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
