Is it Spring Yet?

So this past week the weather has been getting better.  In fact one day, we just left the apartment in our suits, without any coats or anything, and we were still fine.  But then the wind started to pick up and it got colder again.  So even though the roads are mostly clear, and the sun is mostly shinning, it is still kinda cold.  I just can't wait for the weather to make up it's mind.

Well this week we were lucky to have Elder Ringwood come to our mission and have a conference.  He happens to be the Area President for the Asia North Area, which includes Sendai, so that was neat.  It was a very good conference and we were able to learn a lot from Elder and Sister Ringwood, as well as from President and Sister Rasmussen.  It is so great to get to hear council from General Authorities and other leaders in the church.  I am so thankful for the organization of the church and the way it functions so perfectly.  We are so lucky to be led by a living prophet who receives revelation for us.

This week we were able to find a new investigator, but the funny thing is that she moved back home the day after the day she became  an investigator.  We asked her if she would continue to meet with the missionaries in Yamagata, and she said she would.  So the day she became a new investigator in our area, she became a referral for the missionaries in Yamagata.  Either way as long as she continues to learn about the gospel it's okay.  I just thought that was funny so I wanted to share.

Well that's about all from me this week.  Thank you so much for all that you do for me.  I don't think I will ever be able to repay what you do.  You're the best!

Love, Elder Wixom

Where Did the Snow Go?

I feel like I am in a different area now.  I don't recognize the roads or the sky anymore.  It is weird to see Yonezawa without being completely covered in snow.  I mean there is still a lot of snow here, but it has gone away a lot.  It makes us so happy.  It makes it more easy to get around town, and it's not so cold anymore.  So that's great.

This week we have just done the normal stuff.  Meeting with investigators, doing lessons, trying to help people.  The usual.  It has been fun, and stuff.  But I can't think of anything super big that happened this week.  We had splits with the Elders in Yamagata, which was fun.  The Elder I worked with is almost done with his mission, so I was able to learn a lot from his example and how he works.  That was really great.  Other than that not too much happened out of the ordinary.  This week we have Elder Ringwood coming to do a conference, so that's something to look forward to.

I know that it's not much, but I hope you will not be upset.  Just doing missionary stuff and trying to work hard.  Thanks for all of your prayers and your examples.  I love you!

Love, Elder Wixom

The Joy of Riding Bicycles

The weather has improved enough that we are now able to ride our bicycles sometimes.  There is still some snow and ice that makes it kinda scary sometimes, but usually it is well enough that it's no problem.  I am just happy that we are able to get around to places more quickly now.  It takes up so much time just walking and there are not many people that just walk on the street to talk to.  So bicycles are nice.  And the weather should keep getting better which has a lot of good things that come from that.

We are excited for spring because hopefully when the new year of college starts and the weather is warmer, more people will come to the English class, or we'll be able to have more activities to invite people to.  We are looking forward to trying a lot of ways to find people to teach.

This week we were able to find a new investigator and have a lesson with one of our current investigators.  I think that as we keep trying new ways to find, that we will be able to meet more people who are ready for the gospel.  I am excited to hear about how much success this area will see after I'm gone.  But until then I want to try my best to help in any way I can.

Well I know it's not much, but that's all that I can think to say right now.  Thank you for all of your love and examples.  I love you.

Love, Elder Wixom

Things Should Be Warming Up

Well the weather is really nice right now.  It was actually good for a few days this week.  But it snowed pretty hard again last Saturday.  It should only snow a little bit more and then it will be spring time.  It will be nice to ride our bikes again.  The roads are too covered in snow and ice to ride them still.  But walking everywhere takes a lot of time so we're looking forward to it.

Well this week something cool happened.  We had a special conference in the Sendai Stake where Bishop Davies of the Presiding Bishopric and Elder Yamashita of the Seventy came to Sendai.  The first night was with members and investigators and missionaries, but the second day was just the missionaries.  It was way cool to get to hear about his experiences with working with Presidents of the church.  It is always exciting when General Authorities come to the mission.  It was a great experience and I am thankful that I got to be a part of it.

Well we are still trying to just keep on working.  I think it will get better as the weather improves.  At least that is what my hope is.  Well thank you for all your prayers and love.  You're wonderful people.  I love you.

Love, Elder Wixom


P.S.  Well I will answer your questions.  I don't know which is more rural, here or there.  I haven't been able to see the ground because of the snow to know how much is farmland.  But I'm sure you or dad can find Yonezawa online and see for yourselves.  We usually get our transfer calls on Monday and then are in our new area by Thursday as well.  Sometimes faster, but not usually.  I don't know if they celebrate Easter in Japan, but I would guess no.  That's pretty much a Christian holiday, right?  And we don't have a "Invite Sunday".  Every Sunday we want people to invite someone to church.  I'm glad that you had the chance to spend a lot of time with Dad this week.

New Area, Not New Weather

Well I transferred this last week.  It was a pretty busy Monday and Tuesday.  We were busy trying to visit with investigators and less-active members, and people I wanted to see.  It was sad saying good-bye to everyone.  I had been there for a while so everybody knew me and I knew everybody.  But I plan to go back sometime and see everyone again.  I don't know when, but I want to.  But hopefully the investigators  left there will keep learning about the gospel and progressing towards baptism.  I was able to finish teaching L san all the lessons she needed before baptism and was able to practice the interview with her.  I'm sure she did great and this week will be baptized.  I don't know when I'll see everyone again, but I know that when I do, it will be a happy reunion.

Now on to my new area.  After I finally made it to Yonezawa, and walked the forty minutes through the snow to the apartment while carrying my bike, I was able to enjoy being in a new area.  The snow is so bad here.  It should be warming up soon though, so that's good.  But it has snowed everyday since I've got here.  My new companion is great.  He's a hard worker and a funny guy.  I'm excited to get some good work done with him here.  The branch is nice too.  A couple families are here so that's great.  We are working on finding more people who are ready to receive the gospel.  Maybe it will be easier to find them when the snow melts.  Who knows.

Well that's all for this week.  Thanks for all your prayers.  I love you!

Love, Elder Wixom

We All Transfer One Day

So I am going to be transferring to an area called Yonezawa in Yamagata ken.  Maybe you can look it up online if you want.  The kanji are 米沢.  I heard it is a pretty rural area and it has a lot of snow.  So I hope it will be fun.  My new companion will be Elder Kyotani.  He's a good guy.  I got a chance to meet him a bit when he used to work in my zone.  So I'm excited to work with him.  But to be honest transferring is a pretty sad thing.  I mean, I've been in Nagaoka for over seven months.  I've worked with mostly the same missionaries for three transfers.  And I have grown to love the members and our investigators so much.  If I had a choice I would choose to not transfer.  But since I don't have a choice, and I know that there is a reason why I am going, I've just got to put my chin up and work with a smile on my face.  Going to a new area is exciting.  But leaving an area you love is a really hard thing.

But this week we had a lot of good things happen.  Most importantly, we are almost done helping her prepare to be baptized.  Her faith is so strong it is incredible.  She is putting so much effort into getting ready to be baptized.  I am so excited for her.  The best thing to see is her desire to follow what God wants for her.  That is the reason she is willing to work so hard and prepare.  Because she knows that this is what her Father in heaven wants for her.  And it just strengthens my faith to see her progress so much.  I am so excited for her to be baptized!

We were also able to meet with our other investigators.  They are all progressing at their own pace in the gospel.  It makes me so happy to be able to help them in any way that I can.

Well, that's all for this week.  My last e-mail from my lovely Nagaoka.  Next week I'll tell you about how Yonezawa is.  Love you!

Love, Wixom Choro

The Moments That Mean the Most

This week we were pretty busy with lessons, finding new investigators, traveling, and eating tako-yaki.  And all of that is super great.  But sometimes when you're a missionary, you have moments that just make you happy that you decided to serve.  This week I had one of those experiences.  One of our investigators, L san, had been thinking a lot about baptism since we talked about it a couple weeks ago.  She has been trying to decide if being baptized is the right choice for her.  Well yesterday we planned to fast with her to help her know if this was the right decision.  After church when we talked about how fasting went, and what her thoughts were about baptism, she said that she feels like she needs to be baptized.  But not only needs to, but wants to.  We decided that she will prepare to be baptized on the 2nd of March.  Just the whole time we were talking with her and listening to her explain why she made that decision.  I just had such a great feeling, and I knew that the Holy Ghost was just testifying to her that this was true.  We didn't talk for too long, but through the whole time the feelings we were all having were just wonderful.  I know I will probably not be in Nagaoka to see her get baptized, but I am just so happy that I was able to help her to come this far.  It is one of the best feelings a missionary can have.

 

This was a pretty full week to be honest.  Next week looks like it will be pretty busy too.  I'm looking forward to it.  Hopefully it will be a really great week.  I hope you all have a great week too.  Thanks for all your prayers.  You are awesome!

 

Love, Elder Wixom

Work and Play

This week we were able to get some really good things done.  We were able to have lessons with investigators, go on exchanges in Joetsu, and invite an investigator to be baptized.  So it was a good week.  Really we have one investigator who is really strong.  She is Christian and has so strong faith.  She also says she knows the Book of Mormon is true.  We invited her to be baptized, which she has already been baptized in her church, but when we talked about the Holy Ghost and Priesthood, she said that if she prays and feels that God wants her to be baptized again by someone with Priesthood, she will do it.  I know she will get her answer because she has such strong faith in the Savior.  It is just awesome.

This week was my last time going to Joetsu most likely.  Kinda sad to think about.  I have had 5 transfers of getting to do splits in Joetsu, but this week was our last one.  Its been fun, but all missionaries transfer sooner or later.  Maybe I'll get transfered back down here sometime, but who knows.  But this split we played basketball with some investigators.  It was a lot of fun, and I think it is really good for the missionary-investigator relationship to have activities like that every once and a while.

Well last week was pretty much like that.  This week should be pretty fun too though.  We have some fun plans that I'm looking forward to.  Hopefully it will be good. :)

Love, Elder Wixom

Lessons, Snowstorms, and Ping-pong

This week were able to have quite a bit of fun.  The weather was actually really nice before Friday and then it just went bad so fast.  It has been snowing pretty much non-stop since then.  But it's okay because we have thick skin.  This week we were also able to get in a lot of good lessons with our investigators.  It is so great to see them progress in the gospel as they read the Book of Mormon and pray.  It makes me excited to be able to help them in any way we can.  And now we are really trying to get the members and our investigators and other non-members to have more chances to meet and to build good relationships.  This is where ping-pong comes in.  We had the first Nagaoka Ping-pong night last Saturday, and I thought it went really well.  President Rasmussen came to Nagaoka this weekend to do some interviews and to come to church, so he also played ping-pong with us.  Let me just say, President is a great ping-pong player.  In the end he won the little tournament we did.  He even beat one young man who is in a ping-pong club at school.  He's crazy good.  Lately I have had some chances to play, so I'm getting a little better, but President Rasmussen is even more better.

Well that was what my week has been full of.  Lessons with investigators, out of the blue snowstorms, and playing ping-pong.  What could be a better life for a missionary?  Hope next week will be good too.  Thanks for all of your love.  Have a warm week.

Love, Elder Wixom

A Pretty Busy Week

This week was probably one of the longest weeks on my mission so far.  I don't know why.  We just had a lot of stuff to do and had a lot of fun doing it.  Some of the big things were...

Monday- We made mochi and then went bowling.  It was a lot of fun.
Tuesday- I had a birthday, shout hooray!
Wednesday- We had lessons with two investigators and had eikaiwa.
Thursday- We had splits with the zone leaders and I got to work with Chipman choro again.  It is so cool that even though we went to the same high school, we didn't meet til Japan.
Friday- We visited a member at her cake shop and had fun walking in the snow.
Saturday- We planned!  That took pretty much all day.
Sunday- We had a good time at church.  Uchida choro gave a great talk during Sacrament meeting.  And we tried to share the Gospel!

Well that was the main highlights of my week.  It was a good week, but I am still pretty tired from it.  I don't know when I'll get a nap, but I don't think it will be for another year probably.  I hope you all have a wonderful week and have a lot of fun.  That's all for now.  Talk to you next week.  Love you!

Love, Elder Wixom

We've been having some fun lately.

Well lately we have been able to do some pretty fun dendo (missionary work).  I mean a lot of it has just been normal, but we've been able to make it more fun so it's better.  We were able to have two investigators come to church yesterday.  We were going to have three because we had a lesson on Saturday with a new investigator and he said he wanted to come to church to hear my talk, but he emailed us yesterday morning because his plans changed so he couldn't come.  But we still had two people come, and he will probably come next week.  So that will be good.

Also we were able to meet with one of our investigators a couple times this week.  She is also Christian, but is so open to our message and what we have to say that it is awesome.  She thinks of it more as new things that she gets to learn.  She said she is thankful for us coming over and talking about church stuff and sharing Heavenly Father's "good news".  I hope we can continue to help her learn more before she has to go back to the Philippines.

There is a lot of things that are happening that we are excited about.  There are also some things we wished were better.  Namely the snow.  But we are having fun and trying to work hard.  I'm excited to see how much snow we get this week.  Wish us luck!  Love you!

BTW: One of the best parts about turning 20 is that today is a holiday for people who are 20 or turning 20 soon, and at McDonalds a Big Mac is free for someone who shows id proving that they fall into that category.  I ate a Big Mac!

Elder Wixom


(Postscript: I was fascinated by a celebration for 20 year olds, so I did a little surfing on the internet for more information.  The celebration is Seijin no Hi or Coming of Age Day.  You can learn more about it here.)

Not Much to Talk About...

So it has only been a few days since I last e-mailed, so not much new stuff has happened to be honest.  I mean stuff has happened, but not too much.  We had training on Saturday from Pres. Rasmussen.  He came to Nagaoka and did a special training with us, the Elders in Joetsu and the Elders in Sanjo.  It was good.  We learned about finding.  To be honest, we didn't learn anything really new because all he trained us about was the stuff written in Preach My Gospel.  But the way he taught it made us realize how much stuff we can learn if we effectively study PMG.  It is just amazing how much stuff that is written in it.  I would encourage everyone, not just people preparing for missions (but especcially them), to study it just like you would study any other book or talk that we have been given by the prophets.  There is so much in there that can help us even in normal lives, but particularly in sharing the gospel in our normal lives.  So the training was a real great learning experience.

Also this Sunday was the first Sunday of the year, and we were able to go to church with an investigator of ours.  She is from the Phillipines and doesn't speak Japanese, but she is Christian and has been wanting to go to church since she came to Japan.  So we invited her to come and she did.  I got to translate for her for the testimony meeting and Sunday school.  It went well, but it was so tiring.  But I think she liked it, so she said she'll come again.  Hopefully she will be able to keep letting us meet and teach her about the restored gospel.

Well that was pretty much the highlights of my past three days.  But now our schedule is back to normal so I'll have more to talk about next week.  Love you all!!

Love, Elder Wixom

It's 2013!!

So the holidays are over and it is back to work for the Sendai Mission missionaries.  We had three days where we literally couldn't work because people are too busy with the holidays.  It was a lot of fun though spending the holidays here.  Apart from the ton of snow that we got on New Year's Day, there isn't much to complain about.  New Year's is a pretty big thing here in Japan.  Except besides crazy parties and going to restaurants, mostly people just stay at home and watch TV.  Pretty American-like if I do say so myself.  But one thing everyone does is that they go to shrines on New Years.  We went this year and it was pretty interesting.  Uchida choro explained what all the things meant and we enjoyed participating in Japanese culture.  It was pretty funny to think of us as two people wearing missionary name tags at a Shinto shrine, but that is more than religion, it's culture.  I love Japanese culture.  A lot of it has to do with eating.  So that's great!

I don't really have much to say right now because we haven't really done much lately.  But I hope you all had happy holidays and were able to stay warm.  I know this is a really short e-mail, but we still need to eat lunch today.  We were going to e-mail on Wednesday, but the place we e-mail at was closed because of the holidays.  So today is the earliest we could come.  But it's okay because we'll be back on Monday on our usual schedule.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.  Have a wonderful 2013!!

Love, Wixom Choro

Pictures from Nagaoka

With the New Year holiday, we did not receive an email this week.  We did receive the following pictures in the mail though.  The captions are the descriptions Wixom Choro wrote on the back of each photo.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Let it stop, please let it stop

Hard at work

We are winter missionaries

The snow is kinda pretty actually

Baptismal Service 9/22/2012

Just taking pictures

Nagaoka District

On our way home

My missionary family!

Playing ping pong in Joetza

Niigata Zone Missionaries

Just eating Ramen

Birthday Party