Easter

(The 9 Teenagers they taught)

Talofa Lava Everyone! (In honor to my Samoan companion)

  I hope everyone had a happy Easter, and were able to focus their
thoughts on Jesus Christ! Not much happened this week, but I'll write
about the highlight of the week this week. On Friday night, Vui Choro
and I went to the sunset to try to talk to people. Vui Choro brought
his ukulele to see if he could use that to talk to people. We were
walking around and we saw a 17 year old boy. So we started talking to
him. He thought the ukulele was so cool. He asked Vui Choro if Vui
Choro could play it for him. All of a sudden we had 9 people watching
Vui Choro play the ukulele. They were all 16 and 17 years old. We were
able to teach them all, about Jesus Christ, and shared the new Easter
video that the church released. It was a lot of fun to teach a group
of people! Yesterday in church, I was asked to speak. It was a good
time to test my Japanese and also prepare and learn about the gospel
more!
  As it is Easter, I have been thinking about Jesus Christ. It made
me remember a talk by Elder Bendar that I heard when I was in the MTC.
It's called The Character of Christ. I want to share a part of the
talk that I really like. It says 'The natural man is an enemy to God.
I don't mean to be light minded, but the absolute perfect image, in my
mind, if the natural man is the Cookie Monster. "I want Cookie now!"
Right? And when the Cookie Monster gets a cookie what does he do with
it? He doesn't just eat it, it's like WHAM! He is shoving it in his
mouth. Crumbs are flying everywhere. "I'm hungry, give me this now!"
Well, that's the natural man- and that's what most of us are like. We
want what we want and we want it right now. It's all about me and it's
self centered and its self absorbed and it's selfish. And so if
something happens, what do we do? "Well, you ought to be feeling sorry
for me." - "You ought to be doing this for me" We turn inward! You
never see the savior doing that. Never! He always turns outward.'
  From reading this, it amazed me how when Christ was being
chastised, mistreated, and accused, he always turned out. He never
turned inward saying "me, me, me". He continued to lift and help
others even when he was going through pain that words can't even
describe. I'm so grateful for Christ and his atonement. And for the
example Christ set for each and every one of us.
  I hope you all had a great Easter! And have a great week this week
watching general conference! Love you all!

Quick S/O to Garrett and Jessica Despain, who had their baby over the
weekend! You're going to make awesome parents! Love you guys!

Evans Choro

Matsue sunsets are the prettiest!

  

Time is just flying by! Another week is in the past, and it was a
good one! First of all, let me just say Matsue has the prettiest
sunsets I have ever seen in my life. Around 6 o'clock everyday,
everyone (hundreds of people) gathers by the lake with their cameras,
boats go out on the water, and people get ready to watch the sun go
down. Matsue is known for their sunsets, and it's obvious why that is.
(See pictures below)
    On Wednesday, we had a very good visit with our investigator who
is preparing to get baptized in the next month. His name is Anzai-San.
Right now he is struggling with the word of wisdom. He doesn't
understand why it is important to obey the word of wisdom. So on
Wednesday, Yoshida Bishop (yes in Japan it is not "Bishop Yoshida", it
is "Yoshida Bishop") came with us, to share his own experience with
the word of wisdom, and converting to the church. Anzai-San really
connected with Yoshida Bishops experience, and committed to keep the
word of wisdom!
    On Thursday, Vui Choro and I went to Izumo, the area next to us,
to do splits with the elders there. Izumo has a lot of Brazilians
there. That area always has to have a Portuguese speaking missionary
in it, so that they can accomplish the work there. About 3/4 of the
Izumo elders teaching pool are Brazilians. Izumo definitely does not
feel like Japan. I kept thinking that I was in Mexico or Brazil! We
also ate at a Brazilian restaurant which was so fun!  For the kokkan
(split) I worked with Winegar Choro, who I met in the MTC. He has been
in Japan the same amount of time as my companion, 5 months. Winegar
Choro and I were able to teach 9 people! We were housing, and a 60ish
year old lady came out to talk to us. We taught her about Heavenly
Father and all about the church, and why we came to Japan. She loved
it so much! She thanked us for coming over, and told us that she would
be coming to church for sure this week. She also said she was going to
bring her family and her grandchildren! It was awesome to find someone
with such a desire to come to church! She kept saying, "thank you for
coming, you have made me so happy! I am so happy!" Finding people like
that really reminds me why I came on a mission. The split with elder
Winegar was awesome!
    Yesterday, we went to watch the sunset and talk to people that
were watching the sunset. We found a 19 year old boy, named Kaito who
immediately became our friend! He loves sports, including baseball and
basketball! Sadly, He lives all the way across the mission. He is in
Matsue for 2 weeks for schooling, and then he will go home. But we
were able to talk to him about God, and about the Book of Mormon. We
gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he was going to read it! He also
asked for a picture with us, and his Book of Mormon. We are sad that
we won't be able to teach him, but we are excited to send him as a
referral to the missionaries in his home area! (See picture of him
below)
    Today, we are super excited because we are meeting with a guy
named Ishikazu-San. We have never met Ishikazu-San before. He is a
referral from Yamamoto Shimai, a lady in our ward. He is her son in
law, and a little over a month ago he lost his wife (Yamamoto Shimai's
daughter) due to suicide. Which has left him to work, and take care of
their kids. He hasn't taken it very well, but through talking to
Yamamoto Shimai, he started thinking about the church. He looked up
the church on LDS.org and decided that he wants to be a member. So
they set up an appointment with us tomorrow so that he can become a
member soon. He is already reading the book of the Mormon, and
preparing to become a member!! We are excited to share the message of
the gospel and the plan of salvation with him today! I will let you
know how it goes!
    Vui Choro and I are really focusing on learning about gods love,
and sharing gods love. Moroni 7:47,48 says:
"47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever;
and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well
with him.
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the
energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath
bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ;
that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this
hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."
So here is the question, how do you show gods love? And how do you
show your love? I challenge you all to think about this, and pray
about it! This was the biggest thing I learned this week, and it has
made me really ponder about myself and how I share love.
    Sorry for today's super duper long email! Thank you for all of
your love, and prayers! I hope everyone has an amazing week!

Until next week!
Evans Choro

 Some random people took our picture and gave it to us.

Last night, Kaito-Kun

We saw this guy walking down the street by the Matsue castle,

so we asked him for a picture.  He told us that we are a "General" and he is a "Peasant".

That's why he is below us. 

I'm not as scary looking as Vui Choro......Samoan Power...

We saw this guy walking down the street by the Matsue castle, so we asked him

for a picture. He told us that we are a "general" and he is a "peasant". That's

why he is "below" us.

Next adventure is in.....

Expo City, last week, last p-day in Okamachi

Hello all you people!

This week a lot happened. It was transfer week this week, and I sadly
got transferred. This is already my 3rd area and I'm a 4 transfer
missionary. I really wanted to stay in Okamachi. I really came to love
all of the members, less actives, and investigators that I got to work
with there. I was not expecting to transfer at all, and from what I
heard, I was supposed to stay in Okamachi, and a last minute change
just before transfer calls went out, sent me to a new area. My past
companion called me and said that he knows why this transfer happened,
and he will be emailing me and letting me know sometime today. But
nonetheless, I transferred.

Most of this week was saying goodbye to all of my friends in Okamachi.
Those people are absolutely amazing. They took me out to food, and
gave me little gifts, and were so sweet. They have all changed my life
so much, and I will always remember them. I learned from them how to
forget myself, and work to make other people happy. They were amazing
examples of that. They would always put others before themselves. I am
unbelievably grateful that I was able to serve in Okamachi for 3
months. I wish it could have been longer, but the Lord needs me
somewhere else now!

My new area is across the mission in an area in Okayama zone, called
MATSUE. On Thursday, it took me from 8:45am until 7:15pm to get to
Matsue. I was able to go through Okayama (where my dad served) and
have lunch there. It was super cool to be in a place across the world,
where my dad served his mission. Anyways, My companion is my senpai
(he went into the MTC 6 weeks before me) from the MTC, the one, the
only.... VUI CHORO!!! All you people in America probably don't know
Vui Choro, but all my missionary friends know Vui Choro. He was one of
my favorite people from the MTC. He is an amazing leader and example!
Vui Choro is from Samoa, and is a 5th transfer. He played college golf
at The University of Nebraska. He aspires to go pro after his mission.
I was able to do splits with him about 3 months ago, and now I am
lucky enough to become his companion! We are the only two missionaries
in the Matsue area, which is a little different for me, but Vui Choro
and I have some fun. We are a really young companionship, which makes
for some good times. Our focus this transfer is the ward. Our plan is
to focus on teaching them and talking about the area plan that came
out for the Asia north area. By strengthening them in the area plan,
we know that they will want to share the gospel and that through the
members, this ward will get strengthened. We are working on teaching
35 lessons this week as a companionship, as well as inviting 4 people
to receive baptism. Matsue has so much potential, and now it is our
jobs to get it all together, and we couldn't be more excited.

Yesterday I was able to attend the Matsue ward for the first time.
They are a smaller ward of about 40-50 people. They are all so nice
and welcomed me into their ward with welcome arms. I was able to
introduce myself and meet a lot of new people. We were also able to
have 2 of our investigators come to church this week!

I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve the people of Japan for
these two years. They have taught me so much, and I am truly grateful
for each and every one of them. I am excited for this next adventure
in Matsue with Vui Choro these next couple months! We are working hard
to share Gods love with his children. Thank you all for all of your
love and support! If you have any questions, email me and I'll them in
next weeks email!  Love you all!

Love,
Evans Choro

Funny famous statue in ibaraki, last week on P-day.

Kazutoshi-San! Last time seeing him!

Saying goodbye to some of my favorite people! In Okamachi.

A lake that is right down the street from our apartment

The End of the Transfer

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a good week! This week was full
of a lot of up and downs! To start the week, I was having some really
bad neck problems, to the point of not even being able to do
missionary work. We decided to go to one of our ward members who is a
physical therapist to see if he could help me out. When we went to his
work, he was training two people. So he had one of them give me a
massage, and the other one, give my companion a massage. While they
were doing that, our ward member started telling the trainees about
why we, as missionaries, are here and what we do. We were able to
teach the two trainees about Heavenly Father and about Jesus Christ.
They thought it was absolutely amazing that we would come to Japan, as
volunteers to teach people about the church for two years of our life.
They could tell that the church is really special. I loved every
second of teaching those two amazing people, because they had really
good potential, and I was getting a massage while I was teaching. What
is better than that!?
  On Friday, we had zone training meeting where we were able to see
everyone in our zone and receive instruction from our zone leaders,
Johnson Choro and Miller Choro. It was a great time, and I learned a
lot of ways to better myself as a missionary. After zone training
meeting, we had a zone blitz in the Senri area. A blitz is where the
whole zone gets together, and goes and works for a day in one area in
the zone. We all change companions and go out and teach and try to
strengthen the area. My companion for the day was Elder Barney. He
went to corner canyon high school, is 6'7 feet tall, is an 8th
transfer, and when I first got to the mission, I thought he was going
to be my trainer and he thought he was going to train me haha! It was
good to finally be able to work with him. Because we are so tall, we
had people stopping US trying to talk to us. It was a nice little
twist for the day. Instead of us, trying to stop people to talk to
them, people were trying to talk to us. That gave us a couple laughs.
Together we were able to teach a bunch of people, find some new
investigators, and try some new ways to do missionary work.
  Yesterday and Saturday, Hashimoto Choro, Miller Choro, and I all
got sick. So our companions have split off, and we have sat at home.
It hasn't been very fun at all, but luckily we are all starting to
feel better. - No worries Momma!
  Lastly, it is Eric and Josh's 17th birthday today! If someone could
please give those punks their 17, well deserved, birthday punches for
me, I would be forever in your debt. And while you're at it, you can
wish them a happy birthday as well!
  I'm very grateful to have been able to grow up as the oldest of 5
boys. I'm so grateful for my brothers and for my family. In PMG it
says "Because families are ordained of God, they are the most
important social unit in time and in eternity. God has established
families to bring happiness to His children, allow them to learn
correct principles in a loving atmosphere, and prepare them for
eternal life. The home is the best place to teach, learn, and apply
principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A home established on gospel
principles will be a place of refuge and safety. It will be a place
where the Spirit of the Lord can abide, blessing family members with
peace, joy, and happiness." My favorite thing this paragraph says is
that "families are the most important social until in time and
eternity." I am so grateful for my amazing family, and for parents who
raised us in the gospel, and for my parents, who established a home on
gospel principles. Always remember how important families are. I'm
grateful for my brothers, who are my best friends. (Who better be
staying out of trouble at home) Lastly, I am grateful for this
opportunity to leave my family for only 2 short years, to be able to
help the people of Japan, live with their families forever like I can!
  I am grateful for all of you, and for all of your love and support!
I hope you all have a safe and fun week!  This week is transfers, so
In the next couple days, we will be getting phone calls letting us
know what is going to happen. I'll let you all know next week what
changes have happened, and where I am at! I am really hoping that I am
able to stay in Okamachi for a little longer. But I'll do whatever the
lord asks of me!Thank you for reading! Until next week!

エバンス長老
Evans Choro

Osaka North Zone, after training meeting.

With Elder Barney on the Blitz.

 On the Blitz

Dinner at Kono Shimai's house.