Busy Week

So this week was actually pretty good. We were busy with lessons which
was really nice, except for I feel like we are teaching so many people
now that I am mixing everyone's lessons up in my head
so I don't know what was taught to who. Thankfully we have records!

This week we had a very interesting lesson with Mr. M. He asked a
question about Adam and Eves kids, particularly about Abel and Cain.
He asked why God accepted Abel's sacrifice and not Cains. In Genesis
chapter 4 it says this.
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the
fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the
fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was
very wroth, and his countenance fell.

It was a very interesting question because I don't think I have really
thought about it too much other than the fact that Cain eventually
kills his brother. We did some research and discovered that God
had required of them to sacrifice a firstling of their flocks. And
Cain felt that it wasn't fair because Abel's job was to be a shepherd so
he could get a sacrifice easily. So Cain got the idea (from Satan)
that he could sacrifice something from his job (He was a tiller of the
field) So he gave of his fruits and veggies. And God didn't accept it.
But God in Verse 7 said this,
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest
not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him.
God told him/ gave him another chance. But instead he chose to follow
the adversary and he killed his brother.
That was pretty much our lesson with M.

Then we had another lesson with a new investigator who is way cool. But we taught him about God and Prophets and it was really good.

The next day we had district meeting. And I gave a training on being
more converted and consecrated. I think it went pretty well. I shared
a video called staying within the lines by Elder Jeffery R. Holland.
Its been great to have an Ipad and be able to use technology to
improve lessons and trainings.

Also we met with the young man who asked if we were the Jesus people.
He brought a friend along to the lesson and we had a joint with
the branch president. It was really good. The young man actually was like a
member teaching his friend. It was really awesome.  The Branch President was
really happy and pleased to see that our investigators are understanding well the things we are teaching. It
was great to have that Joint because it helped the progression of our
investigators and build trust with the Branch President. He talked
about the lesson the whole ride up to our Stake (District) Conference,
which was that same day. We were able to teach about the plan of
salvation and his friend thought it was way cool. We were able to set
an appointment up with his friend to teach later too!

We also taught a Less actives son who is 14. He read Alma 40 and said
that he doesn't want to go to hell and he wants us to teach him how to
go to paradise. He is quite Shy but way cool. We are thinking we are
going to get a baptismal date set for him this week! So we will see
how it goes. I am going to call his father, (who is a returned
missionary) and get his input on it as well. It is great when you
teach someone who has a member in their family who can help them when
they read the Book of Mormon and explain things when the missionaries
are not around to do it.

We also had a District Conference, and an area of the seventy came.
His name is Elder Otohara. After the Conference I shook his hand and
he looked at me and he said I can tell you are a good elder just by
your face and I said no no no. But he said he can't lie. It made me
pretty happy.

That is pretty much my week up to this point!


Love Ya,


Elder Nebeker

Tender Mercy

Hi Family,

 

We had a lesson this week with M. san. He was feeling that God doesn't want us to have knowledge, and we explained to him that that is the very reason we were sent to this earth was to gain more knowledge so we could become like God. I explained to him that if we were taking a test with a cheat sheet we wouldn't actually be learning anything. He agreed and I told him the reason why God doesn't let us know everything is because he wants us to learn on our own.  We would not learn anything if God just gave us all the answers and prior knowledge of our pre earth life.

We also were teaching a family about the plan of salvation when a question came up about baptism and why it is important and what are the benefits. I also explained to them that this life is like a test and if we had all the answers to it we wouldn't learn and grow to be more like God but when we receive baptism we make a promise to do our best to become like God and we get the Holy Ghost who is like a tutor. So while we are taking the test, he won't give us the answers, but he will help us through the problem and help us learn when we may not be able to do it on our own. 

This week we had a great miracle.  We decided to visit a less active and invite him and his son to a basketball event that we have planned but he told us that his son doesn't really like sports and that they were good. So we felt like we needed to start talking to him about his son so we started talking and we asked him how his schooling is going and he told us not very good because he gets picked on so he doesn't go to school sometimes. So the Less active let us into his home and we were able to meet his son. Turns out the less active is a returned missionary and asked us to teach his son the Gospel. So we were able to teach him on Friday, but that day we had just gotten back from a zone training meeting and my head was hurting way bad, and our appointment was in like 15 minutes. So I said a prayer asking that when as we teach him the Gospel  my head won't hurt. As we started teaching, my headache disappeared and I felt great. As soon as the lesson ended my head began hurting again. But I realized it was a tender mercy from the Lord. The lesson went really well. You can tell his father really loves him. And he asked us to give him a commitment and set up a new appointment for next week. It was great! His name is super cool too, the Chinese Characters (Kanji) used for his name mean, gentle lion.

  We also on Sunday were able to find another Investigator his name is  Seiya, Which means to be holy. He just moved home after going to college in California, so his English is pretty good. We taught him about God and that we are his children. He said he agrees with our point of view and he gave the closing prayer! And we have another lesson with him today. So hopefully it goes well.

This week while I was at church I felt so much love for this small branch in Ichinoseki. The members are so humble and way nice. The mission President told me in an interview that I would be here awhile so by the end of this transfer it will be at 4 months. So maybe another transfer here or more, I hope!

 

Love,

 

Elder Nebeker

March 22nd Letter

This week was a really bizarre week because it was transfers and there was the huge I pad meeting, so not a whole lot was accomplished unfortunately.

 

This week we were able to go help a less active clean her parents graves. We went up this really pretty mountainside where her parents were buried and we gathered all the leaves and burnt some Candle looking things because her parents are both Buddhist. While we were doing that she told us a really cool story about what happened to her during the big earthquake here in Sendai in 2011. She works in Sendai and she was out in the streets when the earthquake happened. She didn't think much at first until, it didn't stop.  Cars were pretty much bouncing and there was smoke and sand coming from the foundation of the buildings. She said that she thought she was going to die right there. But she told us while she was thinking this she had a feeling come over her and she felt like she was put in a bubble and was protected. She said also that about 5 minutes before the earthquake happened she had gone into a convenience store and does not know why but she bought a ton of bread and and corn flakes. She said she never even ate them and didn't know why she bought them. But after the earthquake everything shut down, all the stores and everything. She didn't have anywhere to stay because her home was here in Ichinoseki not Sendai. So she went to a taxi lot to see if she could get a ride but, there was a line that went forever long.  She thought it would be a couple days before she could even return to Ichinoseki. But the cops came to the taxi lot and told everyone that it was unsafe and they had people move and step over and she got put right in front of the next taxi.  Even though a lot of people knew she should be in the back of the line, they let her go because they knew she lived really far away. When she got home, her house on the inside was pretty much destroyed but because she had bought bread she was able to live off of that until relief services came. It was a pretty cool story, and so she says I cannot deny that God exists. She said she still prays every morning and night in gratitude for that day. 

Now just to get her to come back to church...... hahaha

Well as you all know I got my wallet stolen..... YAY! It made me pretty dissapointed in the Japanese race because that is not their culture whatsoever. I had my Foriegner card in my wallet, so I just have to make sure not to do anything stupid to make the cops find me and arrest me..... But I reported the theft to the cops anyways. Funny story, when I went into the police department to report my wallet the whole police office like stopped working and looked at me and surrounded me because they finally have something to do other than sit and talk all day..... 

I also got to go pick up Elder Thompson this week. He is from Washington. Very nice young man. We have been working really hard these last couple of days, (He came to Ichinoseki Saturday night.) I Feel bad because I accidentally planned too much and tried to do much with him that I forgot about dinner. And with his jet lag and lack of food I think I was killing him. But I will try to remember to do better this week. 

Yesterday we were able to get in a couple of peoples' homes and teach a little bit, ( Thats really rare in Japan) So I think that was really cool for me and Elder Thompson.

 

Love,

 

Elder Nebeker

March 15th Letter

March 15th Letter

So I guess I will just start with the biggest news, transfers.

So Elder Thayne will be the new district leader, ( this is his last transfer) and his companion is going home :( In his place will be a 4th transfer missionary from America. Also My companion (Elder Drenk) will be transferring to Misawa (American Airbase) and in his place I will be getting a brand new missionary from America named Elder Thompson. This will be my second companion named Elder Thompson but I will be his trainer. So I will go and pick him up from the airport this week. Also Kitakami became part of Ichinoseki District so I can go visit some of my old Investigators! yay!

So other than that information I gave a talk on Sunday! They told me I could talk about whatever I wanted to. So I started out by saying, "I have an announcement, Yesterday was Transfer calls and ..... I will...... not be transferring. They thought it was pretty funny. 

 

But I chose to talk about families. I have been studying a lot about families and I am becoming to realize more and more just how important family is in Gods plan. God has said that he created Families for the purpose of our happiness. It was one of the first commandments given to man. President Spencer W. Kimball said, "Society without basic family life is without foundation and will disintegrate into nothingness......" Also in The Family Proclamation to the world it says, "Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets." It was interesting this week as I asked members when we visited them about what kind of direction do they think families in Japan are going, they all shared similar things. They said that a lot of parents don't stop to care about what there child does, they don't go and support them because they are more worried about their job.  They don't care when their child gets in trouble and so there is no punishment. They aren't being taught right, so then that child grows up and has children and does the same thing and family value disintegrates. I feel very scared for Japan. But This week was 3/11 the day that the big earthquake and tsunami happened 4 years ago. 18,000 people died from the tsunami. In the Ichinoseki boundaries there is an area called kessanuma.  It is right by the sea and it was hit by the tsunami really hard. They also had oil tanks in the ocean that the tsunami ripped out and the oil flooded the city and something sparked the water so it was a tsunami of fire. It burned most of the city down. I got to attend a a memorial for it where they had little kids sing songs about hope. I felt so much hope for the younger Generation of Japan too. I really felt like I understood at that point why Christ wants us to become pure like a little child. This week, Elder Nelson came to Japan and he did a devotional and gave an apostolic blessing to the members of Japan of safety and love in the homes if they obey the commandments of God. It was really cool.

Well Anyways I guess what will be happening this Saturday is we will have a big meeting about the Ipads so Everyone is going to Sendai to get the training and I guess we will probably receive them there.

We met with a lot of cool people this week, first we met with M- our investigator, and he said he had a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon.  He usually asks some pretty deep questions. But he said that Other Christian Churches don't believe that Jesus Christ came to America, but the Book of Mormon says otherwise what do you think? I never really thought I would be asked this question because I don't serve in the bible belt - I serve in The Buddha belly. I pulled out 3 Nephi 16 so fast on him, it talks about how Christ said he will visit other islands and people who not yet heard his voice and then I pulled out John from the Bible where Christ said that He will visit a Land that is not Jerusalem after his ressurrection, people who have yet to hear his voice.

 

Yeah he was really impressed and he just started laughing. And said well I guess that answers that question. He now does not doubt the Book of Mormon but he still is convinced that Buddhism is correct because the Buddhist religion has never caused war like Christianity has.

We met with a lady whose door we knocked on and she invited us in and gave us dinner. She was super cool, she is a retired Elementary school teacher.and told us about some of the students she had taught.  She still follows them today to see what kind of people they are becoming. She also has a book of everyone that has ever visited her house and she has them right something down and a picture. She took a copy of me wakeboarding. She thought it was super cool. But then she asked why we come and do 2 years of missionary work, she asked is it because we want to become priests, or to get into a christian school or something.  W told her no, and that we are volunteers because we believe our religion has taught us true happiness and we want to share it with other people. She was super impressed and told us to write that in her book so that when other people come and visit they can see it and know what we do. 

 

We gave her a book of Mormon and will probably follow up in 2 weeks or so because things will be to crazy with transfers this week.　：）

That was my week!

Elder Nebeker

April 12th Letter

So this week was pretty great.  My companion and I were able to achieve the mission's Standard of Excellence which was pretty cool. ( The standard is as follows; 1 baptismal date, 3 investigators at sacrament meeting, 3 new investigators, 6 Less Active Lessons, 20 lessons). We have to accomplish just 2 of those goals to get the standard of Excellence. It may seem easy but it is actually really hard.

We were able to start teaching a family of 4. It was a referral from the branch President here in Ichinoseki. They are really cool but I think they will have to have a serious change of heart and feeling the spirit to change. They are very active in their current religion but are open to understanding more about Christianity. We are able to meet with them every Thursday. 

Another investigator M- is doing good.  We are working with him on praying. He will read the book of Mormon but that is about it. So we have planned to teach him a lesson on faith today and use the story of when Alma explains to the Zoramites what faith is and compares it to a seed. We are also going to share with him a talk that was given by President Uchtdorf called " Gods Harvest." It is a very good talk - very short and to the point. 

The lady that walked into the church the other day that we passed to the mowers is doing very well. During the second lesson with her she asked the Mowers how she can pray and if her sins can really be forgiven. So that was really cool. We are letting the Mowers teach her as of right now. But will join and help in the teaching process when needed. 

The lady you saw in the picture is a Less Active that we have been trying to reactivate. She took us to a place called chumonjin or something like that.  It is the World Heritage. It was a really old Golden temple that had been preserved for a very long time. Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures of it. But it was way cool. It was a lot of Gold and a family was buried underneath it and they have their clothing and everything still. So that was really neat to go see and do. And yes I went and hit the gong. I couldn't pass the opportunity up :)

This week we met a less active family who have been less active for about 10 years now.  We met with the wife and she was really nice to us, and I started talking to her and about her family.  She told me she had a younger son and I heard someone playing the piano inside her house and I asked if that was her son playing and she said yes.  I don't know why, but I asked her if we could meet him and say hello. She said I will go and see if he will come down. So she came back down with him and he was way excited to talk to us. He had never talked to an American before so we had a good conversation. He just barely started High school and is having a hard time deciding how to fit in. After we left him with our Missionary business card. We got a text from his dad at like 11 pm that night saying that we probably shouldn't visit his home because his neighbor and father in law who live with them hate religion and get mad when missionaries come. So I was a little sad to get that message but then he called me the next morning and was super nice and was so happy that my companion and I came and visited. He told us that he is a returned missionary and that he wants to help us out and meet with us but his wife doesn't really want to go back to church and with his father inlaw hating religion, it is hard for them.  He told us that he talked with his son and he hasn't seen his son that happy in a while, and he really wants us to teach him the gospel but it would have to be done in secret.....  It was a really cool phone call but I am stuck because I don't want to cause any trouble in that family. But I think we are going to meet with the father to talk more about teaching his son... (His son is not a member)

So that is kind of what is going on to here in Ichinoseki! 

This week we were able to watch some of General Conference which was good I still have not seen it all because of timing issues but I have really enjoyed some of the talks I feel like they have been putting a huge focus and emphasis on families and focusing on things that matter most. 

Well I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! 

Elder Nebeker

"Ask to Receive"

Dear Family,

 

This week we met with Miura san. It was a pretty interesting lesson. He told us that he had been searching his whole life to find out who God is. We simply asked him, "Have you ever asked God himself who he is?", He just looked at us like we were dumb. We explained to him that it is super simple, and that is all Joseph Smith did. Joseph was confused and didn't know. He had been searching for most of his life for truth and he asked God himself to find out. 

 

So I think that once Miura san realizes that that is the smartest method, he will gain a testimony. He just needs to have his heart softened a little bit more.

This week I got hit on by a five year old girl missing her two front teeth. She asked me if I had a girlfriend, and I asked her how old she thought I was. She said 7. She was trying really hard to flatter me. But don't worry, I didn't take the bait.

Oh hey, this week we finally got new students to come to Eikaiwa! Yay! It started out with zero now we have about 4. I am hoping that it will go up a lot more. There is a branch in our zone that is a lot smaller and they have about 20 students and 4 of them have been baptized recently. So I think it would be cool to get Ichinoseki's numbers up too.

On Thursday we were able to meet with our Less Active Sister Makiko. She is doing awesome. She would come to church if she didn't have to work every Sunday. But she will probably retire in the next few years so then she can start coming back to church. She still keeps in contact with the missionaries who baptized her 30 years ago, so that is pretty awesome. We went to a glass warehouse with her and made and molded our own cups and stuff. That was pretty cool. When I get it back I will send a picture.

The next day we had Zone training Meeting where we talked about revelation and self conversion, It was really good. On the way home, a guy on the train came and talked to us.  He spoke perfect English and he figured out who we were really fast without us having to tell him.  He was really nice. He does tours through a temple that we are near, so we might go see him in the future. We noticed a kid sitting next to us was reading the Bible, which you never see - like never. So we talked to him and he was super nice. He is from Sapporo, so we won't be able to meet with him again. He is Protestant and took the Book of Mormon so fast he was actually really intrigued by it. 

The next day we had more meetings in Morioka. It was good.  We talked about all the branches in the zone and the struggles there. So it was good because it got my mind thinking on ways I can try to help and seek for that revelation. They also introduced a new program into the mission called the Monitor program where members invite there friends to assess the missionary lessons and give us a feed back. They listen to 3 lessons that are 20 minutes long, no longer.  At the end of the lessons they assess our skills and take a survey that asks if they want to continue to listen and receive baptism and when they would want to receive baptism. It is kind of weird to me, but we will see how it work out!

Oh also, we will get transfer calls this week on Saturday, but we won't transfer until the following Saturday because we are having a big conference where they will introduce Ipads into our mission. I think they will give us the option to buy one or rent one. Elder Thayne's companion is going home at the end of this transfer so me Elder Drenk and Elder Thayne will become a tripanionship for about a week. That will be pretty fun.

Well that was my week. Love you!

Elder Nebeker

Rumbles but no Tumbles

This was another pretty good week, and to answer your question mother, yes there has been more earthquakes.  Currently we have about one a day.  I was talking to some members who told me they are expected to have another earthquake like they had in 2011. They said it's supposed to be closer to Tokyo but it is going to be a lot bigger. So yipee! Adventure! Just kidding, it actually sounds terrifying. They said that the 30 foot wall of water that came in was going as fast as a bullet train here in Japan (Shinkansen) You should look at how fast that is, because I am pretty sure it is ridiculously fast. 

So funny story - I was showing my pictures to the Japanese Elder in my apartment, Elder Tsushima. We were in Aizuwakamatsu with each other so we are pretty good friends. Anyway, he saw a picture of the weiner dogs and said, "I wanna pet dog so bad"... and then he started crying. It was hilarious! He was like why I am I crying!? What is happening? It was really funny, but it's weird because there are a lot of times like that when you are a missionary. 

So, This week we were able to meet with 2 less actives and start teaching them lessons. They are both really cool. The one less active invested in the Japan Stock Market when he was in his 20's and made millions of dollars. He built himself a really nice house here in Japan, but then somehow was burned down. He built it again because he still had a lot of money and it was burned down again. This happened four times. He said he thinks it is his old friend who was very envious of him that burned his house down. He is actually pretty poor now and works as a taxi driver. It is really sad. But he has a very humble spirit.

 

The other less active is super nice! She has so much light about her. She just can't come to church because of work. She has to travel to Sendai every single day and usually to Tokyo about once a week where she stays for about 2 days. Coming to church is really hard so it's a miracle that we can even visit her. She usually calls us to tell us when she has time, which is quite nice. 

We also met with several members this week and taught member lessons. One of the Members who lives by himself said something I thought was very interesting. He said when you live alone for a long time you start to think of weird things. And i realized that every mentally ill person I have met here in Japan has lived alone for a long time. I think you'll remember me telling you there is a high incidence of schizophrenia. We actually had a meeting with the branch presidency and they instructed us to be careful with the schizophrenic people because the changing weather can cause issues with their illnesses. 

There was a guy last week that we housed into with the Mowers who knew a lot about the church. He said when he was in high school he would come every single week. So I asked the members if they knew him and apparently one of the members recieved lessons with him at the same time.  He was baptized but for some reason his friend never was baptized but they are still friends to this day. It has been 30 years since that time. So we are going to see if we can pick him up as an investigator this week and get the member to joint in lessons with us. I think that should be really fun.

This week we played basketball a lot.  I found out when I play, my calf goes crazy and and my leg becomes powerless and feels like I have a gnarly charlie horse in my leg. It usually goes away in about 2 days, but my back feels fine which is good. There were two investigators found through basketball this week! yay!

I was also able to go back to Kitakami and introduce the elders to some investigators that my companion and I had taught. Only one was home but that was still really fun to reconnect. I think that they should be able to start teaching them again because they seemed really happy. 

But that was pretty much my week. 

Anyways love you!

 

Elder Nebeker