Dobson Shimai: December in Takamatsu

December 3rd

Konnichiwa!

Mina San O-genki desu ka?

Here in Takamatsu is great! We are still seeing miracles as always. We really are so blessed!

So for our investigators....

Last Wednesday we met with P*** and T*** (from Africa). Honestly when we were first preparing for their lesson I was a little nervous. I knew that they both know the Bible super well. I was worried it would turn into a Bible bash and I wouldn`t get my points across. I just want them to feel how true it is! Early during the day while we were riding our bikes I was just practicing and practicing what I wanted to say. Making sure it all made sense. And I was praying. I was pleading with the Lord that the Spirit would be in the lesson. That was the only way they would be able to see the truth of what we were teaching.

Well we got to the lesson and...I was completely calm. The whole time. I didn`t feel the least bit anxious. (Which is so not like me) I was able to say everything I wanted to. Was it perfect? No. Could it have been better? Definitely. But I could feel the Spirit working within me. He calmed me so I could teach with Him. It was a really cool experience for me.

We taught the whole restoration and they seemed to understand it really well. They didn`t have a whole lot of objects with the great apostasy which was great. The hardest part for them to accept is the Book of Mormon. Peter has previously studied it and had a lot of really weird, irrelevant questions. Like, `how many days after Christ was resurrected did He visit America?` or `Exactly which year did the great apostasy start?` Are there answers for these? Probably. Do I know them. Nope. It doesn`t really have to do with my eternal salvation so I haven`t worried about it in the past....

Anyways. We asked them to try Moroni`s promise and read and pray about it. They both said they would. We assigned them to read in Alma 40. T*** is really interested in life after death, mainly what happens between death and the resurrection. So we are going to talk about that next time. At the end of the lesson, Peter said an awesome prayer. It sounded like He had a lot of real intent and actually wanted to know. Hopefully that continues. We can`t wait to talk with them on Wednesday and see how it went! :)

U*** Shimai. Well at first she was slipping through our fingers. We were so worried! She wasn`t really talking to us and wasn`t reading or praying. I think Satan was working on her so hard. We found out she is afraid to get baptized because she doesn`t know if she can endure to the end. We asked her to pray about it. And then set up an appointment.

Well she called us on Friday. She said she couldn`t make the appointment on Saturday because she had a family thing and then out of the blue she said, `Oh, and I`ll be baptized`. What?! Wahoo! She knows it`s what she needs to do. Hopefully as she continues to pray and read she can thwart off Satan`s attacks on her.

I*** San is also doing so well! We taught her the gospel of Christ this week and she really understood it well. We set a specific baptismal date! January 20th here we come! We also talked with her about teaching her cute boys. (Ages 10,8,5) She agreed! And we are going to start teaching them today! Yosh. So excited.

O*** Family? Ya...we`ve tried to have contact with them. It`s been really hard. I am not sure how interested the mom really is. But on Saturday we stopped by their house and asked if we could meet with them today. She said yes so we are going back tonight and we are going to try to keep teaching them.

I haven`t talked about the M*** Family for a while because...well. They`ve been dropped. We were so sad. But she didn`t answer the phone and could never talk when we went to her house. We swung by her work the other day. She is super busy with the Christmas season. And said maybe we could talk another time. Bummer. I just love them and want to help them so much! The Lord has already prepared their family so much. They have gone through so many hard things. I`d hate to see them need even more preparation! Hopefully the mom`s heart will be softened and she will see how much she really needs the gospel.

We have a lot of really great PI`s we are either meeting with our planning on visiting again this week. We are excited about them!

On Friday we had Zone training. It was great! I have been so blessed to have such awesome leaders in the mission. Really. Everyone is so great! They talked a lot about setting goals. Setting long term goals for the big picture and then setting shorter goals to help you attain those bigger ones. This is something I definitely need to be better at. Sometimes I just get in this rut of missionary work. I try not to go through the motions, but I think sometimes I do. If I set more goals I think I could maximize this short time I have left. Speaking of only having a short time left.

Holy cow! It`s already December?! I am 1/3 done with my mission! Crazy. It went by so fast....yet so slow at the same time. But I am a 1/3 of the way done and I still can`t speak Japanese...ya. That`s probably a problem. I am now going to make some goals.....

Well I think that about sums up the week. I love you all so much! I hope you enjoy all of your Christmas preparations! Build a snowman for me!