Transfers, February 12, 2013, Finishers

Wouldn't you know it. Time marched on and we had transfers again.  Our finishers have become a part of our heart.   As you anticipated the great joy of seeing your son or daughter walk off that plane, we were saying goodbye to the following amazing and wonderful missionaries, who we have grown to love with all our hearts. Is there some way we could just keep them, AND keep getting the new ones?  Oh, but I'm asking their parents that question.  I guess you want your wonderful, testimony filled, matured and inspired children back.  I guess we'll just have to keep having transfers.

We sadly said goodbye to:

 

Elder Broderick Danielson

From left, Elder Roney, ward member, Elder Danielson

Missionaries are Elder Larkin, and Elder Danielson on right. 

According to missionaries who know Elder Danielson, he 

is outgoing and gets along well with others. He is musically talented  

and people like to be with him.  He is very excited to teach 

what he has known to be true his entire life.

Elder Peter Farnsworth

This is one of my favorite pictures.  The essence of "missionary."
And the "SHINKO" in the background?  "FAITH"

Service and Smiles
Elder Burnett and Elder Farnsworth

Elder Farnsworth is a hard worker and according 

to other elders, he never complains.  He also loves 

to tell stories and is very good at it.

Elder Zachary Gish

Elder Gish (left) and Elder Hara with two darling
Matsumoto princesses.

Elder Gauthier and Elder Gish

Elder Gish loves to break dance, and even managed to get 

himself in a mission video doing a bit of it.  He loves his companions, 

and for that matter, he just seems to love everyone.

Elder Chad Hilyard

Just a little kick to the soccer ball.

From left:  Elder Farnsworth, Elder Ito, Elder Hilyard, and Elder Matson

Elder Hilyard said at the beginning of his mission that he was shy until he 

got to know people.  He must have overcome that on his mission, because 

other missionaries describe him as someone who loves talking to people and 

who is very good at it.  He is friendly and positive and funny.

Sister Mariah Hunt

Sister Saito, Sister Yamada, and Sister Hunt

Beautiful inside and out.  Sister Fujisawa, and Sister Hunt on right.

Sister Hunt is a good writer.  But what people love most about her is 

that she gets along well with everyone.  She is easy to talk to and warm-hearted.  

Elder Axel Kerksiek

Elder Adachi, and Elder Kerksiek on right.
Doing what missionaries do best.

Elder Wakamatsu and Elder Kerksiek on right, at Suwa Castle.

Elder Kerksiek is easy going with a good sense of humor.  

He can find humor in about anything, so he makes missionary 

work fun.  He is very easy to get along with.

Elder Joshua Matson

Elder Matson on left, with Elder Dunn and two genuine, bonafide Samurai Warriors.
Actually, it's the other way around.  Two genuine, bonafide missionaries.

Elder Ahuna and Elder Matson.  Don't you think
missionaries look more handsome
when they are serving?

Elder Matson gets kudos from other missionaries for being 

hard working and obedient.  He loves to learn and seems to want 

to know everything he can.  He is also very good at Japanese.  When he gets 
home, he will be working on dance and taekwando.

Sister Chalese West

Sister West on left, with Sister Adachi and Sister Hunt.

Darling workers.  From left, Sister West, Sister Masuda, Sister Adachi, Sister Nishimuro

Sister West stands out as being FAST.  She loves to run and 

can do it well.  But she also has great spiritual gifts--she is kind, 

patient, has good knowledge of the scriptures, and a sweet testimony of the Gospel.

and Sister Maori Takatsu

Sister Takatsu loves the Book of Mormon!

Sister Takatsu and Sister Stott

Sister Takatsu has a wonderful knowledge of the scriptures.  

You can tell that by just looking at her scriptures; they are well loved!  

She also has good English and loves to smile and laugh.

October, 2012 Transfer Week

Perhaps someone could make money on a book for mission bloggers.  They could suggest 30 new titles for Transfer Week, 30 ways of welcoming new missionaries with words, and 30 ways of sadly saying goodbye to missionaries who don't really want to go, but know they must.  Oh, and 30 ways to let these missionaries know how much you have grown to love them and will miss them. Since that book hasn't yet been written, we will just go ahead and write about five amazing young people, for we have had transfers again.  We will begin with three mature and experienced missionaries who were hard to let go of:

Sister Saito

Sister Saito knows the Savior lives and that Heavenly Father always answers our prayers.  Her Patriarchal blessing and attending the temple helped her decide to serve a mission.  She has been a superb missionary.

Sister Saito is on the left, with Sister Yamada

From left:  Sister Nishimuro, Sister Saito, Sister Clark

Elder Duarte

Elder Duarte's goal on his mission has been to take advantage of every minute.  He is talkative, friendly, loving, and positive. When people are around him, they are generally smiling.  

Elder Duarte just might be a good cook.
(Elder Burnett is behind.)

Elder Ikeda (left) and Elder Duarte

Elder Soliai

Missionaries can do anything!  (But how did he do this?)

Elder Soliai is very good at working with members to involve them in missionary work.  He is exactly obedient and he shows his love to every missionary and every person.  He is very focused on his purpose as a missionary and is an excellent trainer and teacher.

Elder Soliai in Shirakawa-go.


Oh, how we will miss the three of you!

But what joy, to have two new elders come in who were ready to go and excited to try to fill the big shoes of those who left:

Our first peek at our newest elders, coming through the gate.

You can tell these two missionaries are ready to go,
and President Baird is ready to get them started.

Our traditional picture at the dragon.
(It is the Year of the Dragon.  What will we do next year without him?)
From left:  Elder Prestwich, Elder Wilkinson, President and Sister Baird

At Nagoya Eki by the golden clock,  from left:  Elder Clark (Recorder), Elder Ellsworth (AP) Elder Prestwich,
Elder Wilkinson, Elder Ito (AP), and Elder Koesashi (Commissarian)

And finally, meeting their new companion and trainer:

Elder Prestwich with Elder Parra

Elder James Prestwich is a Murray, Utah man.  He is the second oldest of five children and is coming on a mission partly to set a good example to is younger siblings.  His ultimate goal is to live again with God, and his mission is a great help in that direction.  He calls himself an all-around person, enjoying many things, but especially mentions sports, reading and music.  He has a long list of things he loves to do.  He is creative, optimistic, kind, happy, intelligent and fun loving.  And he is overjoyed to come to Japan. Elder Parra is extremely patient,  and is always happy.  He has great comunication skills and is very  responsible.  He doesn't get irritated if people don't use common sense.

Elder Wilkinson with Elder Schade

Elder Travis Wilkinson hails from Payson, Utah and says his family is huge. He has two brothers and four sisters.  Elder Wilkinson is the oldest, and he has a special love for his four-year-old sister.  He has completed a year at Snow College and wants to eventually go to the Huntsman Business College at Utah State.  He wants to own his own business.  He plays saxophone and guitar, has done a lot of ballroom dancing, and enjoys working on cars.  He likes working hard and he studies hard.  He worked hard to prepare for his mission with college roommates and with regular scripture study. Elder Schade's first goal has always been to serve a successful mission, but he wants to obtain at least a bachelor's degree to provide for the family he wants to have.

And after a day of training, off they go, in the work of the Lord!

A Week in the Life of an Assistant to the President

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

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.

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!!

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!

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.

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.

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.

The Greatest Joy

Written by Elder Yoshiya Ito, October 1, 2012

Sister Murakami, who referred Sister Mazuka, was raised in an LDS family in Tokyo.  But she became less active when she was 11 years old because her family stopped attending church.  She stayed less active for more than 15 years.  When she had difficulties, she remembered church and started to attend again.  Then she went on a mission and served in the United States, San Jose Mission.

She met Sister Mazuka at the university in Utsunomiya and they became friends.  Sister Mazuka had lived in Hamamatsu since she was born.  Sister Murakami had lived there for college.  Sister Murakami forgot about church, so she didn’t talk with her friend at all about church.  But when she got reactivated, she invited Sister Mazuka to church.  But Sister Mazuka didn’t like church very much at that time.

Sister Murakami referred Sister Mazuka to the Hamamatsu elders, Elder Kobayashi and Elder Ito after she came back from her mission.  She knew that Sister Mazuka had interest in the church because of difficulties she had experienced. 

Sister Mazuka was golden and had strong desires to learn the Gospel and know the truth.  But she struggled with knowing if there was a God.  Brother and Sister Ito tachiaied (went as members to help teach) every time we had a lesson with her.  They are awesome tachiais.  Brother Ito is a convert.  He told his conversion story to Sister Mazuka and encouraged her to set a baptismal date as a goal to know the truthfulness of the Gospel.  She accepted to be baptized on July 15^th.  The missionaries taught her the Gospel with enthusiasm.  But she was not sure that the Church was true.  So the baptismal date fell through.  The Suzuki bishop also helped her a lot by doing several things, such as giving her an assignment to play the piano at Sacrament Meeting.

The Ito family invited her and the missionaries to dinner.  Then the Ito’s encouraged her again to set a baptismal date when the missionaries invited her to be baptized.  She accepted more positively than before.  Her baptismal date was August 12^th.

Elder Ito is on far right. Elder Kobayashi is in white next to Sister Mazuka.
Her friend, Sister Murakami, is in the gold top.
The Ito family are on the left and Elder Hara is second from right..

Sister Mazuka got baptized on that day.  Sister Murakami came to the baptismal service from Tokyo.  It was a great baptism.  After the ordinance of baptism, Brother and Sister Ito bore their testimony saying, “I am feeling the greatest joy of missionary work.  I didn’t serve a mission but I know that missionary work brings the biggest happiness.  And I also want to be a tool used by the Lord to invite my friends and families to come unto Christ as Sister Murakami did to Sister Mazuka.”

I saw a big change in the hearts of some members of the church as President Eyring prophesied in 1998.  If more church members get willing to be involved in missionary work, we can receive many blessings from heaven, having greater success in missionary work.  The baptism of Sister Mazuka is a testimony of that.

More Great Finishers, August 2012

We know they have to leave, but that doesn't mean we have to like it.  Each time we have these missionaries, whom we have grown to love, leave us, it is a sad day.  But we know they can't stay forever.  After all, how else are they going to find a spouse?  So here are our warmest goodbyes to these great missionaries.

Seated from left:  Elder Ellsworth (AP), Elder Pedersen, Elder Flint, Elder Bardzinski

Elder Ito (AP), Elder Numakura, Elder Ikeda, President and Sister Baird

Can you see the high regard these two elders have for each other?
Elder Koesashi (left) says Elder Numakura is one of
his favorite missionaries.  He is "cool."  And
he is a great eating machine.  

I like this picture, taken at the same spot they first met their new trainers.  

How different do Elders Flint and Bardzinski look two years later?
See post for Oct. 2010.

Elder Bardzinski is bubbly and easy to get along with and has a sincere, strong testimony of the Gospel.
One of his former companions said he was diligent, very obedient, and managed to get him up in the morning to exercise, even thought this elder didn't like to exercise in the morning. Another missionary said he could have fun while working hard.

Elder Flint hopes to study civil engineering and become an architect.  He wants to use his degree to help out less priviliged countries and design his own home.  He is a quiet observer and has a strong testimony of prayer.  He is a very determined missionary; once he decides he will do something, he will do it.

One missionary said the following about Elder Pedersen:  "He is very thoughtful about other people.  He tries very hard to make everyone happy through the Gospel.  He is willing to sacrifice his time and his talents for people who need them.  He is always happy and positive."  Elder Pedersen wants an occupation in the field of science to help make the world and church better.  He is humble and easy going and likes to help others.  He has a resolute testimony and lots of faith.

Elder Ikeda loves basketball.  Anyone who knows him thinks basketball.  But a former companion
said that during his mission, he was the best example of how to be effective and open his mouth.
He worked very hard.  He also felt that a big part of his mission was to help less-active people,
and he had a big impact in that way.

You can take a missionary away from basketball,
but you can't take basketball out of a missionary.

Elder Numakura had a special talent for organizing paperwork.  He was a pro with the area book for the mission.  He also did a wonderful job of enduring to the end, meaning that he kept working hard right to the end of his mission, and got two new investigators in the last week.  He also worked very hard to learn English, which is exactly what Japanese missionaries are asked to do.

Final feast.  Last chance to enjoy Sister Baird's famous lasagna.

November 2011 New Missionaries

Tonight, we welcomed 7 new amazing missionaries into our mission! Sister Adachi (Kanagawa), Sister Hunt (California), Sister West (Idaho), Elder Okajima (Machida), Elder Schade (Utah), Elder Heo (Korea)
and Elder Hara (Fukuoka). It was great to see the excitment in their faces as they got
off the plane and headed out to preach the gospel for the first time!

Everyone stopped to give a HOIZA pose at the Golden Clock in Nagoya Station.

First Day at the Mission home with President and Sister Baird.

Elder Okajima (left) and Elder Shimajiri- Nakatsugawa

Elder Shuto Okajima, from Tokyo, Japan comes from a family of six,
and all are active at church.  He likes to listen to music because it helps
him be calm and have a positive attitude.  He has liked cars since he was a child.

Elder Naohiro Shimijiri also comes from a wonderful family of 10.  He and two siblings are members of the church.  Elder Simijiri’s dreams are to share love and humility and be a good example.  He enjoys sports, especially basketball and track.  He joined the Church at 23 years old, and is anxious to share the Gospel with others.

Elder Heo (left) and Elder Hiruta- Kariya

Elder Dong Ho Heo is from Changwon, Korea, and is the only Korean serving in the Nagoya mission currently.  He says his life changed in 2009 when he joined the church.  Elder Heo smiles all the time, is outgoing and loves to meet people and talk with them.

Elder Hiruta wants to have a happy family and be sealed in the temple.  He knows the scriptures are true and has grown from studying them.  He looks forward to testifying to his children of missionary work, and he knows his mission will set the example.

Elder Schade (left) and Elder Boss- Suwa

Elder Eric Schade loves to make people laugh, even though he calls himself a bit shy.  He is easy going and easy to get along with.  He is from Heber, Utah and enjoys soccer, snowboarding, wakeboarding, hiking and music.

Elder Alexander Boss is from Midway, Utah and has 3 brothers and 3 sisters. He enjoys sports and did track in high school. He also likes music, reading and travel.  He has been to over 30 countries with his family.

Elder Hara (left) and Elder Ito- Inuyama

Elder Shintaro Hara comes to us from Fukuoka, Japan and comes from a family of five.  He is the youngest and has two older sisters.  His hobby is boxing.  He also enjoys reading, and read 600 books in five years.

Elder Ito` says he is an extrovert.  He loves talking to people.  He is honest and obedient and has been to church every Sunday since he was a baby.  All three of his older brothers were missionaries, and he noticed how their missions made them better men.

Sister Hunt (left) and Sister Clark- Okazaki

Sister Mariah Hunt loves to play the piano.  It is an important part of her life.  

She is also artistic and loves to draw the human form.  She is from Folsom, CA.

Of Sister Clark, one missionary said, "If there would be a sister AP, I would vote for her."  

Sister Clark attended BYU before her mission and discovered a passion for languages

 and music.  She is majoring in Linguistics.

Sister West (left) and Sister Nishimuro- Matsumoto

Sister Chalese West, currently from Rigby, Idaho, attended Utah State and was on the track team.  Her favorite race is the 200m, but she does others as well.  She is a reader, and especially likes C.S.Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein.  She also loves swimming and water sports.  She plans to graduate in either wildlife science or rangeland management and then go to graduate school.  Her dream job would be to study cougars or other predators.  Sister West says she is shy, but is determined and works hard to excel.  She has a testimony strong of the Savior. Sister Nishimuro loves music, especially singing and she also likes to draw.  Her goal is to become an elementary school teacher and her dream is to have an eternal family.  She tries hard not to be judgmental and has lots of friends.  She loves the Church because it makes people happy.

Sister Adachi (right) and Sister Saito- Shizuoka

Sister Miho Adachi is from Kanazawa, Japan and she has five people in her family.  She has had experience in child care and loves to use paper to create greeting cards.  Her goal is to have a happy family.  She hopes to teach nursery school or kindergarten after her mission. Sister Saito loves the children’s hymnbook because it clearly teaches the Gospel.  She wants to learn a language fluently.  She looks forward to a temple marriage and having children.