First of all, I'm blown away with the amount I got out of General Conference. We watched it in English but a week later here (probably so it could be translated for the members). The first time I have ever watched all of it, but more importantly put in all my effort to understand, ponder and apply every word of it. My questions were answered, felt the Spirit many times, and in just a weekend my: testimony, faith, knowledge, and motivation all increase. I think it really helped to read along as I listened. That's how I learn though. Whatever your learning style I encourage ALL of you who are "young" (as Elder Holland has said "...young in years of age or young in years of membership or young in years of faith. One way or another, that should include just about all of us.") to construct some serious life questions that you need answered, pray for help in receiving revelation and go through the talks from general conference. I promise you will receive an answer to any question you have about life or the gospel if and ONLY if you put in your all to find an answer.
Don't ever trick yourself into thinking you don't have time for gospel related things as well as anything else important in your life. You make time for the things that are important. With general conference most of these men have devoted the remainder of their lives to the gospel. You are selfish if you can't set aside a couple hours out of your week. These men have also prayed, fasted, and pondered about what YOU need to hear. Get something out of it, then utilize it. As the show I used to watch as a kid called "ZOOM" would say "if you like what you see, turn off your TV and do it!" (Lolz) Don't throw it all to waste.
We are so blessed with the opportunities we have in Idaho, Utah and America in general. Though most of us do just that, throw it all to waste. We find any excuse to miss church, not read our scriptures, help others, etc. This week a man showed up at church who had walked over an hour to get to there. He is a member from the Philippians and lived here about a year. After some searching he figured out where the church is and came Sunday. He listened to all of Sunday's conference in English not understanding much. Some people, like this man and many more thirst so hard for the gospel or many other things we have so readily, yet we find excuses not to utilize.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about how hard it is to give my all in everything I do every day or even just one day. Sometimes I think "man if I could just go hard, 100% effort, one day and do all the things I should (wake up on time, exercise, eat healthy, etc) I would do it for that day, if it decided the rest." Through this seemingly impossible desire I have realized how possible it really is. Why long for a single day that controls the rest, when we can do all the right things, every single day, and still have the variety of every day life? I am capable and so are you. I encourage every one of you, whether religious or not, to strive to live every day as if it decided the rest of your life as I strive to do the same.
My favorite member here in Tokes is Watanabe. He is one of the members that Elder Ringwood (who has been to our last two mission conferences and I believe currently lives in Japan? Not sure. I met him when I shook Elder Nelson's hand) talked about who doesn't have a large position in the church but is doing a ton behind the scenes to help others. Watanabe doesn't seem like he does a lot on the outside. Though as a missionary I see the things he does. Ringwood said, "the service that counts most is usually recognized by God alone." He sat and talked to this man who walked over an hour to come to church and I overheard him encouraging him to go to the temple. I called him later to ask if he thinks this man needs help. He gave me a detailed explanation of what was discussed as well as the plan he made with this man to get him to church easier and I became emotional with how much he cares about others and thanked him for the service he is doing that "is recognized by God alone." I told him how I have been encouraging my family to get more involved with missionary work and he said his son (who is on a mission) has encouraged the same things. His example and another recently returned elder to the ward (who has been coming to a lot of our investigator events) really makes me want to use the things I am learning here to influence the lives of others after the mission. I'm on a mission for two years but a missionary for the rest of my life. I hope all of you strive a little more to be like Brother Watanabe.
In this conference it seemed to be focused on families, the hope everyone can have with the gospel, sticking true to our faith at all times, and our responsibilities as members. I got something out of every single talk. Here are some things that stuck out to me: "Every day each of us faces a test. It is the test of our lifetimes: will we choose to believe in Him and allow the light of His gospel to grow within us, or will we refuse to believe and insist on traveling alone in the dark?" "We will not accidentally come to believe in the Savior and His gospel any more than we will accidentally pray or pay tithing." "Just as God rejoices when we persevere, He is disappointed if we do not recognize that others are trying too...If we don’t try, we’re just latter-day sinners; if we don’t persevere, we’re latter-day quitters; and if we don’t allow others to try, we’re just latter-day hypocrites. As we try, persevere, and help others to do the same, we are true Latter-day Saints."
How much are you and I really trying to follow Christ if we judge or don't have patience with others in the church? God has a ton of patience for us as he is perfect and we are not, let's do the same for others.
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Now as to my week. Haha
I said goodbye to Nagano and welcomed in my new trainer, Inumaki. He is so sick. Love him. He speaks basically no English and when he does its a super heavy accent and it's so funny haha. He loves to sing English songs like: Over the Rainbow, Radioactive, and some One Direction. He is wild. It's frustrating not being able to communicate sometimes, but my Japanese is already getting better, and he is super patient. He's a boss in lessons too.
So lesson with Iwasawa this week. Though Iwasawa is in his late thirties he thinks a lot like a child. It can be very frustrating. Our lesson was an ultimatum basically. We needed to know if he is actually going to progress. If not we needed to drop him. I shared a lot from Alma 32 (favorite chapter btw) it compares faith to a seed and as it grows it becomes a tree. I drew pictures as we read and explained (through a members translation) that he has increased his faith over the last 3 years by meeting with the missionaries and now has a big tree of faith within in him. Basically I said his tree needs more nourishment. This nourishment would be actually doing something, not just meeting with us. After lots of misleading answers, a prolonged "bathroom break", and a picture of a fork in the road drawn by me telling him he either commits 100% or doesn't commit at all to baptism he finally said he would commit for June 6th. He has had many baptismal dates in the past and always finds a way to bail. Really frustrating. We told him he has to prove to us that he is committed 100% or we can't meet with him. That all sounded harsh and unloving but we knew we had to have a lesson like that. His story is way hard to explain.
Our companionship now has two baptismal dates. With the only two investigators we have. Though that sounds good and I have faith that it can be done. I am worried. Iwasawa's date is definitely iffy and Jordan's baptism is going to be very hard now. Considering he has work every day for the next two months. Probably won't be able to get work off for church or baptism. I am praying hard for some miracles. It's tough not feeling that excited about baptismal dates. On a better note, last Saturday our district had a baptism! It's the first one this area has seen in years. Literally years. This is a rough area but it seems to be starting to pick up and we are starting to see a lot of miracles.
I love you all and I hope you got at least one thing you can use from this email. In Elder Nelson's talk "waiting for the prodigal" he talked about how, all we need to do is pray for, love, wait and watch for the people that are struggling in their lives to the true happiness they can find in the gospel. I was the prodigal for sure and I'm so thankful for all of you who did just that as I had hardened my heart. I think you could add "being an example" in there too.
Much love,
Spackman 長老
Pictures:
1. Some kids Nagano and I met and the park
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2. It doesn't usually even snow in the winter here and it snowed this week, it didn't stick but it was a lot.
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3-4. At church last Sunday I noticed one of the elders taking some pics of me and decided to make them not so candid...
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5. Bye bye Nagano :/
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6. The guy that walked over an hour to come to church was wearing a Utah State jacket! I was so stoked to see that here in Japan. His dad was a law professor there. Dad, do you think you might now his father?
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7. Rockin the shades at English class lol
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8. I pic from last weeks sweets party, in the top left you can see my district leader and I taking selfies lol
9. Video of my dropping my ramen posing for a picture a couple weeks ago on splits
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