5/23/2016 Elder Gary E. Stevenson!

Minnasan konnichiwa!

This past week feels like it has been spent in areas all over the mission, with two short days in our area, companion exchanges in Izumo, zone conference, and the amazing opportunity to hear from an apostle, Elder Gary E. Stevenson. I hope I never forget the sacred spirit we felt as an Apostle spoke to us. I know that he and the other Apostles, along with the prophet, are called by God to lead this church. They receive revelation to help us in our daily lives, and they know how to assist us in our trials and struggles as well. I don't have much time to write today, so I won't specifically share much about what I learned, but one thing that stood out to me was that, in preparation for this meeting, I wrote down 3 questions that I was looking for answers to in my own life. Elder Stevenson talked only for a short time as he was on a tight schedule, but as he continued his talk, I received specific answers to each of those questions. I know that when we prepare ourselves to receive those answers we are seeking, God will always provide them for us.

That was absolutely the highlight of this week, but there were plenty of other cool things I was able to be a part of and experience. On Thursday we received training from our mission President, Welch kaicho, and he basically led an entire 3 hour discussion based on 3 chapters of the Book of Mormon. He definitely knows his stuff, and I feel the Spirit testify of his words powerfully when he speaks as well. Finally, we were able to go to Izumo, my last area, and go on companion exchanges. I was with Madruga choro again! We were able to visit one of the members that has basically become the missionaries' best friends, because she speaks English and just loves to brighten our days with her simple acts of kindness. It was just like old times, and lifted my spirits to see some of the people that I have come to grow and love.

Sorry that I really don't have much time this week, but I love
you all, and I hope that you have an awesome week!

Winegar長老より

Mami Shimai, the member we visited last week.

5/16/2016 Working hard!

Minnasan konnichiwa,

Wow, this week absolutely flew by, I feel like I hardly remember anything! My companion and I have been working really hard to find new investigators, so we have spent a lot of time finding and housing. We were able to meet a few people that invited us to come back again, so we will hopefully have more people to teach very soon. One person we talked to on the street, Alam, actually ended up coming to church after we met with him the first time. He moved from Bangladesh to come study in Japan, and so he is eager for any opportunity to talk to some English speakers and make some more friends here. He had a good opportunity to do that this Sunday, because all the members decided to work together and prepare a lunch for everyone after church. It was so much fun just to spend more time with the members all together, and to get to know them a little better.

That same day, we went with the Bishop to deliver the Sacrament to members that couldn't make it to church. We then went to his house and had dinner made by his wife. There was so much food; curry, pizza, salad, sausages, and various vegetables, and all were delicious. It was nice for them to invite us over to their home and allow us to be a part of their family for the night. Sorry, but I'm going to keep it short today. This past week seems to have disappeared, and the coming week will probably be even faster. We have zone conference on Thursday, after which we will head to Izumo (my past area!) for missionary exchanges with the zone leaders (my last companion!). Then we will go to Kobe to hear from Elder Gary E. Stevenson, one of the leaders of the church. We will finally be able to go back to our area after that, but it is going to be a really fun, spiritual few days. I am so excited, and can't wait to learn lots!

Winegar長老より

5/8/2016 Mother's Day

Minnasan konnichiwa!

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all mothers everywhere! Aren't mothers just the best? I just got done talking to my family over skype, and it was so good to see everyone. It was even better to have
special guest appearances of my cousin Brennan and Aunt Michelle! Thank you so much, it was so great to see you two! 40 minutes was definitely way too short, but I guess it just makes me look forward to Christmas that much more.

I think I'm going to keep it short today, but I want to share some of the awesome things that went on here last week. I got to go on a couple missionary exchanges, which was way awesome. First was with Elder Olsen, one of the people that came to Japan at the same time as me. He is super awesome, and a great example to me. In between contacts and lessons, he shared tons of insights and experiences he has been having on his mission, and it really opened my eyes to the type of missionary I want to become. We didn't end up teaching a ton of lessons, but we met some awesome people. We saw one boy outside a phone store waving a sign to attract business, and he looked so happy that we decided we had to talk to him. We didn't mean for it to turn into a lesson necessarily, but he told us all about how he believes in God and wants to make it to heaven. We told him we had a book that could help him do that, and we were able to see the excitement on his face as we pulled out the Book of Mormon. Soon after that, though, another worker came over to see what we wanted, and we had to leave quickly. Elder Olsen left the Book of Mormon in a place where the boy could pick it up later, and we headed off. When we came back, the book and the boy were gone. We really hope the boy can get in contact with us again, and that he will read the Book of Mormon. The next exchange was with Elder Nohagi, a Japanese missionary that lived in Utah for about a year as part of a study abroad program. Needless to say, his English was totally fluent. We also had some way awesome experiences together, and he taught me a lot about how to work more effectively, and really just having your thoughts and desires focused on Christ.

Finally, we were able to go to a Zone Training Meeting. I got to see my last companion give his first zone training, and he was awesome! Way to go Elder Madruga! We had great discussions about inviting people to be baptized, how we can be more effective teachers, and how to extend better commitments. We are trying to use all the things we learned, and it is really changing the way I am trying to approach people.

Those were the highlights of this week, hope everyone is doing well, and hanging in there! I love all of you so much, and especially you, mom! Thank you for always being there to support me, and thank you for teaching me through your example to love God, and to follow Him in all things. You are the best!
Love,
Winegar長老より

Okayama Zone- we do missionary work, too.

After Zone Training Meeting- we made sure to eat healthy!


Exchanges with Olsen choro, found this awesome guy!

    One more picture: Proud Mama on Mother's Day!

Become as a child

5/5/2016
Minnasan konnichiwa,

This week has absolutely flown by, especially because we are working extra hard. At the beginning of last week we learned that Elder Stevenson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles would be coming to visit us on the 22nd of May! Along with this information we received a challenge- that every companionship in the mission would see a baptism before he comes to speak to us. Honestly, my first thought when I looked at the calendar was that we only have three weeks to find someone to be baptized, and we didn't have anyone that we were currently teaching that was very close to receiving baptism. But I am constantly being reminded that this is not the work of man, but the work of God. As we gave all of our time, talents, and abilities to the Lord in trying to find people to teach, we have seen so many miracles, big and small, throughout this week.

I don't think I can even begin to share all the miracles we have seen this week, so I'll just share one experience we had while teaching a less-active member. We didn't have an appointment with the less active, but we knew where he lived, so we decided to see if we could catch him at home. At exactly the same moment we arrived on his street, he pulled up in his truck, just returning from work. We asked him if we could share a quick message with him, and he said that was ok with him. Elder Tanaka decided to show him the Easter video, because he hadn't seen it yet. When he started the video, though, a young girl playing on the street ran up to us, trying to figure out what we were looking at. She unknowingly joined in on our lesson, and watched the video with us. The video was in English with Japanese subtitles, and she was still too young to know how to read, but as the video played, her face broke into a huge smile. She was definitely feeling the Spirit, and I was reminded of the counsel given to us in Mosiah 3:19 to "Become as a child, humble, meek, submissive, patient, and full of love". As the video ended, the first thing this little girl does is to try and give a hug to each one of us, complete and total strangers. When her sister came looking for her, she introduced us as her "very important friends" and as we left, she pleaded with us "don't forget me!" This experience really reminded me of the purity and innocence of a little child, and that when we can humble ourselves to that point, we will be able to feel of our Heavenly Father's love for us. I know that He will never forget us, that He has our best interests at heart. When we choose to trust and follow His guidance, we can begin to become the type of person that He desires for each and every one of us to become. I know these things to be true, and I say them in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, amen.

Love
Winegar長老より

Our important friend, Itoha

4/24/2016 Kurashiki!!

Minnasan konnichiwa!

Sorry that I missed you all last week, but last week was transfers and we had a bit of a crazy day/week! On Monday morning we decided to try and get Elder Madruga's bike fixed, and we had an investigator that offered to do it for free, so we headed over to his place. On the way, though, we received a call from our Mission President, President Welch. (Just to let everyone know, we only ever get transfer calls from Welch kaicho if a missionary becomes a district leader, zone leader, or trainer, so we were pretty scared). It turns out that my companion would be transferring to a nearby area to be the new zone leader! Way to go Madruga! After that news I figured I would stay, but boy, was I wrong. The next day I got a call from the zone leaders saying that I was transferring too. I will be staying in the same zone, but my new area is Kurashiki. The best part is that my companion is... Elder Tanaka! He was in the same zone as me when I first came into the mission, and yes, 100% Japanese. He is from Sendai (Northern Japan) loves to dance, and does so every chance he gets. Literally, every chance- in between knocking on doors while housing, in the morning before study, at night before bed, during mealtimes, you name it. Maybe he'll teach me how to dance, but I don't think I have much hope. We'll see. I'll also get to speak a lot of Japanese this transfer, and I'm hoping to improve a ton with his help.

Anyways, it was way hard to leave Izumo, especially since we weren't able to say goodbye to hardly any of our investigators or members. I love that area so much, and I know that it is going to continue to grow and progress. Oh, I almost forgot the biggest news of all. Elder Madruga was supposed to transfer to a new area, which meant that both of us would be leaving and there would be no Brazilian coming in to replace him, so we were worried that all of our Brazilian investigators would drop. But at the last minute before transfers on Wednesday, we received a call from the Assistants to the President saying that Madruga would not transfer, and that the Zone Leader area would move to Izumo! Way big news, especially since Izumo is still a branch, not even a ward yet. Did I mention I love Izumo! The members there are so awesome, and we have worked really hard to build up our teaching pool, so I think some big things are coming to Izumo soon.

I haven't had much time in my new area yet because we had our Stake Conference this past Saturday and Sunday, so I don't know very many of the members or investigators yet, but I am way excited for the opportunity to work in a new area with new people. I know that I'm going to have to rely on the Lord more than ever this transfer, so that I can communicate with my companion, and so that I can teach and work more effectively. While it is important to study the language and be able to communicate effectively, I am constantly reminded of the fact that as long as I do what I can to speak the things that are put into my heart, the Lord will magnify my words. It seems that those times when I have absolutely no idea how to say what I want to say and still try anyways, those are the times that the Spirit is present the most. I am truly thankful to know that because of the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ, we don't have to be perfect. We are meant to do all that we can do, and then He will make up all the rest. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Winegar長老より

Stake Conference- met up with a recent convert from Kouchi, my first area!

4/19/2016 No letter

Elder Winegar didn't have time to write an email on his pday but did get permission to write a short letter home later. Due to the earthquakes in Japan, he wanted to let us know that his doing well and everything is fine in his area.  He said "we felt only a tiny bit of earthquake this past week, so little that I didn't even wake up during the night.  Everyone was talking about it the next day, though, so I was glad to hear that all the missionaries in Fukuoka were safe." (He has a good friend serving in the Fukuoka mission.)

4/11/2016 General Conference

Minnasan konnichiwa!

I'm sorry to be a week behind everyone, but we were able to watch General Conference this past Saturday and Sunday, and it was amazing! I can say for sure that I know there is a prophet of God on the Earth today, and that he receives revelation to guide us and protect us in these latter days. One of my favorite talks from this past conference was from Elder Holland. I felt the truth of his words as he encouraged us all to look forward to tomorrow with hope rather than fear. The only way we are able to have this hope within us is through relying on the love of our Father in Heaven, and in His Son, Jesus Christ. Elder Holland stated that it is only through that knowledge "burning in our hearts" that "we can have the confidence to keep trying to improve, keep seeking forgiveness for our sins, and keep extending that grace to our neighbor." I hope to have this same knowledge burning in my heart, so that I can continue onward through trials and challenges with a perfect brightness of hope in Christ. I also loved the scripture that he shared in closing, found in Joshua 3:5- “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” I am so excited to see the wonders the Lord will perform, so I am working to sanctify myself!

General Conference and a trip to Okayama for a Zone Training Meeting took up a lot of our time this week, and we also spent a lot of time preparing for an activity this next week, a big Brazilian barbecue! We are trying to get around 50 people to the activity, so there is a lot of preparation for us to do, but I am too excited for this awesome activity to feel stressed about things like preparation or getting enough people to the activity. I'll make sure to take pictures of all the Brazilian meat, because it might be the only real Brazilian barbecue I ever get.

I don't have much else to share from this past week, so I'll share a cool experience we had today. My companion recently was in a little bike accident, and his wrist has been hurting a little, so we made an appointment at the hospital for today. This morning with about 10 minutes left before the appointment, we couldn't find his wallet anywhere. We turned the entire apartment upside-down looking for it, because we wouldn't be able to do anything without his insurance card and foreign residence card. We looked everywhere, but we couldn't find it. We knew that we were running out of time, so we decided to kneel down and pray for help in finding the wallet. We finished the prayer,
started looking around some more, and found the wallet soon after- in a place we had already looked! I know that God hears our prayers, and that He cares about our small concerns. If we will take the time to ask Him for His help, He will always provide it. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Winegar長老より

We had a missionary blitz in Matsue- It was really wet!
(A missionary blitz is a majority of missionaries working in one area to increase investigators. Not much success with so much rain and hardly anyone on the streets to find.)

Matsuyama zone is back together.