January 7, 2013
Hello everyone!
Yep! I am still here in
Takamatsu! Yay! And my companion is....Anderson Shimai. We are going to be
together for yet another transfer! That makes 4! Apparently the Lord has big
plans for us here in Takamastu. We are excited to see what this transfer will
bring!
Quick update!
So this week was Shogatsu. The members were right. It wasn`t super effective for missionary work. No one really wanted to listen...But we ate some traditional shogatsu food at the members. That was fun! And...mostly delicious. There were some things I had to not think about while I was chewing. But overall it was lots of fun! I learned how to make mochi! That was an adventure.
So for planning this
week we were setting companionship goals for the transfer. We really feel like
the Iz***Family and R*** could be baptized this transfer. That makes 4.
But as we were praying we felt like there was supposed to be 5. We didn`t know
who. But we set it.
Sunday was a day of MIRACLES!
So to start off.
Every fast Sunday all the missionaries send in requests for a fast. Usually
they are for investigators with family members who are opposed to them joining
the church or special circumstances. Then the assistants send out a text with
all the names and situations and everyone in the whole mission prays for them
individually by name. It has been wrought many miracles in the mission and this
week it did it in Takamatsu.
We put the O****
family on the list. We really felt like the mom just needed to come to church
once. If she came then her fears about it would go away and we would be able to
teach her and her cute daughters more.
Sunday morning right
as Sacrament meeting was starting, SHE WALKED IN!! She came into the church
with her little 10 year old daughter! The power of fasting and prayer is so real.
It was cool to see the windows of Heaven being opened.
Not only did Oz***
San and her daughter come to church, but so did N*** San, The Iz****, Ok***San and R*** San! Yay!! We were so excited! Everyone seemed to
be doing really well and enjoying the testimonies of everyone. Oz*** San`s daughter even got up and bore her testimony! It was along the
lines of, `I went skiing and snowboard for Shogatsu. It was lots of fun. I am
glad I came to church today. I am happy. The end.` So sweet! And I think her
mom was really touched.
Before church we had
a super fun lesson with Iz*** San and her boys. Unfortunately the oldest
one didn`t come because he had baseball....But we taught her 8 and 5 year old.
We did a walk through Plan of Salvation and Gospel of Christ lesson. We had
different rooms that represented each part of the Plan of Salvation. In the
earth room they walked through a path (Gospel of Christ) and if they did the
steps they got a little sticker on their `life card`. At judgment they handed
in their life card and if they had all the stickers they got to go to the
Celestial Kingdom!
The boys seemed to
understand it fairly well. And I think it made more sense to the mom as well.
So that was great. It was really fun teaching them that way.
During church we had
too many teaching appointments so we went on splits with the members. (I love
when our `problem` is having too many lessons. :) ) Anderson Shimai taught
Ok***San and I taught R***. During Sunday school she had a lot of questions
about the atonement. So I changed our lesson plan and talked about that. She is
such a fun person, but sometimes she gets off on the weirdest tangents. I felt
like I was in a pinball machine at the beginning of the lesson. But at the end
she settled down a little bit and had some of her concerns resolved which was
good. We talked about baptism. She said she really wants to be baptized. But
she wants more time to feel ready. She said she won`t set a date. (She has a
little phobia of making appointments-even teaching appointments with us). But
she said she will continue to come to church each week. She said it is her
favorite thing. She loves the members and they all love her. It`s fun to just
sit back and watch their interactions.
Anyways after church
Is*** San came and wanted to have a lesson. Honestly, he uses really hard
Japanese that I don`t understand. I was trying so hard to concentrate on what
was going on. First he was concerned about the differences between the Bible
and the Book of Mormon. Then was asking why we use water instead of wine for
the sacrament. As I was still trying to figure everything he was saying, I
realized we had switched topics and were talking about the law of tithing.
Right as I was still reeling over that and trying to come up with a response he
told us his birthday is the 27th of this month. And that is when he wants to be
baptized. Say what?!
I am not sure all of
what happened. Some changes are definitely going to have to be made if he wants
to be baptized. But when I realized that is what he was saying the Spirit said,
`This is number 5.` Whoa. So apparently
he is the 5th person that needs to be baptized this transfer.
We had 2 members in
the lesson and afterwards they were both just elated about the whole thing. I
definitely didn`t understand very much of what happened. But apparently it was
a really good thing. I am super excited!
So that was basically
our week here in Takamatsu. Miracles are happening. I am so excited to
see what this transfer brings!
I love you
all!!!
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