Week 5 T4 :: it's more than just WHAT we do, it's about WHO we BECOME
You already know, this email is gonna be really long so here's a quick recap before you get lost:
- Went on 3 exchanges 3 days in a row
- Had a really sad but motivating lesson
- Made 2 new friends in Toyoake were gonna start teaching
- We have a Yakusokusha! (Someone who committed to receive baptism soon)
- I FINISHED THE 100 DAY BOOK OF MORMON CHALLENGE 1 DAY EARLY
》It's really fun being the companion of a Sister Training Leader. Every week we go on koukans (exchanges) with other sister in our zone, this week we had THREE IN A ROW.《
Tuesday w/ Inuyama 姉妹
I experienced my first actual "service opportunity" this week (people here don't like to ask for help and often refuse any offers so it's kinda hard to get these opportunities). All 4 of us in a tiny apartment ripped off a bunch of wall paper in one of the members homes! The family is the one we visit last week, the one that's from Peru! It took like 5 hours and we had another appointment to go to but she really wanted to make "Hawaiian hamburgers" for us, so she left to the store leaving all 4 of us alone in her apartment...it was kinda awkward, but we decided we should be useful and clean or something lol. It was funny because all 4 of us are from Utah and we were just laughing at how were all in this situation of our lives right now hahaha. I was able to be with Will Shimai, and later that night we talked to an interesting lady...made us feel kinda creeped out afterwards. The night ended on a weird note, but it was an awesome koukan.
Wednesday w/ Fukutoku 姉妹
This was my first time koukan-ing with them, so I didn't really know any of them before. It was a blast! I was with Huber shimai! LOVE THAT SHIMAI. Fun fact: she was wearing a Hawaiian heirloom ring that reads Ka'imilani- 'seeker of heaven', and we also have the same kanji for our middle names! Anyways, we taught a lesson to that girl who came into the church on Sunday, and oh boy I will never forget that lesson, it was not what I was expecting...I'll talk about that in it's own little paragraph thingy so stay tuned. Anyways, we met a woman from Jamaica! She gave us her phone number and said we could meet again, although she from the same church as the not so nice German man so we'll see how that goes.
Thursday w/ Ichinomiya 姉妹 (in Ichinomia)
Ichinomiya apartment is hands down my favorite apartment. Also this is my party sannin (trio), so we always have a great time. I was with Archibald shimai and Oliveira Shimai. We didn't have any appointments for the day so we were doing some morning housing and street contacting since it was really rainy all day. For some reason older men like to answer the doors not wearing much clothes?...happened twice in a row that night, yikes. You already know in the next morning for workouts we did some Hip-Hop Abs! Sweet Archie Shimai made us some pancakes for breakfast♡
DTM was Friday morning. We talked about Faith, Hope, and Charity and how it's all connected to the Spirit. We have such an awesome district.
Sad but motivating lesson experience:
So about the lesson with the girl from Sunday. We taught her the Plan of Salvation, at the end we asked her if she would like to go to the Celeistial Kingdom and she said no. It's really sad because she doesn't want to be with her family forever, so she said that she wouldn't be happy there. I understand that families are so awesome, but they aren't perfect. Sometimes things happen, and it's not a happy place for all of us. We explained that the God is fair and he will make sure wherever we are is where we are comfortable and happy. We then taught her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the reason how all happiness is possible. I was really sad at what she said next, she told us that she doesn't want to use his Atonement, she said she "wants to pay for her own sins". I was so confused, why would someone not want to accept the Atonement? I was so sad that she felt this way. We tried our best to explain how he already suffered for our sins, and that this is the only way. She thinks she can do it a different way, it was honestly so frustrating for me. He already suffered for ALL of our mistakes, pains, sicknesses, and weaknesses. It's already been done, this is THE only way. I was pretty upset with myself, I thought that maybe we didn't teach it simply and clearly enough, but its not me that teaches, it's the spirit. I can't force people to feel the spirit and understand. Also, perhaps she's just not ready yet.
It was kind of a bummer lesson tbh, but it made me realize how much I want others to know about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As missionaries, this is what we offer, the atonement of Jesus Christ. The only way to have access to it is through ordinances, as missionaries we FIND those who are prepared, we TEACH repentance, and help them prepare for the ordinance of BAPTISM. After that, they have FULL ACCESS to the Atonement and all of its blessing as they continue down the path and endure until the end. So yes, that was a bummer, but it gave me some fuel for my DENDOU FIRE.
New friends:
On Saturday we went to Toyoake, 'the land of many foreigners'. We taught a man Anderson Shimai met on Wednesday while on koukans. He's from the Philippines so he speaks good English, he told us he want to come to our church, then his sister came over and she said she wants to come too! We stayed out there the rest of the day and did some housing and talked to these 2 siblings, an older sister and her younger brother. At first I tried to OYM the bro, but he rejected me. We then talked to his sister 5 minutes later and the little bro walks past and says to us, "Yes, please preach to her she needs religion" lol. They have a really funny relationship with each other, they just roast each other hahaha. They invited us over to their place and we taught the restoration. We had to go soon to catch our train but they really wanted us to stay, then they bought us Dominos pizza and they the drove us home!! We're now pretty good friends I'd say, and they want to come to church next week! I love those two, the older sister was pretty straight up with us and said she believes in God but doesn't really practice much, but she's down to hear our message. The little brother belongs to another church, but he was really intrigued by our message, I think he felt the spirit, I have a lot of faith and hope for these two. :)
Yakusokusha!
So one of our friends were teaching accepted the invitation to be baptized on Wednesday! She ended up coming to church late and just missed the sacrament! But, she heard all the speakers and it was perfect. They all gave amazing talks and she felt the spirit! She had to leave right after for certain reasons, but it was so good and she's hoping to come to all of it next week!
BOM round #2
Ok everyone, I finished reading the Book of Mormon for the SECOND TIME on my mission. *dabs. The first time around I started MTC day 1, and finished it on the plane just before landing in Japan. That first round was amazing, I learned there is a lot of power in reading the bom cover to cover in a certain amount of time. I used to read the bom in high school over LONG periods of time, then get lost, then get confused, then start all over. It was a mess. But there truly is power when it's 100 days or less. I was able to understand things in ways I never had before, the mysteries of God were little by little unfolded before me. So I invite you all to try it! "Do the spiritual work"-The Prophet. I promise, it's so worth it.
What I learned this round: The important role the scriptures play in our personal salvation. And the scriptures instruct us how to 'become more', they are literally our "book" in this open book test of the mortal life.
We all know the steps to go to the Celestial kingdom, but it's more than just WHAT we do, it's about WHO we BECOME. This time around I read a verse in 3rd Nephi that talks about judgement, I was really confused so I turned to my hand-dandy BOM institute student manual to see if that could help me understand and I learned something crazy, there are apparently 5 things that will judge us, one of those being the Scriptures. The scriptures will literally judge us whaaaa. There's so much more I have to say concerning this, you'd have to read my study journal, but the gist of it is that we have these scriptures before us, so we should read them and take advantage of this blessing!
So this next time around I want to focus on specific instructions for HOW TO BECOME. I'm going to focus on Christ like attributes and I'm so excited!
I just want to leave with you my simple testimony of the Book of Mormon. I believe it's true, it's not just a story but it's actual history and the word of God. It's a book of promise, instruction, blessings, doctrine and so much more. It has become the keystone of my testimony. There's no way a man wrote this book, therefore I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God in these latter days. This book has made me feel closer to God more than anything else has. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.
I hope you all have an awesome week!
