Melton-Japan-Mission

Temperatures have been high and steady for the past couple of weeks and the humidity is also high. After cookouts and futsol practices outside we have been feeling the heat more lately. We watch the flags posted on base that indicate the severity of the heat. Black is the worst meaning no practice outside. Red is next then orange and yellow. We adapt by taking lots of water breaks during practice. The Japanese are  prepared for the heat. Many use umbrellas here for shade as they walk. We also see some of the hand held fans. Having grown up in humid environments we feel we can tolerate it more than the missionaries from the western parts of the United States. Some missionaries actually like the hotter weather best. They would be from Brazil and the Philippines. Brian's driving test is in about 10 days and Donna's is a week after that. She insisted that we go walk the driving course to get more comfortable with the route. Trying to fit a time in our busy schedule was tricky. It w...

Time has flown by this past two weeks, and we almost lost track of it in preparing this blog entry. The theme for these last two weeks may be how we are all God's children, as we have worked a few projects engaging with many of his children from the organizations we work with to the one-on-one experiences we have with individuals. One of the biggest things we have been supporting with the Atsugi chapel has been their Vacation Bible Study (VBS). We've been participating in the planning and participation of these over the past few weeks, but this last week we started in earnest as each day our group was busy finishing the decorations and gathering food items and materials, and decorating the chapel. This week will be the VOS for the Catholic community on base. The theme, True North, uses the northern tundra as the layout as they focus on following Jesus and the Saints. The event takes place this week and the two of us will be heading up the snack area known as Tundra Treats. One ...

View of Mt. Fuji from Gotemba Outlet Mall Sometimes the Lord allows us to grow not by success, but by the failures we experience. Even with study and prayer, our hopes may not come to fruition as we had hoped. President Kimball once said something to the effect that if the Lord answered all prayers of the righteous and the wicked never experienced success, the incentive to learn and grow would be lost, everyone would do good. Similar to climbing a mountain, we try to move forward, but then have to adjust, step back, or find another way around an obstacle; all to give us experience. We recently made our first attempt to pass the practical driving exam.  Both of us felt okay about the Japanese driving practical, however the result was that we failed. We had someone translate to ask about what we needed to do better. Out of the nine persons in our group doing the driving test only three passed (it was the third time for one of them). Some of the drivers were sent back to the beginning...

Changing Need, Changing Opportunities Sometimes new challenges arise, the efforts you put forward may not have the hoped for result. The missionaries see this everyday, when someone they have been teaching and come to care about decides to step back away. We've seen a couple of young adults who facing the challenges of in today's world or question their faith because of family trials, concern over a church doctrine, listening to voices that are critical or bias towards the church, finding life difficult to balance with gospel principles, or just feeling unworthy of the the Savior's redeeming love. Though such times can make you wonder what more could you have done, we then find comfort in the Spirit reminding us to trust in the Lord, and all things will work out according the his timeframe. This past couple of weeks several members of the branch left on their 6-month deployment. Mostly active or semi-active when they returned from the previous deployment last December, all ...

Missionary work can be difficult. Elder Holland has said that as missionaries we deal with a person's salvation and it was meant to be hard. Our mission president referred to the parable of the sower of seeds found in Mathew 13:3-9, 18-23. The bottom line is that we sow seeds and it is up to the person how it is received. When the seed grows, there is joy. On a recent community street cleaning there were two different missionaries on exchange in our district. As we were walking down the street and picking up debris, one of the persons from Atsugi that was helping, started talking to a visiting Elder saying he was wanting to find the local church and attend. That was really cool. Brian has been responding by email to the Atsugi Public Affairs Officer to get us signed up for these clean ups and it is great to get the exposure.  On American holidays like Memorial Day, the military facilities have the day off and people go out and explore Japan. That gives us Military Relations mission...