Email September 24, 2018

Email September 24, 2018 – Elder Jackson Burton

Hey Everyone!

                  This week was awesome! There were a lot of miracles! On Wednesday we tried a new method of Dendo where we made a big sign that said "Do you think God exists?" in Japanese, with Yes, No, and Why? written on it. Then we stood outside the eki (train station) and asked people who walked by whether they believed in God and to write why or why not. It was super great! We were actually way surprised because we had a ton of people say yes, they believe in God, with all sorts of different answers for why. Only one person who wrote on the board said no, so it was cool to see how many people believe in God, which I think also influenced some people who were kind of on the edge to say yes. The best part was we found a new person to teach, and he's from Algeria! He couldn't even read the sign, but he asked us what we were doing and when we told him he said yes, he strongly believes in God because he's Muslim. He's married to a Japanese woman and just moved to Japan a month ago. He's a really nice guy, and speaks really good English. He said he loves learning about other churches and believes in Jesus Christ and all the prophets in the Old Testament. We met with him yesterday and taught the restoration and he thought it was really interesting and really wants to read the Book of Mormon. As he keeps progressing I'm not sure exactly how it's going to play out but we'll do our best to help him come closer to Christ. On Friday we got another person to teach that the sister missionaries passed to us so that's exciting as well. For the past couple weeks we've been struggling finding new investigators so this week was a real blessing.

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Collapsed Building

September 17, 2018

Hey Everyone!

This week was awesome! On Wednesday we had interviews with President and Sister McClure which was awesome! I love them so much and I'm so grateful to be serving in their mission. On Thursday night at 10:15 we got a call from the Assistants saying there was a service opportunity down in Mukawa, a place that was hit pretty hard by the earthquake. So we had to get up at 5:00 and bike to Honbu and then drive with a couple of temple missionaries about two hours down to Mukawa. Then we helped people clear things out of their houses that had fallen during the earthquake. It was awesome! We got to interact with a lot of people and share about what missionaries do. One guy, who's from Tokyo area, flew here just to do service, without even planning transportation or lodging. He had a backpack with a sleeping bag and stuff and he was just planning on sleeping under the stars in a park. How cool is that! Because he had no transportation we gave him a ride to where he was going after the service ended, and talked with him about the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon, he seemed really interested! I really hope he goes to church  when he gets home, he's a really nice guy. Elder Yamashita from the area presidency also showed up while we were working which was kind of cool. He's a really great man, it was fun to see him in that kind of setting. 

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September 10, 2018

Email September 10, 2018 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

Earthquake! Hey Everyone!

                  This was a crazy week! As you might have heard, there was a pretty big earthquake in Hokkaido on Thursday morning! 6.7 on the Richter scale I think. It was the first earthquake I've ever felt, so it was scary but kind of cool to experience. It was nice having a Japanese companion, he's been in a few earthquakes so he didn't freak out or anything which made it less scary. Pretty much all the power in Hokkaido went out but we got ours back that afternoon so it wasn't bad. Some people had to wait a few days which is hard, especially food-wise, a lot of people have electric stoves. Besides that there wasn't too much damage. In our apartment the big heater in our sleeping room fell down pretty close to my head which was scary. And it was on, so it started burning the floor so we had to call the fire department because it was too hot and heavy for my companion and I to lift. But everything turned out fine, they got it taken care of and the manager of the apartment came and took it out so there's no danger now. The steeple of our church building also partially fell down. That was the worst damage I heard about in Ebetsu. God protected us and the rest of the missionaries in Hokkaido, I'm really grateful. Because there wasn't much damage where we are there wasn't much service we were able to do, but we made onigiris and brought them around to members because most of them didn't have warm food. It was a good chance to make sure everyone was alright and build better relationships with the members. The place worst affected by the earthquake was a town a little ways away where there were some huge landslides; a lot of people were buried in their houses and about 40 people died which is so sad. There's rumors that there might be another big earthquake soon but I've heard a lot of different things so I don't really know. There's been quite a few small aftershocks. It's a little scary having the possibility of another one coming but I know God is in control and He has the power to make good come from even the seemingly worst circumstances. The morning after the earthquake we were walking around seeing of there was anything we could do to help and we ran into an investigator we haven't been able to contact in a while and had a good conversation with him. I know a lot of other missionaries had cool experiences as well.

                  In other news, we went to a farm today for district activity, we got to see goats and horses and rabbits it was fun. It kind of shows how quickly Japan can recover from an earthquake, just a few days later everyone is going to work and we're playing with goats haha. I hope everyone at home is safe and well! I appreciate all the prayers, they really make a difference! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burton

Email September 5, 2018

Email September 5, 2018 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

I'm OK!

Hey Mom and Dad, we just had a pretty big earthquake here but I'm 100% OK! We got permission to send a quick email to let you know. It sounds like all the rest of the missionaries are OK too, and I don't think there was too much damage or anything. I'm sure you can find out more than I can with Google. It was scary but kind of cool to experience. There have been a few tiny aftershocks but nothing bad. I love you! Don't be worried about me! Hope you're all doing well!

Love,

Elder Burton

Photos From Ebetsu

My district eating sushi before the end of the transfer

Email September 3, 2018

Email September 3, 2018 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

Hey Everyone!

                  This week has been so great! I said goodbye to Elder Ramsey, he's now with his family, but my new companion is so great! His name is 外村長老(Elder Tonomura) and he's from Tokyo! It's so much fun having a Japanese companion! Both the sisters in our area are also Japanese so I'm hopefully going to improve a lot in my Japanese this transfer. My companion is a really great missionary, I'm learning so much from him, not just Japanese but teaching and cooking and talking to people and all kinds of things. He's on his fourth transfer right now, and he just came from Hakodate, which is awesome because that was my last area! He came in right as I left. It was fun to hear about how everyone is doing down there, he was able to see a lot of miracles which I'm excited about. We're going to see a lot of miracles this transfer too. Before Elder Ramsey left we taught a Chinese family that we found. At first when were teaching just the dad was listening, but at the end we sang "I am a Child of God" and the mom came in and seemed even more interested than the dad, apparently she had met with missionaries before which was cool. However, when we asked if we could come back they said they'd call if they wanted to hear more, which wasn't what we were hoping for, but, the mom especially seemed really interested and they took a Book of Mormon, so hopefully they'll call. If not, there's actually a Chinese sister in the ward, we may try to visit with her sometime and see if that helps. The other fun thing this week is we had a concert/ birthday party kind of a thing at a member's house which was way fun! It was to celebrate the birthdays of three members and mine that are all within this week, so they had birthday cake too which was awesome! It was such a great way to celebrate my birthday in Japan. Speaking of which, thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, I really felt so loved. For the concert, the four of us missionaries did a few performances, I played the violin, my companion played the clarinet, one of the sisters played the piano, and we sang. It went really well! A member's daughter from Tokyo also played the piano, she did really well. We're going to have another concert later this month, but hopefully a lot bigger, I'm excited. One thing I'm trying to work on this transfer is using my talents more to spread the gospel, music is one way I can do that. I'm trying to figure out other ways as well, if anyone has any ideas, email me:) I hope everyone will look for ways to use their own talents and gifts to spread the gospel on their own as well! Think of how much the gospel has blessed you, and think about how much you want others to have the same blessings. Then pray about it, and get up and do it! I know you'll see miracles and feel unbelievable joy! I love you all! Thanks for all the support and love! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burton