A Week in the Life of an Assistant to the President, written by Elder Tanner Ellsworth
The following is a retelling of a week in my life as AP. I
will admit that this was one of the busier weeks of my mission, but this pace
is not unusual for the missionaries here in our mission. Hope you enjoy a week
in the life of a missionary.
Monday
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Left to right: Elder Koesashi, Elder Kishi, Elder Berrett,
Elder Kervinen, and Elder Ellsworth |
5:45- Wake up, quick run around the block, get ready for the
day.
6:30- Start weekly reports with Zone Leaders, each Zone
takes about half an hour. We discuss investigators committed to baptism and
celebrations in finding and teaching from each zone.
8:00- Update/double check all the Key Indicator stats for
the week on the computer. Start preparations for President’s report.
8:30- Meet Brother Hisaka at the church. Plan for our lesson
with our investigator and drive to her apartment.
9:00-Lesson with an investigator. We talked about the
importance of coming to church and invited her to come to church with Brother Hisaka.
She really wants to come to church because she feels like it would help her
feel closer to God and recharge for the week. Unfortunately, she teaches a yoga
class every Sunday, but she committed to pray about asking her clients to
switch their class time!
10:00- Return back to the honbu. Finish all preparations for
Staff Meeting (President’s report, assignments, celebrations from the week).
11:00- Staff Meeting!! Elder Barney, Sister Barney, Elder Clark,
Elder Koesashi, President. Delicious snacks from Sister Baird. Cinnamon rolls. We
discuss many things like new email regulations for the missionaries, all
missionaries making mormon.org profiles, revising the list of needed items for
missionaries who are called to our mission, etc.
1:30- Staff Meeting ends. We slip out to go to the Ayuzawa
family’s house. We planned to do a Family Home Evening with their friend and
neighbor. We talk for a few minutes with the Ayuzawa’s about what kind of
person she is and how we should present the gospel to her.
2:00- Family Home Evening with the Ayuzawa’s and their
friend! She loves music and played the ocarina for us. We play a simple game
and then discuss the love of God and how he loves each and every one of us. She
cried and explained how she doesn’t know who our God is, but that her own personal
God is a huge strength to her and has helped her a lot through her husband’s
sickness. We sing “I am a Child of God” and make a return appointment for the
next Saturday to meet and talk more about what our church really believes.
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Top row: Elder Ito, Elder Ellsworth, President and Sister Baird
Middle row: Elder Hara, Elder Kobayashi, Elder Hiruta, Elder Kusume, Elder Tojo
Front Row: Elder Parry, Elder Ashcroft, Elder Dinkle, Elder Clark, Elder Gottfredson |
3:00- Back to the honbu. Meet with President Baird. Discuss
the status and needs of all of the people committed to be baptized in our
mission. Talk about the needs of our mission. Talk about the upcoming Zone
Conference and what we will talk about and what he will talk about. Discuss the
upcoming transfers. Who will be training, who will be leaders, etc.
5:00- Finish with President Baird. Gather up our bags and
clothes and leave for a companion exchange in Gokiso (about 1 hour away).
6:00- Arrive in Gokiso. Off to an appointment! Meet with
Brother Odani near the investigator’s house and go together to her house. We
met her mom for the first time, so we helped her mom understand the church and
its values, committed the investigator to be baptized, and discussed what steps
needed to be taken for baptism. Helped the Mom understand baptism. We still
have a little bit of time, so we go to this guy’s house who stopped answering
his phone and coming to church. He wasn’t there, but we contacted his
neighbors, trying to find those who were interested. Still haven’t eaten
dinner, so on the way home, I grab some food from a convenience store.
9:00- Return home. Make plan for the next day. Do the
routine Apartment and Area Book Check, change clothes, eat some more of their
food, and crash.
Tuesday
6:30- Wake up. Exercise. Get ready. Eat breakfast.
8:00- Personal Study.
9:00- Combined companionship study where we give training
and talk about the status of their Zone.
10:00- Visit a less-active member whose children are still
not baptized. She was home, but she was busy, so we 10x-ed (contacted 10 people
living around her) and moved on.
11:00- The investigator who we visited the night before (who
wasn’t home) calls! Says thanks for the note and he will come to church this
upcoming Sunday!
12:00-Lunch and Language Study then off on our bikes to
weekly service activity!
2:00-We do various jobs and tasks with disabled people at
the Himawari Center for Disabled Persons.
4:00-Head home, eat some dinner. Kokan (companionship
exchange) review. And then back to Meito.
6:00- Prepare all the materials for the upcoming transfer
(getting stuff ready for the new missionaries, planning the last day of
missionary activity for the returning missionaries, preparing agendas for the
meetings that we have during transfer week).
7:00 Meet ward missionaries Brother Hosoda and Sister Morita
at the church and go to the Imoto family’s house to follow-up on the planning
that we did a few weeks earlier. Go to the Imoto’s, plan to do a Family Home
Evening with their cousin who just moved into town and to invite their two
neighbors to the upcoming Halloween Party at the church. Brother Imoto is also
going to invite a friend to church, so if his friend comes, he would like us to
meet him.
8:30- We use the few minutes we have left to invite a few of
our neighbors to the upcoming Halloween Party.
9:00- Come home. Plan for the next day!
9:30-Change clothes, get ready for bed, write in journal,
etc.
10:00 Send out a HOIZA Daily Press! Announce all the new
investigators who are committed to baptism in the last week and other
celebrations from this past week.
10:30- Sleep!!
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| Elder Ellsworth, enjoying mist fans on a hot day. |
Wednesday
6:30- Wake up and play soccer with our investigator, Koji
Kyodai, who loves soccer!
7:15- Come home, get ready for the day.
8:00- Personal Study
9:00- Companion Study
9:45- Meet Brother Yamamoto at the church and go to our
investigator’s lesson!
10:00- Lesson with our investigator! We were planning on
inviting her to be baptized, but she informed us that her cancer has returned
and she will be having surgery in a week. So we veered from the plan and shared
scriptures in the Book of Mormon that had strengthened us and told her that she
too could receive that same power and help from the Book of Mormon. We gave her
a priesthood blessing, and in her closing prayer, she thanked God for
strengthening her in her times of need. We told her we will call, text, and
pray for her until the surgery is over!
11:00 Language Study
12:00 Lunch.
1:00 Sister Baird asked us to visit a certain less-active
woman who she knew whose son was looking for a group of friends, so we go to
visit her! She was really nice, but busy making lunch for her husband. She gave
us ham and Japanese pears (nashi) and asked us to come back another day. We
contacted her neighbors, trying to find those interested in the restored
gospel. We met a Jehovah’s Witness who said that the Mormon missionaries
usually don’t come to this neighborhood! We had a great talk with her and left
her with a Lesson 1 pamphlet.
2:00 More transfer preparation!! During this time, we also
planned for the upcoming Zone Conferences. Catch up on all the office work we
missed on our exchanges.
5:00 Dinner
6:00 Head to the church to meet Brother Hosoda and plan for
our lesson at 6:30
6:30 Meet with our investigator and talk about the Joseph
Smith experience! She tells us about how that story sounds really familiar to
her because, even though she hasn’t seen God or Jesus Christ, she feels like
they sometimes guide her through her dreams and feelings. The Spirit was
strong, so we invited her to be baptized, but she expressed concern about her family
and the difficulty of her getting married if she joined the church. For now,
she would like to just keep coming to church and English class.
7:30 From there we go to English class!
8:30 After English class, we talk to our member who brought
her friend to English class. He is an interesting guy who loves playing the
bass guitar and traveling. He was really easy to make friends with. So we
talked to him for a while and set up an appointment to come to his house on
Saturday with his member friend!
9:00 Return home. Prepare for bed.
10:00 Reporting with the Kanazawa Zone Leaders where we hear
more about the status of those investigators committed to be baptized and how
we can help them keep progressing!
10:30 Sleep!
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| Daisaku Yamaguchi, member from Ichinomiya, and Elder Ellsworth |
Thursday
6:00 Wake up and get ready to go to Gokiso for the first of
this round of Zone Conferences. Make sure we have all the materials
(translation, taikai box-full of materials missionaries can buy, handouts for
missionaries, etc.) Finalize our plans for training and head to Gokiso.
9:00 Help the Zone Leaders set up the church, set up
translation, let everyone know about their assignments (opening prayer,
accompanist, etc.) Make sure that everyone is quietly waiting for the Zone
Conference to begin.
10:00 Zone Conference begins! We hear from President and
Sister Baird. We present training, this time about Developing Faith to Find. We
eat an amazing lunch prepared by the Relief Society (and then make sure they
get paid). And then we hear from the Zone Leaders and have a short testimony
meeting.
4:00 Zone Conference ends, and we make sure everyone starts
heading home and the church gets cleaned up.
5:00 Come home and eat dinner.
6:00 Language Study
7:00 Lesson at church with an investigator and his member
friend. He is trying to quit smoking, so we reviewed the Word of Wisdom, and he
seems to have a strong desire to keep it. We made plans and goals, and asked
him to read my favorite scripture, 2 Nephi 4, whenever he feels tempted.
8:00 Another lesson at the church with a different
investigator and his member friend. He loves church and felt the Spirit very
strong when he saw someone get baptized. He comes to church every week, reads
the Book of Mormon, and prays multiple times a day. He is working towards a
baptismal date, but still thinks he lacks faith. So tonight, we read Alma 32
with him.
9:00 Come home. Plan. Get ready for bed. Etc.
10:00 Reporting again! But this time with the Nagano Zone
Leaders.
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From left: Elder Ellsworth (AP), Elder Ito (AP), and
Elder Koesashi (commissarian)
Must have been a stressful day! |
Friday
6:00 Another companion exchange! Wake up early, get ready,
and drive to Matsumoto (about 3 hours) to do another companion exchange.
9:00 Arrive in Matsumoto and do a combined companionship
study, followed by a day of visiting investigators, working to find new
investigators, and visiting members in Matsumoto.
9:00 Come home and get ready for bed.
10:30 Sleep.
Saturday
6:30 Wake up and drive home from Matsumoto. Today is p-day!
With any time left, do some personal, companion, and language study.
10:00 P-day begins! During p-day, we email our family, go
grocery shopping, write letters, and occasionally visit nearby places.
5:45 We get a call from Sister Yui Yoneda. She is at the
church with her friend who she would like to introduce to us, so we head to the
church and meet her 3 friends. We have a good conversation about the church and
what we do. They want to come to church some Sunday.
6:15 Today is a Ward Activity! All the men in the ward
rallied together to make dinner for the Sisters. We help serve their food and
help with anything they need. A great ward activity! And two part member
families came.
8:30 We got all the leftover food. The members are always
too kind to us.
9:00 Typical evening schedule, including reporting with the
Nagoya East Zone Leaders, and sleep.
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Elder Ellsworth and Elder Ogaki
YOSH!!! |
Sunday
6:30 Wake up. Breakfast. Get ready.
8:00 Personal Study.
9:00 Ward Mission Correlation Meeting with the Ward
Missionaries and the Ward Mission Leader. We have this meeting every week to
plan who will help with what lessons and discuss the progress of investigators
and efforts being made with members and less-active members to find new
investigators.
10:00 Church! Church is always an adventure trying to greet
everyone and make sure investigators know where to go and have a friend to sit
with. Today, three investigators came to church and seemed to have a great
time.
1:00 Church ends. And now the work begins. Usually, we have
between 5-10 members that we need to follow up with or make appointments with
right after church. It’s a fun game trying to track down different members.
1:30 Come home and eat lunch.
2:30 Language Study.
3:30 District Meeting taught by Elder Koesashi. This
transfer, we are studying Christlike attributes, and Elder Koesashi does a
great job teaching Faith and Hope.
5:00 Shortened companionship study and quick dinner.
6:00 Head to Yokkaichi (about an hour away) to teach a
family who only speaks Spanish. Because my companion, Elder Ito, speaks fluent
Spanish, President Baird has asked us to teach this family.
7:00 Lesson with the Inoue family. Martin is excited to be
baptized, but he has trouble coming to church on Sunday because of his job. So
we talked about that and made plans for him to come to church and eventually go
to the temple with his family. His kids are really excited because he said they
can go to Disneyland in Tokyo on the way home.
8:00 Head home.
9:00 Plan for the next day.
9:30 All of the missionaries Key Indicator Statistics should
be sent to the honbu email address by this time, so we take those and make the
reports for President Baird that he needs the next morning.
10:00 Get ready for bed and asleep by 10:30.
