November in Pictures and Brighter Days

We're happy to see that Skyler isn't missing out on too many of his favorite things!

 To start off I would like to respond to mom`s question about my emails seeming happier. The answer... the first few months of being out in the field are hard. You have nothing behind you, you honestly feel like this will last forever and you can`t say too much, because the language is extremely difficult. Nobody really wants to talk to you because they see your badge, which in big bold letters says Jesus Christ and for some reason that seems to scare everybody away. Because I could say little to nothing, my mind would wander, and I focused on things like what it’s going to be like to see everyone at the airport when I get home? How much longer is today going to last? Instead of focusing on questions like, how can I be best prepared to answer questions? Or what`s the best way to get somebody`s attention and be able to keep their attention? So the first three months were difficult, struggling with home sickness, missing my freedoms of when I was not a missionary, etc. But now as I do have a little ground to work with, I have experiences behind me that testify that this work is true, I have seen miracles, I have seen really hard days and even hard weeks. I have been rejected many times, but I have learned how to deal with it. I have learned that only through my faith in Heavenly Father can I get through all and anything.  Now, that does not mean that I don`t still have hard experiences but I am learning how to deal with them in better ways. For example, my companion and I got pretty sick this past week (we ate some bad food), but nevertheless we continued to work. We put our faith in the Lord, put smiles on our face and walked around the train stations and neighborhoods for hours trying to make the best of things and do what we are supposed to do as missionaries. Not only were we sick, but a majority of our lessons fell through. We have been merely contacting for the days we were sick. Some may get angry at God for putting them in such a difficult situation. I have grown to know that Heavenly Father gives us hard trials because he loves us.  And there is a difference in believing that and experiencing it. My prayers in the morning and at night have become more meaningful. I pray to Heavenly Father and thank him for these trials. Because through those trials the bright days are so much brighter. We didn`t find any new investigators all week, but we did grow and we talked to a lot of people. There are many things that happen out here that simply cannot be put into words - thoughts and experiences that are personal and cannot be shared. But now that I have a little bit of a footing, and can see what I truly can do, and how simple my task is, I am much happier!!!

I got to go on a kokan this friday to Akashi!! Best day of my life. This is the longest suspension bridge in the world!!! I also got to hang out with all my buddies one last time!!! I love this work!

Transfers are coming...

I taught the employees at my favorite restaurant "hook 'em horns".  I am really going to miss this area!

New Area

The new branch that we are working in has about 13 members, one of which is American!  Because he is from America, we got to have Thanksgiving and I was in charge of cutting the turkeys.  Talk about a blast! There was two of them and I took the first bit and then the American and the branch president also took a turn to finish it all off. We also got to make the piñatas.   I destroyed the last one.  There were so many little kids there and this was their first experience with a piñata.  It was awesome.

 
 

The ward members brought me a costume for the Halloween party.  It was a little on the small side.



So much has happened this week!!! Interviews with president, an investigator`s baptism, and running into Brazilians, Colombians, and many other people from South America, who are ready to hear the gospel, and then a fun Halloween party with the ward.

 



Halloween Party

The weather is getting cold, and we are bundling up. We are living in a constant typhoon.  There has been almost one a week for the past month.  The typhoons haven`t directly hit our area, but we get nailed with a ton of rain!!! That means I got to bust out my super sweet trench coat, which makes me look so much bigger than I actually am, so I can stop almost anybody on the street. 

 



My companion and I also wanted to see if we could live off of $10 each for this entire week, and I am proud to say that we did it!! It was just a lot of rice and some gyoza. Gyoza is a Chinese food similar to pot stickers, but better!!

 

Halloween Party

My Japanese skills took a nice leap and I feel like I am getting closer to where I would like to be. We had a baptism this week, and that was an amazing experience. My favorite part was that even though we explained to our investigator what was going to happen, he wasn`t at all ready to be fully immersed into the water. My companion, who baptized him, basically had to slam him down under the water. We definitely had a fun time teaching him, and it`s a little sad that now we have to step back and let the ward take over. I caught a little glimpse of what it is like for parents to see their kids go off and start their own lives. I felt like my investigator was my kid and now he has grown up and I have to step back and let him figure things out. Even though we still get to be friends, we have to focus our efforts more on bringing many more unto this amazing church.

 



My bike is back!

I had a thought this week that I’d like to share. Here in Japan, the position of a teacher is a very well and highly respected position. The Japanese show the utmost respect to their teacher. While teaching my English class, there would be moments when a lively discussion would be going on, but as soon as I opened my mouth, the room would become quiet as I answered the question. Many followers did the same with Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ answered the questions of life, many would stop discussion among themselves to hear this great teacher speak. This got me thinking about prayer. We teach that prayer is a two-way communication with our Father in Heaven. More often than not, I believe we put most of our focus on what we need to say and fail to take the time to hear what HE would teach us. I do not have to raise my voice for my English students to listen, and neither did Jesus Christ when he taught. Heavenly Father speaks to us in a still, small voice. We all know that Heavenly Father wants to help us succeed and return to live with him in Heaven. Then why not take the time to listen when we say our prayers. "Ask and ye shall receive". This gospel is truly so simple. It brings peace to my heart to know that Heavenly Father, the greatest being that exists, listens to my simple prayer and will take the time to answer me. I challenge whoever is reading this to listen when you finish your prayer, and be ready for the answers to come. 

 I love this work, I love the opportunity to wear the badge. I love you all.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 

Elder Skyler Wilcox

 

What to do when the pedaling gets tough.

Note:  Sorry for the wonky appearance of this week's blog.  The formatting came across in Skyler's email and I can't seem to get rid of it.

Hi,

I loved conference and the reminder that it all comes down to the question, "how much am I willing to sacrifice of myself and go to work?  As Elder Dube said in his talk, "in the sight of the Lord, it is not so much what we have done or where we have been, but much more, where are we willing to go."  I have found this to be true.  And this conference had so many underlying truths that were shared to me.  First, did you notice how diverse the speakers were?  Did you notice that in every talk they mentioned that Heavenly Father loves us?  Heavenly Father wants this work to progress and he needs us missionaries, members, leaders, etc. to share the load of the yoke and move forward.  I too, loved President Uchtdorf's talk, and we actually shared it with an investigator for the lesson, about two hours ago.  It was in Spanish, but it had the same message.  The Lord doesn't care what the tongue, race or nation is.  Everyone needs to hear the gospel and that is what I must do!

 

I have this goal to keep track of one pen for a long time and be able to use up all of its ink. Before my mission I was always losing things and hopefully this will help me become more responsible.

· 

I hope you enjoy my story:

So for the past two weeks, I have really been struggling with riding my bike. It never seems to pick up momentum and it requires me to do lots of pedaling, just to go a short distance. It looked like my back (disc) brakes were rubbing, so I thought that I could just loosen the brakes a little more and be fine. Well, I did it and it helped a little, but it was not the solution.

 

On Thursday we had about an hour bike ride to an appointment, and it was raining.  Being determined to come off my mission with gigantic leg muscles, I kept my gear at the hardest setting and pedaled as hard as I could. Because it was raining I had my rain suit on, which, by the way, doesn`t breathe at all, which results in me being more wet than if I didn`t have my rain suit on. It was so hot, and I was putting in so much effort to keep the bike moving, but we were late and I couldn`t slow down. Of course the entire bike ride I was praying, asking from help, asking that I would receive the strength that I needed to get to where we needed to go. There was many times that I wanted to decrease the gears to an easier setting, but I didn`t want to be a wimp so I kept going. There was no extra strength given, no beam of light shown down to fill me with Heaven`s energy. And once we arrived at the appointment she said that she couldn`t meet today. Ugghhhh!!! I had biked so hard to get to this ladies house, I didn`t receive the strength I had asked for, and I was drenched in sweat, to the point that you could see through my white shirt! And we still had the entire day ahead of us. We decided to grab some lunch at a nearby McDonalds before we started proselyting in the surrounding neighborhoods. I prayed again for what I should do for my bike, the thought came into my mind, that maybe I shouldn`t try to be so tough and be responsible and get it fixed. My companion who can speak Japanese way better than I can, asked the cashier were the nearest bike shop was and after getting directions we started on our way. I don`t think he really understood the directions because 30 minutes later we were lost and I was drenched in sweat again, with crazy cramps in my legs from pedaling so hard. I decided that I was just going to ask someone myself, so after pulling over a gas station, and was told in broken English that my bike doesn`t need fuel, and that gas stations are only for cars (I’m sure he was thinking, “stupid Americans”). I explained my problem, and after talking to his boss he finally gave me the directions to the nearby bike shop (to which we promptly went after biking,  20 minutes back in the direction we had just come from.) After we arrived at the bike shop and had a quick inspection, they came to the conclusion, which I had already figured,  that my bearings were shot, and that my brakes are gone. They need the bike for two weeks or so, so I get a genuine Nihon bike for two weeks. I have attached a picture. Some might ask what have I learned from this experience and I can answer - write things in your journal, because you will always have trials and mistakes in life, when you think the rough times will never end. And it may not be funny in the moment, but once you look back with an open perspective you are able to get a laugh out of most of your trials and mistakes. And oh how I look forward to the next funny story.

 

Skyler

Training Days are Over



The announcement has come, and the mission is basically staying the same.  All the leaders are the same, most people are staying were they are, and that includes me and my companion. So I will enjoy another 6 weeks in the beautiful city of Kakogawa. And my training is done.  I am now a Junior Companion and not a trainee. HOORRAYY!!

 

I don`t have too much to report on this week. We did get to go to an indo curry with an investigator and that was way fun. We got lost in an area with a ton of factories and found a huge supermarket that is cheaper than cheap, basically Costco. We went to Big Boys and that was a weird experience. Everything was Japanese style, so there wasn`t any buns for the burgers, and I still can`t read Kanji, so when I picked the style of my meat I accidently choose rare. In Japan, when you pick rare, you are eating red meat, it was crazy!! But I haven`t gotten sick, so everything is all good. We also almost went fishing with an investigator but he had a job interview so maybe some time in the future. We did a lot of contacting and it is getting cooler, so next week suit season will officially begin. So I will be looking really good in my pictures.





 

Josh (Elder Anderson) looks way happy with his Baptisms. He looks really happy and soo much older in his pictures. I am glad that there are soo many from the ward that are out here serving the Lord. Who has their calls so far? And who all is out on missions? 

 

Love you all,

Elder Wilcox

 

Life is Short and Chingis Han




Chapel

Dang! What a week?  This week just steamed by, which was surprising, and sad. I am slowly realizing the urgency of the work. These weeks seem to go by too quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was writing all of you. And now here I am again, writing to the family about what I did this past week. All in all, I am stoked for General Conference this week. I know it will be a spiritual feast, especially because I will hear it in English.   I love going to Sacrament Meeting and listening to all the teachers in classes but I don`t really understand what is being said. I’m happy knowing that I will be able to listen to the apostles in 2 weeks. We don`t get to listen to General Conference till a week after y’all do, because they spend a week translating it into Japanese. The ward will watch it all together the following Sunday,  as missionaries we will be in a different room, watching it in English. Please don`t spoil anything for me. Have patience and then we can talk about it once I hear it firsthand.

 

To answer your questions -each missionary has his own key to the church building. Most members have a key to the church building when you come to think of it. We come here every morning for personal study and leave the doors open, allowing people to walk in as they please. In our area we are the only missionaries, and each area has their own building. However in our zone leaders area, there are 8 missionaries, so they take turns throughout the day on their two computers. Some areas don’t have computers in their church so they go to an internet cafe and email from there. Most missionaries spend about 2 hours on their email. The older missionaries don’t feel as attached to email anymore, and they spend about 45 minutes tops. Then they just read articles on LDS.org. After emailing, we run and grab groceries and then clean the apartment. We have about 6 hours to do whatever, until we hop back into the trenches and go to work. Sometimes if there is something cool in the area, we go to that and take pictures however in Kakogawa there is nothing cool. It is kind of like Cedar Park, it’s a nice city but has nothing cool. So we just hang out in the apartment, write letters, sleep, study, listen to talks, or we will go out and shop and get other things done.

 

Cool stories of the week:




MTC Companion

I got my hair cut by one of our investigators. He is way awesome, and is from Chile. He speaks great Spanish but not very much Japanese or English. So teaching him is fun and challenging. He did a really good job! The next day, we went on a 2 hour train ride to Okayama to listen to the Mission President train the trainers and trainees. The train ride was soo cool, I got to see  a side of Japan, that I thought only existed in movies, like mountains with trees that grow off the side, that have huge vines hanging down. It was so beautiful, and I am sorry but the train was so packed that I wasn`t able to get any pictures. I got to see my MTC companion, and that was such an awesome treat. We compared pictures of us when we first got to the MTC and to pictures of us now.  In that short amount of time the mission has had an effect and we definitely look older. Later that day went to an all you can eat BBQ, with an investigator of ours who is Mongolian. HE is AWESOME!! He taught us about his culture, and that Genghis Khan is actually called Chingis Han. He is also way goofy, and couldn`t stop playing with the fire. I don`t think I have ever laughed so hard in my life. Other than that the work is going forward and I am having a blast and am super anxious for the cold weather to settle in.

 



This week during Sacrament meeting, when it was time the first speaker there was a bit of scuffling around, which piqued my curiosity. Chairs were moved, a microphone was brought out front, and the room went completely silent. Then an old man around the age of 86, wheels his wife (who is in a wheel chair) to the front of the room. He proceeds to pull a chair around and sits by her to hold the microphone while his wife gives her talk. She starts off with a huge smile, says good morning, asks how everyone is doing, and gives her talk with an enthusiastically, chipper attitude. It was then that I remembered that the husband is in my advanced English class and that he often talks about all that he had been through in his life. He said that he was reading the newspaper and that the average male dies at age 87 in Japan. He told me that his birthday was coming up, and that death is around the corner. Immediately the entire class, disagreed, telling him that he is very healthy and that he will live until he is 100. Of course he just sat there and smiled but said nothing. He and his wife, are always very happy and loving to everyone. He told me to take advantage of my life. He told me that it goes by sooo fast. He told me about when he was younger that he grew up with very little money on a farm. He said that his life experience made him who he is today. He taught himself English. He has done soo much!! We need to remember that life is short. That we need to cherish it. So many people here in Japan are old and super healthy. They take a lot of pride in that. However, they don`t understand, and some choose not to understand, that there is something after this life. This week especially I have realized the importance of my job as a missionary who can teach these people that there is something more. You can be happy and live with your family, and your hard work isn’t for nothing.  It all has meaning beyond this life.  I love being a missionary!

Care Package from home

 

- Elder Wilcox

 

  

"Do I know this place?"

 
 
 

Token photo of food

 

What did I do this week? I'm glad you asked!

What did I do this week? I am glad you asked! I believe the more appropriate question is what I didn`t do this week! So many random things happened this week. Starting with people leaving in the middle of lessons, because they decided then and there that they didn`t want to hear our message anymore. We had people who were begging to learn how to pray and we hope to be able to put on the fast track to baptism. We had many people talk to us, and we had many people that as soon as they saw our badge took off running. We had bike problems, and got lost a couple of times. We even jammed out to a little, “Country Road”. But all in all, the Lord`s hand was in the work and we had a great week.

 

Bike problems - it was Thursday night, after a good weekly planning session at the church and I was turning my key to unlock my bike, when all of the sudden, "SNAP!"  The key broke inside the lock! We attempted to remove the lock with a pair of hedge clippers (my companion`s idea), of course that didn`t work. Haha, so we talked to the member who was in the building, practicing his singing. And he told us that it would be about a 20 minute walk to get to a place that would have the tools we would need. Well we didn`t exactly understand his Japanese too well, but we thought we got the idea of where we needed to go. I picked the bike up, set it on my shoulder and we made the 10 minute walk home, where I parked my bike and we continued to walk to the store. On our adventure, we had a blast talking about friends on missions, and my companion told stories of what he has done so far. After a while we found that the instructions he was gave us were leading us to a pretty sketchy place. So after a little prayer was said, we decided to head back and see if we had possibly passed it or if we could find something else. First we found McDonalds, and then we found a bike store that we were able to go to the next day to get the lock removed.

  

 

 
 

Jammin’ out to a little "Country Road" - There is a restaurant here that is all about cowboys, and we went in the other day to visit with a less active member who is from America. This guy is a liaison, so he is very good with people. There was a little trio concert at the front of this small restaurant, and all of the sudden they start singing in English. The member recognized the song and chimed in. Soon enough he was dancing around the room with the microphone, singing American songs. Apparently the drummer and the guitarist were also familiar with English songs. Then the crowd (all Japanese) wanted to sing “CountryRoad”. And they all know the lyrics!! The member starts singing and everyone is singing along. Of course we feel as awkward as can be, because they want us to sing too since we are American. And the member comes up and sticks the microphone in our faces. First of all I don`t know the lyrics and second of all I hadn`t practiced so my vocal cords were a little off. He told me the words to say and my voice totally cracked sending the entire crowd into a riot, but it was okay because my companion`s voice cracked as well. My companion and I had a blast though, and that will definitely be a night that I will never forget from my mission.

 

Thank you all for the wonderful support, I appreciate the letters that I have received and I was able to write back to most of you, so hopefully your received my letters. I know this church is true! I know that Thomas S. Monson leads it, under the direction of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I support and sustain all church authorities, and I know that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God. The Book of Mormon, isn`t just a book we have been commanded to read, it is a book of answers to some of life`s most difficult challenges and questions. I love it and read it every chance I get! Please do the same and read it as much as possible.

 

Love y`all,

Elder Wilcox

A member gave us some early Halloween candy

 

Colonel Sanders Accepts a Book of Mormon

A lot happened this week, including a lot of travel. Last preparation day, we were all over the place just trying to find a bank that would allow us to exchange our American money for Japanese money. It was madness. The next day, I went to Himejii, which is the best finding place in the mission. I went to Himejii because my trainer is the district leader. The missionary that I was paired up with is from my same group that came to Japan from the MTC. We are both trainees. It was soo fun, going around, we had a goal to talk to 100 people, and set up five lessons. Through that experience I realized how much of the language I actually knew. I was talking to these people for 5 to 10 minutes. Needless to say, Heavenly Father needs his work to move forward so he was not going to let the language get in the way. We were able to talk to exactly 100 people before our trainers came back. And we set up 4 lessons for Himejii, and we met someone that lives in Kakogawa and set up a lesson with him as well. Later that week, I got to go on an exchange with our zone leader, so that he could interview one of our investigators for baptism. Our zone leader, was my zone leader in my last area, and he is a crazy Nihongin that loves missionary work. We did a lot of contacting, and I was able to receive some valuable advice from him.

 

We went to stake conference this week, and it was so amazing to see all the missionaries there, and the youth of the stake. The youth sang some songs, and being able to sing with the Japanese, is extremely special and dear to my heart. Their songs are a little different than ours, instead of saying a word for each note, you say a character of the word, so several notes create a word. It is really pretty and very powerful. All in all, the work is continuing to move forward, I`m healthy.  Even if our rice was infested with bugs, it still tasted good with a little mamadofu sauce poured on top.

 

 I love you all, and always remember to fight on the Lord`s side, because in the end, He is the one who will be victorious.

- Elder Wilcox

  

I thought that the KFC guy could use a Book of Mormon, he was a little quiet, but when I asked him to be baptized, his smile was enough confirmation. And yes, there are cowboys in Japan!!!

Typhoons and Fried Brains

Here is the story of my week:

 

It was a fantastic week!  Like every week out in the mission, we study in the morning at the church, head back to the apartment have a quick lunch and then get out to go to work, from 1 till about 9. We try to talk to as many people as we possibly can. Our techniques include:  slamming the brakes on our bikes, waving people down, sometimes I use my size to get in a person’s way just so that they will look up from their phone for a minute so we can share our message. We get a lot of people waving us off, many saying it doesn`t relate to them, or businessmen who says they’re too busy. Do we let this ruin our day?!? NO WAY!!! We instead look for some high school kid to go talk to, because they are always way genki (enthusiastic) and want to say the three things they know in English. So basically our week was a lot of rejection and contacting. However we were able to have a lesson with a lady at her genkan (front porch) and she said that she would like to hear more, so we will be hopefully finding some time to visit her again in this coming week.

  

With this nonstop contacting, my language is improving really quickly. But, because the word order in Japanese is a little different than English, it takes a ton of brain power. For example; Jesus Christ died for our sins on the Cross. In Japanese would be Jesus Christ cross on our sins for died. Muzukashii ne? Pretty difficult, don`t you think? After 4 hours or so, my brain is just fried. To heal our fried brains we love to go to a convenie (convenient store) and grab my favorite waffle chocolate ice cream. And then get right back out into the trenches. I honestly love it, just like every other missionary! The best part, is when an investigator who has taken all the lessons for years and won`t come to church, finally comes to church. The feeling that you have is indescribable. We have an investigator that we plan to have baptized in the next two weeks, who has been taking lessons for years, and he finally came to church again yesterday. So exciting!! 

 

The wards are amazing!! They work so hard to make sure that everything is getting done. Because they all live so far from each other, the members will usually be at the church for another 3 to 4 hours after church for home teaching, and other meetings. They clean the church and take care of it really well. They have great lessons, and they have wonderful members.   I had to give another talk in church yesterday. I spoke for 10 minutes.  I had no idea what I was saying, but I was pronouncing everything very well, it was flowing off my tongue and I didn`t put anyone to sleep this time.

 

What is my language study like? I read a lot!!! I made the challenge with Fudge that I would read the Book of Mormon in Japanese while he reads through the standard works, and we'd see who finished first.  I read the Book of Mormon out loud everyday. It takes me about 10 minutes to read a page. however my reading skills are increasing, but I don`t always understand what I am reading.

 

Anyway, everything is going splendid out here in Japan. Saw a lot of rain this past week, and that is why I am sending the picture of what happens to two missionaries when they don`t wear their rain suits. 

 

Love you all,

Elder Wilcox

P.S.   Thank you to those who have taken the time to write to me.  I love the letters and hope that at some point my preparation day will lighten up, so I have time to write everyone back!

Our kitchen - yes, I know we have dishes to do!

  

 



 

Head Bumps and the Power of the Ocean

 

 

I have arrived in my new area and things feel completely different than my first area. Everything seems so much smaller. My companion is about 5 foot 4 and our apartment is about half the size of my last apartment. The doorways are only 6 feet tall, so I keep smashing my head. When I was younger, I always thought it would be way cool to be able to reach the top of the door frame with your head. Yeah, I really don`t feel that way anymore, especially when you wake up at the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and in a half daze you make your way to bathroom, just to be smacked across the forehead by a two by four. I am slowly getting used to it, and can`t help but laugh every time that it has happened. Our church building on the other hand is really large, it has two floors.  We have a great ward that I hope, through the Lord`s help, I will be able to make even bigger.

 

Last week, because we knew our area was being whitewashed, we wanted to teach everyone one more time before we left. We biked from 8 in the morning till 9 at night. We had to skip study twice, just so that we could make sure the area was ready for the next  set of missionaries. We woke up at 4am the day of transfers and wrote down everyone`s information and anything else that the new missionaries could possibly need. We also left them with a sparkling clean apartment and a ton of food. The new missionaries are a trainer and a brand new trainee from the MTC, so I hope that they both felt very comfortable. I remember my first few days out in the mission, I was terrified. So I hope that seeing that he is taken care of, will help him realize that even though this work is hard, it can be very rewarding and you gain a lot of experiences from it.

 

 

We got the opportunity to go to the ocean the other day, and my goodness, was that a treat.  The power of the ocean and the calming crash of the waves deepened my understanding of what it means to be a missionary. I thought of how Heavenly Father created the ocean, and how the ocean has a ton of power. Heavenly Father also created everything else in the world, he knows each and everyone of us individually. He is all powerful and all knowing, so why couldn`t he gather all the people that wanted to hear our message right outside our apartment. He could definitely do that! However he needs us as missionaries to be willing to go out and do the hard work, take the constant rejection, day after day, so that we can grow to appreciate Him and his message more. Always remember that Heavenly Father can do all things, however he only does things according to his will. But if we ask, we can receive of his help. It may not be the way you expect it, but he is always helping. For example, I was a little uneasy about moving into a new area and I asked Heavenly Father to help me. I wasn`t exactly sure how he would help me, but later that day my companion made an unexpected decision and we ended up at the ocean. I needed that peace and comfort and I think I got the right angle and I waved at home. Always remember that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ wait right outside the door to help, and as soon as you ask and open the door for them to come in, they will quickly enter your lives and bless you in ways you would never have expected.

 

Keep it up, talk to you next week,

Elder Wilcox