The Day!!!

                                        

 

I wake up at 6:29am to the alarm on my cell phone, and roll over in my futon (a sleeping bag but the Japanese use it as a bed). I prop myself up on my knees, find my pen and my spiral and begin to receive revelation for the day -the people we are going to teach, where we need to go, what we need to do in order to have the spirit with us all day. And as the Zone Leader I begin to pray by name for all of the members of the zone. Any revelation that I receive I quickly write down, because I am exhausted and might forget later. I then go to the bathroom or get a drink of water before I begin working out in the study. Sometimes, I can be in the bathroom for a long time, especially when I first got here to Japan and wasn`t used to eating so much rice so I sometimes sang the song, "If you’re driving in a Chevy and feel something heavy... (you can finish the rest)". Next, I workout,.  Usually I will focus on building the muscles in my shoulder so that I can wakeboard again someday. But sometimes we like to run to the top of the castle in the city we are working in, or go the park and do pull ups. When I finish working out I take a shower and sing songs of the restoration, I am trying to do more singing in Japanese, but I don`t want any of my neighbors to understand me, and to think I am a terrible singer. Once I finish drying off, I get into the same white shirt and tie that you see every missionary wearing, and I always love being able to put on my badge. Then we are off to the church to start out studying. 

 

 

We study 1 hour by ourselves, then an hour with our companion, and then an hour of Japanese. It goes by too fast sometimes, I never have enough time to learn everything I want to. 

 

We run home, make some lunch, clean up our mess, and then the day has begun, we are doing missionary work; going to appointments, talking to everyone we see. Sometimes, we get to do activities, like teach English, service projects, play sports with kids or the branch members, go on exchanges with other missionaries, train missionaries, and call others to repentance. 

 

 

When 9:00pm hits we have to be in the apartment, we say a quick prayer and begin to plan the next day; who do we need to visit, call, or text. How do we help this person keep commitments? Who is going to do what in tomorrow`s lessons? We open the area book and fill in anything that was taught that day, so that when we transfer, other missionaries will be able to understand what is going on. Then at 9:30pm, I am following up with some missionaries in my zone talking about their investigators and anyway that I can help them. That phone calls finish around 10pm and then I change into my shorts and t-shirt, write in my journal, and begin my evening prayer, confirming with Heavenly Father that I gave him everything I had that day, then thanking him for the opportunity I have to work here, I then ask for specific blessings that we need, and I always ask him to bless all of you. And as revelation comes to mind I am sure to write it down so that I am able to use it later. Then I turn the fan next to my futon to full blast for two hours, roll over and go to bed.

 

That's my day as a missionary.

 

Love all of you,

Elder Skyler Wilcox

Mission Life in Photos

Everything isn't Bigger in Texas???

Yesterday we went out to house (tract). We have been praying to find someone who could be the stake president for the stake we are working so hard to build here on Shikoku. Not that there is any relationship with money and being a Stake President, but we saw a really nice house way up on a mountain and decided that our Stake President probably lived there. We made it our adventure to get there and along the way we would find his counselors. If we saw a house that looked as if there could be a counselor living in it with a great family that could really strengthen the stake we planned on housing (tracting) it. Well, on our adventure up this to this house way, way, wayyyy up in the mountain we had to cut through some rice fields. 

 

 

 

    

 Rice fields have narrow rows between them that are really peaceful and fun to walk through. They also usually have a great smell of fresh nature. But this time as we were riding through I smelt something that brought back many memories, there is a word for that in Japanese なつかしい (nat-sue-caw-shee). It was a blast of something that I hadn`t smelt in a long time!!! COW MANURE!! But my first thought was where in the world do they get their cow manure?  There are no cows in Japan. And if there was cows in Japan why didn`t I know about it? These thoughts were only in my mind for a little while as my focus went back to finding our counselors for the stake president.  But I was distracted once again, as my eye caught the large glassy eye of a beast on four legs scarfing down some dried corn. And at first I was scared and then hurt as I realized not everything is bigger in Texas. I was in the middle of Imabari, Japan and there standing before me with great posture and elegance was one of the biggest cows I had ever seen in my life. A COWWW!!!!!

 

I slammed on my brakes, almost causing my companion to go diving into the recently tilled rice field next to us. I told him our adventures needed a quick break because I needed to take a picture with these beasts that I had been proud to call friends, back in my cowboy days. As I entered into the barn, I noticed that this cow was not alone, he had his family and his mother in law, as well as the families of all his brothers and sisters. It was a herd of cows, probably the only one in Japan and I had found them!!! In triumph I decided to continue to my missionary service by introducing the Book of Mormon and bearing my testimony to the mama cow that I was told had given birth just 30 minutes prior to my arrival. I congratulated her and said that her family could live forever if they were willing to accept baptism. She showed quite a lot of interest. But her husband tried to stab me with his horns, when I asked what his view was. (Really it was kind of scary, the owner/farmer said be careful with that one it has horns, right as it threw its head at me, but I am all good). I believe we can baptize the whole cow family and that will be a great addition to the primary we so earnestly want to create. HAHA it truly was a fun little adventure. And now I know where my milk comes from that is titled Shikoku. Also it was impossible to get up that mountain, so we decided to use our time more effectively instead to just focus on his counselors for now.

 

 

 

Faith

These past few weeks, our mission president has been asking usto rely on the Lord more. Why? The answer is quite simple, this is His work, these are His Children, and He desires that all of his children return to him. This is the work of their salvation. So why not rely on Him more?

 

We had interviews this last week, and as I talked with President, he asked me to consider what would happen, if I gave everything that I had and didn`t see one baptism my entire mission. I told him that I would either have really strong faith, or I would be really mad and hurt and my faith would take a large hit. We then went on to talk about that it is only natural for people to hold things back - to play things safe so they have something or someone to blame. For example, everyone can probably say if I had actually given it my all in high school I could have gotten a 4.0, no problem. Well then, why didn`t you do it? Was it too hard? What were you afraid of? People, (especially me) lie to themselves so that they don`t have to feel pressure or face  that they might not be good enough. They tell themselves, “oh, if I had just studied a little harder, I think I could have done that.”   So my next question is how bad do you REALLY want it? Not how bad do you think you want it, but how bad do you know you want it? This is what I have been pondering a lot recently. For the past few weeks, we have been seeing one lesson as our number. I know that we haven’t been relying on the Lord as much as we should have been. We were out working, but not with a purpose. As my Dad always says  "WORK must proceed the miracle." How true this statement is, but we must define work.

 

Work - going out to serve the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind and strength BELIEVING that the work will move forward in the Lord`s time.

 

So basically this means we need to build a relationship with the Lord that emulates unwavering faith. How do we do this? This question has been mixed in my thoughts A LOT recently. When it comes to being a True Disciple, I should not be like the boy who dipped his toe in the water and then claimed he went swimming. Wishing to see changes and more "personal success" is good; actually making those changes happen and doing is much better.  We cannot lie to ourselves and say we did give it our all if we only dipped our toe into the water. He asks for all!!! He wants this in every aspect of our lives,.  He wants us to rely on Him entirely. Quoting President Holland, "we can`t possibly do this alone, but we do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you..." He knows everything, he is our creator. We may not know why our situation is the way it is... We may not understand the route our life is taking us... But He does. I as a missionary cannot do this work alone, and neither can any person on this Earth fulfill the purpose of this life alone. "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matt 19:26). I have really come to believe this. Do I have a perfect knowledge of it yet? No way. But as President Uchtdorf stated in his October 2012 Conference talk, "Discipleship is the pursuit of holiness and happiness. It is the path to our best and happiest self." This is a process not an event. We must work daily, all day even when it is hard to show our faith to Heavenly Father. President Uchtdorf continued, telling the story of when he goes on bike rides with his wife he would like to be a little more competitive and a little more faster, but when he mentioned this to his wife she said, "It`s not a race it is a journey! Enjoy the Moment!" Yes there are so many days out here on the mission when I just want the clock to strike 10:30pm so I can ask Heavenly Father to help me and then climb into my warm covers and go so sleep. But why?!? I should enjoy the hardest moments of life. And that`s where the miracle in Imabari comes in to play.

 

These past few weeks, we have been working, getting out with a smile and doing what we are supposed to. We were being missionaries. But our badge says differently... we are supposed to be missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Missionaries for God`s true perfect and restored Church. My companion and I decided that in order to do that we would keep a constant prayer in our heart, and then, so we could remain humble, we prayed after every miracle, and thanked Heavenly Father. The results, four new investigators, and a young man was able to change his Sunday schedule and came to church and accepted a date for baptism. Did my companion and I do that?! Absolutely not!!! We are simply the instruments of the Lord. 

 

This is something I plan to master on my mission, and then continue to live throughout my life, as I raise a family and help raise them through the power of the Lord. Giving it my all and praying for the Lord`s strength. Because with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible. 

 

-Elder Wilcox