February 4,
2013
You may be wondering,
`Why on earth is Dobson Shimai writing at 7:30 in the morning?!`. Don`t worry I
do have an explanation.
Recently we haven`t
been able to meet with our wonderful investigator R*** San.
She lives on the
island of Shodo shima. She hasn`t been able to come to Takamatsu for a few
weeks, but wants to continue learning. We decided that for part of our
preparation day activities we would go visit her! We are taking a ferry with
her daughter at 9:30 this morning. We already got up early and did everything
we needed to. We are excited to go on a little adventure and to visit our
beloved investigator.
But as for this
week... Well... we were faithful. We were working hard and really trying to be
focused with an eye single to the glory of God. We diligently sought after
revelation. We followed the Spirit, we contacted almost all of our PI`s trying
to find someone who we could invite to come unto Christ.
The Lord just wants
us to be faithful. We didn`t have a whole lot of `success` in the terms of numbers.
But we met with a lot of great people. Unfortunately either they didn`t want to
listen or they wouldn`t really let us teach. Bummer.
We tried Izumikawa
Shimai again. She wasn`t home when we visited her and she may have blocked our
number...ugh. We are going to have her neighbor who is a member talk with her
this week. Hopefully we will hear more about that this week.
So recently President
Zinke has put a lot of emphasis on how there are often people who come to
church for years but aren`t baptized for one reason or another. Some of them
are older people who can`t remember very well so missionaries and members think
they don`t know enough and can`t pass the baptismal `interview` in order to get
baptized. President has said that their spirits know everything, it`s just that
their bodies are limiting them. He told us that if they want to follow Jesus
Christ and want to baptized, that`s good enough.
Well that came as a
huge relief. We have this SUPER stellar couple in our ward. They are both so
strong. (They are the couple we made mochi with). They both serve endlessly and
are always helping us and giving us food. We love the T**** K. Well
T**** Kyodai (brother) has the sweetest mom. She is the funniest Japanese
87 year old you will ever meet. She has been coming to church every week for
YEARS. She loves church.
Previously T****
Kyodai wanted us to teach his Mom. We did and she had a hard time remembering
anything. So he thought she couldn`t continue. Well when we heard this we
talked to him about it and asked if we could just talk with her.
So on Wednesday we
went to her nursing home and talked to her about Christ. Even though we see her
every week at church, because of her Alzheimers, she didn`t remember who we are
and when we were talking to her she asked us the same few questions over and
over again. But as we talked to her about Christ and how through Christ we can
live again as families, we asked her if she believed in Christ. She said in her
heart she does. And when she is grateful she told us she prays and says thank
you. We told her that through baptism we can get Christ`s help and return to
God with our families. She said she wants that. And she thinks she wants to be
baptized. She is just worried about her daughter whose husband is a Buddhist
monk. She`s worried about her daughter not being baptized and offending her
daughter if she did get baptized.
Luckily T****
Kyodai told her that it didn`t matter and that she could choose for herself.
She still was a little worried about it when we left. We asked T****
Kyodai after if he thought she would want to be baptized. But he just shrugged
his shoulders.
But then yesterday in
testimony meeting he got up and talked about how excited he was that we said
she could be baptized! He went on and on about it. She hasn`t technically had
her `interview` with our district leader, meaning, he hasn`t asked her if she
wants to be baptized, but if she passes that she could be baptized like next
week!
It`s funny how we
aren`t teaching any lessons right now. And yet...people are being baptized! And
when we were teaching a lot of lessons...no one was getting baptized. Life is
funny.
So at district kai
this week we had the Zone Leaders come and do a training. They talked a lot
about being humble. It was an AWESOME training. We really are so blessed to
have such inspired leaders.
They said it was just
a foretaste of what Zone Tai Kai is going to be like this week. We are
definitely excited!
This month President
Zinke has really focused on the Sacrament. Understanding it`s significance and
then teaching it simply to investigators. This week I had a cool insight as I
was studying it. We have all heard, `Take upon us the name of Christ` and I
think I had an artificial knowledge of what this was. I know we get His name as
we are baptized, but I didn`t REALLY understand what it meant.
Well as I was sitting
there in personal study, pondering this a scripture popped into my mind. I
didn`t even have to look it up because the Spirit told me what it was.
It shows that it was
inspiration because I have a hard time remembering scriptures and I can`t
remember how it goes now...but. It is the one in Mosiah 4...I think…saying that
as we are baptized we are spiritually begotten by Christ. We become His spirit children.
And as I was thinking about this I realized that it the same as when we are
born physically. We are born to parents and we `inherit` their name. We take
upon us their name. From my parents I took upon me the name of Dobson.
It is the same when
we are baptized. We spiritually take upon us the name of Christ. He becomes a
part of us.
This might not make
as much sense in writing as I would like, but as I was thinking about it, it
made way more sense to me. And I`m hoping now that I can use this example to
teach investigators better as well. Hopefully they will understand it
more.
Anyways. That was
about this week. I love you all so much! I hope you have a wonderful
week.
Next week I`ll know
about Transfers. CRAZY!
-Dobson Shimai
Thanks to Sister Anderson's Mom for the following information and pictures
Shōdo Island
is an island located in the Inland Sea of
Japan.
The name means literally "Island of Small
Beans."
There are two towns on the island:
Tonoshō and Shōdoshima,
comprising the district of Shōzu.
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