Week 81: Island Adventure. And a miracle. 島での冒険。奇跡。

We had the coolest island adventure ever. All 6 Matsuyama missionaries went to Gogo Island just for preparation day. The ferry was less then $3, and the island was way cool.  We did get lost on the island and were late coming back though. haha. The island has tons of clementines....  you can even find them floating in the ocean!

So this week we had a goal as a mission to get 400 non-members to church. The previous all time goal in the Asian north missions I heard was 210. So it was a pretty crazy goal.

But, we had faith. The mission president said we could do it.

A letter was sent out to all the branches, just talking about this goal. It was read at all meetings.

From our zone, our previous record was 23 people in one week in the 5 areas.

This week we had 56 people.

The mission had 396 people at church!

It was an incredible miracle. We doubled the previous record in all of Japan and Korea.

Most importantly, many many people were able to come to church for the first times in their lives. They have started a journey that ends in Eternal Life.

The Gospel is so great!

I bore my testimony yesterday (testimony meeting). I talked about how I`ve come to church for many years. Through the years, there have been a lot that has changed, but one thing that has been consistent is the Love God has for me, that I can feel at church. Coming to Japan, that feeling is perhaps the only thing that is consistent.  God truly loves his people!

The atmosphere at church was ecstatic. Here in Matsuyama, 20 non-members / long time less actives came. It was truly a great spiritual meeting.

The work moves on!

love you all
me

Us on the ferry. It was way cool.

up the first mountain of the island (by the way, this is the Island that Sis. Haley`s mom went to every summer!)

There is a mikan roller coaster that goes all over the island!  (mikan = clementines. Mini oranges)

me on a rock.

we had to go rock climbing a tiny bit.... haha. thought we would try to take a different way back.

Me in the rock throne. oh yeah.

The group!

There were a TON of beaches.  ....... because it was an island.

ummm... awesome

Me with Bamboo swords.

The ferry ride back. It was a nice boat for $3

I made Fried rice surrounded in thin egg..... and then put kimchi and mayo on top!

Week 80

We have no time for a message this week. Please wait one week.

Going on an adventure to an island.

 Love you all

The gospel is true, Jesus is the Christ, and God is pouring out his rich blessings upon this land of Shikoku.

Elder O`Reilly

(Trevor's Mom says: I wasn't going to post this week, but then I got these pictures from the Mission blog.)

Mission Leader Training

Shikoku Island Conference

Trainer/Trainee Training

Week 79: The Salvation of God 神の救い

Do all in our power, then stand still to watch the Salvation of God.

... or something like that. I can`t remember it word for word.

It was a good week. We had interviews with president, and made some discoveries that are going to give me a much more intense drive for the last few months of my mission. I`m going to do as much mayhem in Satan`s kingdom as possible before I`m done. hahaha.

We visited tons of family potential investigators. none of them had interest.

Then, we as a companionship decided to pray for revelation. We prayed that we were ready and willing to do anything the Spirit asked us to do, and then asked what it is that we could do that day, (yesterday) to find a new investigator. (We hadn`t been able to get any new investigators for quite a while, and all our potential investigators had been gone through already)  We were directed to an apartment building half an hour away. We knocked on the first door. `no thanks, go away`.  second door. A young guy comes out. after a short discussion, he says he is not interested. I talked to him for a couple seconds as the spirit directed. He let us in and we taught him the Gospel. It was that awesome. He is only 14, part of a family of 7. Only met him so far, but we got our foot in the door! way excited.

the Stake project here on Shikoku is going great! the zone is hitting numbers we`ve never seen before. We have placed all our focus on relying on the Lord, and the Lord is pouring down his blessing upon us. The zone Smashed the all time record for new investigators this week... 17!!

The Lord has great things in store for this people. It is such an incredible opportunity to participate.

I love you all and I love the Lord. The Gospel is the path to Eternal Life! Tell your friends. haha. ^^

Elder O`Reilly

I am so lucky to serve in an awesome place. Who else has a bamboo forest?

This was from the same place as the pictures from last week. didn`t take any new pics this week.

That was probably the best 4 seconds of your life.

Week 78: Faith brings Boldness 信仰が大胆さを齎す

So it was a good week. We have a new mission focus! all about relying on the Lord. Only had it a few days, but its been pretty great. I`ve been more bold in the last couple lessons than any lesson I`ve ever taught, and its getting things done! ^^ I even cut people off while they were talking and my voice got louder a couple times. Which is not normal of me, but when the spirit makes you confident with what you have to say, it can happen.

I was talking with a recent convert, who didn`t maybe feel like he needed to come to church. I was very clear. Our goal in this life is to return to God. To do that we need the Atonement in our lives. For that the Sacrament is necessary.  Anything that gets in the way of us taking the sacrament is from Satan. (read with him from Moroni 7). The spirit was strong and I`m not worried about him coming to church from now on.

We got a family referral! we should teach a family of some sort this week! looking forward to that!

Also an investigator that had moved up to Sapporo came back! he wasn`t supposed to be back until March, but he is here. He left in February, so its been a while since he came to Matsuyama, but he gets along great with the members. Might be able to be baptized soon!

Today we made more mochi! this time with a hammer. Way fun. haha. It is so delicious you would not believe. Like the deliciousness nearly killed me.

Love you all!
me

Oh how lovely was the morning...... in a bamboo forest. Actually it was last preparation day afternoon, like a 10 minute walk away from the church.

Pretty cool, right? I have a video of running down this path. Its pretty cool, but its also larger than 15 MB.

Yeah. An ancient battle ground right by the church. how cool is that.

This is how they made the rice for the Mochi today. Cool, right? they took off the wood thing on top, and stacked up 2 pots there. Then we smashed the rice. ^^

Smashing materials.

I smashed it too hard and rice flew everywhere. haha. Wasn`t too bad actually but hey.

Week 77: NEW YEARS 正月

Happy new years! 明けましておめでとうございます！

New years was pretty fun this week.

We made Mochi one day! and on New Year's Day we woke up early and saw the sun rise during exercise time. It was pretty great. Seeing as we are allllllll the way in the east, we were probably in the first percentage of people to see the sun in 2014. Pretty great.

Since the sisters are now `stake missionaries`, they focus all there efforts on building the stake. (visiting less actives, etc). So, we got all their investigators this week. new investigators! wooo!

So even though we are not the `stake missionaries`, they are supposed to visit 52 members a week in order to visit them all by March. so....... we have to help out. haha. This week we had to finish writing all 660 records, so that took up 2 entire days. Each has name, address, birthday, baptism day, family details, etc. all in Japanese. I think my Japanese handwriting improved 60%. haha.

So now that the records are done, hopefully we'll have some cooler experiences this coming week. ^^ With the craziness of new years over, people will be more willing to meet as well, which is good.

I am excited for what the Lord has in store for us this week. Love the work!

Elder O`Reilly

Making mochi!

Soooooooo good. Has sweet bean paste inside.

We had to wear ridiculous aprons (which is why I`m not pictured) but it was wayyyyy fun! haha ^^

Also.... we got Mcdonalds to eat while watching the sunset. Some of the first burgers bought in 2014.

All the people that were up there waiting for the sun. There were more but they gave up. haha.

Almost there.

Victory.

The main city area was like messed up from new years eve. Its like never this dirty....... but it still wasn`t too dirty. haha.

Made deviled eggs for breakfast one day. sooooo good. ^^

Week 76: We reached our goal!

**Note from Trevor's Mom: We all loved talking to Elder O'Reilly on the phone on Christmas day! It is the highlight of our Christmas to be able to be all "together" for an hour. He sounds so happy and is loving the work! It makes it easier for us at home knowing that he is working hard and loving it. He is so excited about their most recent convert who was "ridiculously prepared by the Lord". We are so thankful for Trevor's great example to our family and that he is able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Japan. **

Hey! it was an extremely uneventful week. Went to Niihama again for translation (woke up at 4 AM to get there Friday). Transfers came but the entire zone is all the same, just 2 elders are switching places and they are in different districts. Investigators were all busy.  Had several lesson appointments go through.


but.....


We reached our goal of 200 baptisms for the year of 2013!!! Smashing all kinds of records. TWO of the THIRTEEN we had this week were from our zones, that I had at least a little to do with. so pretty exciting. One was the guy we taught at church last Sunday.

Christmas was good, lots of junk food from family, friends, and the branch here. I have almost as much junk food as last year! haha. and some really cool stuff like a Japanese style bath robe that is pretty cool.

We`ve been helping out with the stake project a little. On Chirstmas eve, we filled out some records. All day. haha. For 5 hours I was just writing a bunch of names and addresses on countless records. But it was fun. ^^

Looking forward to another great transfer! The Lord is going to pour some serious blessings on Shikoku island.

love you all
me

Ok.... so get this. We went to the beach. I carved my name into the sand. but the cool part is..... I got a letter from our neighbors, the Haley`s. The Island behind me is Sister Haley`s Mother`s grandfather`s hometown! What are the chances! She said her mother took a ferry there every summer!

companionship.

The Ferry!

I decided I really like the ocean! so pretty.

Christmas mayhem. 

I was so proud of myself for tying these bows. haha.

Some of the people who were at the Christmas English class party.

Day after Christmas breakfast. yum.  I could have made it look better but hey. haha.

Here is the district in Niihama! well, the sisters and half of the elder`s heads anyway. haha.

I love how Japan breaks away from conventional flavors and makes really good foods. These are possibly my favorite pringles. Kimchi flavor is also really good. This one is Wasabi mayo.

I made a lot of gyoza today all at once. haha.

Investigator from Hirakata got baptized!

and he makes the most AWESOME Japanese santa I`ve ever seen.   !!!

Week 75: A remarkable Miracle 著しい奇跡

How incredible it is to participate in the establishment of a stake of Zion! The Lord`s blessing is upon this people. Everything so far is just falling into place. The biggest part of the work is yet to come.

We had a meeting for all trainers and trainees in Okayama on Wednesday, we had to stay the night the day before and got back late Wednesday night. Then, on Friday I went to Niihama for their district meeting so I could do translation for them, since they need it more than my district. To get to the morning meeting in Niihama we had to get on a train that was a half hour bike ride from the apartment.... by 5:58 AM! woah, that is early. Get in the train and its all still pitch black for almost 2 hours. We arrived and then walked through a blizzard we were not prepared for to get to the church! haha. It was a great meeting though.

The coolest part of the week was yesterday. so...... one of the investigators from another Area came to our church since he actually lives in Matsuyama. And the guy is sooooo ready for baptism! so, he hadn`t heard all of any of the 4 lessons yet, but Elder Mergist really thought he could be baptized a lot earlier then his current goal in February. So, he came on Thursday, and Elder Mergist taught him lessons 1, 2, and 3 in a couple hours. Then he came on Sunday, and all 4 missionaries, him, and the investigator who we baptized last week went in a room. I wrote every single commandment on the board. In 2 hours we had taught all of them and he had solidly committed to live every single one.

I did the interview, since he was a district leader`s investigator.

He`s getting baptized next week.

The Lord loves his people in Japan. In that room for those 2 hours, we had every person who needed to be there to address his every concern and get him baptized so he can help us establish the church on Shikoku. The man we baptized last week is the most solid convert I`ve ever seen and is already an incredible blessing in the branch.  The time has clearly come for a stake to be formed, the people that will bring in the drive to do it are progressing through the gospel and being baptized way fast. Both of them were found, taught, and baptized in about a month and a half.

So grateful to be a part of this tremendous work.  The spirit here in Shikoku island is so evident.

Matsuyama has 663 members in the boundaries. The sister missionaries are assigned now to visit all of them, bring as many back as possible, and make clear member records so that we can turn in the application to become a stake by next general conference.  That means visiting 57 people a week. Which is impossible. So we will probably be called on to help as well. haha ^^

This truly is the Lords work. Its time the church was established on Shikoku so the saints can receive the full blessings of the gospel in the latter days.

love you all!
Elder O`Reilly

P.S. We will be teaching English on Christmas night, since it is a Wednesday.

Lots of buses again! haha.

It was WET snow. haha. These are the Imabari (area name) missionaries.

I love sushi. Its probably a problem.

ummmm.......... I don`t know either so don`t ask.  the customer.

The bus home from Niihama was completely empty except for us for like an hour. kind of funny.

Its Christmas! on some mountain on Shikoku!

Cool to see some snow.

yeah. That is all the commandments

GOT NEW FLIERS! they`ve been announcing these for over a year and we finally got them. The blue ones were TERRIBLE! handed out thousands and only one person ever came from them. haha.