Flat tires and a sick companion

Hello everyone!

This week was.....interesting, haha.  I became a pro at taking off the front tire to my companion's bike, because it kept on going flat!!  Long story short, I had to take the tire apart several times, because the air kept on going out, even after I had patched up the hole.  We finally took the bike to the bike shop, where they told us that the patching job was fine and they didn't know why the air was leaking out, so they just tightened and replaced some screws.  It hasn't had any problems since, but it makes me mad that we still had to go to the bike shop, despite having patched up the hole.

Also, Samowitz shimai wasn't feeling very well this week, so we had to take some time out to rest.

As you can guess, between those two events, we didn't get a whole lot done this week, but I cleaned the apartment and I am a lot more confident about my bike repair skills now! haha

Ok, let me talk about what little did happen this week.

One of the highlights from this week was going on a kokan to Yokkaichi!  It was the first time that I had left my area (other than meetings) since transfer 2!

Yokkaichi is a really beautiful place--after being in downtown Nagoya for 4 months, I had almost forgotten what mountains and trees look like, haha.

We OYMed a ton, went housing, taught two lessons, had Eikaiwa--it was great.

One of the lessons, with an investigator named Kobayashi-san, was especially good.  We didn't have a lot of time, but we taught a little bit about faith, and he told us how much joy he has been feeling since he started meeting with the missionaries.  When I shared a scripture from Alma 32 with him, he said that it described exactly how he had been feeling!  He also has his own garden, so he understands the seed analogy super well.  Kobayashi-san was also super excited that I am half-Japanese, and that he could talk about the gospel with someone that understands both cultures (:  The Spirit was so strong the whole lesson and it was just great!

Going back in time to Tuesday, we met with Ayano for the first time in FOREVER!!  As expected, she had forgotten almost everything, and she told us that she can't really join the church because her parents are Buddhist, but she still has a desire to learn.

We re-taught her about prayer, the Holy Ghost, and faith.  I don't think that my teaching was very good (for whatever reason, I have a really hard time teaching simply to Ayano), but I experienced, maybe for the first time, giving promises through the Spirit.  It was really cool.  As I promised Ayano specific blessings, of what would happen if she prayed sincerely, I really felt the Spirit form my words and testify to me that those promised blessings were specific to Ayano.  I've really been trying to focus on listening to the Spirit this week, and that was an experience that I really needed.

Sadly, I'm out of time again.....

Transfer calls are this weekend, so start guessing what's going to happen to me!  My guesses are, I'm either staying with a new companion, or I'm going to Inuyama, Nakatsugawa, or Nagano!  I suppose those are more like my wishes than guesses, haha.

Love you!

パペンファス姉妹