May 27, 2013
Wow! A mission is
just a really long roller coaster. This week we started climbing up again to
the top of the hill.
To start off. We
really have been praying and working to find new investigators. Especially a
family. I LOVE teaching families. Well Tuesday we looked at our week. We
realized we had no lessons set up and none of our investigators were contacting
us. We weren`t sure what we were going to do so we prayed and prayed and tried
to get some revelation. We felt like we needed to go outside the church in the
afternoon and offer people church tours. We had done it once before but it
wasn`t super successful. But we decided to try it again.
We stopped a lot of
people but no one was interested. Finally 5 minutes before we were going to go
we stopped a cute lady riding a mammachatty. We told her who we were and that
we were offering church tours. We asked her if she would like one. She said,
`sure!` We were both pleasantly surprised. She said she lives pretty close to
the church and sees everyone come together every Sunday and she has always
wondered what they all do.
So we showed her
around the whole church. She seemed to like it. We decided to end with the
chapel and teach a lesson there.
When we walked into
the chapel I felt like we were walking into the temple.
It got so quiet. And
my heart feels like it does when I am in the temple. Oh how I miss that
feeling!! We sat down and just sat there for a couple of minutes. We didn`t say
anything. We just let the Spirit work on her. And it did. Her face softened and
she had this hungering look in her eyes. Then we started slowly introducing
God.
I asked her if she
believed in God. She quickly said no. I was going to start teaching but then I
felt like I needed to just be quiet. So I was. Then after 15 seconds she said,
`but I do believe in a higher power`. Instantly I thought of Alma and Aaron and
how they were teaching King Lamoni and his father. These people are the same.
They have grown up without knowing the true nature of God. But they do have a
piece of truth. What those 2 awesome missionaries did was try to take the truth
that they did have and connect it into the whole truth. We testified that that
higher power was God. And that He was actually there. And that He loved her. We
were quiet again.
Tears started welling
up in her eyes. We talked about how He wants her and her two kids (ages 2 and
4) to live with Him forever. We gently explained how we, as missionaries, can
teach her how to do that. I then asked her if that is something she would be
interested in hearing more about. She was quiet for almost a whole minute. But
it felt longer. Her head was dropped and you could really tell she was soaking
it all in. Then she looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, `teach me
how to do that.` YAY!!!! A FAMILY!! I am seriously so happy!! We are meeting
with her on tomorrow and I can`t wait to see her start progressing! God truly
does answer our prayers.
But that was only the
first way He kindly answered.
Thursday we had a big
conference. Elder Aoyagi from the 70 came and spoke to us. It was really good.
Learned a lot about loving the people and becoming a more effective tool in the
hands of the Lord. I also got to play the flute for a musical number. It felt
so good!! Oh how I miss my flute!!
Anyways. When we got
home on Thursday we didn`t have a bunch of time but we decided to make some
calls from the area book. Calling old investigators and asking them if they`d
be interested in meeting with us again. The first lady we called answered the
phone. I told her who I was. She got all excited and said, `Oh! Are you the
ones who go to church every week? I want to go again! I can`t talk right now
but call me back and I`ll come to church!` Success in the first call! She
wasn`t able to come this week because she had work. But she`s going to try and
come next week.
We also talked with a
college aged girl. She said that she wants to meet the missionaries again! She
said she also lives close to the church and wants to meet there. Sweet!!
Saturday as we were
out streeting at night we ran into a super cute girl. She has never met the
missionaries before but is interested in our message. She said she wanted to
meet again. She lives pretty far from the church. So I told her we could meet
her at a closer place. She said that was ok because she really wanted to see
our church! We have an appointment with her this week as well.
Obviously we were so
happy about all of this success.
But then on Sunday we
had another miracle!
We met another
Chinese PI a couple of weeks ago. She said she wanted to come to our
church and see what it was like. But wasn`t able to last week because of
work. We invited her for this past Sunday. She promised she would come.
Sure enough she did! After sacrament meeting we taught her a brief lesson
before she had to go to work. She said she has been to a Christian church a
couple of times in China with her Grandma. (That in and of itself is a
miracle!) She was really impressed with it and wants to learn more. We also did
a little bit of explaining about God. When we talked about how much God loves
her she got all teary eyed and said, `ya...He does.` We have another lesson
with her as well. I am seriously so excited! The Lord has been blessing us so
much recently!
I am so excited to
teach all of these lessons.
Well I was until I
got a phone call from President Zinke last night. At first I was really
confused because transfer calls are next week. He told me that a lot of changes
are going on in the mission. He then told me that they are now implementing the
new Sister Leadership position. The Sister Training Leader. I am not sure all
what it entails. There are going to be 4 of us. Hansen Shimai is also one! Yay!
I hope we get to be companions again. That would be SWEET!! I have to go into
Kobe tomorrow and get trained. I am excited to know more. But I am sad to not
teach the 3 lessons we have set up tomorrow. Lee Shimai will go and teach them
with Davis Shimai and Ishizawa Shimai.
 |
| A member took us to yakisoba and okonamiyaki. So yummy!! |
President did say
that he is worried about who he is going to have training the new sisters
coming in. He told me that he was planning on having all 4 of us train 2 new
sisters at a time. But now we can`t. He did say this is the will of the Lord. I
am not sure what is going to happen. But I am way excited! I am going full
throttle for my last 4 transfers! Nothing is getting the way of Dobson Shimai!
Watch out Japan!!!!
In other news: I got
proposed to by the Elder`s 55 year old investigator at English Class. Haha.
`You. Beautiful. Me not married. dakara (because of that) Married shimasho!
(let`s get married)`
I can also ride a
bike with no hands. I can`t go very far yet. But I am practicing. My record is 17
pedals. :)
Well I love you all
so much! I hope you are enjoying the quickly approaching summer. Boy is it hot
here! Everyone here keeps saying that Kyoto is one of the hottest places
because we are surrounded by mountains, so we can`t get the ocean breeze to
cool us off. yay....
Well! Bye bye!
-Dobson Shimai
