final facebook post

My adventure in Japan as a missionary lasted two years, August 2016–2018. I’ll fly home tomorrow with more stories for souvenirs than fits in a suitcase! I’ll give an official talk about the experience on August 26th, at my local church, with lots of celebrations and opportunities to talk afterwards. I’d love to catch up with you again! See you soon.

weekly email

Honestly, my initial idea of a mission did not turn out to be what my mission actually was. It was adventurous. The culture shock may have been overwhelming. 

—I Had a taste of spiritualness before coming out to Japan but it was baby bites, spoon fed. It was like melting a chocolate on your tongue and savoring the taste but then the taste is gone and you’re left unsatisfied. So, lesson learned: I needed another chocolate. Then I found the fountain. 

A lot of people are the same. They are being spoon fed baby bites but hardly know it. I helped them to open their eyes a little bit more :p 

Japan was an adventure. But, neither the sushi nor the onigiri lasted long. The cultural aspects were great, but 24/7 you can't experience fun Japanese famous things. I learned the daily life. I learned that It’s about people, not places or things. 

It’s less about what you serve than how you serve. I kept being served humble pie until I learned that. Haha sometimes I got tired of pie flavor. But also There are many ways to serve. But just serve. We are called to serve. 

It’s never about yourself. You’ll lose yourself if you're self centered. You must step out and reach out. 

Christ was the exemplar. He has provided the perfect way. Many people are shy to commit to it, but they end up coming shy of their perfection. Christ supports us in every moment, even unwanted or undiscerned. He has a perfect love. There is no fathoming his love. 

God provides. I realize how many people's lives I’ve become a piece of, and vice versa.. even that one grandma whom I said hello to this morning. What a sweet lady. 

Every good thing comes from God. 

 God is the essence of good itself. 

Trust God. 

He always provides. 

See you in a bit. 

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon

weekly email

I don’t know why, if the Lord wanted to bless me extra special at this moment or it’s a final lesson to me, but this transfer we’ve been blessed to teach four families of father, mother, and children. It’s written all over the PMG that we should concentrate efforts on finding families, but I always thought it was a rare and hard thing to find in Japan. Truly the Gospel is all about families. 

Recently in personal studies I came across a talk by a President Nelson in which he said: 

“...the kingdom of God is governed by the authority of the priesthood. It is not conferred for honor, but for a ministry of service. Priesthood titles are not created by man; neither are they for adornment, nor do they express mastership. They denote appointment to service in the work of the Lord. 

“...If you honor it, and prepare for and are worthy of a call to be a missionary, I promise: You will then “speak in the name of God the Lord” and bring His light to searching souls. To them you will be as a ministering angel, remembered with love forever. (See D&C 13.)”

I am glad to see some of this fulfilled in my own mission. I have worked hard and learned how to work harder. Everywhere, I see that the Lord has guided me line upon line with impeccable timing. 

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon 

We also somehow got a booth in a huge festival last weekend. News of a typhoon crashed the party early (the typhoon never actually hit us) but it was a blast! The booth right next to us was run by high schoolers for fundraising! 

On an exchange, we dropped by a Hawaiian cafe and it turned out to be a plush Mom's cafe, but it was worth it. 

Looking to buy a shirt in japan. Where would I be without Japaenglish? 

weekly letter

My little brother Jacob is receiving the baton, he’ll be going to Japan for his mission almost as soon as I get home! 

It was absolutely crazy last week. A guy we talked to at the door said he wanted to be baptized. A father invited us back into his home to share a message to his family the next day. A random service opportunity led us to talk English to a ton of Japanese kids! My companion is getting better at cooking!! I was stuffed full of spirit, ごちそうさまでした。

I can’t believe it. President Nelson has some really good Conference talks. Loving it out here. 

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon 

weekly email

I’ve turned into a melting pot. There was a time in my mission a certain elder had it really hard and I wondered, “what’s his problem?” But now the tables have turned and I’m in his position. 

I thought before that my companion was a melting pot because nobody can pin where he’s from or what he is.  Haha 

A comforting talk I read described this experience as Mind Over Matter, or else Spirit Over Body. It’s President Nelson speaking in Oct.1985.  “Part of each test is to determine if your body can become mastered by the spirit that dwells within it.” 

Our Zone Conference with the new President was one of the most spiritual conferences of my mission. There were Many things I definitely needed to hear, and sometimes I learned from the very things I was saying—so that’s a good indicator that the Spirit was there!  

I continue to have a lot of cool experiences like meeting a full-Japanese lady who-s Muslim and her wonderful family who never before thought to do things like Family History. 

Also, a professional painter who knows more details about the small moments of the bombing of Pearl Harbor than I would wager most of the sailors even knew; he liked the story of the Hawaiian Temple and called back saying that he was deeply impressed by it and wanted to capture the moment in paint. Excited to see how that goes.

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon 

Our legendary Costco spree

weekly mission email

It’s unbelievable how blessed Ichinomiya is. I’m Getting to see the long term blessings. 

Man with bunny  

A nice man opened his door and talked about his life involving churches while holding a big fluffy bunny. He had taken bible study sessions before, following a serious accident that caused him to reflect more about God. He expressed that all churches are basically the same, but we had so much more to tell him than he realized. 

Noah Ark part 2 

Basically a typhoon passed by without the serious winds. It rained dogs. We were extremely blessed by God to go out with good timing—worked in the morning, and returned home right when a thundercloud passed in the afternoon; went back out late afternoon, and it cleared up a little until nighttime when we were heading back, but at that point it didn’t matter too much.

There was one point, the streets were flooding and they looked more like flowing rivers than roads, and as we were biking we missed the potholes and such that we normally avoid, so sometimes I would see my companion unexpectedly dip for a second, his bike become half immersed because the water-level was up to our thighs and our plastic rain suits could do no good in keeping us dry from that. 

AnnaPaula+time 

Way back when, I remember finding a golden investigator who I felt would be baptized. However, we had to stop teaching her because we could never seem to get a solid appointment and subsequently never could follow up with her. We referred her to the Sisters, but they had no better luck than us. 

Last night, we dropped by on a whim and she was home again. Actually, we caught really good timing as both her daughter and brother were also home, so we could step inside to talk with them a bit. Turns out, she had had some questions about Mormons that held her back from investigating further because she wasn’t sure what type of people we really were. But life changes with time and I feel that she’s ready to learn more again. 

Real brownies and the extra interview 

So we had a small conference to get to know the new Mission President Judd. He honestly reminds me a lot of a companion I had about a year ago. Likes to tell stories, a bit dramatic but always pulls something you can learn from it, and always bears his testimony in his experiences. His wife is very sweet and as motherly as they come. 

In the private interview afterwards they only asked me two things, so it was very brief. What have been my areas and how can they help me more?

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon 

weekly email

Life lesson: Confidence is an indicator of faith. 

Elder Moraes is actually called Elder Inagaki. His backstory is way confusing and I’ll spare you the details. Basically, he was born in Canada, raised part-time there, his mother is Japanese and his grandparents Jewish—but his dad grew up in England. His Secondary education was all in Brasil, in a Toyko-type big city named São Paulo. There are levels of streets (like a tunnel road underneath the upper road) there, it’s intense something you would see in doctor who. 

Man, I’m flipped completely upside down with the way Elder Inagaki works compared to my last companion. It’s been a hard adjustment. We need totally different goals, but we always need goals. We’re gonna work hard in a different way. The focus this transfer will be on confidence, not language. 

My mission president just changed, but I have no idea who the new guy is or what he’s like. I’m Excited and nervous about the things and changes that might happen this transfer. My final interview will be with a guy who probably understands my situation in America better and can give more applicable advice, but it will be from a stranger. Ah, well, it was God's timing. I’ll see him for the first time this Thursday. 

Every transfer is an adventure.

愛しています！

カードん長老より

Elder Cardon 

I only have one photo