2015.5.22 Hello Week 32!

Man does time fly by!

This week has been pretty eventful. Unfortunately we were out of our area for a few days, but it could have been worse. Between meetings in Kobe and my companion's wisdom teeth problems it has been a good week :)

After emailing on Monday we had a lunch appointment with a member. He usually works all week but he had some time open up so he offered to take us out. We went to Sukiya and got some good gyuudon. We followed up on his work on the area plan was going. He said that work has been taking up too much time for him to allot any thought or effort to the area plan. I understand that, and I know he wants to work on the plan. He is doing his best. Sometimes that is all we can do. When we got back to the church building we walked to our bikes and found them tipped over. The weather was very windy so it wasn't like anyone was a punk by tipping over my bike. However, someone might have been a punk if they stole my helmet. Yep, either the wind took it away, or someone else did. Either way, this meant walking back to the apartment to get the spare helmet then returning to the church building to get the bikes. On the way to the apartment we stopped at the dentist to get Yamamoto Chōrō's teeth checked out. Turns out it was a wisdom tooth problem. They had us make a return appointment for Tuesday before we left. After that I got my haircut so I look sharp for Elder Stevenson when he comes on Sunday. By the way, we were informed that if we are not inside the building, sitting down in the chapel by 2:30 that we will be turned away and told to return to our area. The soonest bus from Sumoto that Sunday leaves at 12:30 which means we will get to the train station closest to the mission home around2:20. And it's about a ten minute walk from the station to the mission home so we are definitely going to be running like nobody's business! It would be such a bummer if we miss it. Anyways. After our preparation time we had planned to have home teaching with a couple of elderly members. But by this time the weather was not nice at all so the members canceled on us. The weather was really bad so we decided to let Yamamoto Chōrō rest a bit and we studied the rest of the night. I studied prayer because we are going to be teaching prayer to a progressing investigator this week. In my study I think I found something that has been part of a theme in my life. It is hard for me to imagine God as my personal father. The same for Jesus Christ as my elder brother. But it's true. I understand the principle and I believe it is true. But having that kind of relationship is something I struggle with. In the Bible Dictionary, under Prayer, you will find words to the effect of saying that if, and when, we realize our true relationship toward God (as our father and us as his children) then all the "difficulties" of prayer are erased. It becomes something we want to do, it will become natural. This is what hit home to me. I want to at least have the kind of relationship I have with my earthly father with my Heavenly Father.

Tuesday began with us getting our groceries because we didn't have time on Preparation Day. We also got a new pot and whisk because the ones in the apartment broke. Then we went to the senior center for service. Talking with old people is difficult, especially when your someone like me who is barely getting by with speaking and understanding Japanese. But it's great, the old generation is a funny bunch :) After that we went to the dentist for the return appointment. I was expecting to be there for an hour or two considering the fact that they were doing work on wisdom teeth. But, to my great astonishment, Yamamoto Chōrō was in and out in ten minutes! It was a welcome surprise because that meant we could get more done that day. So, after the dentist we visited a couple of investigators, but none of them were home. When the time came we we not to the church to get ready for English Class. For Eikaiwa we usually bring snacks and some drink for afterwards. This time around we got raspberry Kit Kats! They were super good. The lesson for Eikaiwa was on time so, as you will see in the pictures I send, I was not able to resist and talked for just a few minutes about Dr. Who XD Now, trying to explain Dr. Who to an English speaker is hard enough. I remember when my friends tried to describe it to me and I was like, "what". So now I was trying to describe it to Japanese people who could barely speak English. Oh boy, it was fun. But, one of them was looking it up for the rest of class and asked me questions about it throughout he lesson. YUS, mission accomplished. After Eikaiwa we headed home. So we have follow-ups on Tuesday night which means our district leader has us call him around 9:30 just to talk about concerns, questions, problems we are facing in our areas, etc. I'm not going to go into details of what we talked about but I will say that it was a good follow up. It helped me prepare for the next day. The main thing I took away from the follow up was to keep going, keep doing your best, and keep loving the people. It's not like I have been having a hard time with any of those things, it's just the way my district leader put it across helped me reenergize a bit.

Wednesday was a beautiful, sunny day. So was Tuesday, I forgot to say that. It was pleasantly warm. We started by going to our shigansha. We wanted to talk to him about the Atonement of Christ and repentance. And we also ended up asking him questions about various things that we had been wondering. It felt like a good lesson, a little better than usual anyway. After him we went to visit a few investigators but they were all busy at the time. We then went to the day care for service. Those kids were on drugs or something because both Yamamoto Chōrō and I were getting trampled. They are cute and all, but some of them were bouncing off of the walls! It was fun and the time went by really fast which was nice. After that we went to our apartment for dinner before game night. On the way to the church building to set up for game night we passed a less-active member's house. This less-active is right next to our apartment so we always pass them when we go out or return. Anyway, when we passed we saw that the senior missionaries were outside the front door with the less-active mother. It looked like it was going fine, we stop to talk because they were in the middle of talking, but it was great to see them! We got to the church, set up the ping pong table, played for a bit, and practiced music. We did his for about an hour when the senior missionaries came in. They told us about the visit with the less-active mother. Apparently it went really well and the mother wants them to visit again. That was great news! Then the senior missionaries took us out to eat. I had katsudon on rice, needless to say it was heavenly. After that we headed home and ended our day.

Thursday was a good day. Not really for a particular reason, it was just a good day. Well, actually, it was a good day because I say it was a good day. Because I said so. Boom! Anyway... After lunch we did a little bit of our weekly planning session. The main thing to figure out was all of he logistics of our weekend of meetings in Kobe. We had a Zone Conference on Friday, then some stake leadership training on Saturday, then the Elder Stevenson conference on Sunday. We decided that we were going to spend the night at the Office Elder's apartment Friday night. Then we would return to Sumoto after the stake leadership training meeting. We also decided that we would only have sacrament meeting and Sunday school on the Sabbath so that we can make sure we catch the bus for the Elder Stevenson conference. The branch president was out of town on Sunday so we were the only ones with keys to the church to lock up afterwards. And if we gave the keys to a member we wouldn't be certain of when we would get them back. So, yeah, those were the logistics we figured out. Hopefully all will go well (pray hard and cross your fingers). After all of that wonderful planning we headed to a member's home to study with her. She also fe us lots of bread and crackers and hot chocolate which was great. We read a little of Elder Dallin H. Oaks talk Opposition in All Things from the April 2016 General Conference. And that's what our study was based off of. God gives us opposition so we can learn and grow. If you read the story of Job from the bible you will see how God tested him. Many of us do not face all of those challenges at one time. But to some degree we face them. And by follow Job's example we can stick through the hard times. No matter how hard it gets, never give up or give in or give out; keep your head in the fight. After that appointment we went to an investigator's home. We gave her the talk Why the Church by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. We also talked with her about other stuff too. We played with their kids for a little bit, helped teach English, then headed home to end our day. So yeah, it was a good day because I said so.

On Friday we woke up at 5:30 to catch the 7:00 bus to Kobe for Zone Conference. In the first half of conference we just talked about the Atonement of Christ. We focused heavily on Lehi's vision of the tree of life. Needless to say my mind was blown. Everything in that dream, as in this world, is a physical manifestation of eternal principles; namely the reality of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Like Sierra in seminary, "my mind was blown" XD After Zone Conference me and my companion did a little dendo in Kobe since we were spending the night in the Kobe Elder's apartment. We came back and had a party of rice and lamb meat that Yamamoto Chōrō's parents sent him. Yes, very good.

On Saturday Yamamoto Chōrō had his stake meetings and I tried to understand what was going on. Nope, no idea what they were talking about. So yeah, no notes were taken XD We hoped the 5:05 bus back to Sumoto and got back around 6:40. We had home teaching at the church building with the branch president's family. They brought us Costco pizza!!!!!  We shared a message about choices. We always need to follow our Savior's example whenever we make choices. It is super important. Then we came home and sacked out.

Sunday was the big day. We left for Kobe right after sacrament meeting on the 11:00 bus. We made it there around 12:50. I saw lots of friends there including Raker Chōrō, Welch Chōrō, Hamilton Shimai, Grifitts Chōrō, etc. It was great! Stevenson Chōrō got there around 3:00and we began. To sum it up, he talked about a lot of different stuff. He told us to pick spouses like President and Sister Welch, to always promise blessings and testify, and to increase sacrament meeting attendance. It was awesome! We got done around 4:30 and headed out with the Kobe Stake President and the Akashi Elders. We had dinner with the Stake President which was cool. So much pizza. And then we talked about love and charity. Then they drove us to the Akashi Elder's apartment.

We spent part of today with the Akashi Elders. We went to a really good takoyaki shop where I literally had 16 takoyaki balls. So good!!! Then we came back to Sumoto and now I am emailing you guys. It's been a very busy week and this week will be the same. And no, we weren't able to do the bike trip today because we were in Akashi this morning. We will try to do it next Monday.  After this email we will go shopping and probably try to get a nap in. It's been sunny, warm weather all week long!

I love you guys so much. Please keep praying for me as I am praying for you. Fight the good fight and never give up! あいしてるよ❗️

けいぐ,

Elder Peacock

2016.5.15 Happy late Mother's Day!

[This was originally received on May 15th.]

To start off I just want to apologize because I didn't say "happy Mother's Day" during FaceTime or email. I am so sorry! Please forgive me Mom! And happy late Mother's Day! XD

Next I wanted to make sure to tell you that we have changed our biking plans to next week. The weather took a sudden, cloudy, rainy turn so we will do it next week after the Elder Stevenson conference.  So, I want to do this email a little differently. Since I haven't been able to write very much during the week, and trying to remember stuff is very difficult, I'm just going to go over the highlights of the week and then share a few more details about stuff here in Japan. We will see how it goes.

So we had companion exchanges on Thursday. We got up and left on the bus right around 8:00 am. We got to the Kogogawa Elder's apartment right at 10:00, just in time for companionship study. My goals for the exchange were to work on finding in the streets. We also met with an investigator and tried to visit a few potential investigators, but that didn't work out very well. He investigator we met with is an eternal investigator so she knows the missionaries very well. She likes the missionaries so she always buys them a ton of food. So when we left we had two things of juice, three big bags of doughnuts, and a couple boxes of ice cream. It was awesome! While we visited her we sang I Am a Child of God while Yamamoto Chōrō played the violin. She loved it, it was great. After that we had dinner and ended our day.

While I was with the district leader for the exchange we talked a lot, and I mean a lot, about this book he wants to write. He hasn't started writing it yet, but he has plans to publish after his mission. It is a very detailed, complex, fun, and crazy story that I won't go into detail to describe but it will fill many books. Anyway, I was talking to him about the ability, or gift, of making stories. I could tell by the way he was talking about his characters that he valued them as real people in a real world. This is something I really enjoyed hearing him express as he told me this story. I commented that I do not have the gift of writing stories but that I would like to develop that ability and become a published author as well. It's  just a small thing on my life list. He then proceeded to tell me something that I had never heard before and that gave me something to ponder. He said, "for me, there are many different stories I have in my head. But the thing I think about when I begin any story is that a perfect story starts with imperfect people." That sent me off pondering.

All of us are imperfect people. All of us have our own stories. When we were young we didn't know very much and we were trying to find out who we were. I mean, we are always learning about ourselves, but you know what I mean. As we grew we made mistakes, small or big. For me, I made plenty, and I will continue to do so. I have a family who loves me no matter what and that is a big reason why I am the person I am right now. We all have glorious and infinite potential. Our stories are grand and elaborate. Even if a life seems ordinary, it really is a masterful work of art. It is amazing to me that this is the case despite all of our imperfections and setbacks, all of our faults and failures, everything that makes us human and imperfect, we are still loved perfectly. We have a loving God and a loving Savior who want us to succeed. They want our lives to be beautiful adventures. They want us to have a grand story even though They know we are very, very, very imperfect people.
This has been on my mind since the exchange and I felt impressed to share it in this email.

Over the past few days my companion, Yamamoto Chōrō, has been having some tooth pain on his upper row on the right side. It hurts when he eats and when he opens his mouth more than a couple of inches. And there is a constant, dull pain. We are going to get it checked out today. Hopefully it isn't anything big enough to send him home, we think it should be fine (cross your fingers). Other than that we are grocery shopping, getting haircuts (again for the Elder Stevenson conference), and emailing. I can't believe it's Preparation Day again. I can't believe a week ago I was Skyping you guys. I can't wait until Christmas Skype.

So our investigator with a baptismal date hasn't been coming to church so we have moved the date of his baptism. He wants to become better, but he is just struggling. So we won't be having his baptism this month.

We have a few other investigators who definitely have the potential. We are working with each of them to prepare them for baptism. It's a long road, and I may not see them receive baptism, but it's worth it!  I am excited to get all y'all emails this week. I love reading each one of them! Fight the good fight and never give up! あいしてるよ！

けいぐ,
Elder Peacock

P.S.
Alma 37:36-37 is super good. Read it please!

2016.5.8 Golden Week!

みなさんこんにちわ (hello everyone)!

So Golden Week is basically everyone's favorite holiday here. In the first week of May a lot of people get about a week of work off. Not quite everyone, but a ton of people. So a lot of people are home which is great for us missionaries! It's been great!

After all of our Preparation Day stuff we tried to visit a progressing investigator, but she wasn't home so that didn't happen. Then we visited our shigansha (investigator with a baptismal date) to teach him about the Word of Wisdom. He doesn't really have any problems with it...except coffee. We knew this, that's why we taught it. He said he will read the pamphlet we gave him and that he will do his best. After that we came home to end our day.

We woke up Tuesday to some wild wind. The clouds were big and dark, moving fast. There wasn't a lot of rain. We started our proselyting time by visiting a couple of our investigators. One didn't have time and another one wasn't home so that worked well XD We visited our shigansha (investigator with a baptismal date) and taught him the Law of Chastity. The Law of Chastity is always fun to teach, right ;) He doesn't have any problems with it, and he agrees that pornography is bad. He said that basically half of anime, manga, music, and movies are all porn. So yeah, he really doesn't like it. After that discussion we visited one of our less-active families. They actually live quite close but they are very busy and their schedule is all skiwampus so it's hard for them to say when we can come over. We were able to talk with the father who is an American so I got to speak English (YAY). It's a delicate situation but it was a good talk. After that we came back to the apartment for dinner then headed off to Eikaiwa. By this time the wind had really grown in strength. We weren't sure if anyone would come to Eikaiwa, and, sure enough, no one came. While we were at the church building our phone set off and a carrier-wide weather warning was broadcasted. Strong winds, be careful...really now (yes, lots of sarcasm)!? When we headed home the wind was pushing so hard against our bikes and the rain was really smoking down now. That was pretty fun XD I woke up a few times to the wind howling which I liked.

However, we woke up Wednesday morning to absolutely, perfectly, 100% clear skies. Blue, sun, clear, yus. We went out to visit our shigansha win one of the members. We wanted to go over church, prayer, and reading but the whole plan just went out the window because the member and the shigansha just got talking. The member tried to redirect the conversation multiple times, but it just wasn't working. So, basically, they just talked about random stuff and I didn't understand half of it. So yeah, we will try to meet him to actually do our lesson later. After him we tried to visit a few investigators but none of them were home because of Golden Week. Right now I don't like Golden Week because people are gone. I'm sure I would really like it if I wasn't a missionary, but right now I'm a missionary, so I really don't like it. We were able to teach the Plan of Salvation to our next-door neighbor and we left her a copy of The Book of Mormon. After that we had game night. Again, no one came. So we ended up playing piano/violin, watching Mormon Messages, language study, and a little bit of ping-pong. After that we came home, had dinner, and ended our day.

Thursday morning I woke up sick. Yay. The previous day I was feeling unusually low on energy, and that was probably why. Stuffy nose, head cold, no coughing though. But, it was a very sunny day so that helped lift my spirits a bit. We headed to the church after our study to do our weekly planning. We were only able to do a couple of hours at first because we had an appointment with a member. We studied The Book of Mormon with her then helped her with some things around the house. She has a pretty garden and we sometimes help her pull weeds from the garden. After that we headed back to the church, but by this time I was way low on energy and really needed to rest so we stopped by the church to do iPad inventory then went to the apartment. Yamamoto Chōrō made me rest for the remainder of the day XD I took some NyQuil and conked out pretty fast.

The next morning I woke up feeling a little bit better, but still sick. We had Zone Training Meeting that day so we woke up and headed to the mission home in Kobe where we have all of our zone meetings. After business we talked about the Atonement of Christ and charity. For me, the Atonement of Christ is the perfect example of charity. If you take five or ten minutes to think about what our elder brother did for us it can really impress upon you the love He has for us. I am very grateful that He did what He did. Then we discussed how we should think of ourselves, first and foremost, as children of God. When we see ourselves, and others, in this light, the whole world changes. We treat everyone differently, including ourselves. After the meeting I bought a few items from the mission home: Skippy peanut butter, Quaker granola cereal, and a couple of boxes of Kraft mac'n'cheese. After that a few of us had lunch together. We went to Sukiya which is well known for its gyudon. There is an off-menu option called "king size" and it is basically like what McDonalds used to do with supersize. I got their king-size cheese gyudon and it was soooooo good and sooooooooooooooooo much. The king-size gyudon from Sukiya is kind of like a rite of passage for missionaries in Japan. And since I hadn't done it yet it was about time XD After that we headed back to Sumoto. We finished the day with the rest of our weekly planning.

We wanted to do ‘heart attacks’ on Saturday since Sunday was Mother’s Day. There were three people we wanted to do it to which included investigators and members. We got red, pink, and off-pink paper for the hearts. I would say we cut out about 30-40 hearts per door we were planning on doing. After cutting out the hearts we went to Japanese Class were we met with one of our investigators. We weren't able to teach a lesson but he told us he was going to come to church so that's awesome! Then we visited an investigator and set up an appointment with him to meet outside of his clock shop so we can actually teach him lessons without customers interrupting us. After him we went to another investigator, but she wasn't home. So we visited our shigansha. Honestly, some lessons with him just feel like he is intentionally being impossible. He changes topics like nobody's business and he asks the most random questions in the middle of explaining a question he just asked. I can feel Yamamoto Chōrō trying not to explode on this guy XD I definitely don't blame him. But we were just following up on his commitments so it wasn't a principle or doctrine we were trying to teach. After him we went to the church for branch presidency meeting. I don't really take part in it because I'm not a member of the presidency. But I listen and give input once in a while when it is needed. After that we came home, had dinner, and hit the hay.

On Sunday we had the Kobe stake president come and visit which was great for  us! He brought his son who had finished his mission in Tokyo South just a couple of months before. We had one of our investigators come which was awesome. He is Philippino and is here for work so he is studying Japanese. He likes the missionaries, and so does his wife, so he comes to church as after as he can. It's just hard to meet with him because he is so busy with work. After church we went to visit an investigator and we taught her the importance of The Book of Mormon. She is reading each day, but it is difficult for her to understand sometimes. After her we went to the senior missionary's apartment to clean it because they have been out of town for a little more than a month. We were there for about an hour. Their apartment is way newer than ours and they have a couch so we were saying the whole time that we need to get that apartment XD Totally kidding though. After that we filled out our shigansha report and then went to do heart attacks because we weren't able to on Saturday. It was great, hard to see, and we were very sneaky. I think they underestimated the sneakiness ;) after that we came home and ended our day.

Today we studied, cleaned, and did awesome laundry. Today I am FaceTiming you guys [immediate family] so I am WAAAAAAAAAAYY looking forward to that. DEFINITELY the highlight of my day/week/month/transfer. After FaceTime we are going to drop our suits off to get dry-cleaned for the Elder Stevenson conference in a couple of weeks. Then we will do grocery shopping and I will send my voting ballot in the mail on the fastest delivery service. I hope it will get there in time. After that we are just planning on being around the apartment relaxing. I will probably be thinking about you guys all day, and probably for a few days after. But, of course, you guys are never far from my thoughts. After that we will visit with our shigansha to teach about the Holy Ghost and the Law of Chastity. Good stuff. We are pretty sure that lesson will take time so that will be the end of our day. It's been raining continuously since last night, but it is warm. The next week should be mostly rainy with a little sun. I'm pretty sure we are entering rainy season here in Japan so that's great. I'm an Oregonian, bring it on!

Yep, it's been a good week. From here on out we will be out of our area for about half of the remainder of the transfer. With exchanges, district and zone meetings/conferences, the Elder Stevenson conference, and some stake leadership meetings that Elder Yamamoto has to attend because he is a member of the branch presidency, we will be gone a lot. That will make it difficult to work with our investigators and planning for them, but we will do our best. Next Monday we are planning on biking the whole of Awaji Island. We will get up early and be biking the ENTIRE day! It should be fun. Please pray for our safety XD あいしてるよ!

けいぐ (sincerely),
Elder Peacock

Sent from my iPad

2016.4.24 I'm still in Sumoto, and so is Yamamoto Chōrō

I'm not training yet, which is sad for me but probably best for the new missionaries XD

I have had a native Japanese companion every transfer since I have been in the field; I feel very blessed. Recently we have been speaking mostly in Japanese which has been good for my language development. I'm definitely learning a lot from him and I hope to continue this pace. I have a 501 Verbs book I got from the MTC that I am going through and asking about how to use them. It's really, REALLY, helping.

Right now we are trying to figure out how best to dendo this island that is our area. It takes hours to get to either end and even to the closer groups of inhabitants takes about an hour. It's hard because we are on bikes so it takes time to get places. And not many people are walking on the streets in between cities so it's not like we can stop people on the way. It's hard to travel long distances without wasting so much time. So yeah, that's a struggle. But on the bike rides I see so much natural Japan beauty! It's amazing how much is out here on Sumoto! :D

So after all of our glorious Preparation a Day stuff we went out to visit a less-active family with a member, but they were not home. But the member brought us pizza which was nice! After that we headed to a progressing investigator who lives close by. He has been progressing, but is really struggling on a few things. There is only so much one can do as a missionary, let alone a human being. Each person has their own agency to choose what they will. It's just sad because you know how much happiness they can have if they take that next step. We taught the Atonement of Christ. Our next lesson with him will be a member lesson which will be SWEET!!!

Tuesday said, "HELLO", with big, blue skies and warm air to boot! After study and lunch we headed out to see a new investigator, but he wasn't home. One of his friends, who is also a new investigator, answered the door though. We talked with her about how she is doing and she said she is free to be contacted anytime so that's good! After that we visited a progressing investigator. We gave her a talk from President Monson that she has been wanting for a few weeks but we just kept forgetting XD She is a great person, I'm excited to see her progress. After that we visited a new investigator. He owns a watch shop so sometimes customers will come in and disturb the lesson, but he really likes us so he enjoys our visits. He always has lots of questions about our church and us as missionaries. But he also brought up repentance which was a turn I was not expecting. We explained how repentance is something we can, and should, so every day. It's a change of heart towards God. Trying our best to become better. We all need to repent because we are all imperfect. After that we had Eikaiwa and ended our day.

I love it when I'm studying Japanese and my iPad gives me example sentences like: "I want to play a game where a nobel, female, knight with the nickname of 'light-speed' freely manipulates gravity." The weird things I will be able to say when I get home XD

On Wednesday we set out to visit a potential investigator who we were very excited to see. It took about 30 minutes to get out there, but when we got there he wasn't home. However, one of his friends answered the door so we were able to talk to her. She is also a potential investigator and she asked us to call her to set up an appointment so that was a pleasant surprise! After that we tried to visit a couple of other potential investigators but none of them were home either. So we went to the day cares enter to get mauled by five and six year olds XD It was fun, I am still alive. Children's Japanese and adult Japanese is definitely different. And some of those kids have a future in the voice-acting business because the way they were talking made me feel like I was living in an anime XD The kids took Yamamoto Chōrō's Eikaiwa flyers and we're giving them to everyone and hiding them all around the rooms. So yeah, kid dendo is effective ;) After the day care center we had dinner then game night at the church. But no one showed up. About 30 minutes into it we went next-door to get takoyaki XD It was very good! After game night we came home and ended our day.

Thursday was our weekly planning session which took up a big chunk of our day. Afterwards we had a member lesson for one of our progressing investigators. We wanted to teach the Plan of Salvation. I tried to teach the pre-earth life section, but it proved to be difficult, especially since the investigator was having trouble understanding. He seems really set on believing that there is nothing before this life and nothing after. Yeah, he was having a hard time understanding. But is was good for building the relationship between the member and our investigator. And he committed to be baptized on the 22nd of May which is awesome! So yeah, after that we ended our day.

We started Friday by getting our committed investigator a white shirt and tie because he doesn't have one. When we went to his house we tried to finish teaching the Plan of Salvation. It was still a little rough though. After the lesson we gave him the white shirt and tie and he really didn't want to accept it. We had to leave the house before he could give it back to us XD After that we tried to visit a few potential investigators but none of them were home. Then we did some tracting, but no one was interested. Then we visited another investigator. We talked with her about our church. She wanted to send . So the friend request from Pippi Yamada is her. She speaks English really well so you should be able to communicate with her. Then we helpers her with her English class. After that we headed home to end our day.

Saturday was the bomb yo! The ENTIRE day was service so we were in street clothes the whole time which felt way strange XD We started by helping set up vendors for a two-day festival Sumoto was  having. After set up, Yamamoto Chōrō and another young man got dressed up in character costumes to walk around the festival! The other young man was a yellow bird, and Yamamoto Chōrō was Sumoto Castle! XD I carried a big banner as we walked through the streets and alleyways. So many people were taking pictures with them, it was so great. And we even got on television a couple of times XD The thing was, it was kind of warm that day and we were having direct sunlight so they got pretty hot in those costumes. Like, way hot. By the time they took off their costumes they were both just absolutely DRENCHED in sweat. It was so nasty!!! We got them some Pocari Sweat and tried to get them cooled off. Then, right after that, we biked over to a part-member family to help them harvest onions. Apparently this island is very well known for its agricultural items like onions, fish, and beef. Yep, that's right, Kobe beef comes from his island! Anyway, we helped the family for about five hours. Yamamoto Chōrō was pretty worn out by the time we were done. The family then treated us to McDonalds. They are a nice family. It was way good! After that we sped back to the apartment to change into church clothes for branch presidency meeting. After the meeting we went home, planned, and then Yamamoto Chōrō sacked out at around 8:40. He really needed that rest.

Sunday morning we fasted for those affected by the earthquake in the Fukuoka mission. Our investigator with a baptismal dat didn't come to church so that's something that needs to change. But another one of our investigators came to church to that was great! After church we visited an investigator at their home to see how they were doing since we hadn't been able to see them for a couple of weeks. They were doing well, bust with work and all. Ok, side note time. Flippn', the bane of missionaries in Japan is that SO MANY PEOPLE work on Sunday. It's not even ok! Anyways, after that we had lunch then headed to the investigator who attended church. She liked it and she had a good time with the members. After that we went to see an investigating family. They are absolutely full of energy, the kids, the mother, everyone. Everyone except the husband, who was chilling in front of the television. We were there for a bit talking about our families and the church. She said that they will try to come to Eikaiwa this week so that's awesome! After that we tried to visit another investigating family, but they were all resting so they told us to come back another time. After that we went to the church to fill out our baptismal record form stuff. Then we tried to visit a less-active member, but he want home. Then we tried to visit an investigator who lives close by, but they weren't home either. So after that we ended our day.

Today we are planning on shopping after emailing. We cleaned the apartment a bit this morning after study (which was awesome because I beat my futon which is always good). Then, if the weather is good enough, we will go to Sumoto Castle. Other than that not much else for Preparation Day stuff. Later on tonight we are going to visit a new investigator and try to teach him about Jesus Christ and invite him to church. Then we will try to contact the same less-active member as Sunday night. Then try to visit the same investigator who lives close by. So yeah, it will be a good day :)

I want to share a scripture with you guys. It's from Mosiah 2. This is the beginning of King Benjamin's address to his people. He accounts the fairness, equity, and righteousness of his reign. He exhorts the people to serve one another. He says many more things, but I want to focus on serving others. If your efforts, work, and goals aren't helping someone else or making someone else's life better than you are wasting time. In all that we do let us strive to serve our fellow man who are our brothers and sisters. As we do so we will bring about much more good in this world than we could imagine.

Fight the good fight and never give up!

あいきてるよ!

Elder Peacock

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2016.4.17 26 Weeks. LEVEL UP!!!

New ability: cannot crash while on bike...like that's gonna work ;)

The days are getting steadily warmer, and the nights too! I'm so looking forward to 'dying' this summer, at least that's what everyone keeps telling me I'm going to do XD I like rain and cool temperatures a little more than the average person, but even so, I want summer. Short-sleeve season come to papa!

Things have been going fine here in Sumoto. This week brings transfer calls so we will see what happens to me and Yamamoto Chōrō this week. I wouldn't mind spending more time here in Sumoto, but I also wouldn't mind being moved. I will be glad to go anywhere the Lord needs me.

The senior couple has left the hospital and is headed back to their hometown to see their personal doctor. We all really want them to be well, I hope things will get figured out.

I want to train soooooooooooo bad! When we had interviews with President Welch a couple of weeks ago I told Sister Welch I wanted to train. I don't know why, but a few days before interviews I was like, "you know what, I want to train...I want to train super bad!" So I hope I will be able to train soon. I'm glad I had Tsuchia Chōrō as my trainer, he really shaped my mission. There are many things I learned from him that I will be anxious to apply to training (and to dendo in general).

So, after all of our Preparation-Day stuff we went to an investigator's home to help teach English. I told her to look up Mom on Facebook. I think you would both like to be friends, she has a lot of questions and she enjoys seeing LDS stuff on Facebook. So yeah, I kind of threw you under the bus Mom XD Anyways, as we were leaving she gave us a loaf of homemade bread! Now, in Japan, it's extremely unusual to have a full-size oven in the kitchen. Like, I haven't seen a Japanese home with one yet. But they have something comparable to an oven, so they make bread all the time. It was so beautiful (and scrumptious)! We talked a lot about IKEA because there is one within an hour drive from Sumoto. They invited us to go with them on Thursday (my heart was screaming, "YES, TAKE ME WITH YOU") but of course we didn't. After that we headed home.

Tuesday greeted us with clear skies and mild temperatures. After study and lunch we headed to the church because Yamamoto Chōrō had to help another missionary over the phone with a tech problem. That took about an hour, after which we went to the senior center for service. We did some exercises, drank hot water while everyone else drank hot tea XD, and sang traditional Japanese songs about apples and spring. Yay! After that we visited an elderly member. We were going to help her do some yard work but she had changed her mind, so we didn't. We talked about General Conference and how important to follow the prophet. She is such a sweet woman, and she has the cutest laugh that makes her seem so young XD Whenever we visit she feeds us tons of bread, hot chocolate, and assorted cookie stuff (it's always a bonus when members feed you). We then visited a progressing investigator. He has been reading from The Book of Mormon and praying so that's great! And we asked him if he watched General Conference on his computer and he said he did for a little bit! びくりした (very surprised)! It was a little difficult for him to understand, but he said he liked it. He doesn't really have anything to do with his days since he doesn't work or do anything, so he really enjoys when we visit. He has also been doing research on Oregon since I met him. He said he is going to visit Oregon, I don't know if he actually will, but if he does there you go. After him we had Eikaiwa. We talked about the weather. Yay! Such funzies! One of the students brought Saltines and homemade strawberry jam! Soooooo good!! He even gave us a pack of Saltines and a jar of jam to take home, やさしい (so nice)!!! After that we ended our day.

Wednesday greeted us with rain, but warm temperatures. The rain lasted all throughout the day, varying in strength and density so it was pretty interesting. We visited a few potential investigators. We also did some finding in the shopping district. There were a lot of people we were able to talk to, and it was good shelter from the rain. We bought some fruit as a goodbye gift for the senior couple because they are heading out of town for who knows how long. After that we headed to the day care center to do service. Really all we do is play with kids. I totally understand why missionaries normally don't do stuff at day care centers because those kids can be scary. And there are lots of things that could be misunderstood, it's kind of sketchy. But it's fine. Anyways, after the day care we had dinner and then game night.  But no one came so half way through we just did language study. You all need to be the missionary's best friend and do game/sports night with them. They will love you. I promise.

On Thursday we tried to visit some investigators before our weekly planning session, but none of them were home. Then we went out to visit a potential investigator who WAS home. It was a long bike ride out there, and the sun and humidity made it quite warm. It was a gorgeous ride though. He is way cool, he loves English, and he wants to read The Book of Mormon. We are going to visit him next week to see if he actually will. I hope so! After that we decided to visit a progressing investigator before weekly planning as opposed to our original plan for after planning. It was a good visit. After that we did our weekly planning. That took us almost all the way to dinner. We had some time so we tried to visit some neighbors, but none of them answered :( We made a few calls to less-actives to try and meet with them but they said they couldn't this week. Why do you be less-active people?! After that we ended our day.

We had district meeting on Friday. After language class we talked about General Conference, and the importance of member missionary work. Specifically how we are going to take what we learn out here in the field into our wards at home. How we will bring others unto Christ as members. It was way good! Members have so much power, but often times we don't realize it. That is something I want to get better at after the mission. After district meeting we visited a less-active member who was super nice. They like the missionaries, and they showed us many pictures of past missionaries. After that we tried to do some finding around the island college. We were able to talk to a group of high school boys for a little bit which was good. After that we headed home.

On Saturday we went to the mall to get Yamamoto Chōrō's bike fixed. Well, I say fixed. He lost the key to his lock so we had to get it taken off since it was a mounted lock. After that we taught Japanese at a volunteer building. This building is the same building where we visit the elderly, do the day care, and teach Japanese. This time though, because there weren't as many people, I was able to be taught a little bit. It was really only conversation, but that's great practice. After that we went out to see a potential investigator, but the address was wrong. So we headed back. By the time we got back it was time for branch presidency meeting. The branch president brought us dinner from Costco! Chicken, sandwiches, salad, rolls, and dessert bread! It was so good. They also gave us a giant bag of granola. Yus! After that we ended our day.

Saturday night was filled with wind. All of Saturday was windy, but by the time we got home thick clouds had rolled in. Several times I was woken up in the night to the sound of the wind ripping across trees and buildings. When we woke up Sunday morning the wind was still super strong, but rain was added to the mix. It was being thrown straight toward the ground at high speed, spraying off rooftops and cascading down rain gutters. It was quite a sight. Getting to church was way fun ;) I ended up teaching the lesson in Priesthood. It went fine actually, I was able to teach about spreading the gospel to all the world in a decent fashion. After church we went to the branch president's house for home teaching and they fed us macaroni and cheese with rolls and Sprite! It was Yamamoto Chōrō's first time eating macaroni and cheese. He liked it, and I loved it XD We talked with them about the area plan and how we can help them with missionary work. After that we went to another member's home for dinner. So much food! But I'm definitely not complaining XD After dinner we ended our
day.

Today we are planning on groceries, a haircut for me, and the Sumoto Castle. Besides that nothing. Depending on transfer info things might get shaken up a bit. If I am training they will call me today to let me know. I really, really, really want to train! We'll see.

So, on Sunday I talked with one of my zone leaders because every week on Sunday we can call to talk about anything concerning dendo. I wanted to talk to him about his experiences with working with members and training. He told me that he has learned that being himself is paramount. Also, being humble is one of the greatest assets we can have as missionaries. I believe that to be true. I have had very good examples of humility in my life and I want to develop those traits. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the ultimate example of humility. He was humble all the way to the cross. And he was humble thereafter. We need to follow Him as we strive to become humble. I testify that Jesus is the Christ. I know He lives, and I know He loves us with an infinite love. And I do so in the name of Jesus Christ.

あいしています!
Elder Peacock

Sent from my iPad

2016.4.10 President Welch Interviews+General Conference!!!

A lot of fun stuff happened this week!

After all of our Preparation Day stuff we visited the woman who runs an English class out of her home. She was sweet. She loves the missionaries and the sacrifice they make to be away from family and their homelands. She and I talked a lot about the feelings she is struggling with concerning her current religion. Basically she really likes the belief, but she really doesn't like the authorities of her church. She wants her family to be happy, but she can't tell them the church is good when the family also sees the authorities and how they aren't doing good things. She really respects our church for their good work and management. She has visited LDS.org many times so she has been learning that way. So we talked a lot about that. And it was a way good discussion too, she definitely has potential, along with all of her family. She was the only person we met with on Monday.

After study on Tuesday we went to pick up Yamamoto Chōrō's watch. The repair man is a new investigator and has met with the missionaries before. He really likes us which is good. He had a friend there who had also met with the missionaries. This was news to us and the repair man XD They were very busy so we weren't able to teach a lesson, but we invited them both to church. Then we went to the church building so Yamamoto Chōrō could do tech training because he is a tech elder. Good stuff there, but we still don't have Facebook :( One day. After tech training we did some yard work service for a grandmother in the ward. It was way fun, she has such a beautiful yard. And it was good to finally do some yard work service! Then we visited a progression investigator to teach about prophets. We wanted to commit him to come watch General Conference with us. Hopefully he will come. After that we ended our day.

We headed out Wednesday morning for Interviews. We got to the Akashi church building around 10:30 and my appointment was at 11:30. We got a lot of time to talk with Welch Shimai and other missionaries. For lunch we went to a ramen shop that does a tomato and cheese ramen. Basically, it's like Italyand Japan had a baby in the form of ramen...if that even makes sense. It was way good though! Right after that we had a kōkan with the district leaders. It was good, nothing spectacular. We weren't able to use the bikes so we walked. But no one was really out on the streets. We tried to contact but no one stopped. Sometimes that happens and you just keep plugin' along. We all met up for dinner at a pizza buffet which was good. It really made me miss your pizza Dad. Like, REALLY miss your pizza. That is something I really look forward to XD After dinner we headed home and ended our day.

Thursday greeted us with stormy weather. It was bad enough that the busses weren't operating. Therefore we couldn't get home to Sumoto, because there are no train lines that run through the Kobe Bridge. So we ended up staying an extra day in Kagogawa with the District Leader. After having study and lunch we did our Weekly Planning Session. It lasted for most of the day. Yeah, that's all we did on Thursday.

On Friday we traveled with he District Leader to Zone Training Meeting. We held it at the mission home which was kinda cool. We didn't see the President though, he is still out doing interviews. We talked a lot about how to properly record teaching and profiles in the Area Book App. Apparently there have been a lot of legal issues that have made inputting info into the Area Book App difficult. So, we talked a lot about that. After Zone Training Meeting we ate with a dying missionary. He was my Zone Leader while I was in Matsue so I knew him only for a little bit. But we have had good times together and it was sad to say goodbye to him. After parting we headed home. We got back around 5:30 and unpacked. After that, well, I don't really remember what we did XD

Saturday was just General Conference. After doing some cleaning at the church building we waited for about an hour for a couple of members to come, but they ended up not being able to come. So we started around 12:30. It was a way good day! My favorites were:

I Am a Child of God by Elder Donald L. Hailstrom
To the Rescue: We Can Do it by Elder Mervyn B. Arnold
Always Retain a Remission of Your Sins by Elder David A. Bednar
Family Councils by Elder M. Russell Ballard

And from Priesthood session my favorite was probably:
A Sacred Trust by President Thomas S. Monson

There were many others I liked, but these were my tops for Saturday.

Before we went to church on Sunday we stopped at an investigator's home to try and bring him to church, but he wasn't coming. So, after we realized he wasn't going to come we told him he can watch it on his computer on LDS.org. There were about five other members that watched with us at the church building. After  conference we headed out to visit a few potential investigators, but none of hem were home. Then we went to the hospital to see an elderly member. She is doing well which was good to see. After her we set out to visit an investigating family but they weren't home either. Then we tried to visit a few investigators close to home but none of them were home either...yeah, it gets old after a while XD After that we hent home and ended our day.

Today we cleaned, studied, ate, and are now emailing. After this we are planning on shopping and heading home for some down time. It's been cloudy, cold, and windy today. A bit of a change from the warm days we've had this past week. This next week looks like a mix of warmer and cooler days. I hope that soon I can start wearing short-sleeved shirts without being to cold. I'm excited for the coming summer! I can't believe that I am going to hit my six-month mark as a missionary this Thursday! It's gone by so fast. Transfers are next week, it felt like just last week I started in Sekime. Since being on my mission I have begun looking at time not as a strict, linear, cause and effect kind of way. But more like a big, wibboly-wobbly, timely-wimey ball of...stuff ;)

I want to testify that those who spoke at General Conference are called men of God. If we follow them we will not go astray from God. We will be able to know the will of God for His children here on earth. I'm grateful for the words they spoke. There were many that were just for me. And I know I am not the only one who feels this way.

いつもあいしています (always with love),
Elder Peacock

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2016.4.3. Special boss level unlocked: Sumoto XD

[Sorry for the delay in posting David's letters to his blog.  His mother has been out of town for 5 weeks due to family vacation and for the birth of David's new niece and nephew.]

This week was pretty normal. It was all pretty normal UNTIL I FLIPPN' BECAME AN UNCLE YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!! TOTALLY WAS THE ONLY THING I COULD THINK ABOUT FOR THE REST OF SUNDAY XD

But wait, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Let me backtrack a bit XD…

After emailing on Monday, we got groceries, stuff, and visited the couple missionaries. The husband is still in the hospital, but hopefully he will be released soon. Apparently Japanese people will go to the hospital for colds and low fevers. They freak out a bit if they even think they are getting sick. They do the whole mask thing if they cough twice I swear. After Preparation Day time we went out a ways to visit a potential investigator. She is from Singapore but speaks fluent English. She teaches English out of her home. She is way nice and loves the missionaries, just not when they move. She told me about the time she got really upset with a particular missionary because he had been in Sumoto for seven and a half months and then got transferred XD We weren't able to talk with her much before her English class, but we shared the #Hallelujah church video and invited her to look on lds.org to learn more about Easter. We helped her teach English then headed home to end our day.

So, little side note:  Many of the cars over here have similar, or the same, body styles as those of their American counterparts. However, almost all of them go under a different name. Either that or they will be sold under a different brand--so all of the Scion and Infiniti cars are sold under Toyota and Nissan respectively. So the Scion XB is sold under Toyota and the Infiniti M is sold under Nissan. And I lied when I said Daughtsun is a thing here, turns out what I thought was Daughtsun (I have no idea how to spell it) is actually Daihatsu. And Suzuki is a much bigger brand here than in America. Here, Suzuki is comparable to Hyundai on popularity.

I can't really remember what happened on Tuesday (that's what happens when I don't write throughout the week). And looking in the Area Book doesn't help because my companion writes everything in Japanese XD I know we did service at a care center and the old people couldn't get over how big I am. I also know we did Eikaiwa. That was good--we talked about body parts and stuff. I felt really awkward because the class wasn’t all that responsive XD But it was good.

Wednesday was good. By the way, it's been mild this whole week--partly sunny with warm winds. Yesterday was the star of some rain which has continued into today. But yeah, Wednesday was good. We did service at a day care center. The White Handbook says we can't to stuff at day care centers, but apparently we have special permission from Welch Kaicho. So we played with kids for a couple of hours. I tried to teach one of the kids how to say, "What’s up". I tried to explain that it's a combination of hello and how are you. He didn't get it XD After that we went out to see the bishop. He wasn't home, but we were able to teach his wife in the geinkan. We taught about the importance of following prophets, especially with General Conference this weekend (for us in Japan). Then she gave us doughnuts! やった (yes)!

Thursday was super busy. We visited the couple missionaries in the hospital. Then we had lunch with a member and then celebrated her birthday with cake. Then we tried to do Weekly Planning in 45 minutes and it didn't work XD We tried to visit a lot of potential investigators but a lot of them weren't home. We met a grandma and grandpa with their grandson running a mochi cart. We talked to them about the church and they thought what we’re doing is great. They gave us a lot of free mochi which was great! Yep, I don’t remember the rest of the day, but I know it was good.

So, the Sumoto Castle looks like it's the smallest castle in Japan. I'll send pictures when I visit. But, to give you kind of an idea: Matsue Castle is the second-largest in Japan, and Sumoto Castle looks like it is 1/4 that size. Buts it has a beautiful location atop the neighboring hill, I bet it's a beautiful view from there.

Friday we woke up early to travel to District Meeting. We cross the Kobe Bridge every time for District and Zone meetings. We discussed preparing spiritually. With General Conference coming up it has been on the minds of many missionaries. After District Meeting we had kōkans with the district leaders. We did service for one of the members, a lot of yard work which I loved because no one has given us opportunities to do manual labor service yet. Then they fed us a ton of snacks. After that, I went with the district leader to visit two members. One a less-active and one a recent convert. Both have strong testimonies and both are good people. After that we went back to their apartment to end our day.

We woke up normal time on Saturday to head home. We got back in time to change for more service. We were helping an Amerika-Jin member move stuff from his friend's old apartment to his friend's new apartment. It was great, the member is awesome. He wants to have an eternal family with his wife, but it's a little bit of a struggle. He likes us, and so does the family. Be he has told us that it needs to be taken slowly. It was good service! After that we visited the couple missionaries to talk with them about branch presidency meeting, since he was in the hospital. The husband is the first counselor and my companion, Yamamoto Chōrō, is the second counselor. After that we had dinner before branch presidency meeting. Then they had branch presidency meeting. I tried to follow along, but he branch president uses very informal Japanese so I wasn't able to follow along very well. After that we ended our day.

Sunday was good, as always. Our Branch President was able to come so that was nice. Like I said before, all of our meetings are halved because of our small size so we were done by 11:30-12:00. We took the sacrament to a couple of members because they are confined to their homes. I tried to say the sacrament prayer in Japanese and it didn't work. XD In the MTC they have the prayers written out in Romaji, so you are reading English characters. But here it's written in Hiragana and Kanji which means I took forever trying to say that we will always have the spirit of sweet bean paste to be with us, rather than the spirit of Christ...yeah XD Gotta love it. After taking the sacrament we visited a progressing investigator. Right now he is really struggling with feelings of worthiness. We taught the Atonement of Christ and tried to help him with these feelings. I hope and pray that he will find resolution. After him we had dinner with a member--the same member that we had Easter dinner with. She made us awesome beef stew, salad, pasta, and rice. It was really good, but my stomach was not doing well. At first I just thought it was hunger pains when it started after our visit with the progressing investigator. But by the time we started dinner it had grown a bit. By the time I was done with dinner it was kind of severe. I couldn't focus on the conversation so I just tried to blend into the wall while I dealt with the pain. But about 30 minutes later the pain disappeared. Completely gone, in the turn of a second. It was very strange. The thing is, I had a similar stomach pain two months before, in February, that occurred on Fast Sunday. It might be a pattern, I'll keep an eye on it next Fast Sunday.

Today we cleaned, studied, good stuff. After mailing we are planning to do shopping and such. Yay! It's still rainy so we aren't doing much outside for Preparation Day. After our preparation time we are planning on visiting the woman who teaches English. We want to invite her to watch General Conference so we will see how that goes.

I want to testify to you guys that I know God is literally our Father in Heaven. He loves us so much. Never forget that.

いつもあいしています (always with love)!
Elder Peacock

P.S.
I'M FREAKING AN UNCLE!!!

XD


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