Ahhhhhhh!!! I'm here, I'm here, I'm here!! Wow, Japan is THE BEST!!
My
companion's name is Sister Lowry and she is so beautiful. I really love
her. We are working hard together and continue to strengthen our
relationship every day. We are white washing into Kasukabe, which means
that we pretty much opening a new area. It's definitely been a little
tougher to get started, but I am completely confident that we can get
the Lord's work booming here!
When we got to Kasukabe by train, we had an hour to
prepare for a lesson that had previously been set up by a member. Her
name is Yamazaki Shimai and she is so amazing. She is 60 years old has
two adorable children who she loves so much. Her husband is a scuba
diver. I don't really know the details, but some how two of his scuba
diving friends died and her husband was responsible for their death. He
had to pay a lot of money and so she lives in a very little apartment
now. She is still married to her husband, but she doesn't know where he
is and doesn't communicate with him. Yamazaki Shimai said her husband
took her son with him, so she doesn't know where her son is either. She
loves her daughter and likes the idea of being together, forever with
her. She knows that what we teach is true because she has prayed about
it, however, she doesn't want to be baptized. She also works at a zoo on
Sunday, so getting her to commit to church has been a struggle. We are
going to visit her in another hour as a surprise visit. Apparently she
loves surprise visits.
Church this week was incredible. For the most
part, I had a difficult time picking out what they were talking about,
but I really felt the Spirit. The Elders that are in the area with us
had a man come to church with them. In our Sunday School lesson, the
teacher talked about the steps of repentance and why it is such a
crucial part of this gospel. I loved watching how this investigator
reacted. He was so mentally involved in the lesson and really brought
the spirit into our meeting by participating. At the end of the lesson,
he made some comments and asked if he could say the prayer. Wowza! I
felt so much power as he said that he really felt something good and he
knew that he needed to repent, even though he had a lot to repent of and
that it was going to be hard. He really wants to get baptized and asked
God to help him in his prayer. What a tender mercy of the Lord. Going
to church is a revelatory experience. We have an incredible bishop. His
name is Abbe Bishopu. We also have an incredible ward mission leader
(Dendo Shunin). His name is Ushi Kyodai. They have been helping us find
less active members to teach and helping us set up mogi's with the ward
members. There are a lot of couples in our ward who have gone on
missions. I'm really excited to get to know them and work with them
more.
This week I have come to realize the significance of goal setting.
- Where there is no vision, the people perish.
- No dream, no goal. No goal, no plans. No plans, no actions. No actions, no results. No results, no growth. No growth, no happiness.
- When you don't set goals, you live far below your privileges.
- A goal not written is only a dream.
- Setting goals is an incredible act of faith. You cannot visible see it, but you know that you can achieve it.
- "I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principle of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life." -Elder M. Russell Ballard
- Without goals, we really can't reach our full potential.
Thank
you all soooo much for your love and support. Missionaries really
cannot do near as much without the members help. Please help the
missionaries in your area. Trust me, they need help! I love being a
missionary. I love it, I love it, I love it!! I know that God lives and
loves us. I know that He calls us to be in certain areas at specific
times in our lives to touch the lives of those we meet. Every day, we
ought to believe that. There are no accidents. I still remember the last
video I watched before going to the MTC. It was the Lorax. The eternal
significance I took from that video has affected my missionary life
every day. UNLESS someone like you cares a whole lot, things aren't going
to get better, they're just not.
Ai Shiteru,
Yamauchi Shimai
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