Sendai Japan Mission 2011-2014: 5 Zone Conferences in September

AOMORI ZONE

Gary showing the missionaries pictures of our family and telling them what good missionaries the kids are to their friends and neighbors. He also explained that we are waiting any day for the birth of a new baby boy who would be a great future missionary like his brothers.

Sisters Kubota, Chikamori, and Takatsuka from Hirosaki.

Zone Leaders, Elder Merkley and Elder Ishida.

Elders Seto and Ikeda

Elders Takase and Brown

Elders Mead and Akiyama

Elders Bigger and Yamamoto

Special musical number sung by Sister Kubota, Elders Ikeda, Takase & Merkley.

Gary teaching the missionaries about leading with the Book of Mormon in the first discussion so they can refer back to it and teach from it all through the lessons in the future.

These ladies prepared a delicious lunch for the Zone. I love these ladies!!

Elder Yamamoto demonstrating his ability to do pushups. He can even do them using a finger and a thumb on each hand.(he broke his fingers many times trying to do this)

Zone Leader training.

Assistants Training

MORIOKA ZONE

This zone has 3 couples of missionaries. (Yamanita, Tanaka, and Tsuchida.

The zone was singing when we arrived that morning.

Elder Carter leading the singing. Missionaries learn to do all sorts of new things.
Elder Carter did a great job!!

Shortly after lunch, everyone gets sleepy so we turn on the music for Ragio Taiso and everyone stands up and does the routine of excercises, It gets the blood flowing and wakes everyone up for the rest of the afternoon. AND, it is fun!!

Zone Leaders, Elder Preston and Mizoguchi.

Mogi lesson with Elder Saunders and Sister Kitade.

Mogi lesson with Elder Hunt and Elder Preston.

NIIGATA ZONE

Happy to be there--Elder Kyotani, Kim, Miyaki and Yoneda

Elder Kano did a special musical number for the Zone Conference

Plenty of good food was prepared by the Niigata RS sisters.

The Zone Leaders asked if I would come and kick a ball down through a row of small Primary chairs to illistrate the many steps of conversion and enduring to the end. The idea was to show how investigators or new members sometimes get off the path and they need help to get them back on the path to Eternal Life.

Ready to kick the ball towards the chair (shown above) but knowing that it would be nearly impossible for me to kick the ball through the narrow legs of the chair.

Believe it or not, I did the impossible--which kind of ruined their lesson. They asked me to do it again and BAM-I did the same thing twice!!! The missionaries were quite amazed!!

Again, Ragio Taiso comes in handy!!

Gary listening to a mogi.

Gary and his AP talking after the Zone Conference. We surely appreciate the Assistants.

KOORIYAMA ZONE

Elder Nation on the piano accompanies Elder Takeshita on the Clarinet. Beautiful!

Sister Bohnet earned the Alma O. Taylor Award for reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese.

A teaching moment from their President on the Book of Mormon.

Special musical number by Elder Hakaraia, Oikawa, Sanders, Bohnet, Taylor and Squire!

Everyone loves Ragio Taiso

SENDAI ZONE

Elder Dowdy and Sister Saito play a duet on their flutes.

Another lovely lunch by the RS Sisters. Elder & Sister Jahana.

Sister Fukuda also earned the Alma O. Taylor Award for reading the Book of Mormon in English.

Sister Jahana is famous in Sendai for the book she and two other RS sisters in Nagamachi wrote on preparedness. The newspaper recently asked for an interview with the 3 sisters and a big write-up was published. We asked Sis Jahana to tell about her experience to the younger missionaries. This is the book I give as a thank-you gift to sisters who translate for me all over the mission on Sundays. The book is, of course, all written in a language I can't read so I have no idea what the book says but I know that thousands of people are buying it because they are interested in how to be better prepared for another big earthquake and possible tsunami.

Zone Leaders, Elder Ohori and Everett.

Ragio Taiso again!! (It is fun to watch the looks on the faces of brand new missionaries who haven't got a clue what is happening. They learn very quickly--and think it is fun, too)

During Gary's training, he asked one missionary who is a pretty good artist, which includes almost all Shimai and some of the Elders, to draw a picture on the white board for him. He says they can do it better than his stick figures would be! On the left is a picture of the first vision. On the right is a picture of two missionaries teaching an investigator with God above them and also the Holy Ghost between the earthlings and God. The purpose of this was to show how the relationship between the missionaries and the investigator is not nearly as important as the relationship between God and the investigator through the Holy Ghost.

I had to take a picture of each of the drawings because they were each so different and yet so well done.