Email # 72 March 30, 2016
Beloved Family and Friends,
I apologize for taking a leave of absence for a few weeks in the
emailing department. The p-days are flying by and the day is over
before I know it. This past week went really well. Last Monday, we
went to the train station and handed out flyers for Easter and for
English class with 4 members. It was sweet, the ward mission leader
and bishop both came and helped, and the bishop is the one who
organized it. Mad respect. After that, Elder Cardon needed to pull
some money out from the post office (the post office is the best place
to withdraw money in Japan). As we were walking by these benches,
there was a young kid sitting by himself a little ways off. We were in
a rush and had a different appointment, but felt like we needed to
talk to him. After a short but intense internal debate, we went over
and talked to him super simply, introducing ourselves, explaining our
purpose, and asking him if he had interest. He said yes! He ended up
living pretty far away, but we switched phone numbers and hopefully
will be able to meet up again sometime soon. It was sweet, especially
since we've just been getting hammered during finding the last six
weeks. We've been going out and working hard and with faith, but we
haven't been able to find virtually anyone. Here's to a new transfer!
On Tuesday, I had exchanges with Elder Hugo, a newer missionary from a
different area called Yachiyo, but still in our district. He was a
beast, talking to everyone. On Wednesday, we had some good dendo time,
doing a lot of finding and visiting less actives. On Thursday, Elder
Crosby and I had exchanges. We also did a lot of finding, and talked
to a ton of people. It went well. On Friday, district meeting, study,
and family home evening took basically all of our time. District
meeting was good, everyone shared their testimonies about Christ as
Sunday was Easter. The Spirit was really strong, everyone had stellar
testimonies. On Saturday, we had virtually no time to go out and talk
to people, which is the worst. We had Eikaiwa, and then a Shogi-kai,
and then a ward tennis activity. Shogi is Japanese chess. The pieces
move differently and the pieces aren't divided by shape. With the
exception of size, the pieces all have the same shape but different
kanji. A crazy thing about shogi is you can put the pieces you take
from your opponent and put them back on the board as your pieces,
which makes the games super long, twice or three times as long as
chess. I still don't completely grasp the strategy and playing makes
my head hurt. The ward really wanted us to go, but only two members
showed up. We need to either drop it or make it more effective,
because it wasn't worth the time. However, the highlight of the
shogi-kai was playing Shion. The first week I came to Narita, Shion's
dad, Sugiyama Kyoudai, had us over for dinner. While we were over
there, Shion, who is 9, challenged me to a game of chess. With his dad
coaching him through the game, he won. I've been waiting for a chance
to get redemption, and on Saturday it came. Shion was there for a
primary activity sans his dad. I seized my chance and challenged him,
a challenge he gladly accepted. I destroyed him twice. Now, some of
you may be asking, "Should you really have taken a 9 year old kid to
town at a friendly chess game?" The answer is a resounding yes. I
would have gone to any length for the redemptive W. Tennis was also
really fun, but I was trash. Whatever little skill I had before
leaving has completely departed me. My previously non-existent
backhand has degraded to the point where I either hit it into a
bordering court or over the fence. It was humiliating, but Elder
Aleman and I were still able to pull out a tournament doubles win.
They paired one ok person with a beginner, so we just always hit it to
the beginner. Somewhat vicious, but I slept soundly knowing I ended
the day with straight wins. The good thing was everyone else knew so
little about tennis and cared so little about the score that everyone
had fun. There were two recent converts and two less actives that
come, and in total there were about 18 people. Which was madness
because we only had one court. Sunday was Easter! It was a good day.
Church went well, a white guy from the bay area named Brother Perkins
came and said he might know the Brownings. We were able to teach 4
lessons despite being in the apartment most of the day. Elder Cardon
had a pretty rough week, he banged up his body on his bike in a
variety of ways at least 4 times in the past week. He had two straight
up wipe outs, one of which included some head to metal pole contact
(#helmets #hallelujah); an incredibly close wipeout down a flight of
very steep stairs, and a crash into a pole that ended him up on the
street and coming within inches of getting plastered by a Prius going
40. We took it easy on Sunday because his body was literally falling
apart, his ankle was ravaged and he could barely walk or bike. We did
a lot of calling, some planning, and a lot of reports. We were able to
have a good conversation with Dennis, this sweet recent convert from
Uganda. He's having a tough time right now finding a new job and
trying to help his family, so please tuck him in your prayers! Today,
we got transfer calls! I'm staying with Elder Cardon here in Narita.
I'm pumped out of my mind, I love Elder Cardon to death and am super
pumped to be staying here with him for another transfer. Elder Crosby
is transferring, so our apartment is going to be me, Elder Cardon,
Elder Aleman, and the new Elder, Elder Hipps. I think he's from North
Carolina, which is going to be blast. I'm loving Narita! I'm loving
the work!
The past few months I've been thinking a lot about charity and Christ.
Specifically, I've been thinking about why Christ loves us. I know
without a doubt that He does love me, but I haven't and probably still
don't completely comprehend why. However, I did have an insight I
think I'll share. Charity is the pure love of Christ. Up until now, as
I've thought about charity, I've only thought about it in terms of
loving Christ. The pure love of Christ means that we love Christ with
everything we can, that we follow His commandments and His perfect
example because of our love for Him. However, I realized that there is
another aspect of charity that I had never thought about. The phrase
"the pure love of Christ" has two meanings:
1. Loving Christ perfectly
but also
2. Loving as Christ loves
If we really have charity, not only do we love Christ fully, but we
also love others as he loves them. As I was thinking about this, I was
thinking about the love Christ has for His Father. Christ's love for
God is something that makes perfect sense to me. Christ knowing our
full potential and wanting us to reach it is another thing that made
sense. When I thought about these two points, something clicked for
me. Christ sees us with our full potential to become like God, which
means there is no difference between loving God and loving us. I think
that that reason is a big part of why Christ loves us; His love for
His Father and for us is the same love! When we do the same thing, our
love for God and our love for others is the same love, which enables
us to have charity, or the pure love of Christ. I love Christ and am
so grateful for Him and His perfect example of love. I love you all! I
love the work and the Japanese people and my companion and this
gospel. Life is good! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Calhoun
P.S. Sorry I'm sending this so late, I didn't have the chance to earlier!
I apologize for taking a leave of absence for a few weeks in the
emailing department. The p-days are flying by and the day is over
before I know it. This past week went really well. Last Monday, we
went to the train station and handed out flyers for Easter and for
English class with 4 members. It was sweet, the ward mission leader
and bishop both came and helped, and the bishop is the one who
organized it. Mad respect. After that, Elder Cardon needed to pull
some money out from the post office (the post office is the best place
to withdraw money in Japan). As we were walking by these benches,
there was a young kid sitting by himself a little ways off. We were in
a rush and had a different appointment, but felt like we needed to
talk to him. After a short but intense internal debate, we went over
and talked to him super simply, introducing ourselves, explaining our
purpose, and asking him if he had interest. He said yes! He ended up
living pretty far away, but we switched phone numbers and hopefully
will be able to meet up again sometime soon. It was sweet, especially
since we've just been getting hammered during finding the last six
weeks. We've been going out and working hard and with faith, but we
haven't been able to find virtually anyone. Here's to a new transfer!
On Tuesday, I had exchanges with Elder Hugo, a newer missionary from a
different area called Yachiyo, but still in our district. He was a
beast, talking to everyone. On Wednesday, we had some good dendo time,
doing a lot of finding and visiting less actives. On Thursday, Elder
Crosby and I had exchanges. We also did a lot of finding, and talked
to a ton of people. It went well. On Friday, district meeting, study,
and family home evening took basically all of our time. District
meeting was good, everyone shared their testimonies about Christ as
Sunday was Easter. The Spirit was really strong, everyone had stellar
testimonies. On Saturday, we had virtually no time to go out and talk
to people, which is the worst. We had Eikaiwa, and then a Shogi-kai,
and then a ward tennis activity. Shogi is Japanese chess. The pieces
move differently and the pieces aren't divided by shape. With the
exception of size, the pieces all have the same shape but different
kanji. A crazy thing about shogi is you can put the pieces you take
from your opponent and put them back on the board as your pieces,
which makes the games super long, twice or three times as long as
chess. I still don't completely grasp the strategy and playing makes
my head hurt. The ward really wanted us to go, but only two members
showed up. We need to either drop it or make it more effective,
because it wasn't worth the time. However, the highlight of the
shogi-kai was playing Shion. The first week I came to Narita, Shion's
dad, Sugiyama Kyoudai, had us over for dinner. While we were over
there, Shion, who is 9, challenged me to a game of chess. With his dad
coaching him through the game, he won. I've been waiting for a chance
to get redemption, and on Saturday it came. Shion was there for a
primary activity sans his dad. I seized my chance and challenged him,
a challenge he gladly accepted. I destroyed him twice. Now, some of
you may be asking, "Should you really have taken a 9 year old kid to
town at a friendly chess game?" The answer is a resounding yes. I
would have gone to any length for the redemptive W. Tennis was also
really fun, but I was trash. Whatever little skill I had before
leaving has completely departed me. My previously non-existent
backhand has degraded to the point where I either hit it into a
bordering court or over the fence. It was humiliating, but Elder
Aleman and I were still able to pull out a tournament doubles win.
They paired one ok person with a beginner, so we just always hit it to
the beginner. Somewhat vicious, but I slept soundly knowing I ended
the day with straight wins. The good thing was everyone else knew so
little about tennis and cared so little about the score that everyone
had fun. There were two recent converts and two less actives that
come, and in total there were about 18 people. Which was madness
because we only had one court. Sunday was Easter! It was a good day.
Church went well, a white guy from the bay area named Brother Perkins
came and said he might know the Brownings. We were able to teach 4
lessons despite being in the apartment most of the day. Elder Cardon
had a pretty rough week, he banged up his body on his bike in a
variety of ways at least 4 times in the past week. He had two straight
up wipe outs, one of which included some head to metal pole contact
(#helmets #hallelujah); an incredibly close wipeout down a flight of
very steep stairs, and a crash into a pole that ended him up on the
street and coming within inches of getting plastered by a Prius going
40. We took it easy on Sunday because his body was literally falling
apart, his ankle was ravaged and he could barely walk or bike. We did
a lot of calling, some planning, and a lot of reports. We were able to
have a good conversation with Dennis, this sweet recent convert from
Uganda. He's having a tough time right now finding a new job and
trying to help his family, so please tuck him in your prayers! Today,
we got transfer calls! I'm staying with Elder Cardon here in Narita.
I'm pumped out of my mind, I love Elder Cardon to death and am super
pumped to be staying here with him for another transfer. Elder Crosby
is transferring, so our apartment is going to be me, Elder Cardon,
Elder Aleman, and the new Elder, Elder Hipps. I think he's from North
Carolina, which is going to be blast. I'm loving Narita! I'm loving
the work!
The past few months I've been thinking a lot about charity and Christ.
Specifically, I've been thinking about why Christ loves us. I know
without a doubt that He does love me, but I haven't and probably still
don't completely comprehend why. However, I did have an insight I
think I'll share. Charity is the pure love of Christ. Up until now, as
I've thought about charity, I've only thought about it in terms of
loving Christ. The pure love of Christ means that we love Christ with
everything we can, that we follow His commandments and His perfect
example because of our love for Him. However, I realized that there is
another aspect of charity that I had never thought about. The phrase
"the pure love of Christ" has two meanings:
1. Loving Christ perfectly
but also
2. Loving as Christ loves
If we really have charity, not only do we love Christ fully, but we
also love others as he loves them. As I was thinking about this, I was
thinking about the love Christ has for His Father. Christ's love for
God is something that makes perfect sense to me. Christ knowing our
full potential and wanting us to reach it is another thing that made
sense. When I thought about these two points, something clicked for
me. Christ sees us with our full potential to become like God, which
means there is no difference between loving God and loving us. I think
that that reason is a big part of why Christ loves us; His love for
His Father and for us is the same love! When we do the same thing, our
love for God and our love for others is the same love, which enables
us to have charity, or the pure love of Christ. I love Christ and am
so grateful for Him and His perfect example of love. I love you all! I
love the work and the Japanese people and my companion and this
gospel. Life is good! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Calhoun
P.S. Sorry I'm sending this so late, I didn't have the chance to earlier!
A $150 trike!
Found a flipping powerful ancestor while looking at the family tree
Playing Shion at chess. He's the man
Some of the most baller tsukemen I've ever had
Ward tennis activity
