Just in case (videos)

Just in Case (pictures)

weekly mission email

This week hasn't been full of amazing highlights, really. Everyone is just ready to go out already. 

Elder Eli Booth has entered the MTC. Actually he entered last week but I forgot to mention it. It's been kinda weird to talk to him, honestly. We weren't good friends before but we knew of each other, you know? Good thing I'm leaving Monday. 

It was Ishimori's birthday on Monday 9/19 and he get dumped by his girlfriend. She sent an email with a photo attached that showed her hugging another guy. She said, "you are not my type." Awww poor guy. Turns out his teacher, Brother Chau, also got dumped on the same day so they got to hug it out with each other. We gave ishimori a box of American sweets and snacks to try to cheer him up. Another Elder has been emailing his girlfriend on days other than P-Day. He got chewed out last night by President Daniels. (The Tensai Shooter one) 

Again, the Japanese elders have all gotten sick in some way, except Yamada Choro. Apparently, Japanese medicine has only about half the strength of American medicine. Interesting fact. They've continued this ruse since they first got here, practically. I question whether or not they are really sick at this point. That whole district is really bad about attending class and focusing on prep. 

Probably the most interesting that has happened this week is that as I was standing in line for volleyball (due to player rotation), some elder from the other court's corner (so about as far away as you can get from where I was standing) managed to mess up his serve so badly that the ball sailed all the way over and smacked me just behind my left ear. I instantly felt dizzy, and couldn't hear very well. The guy had attempted an overhead jump serve, idiot. This is the MTC, don't get competitive. He apologized afterwards, though, so it was OK. Anyways, the doctor said to take it easy, rest, put an ice pack on it, and take some Tylenol (she was very specific about that). It turned out good and now I'm A-OK. 

We got our flight plans on Thursday. There was actually quite a bit of fuss over it because I didn't want to go check the mail more than my required two times to grab them, but everyone was desperate to know what flights they had. I eventually caved and grabbed them that night. The Kobe and Nogoya missions are leaving together. Th Tokyo South mission is leaving by itself (either they have enough missionaries to do that or they will be combined with Tokyo mission). Fukuoka is a flight by itself. I will have to be up and loading my luggage at 4:20 AM Monday morning (which was changed from the original 3:50 AM). Also, I have been made flight coordinator/director/person-who-makes-sure-everyone-does-what-they-should-be-doing-and-reports-any-changes-from-the-original-plan guy. Conejo Shimai is that person for the Kobe missionaries. I'm pretty sure they picked whatever missionary's name started with C, for that one. 

So today we're packing. We're getting laundry taken care of early so we can spend the rest of today's time figuring out what will go where. I don't have a lot of stuff, but I need to go through everything and figure out what to keep, including my 12 lbs of language material I picked up here. Delta is nice so we get lots of free bags.  We'll probably skip exercise time to get it done. 

We've made a pact that before we arrive in Japan, we will find the most American (probably greasiest) food and feast on it. I plan on a good pizza, others on thick burgers, some others on Mexican food (because there is no good Mexican food in Japan). 

I honestly still don't know how General Conference will work here. I think I'm supposed to pick up those plans this morning. From what I've heard, everyone will watch it together in the biggest gym they have here, and several overflow rooms. Between sessions they'll somehow manage to squeeze in a meal for everyone, and then afterwards we'll have study time, or something. The sisters will probably watch the women's session rebroadcast while the elders watch priesthood session. Really nothing special, I don't think. 

Love you all! Thanks for the support! 

Elder Cardon 

email from the MTC

Because we all have iPads, we also got the newest iOS 10 update. Hey, this thing is nice! We can make memories videos on Photos and text weird black screens with scribbles to each other on Messages and have a consistent sleep schedule on the Clock. The lock screen is super weird, but I guess it would make more since with a phone since they have the touch lock code. Glad I'm not entirely out of the loop, here. The Japanese keyboard got an updated set of emoticon faces, I see. ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

Ballard is back!! I repeat, Ballard Choro is back!!,!! He surprised us all by expecting us in our classroom Monday morning for class. （≧∇≦）His stomach is all good and healthy as ever; he has to take medications for the rest of his life, but seeing that he wasn't supposed to enter the MTC for a couple months over it I'm not complaining. He's not, either. He's bright and funny as ever, cracking jokes all the time. I've never seen our teacher laugh so hard before--it was kinda weird, actually ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

So the MTC will be singing in General Conference. The choir was selected very sneakily, so that there wouldn't be a storm of false applications. They handed a survey out to the people who usually go to choir anyway, and asked everyone to fill it out for the sake of knowing what kind of people attend the choir as part of the biggest wave ever. Being honest, I put my cite reading as poor and my singing ability as average. Guess that wasn't enough to get in. Rats. But, on the other hand, half of the rest of the district made it in. They're all so gifted musically. They'll be missing class in the morning and some late night district reviews for the next couple weeks. Practice, I'm told, takes priority over everything else we do here at the MTC. Pretty important stuff, eh? (☝︎՞ਊ ՞)☝︎

Kohai and Nihonjin came in on Wednesday; I am officially a DaiSenpai. Haha Senpai notice me! \(//∇//)\ we got three districts; 30 new missionaries, and three of them, at least, are going to Nagoya. We did a total body count across the three branches (the entire Japanese populace as a whole), and found 13 ish missionaries going to Nagoya. Honestly, I think I landed the smallest mission missionary wise. That's cool; just more people for me to save, I guess. And in the countryside! Oh yeah! ＼＼\٩(๑`^´๑)۶//／／

My companion was asked to do Translating for the Japanese missionaries so their companions (who already speak Japanese pretty fluently) could focus on the introductory meeting. So, accompanying him, I met all the new cool Elders. It was great! One is super outgoing, sporty type of person; another is also sporty, but humble about it--he was in the top 16 best basketball players in Japan before he left, BTW; the other is unusually quiet, reserved type of person--he was kinda a gamer (played PoGo and such), but honestly he doesn't talk enough for anyone to know much about him. I found out he likes sports, though he's not very skilled, and we had a great conversation about pizza once (that my favorite food （╹◡╹）♡.) 

We had a sub for class earlier this week and did some crazy stuff. She asked us all to take a BOM, or spiritual thoughts or something, take your companion and go roaming around the MTC looking for wandering people. (It was a streeting exercise). Hail the person down, and share with them something you feel prompted to in Japanese. You companion would then translate for you; afterwards you would switch. It was great fun! I meet some really cool people. One companionship was going to St. Louis, had the same family size and situation as I did, and had only been in for a couple days! Good elders; they took the whole situation well. ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ 

V8 is like cold tomato soup; it's a trap!! Don't drink it, it's gross! Hahahaha ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

I'm preparing for the final package, Mom. You better prepare yourself for this.ʕʘ‿ʘʔ

I don't think there's a Thanksgiving in Japan. Kinda bummed about that. Wonder if I can start one. Hmmm ٩( ᐛ )و

Some inspired words from my Branch President: 

 I would like to share a few scriptures and thoughts on becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. Discipleship is when our beliefs and actions are in harmony.

D&C 41:5  He that receiveth my law and doeth it, the same is my disciple: and he that saith he receiveth it and doeth it not, the same is not my disciple and shall be cast out from among you

John 8:31,32 If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples in deed and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

It is interesting to contrast how one of Christ’s miracles was received by the different people. I would like you to read scriptures from John chapter 9 as you finish this letter. I believe there are modern day parallels between the actions of the Pharisees and the actions of the blind man. The actions of the Pharisees are attributes that can plague us from becoming disciples of Christ. The action of the blind man can serve as a template of attributes for us to follow Christ.

Barriers to Discipleship

John 9:16 Looked to find fault, looked to criticize

If we focus on finding faults in others, we will find them. While the gospel of Jesus Christ is pure and the organization of the church true, the members are not perfect and that applies to the leaders and missionaries as well. The Lord instructed us in Ether that I give unto men weakness that they may become humble. We all have plenty of reasons for humility.  When we are critical of our leaders or finding fault with our fellow missionaries, we are building barriers to our discipleship

John 9:18 Skepticism, Unbelief

When we question spiritual experiences, when we allow doubts to replace faith, when we rely on our own abilities and don’t seek spiritual guidance, we jeopardize our discipleship.

John 9:22 Exclusivity Cliques

When we treat people differently because of how they look or how they dress,  if they are athletic, popular, or wealthy, if they are the same race or gender as we are, we encounter additional barriers to discipleship. When we don't use appropriate titles, continue to call people by their last name or use guys, dudes, etc. it hinders our progress to discipleship.

John 9:28,29 Rationalization

Rationalization is our attempt to justify our behavior when our actions are consistent with our standards. Anytime we try to excuse our actions when they are inconsistent with MTC rules, we are plagued by distractions to our discipleship. 

John 9:34 Condenscending, Arrogance

The Book of Mormon is full of examples of the pride cycles that led to ultimate destruction. Once we start thinking we are better than others with our language abilities, baptismal numbers, social skills, etc. we open ourselves to the pride cycle.

Keys to Discipleship

John 9:7 Obedience, Faith, and Execution

Obedience is the first law of heaven. It is the key to receive the fulness of the Father and it is how we demonstrate our love to our Savior. Faith and doubt can not co-exist. Planning, goal setting and hard work are keys to successful execution and productivity.

John 9:30-33 Teach gospel principles, enlighten, demonstrated courage

Teach gospel principles to the understanding of your audience. Teach it simply to that people can see the application in their life and receive the enlightenment. This provides them courage to move forward in faith.

John 9:35-38  Humility, Acceptance, Willingness to follow

Humility allows us to submit ourselves to do the will of our Father in Heaven. When we accept his hand in our life and receive counsel from his anointed leaders, we will follow in the footsteps of our Savior and truly become disciples of Jesus Christ.

I hope that we can be like the blind man and develop the necessary attributes to discipleship. There is not a better environment than being a full time missionary to develop the attributes that will lead to not only a mission dedicated to discipleship but a life dedicated to discipleship. Thank you for your service and being here at the MTC. You truly are amazing!

My love and prayers are always with you,

President Daniels

---

And there's my time! 

Love you all; stay true to the faith

Elder Cardon ☆～（ゝ。∂）

Other stuff

Some pictures and an inspired message from my Shubukaicho while I'm
thinking about it. (The elders name is Queiroz.) You may want to add these in the weekly letter.

Today, I want to focus my comments on our scripture study. I love the
verses in 2 Nephi 32 where we are instructed to(3) feast upon the
words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all
things what you should do. In verse (5) The Holy Ghost will show unto
you all things what you should do. In verse (9), I love the promise to
pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate
thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare
of thy soul. Simply put, reading the scriptures will tell us, the Holy
Ghost will show us and prayer will consecrate our efforts. If you look
at patterns of behavior that precede revelation, you can see in D&C
section 76 and section 138, the prophets were engaged in scripture
study when visions were opened up to their spiritual understanding. I
believe that we can also receive direction and guidance by reading our
scriptures accompanied by prayer and then having the Holy Ghost open
our spiritual eyes to understanding.
We know in the Book of Mormon, that the iron rod that leads us to the
fruit of the tree life ( the power of the atonement) is the word of
God and we are repeatedly instructed in the scriptures to feast upon
the words of Christ. Hopefully we can take the time to consider the
difference of eating vs feasting. Eating is routine, it may or may not
be something we like, it may or may not be sufficient quantity, we may
or may not look forward to it. However a feast is our favorite food,
it is plentiful, it is delicious and it is something we look forward
to. Are you making your scripture reading a routine meal or a feast?
Our family loves to scuba dive. I think our scripture reading can be a
lot like snorkeling vs scuba diving. Snorkeling is fun and we can
appreciate the beauty of the sea life and plants beneath us from a
distance. However, when we dive closer, we gain a better appreciation
of the detailed beauty of the sea life and experience the intricacies
of the coral formations. Feasting allows us to dive deeper into the
doctrine of Christ vs just snorkeling on the surface of the
scriptures.
I want to share a story about a man who died and was given the
opportunity to decide if he wanted to go to heaven or hell. He was met
by an angel who then proceeded to show him the difference between
heaven and hell. When they opened the door to hell and he looked in,
there was a huge room with a long table that was filled with the best
food from all over the world. He was amazed by the abundance, quality,
and beauty of the food. As he was admiring the feast, the doors opened
and people came in and sat around the table. As they tried to eat, he
noticed that each person had a three foot long spoon strapped to their
arm. They could easily scoop up their favorite food but it was
impossible to bring it to their mouths with the long spoon. The room
soon turned to chaos as people were flinging food up in the air to try
to catch it with their mouths. The beautiful food was strewn all over
the room and the people were not able to partake of the food. The man
then asked the angel to show him heaven. The angel took him to another
room and opened the door. An identical scene appeared. Once again,he
noticed the same long table filled with all of his favorite foods from
all over the world. Once again, people entered the room and sat around
the table. Just like the people in hell, they had the same three foot
spoons strapped to their arms. However, unlike hell, they asked the
person across the table what they would like to eat. They then scooped
up the food and fed the person across from them. Order ensued, all
were fed, and all rejoiced from being invited to the feast.

weekly email

I tried Japanese toothpaste this week. It's really not that bad. Kinda
tastes like a mild flavor of the Hubba Bubba bubble gum. Of course,
I've never enjoyed chewing gum myself so I don't know if I could
convert in the next year or so but all I'm saying is I'd be willing to
try it.
   What happened was that I got really close with our last group of
Nihonjin, and one night Miyagi Choro (companion=Ootani Choro) was just
hanging in our room brushing his teeth. I noticed his toothbrush was
unnaturally small (typical of Japan), and thought about toothpaste. So
I just asked him. It was cool. We were tight because he'd come into
our room and ask me to give him some peanuts. Then 3 min later ask
again. And again. It was bonding for both of us over our love for
peanuts. When he left I gave him the stamps he needed to send two
letters to Japan and in exchange he gave me some Japanese change he'd
had in his wallet. Got a 500 yen coin and three 1 Yen coins. Super
cool; I put one in my journal.

As the Senpai leave again, we had a huge anxiety attack over who would
be the next Zone and District leaders. It was the talk of the week.
The last two Zone leader companionships have been Trios. With the
addition of Kamae Choro, we are now a trio. So we were kinda scared.
Of course, the other option was the companion ships with district
leadership experience: Handly and Nielson Choro vs Huber and
Querroz(or something like that) Choro.  Honestly, Huber and Querroz
Choro would be a great option because they work so well together and
are spiritual Giants. But, then again, they have the sisters in their
district that supposed,y were interviewed by Daniels Shubukaicho the
other day, so that implies they will be the next STLs. You cannot have
STLs and Zone Leaders come from the same district, if possible,'so
that points back to us.
    Here's how it turned out: Huber and Querroz were indeed chosen to
be the new Zone Leaders. That means that our sisters, Coneho and Short
Shimai, were chosen to be the new STLs. (Nobody was expecting that).
With the release of Handly as District Leader, I was appointed to fill
his place for these last three weeks at the MTC. Thus, as of Sunday
afternoon, I am the new District Leader. Wesemann and Nielson Choro
were asked to be sacrament coordinators, which is funny because they
aren't even companions. But, with that, everyone in our district now
has had, still has, or just recently got a leadership position. Kinda
cool.

Sorry AnnElyse, I've come to find that I like Colgate toothpaste more
than Crest.

Hey, that black sweater might be nice. Dad, you wanna send that to me?
Getting kinda chilly down here. I can cover the small red logo with my
name tag, it'll be fine.

We have been so blessed at the MTC this week; over the last seven
days, we've seen and heard from three apostles. The first was Elder
Christofferson, then Elder Ballard on Sunday, and now Elder Cook on
Tuesday night. Each one was unexpected. You'd think they'd be more
busy with General Conference talks to prepare or something. The new
elders that come in today just missed it--I'm expected a drought of
apostles until Oct. but we'll just have to wait and see.

I found a scale somehow. I'm the same weight as when I came in. Ha,
take that you unbelievers. Wanna know my secret? I eat more salads
than anything else, and run two miles at exercise time every other
day. Else, I don't think it would be possible. Ha, hahaha.

Oh, Jacob! I have the study materials you requested. The only reason
you don't have them is that I don't have a box to send them in and I
don't have money to send it. So, the plan is to send that stuff with
all the other cool stuff I'll send home at the end of my stay here. So
expect it about first week of Oct ish. I'll be sending home all my
letters, notebooks, presents, etc. as well.  Claire, Mom, Ben, you
probably could expect something coming to you as well. Of course,
Claire, you will not be allowed to open yours until November 1st. Mom,
if you'd rather I could hold up and send you some cool Japanese
treat--you'd have to wait until mid Oct, though. Oh well; Think  about
it.

Love you all!

Elder Cardon

Sent from my iPad

weekly mission email

Today is such an incredible day because there are like four birthdays
going on. Huge shoutout to Mom, Ben, Grandma Huber and Grandpa Cardon!
Happy Birthday! I love you! How cool is it that my P-Day just happened
to land on your actual birthday, Mom? Huge blessings from heaven,
right?

Here's some updates on recent happenings and such:

We changed dorms last week, for good or for worse, as of yet I don't
know. There are definitely some upsides and downsides.

Upsides: the showers at the new place actually have water pressure,
which is nice. Also, they have two curtains instead of one to leave
some space for changing. Plus, the water heater actually works and
doesn't spaz giving molten lava one second and arctic ice the next,
like the old place.
I get to have two blankets, instead of one.
The cots might be softer..?

Downsides: I sleep on the top bunk, so I need a latter to climb into
bed, right? Well, not a problem at the old place. The new dorms,
however, had some issues. First, the latter they originally gave me
was broken so that every time I climbed up it would start falling
backward like that part in LotR 2 at Helms Deep where the Uruk-hai
tried to scale the fortress and Legolas stopped them. How a steel
latter breaks, I don't know. Idiots, probably. Then, the second latter
they gave me is over 40 years old, completely different sized and
extremely cramped. It's tucked into a tough corner by the wall that
makes climbing into bed extremely uncomfortable. I just can't win.
The old place had the entire Japanese/Asia zones living on the same
floors in the same building, which was great for bonding
opportunities. Now, we're all mixed and matched with state-sides and
South-American bounds who really can't seem to get the hang of
obedience. (They got in trouble yesterday for staying up til 11:15 ish
and causing a ruckus, banging on people's doors and keeping other
people up)
One of my blankets is scratchier than unrefined wool and thin as a
sheet; the other is normal. However,'I swear the nights are colder in
this new place.
My cots have weird messages scratched into them saying stupid things
like, "beware!" And "turn around now!"
The walls are an ugly green color (like think of innards green).
The whole building is backward from the old one so we can ever find our room.
The break room downstairs has several extremely important issues: 1)
the microwave doesn't have a spinning plate in it 2) the microwave
doesn't even hardly heat any food 3) there are no Dutch waffles in the
vending machines
(We actually found that just using plain tap water, which can actually
get pretty hot, does a better job at cooking our Cup of Noodles than
the microwave does).

Yesterday my Branch President, President Daniels, took our class aside
for an hour and a half special to go into a Deep Dive into the
scriptures. It was one of the most enlightening experiences of my
life!

On Tuesday, the devotional was given by Elder D Todd Christofferson.
Turns out, our lost member Elder Ballard snuck in to see it so we, in
turn, got to see him! It was awesome.
The Sunday devotional was given by a former BYU football player
(receiver, maybe) (...Chad Lewis?) who ended up playing in the pros
for Penn but broke his leg in the game before the SuperBowl, or
something. As expected of a lifelong athletic person, the message came
across extremely jock-like.

I received a letter from my mission president yesterday! He sent
another get to know you form, but because I actually sent in the first
one he requested I don't think I have to do the second one. My
companion, however, never even bothered haha so he has to send that
ASAP.

We play volleyball a lot, right? Well, at least my companion Wesemann
does. He's actually quite good, though he doesn't get a lot of ball
time, so there's been a suspicious chant going around recently to
praise his skills. Goes something like, "...Wesemann is our King!!"
(If anyone else can pick up the HP reference). His name is pronounced
wheeze-Mann, BTW.

I've decided as of Monday that lightly salted peanuts are now my all
time favorite snacking food because they don't make you fat. 😛

..and yes, Dad, DearElder does work and I do receive your letters.
Thank for them; you don't have to worry over that anymore.

Love you!!

Cardon 長老 (ちょうろう)