183rd Semiannual General Conference October 2013

Note from Dad: ... enjoy Japan while you are there ...

I realize this may be a distraction, but I am going to encourage you to enjoy Japan while you are there; don’t forget why you are there, but take some time to sample the culture and enjoy your visit; besides you could likely do some Japanese Garden dendo while visiting these sites. Here are a few places, within your current area that are available for a minimal fee.  You don’t have to visit all of them, break 'em up and visit whatever sites you can fit it in … for your consideration.

Chiba (千葉市 Chiba-shi?) is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of the center of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. Chiba City became a government designated city in 1992. As of 2008, its population is approximately 960,000.

Chiba City is also one of the Kantō region's primary seaports, and is home to Chiba Port, which handles one of the highest volumes of cargo in the nation. Much of the city is residential, although there are many factories and warehouses located along the coast. There are several major urban centers in the city, including Makuhari, a prime waterfront business district in which Makuhari Messe is located, and Central Chiba, in which the prefectural government office and the city hall are located.

Chiba is famous for the Chiba Urban Monorail, the longest suspended monorail in the world, as published in the Guinness Book of World Records. Some popular destinations in the city include: Kasori Shellmound, the largest shellmound in the world at 134,000m2, Inage Beach, the first artificial beach in the nation which forms part of the longest artificial beach in Japan, and the Chiba City Zoological Park, popular on account of the standing red panda Futa.

1st stop on today’s tour:  Mihama-en Garden, down by the water front, near Chiba Marine Stadium, is walking distance of the Kaihinmakuhari Station. This is Japan’s only traditional garden that intentionally uses skyscrapers as its background imagery.	After you visit the garden, just north of it is the convention center, Chiba’s Makuhari Messe … cool buildings and landscaping.
2nd stop on the tour:  Inage Ocean Park, likely very active in the summer and on the weekends, but it will likely be less crowded on a Monday in the fall, there are some neat looking gardens and buildings … the beach is likely off limits, but the beach is part of Japan’s largest man made beach.	3rd and last stop on the water front:  Chiba Port Tower and Chiba Port Park; this looks like it could be pretty cool; it is located in an industrial area and is associated with the port.  I would check it out.
4th stop on the tour takes you back into the city:  The next three stops are all close to the Chiba Monorail system; Chiba Park is right next door to the Chiba Velodrome; a nice place to see the cherry blossoms in the spring, but may have some colorful leaves in the fall.	5th stop is the Chiba Urban Monorail’s Central Arch … it is just cool architecture.
6th stop is really close to the Central Arch:  Chiba Shrine Chiba-Jinja (千葉神社), likely a place you would not do much dendo, but a place to get a feel for the culture of the city, the country, and the dominant religion in the area.	7th stop is at the other end of the monorail line, Chiba City Zoological Park.

This last recommendation is based on the assumption that you will only serve once in a Zone; it was that way in my mission, it may be different in yours. I would consider asking if the Zone could go to Nokogiri-yama (鋸山ロープウェー); it is in the Kisarazu area, specifically Kanaya, Futtsu-shi, Chiba Prefecture; it is about a 2 hour train ride south … it may be too far to go … but it is way cool. Although it is most famous for one of Japan's largest Daibutsu (statue of the Buddha), it also offers panoramic views of the area.

From Chiba Station take the JR Uchibo Line to Hamakanaya Station. From Hamakanaya Station, turn left along the main road and walk for about 10 minutes until you reach Sanroku Station. A ropeway system runs from here to the top of the mountain (Sancho Station).

The Buddhist temple located at the top of Nokogiriyama is called Nihon-ji and was founded in the year 725. It has fallen in and out of ruin numerous times and has belonged to various Buddhist sects but is currently associated with the Soto Zen sect. It costs ¥800 to enter the temple grounds; it is worth paying to see Nihon-ji's two most important treasures - the 30m stone Daibutsu, which is Japan's largest pre-modern stone Buddha, and the 'Hyaku Shaku Kannon', which is a huge relief carved into the mountain.

Instead of returning to Hanakanaya Station, consider going down the mountain on foot and walking to the next station on the Uchibo Line - Hota Station. The walk takes about 30-40 minutes.

Kanaya, Futtsu-shi, Chiba Prefecture	Stone Daibutsu, which is Japan's largest pre-modern stone Buddha
Along the trail are 1500 Rakan Statues from the 17th century	Mount Nokogiri which literally translates to “saw mountain” is a spectacular view from afar. While standing at the edge, the view below is comparable to what the Japanese called as “a peep of hell” (Jigoku-nozoki).

 

DD 2.25 ... he wanted to meet with the missionaries ...

Our cell phone

One day we pulled it out & showed it to a policeman

as we walked by, they pulled out their'

and we became phone buddies.

I don't recognize the brand of phone we use, it is made by Sharp ... imagine a Nokia brick on steroids ... only the police and the missionaries use this type of phone ... you could say that its pretty durable. We use an application called EZNaviWalk, it is a GPS type application to identify where we are, what trains and stations to use and how to get from here to there using the least expensive route.

I only wear my rain pants when a tropical storm comes through … (like tropical cyclone 22, which is passing along the eastern coast of Japan) ... which, it turns out is quite often here actually; we have lots of tropical cyclones, less than half become typhoons; along the Asian coast we get twice as many typhoons as the Caribbean has hurricanes.

The commissarian’s wife fixed the hem on my slacks, I have yet to wash my white pants, and it still has a blue stain. I now have three futons to sleep on … I used to only have two … they are all right, more comfortable than I would expect, but I really miss my bed back home … actually I really miss my bed @ school too, that one was pretty nice too! Not as nice as MINE at home is though!!! It is still my bed.  I have noticed I am starting to develop a gap between my two front teeth. Can you floss or brush too much? Maybe its from the toothpaste, or from my retainer. Any research on this would put my mind at ease.

Williams Choro, Watanabe Choro, Griffiths Choro at Makuhari Station

Bike Lot at Makuhari Station

Experience has its benefits ... Williams Choro was able to get his bike the 1st week here; we were able to get his cash with no problems, much easier than when I tried it … turns out the District Leader’s companion called when his card didn't work, I got his problem resolved too … go me!!! When I said the other missionaries took our Internet, I meant to say they took the Router with them when they moved to a new apartment in Oyumino. There are five computers at the church, so we can all get online at the same time, and we all use the 90 minutes that we get. They say that we are all getting tablets and new internet soon, but they have been saying that since before I arrived in Japan; so it looks like we will be going to the church to use the computers for a while. I was able to modify the camera so it now takes smaller pictures, thus it won’t take as long to upload pictures into emails … butttttt, we can’t get any of the cameras onto the church’s computers … I know frustrating, right … sorry about no pictures!!! Speaking of church, we give a lot of church tours, it’s pretty great actually, we do tours to introduce the people to the church and what it stands for and what we do.

The photo book is just fine the way it is; I am going to start taking it to family dinners and stuff, we don’t really use it that often, mostly we use it to introduce ourselves to the ward members.

I would like you to send me a copy of my missionary call … apparently its really inspirational and stuff ... I haven’t read it in a while and apparently we are encouraged to read it every once in a while. If you could just send a copy in your next letter to Japan, it would be nice to have.

I’m pretty sure that Williams Choro was between Watanabe and me in the big group picture … maybe!!! His name tag should say Williams Choro on it … ohwaititisinJapanese and only I can read it!!!!!! MWAWA HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parentals, sorry that it snowed, I know how much you all like winter! I hope that things are going good and that you are able to deal with Sam moving out all right. I would really like a email or letter of peoples birthdays, so I don’t miss any more...like Axton’s. Sam, sorry that I can’t do the Ragnar with you this year... 2015 for sure!!!!! By the way, I am now inhaler free for 4 months now ... and we ride our bikes pretty hard every day … :-P I also loved the picture you sent at the bottom of the questions. I propose you go home each week and attach one picture every week along with the questions ... that talk that you sent in the letter with the boys stuff was way good!! I loved it!!! And I read it all to. Abi, squid and octopus are actually quite good … and they are pretty healthy. Just throw on some wasabi, don’t touch it with you tongue, and its really good actually, I am glad to hear that you are doing missionary work in the confines of you apartment!!! I almost forgot to comment on my nephew's letters included with Sam’s talk on the 28th. It was so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it so much!!!! I plan on keeping it my whole life!!! I really want to show them to Waylon when he is preparing to go on a mission ... and turning in his papers … and preparing, because I know he’s already preparing like none other ... he is seriously such a boss! Axton too!

AXTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY From ALL OF US TO YOU!!! WE WISH IT WAS OUR BIRTHDAY SO THAT WE COULD PARTY TOO!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU BUDDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for me, I am doing well. Mom, I don’t have a stain-stick for my white pants, I do have bleach and shampoo though, what should I use? Please help me .... Dad’s dear elder that he sent on the 13th, I received it on the 24th, so it took about eleven days ... a normal letter takes about twelve, so I say do whatever is cheaper ... also in that letter... I really wish that we had mattresses that I could swap ...

I realize I don’t speak the language … like at all ... but that’s alright. Last week I was talking to a guy, it was just me, we were passing out fliers, and such. But I have no idea what he is saying I just kept saying that the Book of Mormon is awesome and that he should come to church … I know, (read with sarcasm) this is really effective dendo work; actually it was a little better than that, he has a friend from Canada and he is from Japan, so he wants to come to our English class; he hopes that he can communicate better with her … yeah. So after a while of this, me trying not to laugh, cuz I have no idea what’s going on, we go over to Watanabe and talk to him … to see what's up; turns out he’s not in our area and we have to refer him to the Tokyo area Choros; but he was pretty interested ... so a couple days later we get a call from the Tokyo Choros, they just wanted to say thank-you for sending them such a prepared person, he said that he wanted to meet with the missionaries because I was trying so hard and had, “pure eyes and a great attitude.” Right! Who knew that my not being able to talk would be such a blessing in finding people ... well that’s my Divine Rendezvous for the week, you only have to try, the Lord will take care of the rest. I hope that all is well in the good ole state of Utah. Oh, I almost forgot, we have three baptism dates right now, one on the 20th of October and two on the 27th of October ... two of them are pretty soft dates, but one on dad's birthday is pretty solid ... so that will be a nice gift, right? A new member of the church!

Watanabe Choro, Kondo Choro (DL), Bischoff Choro

Griffiths Choro, Williams Choro

My companions are doing well, they are both, way great; I will try to send a picture if I ever get to use a computer that will let me again … maybe I can figure something out ... I don’t know! It will be interesting!!  We found a sushi restaurant where it is only like fifty yen a roll … yeah, I’m now poor and fat cuz sushi is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know, I feel wrong saying that … it goes against everything that I stand for as an American from Utah … of all places … let alone that I hated fish before I came here ... but its actually way good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! except that texture of tentacles ... the little rubbery pads don't really feel that great on your tongue …… but it tastes all right! Here are some pictures, Watanabe, Kondo, and Biscoff at the sushi shop, don't worry I promise I will never bring this to Thanksgiving,  unless my wife does, and then I'll be with Sam and the Peanut Butter Fingers.  Kondo Choro is our district leader, he is transfer four, while Watanabe is transfer five, he is the oldest in our district.

As you guys know, I didn't really date much before I left on my mission -- I guess Griffiths Choro is way cooler than regular Trenton. We do this thing called mitsutaikai, where we pass out fliers for our English class. Normally we are not allowed to talk to any one of the opposite gender, but during mitsu its alright because it is obvious that we are not hitting on them.  Anyway, these two girls, 16 or 17 in age, are walking across the station a good 20 meters away (I know, right, the metric system got me) but they are totally checking me out, so I nod my head; that was all I did, I swear!  Then they go talk to Williams Choro ... and then to Watanabe Choro ... by now I have realized my mistake and now I am freaking out ... when they leave, I go talk to Watanabe Choro to see what's up. He just starts laughing and says, "They just think that you are so FLY Griffiths Choro," by the way, they are coming back in half an hour to take some pictures with us ... way sketchy right? Well yeah, they come back and Watanabe Choro takes their picture with me and Williams Choro; then they just start taking pictures of me with their phones ... anyway ... I just thought I would clear up any awkward pictures that you may find, of me and my companion, on the internet. I would like it if y'all could give me some advice on how to control my "flyness."  I think this story is pretty funny/awkward/terrifying.

Thank you for all that you do!!! I hope that the girls will go home and visit the parentals sometimes, mom seems a little sad about everyone moving out ... hey, enjoy the food she makes for you! You never know when you're not going to be able to eat it anymore!!!

Love, your Little Brother who is just too Fly for his own good!

924

DD 2.15 ... fan the flame of your faith ...

Last week’s typhoon turned out to be pretty mild; lame actually; we stayed inside, no riding in the rain for us. I have considered getting saddle bags for the bike, it's tough to say...can't tell for sure yet.  My neck pain is getting a little worse, I have started to do the neck exercises, we’ll see if this helps ... I will look into the saddle bags, and maybe a different bag, I don’t know ... I’m thinking about it, I’ll let you guys know what's going on!  I am still debating about buying a rain jacket, it is only my sleeves which don’t repel rain so I’m still not sure if I need one or not.

I like the idea of a package coming my way, yes on the toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and the thumb-drives. I don’t really need anything else.  Let’s keep it simple and we'll see if I actually get everything. Can you put a copy of my call letter in the package? Or in the next letter you send?  And in our next communication, can I get a list of everyone's birthdays?

My talk on Sunday was actually pretty great; I told a whole story in Japanese!!! I didn't know I knew that much Japanese--and it was quite moving too! Or at least I like to think it was...

Sister Montana Law serves in the Japan Sapporo Mission. She went into the MTC the same day I went in but I never had the chance to meet her while I was in the MTC; now that we are in Japan, she will always be way north of me, on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Circled:  Watanabe Choro, Williams Choro, Griffiths Choro
There are now 161 missionaries in the Japan Tokyo Mission
114 of whom have been here less than six months.

Watanabe Choro and I got a new companion, and we mean brand new from the MTC; he is from the Detroit area, his name is Williams Choro; he’s pretty chill, I hope that I get to know him better this week.  Training a new missionary is pretty cool, I think Williams Choro was expecting to find new people every day and to be fluent when he got here (sounds like me); and we are not finding every day, and he barely understands anything; sounds like normal to me … but he’s a little frustrated ... I try to help him, but its hard.

General Conference April 2013
(after the Priesthood Session, pre-mission)

We do get to watch General Conference, it will be one week later than normal, and I think that it will be in English. Let me know what your favorite talk is, who its by, and when it is so I can make sure to get all the good ones.

We have an app on our phone which tells us which trains to take, when to change, which station to change at, even where to go; kind of like an electronic Holy Ghost. It changes frequently based on which route is the cheapest. Dad’s guess is mostly right about where and how we get to places (The Inage Station on the JR Sobu Line is the closest station to Trent's apartment … the Keiseiinage Station on the Keisei Chiba Line is the closest station to the Stake Center … the Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line is the closest station to the temple ... and ... We can't decide ... which of the following Trent uses ... the Shinekoda Station on the Oedo Line for the Mission Home ... or ... the Higashinagasaki Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line for the Mission Home). We usually get on at Inage, but then we switch lines and stuff ... we follow the phone; since I have only been here for a little bit I don’t really know what the station names are when we get off for the temple or the Mission Home. I’ll try an pay more attention to some of those details and pass them along.

I ate most of the Life-Savers when I was in the MTC, I didn't bring them with me to Japan … I didn't have the weight, so they were left in the goody box for the next set of Elders arriving in the MTC to take our place.  I have not had any other walnut, or other allergy events; which is always great!!!

I did receive the family letter in the mail, it arrived on the 17th of September … oops, I forgot to write when it was sent, I hope you have it somewhere. Dad’s monthly letter has not arrived yet, however, I did get one from the Stake Presidency.  I am currently 75 kilograms or 165 pounds; yeah I did all the math.  The commissarian is Harrison Choro, he does all the finances for the mission; his wife, Harrison Shimai, is the one who has offered to help fix my pants!!

Parents! I loved the traditions!!! I love hearing the news about home, I hope the fence will be way nice!!! I hope that all is going well in school!! I really do treasure all your letters and emails!!! Hey, thanks for the camera settings letter, it helped me out a lot!

Glad to hear about Waylon’s part in the Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting, that’s a hard scripture, I’m jealous I did not get to see him! Hope all is going well and Axton gets to be a doctor and football player when he grows up. They do have a league here in Japan, he could play here if you are concerned he would get hurt playing ... he is probably already bigger than some of the players here; I’m not that tall and I still stand above the crowd, literally.  Sam I love the engineering pictures!!! Sooooo funny!!!! I hope that you made a decision about the apartment! I loved the quote by Holland Choro in the letter. I am sorry that dad bought chunky peanut better, I have actually grown to like it quite a bit ... but that might be because it is my only option right now.  Storm ... sorry you had to go on Timp ... that must have been rough. I hope that school is going well and that things are going better with your roommate!! I hope that Tiff has been reliable!!  Paige knows you are in her ward now ... she asked me if it was you; so she recognized you!!!! It sounds like she might be interested in going to church together if you need a friend.

Sorry about today's short email, we have a lesson at 2:00 that we have to get to; we no longer have internet in our apartment; so now we come to the church to do our email.  The Choros in Oyumino moved out and took the internet equipment with them, hence, the visit to the church.  Watanabe Choro thinks 45 min is enough email time because we have so many other things to do today.

Wasabi - Watch Out!!

This week was way sick!!! We set two baptism dates; one of our investigators, took us out to Sushi! It was way crazy! It cost him like ¥8,000, and he paid for all of us!! He must really like us, right? It was way good too! I actually ate shell fish and octopus, I chickened out on the tentacles, I think i'll try them next time. I did try everything else, and it was all way good! Wasabi is way weird though; it burned my tongue and almost made me cry ... it was way bad!

The first week I was here, we baptized Brother C, he speaks Japanese and Chinese; he is from China. Today we taught a lesson, us speaking in Japanese with him translating it to Chinese; this brother that we just taught is the closest to baptism out of all the investigators we have ... it is a miracle that we have Brother C; we are now teaching three people from China; Brother C joins us for all of the lessons. What are the odds of us finding Brother C when the Lord needed to bring the gospel to three others; a tender mercy of the Lord. If only I could be as good a missionary as Brother C ... if I can, I know that the Lord will have made good use of me ... seriously though he is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love him to death!!!!!  I just thought that I would share this experience with you guys!!! I love being here and I am excited to be helping the church open up in China!!! I love the gospel!!!!

In closing I wanted to say that I found this way sweet quote by Elder Holland! “First and forever, fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe!” This has helped me out so much this last week! I really do love Holland Choro!!!

Sorry this letter is short, the keyboards here are terrible, and they are made for Nihongo so half the buttons switch me to kanji ... its muzukashii!!!

749

The Traditions of our Fathers ...

Trent,

I just wanted to take a minute to talk about some of the traditions you can have while in the mission field and make one or two observations.

When I worked with the Certiport and I interfaced with a lot of Japanese individuals, I found that they could read English better than they could hear it. If in doubt, we would communicate via eMail ... here's a thought, you may be able to communicate with Elder Watanabe via the written word ... write it up, in English, make sure you can read it, and ask some of your questions via writing ... something for you to consider.

Tradition #1 - Bear your testimony the 1st Fast Sunday you arrive in a new Ward; always share a tender mercy of the Lord after quoting the last half of 1 Nephi 1:20; use a personal blessing if you must, but using a blessing in the life of a Nihongo kyuudousha from your last area will show how the Lord loves the Nihonjin, and that you recognize that love and that you have come to understand his love for the Nihonjin.

Tradition #2 - when you get a new companion document his contact information, including his parent's names and contact details. The P-Day following your new assignment to a new companion, write a letter to your past companion's parents and tell them all the reasons you enjoyed working with their son & tell them about the successes you enjoyed together.

Tradition #3 - Documenting the times you use your priesthood, I would only document the times I acted as voice for an ordinance, including times you bless the sacrament in Japan (which I doubt you ever will, I didn't). I wouldn't record the times I stand in the circle. The only exception to this, is I would record the names of everyone baptized, confirmed, and who go to the temple for the 1st time when you are in the area; even if you just arrived and they are baptized the next day; even if you don't perform the ordinance of baptism or confirmation.

The Japan Tokyo Temple from

the Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park

Tradition #4 - Take pictures with your companion, put your arm around them in the majority of these pictures, when taking pictures with special individuals, put your arm around them as well, always try to encourage a group hug in group pictures.

Tradition #5 - Catch the changing of the seasons in pictures. I found a really cool location to take a picture every time you go to the temple, the early morning hour would be best, after the sun comes up, but before 9:30 AM, that will get you a sky with the most blue. Try and duplicate this picture, it was taken on the shore indicated in the map below. You will likely get pictures of the spring blossoms, the leaves changing colors in the fall, and snow in the winter; as a bonus you will always get the Angel Moroni. What time do you usually go to the temple, can you arrive early ... for your consideration.

Tradition #6 - keep all of the mission rules, work hard, study always, and tell your companion you love him at the end of every prayer in your apartment; then butt heads. This is a family tradition, and now you consider him family too.

Love you lots,

Dad