Konichiwa! This week was cray. My companion Fujita Shimai got her transfer call back to my last area in Chikushino!!! I was so excited for her! She's going to see miracles! Saying goodbye was so sad though. I love that girl! She's really become such a good friend. I've learned so much about love and service and just being selfless from her. She's the kind of missionary that would be calling members and less actives even during down time. Or the kind that would go out and work even though she's sick. Goodness, goodbye's are one of the hardest things about a mission. But! It's okay, whenever you say goodbye to one person, you say hello to another :D For our last P-day as the Miyazaki missionaries, we all went to a place called The Peace Tower! To be honest... I have no clue what the history is behind it. But! It was way cool! It kind of had a Lord of the Rings vibe to it. We felt cool B) My new companion is Babcock Shimai. She is a BOSS missionary. She is such a tough missionary. She was an STL before this and is just chalk full of good advice and experiences. We are going to work so hard this transfer. This is her last transfer so she's heading home. But she's so determined not to slow down. "Find, teach, baptize. That is what we're doing this transfer." That's what she keeps telling me. I don't go home for a while, but when I do go home, I want to be like her. She loves her mission. She doesn't want to go home. She's not thinking about home, or making plans of when she gets home. I'm going to be that kind of missionary. :D |
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This week was so great! This week we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Kai-san. We did an activity where he was blind folded and he had to try and follow the voice of God through a maze that we made in the church. It was hard for him at first because the person playing Heavenly Father could only whisper, and me and Fujita(Satan/opposition) would bang on the walls and chairs making it hard for him to hear. He couldn't do it by himself. But then we had another person play the prophet, where they could hear God's whipser and relayed the message to kai-san. In the end, through the prophets voice he made it to the end! It was a great activity and we think he learned a lot. We invited him to be baptized in that lesson. He asked how his life would change if he did get baptized and we said we would explain in our next lesson. This weekend we went up to Kagoshima for Stake Conference! It was so good to see all the missionaries from our zone and all the members. Gosh I love the Saints in this country. The Japanese Saints are the most Christ-like people I've met. I love them so much!!! We just got our transfer calls today. I'm staying in Miyazaki(WAHOOO!) and Fujita shimai is transfering to my last area in Chikushino!!! I'm so excited for her! My new companion is Sister Babcock. I haven't heard anything about her, but we're gonna have an awesome transfer. :D If it's one thing I feel like I learned thoroughly last transfer it's one quality all the best missionaries have. Before the mission, I thought, "Oh, obedience. That's what makes a great missionary." Which is true. Or someone who loves the scriptures. That makes a great missionary. But I've learned through my experience and from the experiences of others, the best and most important quality a missionary can have, it's love. Love. Love for everyone! Love for everyone you talk to. To your companion. To the members. To the investigators and less actives and strangers on the street. Love is how we convert people. Love is how we get our friends and family to see the light of the gospel. If you don't love them, like it says in Moroni, if you don't have charity(the pure love of Christ) you really don't have anything.
There are an infinite amount of reasons why Christ was the best missionary to ever live, but the biggest reason is because he loved and still loves everyone. I love this gospel with all my heart! I love my mission! I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. For money, for career, for BYU, nothing. I love my Savior and know he lives! Till next week! Haha if you're wondering again, I'm totally okay. Typhoon Vonghong?Vongwong?wongshingbong? (I forgot, gomen) didn't hit my area as bad as it did others, so it's all good! :D
We watched General Conference this week and it was SO amazing! I have so much love for those men we call prophets. They are called of God and I'm so blessed to be an extension of their ministry! We had such a miracle! We have one investigator named Sato-san. She's kind of been investigating the church for a while, but hasn't been able to come to church for one reason or another. Last week, we dropped of a note and just invited her to watch General Conference and to come to conference with questions that she would like God to answer. She said in a text that she had work but would try and make it. Saturday, she came to one of the sessions! For some reason, her job schedule changed and she could come watch one session. She watched the whole thing and after she said it was so good! She said that every talk really spoke to her personally. She said that recently, she's just been having all these bad, and confusing thoughts, but while she was watching conference she felt like all those bad thoughts just dropped to the floor and went away. She had a clean feeling. She said that she almost cried. We testified to her that, that clean, liberating feeling is from a loving Heavenly Father. We spoke more and the spirit and planned to meet up again later next week! Wahoo!!! Leave it to the spiritual power houses like the General Authorities to teach to the heart of an investigator! It was such a great miracle! I love feeling that joy of seeing someone coming to the knowledge of the truth and feeling the spirit come into their lives. This feeling never gets old. It gives you power! It makes you want to shout from the rooftops that this church is true! If God feels this joy all the time when we're obedient and are happy because we follow him, then eternity really is going to be never-ending happiness. I love this! This week was great!
We had a lesson with Kai-san. We talked about the spirit and what it feels like. We explained how we can feel the spirit through reading the word of god and praying. It was way good! He asked us questions about the Book of Mormon and says that he wants to learn how to feel the spirit! We also visited our other investigator Nango-san, we usually only just talk outside her doorway, but she actually let us in to watch a mormon message. We're really trying to get our investigators to watch General Conference this weekend. The Prophet and General Authorities are a lot better teachers then us missionaries, so we're hoping! This last week, our Zone Leader shared a really awesome poem that has pretty much become my favorite. Holes I had been in that whole for a very long time In the dark and the damp, in the cold and the slime The shaft was above me; I could see it quite clear But there's no way I could ever reach it from here. Nor could I remember the wold way up there So I lost all my hope and gave into despair I knew nothing but darkness, the floor and the walls Then off in the distance, I heard someone call; "Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the matter. Take rocks and old sticks and build up a fine ladder." This had never occurred to me-had not crossed my mind But I started to stack all the stones I could find. When I ran out of stones, then old sticks were my goal For one way or another I'd get out of this hole. So I soon had a ladder that was sturdy and tall And I thought,"I'll soon leave this place once and for all!" I climbed up my ladder; it was no easy chore, For from lifting those boulders, my shoulders were sore. I climbed up my ladder, but soon had to stop for my ladder stopped short-some 10 feet from the top. I climbed back down my ladder and started to cry I'd done all I could do. I gave my best try And in spite of my work, in this hole I must die And all I could do was sit and think,"why?" Was my ladder too short? Or my hole much to deep? Then from way upon high came a voice, "Do not weep." And the faith, hope and love entered my chest As the voice said to me that I'd done my best He said, "You've worked hard, you're labors' been rough, but the ladder you've built is at last tall enough. Do not despair. You have reason to hope. Just climb up your ladder; I'll throw down my rope." I climbed up the ladder, the climbed up the cord. When I got to the top, there stood the Lord. I couldn't be happier; my struggle was done I blinked in the brightness that came from the Son. I fell to the ground, His feet did I kiss. I cried, "What can I do to repay thee for this?" Then He looked all around Him. There were holes in the ground. They had people inside, and were seen all around. There were thousands of holes that were damp, dark and deep. Then the Lord turned to me and He said, "Feed my sheep." Then he went on his way to help other lost souls, and I got right down to work, calling down to the holes; "Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the matter! Take rocks and olds sticks and build up a fine ladder." It was now my turn to spread the good word, the most glorious message that man ever heard. That there is one who is willing to save one and all And we've got to be ready when He gives the call He'll pull us out of the hole that we're in And save all our souls from death and from sin So do not loose faith; there is reason to hope Just build up your ladder; He'll throw down His rope. This church is true. Let's help our brothers and sisters out of their holes. -Sister Stevenson |