Week 52 - July 14, 2014

Hello everybody! Another week and percentage down. For those of you
who are paying attention, you know where we're at this week. For those
of you not... mah. Guess it doesn't really matter huh? ;D

Well! New companion, new transfer, new atmosphere, same old pattern of
seeing miracles EVERY DAY. I have to be way careful when finding new
investigators and they say God isn't real and doesn't produce
miracles. I almost burst out laughing at such a ridiculous thought! We
meet atheist sometimes that say, "The Big Bang started everything!!!"
And I think to myself, "So... an object in motion stays in motion
until moved on by an equal or opposite force... By logic, and object
NOT in motion stays motionless until MOVED UPON by an equal or
opposite force... And you're saying all of matter simply *moved* one
day?"

Silly.

Anyways, this week we went finding after church. Many of our friends
couldn't come this week, so I was a little discouraged. I was also
really tired, seeing as I didn't sleep well at all the night before.
On our way to go visit our friend who was baptized last week, we ran
into a young man named Shinji. Elder Crockett (my new super-companion)
started talking to him. Pretty soon, Shinji told Elder Crockett about
how his dad had passed away a year ago; and that the last person his
dad talked to was him. Elder Crockett took the opportunity to bear
powerful testimony of the Plan of Salvation, and Shinji was blown
away. He wanted to believe. And so he's meeting with us this
Wednesday.

Oh yeah. I feel it in my bones. He's going to be baptized.

Anyways, this is just one of the many amazing miracles we saw this
week. Love you all! If you want more details please ask me questions!
It's hard to just remember things off the top of my head haha

Love. 愛. Liebe.
--全長老

Week 51 - July 07, 2014

Hello! Time is short. Miracles.

Uehara was baptized!
He came late to sacrament meeting, so we went to hunt him down. On the
way, a man called Daisaku called out to us in order to talk. He's
interested in religion, knew a lot of famous people who are Mormons,
heard about the guy from Napoleon Dynamite who served a mission in
Japan (YEAH), etc. He met with us after church, took a Book of Mormon,
and wants to keep meeting. He didn't accept a baptismal date, but that
is ok. He has an attitude of "must try to learn", so he'll read,
possibly pray, and get a confirmation.

Boom. Love you all! Thanks for the prayers for the Japanese people.
Heavenly Father is hearing them for sure!

--全長老

Week 50 - June 30, 2014

Hello again, everyone!

I'm really... really tired. \(*^O^*)/

Anyways, miracles!!! My friend, Takuma Uehara, is getting baptized
next week! He's been waiting for a long time until he is 20 in order
to be baptized, and the day has finally come! In Japanese, his name is
written 上原拓真, so if you want to Facebook him and congratulate him,
please do so! I'm sure he would love it.

Did I tell you I am tired?

But, cool thoughts this week! Honestly... I'm just tired. (_ _) That
is me with my face down on the desk.

So. My companion and I went swimming a few times this week. In other
words, it rained so hard I could barely breathe. Japan is great. :D
For some reason, the people in Japan hate rain. Whenever I say the
weather is great, people say, "IT IS AWFUL. It looks like it's about
to rain." To which I reply, "I love the rain! Especially the feeling
afterwards. It's just so clean and pure! Even the air seems fresh
again." To which they laugh like I'm some absolute maniac that just
got out of the asylum.

Then I ask them, "How would you feel if your spirit could be as clean
as earth right after rain?" Yeah. I go there hehehe. Feel free to
facepalm. Or email me and complain against my awful jokes. I don't
even remember how to make funnys in English anymore. SAVE ME. In a
missionary-appropriate manner, of course. (b^0^)0

Anyways. Big news update! I am REALLY tired. Not much else to say... I
don't remember much of what happened this week, and journal mostly
consists of feelings versus happenings. My small plates of Nephi!

Anyways, love you all. あいしている.
--全長老

Week 49 - June 23, 2014

Hello again, everyone! This week was ridiculous. I think we were even
more busy than the week before.

So! Cool miracles. Last week on splits, we ran into a friend named
Yuuhei Maki. Due to Facebook, we have been able to keep contact with
him. I was able to share with him one of my favorite scriptures (Alma
7:11-13) and teach him about prayer over Facebook. I then asked him
about his views of God, and he said, "I used to think God was a scary
existence, but since I met you I think he is special and wonderful
existence."

The Lord is hastening His work! If it wasn't for Facebook, my friend
wouldn't have had the chance to learn about Heavenly Father.

Thanks for all of you who are liking and sharing my posts! I know it
might seem really simple, but I have heard so many stories of a simple
post or video getting people interested in church, which then moves
into investigating and baptism. So if you are not sure where to start
with missionary work, just share a missionary's post!

Also, there is one part of missionary work that anyone can do
(especially if you are in Utah). That is work for the dead. I didn't
realize how blessed we truly are in Utah to have so many temples! It
also is a sign. If we didn't need to do temple work for our benefit,
Heavenly Father would not be giving us so many temples. I strongly
encourage with all of the fiber of my soul that you try to go to the
temple at LEAST once a week. In my mission, I have met people who have
been waiting for the gospel for 10, 20, 50+ years. They all are so
tired of the life without light or joy. Once they find the truth, they
are so happy... And so are we when they have it.

Imagine those people who have been waiting for 100, 200, 500+ years?
Isn't that something we can participate in? Their salvation is our
joy. I promise you.

Thank you all! I love you all! Final thought: "It takes knowledge to
answer a question, but faith to ask one."

--全長老

Week 48 - June 15, 2014

Hello, Everyone! Time is short today, so please bear with me as I quickly try to tell you of my favorite miracle this week.

Desire is a funny thing. If you have no desire, you will not act. In order to have desire, one needs a belief and a hope. There have been many times when I have met people who don't want to change simply because they think they cannot. Anyways, as a missionary I am filled with a desire to improve; to do better. I often feel the guidance of the Spirit confirming to me that a choice I made was correct, but more often than not I am allowed to use my free agency as I see fit. Now.

The problem with this is that I am imperfect and fully well know it. This leads to doubts and hesitations, which attempt to push out faith.

Long story short, it's frustrating being imperfect as you draw closer to Heavenly Father.
 
Anyways, today I was trying to study how to learn. During my studies, I came across a scripture I love. Matthew 11:28-29. "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart." This is an interesting phrase. the "of" of this sentence can either mean "about" or "from". When I looked at the German translation, it meant "from". This, in cross reference with James E. Faust's October 2001 talk on the Atonement, gave me a renewed perspective on learning. The Atonement gives us the capacity to learn and overcome our mortal weaknesses. Now this is something I've had drilled into me for a very long time. But for the first time today, I knelt in prayer and offered up the desires of my heart to be a better missionary. My answer came through a peace and assurance to my soul. The answer was not in words; it did not come through super powers; I am still not fluent in Japanese. None of these things happened. And yet, I cannot deny the power and clarity of the Holy Ghost's witness
to me.

That was my biggest miracle this week.

Thank you all for what you do! If you'd like to help me a bit, maybe you could follow me on facebook and share some of the things I post for missionary work (yes we use Facebook now). I'm hoping that the things I share might be able to touch someone somewhere someday. Also,
I can't message via Facebook, so it's no use.

Love you all!!!
--Elder Chun

PS: Editor’s note – you can just search for Elder Sami Chun on Facebook and you’ll find his page easily. He posts photos, quotes (in Japanese and English, if you are lucky) and even videos of him singing – We, as his family like those the best, since it almost makes it seem like he is just sitting in the other room with his ukulele…

Week 47 - June 09, 2014

Hello everybody!

Another week gone by! Like I said last week, I am on my 11th
companion. Elder Lee is from Saint George, Utah (Actually, of the
Elders in my apartment, 3 are from Orem and 1 is from Saint George).
He looks like a smaller version of Harry Potter. He doesn't even have
the glasses, but he looks like him. Elder Lee is on his last transfer,
so he is full of amazing experiences, desire, and power. I'm way
blessed to be working with him this transfer!

Anyways, miracles, miracles, and miracles galore! This week, we had a
LOT of planning to do. When I say a lot, I mean we were planning to
sit in the church and stay planning for a LOOONG time. Anyways,
without many lessons planned it was looking like it was going to be a
less than effective weekend. Then, all of a sudden, 3 of our
investigators called us up and set up lessons with us. Elder Lee was
able to meet some of our best friends, and we were able to help our
friends get closer to baptism. One of them in particular seemed
legitimately interested in reading the Book of Mormon by himself for
the first time (we introduced him to the Book of Mormon stories). We
have another lesson with him today, so we'll see how it will go! Pray
for Edward please!!!

Anyways, just a quick thought from Elder Lee!

So. Jesus Christ said that the truth sets us free. Why? How does the
truth set us free? Listing just a few of the truths restored through
the Prophet Joseph Smith, they include our relationship with Heavenly
Father; they include the power of agency and choice; they include the
eternal nature of knowledge and families; and they include the fact
that obedience to God's commandments leads to true happiness. With
just these four truths, we have the following implications.

As children of God, we have unlimited potential. Thus, with our
ability to choose, we are able to grow and learn. Because knowledge
and families are eternal in nature, they are our priorities that help
us manage our time well. In order to balance well, God gave us the
recipe of life: commandments. But if we ever make mistakes, we have
the ability to change through Jesus Christ's atonement and progress to
becoming more like our Father in Heaven.

Priorities. Goals. Motivation. Hope. Desire. All of this, coupled with
the knowledge that we can choose, sets us free to become exactly what
we want. Either free and with eternal life, or as slaves and with
eternal damnation (2 Nephi 2:27).

Elder Lee is awesome. (b^ ^)b

Anyways, Love you all! Thanks for everyone who emailed me!
--Elder Chun

P.S. Yes. We are Elders Chun・Lee

Week 46 - June 02, 2014

Hello Everyone!
 
Wow. Another week gone by and ticking on towards the 2nd coming! Not that I know when it is. But! Remember last time how I was celebratingbecause I got an extra week in Japan?????

This next transfer is 5 weeks.

...

v(T~T)v

I'm actually going to be the only one in my area staying this transfer! How rare. And yes, that means another new companion! His name is Elder Lee. He is training to be a professional ninja. This is his last transfer, so yup! I'll be getting another companion in a few weeks! Oh yeah. The can't contain this bundle of... whatchamacallit!

Anyways, the area I am in right now is a MIRACLE land. Last week we had so many appointments cancel that I almost expected them all to fall through. BUT! Lest anyone start saying, "Oh poor Elder Chun!" I will just tell you that if we do all we can in the way we are supposed to, Heavenly Father will make up the difference every time. Like for example, last week Friday we had 3 appointments cancel on us again. Plus, my companion's bike was destroyed (partially my fault...) so we were walking everywhere. I was not frustrated because Heavenly Father had shown me all throughout the week how He would take care of His work. And what do you know! As we are on our way to the church, we meet this guy wearing all blue. Hat, shirt, pants, and shoes. So we compliment him (I like blue). Then he takes a look at the Book of Mormon I am holding (It stormed insanely bad the day before and my Book of Mormon got wet, so I was holding it to try it out). He says, "I have one of those!" And he pulls out his pocket bible.

(0.0)? what.

Turns out Victor is from Nepal. He is Christian. He stopped being able to go to a church because he lives too far away from his chapel. Our church is 10 minutes from his house. He also knows our recent convert, Keshab. He took a Book of Mormon and seemed very excited to meet again.

So yeah. That is one of MANY examples that we had this week of D&C 88:73. And no, I will not write that scripture out for you. You may certainly look it up though!

 
Quick funny story: We were on our way to visit a less-active and my companion and I were talking to everyone. There was one man, however, to whom I simply said hello as we biked past. I apparently startled
the poor man, who almost crashed his bicycle. I felt bad, but then all of a sudden from behind me I just heard what you hear on 80% of Dragon Ball-Z episodes: Pure screaming. For about 1 minute, this man tried to
hop on his bike and ride after us, doing nothing but a "turning super-saiyan" yell. On the one hand, it was incredibly comical. On the other hand, I realized... "I'm not supposed to defend myself as a missionary..." Soooooo we kept riding.

Gotta say, though, I was surprised that man's hair didn't turn yellow...

Anyways, love you all!
--Elder Chun

Week 45 - May 25, 2014

Hello Everyone!
 
So this last week we had the incredible opportunity to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook come to Japan and speak to us. We have 4 members of the 70 (one of them was of the presidency) and Elder Cook there. Needless to say, it was an incredible conference filled with lots of inspiration and helping me desire to change.

One of the cool things I learned in the conference was to simply let go; to stop worrying so much about things I can't control. There's a lot of things missionaries simply cannot do, not to mention having my own personal weaknesses and shortcomings. If we get caught up in what we can't do, then we severely limit our ability to act. In fact, we even limit our ability to receive blessings. Elder Cook shared a story that entered my heart and burned in my soul with a ferocity. He talked about the original missionaries who went to England, and how Joseph Smith saw a vision of the Savior waiting to bless the missionaries who were too distraught to receive the dews from Heaven.

Those words entered into my soul and lingered there as a bright hope. I then prayed and asked God what He wanted to say to me just then. These words came into my mind.

 
"Elder Chun. Thank you. Thank you for being in Japan; for trying so hard all day every day. Thank you for realizing this is important. And thank you for finally letting go of our reverse pride long enough for you to hear that I love you and am grateful for your service."

These words truly brought me peace. In fact, all day yesterday I was supported by those words. For some reason, my body refused to be as energetic as it usually is. I tried all day long to be genki and keep working, but I was quite worn out. That being said, I never quit working and I did my absolute best. Although I was weak, I know that it was enough. God will do His own work. In fact, He led the mother of a potential investigator we found on Saturday to come to church! Her name is Obata and his name is Koutarou. Please pray for them!

You are all awesome. v(T~T)v
 
--Elder Chun

Week 44 - May 19, 2014

Hello Everyone!
Another week down. Unlike the last few weeks, due to some interesting
circumstances the transfer ISN'T over yet! I have another week! Yay!

Haha take that, time! I get another week in Japan. You may be slippery
quick, but I have another 7 days!!!

Anyways. Yes. I am very happy today, because we went to the temple. I
really hope each of you in Utah take the amazing opportunity you have
in having so many temples close to you. I had several questions going
in to the temple and came out with more answers that I knew what to do
with. Oh wait! I do know what to do with them!!

"Go and do."

So yeah. Temples are awesome. ヾ(＠⌒ー⌒＠)ノ

Also, I had an interesting thought the other day. I don't think I have
ever had a super experience of gaining a testimony of the prophet
Joseph Smith or the truthfulness of the church. Instead, I have my
personal experience of searching the Book of Mormon for answers and
finding them; pondering deeply; then praying and asking God if what
the Book of Mormon said was true. I distinctly remember the soft, yet
powerful and undeniable, influence of the Holy Ghost speaking to my
heart telling me of the divinity and authenticity of the Book of
Mormon. I had this experience when I was about 14 years old.

I pray that none of you think I am bragging when I say that. Rather, I
say it so others can know, "If Elder Chun in his absolutely ridiculous
14-year-old state of being (I know I'm only slightly less ridiculous
now) can get an answer, I can too!" and that's the thing. Anyone and
everyone can get a witness from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon
is true. And as I teach people every day, if the Book of Mormon is
true, Joseph Smith was a prophet; the church is true; Jesus is the
Savior of the World, and we can hope for peace in this life and
eternal life in the world to come. As I said before, I have not had
the same incredibly subtle, but undeniable, witness of the mission of
Joseph Smith; nor the authenticity of the Church. But I have no doubts
about those things. If I focus so much on the testimony I have not yet
received, I will forget the testimony which is in me.

That testimony is that Jesus Christ is our Savior; God is our Heavenly
Father who loves us; the Holy Ghost is our friend who leads us to do
good; and the Book of Mormon is THE MOST true book on the face of this
earth.

So yeah. I believe with all my soul that the Church is true; that
Joseph Smith was a prophet; that the priesthood of God was restored,
etc. because I know by the power of the Holy Ghost and through the
teachings in the Book of Mormon that Jesus is my Redeemer.

Not sure why I wanted to tell you all this today, but I did. So bear
with me! Or just don't read my words. Your choice. (b^-^)b

You're all fantastic. A quick shout out to Jordan Nelson from Elder
Free (we came to Japan at the same time, and so I just thought you'd
like to know we party together) as well as to Breanna and Trenton
Daniels (I think you're already married??? Sorry. I'm a bad friend
haha)

Peace out for another week. v(T~T)v
--Elder Chun

Week 43 - May 12, 2014

Hello, Everyone! Happy Mother's Day!

Yeah. Crazy, right? Time is WAY too fast. I swear I was just barely
calling my family for Christmas. The super scary thing is that in just
2 months, my mission will be halfway done.

σ(^_^;)

How did time fly this quickly you ask? Of course because missionary
work is AWESOME!!! Cool miracles all around.

So last week we ran into a young man named Nozawa. He lived in the US
for 4 years and is a 16 year old. We asked him if he studies history.
He said yes. We asked him why he thinks that Jesus Christ made it into
the history books, because people are either usually really good or
really bad. He said, "I think he was good..." We then used Alma
7:11-13 to testify that Jesus Christ atoned for us, which is why he is
in the history books. Nozawa said, "Whaaat? that would be amazing if
this was true!"

Caught. But unlike in Pokemon, you don't wait 3 seconds to see if the
Pokemon is caught. You wait DAYS.

Guess who came to church this week? Even though he lives an hour away
(we didn't ask him haha)? Guess who wanted to know the difference
between churches? Who asked what it takes to be chosen as a prophet?
Who took a Book of Mormon and seemed totally cool with having his
contact info given to other missionaries in the area where he lives?

Yeah. God is doing His own work. All we did was tell Nozawa the truth
and he accepted it. That's one thing I've been learning a lot
recently. All missionary work is is telling people the truth. And the
fundamental principle of the gospel is love, as President Monson so
beautifully said in General Conference. We tell people the truth
because we love them.

And speaking of love, I have a poem for all you current, future,
potential, and expecting mothers. This is not MY poem, but it does
portray my feelings.

“The Name of Mother”
“The noblest thoughts my soul can claim.
The holiest words my tongue can frame,
Unworthy are to frame the name
More sacred than all other.
An infant when her love first came,
A man, I find it just the same:
Reverently I breathe her name—
The blessed name of mother.”
—George Griffith Fetter

Mothers? I pray that you know what a divine and irreplaceable
influence you are on your children. I know my mother is one of the
main reasons I went on a mission. From the cradle to the MTC, my
mother was there helping me all along the way. Maybe your children
don't show you how much they appreciate you. But one day they will
wake up, take a long, hard look at themselves and say, "All of the
good that is in me came in large effect due to my mother."

I know I do it almost every day in the field. And I know Father's Day
is a ways away, but since parents are one unit in the eyes of God, I
want to say this as well. Although my mother is one of the main
reasons I WENT on a mission, my Father is one of the main reasons I
not only STAY on a mission, but strive for excellence and success.
Thank you both, and I love you very much!

Peace out for another week.

--Elder Chun