Elder and Sister Aoyagi Mission Tour Conferences - October 2010

Elder and Sister Aoyagi of the Seventy toured the mission in October. We held conferences in three locations. Kobe, Okayama and Abeno Osaka (Above).
Okayama
Kobe
Sister Aoyagi knows Sister Murdock's grandmother who is from Japan and so we visited the sisters and got a picture to show grandma! Sister Gyobu is pictured with her companion Sister Murdock.

New Areas, New Missionaries and a New Mission!

Mission Tour to the Shikoku Member Districts and the Okayama Stake

The end of June we set out to meet our new missionaries and explore the new areas of the mission. With the consolidation of the Hiroshima Mission into Kobe and Fukuoka, the Kobe Mission took over two member districts on Shikoku (9 Branches) and the Okayama Stake (10 Wards and Branches). We added 19 units and 32 missionaries. Below is map of just a small piece of Shikoku. We came across the island in the upper right hand corner to Tokushima.

We set out on Sunday morning and visited the small branch of Sumoto on the island of Awaji (part of the Kobe Stake). We enjoyed speaking in sacrament meeting and visiting with the members. After church we headed towards the forth largest island in Japan, Shikoku to see our new area. The following is a travelogue of our week. We travelled over 1500 kilometers (over 1000 miles) in six days, held 4 Zone Conferences and interviewed all 32 new missionaries during the trip. We also saw some beautiful cities, churches and countryside.Tokushima Church - Sunday afternoon we arrived at the church in Tokushima. We found the sisters there teaching a lesson and introduced ourselves to them. They were surprised to see us. We also met District President Korida and the Tokushima Branch President at the church.It was a good chance to take a picture with some of our leaders in the district.Takamatsu Church (District Center) - We then drove to Takamatsu where we would hold our conference and interviews Monday morning. We stayed the night in a hotel here and met up with the assistants and office missionaries who came from Kobe in the other van Monday morning.During our zone conference, the members in Takamatsu made everyone a delicious lunch. Here is picture a of the Takamatsu Zone missionaries. They are now part of the new Kobe Mission!Marugame Church - Conference and interviews lasted until about 4pm. We left Takamatsu sometime around 5pm and headed for Matsuyama clear across Shikoku. On the way, we had the chance to stop in Marugame to see the brand new chapel there.
Marugame is located in Kagawa Prefecture and Kagawa is famous for Udon Noodles. Of course the elders wanted to try some. So dinner on the road was in Kagawa at this noodle shop. Although it was getting dark, between Matsuyama and Marugame lies the Niihama Branch. There has not been missionaries there for about 6 months and we are sending some in next week. So we needed to find the apartment and make sure it was set up for our elders to arrive.We first located the little church and got a picture as best as we could in the dark. Niihama Branch - The apartment was also located and in good condition. So we continued our drive to Matsuyama. We finally arrived and went to our hotel while the elders joined the Matsuyama Missionaries in their apartment. It was a little crowded so they tell me.
Matsuyama Church (District Center) - The next morning, Tuesday, we met at the church and held a great conference and interviews.

Here are the missionaries from the Matsuyama areas. Welcome to the Kobe Mission!More wonderful food prepared by the members. The missionaries do not go hungry out here!Wednesday was our big travel day from Shikoku across the inland sea to Honshu (or the main island of Japan), and across Honshu to Yonago which lies on the coast of the sea of Japan (Okayama Stake). We figured it would be a 6 hour drive and since we had no preparation day that week we took the morning to see some of the sites in our new area before heading out.We visited Matsuyama Castle on Wednesday morning. It is one of the nicest castles I have visited and has a spectacular view of the city and sea. The elders loved the chair lift that takes you up to the castle on the mountain.Here we are inside the castle walls posing for a picture. Here is a view of Matsuyama city from inside the castle. The rumors that Shikoku is the countryside and there are no people to share the gospel with are not true. We found Tokushima, Takamatsu, Marugame and Matsuyama to all be quite large cities. We look forward to sharing the gospel here.
After the morning tour of the castle, we headed towards Imabari, the last branch we planned to visit on Shikoku as we made our way to Yonago.
Imabari Church - Imabari is a smaller city up towards the inland sea of Japan. We had lunch there before catching the freeway over the islands back to Honshu.The drive back to Honshu was quite amazing. Several islands in the inland sea are connected by a series of bridges that connect Shikoku to Honshu. We finally arrived in Yonago just as it was getting dark. Again the elders went to the apartment and we retired to our hotel near the church.Yonago Church - The next morning, Thursday, we again held zone conference and interviewed all the missionaries. Welcome to the new Kobe missionaries from this zone.
After interviews and the conference, we offered to drive the sisters back to their area, Kurayoshi, before travelling back down to Okayama for the night. The drive to Kurayoshi from Yonago takes you along the Sea of Japan. Wind off the sea is common thus this area of Japan has some of these big windmills to generate power.
The Kurayoshi church, a branch, is out in the country. The proud Kurayoshi Sisters. Sisters Matsuda and Fujiwara in front of the church.
Here are the assistants, Elders Monson and Masui at the entrance to the Kurayoshi church. After dropping off the sisters and also inspecting their apartment (which was clean) we headed for Okayama. We stopped for dinner at a family restaurant and finally made it to Okayama around curfew time for the elders. Okayama Stake Center - The Okayama Stake Center is quite large and sits next to the former mission home and offices of the old Okayama Mission. We still use the large missionary apartment there as a place for missionaries to stay when traveling. Parts of the old mission home are also currently used by the stake and for other church offices.We had a wonderful conference in Okayama and interviewed all our new missionaries. Welcome to the Okayama Zone!
Before leaving Okayama, we drove across town to see the Okayama Nishi Ward building.Saturday, after the assistants returned to Kobe, Sister McIntyre and I visited another church in the Okayama Stake (in a big rain storm), Tsuyama, where we attended a very nice baptism with the elders there.

Elders Maxfield and Burhoe baptized Sister Nakagawa. This was the first baptism for us to attend in the new part of the mission. What an amazing week it was. The pictures here really do not do our trip justice. We are so excited to work with these additional missionaries in these wonderful areas of Japan. After arriving home in Kobe, we had little time to rest as we needed to prepare for our Zone Leader Council and our special all Mission Conference - Blog update coming soon!

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.