Near the beginning of 2007, I set a goal for my life. I thought long and hard about this goal, and prayed long and hard about it as well. I was certain that this goal upon which I had decided was one of which my God approved. He wanted me to pursue this goal, of this I was certain. I told my roommates about my goal, so I could have a greater accountability for it. My goal was to become engaged to be married by 15 January 2009. That day would be five years from the time that I returned from Scotland following my service as a missionary. I didn’t have any prospects of marriage at the time, but felt certain that because my Father in Heaven approved, I would be able to achieve it.

Around the summer of 2008, I was not noticeably closer to achieving this goal, but I was not disheartened, because I was certain that six months was plenty of time to meet a woman with whom I wanted to share eternity. However, something happened. I was presented with an opportunity. A friend told me about a program to which I could apply that, if accepted, would allow me to become an English teacher in Japan. This seemed like an opportunity which was especially made for me. However, if I focused my time on getting to Japan, it seemed highly unlikely that I would be able to achieve my marriage goal and I had pledged to God that I would work to achieve that goal. So I prayed about another course in my life. I told my Father in Heaven about the opportunity, and explained to him that I would have to set aside my previous goal, if I went after this, and sought his guidance on how I should proceed.

The answer I got was clear. While He was happy with the goal I had set, and the efforts I had made to achieve it, I should set that aside for the time being, and apply to this program. I felt as if God Himself was going to bring me to Japan. My application was strong, and I had heavenly powers on my side; I was sure I would be leaving this country for the Land of the Rising Sun, but as I’m sure you know, I did not get accepted into the program.

I won’t discuss that further, except to say that I felt cheated, and it took some very sincere (albeit perhaps angrier than necessary) prayer for me to accept what happened. As it happened, the week I would have left for Japan, a new person came into my life. I had met this woman many months prior when she came over from California to visit my roommate. During the period that I was trying to go to Japan, she had decided to move to Texas. Had I gone to Japan, our paths would barely have crossed again, and she would just have become another person among my Facebook friends, whose activity I ignore. But because I was staying, we had the opportunity to become friends. Friendship led to romance, and romance led to marriage.

I said in a previous post that I have felt the Hand of God in my life quite a bit recently. But as I have thought over these events, I realize even more so how true it is. Had I not chosen to apply to the JET program, I likely would have married someone else. I’m certain that whomever I would have married would have been a good wife to me. But God had someone in particular in store for me, and so he had me put off my goal, and he did it in such a way that I learned many valuable lessons. As with all the other life decisions that I have mentioned, I have prayed often and sincerely about my decision to marry my wife. I know not only does God approve of my decision, but it’s the exact decision He wanted me to make. I am truly blessed to have a wife whom I love with all my heart and soul, and with whom God wants me to spend eternity.

My life right now, though, is anything but simple. The trials I am facing are very real, and the uncertainty in my life is definitely frightening. But I cannot doubt that God is on my side, as he is for each of you, and I’m certain that whatever he wishes me to learn through these trials will make me a better man, and hopefully, a better husband and father.

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, keep up with me on Facebook, or see me on a day-to-day basis, you’ve probably already heard about the amazing new woman in my life. Kali Weber came into my life a short time ago, and immediately transformed it. After becoming fast friends, our friendship quickly transformed into romance. It was almost scary how quickly we became everything to each other, but I knew in my heart I had found the woman I should be with for eternity. So, after a two-week courtship, I asked her to make me the happiest man in the world by marrying me.

I know some people are going to be worried. Two weeks is a really short amount of time to really get to know a person. If you had asked me two months ago what I thought of people who got engaged so quickly, I would have told you I thought they were idiots. There is no way they could know after such a short time if they were right for each other. It just isn’t possible, and there’s no way I’d ever be one of those people. I would also have been wrong. It’s true that there is still a lot that we don’t know each other, but what I do know about Kali is that she’s caring, passionate, a lot of fun, friendly, loyal, and that I am totally and completely in love with her and can’t imagine myself with anyone else. Anything else I need to know, I can learn as I fall in love with her over and over again more and more each day for the rest of our lives.

Even more than that, I know that we never should have ended up together had it not been for Divine Providence. I have felt the Hand of God in my life more this past month than ever in my whole life. If the God of Heaven and Earth wants the two of us to be together, then I’m certainly not going to tell Him to cool it off and slow down a little.

I thank Him every day for this wonderful woman he has put in my life. I don’t know what good thing I did to deserve this amazing blessing in my life, but a blessing she is. I can’t wait to be united with her for all eternity, to spend our lives together, to overcome challenges together, to grow old together, to see children and grandchildren come into our life together. And for all this, I am truly blessed.

shibuya karaoke street by WasabiNoise

As you, my loyal readers (do I have loyal readers, other than my mom and sisters?) are aware, I have been anxiously awaiting word from the JET Program to find out if I will be spending the next year or so in Japan. I finally got word back from them last night. They selected me as an alternate. What that means is that if someone they accepted changes their mind about going, or if someone drops out after they’re there, I might get selected to take their place. So, anytime between now and December, I might get another email from them saying they want me after all. It also means that I still have to fill out the same paperwork as if I were going, without any guarantee that I will get accepted.

Needless to say, this is incredibly frustrating. It incredibly frustrates my job situation. Right now, I’m working part-time as an assistant webmaster at UT, in the ME department. They love me down here and there has been some serious discussion about making me full-time. Unfortunately this is a very involved and difficult process, because it involves creating a new position for me, so they’d have to entertain other applicants for the position, yada, yada, yada. And with recent budget cuts, it becames even more difficult, but even still, my boss, and my boss’s boss want to try to make it happen. But if I’m leaving for Japan later this year, it’s not worth it to them. I can’t tell them I’m going to stay, and a week after I’m made full-time tell them I’m going to leave.

The hardest part of this whole thing for me is that I prayed long and hard about this program before I applied, and He told me to go for it. I knew from the get-go that I should apply to this program. Unfortunately, He never told me I would get accepted, just that I should apply. That’s been really hard for me to accept. I had a long talk with Him last night. There were many tears and some angry voices (from me, not Him, of course). Eventually I came to realize that whatever happens, somehow this will all be for my good. Whatever He has in store for me, I know He loves me, and wants the best for me. So I just have to move forward, without seeing the path ahead, and trust in Him to lead me to a good place.

Today in Institute class, we were reading in Moses 6, which says, in verse 17: "And Enos and the residue of the people of God came out from the land, which was called Shulon, and dwelt in a land of promise." We talked for a bit about "lands of promise." We discussed the various times in history when the children of God have been asked to leave a place, and go to a land of promise, a place of safety and refuge where they would be protected from the world: Enos and his children going to Cainan, Moses and the children of Israel venturing into Canaan, Brigham Young and the early Mormons crossing the frontier to Utah. We then talked about how today, we build our own lands of promise wherever we live. A thought came to me. In certain times of history, the Lord has required the children of God to leave a part of the world physically, and separate themselves so that, as a people, they can grow, and progress spiritually. We aren’t asked to do that in our time. We are asked to do something much harder. We’re required of the Lord to remain in the world physically, and separate ourselves spiritually so that we can grow and progress as individuals and families.

As I thought about this, my thoughts went back to my interview the day before when I was asked how I would deal with living in a Buddhist nation. I realized then that if I go to Japan, I will be physically separated more from the "lands of promise" which I have developed more than I ever have been in my life. Right now, I have my family a few hours away, and countless friends in the Church to support me when I need it. When I was in Scotland, I was in a land where there weren’t many members of the church, but I was constantly surrounded by other missionaries, and my mission president. I was in Germany for some time, away from my spiritual support, but it was only for a short time, and the ward in that town was still fairly large.

I may end up in a small village where I’m the only member of the Church, and I may be in a branch that meets several few hours away, and only has twenty members. I may not have the support structure that I have here. I may be venturing into Babylon, and if I, like one whose name I share, get thrown into the lion’s den, I need to be ready to close their mouths. I was looking at this as an opportunity to learn more about another culture and language, and to expand my skills, but this could, likely be a challenging spiritual journey for me as well. I’m going to need to shore up my spiritual reserves.

My interview was in the morning at 10:40. They asked that, because of space constraints, we not arrive more than 25 minutes early. I didn’t know exactly where the Allen Center was, and I’m not that familar with downtown, so I left an hour ahead of my appointment. I figured, if I got there early, I could hang around downtown until my appointment. I had already printed out directions from Google Maps. So, I got on my best suit, and headed out about 9:30.

When I’m on my motorcycle, I tend to talk to myself, or sing. As I was going to the interview, I considered practicing the answers I intended to give, but I had already practiced those to death, and figured that would just make me more nervous. So instead, I decided to sing hymns to myself. This helped calm me a lot. Especially as I sang my favorite children’s hymn A Child’s Prayer. It also helped me from getting frustrated at the poor drivers on the road. (Seriously, do they teach in Houston Driver’s Ed that the turn signal is for initiating the car’s self-destruct sequence?) Anyway, I found the building and nearby parking really easily. As I expected, I was early. So I took the time to fix my hair (stupid helmet hair), make sure I looked dang good, and when it was 10:15, I headed up.

I had to wait a little while since I was early. They had a waiting room prepared for us. There were a couple other interviewees already there. They had a JET alumnus, who worked at the consulate, there as well to answer any questions we might have about the interview or the program. He was really helpful, and it was nice to have him there to explain exactly what was going to happen.

When it was my turn, another JET alumnus showed up to call me back. I was being interviewed by three people. The JET alum who brought me back, who was an American about my age, and two older Japanese gentlemen. One of them, who had a very thick accent and was a bit difficult to understand, looked about in his mid-40s, while the other looked to be in his mid- to late-50s.

They took turns asking questions. They would each ask a few, and then let someone else ask some more. The JET alum started, and he asked some of the basic questions I was expecting, like, why do I want to be an English teacher in Japan. For those questions I felt I was very prepared, but I ended up only saying a few of the many things I had prepared to say. I think part of the reason for that was that I had to adapt my answers to the specific way they were asking the questions, but part of it was just nerves making me forget some of the stuff I had practiced. Even so, I felt I answered most of those questions pretty well.

The oldest guy there had several questions that I wasn’t expecting at all. They knew that I’m Mormon, since I talked about serving a mission for the church in the application. I expected that they might ask some questions about my mission, but I wasn’t sure what. They didn’t ask any, but the older guy did ask a couple questions regarding religion. For example, he mentioned that, as I probably already knew (I did), Japan is not a Christian country, but is primarily Buddhist. He wanted to know how I, as a Christian, would cope with living in such an environment. I’m not entirely sure if the answer I gave was very good, but I talked about how a person’s religion doesn’t affect how I interact with them. I mentioned that I’ve had a Buddhist roommate in the past, and that never was a problem. After the interview was over, I realized I should have pointed out that while I am a Christian in a Christian nation, as a Mormon, I’m not unaccustomed to being in the minority, so that wouldn’t change that much.

He also mentioned that drinking is very common in Japan, and wondered how I would feel if I were expected to go out with my co-workers to have some drinks and go to karaoke. I think my answer was pretty good. I talked about having plenty of experience (in college) of going to partys where the primary activity was drinking, and that it was never a problem for anyone (myself or others) that while they were drinking beer, I was drinking soda, or water. I should have also mentioned that I love karaoke, so I would jump at the opportunity to go to karaoke with my co-workers. He also talked a bit about me being an ambassador of the United States, and how I felt about that.

All in all, I feel that I gave good answers, and that they were fairly satisfied with my responses. Of course, the decision isn’t up to those three. They send their impressions of me on to the foks in Tokyo, who make the final decision. Now I have to wait until April to find out if I got accepted. Keep watch here for updates when they come, and keep me in your prayers.

Edit, P.S.: I forgot to mention the most surprising part of the interview. On my application, I stated that I don’t know any Japanese. Even so, the older guy asked me to introduce myself in Japanese. Luckily, I was able to muster up a very short introduction (Hello. My name is Dan Jones. Nice to meet you). I definitely wasn’t ready for that!

1. The idea of living in one place one’s entire life (even just childhood life) is so very foreign to me, that when someone tells me that’s exactly what they’ve done, I shudder a little inside, and pity them a bit.
2. On the flip side of that, I don’t really understand the concept of home, and once in a very rare (and I mean very rare) while I envy those who do.
3. I first recognized this lack of understanding when I was in junior high Latin class and asked my teacher to explain the difference between domus and casa. I didn’t fully understand his explanation. It wasn’t until years later that I realized I wasn’t going to understand the concept in Latin if I couldn’t understand it in English.
4. Even though I don’t understand home, I understand family very well, and am so blessed to have a great family who’s always (and will always) be there for me, even when thousands of miles away.
5. I daydream a lot about having superpowers, or being a super genius.
6. The superpower I usually daydream about having is shape-shifting. I think that, as an actor, being a shape-shifter would be incredibly useful to me, as I would be able to look like any character at all.
7. I love linguistics. I’m fascinated by different languages, because I think that the way a culture communicates says more about that culture than anything else.
8. I’d love to be one of those people who can speak about a dozen or so languages. I hope to become one of those people someday.
9. I’m a little bit accident-prone.
10. When I was about 11, we had this huge pine tree in our back yard. It was about three stories tall, I think. One day I climbed up to the top of it (where it’s very thin, and swayed a lot), and waited for my mom to come out. I just wanted to hear "Daniel Ray Jones, get down from there right now." When she finally came out, she did not disappoint me.
11. I probably shouldn’t tease my mom like that.
12. She’s going to read this and be mad that that was intentional.
13. I used to love school, but somehow, my last few semesters of college sucked that right out of me.
14. Even still, I’d like to get a second degree, because I still love to learn, and recognize the benefit of a structured learning environment. I have no desire to get a master’s though.
15. Someday, I will learn bladesmithing.
16. I cry at movies, books, etc. more than I probably should. I generally try to make sure it’s not noticeable, unless I’m on a date, and know that the girl is in to sensitive guys.
17. I really like J-Pop.
18. I also like nu metal, screamo, rock, pop, alternative, and a bunch of other musical styles.
19. I really want to stop biting my nails, but have never really put any effort into doing so.
20. If I had to choose one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be pizza. Yes, I realize that if I did that, I’d probably die in five years at 500 lbs. and unable to move, but at least I would die happy. (except, of course, for the horribly painful heart attack)
21. I’d like to die a very, very old man, in a huge, horrible accident. No boring "peacefully in his sleep" crap for me. When people hear of my death, they should cringe and say, "Oh, that’s awful!"
22. I have a lot of scars, the origin of most of which I do know.
23. My original plan was to make a list of 24 fake facts about me, and have the last one say that others weren’t true. I decided that sounded lame.
24. This post has 679 words, 46 sentences, a Gunning fog index of 9.3, a Flesch-Kincaid level of 6.2, and a Flesch Reading Ease score of 77.
25. Sometimes I think there might be something wrong with me.

Notice from JET Program

I got this in the mail about a week ago. Now I have to wait another month and a half. I just want to go to Japan. Why do they keep making me wait?

If you notice missing numbers, it’s because that one was too personal to publicly share.

So, here’s my list so far.