OYM etc. (Week 51)

Hey everyone!

I've survived another week of training in Meito!  haha  (Actually, training for the second time isn't nearly as hard as the first time.....I'm learning from my mistakes!)

This week I kind of had a minor panic attack about having to lead everything in an area that I know nothing about (way way way too many members, so many less actives who haven't been visited in the past 1-2 years, investigators (more like former investigators) who I've only met once, etc.), but I'm over that now so everything is great (;

We really really really need some new investigators, so I've been trying to focus on finding and helping my bean-chan to OYM.  We also need to get into contact with some more less actives, so I tried to combine those two by doing hard-cord OYM on the way to the less actives' homes.

Well, long story short, not a single less active we visited this week was home.  Actually, I take that back.  We did meet one yesterday (on our 3rd visit), but she was super busy (just gotten out of the shower, haha) so we made an appointment to go again on Tuesday.

But yah.....Less active work is not working out, so wish us luck that we will actually be able to talk with someone this week! haha

Ok, here are some OYM experiences from this week....

On Monday I stopped a lady who wasn't interested at all because she has her own religion, but we had a really good conversation about God and religion, and she told us about her mom who is Christian and lives in America.  She also has a lot of Christian friends and has been to Christian churches before!  It was really really awesome, and we started talking about why there are lots of Christian churches and about agency, so I gave her Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 pamphlets!  The coolest thing was, she was so happy to receive the pamphlets that she gave us a box of brownies that she was about to take to her friend's party!  What?!  She was so nice!  The only other time I've had people offer me stuff after I've OYMed them was a lady in Shizuoka, who tried to give Sister Urling and me 2000 yen to go buy some coffee for ourselves, haha.  Yay for OYM! (;  And who knows.....maybe she will come to church sometime (:

On Tuesday I stopped an 18 year old high schooler, Kaho-chan, who became a new investigator!  Ok, actually, the appointment that we made fell through, so she's not an investigator anymore........ But, it was really cool in the moment.  We talked a little bit about God and what she believes (she believes in God but isn't really sure why), and then she told me that she will be going to culinary school in April and she really wants to learn English!  We exchanged phone numbers, so I haven't given up on her yet.......!  I really really want to meet her again! ><

At the same time I was talking to Kaho-chan, my bean-chan randomly met a less-active member from Kasugai ward (Ishihara shimai)  on the street, who is completely fluent in English!  She actually has a really strong testimony, but can't come to church because of some family issues.  We gave her a reading assignment from the Book of Mormon and she seemed so excited about it!  I think it was an especially cool experience for my companion, to be able to speak in English with someone on the street.

Last OYM experience!  And it's not mine but my bean-chan's!  On Wednesday we got a new Eikaiwa student, who Sister Romney OYMed to with a different missionary while I was a mission leadership council!  This lady (I don't know her name) lives in Canada and is married to a Canadian? but is in Japan for an indefinite amount of time right now (aka she doesn't know when she's going back).  She told us that her son's high school principal was Mormon, and she knows a little bit about the church.  She really wanted to help the two bean-chans (my companion and another Elder) with their Japanese, so hopefully we will meet her again! (:  It was really cool to see someone show up to Eikaiwa from OYM (:

The rest of the week was pretty frustrating and uneventful, because no one we visited was home and half of our appointments cancelled.

Any ideas of how to work effectively when no one is home? (:  Because I'm about out of ideas!

Sunday was a great day, though!  I finally decided that our investigator Cecille needs to be taught during the gospel principles class, because our gospel principles class isn't very good, and she is too busy to meet any other day of the week (she works night shifts).  So, I got Elder and Sister Pincock (one of the senior couples) to help me teach, while my companion attended the class because we had another investigator at church.  We taught Cecille about the priesthood, because I thought that it was a principle that she really needed to understand in order to decided whether or not to be baptized.

We used Bible examples and read from the gospel principles book, and Elder and Sister Pincock shared some really cool experiences and thoughts, and Cecille felt the Spirit so strongly!  It was amazing!  Cecille is so sensitive to the Spirit, it's so amazing!  I really hope we will be able to continue lessons like this so she can understand the true meaning of the gospel (:

Sunday evening, we visited Ruby shimai and Risa-chan (member mom and former investigator daughter) and Risa-chan was actually home for once!  We didn't get to talk to her like I had wanted, but we met one of Risa-chan's friends who was really excited to meet us!  She really likes Americans and wants to study English, but she believes in God as well and it seemed like she would be open to talking about "churchy" things as well (:  We invited her to mutual next week, so I really hope she will come!!

Ok, that's about all I have time for this week!

For those of you who read Japanese, here is my email to Yamashita kaicho this week! (:

先週は訪問したお休み会員が以前の求道者が家にいなかったり、無視されたり、また約束があってもキャンセルになったりして、とてももどかしい一週間でした。ですが、昨日は他の日とは打って変わってとても良い日を過ごせました！まず一つ目の理由は、ピンコック長老姉妹の力を借りて、教会の二時間目に求道者のセシルさんと良いレッスンができたことです！セシルさんは本当に忙しく、日曜日以外はなかなか会えないので、この時間を使ってレッスンをすることにしました。彼女は別の教会でもうバプテスマを受けているのでバプテスマの必要性が分からないと言っていたので、昨日は神権についてレッスンをすることにしました。言葉の壁もあるので彼女がどれだけ理解できるか心配でしたが、少なくともレッスンの中で彼女が聖霊をとても強く感じたことは明らかでした。これからも彼女がレッスンの中で聖霊を感じてくれれば、きっとこの福音の大切さを理解できるようになるのではないかと思います。
昨日起こったもう一つの特別なことは、以前の求道者のりさちゃんと会えただけではなく、彼女の友達とも会えたことです。りさちゃんの友達のクリスタルちゃんはフィリピン人のハーフで、英語を学びたいと思っていて、私達と会えてとても喜んでいました。でも彼女は神様も信じていて、たまに教会にも行くそうです。モルモン書から聖句を分かち合った時も好奇心からか、興味を持ってくれました。名東の若い女性のミューチャルに誘ったので、彼女がまた来て話を聞いてくれることを願ってます！

Life it great!  I love being a missionary! (:

Sister Michelle Papenfuss

this picture doesn't do justice to the insanity of this hill.  It was so steep.  And the less active that lived at the top was not home.....

We had a ping-pong activity on Saturday (:

Urling Shimai and Michelle

Japanese Sisters and Michelle

クリスタルちゃんと

Good bye to the ancient brick phone!