Fujieda, Shizuoka | Week 2 T.6 :: The Lords Chosen Servants

私の愛する家族と友達

こんにちは!

Hey again, sorry this one is super long again. If you make it through this your'e a champ.

We had another great week here in Fujieda. Over this past week we've met and talked to a lot of people who have interest in meeting with us again and hearing our message. 5 people to be exact. They were all women, one is from the Philippines, 3 are from here in Japan, and the other is from Thailand! We had a lesson with one of them this week already! She has a lot of potential, when we met her she told us she really wanted to meet again, Barnes Shimai felt inspired to ask her why she wants to meet again and what shes hoping to hear? Her reply was that shes not happy, and shes willing to see if what we have can make her happy. Not many people I've met have had enough humility to admit that they aren't happy on their own and that they are willing enough to give this message a chance. Our lesson was good, she has no knowledge of Christianity or our image of God so were going to have to adjust things a bit, but we feel really good about her.

I just gotta put out there that Sister Barnes is amazing, I cant even begin to express my appreciation for her. Just being with her I feel that I have grown so much.

We had an area plan for Fujieda on Tuesday with the Elders and have a lot of big plans for this transfer. I personally want to focus on working with members, especially because of it's significance with Elder Eyerings prophecy for Japan and the Asia North Area Plan from the area presidency. (Ill attatch a picture for each of those) Because I'm in a small branch, I have a goal to serve, help, and establish good relationships with each member. Especially with the less active members. I want to everyone to feel love, and dendou fire! (motivation to do missionary work)

There are 4 part member families were trying to reach out to, they all have children who have not been baptized. So far this week we've been able to reach out to the mother in one of the families. The other night we went to visit her, and she lives really far away, (like up a huge hill 30 minutes away). Unfortunately she wasn't home, and there was a TON of spiders, I had to use my hand fan as a sheild. (I've seen more spiders here in Fujieda these past 6 weeks than I have in my whole life, if you know me, you know how hard this is for me). Anyways, She owns a near by restruaunt, its a super cool, hipster looking Panini shop. We met her there and she's super nice, we now have a service appointment set up with her this week!

On Wednesday we met with our friend that we met on that huge overpass/bridge from last week. We gave her a book of Mormon and taught her about who Jesus Christ is. The lesson was alright, but she was really confused about what we were saying. We had a ward member present with us (nagaoka shimai, shes amazing), unfortunately she was still confused. We're hoping to teach her more simply so she can understand...Her name is Chiba San, please pray for her!

On Sunday I got to experience my first Stake Conference in Japan. Elder and Sister Wada, as well as President and Sister Judd spoke to us. It was a lot of hard Japanese, but overall a great experience. Its so different from what I'm used to, the last stake conference I went to back in the States was HUGE compared to this, it felt like a really big American ward rather than a stake. But the spirit was the same, and so were the power of their these members testimonies. Also Sister Judd brought all the missionaries cookies afterwards, hehe shes the best.

We shared a great spiritual message with our less active Peruvian friend that we eat dinner with every Sunday. He hasn't come to church in a long time, yet he sees the missionaries every single Sunday. We decided to be a little more bold but loving with our spiritual message that day. Sister Barnes Shared "because of Him" video, and I shared Mosiah 26:30 "Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me". It was clear that there was a different spirit that filled the room today. He started to cry, and spoke in Spanish to us. I couldn't understand anything he was saying, but I could feel his emotions. I could feel his gratitude and love for our Savior, and I could feel his Godly sorrow and desire to repent and change. Sister Barnes took a lot of Spanish in high school and understood the part when he said he wants to come to back to church next week. This truly was a beautiful thing to witness, to see the spirit stir a change in the heart of one of God's children. I feel so lucky to be here and apart of this work witnessing the power of the spirit changing peoples lives and my very own as well.

Later that night we met with our 2 cute new friends, (the one who owns the cute bento shop by the train station) who are both referrals from our Eikaiwa friend. We made a lesson plan for them earlier in the week, but for some reason I just didn't feel like it was right. We were basically there and had 5 minutes to spare, so it turned to my comp and told her how I felt and she felt the same way. We ended up changing our whole lesson plan in like 2 minutes. It turned out to be a great lesson, I felt prompted to share an experience that I had with prayer when I was in highschool, I don't usually like to cry, but I started to tear up a little bit. My Japanese wasn't perfect, but I could feel the spirit testifying of my experience and I think they felt it too. Then Sister Barnes shared Ether 12:27 (one of my favorite scriptures), and it was so perfect. Our lesson was short and simple, but very powerful and what I believe the Lord needed them to hear.

*****

As I mentioned in my last email, our Japan Nagoya Mission has been expecting a visit from an Apostle of the Lord, Elder Ulisses Soares. We had the privileged to also have all 3 members of the Asian North Area Presidency and their wives to be in attendance (Elder and Sister Wada, Elder and Sister Choi, and Elder and Sister Budge), and we were able to also have Elder and Sister Vincent, from the quorum of the Seventy speak to us before Elder and Sister Soares.

Hearing from Elder Soares as well as Sister Soares and Elder and Sister Vincent was unforgettable. We've all as a mission been prayfully preparing ourselves mentally, physically and spiritually to hear from them. There were many things that I learned, many important points of Preach My Gospel reiterated, and many emotions that I felt. I wrote most of it down inmy Journal, for space and times sake i'm not going to say it all, so if you want to know more message me and I'll tell you.

We each had the opportunity to shake Elder Soares hand and look him in the eyes. From looking into his eyes and hearing him speak to us I knew and could feel that he was a witness of our Savior, Jesus Christ, an Apostle called of God. I felt his love for us, I felt the saviors love through him. He said many things that answered my personal questions, concerns, and prayers that I have had. I feel much more confidence and power to go forward serving the Lord. It truly was an honor and privileged to hear from him.

I just want to leave with you all my testimony of The Lords chosen servants. I know that they are called of God, I also know that they are normal human beings like me and you. I'm grateful for them and all the sacrifices they make to serve the Lord and us. I testify that they are special witnesses of Jesus Christ, and that Jesus Christ directs and guides this church, His church. This is my testimony, this is how I feel, and something I pray and hope for you all to feel and experience for yourselves one day too.

皆さん愛してます

💓堀人姉妹