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I can't believe I have been in the mission office for a whole transfer now. It is crazy how time flies. I have a lot of things down but my to do list is still fairly long. With transfers coming up this week it is sure to be a busy one.
I have been so blessed to have my companion Elder Maeda. He is such a sweethart. I know that probably sounds kind of strange but he really has a huge heart and is as genuine as can be. He is so much fun to be around. He always tries his best and constantly wants to do better. He reminds me a lot of myself in the fact that he is really hard on himself when he messes up but that is a trait we are both trying to work on together. He was born in Japan. His dad is Japanese and his mom is third-generation Japanese American from Hawaii. They moved to Utah when he was 12 and his family still lives there. He went to the U and wants to be a doctor. He is fluent in both English and Japanese and sometimes I teach him a few Spanish words I can remember. We are helping each other grow a lot. His brother just left on a mission to Canada. I can't remember which mission, but it isn't the same one Sister Riley is in though.
It excites me to here everyone doing so well. I'm doing great too.
I can't thinks of much too write. I feel like I have gotten so used to everything that nothing seems too extraordinary anymore. For instance, I eat sushi about once a week or once every two weeks, but that has just become so normal. I feel badly I didn't write more about all of the new, exciting things when I got here. If you want to know about anything great or small let me know. I would be more than happy to write about it all. By the way, don't worry about asking the same question more than once because sometimes I forget.
You are all the best and I just want you to know how grateful I am to all of you. You are all pushing and cheering me on for which I am enternally grateful. Let's all keep it up. I love you so much. The gospel is true. It fixes lives and heals hearts. It is the only true and lasting joy in this earth. Christ is my Savior and has picked me up so many times when I have fallen down. This gospel was restored through Joseph Smith and it is all we need to feel lasting peace and happiness not only forever but in the here and now. You are all the greatest and just keep on keeping on
Lots of love,
Corey
General conference was really great. I definitely got a lot more out of Sat's sessions than Sunday's but it was all wonderful. I really liked Elder Holland's talk and President Uchtdorf's talk about slowing down during turbulance.
We also had zone conference this week and Elder Aoyagi of the second quorum of the Seventy and Asia North Area Presidency came. He also came to tour the mission in Hiroshima last November. He told the Isas about the consolidation at that time. I still didn't understand Japanese well enough to get everything out of his message but this time I did. In the morning session he gave us some more background on the story he shared in his conference talk last April like why he picked that topic, what scripture Sister Aoyagi shared in the letter she sent him, etc. I was cool to get a deeper understanding of the event that changed the whole course of Elder Aoyagi's life. I also got to translate some of his and his wife's remarks from Japanese to English and that was pretty fun at first but it gets a little tyring. He gave us all hugs after the conference. If it wasn't amazing enough to get a hug from a general authority, what made it even more special is the fact that Japanese people, especially men, are not very outwardly affectionate. It is amazing how having the gospel in your life completely changes you whether it be gaining direction in your life or increasing your ability to love others or any of the other wonderful blessing the gospel brings into our lives.
Sorry to end on kind of a less spiritual note but in concert with (that phrase doesn't sound right but I'm forgetting English I guess) zone conference, we published the Kobe mission newsletter for the whole mission. On Sunday night they let me edit it and from a yearbook standpoint it was a mess. There were all of these random font, random font sizes, formatting inconsistancies, bad punctuation among other things. It was fun to use my yearbook skills to improve it as best as I could in the limited time I had. Who would have thought I would use those kinds of "gifts of the Spirit" on my mission? I have copies of the before and after that I will show you when I get home.
I love all of you and thank you so much for all of the help from looking up school stuff and checking on other random things, to your constant prayers and supporting emails. I hope all is well and you keep up the good work!
Everything went great last weekend with the two baptisms. I have full faith in the Senri ward members and Elder McLaws and Elder Kurose helping them endure to the end. It was really fun to return to an area where I had served before. Everyone was surprised and happy to see me. Senri was my shortest area since I transferred in two weeks after the transfer day when the mission was consolidated and left 1 1/2 weeks before the transfer ended to get training here in the mission office. Well anyways both of the baptisms were amazing. Elder McLaws baptized Brother Hayashi. The YSA in the ward all love him and he will be a great member. I was able to conduct the hymns that we sang as we waited for them to change after the ordinance which was really fun. I just felt so full of joy singing hymns and knowing that in some small way I helped Brother Hayashi come closer to his Savior, true happiness, and eternal life with his future family.
Brother Yoshihiro Sato's baptism was really early, but they wanted to confirm him the same day so we made it work. I felt just as nervous as he did. He doesn't show much expression but he was definitely ready to be baptized. Like almost all of the baptisms here in Japan, the service was held in the chapel. Sato and I sat up front on the stand. The elders and sisters serving in the two wards that use that building sang The Olive Tree in English. It immediately made me think of Christina and all of her hard work serving in Oklahoma and helping the people there. It felt only fitting that in that small way the Lord connected the work I was doing here with what she did there. The actual ordinance could have gone smoother but it was still great. It was my first time ever baptizing anyone. Even though I had the prayer memorized it still didn't flow out very smoothly. I guess it was just hard to believe I was actually doing it and all of those thoughts forced me to say it very slow and deliberately. Before they opened the partition to the baptismal font I had to quickly explain what he was supposed to do and how exactly everything actually goes. It was hard to explain everything clearly mostly because of nerves and not really because of the language. I did remember to tell him to bend his knees and plug his nose though. So anyways I finished the prayer and went to submerge him in the water but I noticed his face wasn't completely covered so with a little nudge and a good second effort we were able to get it done in only one try. I wondered why it was so hard to get him all the way under until Bishop Fukutaki mentioned in his remarks that he didn't plug his nose which then thinking back he hadn't. Another thing was the font is pretty narrow so I hesitated to go too fast to make sure his head didn't hit the wall. I felt really awkward for not doing it very well but a baptism is a baptism and it is the covenant that counts not anything else. Everyone was really encouraging saying I did a good job of getting it done on the first try. After they reclosed the partition I waited in the font as the water drained and Sato was changing. It was a really special experience. I remember looking up into the sky light and just thinking that I actually got to baptize someone. It wasn't that I hadn't felt satisfied with what I had did up until that point but it was just so rewarding to be there and help an 18 year-old young man find direction in his life. It was like an outward sign that everything I had done up until that point, not just as a missionary but in my life in general, was pleasing before God. It's like that is what I was preparing for for 20 years and 8 months, why I went to church every week, why I went to seminary, studied the scriptures, prayed, studied this tough language. worked to the point of utter exhaustion, got back up after hard times, why I wanted to become a missionary. It was great and I can't wait until we get to see baptisms here in Kobe.
I love you all. Thanks for the encouragement, prayers, and just living as the best disciple of Jesus Christ you can be everyday. That's really all it comes down to so just keep it up.
Lots of love,
Corey
