Merry Christmas!

Can I just say how much I love Japan? We were able to do a lot of service this past week. One of which was when we went to the church to do a deep clean. When Japanese people clean, they go all out. I was amazed when I saw 3 ladies jump down on the floor and started taking down the Christmas tree. It was the day before Christmas, so I was a bit surprised that they were taking it down so fast. But these ladies removed every individual ornament, unwrapped all of the sparkly glitter stuff, took all of the lights off, and sorted all of the decorations into separate bags. Next they

detached the tree into 3 pieces, stored everything in a

box, and put it all outside. After mopping/vacuuming the area where

the Christmas tree was, they ran outside grabbed the tree and completely reassembled it and put it back in its spot. I was grateful that they weren't done with Christmas THAT fast. The impressive thing is they did all of that in about the same amount of time it would've taken me to pick up the tree with one hand and slide a vacuum under for a quick swipe with the other hand. Japanese people will do 50 times the amount of work thats actually necessary. But they do it in the same amount of time. I sure love it here. 

     It's been fun to get out on the street this week, and share with everyone the true meaning of Christmas and testify of Christ. Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I have really noticed this year the true meaning of Christmas. And how it is a time for us to truly focus on the savior and give back to him. I love this Christmas season, and I love being a missionary. 

     I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and enjoyed all of your parties and events. Please enjoy this time you have with your family, and turn some of your time over to the Savior and focus on what he has done for you. I love you all and miss you so much. 

Elder Evans 

Transfer 10 Week 5

For the last month, writing emails has been super hard. I felt like
every week was the same. The work was the same, the people were the
same, I was the same, and nothing was happening. I had hit a brick
wall in my work. Something was not working, and we didn't know why.
Well, this week, it all made sense as to why past weeks have been so
hard. Actually, to be honest, this week was INSANE. We have been so
busy and so stressed, and it's be a blast. Heavenly Father had been
saving up for this last week. Let me tell you about it-

Last Sunday Hiroyuki had his baptismal interview and was set for his
baptismal date on January 22. That night after his interview, as I was
talking to my companion, we were both getting the same impression that
Hiroyuki was ready. There was nothing to wait for. After some earnest
prayers, some phone calls, some meetings, and a great talk with
Jessica and Hiroyuki, Hiro was baptized on Saturday night, and
confirmed Sunday morning in sacrament meeting. I love that little
family so much, and have been so blessed to be able to get to know
them and learn so much from them. Hiro was a trooper, and bore one
heck of a testimony afterwards. Jessica and Hiroyuki have been such a
boost to this Ward, and a boost to my personal testimony.

We were also able to get out and do some finding this week. The weird
thing is, not too much came from our personal finding efforts. We were
able to find a good 3 or 4 new people that would like to learn more,
but people just kept popping out of no where from past transfers. Like
one stud of a kid named Tomo. We met Tomo about 3 months ago at the
train station, and it went well. But then his friend came up, and we
were unable to get another appointment or any contact information.
Well, on Wednesday he called us, and came to the church for English
class and then we were able to talk to him about the gospel after
English class and he accepted to take the lessons! MIRACLE! Another
new investigator is a boy named Shouta. Shouta lives with a member
family who runs a foster care. He has been coming to church for a
while now, but because he is only 14, he can't legally get baptized
until he is of age. But he has really been feeling lately that he
wants to be baptized. So his dad called us and asked us if we could do
lessons with him, and get him moving so he can be baptized as soon as
the government will let him. We are all praying together everyday that
he will be able to get baptized this coming year. Please keep him in
your prayers!! - But this week, there were 7 more people added to our
teaching pool, and we are excited to work with them all.

We also got a bit of a surprise on Wednesday night when we found out
that we were becoming a  tripanionship until the end of the transfer.
Because a bunch of the missionaries that went home last week before
Christmas, Elder Lazenby has joined the Okayama nishi crew. He is a
1st transfer (came to Japan 4 weeks ago) from Boston! He has lots of
energy and is working harder than anyone I have ever seen at learning
the language. He was asked 3 minutes before the meeting if he could do
a 10 minute self intro/testimony and without any preparation, he spoke
for 11 minutes, and wow'd everyone in the house. I couldn't believe
it. Stud. He has definitely brought some energy into the area, and the
members already love him. It's been fun to work in a tripanionship,
and I definitely have learned a lot. I have the best companions.

This week I have really learned that trials are here for a reason. I
didn't know it at the time, but these past couple hard weeks of work
have lead to a great learning opportunity and a week of miracles. I
have definitely learned that my mind does not work the same way as
Heavenly Fathers mind does. His ways are a lot higher than mine. It's
been humbling to know how much god knows us, and has a plan for each
of us. Man, do I love being a missionary.

There is so much more I want to talk about from this week, but
instead of telling it all, I just want all of you to know how much I
love being a missionary in Japan. I still get moments when I knock on
a door, and a Japanese person opens up and starts taking to me in some
funny language they call Japanese and I realize that I'm on the other
side of the world, talking to people about Jesus Christ. How lucky is
that? - I know that Christ is what I want for my life, and I know that
that is how I have found the most happiness. I can't wait to continue
sharing this happiness with everyone else.

Have a Merry Christmas! I love you all!

Much love,
Ebanzu choro


Shouta - after our lesson on the plan of salvation


Lunch with our ward mission leader and his wife
Down in the bottom city in our area.


Hiroyuki's baptism

December 11

Hello y'all!

    This week was great. We were able to do splits with the zone
leaders in Yonago that ended up being a great learning opportunity for
me. I went with Tanaka choro who is a full blooded Japanese
missionary. It was a great time and we focused a lot on members and
teaching them about member missionary work. We had to help with an
activity that morning at 8am and then we were out until 9:15pm that
night working. It was a full day, and a great time to learn from
Tanaka choro. It felt good to do over 12 hours of good missionary
work. Those are the best days.

    On Tuesday we were also able to go with Brother Baba, the Okayama
Nishi Elders quorum President, and visit a bunch of our members and
talk about missionary work and our plan to work together! It was such
a fun night, and it was fun to work with a member and become a
tripanionship for the night. Working with members is the key in
missionary work. So try and help out the missionaries in your Ward
this week! They need it!!

    On Sunday, we had a full day! We had Elder Aoba from the quorum of
the 70 visit the Okayama nishi Ward. It was a great opportunity to
hear directly from him, as well as being able to talk to him about
missionary work. After church ended, we rain to the train station to
pick up hart choro and his companion so that they could do Hiroyuki's
baptismal interview for us. Hiro did great and is so excited to get
baptized in a few weeks. He is doing so good at remembering what we
teach, and it's been fun to see how much more open with us he has
gotten. I sure love Jessica and hiro's little family. They are the
best.

    After that we went down to the bottom part of our area and met
with a family that we taught a couple transfers back. We had a big
okonomiyaki party, and talked a lot about the church and Christmas! It
was such a fun time, and I hope that they keep on listening to the
message and letting it have the effect on their lives, that it has had
on mine.

  I love this opportunity to serve here in the freezing cold Okayama
city, Japan. It's been such a blessing and I've learned so much
through the hard times, and the good times as well. So many people
here have made an impact on my life and I'm grateful to every one of
them. I am also grateful for everyone at home's love and support. I
love you all!

Lots of love from Okayama city, Japan:
Evans chorrrrro


A Family we are teaching


Zone Conference in Yonogo


Doing some housing

Repentance

Konnichiwa!

    I don't know if my life has been really boring the past couple
weeks, or if I have just gotten really lazy at writing emails, but we
will see what I can ramble on about today from this past week. I'll
talk about everyday last week so it gives me something to talk about.

Monday- Had a zone p day in our area. We went to the park and played
soccer and basketball and it ended up being a good time. Afterwards,
we were able to all work in our area and do splits with each other
because we had zone conference the next day. I was able to work with
elder Wheeler and we had a great time. He is full of energy and loves
to talk to people. It was fun to work with him and learn from him for
a night.

Tuesday- we had zone conference in Okayama and it was great. We
focused on faith and repentance and we are starting a new Book of
Mormon challenge on faith and repentance that I'm really excited for.
It was a fun day to learn how I can better myself as a missionary.

Wednesday- we did weekly planning and had English class. Nothing special.

Thursday- we did some service for the light the world activity that
the church is doing for the month of December. Then we went to a
member's house for dinner and had a great talk with him about how we
can help the Okayama nishi Ward and how we can all work together as
members and missionaries.

Friday- we did a bunch of finding and met with a couple less actives.
We were all over the place but it was a good day. Sadly, we weren't
able to find any new people to teach.

Saturday- we met up with Jay. He is doing good. But since his dad has
told him he can't be baptized, he isn't really progressing anymore.
Hopefully we can get him coming back to church and moving a little
bit. He is a great guy and I've loved getting to know him.

Sunday- it rained all day but the spirit was so strong at church.
Hiroyuki has his baptismal interview next week and he is so excited.
He is still doing well, and he is going to be baptized in January. I
can't wait!

Other than that, I learned a lot this week. I've really enjoyed the
learning opportunities that the mission has brought. I love being a
missionary. This is a great adventure. Sorry I suck at writing emails
so much. But i love you all!

Love
Ebanzu chorrrrro


Last week's note:
Well, nothing much happened in the area this week. We moved
apartments, and learned a lot about finding. There really isn't much
to talk about, and I don't really even have pictures! But I'll send
the ones I have of today at zone sports day. I'm sorry this weeks
email is so bad. I'll make up for it next week! Love you all!!

Evans choro