Week 57

 More英会話 and General Conference!

So this past week we had a lot of little miracles and SO much contacting haha. 

We've been working with Kataoka San a lot and thinking of ways we could help him come to the ward that he lives in. It's been tough as he doesn't really want to go to the other one, but the best way to help is through love! 

We had an awesome member lesson and had a good talk about charity and how to love those who are love to hard for various reasons. We also had a great lunch with a guy that we meet online and ate at a Chinese restaurant. I had these chilled noodles and it had a nice cool mustard spice, but man, it was delicious! 

We had a great Sabbath and had lots of great contacts with members and really as you just try your best, you see miracles. Even with our limited language capacity, we have great conversations with all the members and it was cool, especially this past Sunday to see how our relationships with the members have grown. And our Bishop attended our lesson with Kataoka San which was great.  

And this week is transfer week! So not sure if I'm going or staying, but I know it's God's will wherever I go, so I'm not afraid. But haha I'm still excited to know what happens for myself, Elder Jepsen and for everyone else as well!

So today we did our District pday and it went great! So in the 1970s, Japan hosted the World Expo and there were about 64 million visitors and The Church had a pavilion there and it had over a million visitors. Crazy! But now since then, there is just a big park and a big ferris wheel and a massive mall. Lots of interesting things. We went as a district to a breakfast place and that was awesome! It was called Eggs and Things. As you see in the photos, I got this crazy pancake, too much sugar haha. We then gave each other meishi, which are our missionary business card things and then we write messages for each other on them. So that was fun.

At Expo City there is this weird statue called the Sun Statue. We explored that and then went to this fun observation deck. We did some other little things like visit this place full of flowers, great stuff :). 

Overall, a great way to spend a pday. Really this has been an amazing District, but with 16-17 missionaries coming in, it is likely that this District will change for sure. But everyone is stellar. We had Elder Walker and Bennett, Sisters Campbell and Juber, and Sisters Nitta and Ruttenbur, and of course my companion Elder Jepsen!

Something I was thinking about recently is how charity never faileth and that true charity, actual charity is constant. Because charity is the character of Christ and He always held firm and was always constant. So a part of having charity is becoming it, of always having it. Not even as a attribute, but just how we act and think and treat others. So this week I'm focusing on loving others. But focus on consistency. Consistency is love. Loving those who love us and hate us. Loving those in bad and good situations. Actually loving people that don't agree with us. 

Thanks for keeping up with me and my emails! How you all have a safe and blessed week! 

Love,

Elder Robertson 

Week 56

 英会話 and building relationships!

This week has been interesting. And it was hard, but I learned a lot of good lessons.

We started 英会話! So 英会話(Eikaiwa) is English Conversation Class and in it we teach English through conversation and other activities. The people of Japan love English and a lot of them want to learn it, so it's a cool way to serve them and give them an opportunity to learn. Last Wednesday we had our older class and 5 people came, which is small from what I've heard, but hey, it was still good. Haha, it was a little rough as we don't have any examples of role models to follow except from what is in the book. 

And we had a class on Saturday, but no one came, it was our fault, but yeah, we have some flyers now, so we can get some people coming!

Cool experiences

1. So we had exchanges with our ZL's and I was with Elder Walker. He's a very funny and energetic guy and is a great missionary. We actually were able to talk to a less-active lady in the ward that was cleaning the church which was cool and then talked to a couple other members at the church.

2. The next day, we ended our exchanges, and we ended it with a small lunch. The ZL's had a meeting with the AP's, so they had to rush off. But it was cool as the whole circumstance worked out that we stayed at the restaurant rather than going somewhere else. When the ZL's left, a person at the other table was like, "Are you all Americans?". And we started talking and had a great conversation about civil engineering (both the person and Elder Jepsen are doing/have done it in college!) and we talked a little bit about what we do as missionaries. And then he was like, I think what you all do is great, I would like to learn about what you do. And wow, that was awesome! So we'll be eating lunch with him sometime this week!

3. I did my first baptismal interview. Since I'm the District Leader here in southern Kyoto, that is one of my responsibilities. It was a neat experience and was awesome to be part of that and afterwards I had my interview with my awesome mission president, President Halvorson. 

We had lots of other miracles, and great experiecnces. Talked to Yuto San again over dinner. We had a lesson with Aloysie, the person from African and has lived in Austrialia and South Korea, and her kids, Clemont and Jules. Their father is French, so they speak French and English (because of Aloysie) and now they are learning Japanese. Wow!

But this week was a little hard sometimes. And really it's in those hard times when it's hard to feel love from God and from others that we should focus on Christ. Those are the times our true character comes out. So always focus on Christ even when life is good or bad. Sometimes you even learn the greatest lessons in the hardest circumstances. Think of Christ--He gained a perfect understanding of the human family in the Atonement. Afterwards He received a fullness of joy. So always look towards the pattern that Christ set. We can strive through the hard times knowing that there will be more light at the end.

We also have a Typhoon and now they're evacuating the Elderly. I kind of feel bad as today in Japan is Respect the Elderly Day and they have to get out of their houses and such. But it's a lot better to be safe than to be in danger. Please pray for the people of Japan that they might have safety! 

Love you all, and remember the reason for doing things,don't just do things :).

Week 55

Lessons from the Spirit and a visit from an Apostle

We had a great week! I promise that this email is special, but you must be willing to act on what you learn!

So yes, as the title says, Elder Bednar from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles came to Japan for a leadership conference. He then had a meeting with us missionaries for three hours on Saturday. And then Sunday we had Stake Conference with him as well, which was awesome because the rest of the mission couldn't come, but since I live in Kyoto right now, I was able to go to Stake Conference!

So just like Christ's 12 Apostles, we have 12 Apostles today that are called to preach the Gospel and be His special witness, for God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever! So Christ's organization is here today on the earth. And truly it was an amazing experience. 

I won't tell you everything I learned, because everything I learned was for my area and for things I've been seeking. Telling you won't help. But I'll give you the pattern on how to receive spiritual revelation and how to truly serve others.

Teaching is not talking. 

Teaching is not asking a question expecting a specific answer. 

Teaching is asking what they learned, listening, observing, and discerning by the Spirit. 

So Elder Bednar didn't come with a lecture or a thing he thought we could work on. 

He asked

He listened

He observed

He discerned

He answered.

Think of the classic parable. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. Help someone learn for themselves how to receive personal revelation, instead of telling them about spiritual things. 

It's all about patterns. Do you teach patterns? Or are you just saying things? The world is focused on knowing things. Not becoming things. Christ never taught with an answer he wanted everyone to answer. It was never a guessing game. He always asked questions. Not guessing questions like, "What was the 3rd law of Moses and how does that apply to Aaron?".  He asked questions like:

13 ¶ When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 

14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Yes Christ knew all things, but He asked them what they thought, not looking for or seeking the "right" answer. He wanted to hear what they thought. And by listening and observing, and discerning Simon Peter learned for himself that Christ was the Son of the Living God. Christ followed this pattern and because teaching isn't talking, Peter learned for himself that Christ was the Son of the living God. Christ didn't tell that to Peter. The Holy Ghost did. Through the Holy Ghost we can know of all things.

Hopefully that makes sense. The pattern of asking questions then:

Listen

Observe

Discern

This will always help you learn what is truly in someone's heart. Because we are mortals, we don't know what's happening in other people's heads. But the Holy Ghost does. So as we teach by this pattern, not telling, but listening, the people talk, the student talks and then we know how to help. The student learns by the pattern and the teacher learns by the pattern. 

Now this can be confusing, but I hope that the scripture helped. It's not about telling, it's about listening. If you think you know the answer, you don't! I don't know, and even Elder Bednar doesn't know. But the Spirit does, Christ does. 

Again these words are so powerful. Teaching isn't telling. It's by doing and helping others to learn for themselves the pattern. Teach people to fish, don't just give it to them. 

I have learned so many other things, but teaching isn't telling, but I want you all to feel the same things I have felt, so to start the pattern (even through an email), what did you all learn? So apply the pattern and stop telling and start doing, start becoming. That's so much more than words, take this time in your life to apply the pattern! You'll experience a paradigm shift!

Another thing he said that I liked. We don't want temples. It's not the Atonement that saves us. It's not faith that brings power. It's faith in Christ that brings power, we can experience healing through Christ's Atonement, we want covenant relationships with Christ that come from the temple. It's about Christ, nothing else. 

"47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."

- Moroni 7:47

Christ's pattern is love. He always focuses on others, never what He wants. That's why the pattern works. For when we have pure love, it endureth forever. We learn so much more when we care about someone else.

Oh, and by the way, we had a good week! Not sure if I mentioned that or not. Be safe, I pray for all of you, I really do. Virginia, Arizona, and some other places too :). Everyone that I've met, I hope each and every one of you realize that.

Love you all!

ロバートソン長老

Elder Hiltscher and I!

The group is all the other missionaries that were in my district, Elder Hiltscher, Bennion, Eddington

My family was at the Peterson's that night so I got to talk to Aunt Kat and Uncle Dave!

Week 54

Zone Conference's and Miracles! 

Wow! What a week! 

So we had Zone conference with the new Kyoto Zone. Last transfer we had only two zones and before I came there was only one haha. But now we have around 71 missionaries which is a huge blessing and next transfer there will be around 85! 

But at Zone conference we talked about the work in Japan and how is is progressed. 

Haha I actually don't have any time, so here's some quick stuff

We met a cool lady from Australia and wants to come to church! 

We have a special meeting with our mission and Elder Bednar and then the next day we have stake conference with him! 

The members have seem to really start trusting us and supporting us. Awesome! 

This week had a prompting to pray before I called some other missionaries in our area. I was doing what we call Weekly reports and I prayed before hand and they ended having some issues that I was able to listen to and by the Spirit tell them what Heavenly Gather thought, great experience!

Sorry I wish I could write more, but I don't got time :). Love you all!

God loves ALL His children!

Elder Robertson