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| Making Spring Rolls |
July 29, 2013
Wow. It has been a week. I don`t
even know where to start.
We got to meet with our 20 year old
investigator, C**** Chan. She is SOO cute. We taught her about God and how He
is a person. She kept saying, `What?! I am so surprised! I had no idea!! What?
He has a body?`
At first she was a little dubious
about the whole thing. She honestly believed that God was a plant or a
mountain. But as we just went slow and talked about God, she felt the Spirit.
She said, `I can only 1/2 believe what you are saying right now. But in my
heart, I feel so....calm.` We had her pray at the end of the lesson. It was
such a cool prayer! She said, `God. I don*t know if you are there. And I don*t
know if you love me. But I think it would be really happy if you did.` Sweet!!
As missionaries it really is such a special opportunity getting to work with
these people who have no idea who God is, and then they get to learn about Him
and start building that relationship with Him. I love it!!
On Wednesday we had a cool
experience. We have this investigator. Y**** San. He has been an
investigator for over a year. He has heard the missionary lessons over and over
again. He thinks he knows everything. So whenever you teach him he just kind of
brushes it off.
Well we knew we needed to help him
have a spiritual experience in the lesson. We both prayed and felt like we
needed to talk to him about the temple.
We started out by showing him the
Liahona magizine with all of the pictures of the temples.
We started slowly flipping through
the pictures. He got a light in his eyes and he sat up in his chair. He was
actually getting excited.
By the time we got to the pictures
of the ones inside the temple he took the magazine from us and started flipping
through. He was making comments like, `That stained glass window is so pretty!
I love stained glass!` Or, `There is no way that is a painting! It looks just
like nature. It`s so big! How did they even paint that?`
It was so cool to finally see him
excited about the gospel! He really opened up and we were able to understand
what his desire in life is and what some of his reservations about joining the
church. I feel like we are going to be able to help him so much more now. I
really am so grateful that the Spirit told us what we needed to do. Such a
blessing!!
Friday we had a
cool/funny/embarrassing experience.
After district meeting we were going
to go visit one of our investigators that I haven*t met since I`ve been here.
He is a 13 year old boy that some of the previous sisters found while housing.
We had tried calling and texting him
but he didn`t answer. So we decided to go and visit him.
Well after district meeting we were
crossing the street with the Elders in our district. While we were waiting at
the light one of the elders started talking to this little boy on his bike. He
was around 10 and spoke pretty good English. Well the light turned green and he
started riding away. And then I got this idea. We should follow him to his
house, because I am sure he has a family and I bet they would love to meet with
2 gaijin and maybe listen to the gospel. So I yell at Chavez Shimai to follow
him.
The only problem is that this kid
starts booking it! He was going so fast. He started darting in and out of cars
and people. We were both panting trying to keep up with him. He stopped for a
minute and got a drink from a vending machine and then was back on the road.
Well then he crossed the street illegally and we couldn*t follow him and we
lost him.
Now I know that sounds like a random
story but, just wait. Well, we decided to just keep going to were our
investigator lived.
We show up at his house, wipe the
sweat off of our faces, and knock on his door. The mom opens the door and has
this super surprised look on her face. To not make the situation awkward,
(because we didn*t have an appointment) I just said, `Oh hey, we were close so
we thought we should swing by.`
She then said, `Come in come in! I
just say you riding your bikes by the railroad. You were going so fast! You
must be exhausted.`
AWKWARD! She totally knew that I
just lied to her. AND she saw us riding our bikes like total maniacs.
Well we sat down and started talking
with Koki Kun. The 13 year old boy. I guess in the past lessons the mom would
never sit down and listen to the lesson. She was always just working around the
house. But as we started talking to him about God she came and sat down.
It was so cool to see her sitting on
the edge of her chair listening.
There came a part in the lesson that
I told them that because we are all God`s children we are siblings. And because
of that, I love them.
When I said that I felt like my
heart jumped out of my chest and it was reaching out to them. I really did love
both of them even though it was my first time meeting them. It was all I could
do to keep from crying.
As a missionary I have been so
blessed! I get to feel just a fraction of the love that Heavenly Father has for
these people. It really is more than I could ever comprehend. It is so
amazing!!
Well at the end of the lesson the
mom started asking us a lot of really good questions. She asked why we chose
Japan and if we don*t charge anything for our message, how are we eating. When
I told her that we saved up our own money and are using that, her eyes got
really big and she tried giving us a whole box of donuts.
She said that she doesn*t have a
desire to join any Christian church because her parents are really strong
Buddhists. But she said she does want to hear more about our church! Yay!! So
she became a new investigator and we are seriously so excited about them! We
haven*t met the dad yet, but they are a family. The mom, the dad, the 13 year
old boy, and the cutest 4 year old girl. For reals! I am so excited about
them!!
So many miracles!
On Saturday we felt like we needed
to go to the park and try talking with some moms. We saw these 2 little girls
and a mom and both me and Chavez Shimai looked at each other and we knew we
needed to talk to them. Right as we went over the mom got on the phone. Dang
it. So we decided to wait around and watch a nearby trackmeet going on.
Then one of the little girls comes
up to us and starts speaking in totally fluent English. Seriously. She was soo
good! She knew words like time casual, coffin, and music producer. I have no
idea what any of those words are in Japanese.
Anyways, we just started talking with her. Then her mom got off the phone. She said , `Hey you are those missionaries for the church over there, right? I live right next to the church. I see you every day!` We struck up a friendly conversation and became friends. She then asked us if we could ever spend a couple of hours at the church and teach her, her daughter, and their friends about the Bible.
Umm..yeah! I think we can arrange
something. She said she wants her daughter to hear the bible stories. But
everyone already knows the Christmas story. She asked if there were any other
ones we could teach her.
We talked about the Book of Mormon
and how there are stories in there as well. We told her about the part in 3 Nephi
where Christ blesses the children and there are angels. The mom said, `Oh! If
there are angels, that`s perfect. Teach us that story.` So we planned a day
where she is going to invite basically her whole neighborhood over to the
church to learn about the bible/book of Mormon! I am so excited!!
Even when there are really hard days
because you get told know 1,000 and 1 times, having moments like that make it
all worth it!
Well my time is running out. But I
love you all so much!
The church is true!!!
Love,
Dobson Shimai
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