Japan

パール

Pāru

"pearl" in Japanese

http://jewelryactivist.com

Kokichi Mikimoto, originator of the cultured pearl.  The Japanese controlled the cultured pearl industry for over 100 years.

(http://www.internetstones.com)

What Sister Breksa Teaches About The Holy Ghost

The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead. He is a personage of spirit, without a body of flesh and bones. He is often referred to as the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, or the Comforter.

ROLES OF THE HOLY GHOST

The Holy Ghost works in perfect unity with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, fulfilling several roles to help us live righteously and receive the blessings of the gospel.

1. WITNESS

He “witnesses of the Father and the Son” (2 Nephi 31:18) and reveals and teaches “the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5). We can receive a sure testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ only by the power of the Holy Ghost. His communication to our spirit carries far more certainty than any communication we can receive through our natural senses.

2. GUIDE

As we strive to stay on the path that leads to eternal life, the Holy Ghost can guide us in our decisions and protect us from physical and spiritual danger.

3. COMFORTER

He is the Comforter (John 14:26). As the soothing voice of a loving parent can quiet a crying child, the whisperings of the Spirit can calm our fears, hush the nagging worries of our life, and comfort us when we grieve. The Holy Ghost can fill us “with hope and perfect love” and “teach [us] the peaceable things of the kingdom” (Moroni 8:26; D&C 36:2).

Letter Home: Preparation Day trip to the castle in Iwakuni

Sister Breksa and her wonderful companion 
(Holding up two fingers like that in photos - all the kids do it Japan, no idea why)

Sister Breksa and a member of the church, who I believe was a tour guide for the missionaries. 
For Sister Breksa, it is NEVER too cold for ice cream.  This is mango/pineapple flavor. 

わたしはモルモンで、チーズ製造者で、父親です

Sister Breksa

At Kentai Castle above Iwakuni

Outside Sister Breksa's and her companion's apartment

Mormonism: A Christ-Centered, Global Faith

Be Strong and of a Good Courage - Mutual Theme 2010

Letter Home

How are you?  I’m doing great!  On Friday Sister J. and I biked down to Tsuzu. On the way we had a lesson with a lady we met 2 weeks ago in Tsuzu. At that time, we talked about God and The Book of Mormon. We called and set an appointment – although the 1st one fell through, this next one did not! We taught the restoration and scheduled our next appointment for this week. One Sunday we waited for someone who promised to come to church – we called and she said that she couldn’t make it. I know this Church is true.

Letter Home

So, we have an investigator who lives an hour or so away by bike. Off my companion and I go on bikes. It was snowing!  Seeing was a little difficult and my fingers were numb so using the brakes was a little bit impossible. It was fun.

The lesson was perfect. We invited her to be baptized and she came to church with us that Sunday for her 1^st time.

God is a loving Heavenly Father. Since Adam and Eve, He has provided opportunities for His children to learn of Him, know what to do to be happy, provided the tools to do so, and offered the opportunity to repent when we choose misery. 

He has called prophets to teach of Him, His commandments, the ‘how tos’ of obedience, and the Atonement. Through out the history of man, His prophets have been rejected and so have lost instruction and direction. God has not forgotten man. It is man who has rejected God. 

This rejection of God is called an apostasy. The great and last apostasy occurred after Jesus Christ was crucified and His apostles were rejected and killed.

This loss of instruction and direction lasted until 1820, when again God called a prophet.

That prophet was Joseph Smith.  And through this prophet we have been instructed in the nature of God, the commandments, how to keep the commandments, and learned more about the process of repentance. This call came in a vision.   Joseph Smith described this sacred event as follows:

In the place where we lived [there was] an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, “Lo, here!” and others, “Lo, there!” Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist.

During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.

In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?

While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.

After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”

He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, “Never mind, all is well—I am well enough off.” I then said to my mother, “I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.” It seems as though the adversary was aware, at a very early period of my life, that I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom; else why should the powers of darkness combine against me? Why the opposition and persecution that arose against me, almost in my infancy?

Letter Home: Commitments, Japanese, and sharing scriptures

Sister J. and I talked to a family that had a girl and a boy. They boy said he wanted to talk to God & if he could talk to God he would be happy, along with prayer we committed him to read Enos in The Book of Mormon.

Can you believe it -- I have been a missionary [in Japan] for 6 months! But guess what - a Japanese member asked me when my mission was going to end. He thought I was an old missionary and was surprised when I told him I was new still. My Japanese is getting better.  

When I am meeting people I open the scriptures to share a verse I feel will meet their needs. Keep on praying for me!

Japan: A Super Short Discription of the Shogun

将軍

Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last Shogun

Shogun means "military commander"

Although theoretically the state, and therefore the Emperor, held ownership of all land of Japan, the system had some feudal elements, with lesser territorial lords pledging their allegiance to greater ones. Samurai were rewarded for their loyalty with agricultural surplus, usually rice, or labor services from peasants. The hierarchy that held this system of government together was reinforced by close ties of loyalty between samurai and their subordinates. Each shogun's power and area was dynamic, not static. Power was constantly shifting and authority was often ambiguous. Each shogunate encountered competition from almost every leadership system in Japan. This system lasted approximately 250 years. 

(Adapted from Wikipedia)

Sister Breksa's Family History

A Testimony of Lewis Hunsaker

Sister Breksa’s Maternal Great Great Grandfather

"While herding sheep I read the Bible through twice, the Doctrine and Covenants twice, and the Book of Mormon five times.  I have read it through several times since.  As I finished reading it the fifth time and came to these words, 

"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that you would ask God the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, he will manifest the truth of it unto you by the Power of the Holy Ghost, and by the Power of the Holy Ghost ye shall know the truth of all things."  

I quit reading and walked a little closer to where the sheep were feeding, thinking of the words I had just read.  I looked to see if there was anyone in sight, then I knelt and prayed earnestly to my Heavenly Father.  After praying, oh what joy filled my soul, it is beyond the power of mortal man to describe it.  I shall never forget that occasion.  It was in October 1891, two miles south of Washakie and one mile west." 

For Primary Children (ages 3-12)

Mon

Mon: a bean paste based dough and calzone-like.  The bread is supper soft.  They are served hot and in wrapped in paper.  There are all kinds of filings, the one below appears to be a pizza mon. If you were really desperate to describe them---they could be loosely compared to an American Hot Pocket. 

A 7-11 in Tokyo.  

Photo by Jason Jenkins

"If you think convenience store food is limited to potato chips and dodgy dried meats, then come to Japan, where chains such as Lawson’s, Family Mart and 7-Eleven offer salads, pasta, fruit cocktails, and sushi. Push past the cup noodles and corn dogs and you’ll find a bounty of (relatively) healthy and reasonably priced meals, and you won’t have to stoop to anything freeze-dried, deep-fried, or impaled on a stick." 

–Jason Jenkins, http://www.bonappetit.com

わたしはモルモンで，陶芸家で，バランスの師匠です

"I'm A Mormon" video. Hear the beautiful Japanese language, meet a Mormon Japanese man and his family, and view the gorgeous Japan.

Missionaries serving in the Fukuoka Japan Mission

Sister Breksa is second from left - bending down a bit so the missionaries behind her can be seen.

If they are representative of some of the missionaries in other parts of the world and at different times in church history, there are those in this picture who, during the time they serve, face physical challenges, family members back home being very sick or dying or have died, scant resources, missing grandchildren's milestones, difficulty with the language, family members and friends that do not support them, missed schooling & sports opportunities, and homesickness.  

They make no money - in fact they pay their own way. Some missionaries have been saving money for their missions almost all their lives, have sold cars or collections, or parents have to take second jobs and sacrifice other things to support their missionaries. Some are partially or completely supported by other members of the church. They've left family businesses and farms, leaving their part of the work to be done by others. 

On their missions they will be cold, hot, hungry, elated, sad, tired, and enthused. They will be treated rudely and like sacred ministers.  They face physical dangers, threats of violence and welcomed into homes and fed the best the family has to offer. Dogs will chase and children will embrace the missionaries.

Why do they serve?

To bring the world His truth. 

Every person who has the privilege and blessing of meeting missionaries are being given the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it and the teachings of Christ - to know if they are true by the very real power of God - and then make changes in their lives to be baptized.

Then, they are further supported through an established church with programs designed to bring them close to Christ.  That through that strength and personal study and obedience - they can enter the temple of God and be sealed for eternity to their family…then continue to gain strength, study, and to obey that  when the world has gone away….they will be with their families and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ forever.

Quite a lot of blessings possible … and the potential that another child of God will hear and respond as outlined above … that is worth ALL of it.  

Weather Report

"It is getting cold here"