Elder Oaks Special Conference - February 2010

This week Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Twelve visited Osaka and Kobe. He was accompanied by his wife Sister Kristen M. Oaks. Elder and Sister Stevenson, Asia North Area President, and Elder and Sister Ishii, both of the Seventy also joined us in Kansai for two wonderful meetings. The first meeting, held in Ibaraki, Osaka North Stake, was an adult member meeting. President and Sister Kido of the North Stake met us at the airport where we picked up Elder and Sister Oaks and our other visitors and transported them to the stake center. Before the meeting we had the opportunity to join the visiting authorities and all 5 Stake Presidents and their wives for dinner. The member meeting was wonderful and well attended with well over 700 in attendance. Before Elder Oaks addressed the members, we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Stevenson, Elder Ishii and Sister Oaks. Sister Oaks served a mission in Sendai Japan and the members enjoyed hearing her share part of her message in Japanese. Elder Oaks gave some wonderful counsel directed specifically to the members in this region of Japan. After the meeting we transported them to their hotel in Kobe.
The next morning we were blessed to have Elder Oaks preside at a special conference for the Japan Kobe Mission. The meeting was held at the Kobe Stake Center adjacent to the Mission Home and Offices. We had all one hundred plus missionaries in attendance. We were very happy to also have all 5 Stake Presidents and their wives and our Member District President as well as my counselors attend with us. It says a lot about their commitment to working with us to move the work forward here in the Kobe Mission.
To begin the morning, Elder and Sister Oaks personally greeted each missionary in the mission. Elder Oaks asked that I conduct the meeting and the speakers in order were Sister McIntyre, myself, Elder Stevenson, Sister Oaks, Elder Ishii and Elder Oaks. Elder Stevenson taught us about the importance of helping people come unto Christ through making commitments. Elder Oaks spoke on several topics, but one that stood out for many of the missionaries was the concept of ITL (Invite To Learn). Missionaries are taught to open their mouths. He taught us that that is not enough. We need to invite to learn. We also had time for questions from the missionaries. After the meeting Elder Oaks commented to me about how impressed he was with their questions. The missionaries asked appropriate and difficult questions to which Elder Oaks answered through his experiences, understanding of the gospel and the promptings of the Spirit. At one point in the meeting he shared with the missionaries a very personal spiritual experience that he said he had never shared with anyone before. The missionaries of the Kobe Mission received great counsel and wisdom from an apostle of the Lord.
After the meeting we were able to enjoy lunch with Elder and Sister Oaks and our other visiting authorities at the mission home. After lunch we had a short tour of the mission offices and we were off to the train station.
It was a wonderful few days in the Japan Kobe Mission.

May 2009 Mission Tour

Elder Stevenson, of our Area Presidency, and Sister Stevenson conducted a mission tour this past week and instructed and taught us in two separate conferences.

Two conferences were held. One in Ibaraki for half of the mission...

...and the other in Kobe for the other half of the mission. All missionaries in the mission attended at least one of the conferences. Among many things, we learned some foundational principles of missionary work (Obedience, Diligence and the Spirit). During the afternoon of both conferences, he led the missionaries in an in-depth study of 2 Nephi chapters 2 and 9. They were amazing meetings and much was learned and re-learned about the doctrines of the atonement, the resurrection, the plan of salvation, and the law found in these chapters.

Not related to the mission tour, but we just got a shot of the spring festival parade that went right in front of the church and the mission home. Many believe these portable shrines, that are carried with two poles running parallel along each side, are symbolic of (or originated from) the Israelites carrying the Ark of the Covenant before them into battle. That is speculation, but one of the many really interesting similarities between ancient Israel and the traditional Japanese Shinto religion. This shrine was so big it was supported by wheels underneath. Most are smaller.

We did not get to attend, but Elders Varjao and Kurose sent in a picture of Sister Utsumi's baptism from the Kakogawa Ward in the Kobe Stake.

All Mission Conference!

On March 11, 2009, we held an all mission conference in Ibaraki, Osaka for about three hours and welcomed Elder Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder Evans of the Seventy with their wives to our mission. I did not have the picture when I made the last post so I waited until I could post it. So this shot is something special as we do not have all the missionaries together at once very often. This is the Japan Kobe Mission! It will be hard to see every one's faces, but all the missionaries are there. I think if you can count them there are 104 missionaries plus 2 stake presidents our visiting authorities and their wives and Sister McIntyre and me. Each missionary will get a nice print out of this picture when they return home.

Mission Pictures

Two weeks ago we had Elder and Sister Evans conduct a mission tour. We held two combined zone conferences. Below are the pictures from those two conferences. These are all our missionaries. Can you parents find your missionary?Above is the conference in Kobe. Below is the conference held in Abeno.We had four Elders miss the picture in Abeno due to riding the wrong train so we took one with them separately below.

Elder Evans Mission Tour and Maizuru Sunday Visit

The Kobe Mission had a wonderful week with Elder and Sister Evans, the Asia North Area President and his wife, conducting a tour of the mission from Monday October 20th through Wednesday October 22nd. We held combined zone conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday in Kobe and Abeno respectively. All missionaries attended one of the conferences.

It is a wonderful experience to spend several days with a general authority of the church being taught, instructed and uplifted. Much of our instruction focused on how to use the Book of Mormon and help people commit to read and pray about it. Elder Evans also focused on "finding when you teach and teaching when you find." I know the missionaries felt a wonderful spirit and came away with a renewed energy and commitment to apply what was taught. We love Elder and Sister Evans and appreciate all their council and support.

Most all day Saturday was spent in Ibaraki (Osaka) where Sister McIntyre and I were asked to speak to, and train, about 60 future missionaries with Elder Yamashita, one of our Area Authority Seventies here in Japan, and President Kido of the Osaka North Stake. It was a wonderful day. The Kobe Mission provided about 30 missionaries in the afternoon who went proselyting for a few hours with all the attendees. This annual event is coordinated through the Institute and the local stakes.

Early Sunday morning Sister McIntyre and I were off to Maizuru clear across the country along the Sea of Japan to visit the Maizuru Branch.The church is located in the building above on the 2nd floor. As you can see there is book and video store below us. In the picture below, Sister McIntyre is pointing to the sign in front of the building which shows the name of the church. It is the top white sign written in Japanese. Not sure what the bottom sign is all about. But we do think there is a lot of "wisdom" taught in the building every Sunday!

Above: Sister McIntyre and Elders Taketomi and Castleton standing in front of the church doors. The Maizuru Branch had 2 investigators attend today and counting us that brought the sacrament meeting attendance to 13. They do have 2 baptisms scheduled for December. The Branch President is a wonderful young man (return missionary) in his thirties. It was a great day getting to know all the members there and speaking to them and learning with them in Sunday School and the other meetings. Maizuru is home to a Japanese Naval Base and other than that it seems to be basically made up of several small fishing and mountain villages. The two non-members who came to church were both Japanese sailors stationed there. They both had a keen interest in what was taught and were very friendly and likable and said they would come again. These small branches are precious. The members that attend are wonderful. I am still seeking for guidance on how we can better support them.

After church we drove past the port and Japanese Naval Base and found a small village called Mihama located on the back side of a mountain opposite the port facing the Sea of Japan. We stopped to take a picture as we went over the mountain. It was cool and rainy all morning, but cloudy and only threatening more rain in the afternoon. Mihama Mura is down by the sea.I made it a point to walk out on the beach and touch the water. We went from coast to coast and back today. The Sea of Japan faces China and Korea. The mission home in Kobe looks out over the inland sea and Pacific Ocean towards North America.We met a very kind grandma in the village as she was cutting flowers and tending her garden. She told us she was born on Christmas Eve and her father, who was Christian, died on Christmas Eve as well. We shared with her some materials and she gave Sister McIntyre some flowers. You can see a persimmon tree in the background. We saw many growing in the valley there. In the fall the leaves drop but they leave the fruit on the trees to sweeten. Grandma told us she had about 30 wild monkeys down in her garden yesterday raiding the trees. We wish we could have seen that.

These persimmons, called kaki in Japanese, come in a few varieties. Some are not sweet and are only good to eat when dried. You can see below someone drying some kaki by hanging them from their porch.Below is one of the trees nearly picked clean by the monkey thieves.We also snapped a shot of the Daikon Radishes being dried by a local resident as we drove through the village.Here are some more pictures from the Maizuru area...