Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Nothing can replace the place he has in my heart

This week was pretty great! We had the zone leaders come down on Tuesday and we got some work done. In the past 2 transfers I have not given out a Book of Mormon. This past week we handed out 3. Its going good here. On Tuesday Elder Knighton went with Arai choro who taught O San and U San. I don't really know what happened with O but she is interested in health. U was awesome. She said since Sunday she prayed twice, both times she felt great afterwards, almost like a clean feeling. She said that if she continues to keep feeling this way, she might start to believe.

Elder Zushi and I went to E San. She was pretty awesome. Again she has a lot of interest in religion. Last week she said she read the story of Job and cried. So we talked about how we can overcome trials. We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to find ways to overcome trials.

We didn't get to meet Liu this week but he is doing good. We are sending him texts to build relationship and get to know him. On Wednesday we met this lady who opened the door and gasped. She said that we looked like angels from God. It was rally strange because she quickly asked for our number and closed the door. We don't know what happened but hopefully she will call.

Elder Zushi told me to start calling older contacts in our phones to see if they have interest. We set up an appointment with T. She is a Christian. We went and asked her how her meetings with missionaries went in the past. She said the Book of Mormon was too difficult. We asked her is she knew the purpose of the Book of Mormon. She said she didn't so it lead right into the first lesson. But she said she won't leave the side of her sister. Her and her sister go to a church that is over an our away. Where her sister goes, she follows. So its a hard situation.

We once again met with U San on Friday with a member. We taught about the 3 main ways of building a testimony: prayer, scripture study, and coming to church. It went a little long and we feel bad about that but she again expressed her liking of prayer. She prays for her children and family. When she prays before bed, she wakes up feeling better (she said its hard to wake up but when she prays, its easy.) We have another lesson with her on Tuesday.

Recently we have been trying to set up appointments so that we can bring members along. It is so amazing what happens when a member is involved. The investigator progresses so much.

This week we started to sit down with some members to help build personal mission plans. So we drew out sections out of preach my gospel to help them. One member said, "the level of this plan is too high for normal people. Maybe for missionaries, but its too hard for us." So I want to help them find their own ways to dendo. What are some ways that you can give service to people, or share your talents? That's what I want to help them do.

This past week I have been slightly been put off with some of the things people say to us at the doorstep. They say "it is no relation" I ask them why they think it has no relation. They say something along the lines of "I'm not part of your church or religion." "Go somewhere else" or "Why are you here? I'm not your religion." The other day a lady said "I'm not part of your religion sorry. I'm Buddhist"  It makes me so sad sometimes. I love these Japanese people but other than these excuses, they have some of the worst excuses I have ever heard in my life. They just reject what seems unnatural to them. One man last night was leaving his apartment and we caught him in time to give him an English flyer. Before I stopped my first sentence, he said "I'm rejecting you."  I thought in my head, "man you didn't even let me finish. You don't even know what I'm trying to offer you. Why are you rejecting something you didn't even take the time to listen about?" With that I said,"Why? It's just free English? We are trying to help people." He looks over to Knighton choro (who gave him 2 thumbs up which was really funny actually) then the guy started to say how he actually has interest in English and how he wants to work for an American company. Its ridiculous sometimes people just dont take the time.

With that, I want to tell you about how I took the time to read a less active (who got baptized and quickly reverted back to his weird alien religion) man's pamphlet about his church. Its called the raelian movement. Down to the basics of it, its pretty close to what a lot of main Christian churches believe.... except that instead of God and the priesthood, its aliens and technology. It takes bible words and tries to warp it to seem like it makes sense with the church. What was the thing that hurt me the most is when he handed me the flyer and said "This is the true messiah" in English. I went home and held my Book of Mormon and said in my head "What has this man done for me? Has he died and paid his blood for my sins and my soul? Does he know my every need and desire? Has he felt what I have felt?" It made me realize that no man can ever replace my savior. Nothing can replace the place he has in my heart.

Elder Jameson

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