Elder Evans in Kobe: One Month

I am doing super well and have adjusted to the MTC. In 4 short weeks I will be in Japan!!! That is so crazy!!! But I really had a good week this week and am having an amazing time!!

Not much happened this week. It was just another week in the MTC! This Tuesday in our devotional we were able to hear from Elder Claudio R.M. Costa of the Presidency of the Seventy. He gave an amazing talk and I will share a little bit about what he said. He gave an analogy and said- When you cut an Apple in half, you can count how many seeds are in an Apple. But you cannot count how many apples are in a seed- He likened this to our missionary work, and it will fit perfectly for my mission in Japan. He said -In our mission work, we will plant many seeds, some of the seeds that we plant will turn into many many apples, and some of the seeds will LATER turn into many apples. We will not know how many we converted until after the veil.- My job is to plant a seed into everyone that I come in contact with. I am so excited to have that opportunity coming shortly.

We were also told in our leadership meeting this week of a revelation given to President Eyring recently. At least I think it was President Eyring hahah. But it was that Japan soon will not be the same Japan as it used to be. That it is going to change a lot. We are a part of that work. The 47 other missionaries that I am being sent out with are a part of that work. We are going to change Japan.

On Tuesday we received 2 Japanese elders who will be serving their missions in Japan! They speak no English whatsoever. Elder Sequira, who is from Brasil, who can barely speak any english wanted to talk to them. I was able to translate what he wanted to say to them, AND THEY UNDERSTOOD ME. It felt so good to be able to do that and it makes me even more excited to be fluent in the language.

I sent a picture of my district and my Branch President. My branch president served in the Kobe Japan mission and then a mission president in Sapporo. On a Japanese fluency test, he scored a 4+. A 5 on that test means that you are Native. He is from Utah. He was the president of AT&T Japan and he also worked for the Shell Oil company there too. He is an amazing guy and a great friend to all of us. His Nihongo is flawless and he has taught us so much!

Thank you all for your love and support. Us missionaries are truly blessed!! Love you all!!! Have a good week!!!

Elder Alex Evans