Nagoya Higashi, Kariya | Week 1 T.7 :: Bringing Others unto Christ

私の愛する家族と友達の皆さんへ

Well, im back Kariya !!

If I'm being honest, it's a little strange be back. Last time I was here I was a transfer 3 being follow up trained by Tasker Shimai. At that time I was still pretty lost and in "survival mode" as an American missionary in Japan but after that one transfer I got transferred to Gokiso. Some of the members remeber me, I wasn't able to make too many relationships because my Japanese was so limited as well as my time of being 1 transfer there/here. Cons of one and done transfers :/ But, I get a second chance! I didn't really know all the things I know now, so its kinda of like im starting all over again (lol) but not really.

This is also my first time being a senior companion. So far so good, I was pretty nervous about my Japanese but I've been able to realize I'm a lot better than I thought! Definitely not perfect or super skilled, but I get by good and have been able to understand and speak significantly better than just last week! I feel much more confidence :)

My new companion is from Aotearoa, aka New Zealand! She's a legit model, I feel like a midget next to her lol. She's part Maori, Hawaiian, Japanese, European mix, all that good stuff. She's a transfer 4, she came here to be trained by Tasker Shimai right after I left. So she's now been here for 4 transfers. Kinda cool because my trainer was her Follow up trainer, and my follow up trainer was her trainer.

We have a lot of people in our teaching pool from what I hear, I haven't been able to meet any of them yet because they are all busy, out of town or for other reasons. However we had 2 on the spot lessons with two women we met this week. Both of them were about the plan of salvation, the first woman said she could feel a power/energy from us! We testified that it was from God, she didn't seem to aknowledge it, but I hope and pray it will work within her and soften her heart to our message one day.

I Think my favorite thing from this week was a ward family visit we had. Even back when I was here, every week we would go over to a family in the ward and share a spiritual message with them on Thursday night's. The first time I was here, I actually wasn't too fond of this appointment because I didn't feel like it was effective, but coming back this time my eyes have been opened so much. A lot of the time the kids don't even listen to us or they just fight with each other, but I feel like we really help the mom. Her husband is less active and we actually ca only go over when he's not home. She really felt the spirit this time we were there, I felt a overwhelming feeling of love and compassion for her and her family.

Even though it's not something that counts on stats or leads someone to baptism, it still is "bringing others unto Christ", and helping to perpetuate the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in someone's home that could last for generations to come. Something that I am so grateful to be apart of.

May you all have a blessed week♡ Please keep the people of our area in your prayers so that we can meet with them, find them, and bring them unto Christ!

堀人姉妹