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.

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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