It is New Year's Eve here in Japan and we have a holiday sports activity and zone conferences starting tomorrow. Here is a copy of our message in this transfers newsletter.
Dear Kobe Missionaries,
How wonderful it is to start out this New Year with all of you here in Japan serving the Lord. We have just had a wonderful end of the year celebrating the birth of our Savior and seeing the most convert baptisms in a single month since the mission reopened over a year and a half ago. What a blessing it was to see so many people come unto Christ this wonderful time of year. And several were actually baptized on Christmas day. It truly was a white and wet Christmas in the Kobe Mission.
Many missionaries experienced the first baptisms of their mission this past month. How I desire each missionary in the mission to have the opportunity to be a part of that wonderful conversion process culminating with one of God’s beloved children entering the waters of baptism. Our purpose is to find, teach, baptize, confirm and establish the church in Japan. We have made great progress in fulfilling this purpose in the past several months. But we can and will gradually learn to do even better. We have emphasized the importance of baptism to all of you. This is how people repent and come unto Christ. Mormon taught the “first fruits of repentance is baptism.” (Moroni 8:25) Baptism is central to our purpose as missionaries. We must continue to emphasize its importance and help all those we teach understand that it is the gate that all must enter.
However, “your success as a missionary is measured primarily by your commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the church who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost.” (See PMG p. 10) I think all missionaries want to baptize. I certainly hope you all do! But you must remember that the number of baptisms you have does not make you a successful missionary. A successful missionary is fully committed to being a "Preach My Gospel Missionary." According to Preach My Gospel, a successful missionary will:
- Feel the Spirit testify to people through him
- Love people, including his companion and desire their salvation
- Obey with Exactness (all the commandments and mission rules)
- Live to have the Spirit and know how to follow the Spirit.
- Develop Christlike Attributes.
- Work effectively everyday.
- Help build the church wherever they are assigned to serve.
- Warn others of the consequences of sin.
- Teach and serve other missionaries.
- Go about doing good and serving others.
So as we begin a New Year here in the mission, I ask all of you: Are you a successful missionary? Do you obey with exactness? Does this list of characteristics above describe you? When we truly become Preach My Gospel Missionaries and are fully committed to our purpose, we will feel the Spirit, love our missions, love our companions and the Japanese people, and be successful missionaries. And in many cases, baptisms will follow as a natural result.
Let us continue to have faith and hope, two of the attributes of Christ, to see an increase in the harvest. But in doing so, we must remember that people have the agency to choose whether to accept our message.
“Your responsibility is to teach clearly and powerfully so they can make a correct choice. Some may not accept our message even when they have received a spiritual witness that it is true…You should not, however, become discouraged; discouragement will weaken your faith…and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit…When you do your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself.” (PMG pp. 10-11)
As we begin a New Year, it is my prayer that
each of you will recommit to be a Successful Missionary. Success is a choice. When we choose to be a Preach My Gospel Missionary we start to choose success.
I testify to each of you that the Lord has given us the tools and a plan to follow.
When we use the tools and follow the plan, we will be successful. As a mission we will continue to focus on fulfilling our purpose and inviting people to repent through baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost. And I know that as we do this, the harvest will increase and each of you will be not only happier, but wonderfully successful!
Much Love,
President and Sister McIntyre
Each sister received an "I Love Kobe" apron. Right before lunch everyone signed each others aprons. The morning consisted of talks and training by the President and Sister McIntyre and in the afternoon each sister companionship trained the others sister on a missionary principle from Preach My Gospel.
Apron signing
Happy sisters!
Preparing lunch at the mission home.
Eating lunch at the mission home.
It was a wonderful day with the sisters.
We also celebrated a few birthdays this month. Elder Bowman serves in Kobe and got a cookie.
January is mochi pounding month. The Kobe Ward makes mochi each year to welcome the new year. This year President took a turn at pounding while Sister McIntyre sets it.
Well if you've ever wondered if we have snow in the mission, the following pictures should answer that question. This year we have had a lot up on the Japan Sea side of the mission.
These pictures were taken as we entered Tottori prefecture on the way to Yonago.
At interviews in Takamatsu we celebrated a birthday with Elder Emery.
And back in Kobe Sister Wajima had a birthday too.
The first week of January we held our monthly Zone Leader Council in Kobe.
The first Sunday of January we started out the year by visiting a baptism in Tokushima for 87 year old Sister Ono.
On New Year's Day we had a sports activity in Ibaraki and a few of our former missionaries came to see us.
The year ended on a great note with December being our highest month for baptisms since the mission reopened over three years ago. We are confident 2011 will be a great year in the Kobe Mission.
These two elders knew each other before their missions and were actually very good if not best friends. I am not sure if they ever thought they would be companions, but what a special experience it was for them to teach and baptize this sister together. They will have a great story to tell to the ward back home. There is much more to this story, but I will just say it is really one of the great little miracles we see everyday in the mission. 
Above, the assistants, Elders Bohman and Rasmussen doing one of those acts of service for the president. Washing the president's van is something the missionaries never complain about doing, even when it is pretty cold out!
We tried to get a shot of Mt. Fuji from the car. Here you can see the volcano cone peaking through the clouds on the left side. The summit of Mt. Fuji is nearly 14,000 feet. It is the highest point in Japan. 
