メリディアン
日本語
帰還宣教師から
From Returned Missionaries
Dwayne N. Andersen-Excerpts from Autobiography
Mission President continued
EXPERIENCES WITH MISSIONARIES
Elder Dillon Inouye arrived in Japan, May 1964. He was an exceptionally gifted elder. After laboring in his first branch for several months, he developed a way to memorize and understand the proselyting lessons in an accelerated way. I called him to the mission office to set up a new language program for the new missionaries as they arrived at the airport. We asked the missionary department to send our new missionaries in groups of 8 or more at a time. I would take Elder Inouye and one or two other seasoned elders with Peggy and me to the airport. After greeting them, we arranged taxis to take them to the mission home. In each taxi we placed one seasoned elder with a number of new elders. It took from one-half hour to an hour or more to reach the mission home, depending on the traffic. During the taxi ride, the seasoned elders gave them a positive introduction to learning the language. They taught each new elder how to say his or her name in Japanese, and then how to introduce themselves in Japanese. When they arrived at the mission home, all the office staff lined up at the door; and each new missionary introduced himself in Japanese to each member of the staff. This gave a great boost to the morale of the new missionaries. Since they arrived in the evening, they were very tired. We had them go to bed immediately; and they had their first experience sleeping on the floor on tatami mats.
Because of the jet lag, they usually awakened about four a.m. The trainers arose with them and taught them how to say the blessing on their food, again in Japanese. As we all sat down at the large dining table for breakfast, we had each new missionary then bless the food as he had been taught to do. Sometimes our breakfasts were cold because of the time it took to say all those blessings. The new missionaries were excited to write home to their families and tell them they had blessed their first food they ate in Japan in the language. We kept these new ones in the mission home for five days. I interviewed them each individually, and then conducted orientation time in helping them understand the attitudes, expectations, and objectives of our mission. The trainers then started them on the new Japanese language program. These trainers taught them how to make street contacts and let them practice their skills on the local people in the park across the street from the mission home. After the five days of intensive training, I assigned them to a “training branch.” Two or three missionaries were assigned to the same branch, each one being assigned as a companion to one of our best missionaries. They were expected to carry on the language training program for about six months, or until transfers were made.
Before this new program, it took about one to one and a half years for the missionaries to memorize the missionary lessons. Over time, this new program shortened the time to learn the lessons to an average of about six months. Missionaries also had a better comprehension of what they were actually saying. It was a thrill to learn that two of the new ones had learned their lessons in about two months! This new language learning helped the new missionaries with the gift of tongues. Their language skills made them feel comfortable in teaching all ages of adults; and it opened the way for them to teach families. Before, they only communicated primarily with the youth of Japan. Missionaries became more dedicated and excited about their labors. I was very pleased that the calls I had been receiving at all hours of the night ceased. The zone and district leaders were able to handle the problems. If they thought a problem was serious enough, they called the mission office or waited until I visited the district. I had many spiritual and faith-promoting experiences with our choice young missionaries. I felt they were making wonderful progress, catching the spirit of their call, and losing themselves in the service of the Japanese people. Greater love and cooperation developed between missionaries and members. At one of the missionary training and testimony meetings, an elder who was about at the end of his mission, said: “This is the first meeting I have attended in which there have been no complaints, just love and good feelings!”
Another sweet experience occurred when I stayed overnight with the branch missionaries in Okayama. After kneeling in night prayer, the missionary kneeling next to me reached out and gave me a big hug, while the other elders were getting into their futons. He said: “President Andersen, I just want you to know how much I love you and appreciate what you are doing for us. I will support anything you do with all my heart!” I felt a warm and assuring feeling envelop me. On one occasion, Elder Harrell, a district leader in Osaka, with his companion who was a Japanese elder from Hawaii, were taking Sr. Andersen and me to the airport. He said: “President Andersen, will the Japanese people have slant eyes in the hereafter?” I responded: “Elder Harrell, does your companion have slant eyes?” He answered by saying: “I have never noticed it.” I then replied that this was the way it would be in the hereafter. We will not notice the physical characteristics, but we will see only the soul.
I received a call from Elder Sawyer’s mother, in which she said she was worried that he had not written her in several weeks. I had recently made Elder Sawyer the Branch President at Tokyo East Branch. I made a quick trip to the branch to check on Elder Sawyer. I found him a bit nervous about his calling, but very busy. He told me that this was the first leadership assignment he had ever had, and that the assignment was overwhelming to him. He was trying to learn his duties and effectively carry them out. As a result, he just didn’t have time to write. I notified his mother that he was doing just fine and for her not to worry. (Elder Sawyer, after returning from his mission, entered the U.S. Air Force, and later became a Brigadier General.) It took over a year before I felt that all of the missionaries were beginning to feel the spirit of their callings. Some of the original missionaries never really understood the role of a missionary. By the end of the first year, most of these had returned home. I truly appreciated the support and labors of the missionaries I had the opportunity of working with during my stay in Japan. For the most part, my experiences with them were very positive and spiritually rewarding. I did have a few sad occasions, which I will mention briefly.
I had to hold a disciplinary court for one missionary, who was then excommunicated. It was very difficult for me to do this; and it was the only one while on my assignment as mission president. Another elder was just not happy to be a missionary and wanted to go home. I had counseled with him several times; and each time he accepted counsel and went back to work. One day he left his companion and did some things that he was sure would send him home. It was to my sorrow that I had to give him a dishonorable release and send him home. Two missionaries were sent back to stateside missions because they could not adjust to the foreign culture and language. Another elder was returned home a month or so early to avoid his getting into more serious problems. One missionary developed a very serious illness; and it was necessary to return him home with a medical release. These types of things gave me the most serious concerns. There were other problems, but we were able to resolve them in positive ways, which became growing experiences for the missionaries and me.
One of my outstanding Japanese missionaries asked if I would help him get a sponsor to attend the Brigham Young University in Provo. We had had a number of very promising Japanese youth go to the United States for educations but didn’t return; or else the one or two who did return were inactive. I expressed this concern to the missionary and told him I would get a sponsor to help him get his education in Japan. Japanese who were educated abroad were never fully accepted into the Japanese institutions. He accepted my counsel. I found an American sponsor who financed his four-year university education. This young man became very successful in business in Japan and became a bishop and later a stake president in Japan. He was later called as a general authority as a member of the First Quorum of Seventies: Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi.
Another young male convert asked for help to go to school in the United States. I encouraged him to prepare and serve a mission first. He became an outstanding missionary and a great help in the development of the priesthood program in Japan. After his mission he enrolled at the Church College of Hawaii. I kept close contact with him because I had accepted employment at CCH when I was released from my assignment in Japan. Later this young Japanese student transferred to Brigham Young University to obtain a Master’s Degree. I also went to BYU to be the Foreign Student Advisor. Again, this helped me keep close contact with Yasuo Niiyama. I always encouraged him to return to Japan. He married a girl whose father was an American service man and her mother was Japanese. She had been raised in the Japanese culture. She was visiting in America with her father when Yasuo met her. They were married in the Provo Temple. Yasuo returned to Japan after graduation and later became president of his own English language company. He became a stake president and a mission president in Japan. In 2002 he became an Area Seventy in Japan.