Sunday, April 24, 2016

Matsue with Vui part 2

  
First off I would just like to say that Vui Choro and I will both being staying in Matsue together for another transfer! Which means, he will be the first companion that I will stay with for more than one transfer, which makes him my longest companion I have had. Up to this point, Anthony Choro, my lovely MTC companion, has been my longest companion at a time period of 9 weeks. Now with Vui, we will be together for 12 weeks. (I still love you Anthony Choro!) 
   This week was all over the place! Starting with Monday, we got a phone call from our zone leaders, who are in the area next to us. Takaku Choro had to go to Kobe, because he got called as an assistant, so they needed me and Vui Choro to go over to their area to be with the other Zone leader, Griffitts Choro, and be his companion until transfer day. So we quickly packed up our stuff and left to the Yonago area for a couple of days. There, We dined on lovely pizza, made my members, and met a lot of people. We ended up only staying in Yonago until later Wednesday night, because the new zone leader came into Yonago a day early to help out. 
   We worked really hard Thursday and Friday while we were home, and were able to teach 15 lessons!! One of the highlights of the week was on Friday. Vui Choro and I ran into a family of 5 and we started talking to them. The mom asked us why we were in Japan and told us that she has been looking for an English teacher for her 6 year old son. (The cutest kid ever) They lived in Hong Kong for a little while, and the little boy went to an international school so his English is really good! We told her that we would love to teach him and explained the English program and gospel program that we could do with them. We gave her our number and she said she would call if she was interested. - About 30 minutes later, we got a phone call from the family! It was the little 6 year old boy on the phone. He said "Hi, my name is Tohma, I just met you a couple minutes ago, can you teach me?" It was so cute! Then we talked to the mom and dad on the phone. They said that the little boy wanted to call us as soon as they got home. - We set up an appointment with them for tomorrow, and are super excited to go teach them English and hopefully about the gospel as well!
    On Saturday we went with members back to Yonago because we had stake conference this weekend, and it was in Yonago for the Matsue ward. We spend the whole day there, going to meetings. Then we came home for the night. The next day (Sunday) we got up and went with members down to Niimi (The middle of nowhere) for the second half of stake conference. Niimi is half way between Yonago and Okayama. Needless to say, it was another long drive, but it was a lot of fun! 
     As far as investigators go, we have picked up 2 new investigators lately, which is huge, because this area is in need of investigators! Their names are Hisako Tako (have fun saying that 5 times in a row!-yes that is really her name) and Makoto Ootsuka! They both have good potential so that is exciting! As far as our progressers go, Anzai-San has been really sick for the past 2 weeks, so we have only been able to meet with him one time. So his baptismal date is being pushed back, yet again. And We haven't met with our other progressing investigator for 3 weeks. Her name is Suzuki-San and she is about 80 years old. She used to come to church every single week, but the past three weeks she hasn't. Last time we met with her, she told us how she plans to out live her dad, who lived to be 88 years old. But.... I think a couple days after that appointment she ended up in the hospital and we haven't seen her since. We sure hope she is doing okay. It seems like all of our progressing investigators are getting extremely sick, so please keep them in your prayers. 
     Well since this email is getting super long, and long emails are always boring, I'll end it with this quick thought. In Elder Jeffrey R. Hollands talk, he said "My brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength--that’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength." I know that this is true. God loves each and every one of us! He wants a relationship with us, and is begging us to talk to him. So here is the challenge: This week, see what ways God shows his love to you. What has he done and given to you? You never know what kind of difference that simple thing can make in your life. 
     Thank you all for your emails, and for your love and support. I hope you all have a great and safe week! 

With love from Japan, 
エバンズ長老🇯🇵

P.S Congratulations to my cousin and her (now) husband for getting married this past week! You guys are awesome! 

PICTURES:
1. Saying goodbye to my past zone leader who became AP, Takaku Choro! 
2. Having lunch with some of the Yonago ward members!
3. Sunset while working in Yonago 
4. If this isn't companionship unity, I don't know what is. Thanks momma for the shirts! 

(sorry, I can't find the 1st picture on his icloud...I'll keep looking)

Pic #2

Pic #3

 Pic #4

Sunday, April 17, 2016

5th transfer



Well it's the start of a new transfer, and let me say, last transfer
was a good one! This past week was really good as well. We taught 30
people and found some really good people! On Friday, we were at the
lake trying to talk to people at the beautiful sunset. We saw a guy
that didn't look Japanese, so we said hello to him. We started talking
to him and found out that he was from France! He has been traveling
around Japan, and came for a day to Matsue to see the castle, and the
famous sunsets! We were able to talk with him about what we are doing
in Japan and what we believe to be true. After talking to him for a
little while he said that he was going to get some Okonomiyaki (WAY
GOOD JAPANESE FOOD) and he invited us to come eat with him and talk to
him more about the gospel. So we went!! At dinner, we talked to him
about the gospel, and had an amazing time. We told him that there are
missionaries like us in France, and invited him to meet with them! He
said he would love to meet with them when he got home. It was an
awesome little miracle to meet him. But it was definitely harder than
I thought to teach people in English!
  On Saturday, we went over to Izumo, and had a big barbecue with
their branch and some of our members. A lot of people came! Since
Izumo has a lot of Brazilian members, the Brazilians made some really
good food! My companion was in heaven! He loves meat. We also played a
lot of games, and by the end of it I was absolutely exhausted! When
Vui Choro and I left, we had to walk back to the train station , which
is about a 30-45 minute walk. Our train was supposed to leave 20
minutes later, so we started running to get there on time. While we
were running, a car pulled up next to us, and opened the door! It was
some of the Brazilian members from the church! They told us to get in
and they would take us to the train station. I was very grateful to
them, because we actually made it to the train station with 30 seconds
to spare, even with the car ride!
  It made me think a lot about the person I want to be. We are here
on earth to progress! God gave us special gifts and abilities. We need
to use those gifts, and our strengths to help gods children out.
Mosiah 2:17 says "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may
learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of
your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." So the
challenge for you this week is to see who you can serve! Try and help
lift one of gods children! You never know the difference you could
make!
  I think that's about it for this week! Have a safe, and fun week! I
love you all!

Evans Choro


(As a side note:  He didn't include this in this email, but in mine he said that where he is, he didn't feel the earthquake at all. And I just got a message from him that both he and Elder Vui will be staying in Matsue another 6 weeks)




Sunday, April 10, 2016

Choose the Harder Right!

 Here he is at the Okayama Mission home.
His Dad's old mission home.
 Obviously very excited about where the Elders stay.


Well it was definitely a strange week this week, but it has been one
of the most spiritually lifting weeks of my mission! Before I talk
about the spiritually parts of this week, I'll share some of the stuff
we did this week. On Thursday, 6 of the elders and sister from our
district came to Matsue so that we could do a blitz. A blitz is where
everyone does missionary work in the same area so that we can
strengthen the area. Since Matsue is in need of investigators we tried
to blitz it. It was a complete fail! It rained hard the whole time we
were on the blitz. There was no one on the street to teach. Out of the
8 missionaries in the area, working for 4 hours, only 5 lessons were
taught and no investigators were found, and we all ended up soaking
wet and tired! It was definitely a disappointment, but we all at least
had lots of fun and made some good memories!
  Directly after the blitz, we all got on a bus and headed down to
Okayama. It was a 4 hour bus ride, but it was beautiful. When we got
to Okayama, we took a train over to the old Okayama mission home,
where my dad served as a missionary ages ago. The Okayama elders live
in the old mission home there, and all of us were having zone training
meeting in Okayama the next day. That meant 20 elders were staying the
night in the Okayama Mission home. It was a lot of fun to spend time
with the other missionaries from our zone, as well as see and stand in
the same place that my dad served as a missionary. What a blessing! We
also received some great instruction from our zone leaders at zone
training meeting.
  On Saturday, we had the opportunity to watch conference! Vui Choro
and I watched it in a tiny computer room in English, while ward
members watched it in the chapel. I wish I could understand Japanese
so I wasn't stuck in a tiny room for 10 hours haha! But conference was
absolutely amazing! Every single talk was something I needed to hear. I
felt the spirit during conference so strong, and I've got to say, the
Mormon tabernacle choir is flawless! They know how to bring the spirit
into a meeting!
  On Sunday, we also watched conference, but before the afternoon
session started, we went with one of our members over to Anzai-sans
house to pick him up to come see conference! Sadly, Anzai got really
sick over the weekend, and wasn't able to come. But our member asked
him about receiving a priesthood blessing, which Anzai accepted. We
were able to give him a priesthood blessing which was amazing. This is
a guy who, a couple months ago didn't even believe in God. Yet, now he
wanted a priesthood blessing. He has come so far, and is really
excited to be baptized. It's so cool to see people who I've had the
opportunity to teach, take steps closer to their Heavenly Father. I'm
truly blessed to be a missionary right now.
    In conference, I loved the words of President Thomas S Monson.
Though they were few, they were powerful. "Choose the harder right".
In the world we live in now, it is hard to choose the right, but I
know that when we do, Heavenly Father will reward us. Nothing worth
having comes easy right? So choose the harder right, and you'll be the
most happiest in the end!
    Also, give my little brother chase a quick happy birthday! His
birthday is this week and he is turning 14 years old! He is getting so
big! By the time I get home, he will be bigger than me! Happy birthday
to him, I hope he has an amazing birthday!
    I love you all, and am grateful for all of your love and support.
I couldn't do it without the support friends, and family at home, as
well as my savior. I hope you all have a fun week, and keep applying
the messages you heard from conference into your daily lives.


Love,
Evans Choro!
エバンス長老🇯🇵

 I asked him to send pictures of cherry blossoms!



Saturday, April 9, 2016

America's Conference Weekend


Konnichiwa Family and Friends!

  This week was all over the place! We traveled to all 3 areas in our
district. We first traveled to Yonago for interviews with our Mission
President! Interviews with him are really short, but they are some of
the most spiritual experiences you can have on your mission. In my
interview, he started with a prayer. It amazed me to see how he talks
to Heavenly Father. It felt as if Heavenly Father was right there with
us in the room. It made me really evaluate my prayers with Heavenly
Father, and how much better I need to do with praying. For the
interview we talked about the atonement challenge that we are doing as
a mission. He gave me some really good advice on how I interpret the
Book of Mormon for this challenge. He also shared some really good
insights, and made the atonement a lot more personal to me. One thing
that I am focused on for this challenge, that Welch Kaicho talked
about in the interview is how we understand the atonement. I don't
want to just "know" about the atonement. I want the atonement to
change me, and how I live my life. I know that through living like
Christ wants us to, we can find the most happiness in our lives.
    Another fun part of the week was Saturday. In Matsue there was a
big samurai festival going on. They had music, samurai's and all sorts
of other activities going on. It was a good time to talk to people and
get to know the Japanese people and their culture. Lots of people came
to this event, so it was a good place to find for the day.
  On Sunday, Anzai-San, our investigator who has a baptismal date
came to church for the first time!! After church we met with him to
talk about it, and he said he really liked it and it made him happy.
He wants to continue coming, and his baptismal date is coming up in
the middle of this month. Keep him in your prayers to continue to have
this desire to come to church, and to follow Jesus Christ.
  I can't wait for this weekend where I can watch conference! I hope
you all had a good time watching it, and learned a lot from it that
you can APPLY to your daily life. We visited one of our members
yesterday, and she was telling us how worried she is with how
dangerous the world is becoming, and how she just wants the second
coming to come now. With all the stuff going on in the world, we need
to focus harder on Christ than we ever have before. Through the gospel
of Christ, we can find answers to all of the questions we have. We can
find a safe place, in a world full of chaos. I hope you were able to
listen to the prophet and apostles from conference. Our leaders of
this church are there to warn us of dangers ahead. Please listen and
follow what they have talked about this past weekend. It is an amazing
opportunity for all of us to listen to God's Prophet, Seers, and
Revelators. If you haven't watched conference, go watch it! Take
advantage of this opportunity to listen to our amazing leaders!

I love you all very much! Thank you for your love and support! Until Next week!

Evans Choro

 Alex and Tanner Olsen
oops! Elder Evans and Elder Olsen