Skype was so good!! I don't think I have ever been so happy. It was so much better for me this time. I felt so much more refreshed and ready to go as opposed to the other times where I was just like, oh wow, now this is harder - haha. I obviously was a little shaken up at the end when it shut off, but I still am just so happy we got to see eachother and to hear from everyone! You all look great!! It was so natural though. It honestly wasn't that big of a shocker hearing your voices or anything. It felt so good and was so comforting. I really have the best family ever. I can't wait to seee you again on the next one, and then at Houston Airport.'

 

So afterwards we were able to have a good day. We went to a Bounenkai with other men in the ward. It was at an all you acan eat Italian place and we were able to bring a new investigator. It went really well and he knows how to pray now and really likes  everyone. He speaks English but he learned in Scotland or something so he has a hilarious accent. So cool to hear it from a Japanese person. He is pretty good at English. We then were able to meet with our new friend H*** and eat Indo Curry. It is right next to our apartment.:P It went really well and he asked why I became a missionary so I basically just related exactly what I had just told all of you - haha. He is really cool. This ward is amazing. 

 

So, what they do in Japan is they have a basket for the missionaries and everyone dumps food in there. Which we get a lot but it's still not going to member's house. Well this ward does the member house thing! We have like 6 member visits set up for the next 2 weeks. I have only been to like 5 in my whole misison - haha so I am happy. Yesterday we went to one and it was the K**** family. We were abel to teach the Plan of Salvation to them for practice. It felt so good because when we teach investigators, most of the time we just do a little bit of each lesson because it is all so new. But to teach all of it, in Japanese, was so great. I love teaching in Japanese. They complimented my companion and also they made me feel really good because they said the way I explained it was the easiest to understand and clearest they had ever heard from missionaries. It made me feel so good because I have been working for over a year now on how to explain this stuff to Japanese people. To hear them say that, plus have Skype, it was just so fulfilling to see how far I have come.

 

I love doing this. I miss you all so much, but I know that this mission is important. I love you all so much!! I miss you!!!!!!!! Thanks for being so awesome!!!!!!

Love, Elder Mason Proctor

 

 

Skype for 11:00 my time on Friday and for your Thursday night will work! I love you all and am so excited to see you!!!!!!! I actually went out last week and bought a new screen protector for my iPad because my old one was cheap and I wanted to be able to see you in detail - haha. So I am ready haha. So I am in my new area now Kamagaya. IT is really cool. My new companion is Gaijin (not Japanese - foreigner) and he is from Provo, Utah -  literally two minutes from the MTC. It is a lot of fun so far though. I love training. It's fun having a companion that is seeing everything for the first time. He is still freaking out over the song that goes off in each town at 5:00 pm and at all the ramen shops and sushi and just all the japanese stuff. It's a lot of fun to show him around and stuff. He has good Japanese. Probably one of the better ones of his MTC district, but obviously is still brand new and MTC Japanese is not Japanese - haha. It's fun though because my Japanese has gotten so much better in the last couple of days because I know I have to focus on everything they say because I am the one who will understand. It has helped a lot and has been fun.

 

The ward here is amazing!?!?! They are on fire. They love us and we have meals planned and our basket was full of wrapped presents?!?! We have a tree in our tiny apartment and it literally looks like Christmas at our apartment - haha. We moved in as the 3rd set of missionaries for the area and the ward is going crazy that there are 6 missionaries. Our apartment is tiny and there was not enough stuff for 4 people the first days though. I slept on a blanket and the wood floor the first nights.....ow. But yesterday new futons came and they are the best in my whole mission. I call mine "my cloud" because it is so big and fluffy. I had the best sleep of my msision yesterday. I am still going on about it because it is so life changing for me. I hope I am here for 4 transfers now. I miss Chiba very much,  but I am getting used to this. We have an appointment tonight already and it should be fun. We are eating ramen with T***, a RM's friend. Oh yeah - haha, also we found some people all throughout our first couple of days so even though we are opening Kamagaya, we already are seeing success.

 

It's weird being transfer 11. I am old now (missionary old). People call me an "old missionary" - haha.  I like it though and it is helping me work harder. I am so excited for skype. My new companion's name is Elder Fountain by the way.

 

Have questions ready and lets just enjoy what we have. I love you so much. I have felt the Spirit so strongly as I have been reflecting over the last few years of my life. I really have come closer to God and I know I want to follow Jesus Christ for the rest of my life. I love you all so much and I'll see you on Friday!!!!! Your Thursday - haha.  I love you!!!

Love,
プロクター長老

I got my transfer call form President Budge at 7:50 am this morning and I am leaving Chiba. It has been my favorite area. It has a big city, so many buildings, so many people, and the ward is great. So I will miss it but my new area is going to be Kamagaya about an hour away and I will be training another brand new missionary! Wooh! Honestly in the back of my mind that is what I wanted to do - haha. We are going to a new area too, so starting from scratch. I am excited. I hope I get a new Nihonjin (Japanese) missionary but obviously anyone is great. I am done with my stint as Zone Leader for now. It was really fun and a great learning experience.

So, this past week was a great week. We taught S*** again, the Chinese guy, and he set a baptismal date for next month!! Wooh! It is so much fun to teach him becasue we teach him in English and use the Chinese pamphlets then to check his understanding, he writes the Kanji of what he thinks and we can know if he understood or not. It is really cool and such a spiritual experience. He came to church too. E***, one of my long time friends from here that I have been talking with since July came too. He is the one that might have found the cure for cancer. I can't remember if I told you about him. He had cancer, used his medicine he had been using on his animals, he is a vet, and his cancer has gone away month by month. He has a chart and also has a factory producing his medicine. He lives in a nice nice apartment too, so he is legitimate. Still unbelievable - haha but pretty interesting. He came to church though. We also were able to use that Plan of Salvation puzzle multiple times yesterday. It is so good and easy to understand. We taught K***, an old guy who lives in a high rise apartment with an incredible view, taught him about the Clestial Kingdom, then turned around and the sunset on Tokyo Bay was amazing. So we said that is the glory of the sun and it clicked for him:) So cool.

 

Also, M*** dad passed away but he is taking it well. He was old and it was his time. We used the puzzle for him too.

 

I got my Christmas package! It is awesome!! I opened the ties and bookmarks, but not the bigger ones. Waiting 'till Christmas for that. The hot chocolate is amazing and that candy is going to last me a while, so thanks! Best family ever. My companion Elder Packer was shocked. He thinks you are the best family because of all the packages and stuff. You guys really are. You have sent so much and it means SOOOOOOO much to me. You too Hannah. He counted it up with all the holidays I have gotten packages and realized how crazy it is - haha I really love you all so much!!!!!!

Next week is skype. They said 24 through 26 so I honestly would rather do the 26. that would mean we get to feel the excitement of it being so close to Skype longer, but also a lot of missionaries will maybe do it that day. I guess it doesn't matter though so lets do 26 I guess? I Love you all!! Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Elder Proctor

I'm gonna miss this Indo Curry place :(

Sensi Proctor at English class.

Last soccer day with this good friend.

Goodbye's are hard.

Wonderful Chiba Member

Crazy newly baptized member in my last area - soooo fun.

I think my dad will be getting me one of these when I get home?

Another good friend in Chiba.

 

Looking forward to Skype session!

 

I had another interesting fast week in Chiba. First cool experience I want to share is about a guy named S***. He is from China and doesn't speak Japanese yet and his English isn't the greatest. We met him because he is now living with a Chinese less-active and that is how it happened. So we invited him to play basketball but he couldn't find the right station so we ened up just going to the church. Once there we sang Nearer my God to thee while I sang Japanese, Elder Packer played the piano, and S*** sang in Chinese. So Japanese Kanji (the little picture things you think of) actually comes from China. They adopted it from China way back when. So most of them have the same meanings just different ways of pronouncing and Japanese also has two alphabets. Anyways, Becase the Kanji are the same, I was able to teach S*** about God and Christ by just pointing out the Kanji and saying simple English. I pointed out God and peace and heaven and stuff and coming closer to God and was able to teach a Chinese man in broken English by showing him Kanji and him understanding in Chinese while I was reading in Japanese. Gift of tongues is pretty cool - haha. That experience was definitely one of the biggest times on my mission where I felt God was helping me.

 

Second cool experience. We were housing and we use that "He is the gift" video like Crazy now. So we house with it and a house that was super decorated with Chrismtas lights was there. We went to the house and knocked and a mom answered on the ping pong box and we sung a English Christmas song. Then she came out and was holding a new born baby. It was so Mary like - haha so we showed her the video and right at the end when its Jesus and Mary, the lady was holding her baby the exact same way as in the video. We asked if we could come back later and she said sure. So next time if her husband is home, wooh! Cool experience huh.

We also went to the temple today. Great as always and I was able to get your Christmas gifts. So cool. You'll like it. I love you all so much. I hope you are having a great December. It's getting cold here but I am liking it better - haha I love you all!!!!!

Love, Elder Proctor
プロクター長老

 

 

 

It's December!!?!?!?! ‏

 

Hey everyone!!! I hope you had a great week. From mom and dad's email it sounds like everyone is doing very well. That camp sounded like a lot of fun and I am glad you are all enjoying the puzzles. Just before I forget, There is a transfer the week before Christmas, so if you are going to send me a gift, send it now or wait a little bit because if I get transferred, which is pretty certain, then it might get sent to Chiba and that would be super taihen to deal with. So either send it for sure this week but not next week. Send it two weeks from now if you are going to send a gift later. I hope that made sense.

 

It was a crazy week. We had a zone Pday (preparation day) and bought cake and played dodge ball and blow Ping-Pong. It was pretty fun but very stressful because Elder Packer and I went all the way to Makuhari by bike and train, then lugged a cake back and it took a good 4 hours. So I am excited for todays relaxing Pday - haha then, Tuesday we had zone conference and we got trained on how to use the new church video and to get ready for Christmas! I am so happy and it is so much easier to dendo during Christmas time.

Wednesday I went on a split in O*** and it rained all day and we were riding our bikes....all day. So I froze and it was windy but hey, we did it - haha not to mention Elder Burt's bike had a puncture and we had to walk an hour home at the end. Good split though with Elder Burt. He was my MTC District leader and now he is a district leader in the Chiba zone. Then Thursday I went to Narita where the airport is, on a split and we rode a long time up and down hills but found an investigator and they are now teaching him. WOOH! It was cool too to see the airport where this Japanese adventure started. Then Friday another split with Elder Lammintaus from Finland and it was fun. I ate Indo curry with him for Thanksgiving and it was good. Thursday didn't work out for  Thanksgiving. This week also we had tons of Costco food and cake so it felt like Thanksgiving. We also yesterday had a tiny ward party and it was for Thanksgiving and it went well.

A lot of people we are working with are moving towards Christ. It's fun to watch the Sri Lankan guy has a Sri lankan book of Mormon now and he is reading and all of our investigators are reading the Book of Mormon now. D***, is getting baptized later. He said he isn't ready so we are waiting. The sisters are teaching a girl A*** and she should be baptized. Her friend is a member so this week at Eikaiwa I am going to show them the picture of Chrissy and her friend being baptized to help them get it done this month for Christmas. Pretty cool because it is the same situation as Chrissy and her  friend. 

I am enjoying Japan. I love Japan so much. Favorite place in the world besides home. It is awesome. So fun, I love Japanese, I truly just have such a tender spot in my heart for this place. It is the place where my testimony has grown and I really am developing Christ-like love. I love Japan. I am so thankful for Japan. Have a great week and see you this month:)))))Thanks for the package by the way. So awesome!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Proctor
プロクター長老

Zone Conference slide show pose - Neat sunset in Japan

Elder Lammintaus

Elder Spindler

Elder Burk - I am soaked and cold and . . . freeking happy!!

 

Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a great week. So we had a good week. an update on Y***. He has been investigating for two years and we has been now emotional-crying pretty much every lesson. Yesterday we taught him about the sacrament and he once again, got choked up. I told him how thankful I am to be able to teach someone like him who has so much faith and loves God so much. He really was appreciative too for our work. It means a lot to him that we give two years for something that a lot of people say is impossible to do. It is possible though. I have seen tons of Japanese people who don't know God at all, come closer to Him because of the Scripture and the message of the Restoration. It is true and I know it.

 

Mom asked about Japanese and it is going well. At the beginning of my mission I thought learning and being able to read Kanji was impossible. It is still an unimaginably hard thing to do to understand it all, haha but I can read most of the church kanji so like, reading Gospel Principles and stuff, I can read most of it without a problem. My speaking is fine, the thing I just really want to improve is my listening. That just keeps coming with time though. I really am enjoying the language and I love it. Sorry Hannah, but I will be watching some Japanese TV shows and listening to Japanese music sometimes - haha I have to keep it up somehow :P We ran into our friend A*** again on the street. He is like 23 and his mom died two years ago. His dad has been in the hospital and we just found out his dad died this month. He has no parents. He is positive about it though - but wow was it hard to hear. We are trying to help him and I gave him the plan of salvation pamphlet a long time ago before I even knew about his parents. Pretty cool to see how God guided that. I don't usually hand that out.

We played basketball with the H*** family. We played in their driveway, with a light on and played 21 and knock out. I taught it to them and it was just like when I play with Garrett, Bryce and Landon in the driveway. So cool and made me feel really good. Hopefully we can continue to invite them to things and they will develop an interest. Another cool thing is I started trying to read Jesus the Christ and I am understanding it now! Last year in the MTC I tried and it was hard. But now I am reading and understanding all of it. So cool to see how my spiritual understanding has gone up:))

We also played ultimate Frisbee on turf with a real team this week and made tons of friends and taught them all about prayer. We can go back every week and it is really fun. It is at a college. I love you all so much. You are the greatest family in the world!!!!

Love,
プロクター長老

Good friends in Japan

I am getting to be quite the Japanese Chef

Looking gooooooood.....

Basketball Night

 

It was another great week in Chiba.   It is pretty cold outside here so I had to buy lotion the other day because my hands were cracking so bad.  We went to a huge mall out by the airport in Narita and made plans to do a flash mob in a few weeks. All of the missionaries on the 23rd of December and all the members are doing a flash mob in a huge mall. We got to plan it with the manager:) I felt cool, I'm not gonna lie,  haha - it is going to be really cool though and it probably will go in the Liahona and there is going to be news crews and everything :) Hopefully I am still here when they do it. There is a transfer the week before. Pray for me to stay one more transfer - haha.

I wanted to respond to Avery Champion from our ward. She sent a really cute letter. So. . . I have eaten squid and cartilage and all kinds of raw fish, we speak Japanese here in Japan and there are about 170-180 in our ward - haha those were her questions.

 

Spiritual story this week: we had a random guy we met a while back form Sri Lanka and he came to church for the first time in his life yesterday and he loved it!!!!! So he is doing well. D*** is going to be baptized this week or next week and we also were able to help a lot other people come to Christ.

 

We found a family two days in a row this week. Last night we were riding our bikes and I saw a son and a dad playing basketball. We passed them but then decided to go back. The kid turned out to be super good and the dad was coaching him. Like, this kid is amazing, his dribbling is ridiculous. He is going to destroy all of the Japanese kids - haha but we talked with him. And got an appointment to play basketball with them Tuesday so Yep, found a family! First time to find someone like this. Also, the day before that we found some people that said we could come back this week. FAMILIES!

 

Funny story for the week was our less active friend brought two sticks to play tennis with. He said he couldn't find the racquets so he brought sticks. When he said sticks I was like, maybe he meant a different word and I just don't know it, well, when we got there - sure enough, I did understand and he brought 2 foot-long sticks. Needless to say, we didn't play and planned it for another day - haha Dendo (Missionary Work) is super funny. I love you all so much! Have an amazing week! I love you !

Love,
Elder Proctor

 

 

Hey everyone how is it going?? So I will go ahead and report on my speaking Japanese. I did ok - haha, it was a really busy week and we had to plan a lot of stuff so we broke into English a lot - haha, but it was a lot better and it helped so much. So this week and I am going to do 100%. It's hard sometimes though because we have to go to all the district meetings this week and during those we speak in English so it knocks me off - haha, but I will do my best. I am using you guys to help me stay committed to it. So keep following up with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

K***, our Nepalese Sherpa investigator finally came to church. He speaks Japanese so the ward is happy with him and he could be baptized at the end of this month. It has taken two months but he is finally coming around. He has so much potential. I really love Chiba ward. I like how I am the missionary who has been here forever - haha, they all look at me and realize I have been here for a while. I like it because it has made Chiba feel more like home and I am in such a habit that the time is just flying bye. It is crazy that I get to talk to you next month!??!?! 

 

Elder Ogata's new companion in our apartment is Elder Lammintaus, he is Finnish!! I told him about Brother Pratt and he was happy. But he speaks fluent English so no worries with communication. He is 25 too haha and it is fun having him. He is a really nice guy. Elder Ogata helps me with Japanese every day so I am loving that.

 

Last week we went to a ward barbeque and it made me think of home so much - haha. It is so cool to have the same type of ward parties in Japan. It was really cool. We also taught Y*** and it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. We watched Bible Vidoes of Christ and then read about Him. Y*** is T*** K*** member and has some different views but we testified of Christ and watched the videos and he started crying: a 50 year old Japanese man crying because of what the Savior did for us. It is such a privilege to teach him because most Japanese don't know that much so they don't understand the significance yet. But he does and it touched him. Amazing experience. Thanks for your emails. they help me so much. Please never stop!!! I love you all so much!!!!

Love,
Elder Proctor

 

 

 

 

 

I'm Staying In Chiba!!! Yay!!!!

 

I am not transferring!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOHHHH!!!

 

We were pretty shocked but all of the Zone Leaders in the mission remained in their area. I think President Budge wanted stability going into the Christmas season instead of mixing it up at the best time of the year. So, I get to stay in Chiba for a 4th transfer!!! Longest I have ever been in an area. I am so happy about it. This has been my favorite area as far as just all of the dynamics of the area. I have the same companion too. I am really excited. this place seems like home in Japan and it is just crazy how fast time has been flying because I am in the habit of living in Chiba and working with these people. I am so excited! My companion and I made it a goal to speak only Japanese this transfer.

 

I am now a transfer 10 and I only go till 16, so I got to get better. I really am feeling the pressure of wanting to improve so I am doing it!!! Hold me accountable to it ok!!!!??! haha I get to talk to you on Skype next month too! That is so exciting. I guess some news is that D***was not able to be baptized. He is waiting till he is a little more prepared so that is that. I am glad he is waiting I think though. It will be better for him. We are working with all of the same people right now but still finding new people everyday. One in particular is K***. He went to a protestant church a couple of times and is enjoying talking with us. Its so much fun to have an investigator that is our age and just a regular guy. We also got to play ultimate Frisbee again. It was so fun and I really enjoyed playing.

 

We also got to go to Meji Jingu on Thursday!! It was a blast. It is a huge Jinja for the Shinto religion. We got a personal tour by one of the workers and got to see a marriage and some other ceremony. It just made me love Japan even more. The place was a really spiritual place but also very touristy - haha fun though. I got to do that and Skytree so it was just a week filled of loving Japanese people!! I love Japan so much more now. I also am so thankful for this experience to be a missionary. Yesterday O**** went to church for the first time since I have been here and it went great!! I am really enjoying the people. I love you all so much!!! have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Elder Mason Proctor

 

 

This is definitely the coolest area in the mission (I just wanted to say that - haha). I really love this place. So we just got back form Skytree!!!!!!!! It was amazing!!!! I'll talk about everything in reverse. So we went to skytree and it was even better than expected. Tokyo is so much bigger than I ever realized!!!!!!!!!! It is huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is never ending. I'll send pics and one video where I just do a look over everything. It is awesome. Made me proud to be a Tokyo Missionary. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Just know that everyone has to go in the future.

 

At the Temple I had a great experience. I walked out of the celestial room and looked back and it was just comforting to think, "wow, I feel like I was here just yesterday." we go once a transfer so during your mission you go about 14 times including a couple of missed ones maybe. There are 16 transfers in a mission. Anyways, I feel like I go there so often and it is just flying by. I felt so content and knew that what I am doing is right and I am enjoying it while also dealing with the hardships as best I can. Great experience. I love the Temple.

 

I Read Jacob 7 this week and realized something. We are all very strong members so sometimes our faith will be specifically challenged. We need to always do our best to stay strong and always remember our testimonies. We can all have faith. It was Elder Ogata's birthday and it was pretty funny. We bought some little celebratory thingys that we though just shot string. So the idea was to shoot it at him but in the end. . .  they were mini fireworks!?!?! UH OH, we shot him with fireworks haha - so funny.

D*** is probably going to be baptized this weeek. We were succesful in moving him to the Elders closer to his hometown. He still likes us better - haha but we are going to his baptism this Saturday before we transfer. Next week is trasfers and one of us most likely will go so D**** really wants to do it before we go. So cool to see him progress to baptism. He is from the Phillipines and loved Christ from the start. B*** is doing great now too. He is primary coordinator - haha and also this week I got lost with directions, but we found this random kid on a random road and he is now an investigator:) Cool how God does that to us sometimes.

It sounds like Halloween was a blast. You all look great. Costumes were awesome!!! We had our halloween party here and I'll send you a picture of my costume:) I am a Ramen Chef - haha I love ramen!! Its so good in Japan. Anyways, I'll let the tons of pictures do the talking this week. I love you all!!!!! Havea great week!!!!

Love,
Elder Mason Proctor