting thing. It was the result of a survey done in both America and Japan as to who the most important people in History were. The results for America were Jesus Christ as number one, and also Joseph Smith made it in at 55. The results for Japan were Jesus Christ at number 62, and surprisingly Walt Disney is in the top 20... Basically people here have no idea what Christianity actually is. It is as weird to them as Buddhism or Shinto seem to us.

 

I wish I had more positive things to share, but this week wasn`t all that great. We went out dendo-ing (proselyting) with Asada Kyodai from the ward who really helped, we visited various inactives and I once again was reminded that my Japanese level of speaking and understanding is TERRIBLE! But I also have recognized lately that I have such little confidence in speaking Japanese because most of the time I don`t even know if what I am trying to say makes any sense, and so I speak hesitantly, not because I doubt the things I want to say, but because I don`t trust my Japanese as much as I would like to. I`m working on that as well as a trillion other things.

 

This email sounds really whiney probably and maybe that`s true, but basically I know that I am supposed to be here being as perfect as I can be serving The Lord that I love. Whether that results in me baptizing 5000000 people or not it doesn`t really matter, I`m just here to do what God wants me to do. And yes I have a useless annoying companion, I can`t speak this language like I want, but overall things are just fine and I am well.

 

Love,

ペース長老

Do you remember . . . THUNDERHEAD?!?

Anyway I am in a remarkably good mood today because I don`t know why. This week we had just as much frustration as any other but oh well. I have realized that the more I put into this work, the more rewarding it is, and also the more frustrating it is when all of your investigators flake on you and nobody that you invited to church actually shows up... (that didn`t happen yesterday.....)

But basically I have hit a turning point on my mission. I can no longer look up to a senior companion to answer Tanaka San`s question I didn`t understand, or to take the lead on where to go, what to say, etc. etc. I really have never had this much freedom, but also this much responsibility. It`s an interesting task to try and tackle as little insignificant me, but I just put my trust in the Lord, and `thrust in my sickle` with all my heart might mind and strength and everything works out in the end even if it doesn`t mean baptisms.

 

In the Kitarokko Ward Okada Shunki and his friend Tsubasa who are going on missions soon have wanted to go on splits with us to get in some good mission prep. (why did I never do anything like that? I was too busy doing who knows what.) But it was a very interesting experience to me because for so long I had felt like if only I were better at Japanese that I could see more success, which I knew wasn`t really true, but as I was on splits with Shunki I was able to see that just plain old sharing the gospel is in fact a scary thing to many people! It was just an eye opening experience to me is all.

 

So this week seemed so good, we had met lots of people who seemed interested, Yazaki is reading the Book of Mormon, everything was heading in a good direction when NOPE! saturday both of our appointments fell through (which wouldn`t be a big deal if we had lots of appointments but when you only have 3 all week...) and then all 7 of the people that we had personally delivered invitations to come to church and who said they would be there, didn`t come. But I am basically realizing how important it is to be patient and just to continue with faith and diligence even when things are not going well. All things will work together for the good of us, and those we meet.

 

Elder Duren loves cats and he also loves the mission slideshow dvd which he watches every single night without fail. He is very happy and there are various things I have learned from him and I really feel like there are reasons for our companionship. He now says excuse me when he burps and he changes his clothes everyday so things are going well for him. But along with all of this he has a very strong desire to serve and a very big heart, which are more important than how someone dresses by a long shot.

 

I hope everyone is doing well! Mom I really appreciated your remarks in your email. We housed into a man this week whose wife had passed away and I got thinking about how sometimes we forget and take for granted our greatest treasures. I don`t know what it would be like to live without any of you and I am so glad that families can be together forever. When we shared that with this man his whole countenance changed and it was amazing to see the hope of the gospel flow into his heart. I am so grateful to be here on a mission. I was feeling frustrated one night this week while we were housing and thought, maybe these people don`t see how much I want to share this with them, and so you may laugh, but I literally RAN from door to door for the next 2 hours sharing the gospel. It was maybe a little silly, but this really is that important. I love this gospel, I love each of you, I`m praying for you, and I hope you have a fantastic week!

 

Love,

Jonathan, ペース長老

Do you like cats?

So this week was as boring as ever. I just hate feeling like I do everything right, but nothing comes of it. I get that the Lord can do miracles through his servants, but it is hard to have faith adequate to produce miracles, when I often have a hard time believing anyone even will listen to us. I am working really hard lately on being exactly obedient, and giving all my heart, might, mind and strength, but I don`t feel like much has changed and that is what is frustrating. It`s like my faith is being tried by trying my faith! 

 

Rebecca here are the answers to your questions!!!

1- yes Japanese people do celebrate Valentine`s Day, but it is not a very big celebration. (But I wouldn`t really know since the only valentine I got was from the Kitarokko ward Young Women...)

2- Cob is right for the most part. Japanese people look smart. Koreans look fat. When Koreans take pictures the reason they put their hands (while making peace signs) on their cheeks is to make their faces look skinnier.

3- Yes people do build butsudans in their houses but because I have really only been in members houses or apartments I really don`t know on that one. I have only been invited in to teach a lesson while housing once, and even then the man had a room off of his genkan so it wasn`t even really inside his house.

4- School in Japan is CRAZY! college admissions tests are apparently super hard and they have school 6 days a week through high school. Most Japanese people get a higher education and education is VERY important here. Teachers here are called Senseis, the same title given to Doctors or surgeons. I have a cool gospel analogy with that but that`s a story for a different day.

YAY!!!

 

This week we scrambled to meet with everyone we could before Wilson Choro left, and got a whopping 1 lesson! But Yazaki`s interest has really increased after talking about how the book of mormon answers the questions of the soul and really helps us in everyday life as well.

 

Friday were transfers and I already wish that transfers were next week. Duren Choro is strange. The very first thing he says to me is `do you like cats?` and then goes on to tell me about how mch he likes cats and dogs and he even has a stuffed animal cat that he sleeps with. He reminds me of the guy on the all-state commercial, stop taking in stray animals. He really just doesn`t appear well. He looks and dresses like a hobo, and his Japanese knowledge is good, but his prononciation is terrible and he speaks so slowly and just plain, dumb sounding, that the ward members asked me if I was training a new missionary yesterday. He also doesn`t like to be out proselyting (lazy) and did I mention he is supposed to be my senior companion? This will be an interesting next transfer.

 

Missionary work is hard, and missionary work is fun. But more than anything, missionary work is disappointing. I feel like I am doing absolutely everything I can for this work, I am giving truly my all, and yet it doesn`t transfer over into `success.` Our investigators ignore our calls, or meet with us so rarely that it is so hard to see the progress of them or me. I don`t mean to sound rude or offensive to other missionaries in saying this, but I don`t think there is anywhere more difficult to serve a mission than Japan. I wouldn`t go anywhere else, but even after almost a third of my mission, it is still a struggle for me to even talk to anyone. I don`t want anyone`s pity, or what not, but I do want understanding. I was reading a talk this week by Elder Perry and he talked about how the members should help the missionaries and that most missionaries spend most of their time trying to find someone to teach instead of teaching. THIS HAS BEEN THE STORY OF MY LIFE AS A MISSIONARY. I have averaged 2 lessons a week for the last 2 transfers. I go out and I knock doors (press ping pong boxes) and stop people on the street for hours, days and weeks on end because the Lord has called me to do that, but it`s really frustrating.

 

I hope everyone has a great week back at home! I loved the Valentines Package and quickly gobbled it all up. I love you all!

 

Love,

Jonathan, Elder Pace

I make the weather!

So I used to make a list throughout the week of things to write home about in my letters/emails, but I have realized that since coming to Japan and actually doing things here that there is far to much that goes on to possibly include all of it in any letter or email even though I wish I could.

 

I will be here in Kitarokko for a third transfer with Elder Duren who entered the MTC the same day as me. I only remember him being mysteriously caped in a blanket and wandering the halls of the MTC at night so it will be an interesting transfer. I`m just glad I`m staying. I feel like when missionaries are really serving The Lord and not just serving time they will never want to transfer or leave those they have worked so hard to help, or thus has been my experience so far.

 

So I have been working really hard lately on giving ALL my heart, might, mind and strength to the work and everything goes better when I do. It isn`t directly related to success, or numbers, or anything that on paper really, but it just brings a sense of satisfaction knowing that The Lord is pleased with my service. And in turn, I am pleased as well.

 

People in Japan seem to not care about the Olympics at all that I have noticed. (They only care about the 2020 Olympics because they`re in Japan) It`s probably because the USA wins everything that the Olympics are so huge in the states. The Olympics are in Russia right?

 

I wish there were more exciting things to say. I meet soo many interesting people out here. We aren`t teaching as much as we would like. we averaged about 2 lessons a week this last transfer and in case anyone doesn`t already know, yes, this is extremely frustrating at times.

 

Oh by the way to answer Mom`s question, San is a title in Japanese like Mr. Mrs. Ms., etc.  so I would be Pace San, in fact our whole family would be Pace San. (All the Adults at least) There is also Sama which is honoriffic of San. And then for kids they usually use the first name and Chan for girls (and some boys) and Kun for boys. So each of you can have fun figuring out what people would refer to you as in Japanese!

 

On that same note, if you have any questions about Japan, the culture, language, etc. ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE! I would love to share more of my experiences and let you guys feel more involved but I don`t always know what to share so by all means, ask me more questions!

 

We did have a super cool lesson with Yoshinaga this week. After EJ disappeared we were kind of bummed out because nobody else was really progressing as well as we wished. We prepared really well for our lesson with Yoshinaga, object lessons, examples, personal experiences, and it all payed off. He was so impressed that we would take the effort just for him and he really felt the spirit and our savior`s love for him and is preparing to get baptized on march 23rd! I just really think it`s so easy to just teach subject matter, but really the ultimate work of this gospel is LOVE. If we really love these people, we will do anything for them. The very first topic in PMG of the lessons is God is our LOVING Heavenly Father. which in Japanese is (god is our Heavenly Father who is overflowing with love) I Love this work and I love these people! They truly are my brothers and sisters and I wish I could help all of them the way my family and brothers and sisters have helped me!

 

I LOVE you all! Have a great week! I`m so excited to be here and do God`s will for me in this day. You`re the greatest!

Love,

Jonathan, Elder Pace

Where's that Bonding Strip?!?

This week was hard. EJ had a unfortunate happening and is no longer in Japan, and therefore not getting baptized anytime soon. None of our investigators came to stake conference because going to kobe takes too much time, and it just wasn`t a great week over all. Also today is elder wilsons birthday which is great and all but he took forever to email and wanted to buy himself birthday presents so my time is quite short today.

 

So EJ apparently was going to show his english class (he taught english at the middle school near our church) a video to learn english and accidently showed them the wrong video with what from what the ward members tell us they read in the newspaper had some pornographic content, and he has since lost his job and as far as we know has been deported to the philippines and so we are pretty upset about that. (and no we hadn`t taught him the law of chastity yet.) But it will all work out in the end. He had a testimony of the book of mormon and we hope he can meet with the missionaries again and turn to god in this time of trial.

 

Dad I liked your comment `those who were going English speaking would come home scriptorians, and that those who were speaking romance languages would come home fluent, and that those who were speaking Asian languages would come home humbled.` I asked my trainer who was on his second to last transfer at what time I would most likely start thinking in Japanese, and he told me never. But I am going to prove him wrong. But yes, you can become competant in Japanese as a missionary, but likely not truly fluent.

 

Mom I`m glad you liked my letter! I was kind of reluctant to write it, but as soon as I did I stopped having to play the piano in priesthood haha!

 

We had a nice experience of meeting Nakamae San this week who let us into his house immediately to hear our message, we rejected his typical offering to give us tea, and then also coffee, he was confused and seemed like as he continues to meet is willing and open enough for the spirit to enter his heart and build his faith. It`s the first time in my whole mission anyone has actually let us in to listen to us the first time we meet them.

 

It has been unusually warm here for february and i am not complaining one bit! Life is good here. I`m getting bugged with Elder Wilson and I kind of secretly want to train next transfer, but then again not really. I really am so glad to be a missionary and I love Japan! I bought a bunch of new pens for Christmas, they have a special ink that is erasable, but then also turns invisible if heated up enough and then if cooled down re-appears. I also bought myself a Japanese National Team soccer jersey to support my boys The Samurai Blue in Brazil this summer! Merry Christmas to me! I know myself so well don`t I? I hope to hear from you all soon. Andrew don`t let her feminine ways hide the fact that she played for murray max... Just reminding you haha I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

 

Love,

Jonathan, Elder Pace