Sendai Japan Mission 2011-2014: December Zone Conferences

These Christmas Zone Conferences were held by combining 2 zones on a day. This allowed more missionaries to be together which was fun especially for the afternoon activities. Missionaries love to be together but the nature of our mission being so spread out, it is impossible to do a Mission Conference. The morning was spent in training by President Rasmussen and also the Assistants to the President and doing mogis (roll playing). The afternoon included fun and laughter with the gift exchange and tender moments during the viewing of the mission video which Pres. Rasmussen made for every missionary, reading letters from parents and a Testimony Meeting.

Mori-Mori Zone Conference (Aomori & Morioka)

Oman Shimai received the pin for reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese.

President Rasmussen speaking to the missionaries.

Elder Stickney and Elder Seto got picked to do a mogi

speaking to the person (Elder Takei) next to them on a bus or train.

Our wonderful Assistants now are Elder Shin'no and Elder Everett.

I gave them instructions on their schedule for New Years. This was the schedule:

New Year's Eve day would be spent DEEP cleaning their apartment. A list of tasks to do in each room was given to them since these 19-21 year olds may not have ever deep cleaned a house . They were also to shine their shoes, sew on buttons, air out futons, etc. On New Year's Day they were to have a cultural experience by visiting a jinja where many Japanese people go on New Years Day and then they were to read 3 Nephi, which was a new beginning for that group of people after the Savior's visit, and make some personal goals for the year 2013.

Lunch is over and ready for Christmas cheer in the afternoon.

Senior Couples in Morioka Zone

They get animated when they know their picture is being taken.

Everyone got the wrapped gift for the Gift Exchange. They are anxious to open them!!!

The gift had to be RED and couldn't cost more than 200 yen (about $2). The gifts were silly and fun.

Someone got a red bottle of bubbles for blowing. Elder Yamanita and Elder Mizoguchi caught the bubbles on their fingers without popping them.

This picture was taken during the reading of their parent's letters. Sister Thomas and Jahana helped me write to all the parents requesting they write a special letter to their missionary telling them how proud they were of them and encouraging them to keep working hard. These were tender moments with some tears and smiles.

The Morioka Zone sang a song to Gary and me which was very sweet of them.

The Aomori Zone presented us with a Christmas Tree made of felt with a picture and note from all the members of the Zone. How cute is that??!!

Elder Christensen, Zone Leader getting the Testimony Meeting started.

Sendai Zone

Elder Elkins and Elder Sakamoto received their pins for reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese. (Elder Sakamoto is an English speaker from Salt Lake)

The Relief Society in the Sendai Stake really worked hard to make lunch extra special for us. The food was delicious and the decorations were lovely. We are lining up around the room to sing to the sisters who provided the food.

This silly gift was a highlight during the gift exchange. Santa was made by Elder Everett and Elder Nishida was the lucky winner of him. Almost as funny is the hat Elder Sanders received. Little pre-school children wear these kinds of hats when they are together as a group.

Elder Shin'no got this nice gift of a homemade cover for his scriptures.

The group picture showing off their new Christmas gifts-all red!

At the end of the day, the Zone all stood and sang a special song to their President and me.

They sang, I'll Find You, My Friend and Elder Elkins signed it for us in JSL--a language he is learning for fun.

Niigata-Koriyama Zones

I cant help but take pictures of this handsome President when he speaks.

This activity was to discover what was written on the paper on your own forhead by asking the right questions. I'm sure there was a teaching purpose for this activity but I never understood what that was--maybe because it was described in Japanese!!

Bro. Yoshida and Gary. (Bro Yoshida was a counselor to Gary. He has been released now but is a great friend to us. He has done translating for General Authorities when they visit Japan and is one of the translators for General Conference talks every 6 months. He also helped translate the Book of Mormon into Japanese.