夷険一節＊一期一会

Hello, family and friends!

Michelle's Mission plaque is finally up at her homeward.

This week was surprisingly productive, at least in terms of stats, given that we had to spend some of our time rather unproductively....

Let me explain.

On Thursday, the honbu sent out a mass email to all of the zones (except for Kanazawa zone), telling us that we had to stay inside for the whole day, even if the weather looks nice outside, because a really big Typhoonmight come.

So, being obedient missionaries, we stayed inside all Thursday (we were so glad that we had bought ice cream earlier last week!), while the wind blew and rain poured. I don't think it was strong enough to cancel dendo, but whatever.

We successfully did weekly planning session, updating the area book, personal/companionship/language study, and some cleaning, but towards the afternoon our productivity levels were incredibly low and we just ended up watching the Testaments in Finnish and Cantonese (not the whole thing, haha) and talking and baking brownies.

You can only be inside for so long, before being productive just isn't possibly any more....

Gokiso and Takabata District Meeting

So after that, on Friday, we had DTM, which started late because the Gokiso missionaries weren't sure if they were allowed to leave the apartment yet, and it also ended late. Then, because it was lunch time, we decided to go to lunch together, but all of us underestimated how long it would take to get to the place that we were planning on going to, and we all wasted more dendo time than we should have.

Needless to say, that won't be happening next week.....

And then, on Saturday, we went out to lunch with Nana-chan, a previously less active member, because it was her birthday! (: Nana-chan loves missionaries.....so, it was kind of a must.

Well, if it had just been lunch it would have been fine, but Nana-chan was insistent that we take purikura with her, and because it was her birthday after all, none of us wanted to tell her no, haha. So then, we walked around forever, and ended up just going to Nagoya eki to take puris, and by the time we were done, it felt like half they day was gone.

Oh, and then yesterday (Sunday) was shokujikai (pot-luck lunch after church), so that took up a lot of time too.

Basically, these past few days have left me feeling like a very ineffective missionary.

But don't worry, it won't be like this next week. Hopefully next week, I will have a bunch of great stories to tell you (:

Ok, well, since I've just told you all of the unproductive things that I did this week, let me tell you about all of the productive things that actually happened (:

On Monday, we finally finished lesson 1 with Oba-san! The biggest miracle was that, she actually had a sincere question (most of her questions/comments are kind of off-topic, compare what we teach her to other religions that she knows, or are skeptical): How can we grow to feel that God is close to us?

In answering the question, I made reference to Samowitz shimai's conversion story, helping her to take part in the lesson as well (It's so hard. I always teach 99% of the lessons). Samowitz shimai bore a really short, simple, but good testimony, and I think Oba-san felt the Spirit too. Maybe for the first time.

She was a little skeptical of Joseph Smith and didn't understand the difference between God and Jesus Christ, but hopefully she will remember the Spirit that she felt during the lesson.

On Tuesday, we found a new investigator! Yay (:

We didn't actually teach her (we just kind of explained who God is), but when I explained that we teach about God and Jesus Christ, she was genuinely interested, which is very unusual for Japanese people. The only catch is that she said she is super busy, and wouldn't be able to meet us regularly.

Well, hopefully when we visit her tomorrow she will have thought about it a little more..... I let you know what happens next week!

We also had a really good visit with Glenda (Filipino member) and Miyabi-kun (her son). Glenda always leaves after Sacrament meeting, so I had never had the chance to talk with her, but she was super friendly and amazing, and so was her non-member husband.

On Wednesday, we taught Keila, and it was AMAZING!!!

Keila loves the Bible and loves the Book of Mormon as well (:

We reviewed where the Book of Mormon comes from, and then discussed the importance of scriptures. Keila is 17, but she already has personal experiences of how the Bible has helped her in her life. She truly recognizes God's hand in her life.

As we went through the lesson, I asked her if she had any concerns or doubts about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She answered that she noticed that the Book of Mormon and the Bible have many similarities, and she wonders a lot why the Book of Mormon says things differently than it says in the Bible.

I used 1 Nephi 13 to explain that there are many precious things missing from the Bible that the Book of Mormon explains, and Keila understood and accepted everything!! It was amazing.

Keila is super busy (as with everyone else in Japan....), but she has summer break after the 17th, so she said that she might be able to come to Eikaiwa and Church in the next few weeks (:

That same day, I made Samowitz shimai lead a mogi-lesson. It was really hard not to jump in and take over, but she did really well, for only having been here for 4 weeks!

On Saturday, we visited the non-member grandmother and grandfather of a family in the ward (with the elders). They had been against the church forever, but just recently their grandson came home from his mission in Sapporo, and he was invited to speak in Stake Conference. When the grandson (Tatsuya) invited his grandparents to come hear him speak, they came not only to the Saturday session, but also the Sunday session! Slowly but surely, the Spirit is working with them (:

The purpose of our meeting was just to get to know them and build a relationship between them and the missionaries, and I think that went really well. They had so many cool traditional decorations in their home, so I just had to ask about those, it was super easy (;

The grandmother actually gave me a Buddhist chant book, haha. I was super excited about that, though, because I did a research project on Buddhist chants last year in college.

I guess I should have traded that with a Book of Mormon (;

I'm sorry this email is so long! There is so much more that I could write, but I think I'll leave it at this.

I love you!