Busy, Mrs. Silkwood

This week i don't have a lot of time... Sorry!!!

So here are some cool updates on my life:

I have been working on improving my exercise schedule lately and have

been super sore :-) I hope that means it is working!

We are working with Kuriyama 兄弟 and he seems to be doing well,

hopefully we can get him baptized this month!we went out to eat sushi

win him and the sisters. 

This is him and my goofy companion.

And this is a crepe with shrimp and rice inside, topped with mayonnaise and fish eggs, it actually wasn't too bad!

We had a summer festival on Saturday, during which I was able to see Meet the Mormons for the first time. That was cool! We also ate squid and mochi, and dressed in kimono's. 
This was a pop drinking contest:)

It was a good week. I went to the mission home on Monday to receive a training on training. Elder Stennett is on the phone right now with the Assistants...

Oh, my new companion is named Bergner  straight from the MTC.

It will be a good week! I am looking forward to it!

My love to all!


Please send my regards to the Silkwood family. Maybe you could tell
them thank you through the Hunters. Gavin is good friends with her son
Jake. I am sure they are hurting right now. I will be praying that
missionaries better than me will be sent to her, to teach her the
restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She will one day have a body that
will no longer be corrupted. She can find rest. I will see her again.
She was so kind to me. I will always remember her. One time she put
chocolate on my desk when she saw that I was having a stressful day.
One time when I was upset and hurt because of things that were said,
she shared her own very personal experiences with me, and in that way
let me know she loved me and cared for me. every time I got a good
score on a paper in her class I knew I had done something worth being
proud of. I loved to please her. She was kind to me even when my
opinions were sharp or unpolished, and smiled when I did. She looked
forward to seeing her students come and visit her on homecoming or
prom. I loved her, and will miss her. I was looking forward so much to
just going back to her classroom and talking just a little bit with
her. Send my best to her family.
Elder Bevan
iPadから送信

Answers

First of all, to answer Questions, no I do not need anything, my clothes are holding up great, i haven't quite done the BYU application, my companionship is going great (Elder Pettit is one of the best), the hardest part of the mission is when I forget to rely on the Grace of Jesus the  Christ. My favorite part is relying on Him, because then I know that I do God's work. The worst thing I have eaten is... um.... a nato, okra, and small little fishes, sandwich. But even that I could handle just fine. My favorite people!? I cannot choose favorites! I will just name a few names that I think I will always want to remember. Matano Kazoku, Ohira Kazoku, Kogachi Kazoku, Mallen Choro, Miyagi Kyodai, Egawa Shimai, Tung Kyodai, Zhan Kyodai, Miyase Bishoppu, Akiyama Kyodai, MacLane Choro.... anyways. The list is a long one. I think the most surprising thing I have seen in Japan, was the shrine in Nagasaki full of slaughtered pigs heads. :)

This week on Saturday Elder Nelson came to the mission and gave a training on how we are going to use iPads! It was way cool and we all got to shake his hand and he taught about the Savior for a straight 30minutes... it was way cool! I love this Church. It is God's!  

I am out of time now, but I love you all!

Thanks! Elder Bevan

breakfast...

This is Nato and an egg. I mix this into a cup of rice for breakfast every day. I think it is pretty delicious, but Elder Jameson is kind of a picky eater and doesn't agree.

This is just a random park with a funky cement slide I thought was cool...

everything is cement here!

and this is my companion :)..

Aug. 31, 2014

Quick Update On Egawa:
She really wants to change her life and be baptized. We have needed to work patiently with her and slowly, but she really is a joy to be around. She literally gives us food every day. Tons of it. We have to bike it all back to our apartment everyday, and we are constantly having to rearrange the fridge to fit it all. :) She is great.
She often says she hears voices, and before we began meeting with her she believed in a thing called "Yutaa", which is like a religion or belief that teaches that people can communicate with spirits and with God. That was kind of a worry this week, her baptism was delayed, but we think it will be OK. She is doing well.
The best thing about being a missionary is working hard, doing well, and coming home utterly exhausted because you worked as hard as you could all day. The worst is the times when I don't know what to do, or we get sick or something and have to spend time inside, not doing missionary work. I HATE that. I was sick yesterday... I swear, I cannot stand that feeling. Sometimes, all I have to go on is the knowledge that the Savior will pick up the slack, and that He knows my burdens and mistakes, and that is what keeps me moving.Jesus Christ is faithful to all of His promises and all that He has said. The blessings of Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost, of the sacrament, of the Priesthood (and all that includes), and the blessings received in the Temple are so aparent in my life. He is merciful to the overcoming of all of our weakness if we will turn to Him. I know that those blessings are absolutely, truly, real.
Love to all,

 Elder Bevan

This is zone p-day... with real live American style Hamburgers!

                                      This is also zone p-day, feeding each other M&M's with chopsticks

Us "young" missionaries in Nago

We see miracle everyday. We are not very good teachers and we are not good at Japanese, and Elder Robinson and I are still pretty young in the mission (between us we don't even have ten transfers total, sixteen transfers is a two year mission), but we still see miracles.  This week we got all of our goals for lessons taught, sacrament meeting attendances, new investigators, and member involvement visits. One of the investigators that came to church we met on the street. He said he had interest in religion (what!), we shared the first vision and invited him to church. He said he would, and true to his word he came in the pouring rain. Wearing a white shirt and tie none the less! The other investigator was Egawa Etsuko, who we have been working with for maybe a month or more now. (She has been basically our main source of food since we met her. She never sends us away without some food.) What a blessing! We have wanted her to come for so long! It is so wonderful to see the Lord working in us to fill our goals. I feel like if we can keep up the good work and continue to rely on Him we will see success. 

It is pretty hard on Elder Robinson, the little things that get at all of us sometimes are hard for Him. We have been working hard though and he is improving dramatically. His Language has gone from un-understandable to passable (a huge jump). He has improved in so many ways. It is so good to work with him and see him work so hard on things. I love all of my companions, and couldn't be happier :) 

I love the Mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know this is the work of Jesus Christ, the son of God, the Savior.

With love to all,

Elder Bevan

Answers

Ok, I have been asked to sort-of give you all an idea of what the MTC is like for me. 

This may not be sufficient for all of you, but to answer those questions I will do my best to describe a day at the MTC. Here it is:

Every day we wake up at 6:30. We then proceed to ready as fast as possible so that we are not too late to breakfast. Our district usually sits together and we joke while we eat. 

I think breakfasts are usually too short.

Then it is usually on to personal study time. On Thursdays it's service.

The time space between schedule blocks is at maximum ten minutes.

Class is three hours long, our district shares a room. Sometimes it is very hard to keep your focus. 

Lunch for us is really early: 11:10. The food is good.

After lunch there is more study, or more class. 

Then there is dinner: 4:10. The food is good.

Exercise is always before dinner. I usually run. The day before last I ran for something like 45 minutes.

Most of us have a ring of flash cards that we practice with, while our companion is in the bathroom. I am always at least trying to study. Sometimes that is very hard to do.

Mail is the joy of our lives, but it is very hard to find time to write at all. We find five or ten minutes of free time, and try to, but that is hard too.

Free time is also used to go to the book store (which has everything), run to the next building and other such things. 

I have seen a few familiar faces, Sister Donohue, Elder Elliot, and Sister Mia Davis have all said hi, but I haven't ever been able to get a picture with them.

All the time between dinner and returning to residence is spent in class, language study, and planning. On Thursdays we have a devotional. 

At 9:30 we return to residence, and have time to prepare, review, and begin writing in our journals before lights out. We proceed with flashlights, and then sleep. 

I think that this should give you a pretty good idea of what The MTC is for me. Sundays, of course are a little different, we have a lot of study time, and time for interviews, branch priesthood meetings, and sacrament meetings in Japanese (that's cool). 

I am happier than I have ever been. I love this work, and this place, and the Lord. I know that this is His church. I know this is His work. I get to be taught by His Spirit every day. It's awesome.  

To all those who write me. Thank you, and I will try to write back. I'm sorry if it takes eternity. :P

I love you all,  love, 

Elder Bevan

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving !!!!!!!!!!

P.S.S. Mom I love you very much. Thank you for caring so much for me. Just let me know if there is anything else you want me to do, and I will do my best to do it.