How Sweet the Sentence Is,

 Early morning Provo Temple walk​

こんにちは！

Unfortunately, I don't have the greatest news below this right here, but I promise I have great news later on:

I have come home from the MTC. I've been struggling with anxiety and my leaders, counselors, and I agree that I need to rest. I'm going to see a counselor to help me feel better about the stresses I have going on. Once I'm feeling better, I'll be in a better place to make a decision about my future.  The good news is that my options are still open. It's possible that I could still serve a full time mission. It's possible that I could do a service mission. It's possible I'll move on and go to college. But what matters now is that I am getting the help I need and I can start healing and feeling better. I appreciate all the love, prayers, and support on my behalf and on my family's behalf. I would never be near as close to where I am without your love and support and I wish I could say more than, "I love you, and thank you."

Now here's the good news, that sweet sentence as titled above: 

He Lives!

My goodness, if I could bear a testimony to hopefully guide you, to invite and help you on the right track it's this simple phrase: He Lives!

Brothers, Elders, Sisters, Friends, Family, I testify of His love for each and every one of us. God loves you. Christ walks with you. The Holy Ghost comforts you. They are aware of you and love you more than you can imagine.

I know that this is His church and I would never doubt it for a moment. I testify that the Book of Mormon is indeed a true testament of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And through Him, we can do all things. All we need is a particle of faith. And if that's too much, than we just need to hope in that. If you haven't tried it out for yourself, then I urge you will all my heart and being: Try it. And God will bless you forever for it. Read the Book. And as soon as you finish, read it again. And the sooner you finish it, the sooner you can finish it again.

I say this, and bear testimony of it in His Holy Name, Jesus Christ, 

Amen.

To lighten the mood a bit more, I have a list of fun random things to include I did not include in previous Emails -- these are in no particular order, and more than likely, better explained in person:

- My shoulder bag is haunted,

- I only lost one chess game because Blake 

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Chōrō wouldn't accept defeat and melted my brain

- There's no such thing as too many cookies

- God makes things work out for everyone

- Missionary work doesn't stop here, it goes on and on

- Reach out and help a friend in need -- there are so many, just help them

- Learn the Language of the Spirit, it's more important than any other

- Ask me more!

I love you all so very much, and I thank our Heavenly Father each and every day for it. Thank you. 'Til we meet again!

~ Elder North

思い出：

Our (messy) Classroom​

Provo Temple​

Class in Session​

 Provo Utah Girls would marry a tree if it served a mission (confirmed!)​

Testimonial Gardening Tips from Elder North

Phew! Crazy day! It's a bit later than usual when I would send this. I've been thinking about major things that has newly happened at the MTC. And honestly, I'm finding it pretty difficult coming up with new stuff to say. And as I ponder over my journal and translate it over to an Email, I've got some things to say here:

Take a look at this scripture reference with the Vision of the Tree of Life in mind and with this thought -- the word is Christ and His Authorized Servants:

(Alma 32: 27-28)

27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

(Emphasis added)

Did you catch that? The seed of the Tree of Life can not only be a destination for a person or group of people, but also the person in their core as well. The Tree of Life can also be interpreted as missionary work at its center. How marvelous it is to give the fruit to others -- and here's another fun part! What's inside of fruit, other than deliciousness? Seeds! More seeds!

I'm no farmer, but can you imagine a whole world full of orchards of the Lord? Testimonies and others helping glorious forests? 

But here's where it begins. The seed. The seed, or the word of the Lord, in our hearts. And that seed has to break and take root before it grows onwards and upwards.

Man, this church is true!

As for some other minor things to explain:

Yes, I'm feeling better. I have a teensy tiny cough now. The Shimai-tachi in my District made sure I was doing fine -- they're an awesome mix between mothers and sisters.

We have new District Leaders! Elder Rupp and Elder Juchau are now the new top guys. I like them a lot. (Though, I really enjoyed Elder Andersen and Elder Mckinzie as our leaders)

We hosted some new missionaries today. It was kinda confusing since they were dropping them off in an underground parking lot under one of the new buildings. But I helped a young Elder who is going to Slovakia! Neato!

I'll never stop thanking you for your love and support. And if I don't mention it directly (because I'm sure I may forget a week or two of doing so) in my Email, I still think about each of you daily. My family and friends are so important to me. So again, thank you, and I love you.

~ Elder North

Pictures!

Not too many this week, I need to get better at shooting people. :3

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This is an older Throwback, but ContadiniChōrō trapped our district leaders for half an hour because he opened the elevator doors, making it override and stop for half an hour.​

Not too shabby for a guy without Photoshop. I enjoyed taking and editing this picture.​

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Juchau Chōrō wanted some practice before leaving to Japan.​

In Sickness and in Health

Getting sick isn't all that bad.​

ALT. TITLE: A Hot Summer ​Cold

This week has been another adventure! The weeks are beginning to blur and I find myself having a difficult time finding new things to talk about.

Unfortunately, I had caught a cold. A cold in the summer?! I'm shocked too. I had talked with my Branch President about this and he says it's not uncommon. In fact, he had a three-week long cold two weeks ago! Which he admitted that it could have been possible that I caught it from him. No hard feelings, President Murdock!

But isn't that one of the coolest things about the Atonement? Christ didn't just suffer for everyone's sins, but he also suffered pains and afflictions. Basically, he suffered all sorts of cancers, broken bones, sniffles, and pinches of pain. What a blessing it is to have Him as a comfort.

On Monday I was officially diagnosed by the MTC doctor with a cold and asked that I took it easy. So all day Tuesday was nothing but sleeping and drinking water. Various 

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Chōrōs took "shifts" in taking care of me. Which really meant that they got to take a nap with me.

Now today was especially cool. The Provo Temple needs some help repairing some things and they asked our district to help set up some wallpaper! The prior wallpaper had to be removed, but the walls were severely damaged because of it. We didn't remove it, but new plaster had to be smothered on the wall to strengthen it. Our job was to sand down the details in the corners to make sure that when the wallpaper would lay flat, no bumps would be found. Thinking about plastering walls made me think about the film, From Up on Poppy Hill with Umi's little sister. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures, but it was quite strange being in Temple Work Clothes and sanding down the walls with a sponge and dust mask. Brother Jensen, the main contractor, had said we had done a fantastic job for three hours that would have taken his team ten hours to finish. It was wonderful to even slightly help rebuild His kingdom here on earth.

Welp, that's all the highlights for this week! 

I love each and every one of you!

-- 

​~ノース長老

Rupp Chōrō's smirk as I beat him in chess.​

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Blake Chōrō had a hard time admitting defeat.​

 

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Mckinzie Chōrō is friends with the guy from the Meet the Mormons, "Bless4" video! Apparently, the 

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Chōrō who went to L.A. helped convert Mckinzie's friend!​

The Shimai-tachi are super cool.​

日本語のネームタグ！(I'll get shot with it on later)​

I love this book! I couldn't help taking a picture of it.​

Notice Me, Senpai!

I've been gone for how long now? Man, the days go by really slow, but the weeks are flying by! I can hardly keep track of the different things we've done over this last week, but here's the adventures I've got:

The Stadium of Fire!

Last Saturday, July 1st, we watched the "Stadium of Fire".  The BYU sports stadium has a fun firework show as we celebrated our independence.

I loved talking about our religious freedoms that we have in this amazing country. I really do love this country.  I don't think I can properly explain my love for it other than God really does Bless America. Of course, this includes the rest of the world, but you know.

Sunday was the last time we saw our Dai-Senpai, but I left a small sticky note for them telling them that we loved them and we were grateful for their Christ-like example. They left around 2:30am on Monday.

Me, Blake 

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Chōrō, Juchau 

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Chōrō, and Rupp 

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Chōrō

And the latest adventure I had was today. I am no longer a Kohai, but a mighty Senpai! All the new missionaries coming in were just about as nervous as I was, but I'm glad I was spared from the torture the Dai-Senpai inflicted. Contadini Chōrō, one of the (former*) Dai-Senpai, pretended he was one of the Kohai and only spoke Portuguese (even though he's pretty good at English). As I type, I'm sure he's still doing it now.

I'll make sure to politely shoot them and get to know them better, but there's 34 more total! That more than doubles our Japanese Zone compared to yesterday! I have no idea how the rest of the MTC is going to hold everyone.

* Portugal isn't very lenient on visas, so he has to wait up to ten days before he's shipped off to Japan. So now he's our Dai-Dai-Senpai.

 Class Mogi (Roleplay)​

Batman Kanji (the smaller letters, furigana, tell you how to pronounce it: 

"NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa -- BATMAN!")

 This is probably the same stone that hid the brass plates.​
(Rock at the MTC)

The Sacrament Prayers in Japanese​

Rupp 長老 has a small chess set! I'm happy he brought that.  Even though Chess can sometimes be stressful, it's good to know I've still got some tricks up my sleeve, and not to brag, but I think I'm the best in my Zone. Blake 長老 thinks otherwise.

My mission scripture. Can you guess why I like it?

Overall, is the MTC hard? Absolutely. But I'm learning this:

- One Day at a Time

- Let the MTC Change You

- Don't Forget that You're Not Alone

- Keep Tending to That Tree That is Your Testimony

- A Testimony is Knowing

- Conversion is Acting

- Christ Walks by Our Side Every Step of the Way

- Japanese is Not the Primary Thing I Need to Work On

Thank you for all of your amazing love and support!

~ Elder North

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ノース長老

My amazing district

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P.S. We have Zone Pictures! The ones I'll mainly share in my Emails will be from our district, but I'll send a link to those who'd like to see the other crazy Chōrō-tachi, just send me an Email and next week I'll reply with the Drive File! Oh! And the best time to send me Emails is pretty much any day except Wednesday, because I'm only given an "hour" to send this, but I can read Emails any time during the week, when appropriate of course.

Also, sorry if these Emails don't make too much sense, since many times they have to be a little rushed. They'll get better when I don't have quite as much to say.

-- 

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​~ノース長老

The Tree in Me

This week has been truly amazing, yet again!

The beginning of this week was very hard. I had felt that the Japanese I was learning was a totally different language. Instead of learning how to count, I was learning how to bring the Japanese people to Christ. 

Nevertheless, I continued to pray, read my scriptures, and write in my journal.

I will now focus on yesterday and today:

How did the Lord answer my prayers?

Well, ten members of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles showed up of course! (I don't have photos, they were strict about that, sorry)

We had Elder Ballard, Elder Anderson, Elder Renland, Elder Rasband, Elder Christofferson, Elder Holland, Elder Bednar, Elder Cook, Elder Oaks, and Elder Stevenson. Needless to say, the Spirit was there.

I had sung in the choir (waaay fun, by the way -- our chorister is the same one in General Conference and he teaches us lessons as we sing), the song was "Praise to the Man" since yesterday was the commemoration of Joseph Smith's martyrdom. Which, was also broadcasted to all the other MTCs in the world -- I'm not sure if I was visible, but "Hi Mom!" anyways!

Have you guessed who spoke yet? Well the answer is in the next sentence:

Elder Bednar!

He spoke of many things, but he told us to concentrate on the feelings we had, so here are the things that stuck out to me the most:

The Word of God is Jesus Christ and His Authorized Servants' teachings.

When we plant the seed, that is the Word of God, in our heart, a tree begins to grow.

When that tree is matured and well taken care of, it springs fruit that is very desirable.

When we eat that fruit we want to share it with others.

Yes, the Tree of Life in Lehi's Dream can be interpreted as simply as a strong testimony of Christ. And what did Nephi want? A strong testimony. He followed that Iron Rod and beheld the great tree.

Now do ye really suppose that Joseph Smith's first draft could have just been all made up and influence millions around the world? 

I testify that if you grow and nurture that great tree of your's, you will not only see the benefits of your life, but other's as well. You will begin to see how amazing you are and how much the Lord loves you.

Today was more adventurous for us. We study in the new MTC buildings. So what do they do with the old ones? They leave them for Chōrō-tachi (many Elders) to raid those tombs. We found the old Japanese classrooms and saw where our senpai and dai-senpai studied. We of course looted the good stuff like a Japanese Flag, Maps of Japan, whiteboards, hymn books, markers, chalk, the Ark of the Covenant*, the Holy Grail*, and those weird stone things*, (pictures next week for our newly decorated room).

* <REDACTED>

Next week we're expecting 35 Japanese Missionaries coming in! Holy cat-cakes! Wish me luck until then!

I love you all very much and I thank you for the letters and love you send me.

~ Elder North

ノース長老

PICTURE TIME!

President Sekiguchi and his wonderful wife.

フライドポテいトのちく (The District of French Fries -- it's a weird name, but blame Rupp Chōrō) Left to Right:

​Kelley Shimai

Medieros Shimai

North Chōrō (He's pretty chill)

Blake Chōrō

Juchau Chōrō (turns our that was spelled right)

Rupp Chōrō

Andersen Chōrō

Mckinzie Chōrō

Dobbs Shimai

Thomas Shimai

Rupp Chōrō (left) and Andersen Chōrō (right) studying in the residence hall.

That great missionary is Mckinzie Chōrō (Companions with Andersen Chōrō, our District Leader), and we had to commemorate him on that great lesson he gave to Brother Bottle.

 Our Zone (I can't list them all, sorry)​

I'm going on a mission

The First Week!

Wow!

Giving up everything to serve the Lord has truly been one of the best things I could ever do in my entire life! It's more than hard, but the Lord has truly helped me through. I have a ton to say, so let's hop to it!

Me and ブレク長老​

 After I had said my goodbyes to my family I was immediately led through by a Host to grab my books and apply different resources. I was then directed to go to class, where my companion would be waiting there.

And there he was! His name is Elder Blake. I will continue to call him "Blake Chōrō". "ブレクちょうろう”, and "ブレク長老". So besides what I call him, he's a pretty great guy! He's from Spanish Fork, so he's not too homesick.

I then had dinner and made more friends in my District of 10 people.

​​Residence Hall

Only Sister Kelley (FYI: "Sister" in Japanese is "Shimai") is going to Sendai, Japan. I'll make sure to give more descriptions of everyone and shoot them as well.

I then I had truly learned my missionary purpose: I am to INVITE and SERVE in Christ's example. I would surely fail if I never do this. 

I had an awesome District Meeting that Thursday night! It was wonderful! I got to meet my branch presidency: President Murdock, Brother St. Clair, and Brother Sowards. These men are super cool, and they have served in Japan as well. I am especially thankful for President Murdock, for he had interviewed us in our district and I had told him I was not doing so well. Turns out, the answer was simple: I needed more water. Kind of a funny thing to say now that I think about it because the MTC continues to tell us the first week is like 'drinking from a fire hose' -- which it totally is.

Lesson Notes and Name Tag (The Orange Dot meant I was new)​

The MTC has a bookstore as well and I had gone there with ブレク長老 and I got a drawing pen and a lanyard for my residency key and missionary ID card. 

日本語 is very hard! But I love it! The teachers don't speak any English unless we can't figure out what we're saying.

And guess what else! My mission president and his wife from Japan came and visited me right after class! I was awkward and totally forgot how to speak Japanese, but President Sekiguchi knows English! So it was good to talk to him once I remembered how to speak that language as well.

Let's slow things down a bit before I write a novella. The next day, I went to the gym and apparently the Japanese Zone has a thing for Four Square! So I started gaining a reputation with a game I was pretty familiar with.

We had FHE and read Elder Bednar's talk from April 2015, "Therefore, They Hushed Their Fears". I recommend it a lot.

ブレク長老

ノース長老

Boys will be Boys (The one in the cot is Elder Rupp, the other on the bed is Elder Juchau-- not spelled right, but pronounced, "Jew-SHAH")

It was then Father's Day, Gravity Falls Day, and most importantly: The Sabbath Day! It was us and our District and I had truly felt the Spirit. President Murdock gave an awesome experience where he had thought that nobody in Japan had ever listened to his message, but 38 years later, he had found a young missionary who he had found out was the son of a ten year old boy who grew up with a picture of him and the missionaries and the Book of Mormon. He didn't do a lot of good things growing up, but then he found that Book of Mormon, and began to read.

President Sekiguchi gave his conversion story as well! He had wanted a Bible, but couldn't find any in Tōkyō, but he found himself in a crowd of a thousand people watching these two strange Americans writing about how they were missionaries on a huge piece of paper in front of an amusement park. He figured, "Hey! This is a great way to get a free Bible!". The missionaries gave him the Book of Mormon. He thought it odd that it didn't tell about Noah or Moses, but he continued reading and accepted to be taught by the missionaries. Sister Sekiguchi gave a talk as well, but that was in Japanese. It was way cool, but I didn't catch too much.

Breakfast!

Later, I had a Sunday Devotional with a very special guest speaker: (Drumroll please:) Donny Osmond! That was way cool.

He states that we should experience our missions. Not just walk around being uncomfortable or unfamiliar, but to immerse ourselves in the culture.

We also watched a recording of Elder Bednar as well. Basically: Don't be Cookie Monster. A saint of Christ is someone who turns outward and not inward.

There's plenty of roleplaying here at the MTC. Just without dice and a character sheet.

I'm also able to say quite a few good prayers in Japanese. It's best to SYL. "Speak Your Language", where you try to say as much as possible in Japanese, but then fill in with English.

And that finally brings us to today!

I want to thank you all for your love and support. I am truly grateful for all the wonderful things you have done to influence me and my life. 

I would like to apologize if I had ever wronged you or perhaps may wrong you, but I love all of you. Again, thank you for your lasting love and support. I would truly not be here today if it wasn't for that.

ノース長老

(Elder North)

The coolest guy in the world​

Email from Elder North's Mission President

Dear Brother and Sister North,

My name is Osamu Sekiguchi.  I’m from Tokyo, Japan.  My wife, Takako and I are attending trainings at MTC to prepare to go to Japan Sendai Mission as Mission President and a wife.  We arrived at MTC June 12 which was just two days before your son, Elder North arrived at here.  We visited his Japanese class on Friday and met him.  We were so excited to meet him because he will be our first missionary we will have in Japan Sendai Mission.  

When I  attended the sacrament meeting this morning, I also saw him at there.  I was asked by the presidency of Japan Mission Districts to share my testimony at the meeting.  When I was talking, I saw only two missionaries were taking notes in those groups.  Elder North was one of them.  I was so impressed. He is always studying very hard. 

I met him at the lunch time, and took a photo today.  He is doing well with his good companion.  Surprisingly, he already can understand Japanese well.  He is a polite and talented young missionary.  My wife and I love him.  I don’t doubt that he will be a great missionary who can work as a tool of the Lord.  You should proud of your son, Elder North.  We really appreciate you and your family that you are sacrificing and supporting this wonderful young man.  

We leave for Japan Sendai Mission June 29, and start to serve as Mission President from July 1.  We will wait for him at there.

Sincerely,

Osamu and Takako Sekiguchi

Japan Sendai Mission