Missionary work through Social Media and the beauty of Fukuoka

Missionary Life: Our actual missionary work has had a HUGE transition since the coronavirus restrictions were put in place. The focus has moved from knocking on doors and talking to people on the street, to sharing the message of the Gospel through social media. This is the case for all missions throughout the world. You may have noticed a flood of messages coming over Facebook from missionaries. Facebook has been the main focus recommended by our leaders, but we are expanding into Instagram and Line as well. Our missionaries plan and prepare posts to help answer the important questions of life, and to teach about Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

This is wonderful news for us as members who want to help with missionary work. Member missionary work has never been easier! Or more fun! We can help by liking these posts and then sharing them with our friends or family who might benefit from the specific topic of the post. For example, if we have a friend who is not presently enjoying the blessings of the Gospel, we could look for a post with a message that might be helpful for them in some way. Then we can share that with them personally and talk to them about it.

Even when the COVID restrictions are lifted, missionary work will not go back to the way it was. Social media has been prepared as a way to get the wonderful message of Jesus Christ out to many more people. And we all can be part of it!

As for Elder Welker and I, our daily schedule is a lot different since we moved to Fukuoka and began working in the Mission Office. It is a great blessing for us to have more missionary related work to do every day. We enjoy going to the office each day and working with the Assistants and the Office Elders and President and Sister Mack. Elder Welker takes care of all the mission finances--paying bills, reconciling bank accounts and credit card statements, and managing the petty cash fund. I take care of all the secretarial duties--putting together the new missionary packets, sending out correspondence to incoming missionaries and families, and requesting travel arrangements for missionaries returning home.

Since moving to Fukuoka and working next to the mission home, we have seen a lot of missionary comings and goings. Since the foreign missionaries have been evacuated, we have been getting Japanese missionaries who have been reassigned from their original missions--including California, Hawaii, Canada, and Arizona, among others. We don't know how long we will have them, but they have been a great addition to our mission!

And then it's always bittersweet to see a wonderful, faithful missionary return home to continue on with their life. We are so grateful for their dedication and the work they have done.

Because we have all been in self isolation since the end of February, all the meetings we used to have in person, are now taking place via Zoom. Dave and I usually join the meetings from the Mission Home so we can take advantage of the Elders who translate for us. Even though it is not in person, it is fun to see the bright faces of the missionaries!

Another consequence of the self-isolation requirements has been that missionaries haven't been able to go to shops to get haircuts. Sister Mack has been sharing her talent of cutting hair to help out the missionaries who live close.

Some other fun activities we have participated in include:

• A Sister's Conference put on by the Area Presidency wives. The Sister missionaries throughout the mission met in small groups and had a morning filled with uplifting talks and music (via Zoom), then we enjoyed lunch together and worked on a service project. We crocheted around baby blankets and added them to "New Mother Kits" with baby supplies to give to mothers having babies during this time of isolation. These are the sweet Sisters serving in Kumamoto.

• I celebrated a birthday and had a few fun activities, one of which was having the Fukuoka Sisters bring me over fresh homemade crepes. Sister Karube and Sister Klein are the sweetest!

• We had a game night at the Macks and President Mack taught us how to play Mahjong--without any gambling of course--and we used President Kimball's Mahjong set! Apparently President Kimball liked to play and he taught his children and grandchildren. It's a pretty complicated game, at least the scoring part--but very fun. 

Japanese Culture: Just want to share some photos of the beauty of the Fukuoka area.

• Ohori Park

• Fukuoka Tower

•  A building down the street from our apartment

• One of my favorite views of the Fukuoka Temple

Spiritual Thought: This is a very troubling time in our world right now. We are experiencing so much chaos and discord. We are receiving many mixed messages. It can be frightening and confusing. As many of you, I have thought a lot about how to respond and what actions to take to make the world a better place. I take comfort in knowing we have a living Prophet on the earth who can speak to us for Jesus Christ. President Nelson recently made a statement calling for respect and dignity for everyone, and reminding us that Jesus Christ does not condone prejudice in any form against any of God's children.

One word has been coming to my mind: CHARITY. Charity is "the pure love of Christ", and He is the perfect example of it. He loves every person on this planet with a deep love, always showing compassion, patience and mercy. He demonstrated that while He was on the earth, and He continues to do it as He helps each one of us through this life. He expects us to love one another with that same type of love. He taught us this: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:34-35)

This answered my question about what actions I can take. I will try harder to be like the Savior. I will strive to love others with His kind of love.