Okay!!! I have reached my year mark but that doesn't matter really. I have one more year to serve with my might and man did this week hit me hard. Both for the good and the bad.
SO on Monday night we went to talk to T. She thought stake taikai was awesome. She thought Joseph was someone sent from God but still felt some things about him were shaky. So we watched the restoration film with her and finished up the plan of salvation. We told her that if she kept praying and reading, she would get an answer. At this point in time she has read one third of the Book of Mormon. We didn't even know that. The member brought it up to us after the lesson.
On Tuesday we went to visit a PI who a few weeks ago said she thought about the 3 big life questions. When we went and met with her, she denied that she had said that. It was super surprising but we talked to her anyways. It started off first as a thing where she didn't want to listen and actually giggled at the doctrine we taught. By the end she wanted to read the plan of salvation pamphlet.
We visited U. We gave her a prayer rock and told her special experiences with prayer. She seemed to have her mind blown from hearing those things and it appeared she wanted to continue to try to pray. We had her pray at the end of the lesson. I love it when you hear people pray for the first time. it is really humble and simple. I love it because you can feel the Spirit so strong with those cases.
Wednesday we had a meal appointment with 2 ward members and T. It was super delicious! All you can eat meat! Anyways after that we taught her the gospel of Christ. We told her that if she showed God she was willing to be baptized, that she would receive an answer. She agreed to baptism but without a date.
We ran into an old man who said he went to church when he was young. He liked the hymns. Recently I memorized Tis' even tide in Japanese. So I sang that for him and he said he might go to church!
We ran over to E san right after that. She is doing great. She thinks if any religion is pretty correct (pretty because she doesn't like to commit to one religion) I feel like she would say it is our religion. She understands really well from an intellectual standpoint but that isn't the case for a spiritual standpoint. We are going to try to help her understand the feelings of the Spirit.
On Thursday we went and taught T again. We get there and the first thing she said is "thanks for yesterday." The second thing was "I got an answer." The member, Knighton and I were dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say. Yay? It was super fast and we didn't expect it to be that fast. Apparently she found Moroni 7:45 (And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.) which is close to her favorite scripture in the bible. That's all she needed. She has a baptismal date for the 26th of July.
Friday was filled with finding and B. K. Old people here in Iizuka are sooooo mean. They just walk away from the door in the middle of the contact. I fully understand how mom feels now when I would walk away from her when I was younger. (Insert mom signing the Hallelujah chorus here.....)
We accidentally met a less active on the street. She told us to come over next week. The people in the area we were finding all rejected us. (Actually up until this point, almost everyone has rejected us this week.) They have been living in such a state where they have their own will power to do things. In other words they don't need something to rely on. Because of that they don't see a need for God. But when that will power dies, they give up on life. They have strong wills that I admire, it's just they are too strong to take a moment and listen.
B. K. has a lot of trust issues with the church. In our conversation he tries to pit the scriptures against us to tear down the church. I have actually read the 4 gospels twice in the past 6 months so lucky for me I can actually explain and understand what he is talking about. He takes the scripture and changes it to a way that will only benefit himself. We may have to stop teaching him because it is going nowhere.
After him we met a guy housing who said that he has seen our church website. He isn't Christian but he says we aren't Christian since we started in America. It was a weird standpoint but we talked for a while and gave him a restoration pamphlet.
Saturday we had an appointment to cut a less active member's dog's hair. The poor thing. We went... he was "sick" from a non-existent rain the day before. So we had a huge gap in our time. We went finding a bit and we ran into a 19 year old girl living by herself. She is working here in Iizuka. We talked about building family and God relationships. We can come back soon!
Saturday was spent finding again. We ran into an eternal investigator. We can come back to her but other than that, people again were just rejecting us. Our investigator K called us and we sat down to talk to him. We went to the batting cages and talked. He is pretty good at baseball! It was a good time and we went home.
Sunday, T came! Great time. Not only that but an old friend F. came. I thought he seriously died. He is an old man wanting to get baptized but he came yesterday. He talked to us and said he wants to be baptized. We set him up to be baptized with T on July 26th.
After that, the church members told us about how a less active's daughter and son returned from America. The H's. The daughter wants to come to church. They were super excited because they thought we could get 3 baptisms on one day. The ward is starting to get pretty excited.
The rest of the day was spent trying to find and visit people. But all the day long we were rejected within 15 seconds. It was really rough. I want to help everyone I can. They just turn us away. But at the end of the day, we still have 2 people wanting to come closer to the Lord. That is all I can ask for.
This morning we received a call from Brother Nakamura. He is back from America. I'm really excited about this because we can get some more work done with him.
Elder Jameson
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
We don't know why we were led there
We are staying!
On Tuesday after we got our transfer calls, we went to visit U. I honestly thought I was going to be gone so we set up an appointment to say goodbye. Well... since I didn't transfer it was really funny. Recently she has been feeling really tired and beat up. I thought for a second and said, "have you been praying recently?" She said no. I asked, "when was the last time you prayed?" She said that it was right before she started feeling tired. I think she connected that the reason she was tired was because of not praying. But Just to make sure, we told her that was the reason. She said that it's so hard to pray right before bed. After a couple of stories we told her we would make a prayer rock for her like the ones in primary. She loved the idea.
We did some housing afterwards and met some really cool college students. We were super happy on Tuesday. Everyone saw it and it made them happy.
Wednesday, we tried to visit a couple of people that were not home so we went around housing in areas we think were not housed for a little while. but we had a feeling they have been housed quite a bit in the past. The first house was a Jehovah Witness. The funny thing is they always start off saying "I'm studying the bible." Haha. Okay. That's cool, we are too. Can we talk about the bible? NO! They are funny people. We always see them dendoing around. They always run away when they see us. One time we ran into them and they ran to the other side of the street. Well the street wasn't that big anyways so I rode over to them and said "good luck today!" and kept riding. I know I would want someone to say that to me.
We met this mom whose house was a wreck. She opened the door and I looked in the genkan and saw that there were only one big pair of shoes and 3 small ones. She looked to be a single mother. We talked about how Christ knows all of our situations and he wants to help us. She is really busy with work but we will stop by again. We visited another lady who was straight crazy. she is from Osaka so it was nearly impossible to understand her Japanese. But she said we could come back. She was really funny!
We later visited our investigator E. She is great but this lesson seemed bad. We didn't teach her what we should have but from that, she told us some concerns she has about religion and faith. It's such a big step for her and she thinks she will fail. We told her that we aren't pushing her but rather leading her by the hand so if she were to fall, we would help her back up. She really loves coffee so she thinks the church teaching of the word of wisdom is strict. She thinks religion is binding.
Thursday we went to catch up on some pis but they were busy. On the way back both Elder Knighton and I had a feeling to stop at a convenience store. So we did and walked around for 5 minutes thinking "why are we here?" But we then went to visit N to say we were missing her after she said she would go to church but hasn't showed up. She wasn't there but her 11 year old daughter was. It was really awkward and we quickly left. As we were standing by our bikes, I said "we need to say something to her but I don't know what it is. I only can think of 'God loves you'." So we went back and told her that and left.
We were really struggling with all kinds of feelings from the Spirit. I was being pulled everywhere and I didn't know what to do. I actually just said in my head, "Heavenly Father, honestly this isn't cool. please, if I need to do something, please help me understand what it is." Over the next 15 minutes we were lead to one random room on a 3rd floor of an apartment randomly tucked away on a back street. As we were talking to the college student living there, I turned to Elder Knighton and asked him, "should we give him a copy of the Book of Mormon?" He said we should. After he accepted it and said he would read it, Knighton told me he had thought 3 seconds before I asked him, that we should give him a copy of the Book of Mormon. We don't know why we were led there. We don't know why he said yes. But he now has something that can bring him closer to God.
Friday was sooooo painfully hard. We worked a bit and everyone was just rejecting us. Not only that but with terrible excuses. That kills me when they don't have something worth while to explain why they aren't listening. One man said it didn't have relation to him. I asked him why he thinks that. His answer was "it's just because it doesn't." Over all these things we did meet some lady who was super interested in English. She actually was in Pisa 6 months ago where Codi was! Her son lives in Milan. Crazy huh?
We had another lesson with E. We explained how God is our Heavenly Father. We asked her from reading the bible so much, does she know why God gives us things? She said, "I have no idea." We explained he wants to help us. That's why he gives us things. As children we may think it is restrictive but if we see it from the eyes of a parent, it's protective. This hit home because her daughter is gone off the deep end a little. She smokes, drinks, and dresses weird. E doesn't do that. Her husband actually gets hives when he smells those things. It connected with her and she seems to connect things really well. She actually brought up how she thinks God and Jesus are different people. She said "in the bible there are no verses that say they are the same person. Only that they are one. But there are many more verses that say that they are the son and the father. I think your church's teaching of them being different is correct" Man this woman is great!
Saturday we had little to no time because of a stake conference. But we did meet one lady who said her husband died. Her eyes welled up as she said it. She closed the door and I felt awful. So I knocked again and said you can live with him again. She started to cry and closed the door. We put a plan of salvation book in her post.
Sunday, T came to Stake taikai!!!! We met her a little on Thursday to say hello and prep her for Sunday. We told her we had been thinking of her and how she can receive answers through big taikais like this. So we told her to pray to know if Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon are true. During the meeting one of the people bore powerful testimony of both. It was amazing and we will meet her again tonight to follow up! When we went to her on Thursday on of her friends stopped by. She said that church sounded fun (she had heard from T) and she wanted to go only for that. She didn't listen to us at all she just wanted to go because it sounded fun.
Later we came home and the first person we met on the street was a Japanese person who was fluent in English. It was crazy. We talked for a bit and talked about Christ. He thinks Christ is great and that he is the best person ever but doesn't believe in him. It was weird but hey it was awesome. We had a hard time talking to people after that but we kept going. We went to an area that we haven't visited in over 6 weeks. We visited a pi who was stand offish at first but then warmed up. I know that it is a good contact when I share a lot of my life stories and for some reason stories came off my tongue really easy. All about the happiness I feel with my beliefs. I bore testimony of how we can live with families forever. Knighton told him the plan of salvation helps his fears for the future. I then had the chance to testify that I didn't know that my grandpa was going to die while I was on my mission. But I told him the last time I saw him in america, I thought to myself "this is the last time I will see him." Then 3-4 months later he died. We told him that families can be together past this life. The amazing thing is that you could see the Spirit working on him. He changed as the contact went on. He eventually said, "when and where do you meet?" We gave him a chirashi and he said "I'll come next week." It is amazing to see the Spirit of the Lord work on people and see it change not only their hearts, but their lives.
Elder Jameson
On Tuesday after we got our transfer calls, we went to visit U. I honestly thought I was going to be gone so we set up an appointment to say goodbye. Well... since I didn't transfer it was really funny. Recently she has been feeling really tired and beat up. I thought for a second and said, "have you been praying recently?" She said no. I asked, "when was the last time you prayed?" She said that it was right before she started feeling tired. I think she connected that the reason she was tired was because of not praying. But Just to make sure, we told her that was the reason. She said that it's so hard to pray right before bed. After a couple of stories we told her we would make a prayer rock for her like the ones in primary. She loved the idea.
We did some housing afterwards and met some really cool college students. We were super happy on Tuesday. Everyone saw it and it made them happy.
Wednesday, we tried to visit a couple of people that were not home so we went around housing in areas we think were not housed for a little while. but we had a feeling they have been housed quite a bit in the past. The first house was a Jehovah Witness. The funny thing is they always start off saying "I'm studying the bible." Haha. Okay. That's cool, we are too. Can we talk about the bible? NO! They are funny people. We always see them dendoing around. They always run away when they see us. One time we ran into them and they ran to the other side of the street. Well the street wasn't that big anyways so I rode over to them and said "good luck today!" and kept riding. I know I would want someone to say that to me.
We met this mom whose house was a wreck. She opened the door and I looked in the genkan and saw that there were only one big pair of shoes and 3 small ones. She looked to be a single mother. We talked about how Christ knows all of our situations and he wants to help us. She is really busy with work but we will stop by again. We visited another lady who was straight crazy. she is from Osaka so it was nearly impossible to understand her Japanese. But she said we could come back. She was really funny!
We later visited our investigator E. She is great but this lesson seemed bad. We didn't teach her what we should have but from that, she told us some concerns she has about religion and faith. It's such a big step for her and she thinks she will fail. We told her that we aren't pushing her but rather leading her by the hand so if she were to fall, we would help her back up. She really loves coffee so she thinks the church teaching of the word of wisdom is strict. She thinks religion is binding.
Thursday we went to catch up on some pis but they were busy. On the way back both Elder Knighton and I had a feeling to stop at a convenience store. So we did and walked around for 5 minutes thinking "why are we here?" But we then went to visit N to say we were missing her after she said she would go to church but hasn't showed up. She wasn't there but her 11 year old daughter was. It was really awkward and we quickly left. As we were standing by our bikes, I said "we need to say something to her but I don't know what it is. I only can think of 'God loves you'." So we went back and told her that and left.
We were really struggling with all kinds of feelings from the Spirit. I was being pulled everywhere and I didn't know what to do. I actually just said in my head, "Heavenly Father, honestly this isn't cool. please, if I need to do something, please help me understand what it is." Over the next 15 minutes we were lead to one random room on a 3rd floor of an apartment randomly tucked away on a back street. As we were talking to the college student living there, I turned to Elder Knighton and asked him, "should we give him a copy of the Book of Mormon?" He said we should. After he accepted it and said he would read it, Knighton told me he had thought 3 seconds before I asked him, that we should give him a copy of the Book of Mormon. We don't know why we were led there. We don't know why he said yes. But he now has something that can bring him closer to God.
Friday was sooooo painfully hard. We worked a bit and everyone was just rejecting us. Not only that but with terrible excuses. That kills me when they don't have something worth while to explain why they aren't listening. One man said it didn't have relation to him. I asked him why he thinks that. His answer was "it's just because it doesn't." Over all these things we did meet some lady who was super interested in English. She actually was in Pisa 6 months ago where Codi was! Her son lives in Milan. Crazy huh?
We had another lesson with E. We explained how God is our Heavenly Father. We asked her from reading the bible so much, does she know why God gives us things? She said, "I have no idea." We explained he wants to help us. That's why he gives us things. As children we may think it is restrictive but if we see it from the eyes of a parent, it's protective. This hit home because her daughter is gone off the deep end a little. She smokes, drinks, and dresses weird. E doesn't do that. Her husband actually gets hives when he smells those things. It connected with her and she seems to connect things really well. She actually brought up how she thinks God and Jesus are different people. She said "in the bible there are no verses that say they are the same person. Only that they are one. But there are many more verses that say that they are the son and the father. I think your church's teaching of them being different is correct" Man this woman is great!
Saturday we had little to no time because of a stake conference. But we did meet one lady who said her husband died. Her eyes welled up as she said it. She closed the door and I felt awful. So I knocked again and said you can live with him again. She started to cry and closed the door. We put a plan of salvation book in her post.
Sunday, T came to Stake taikai!!!! We met her a little on Thursday to say hello and prep her for Sunday. We told her we had been thinking of her and how she can receive answers through big taikais like this. So we told her to pray to know if Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon are true. During the meeting one of the people bore powerful testimony of both. It was amazing and we will meet her again tonight to follow up! When we went to her on Thursday on of her friends stopped by. She said that church sounded fun (she had heard from T) and she wanted to go only for that. She didn't listen to us at all she just wanted to go because it sounded fun.
Later we came home and the first person we met on the street was a Japanese person who was fluent in English. It was crazy. We talked for a bit and talked about Christ. He thinks Christ is great and that he is the best person ever but doesn't believe in him. It was weird but hey it was awesome. We had a hard time talking to people after that but we kept going. We went to an area that we haven't visited in over 6 weeks. We visited a pi who was stand offish at first but then warmed up. I know that it is a good contact when I share a lot of my life stories and for some reason stories came off my tongue really easy. All about the happiness I feel with my beliefs. I bore testimony of how we can live with families forever. Knighton told him the plan of salvation helps his fears for the future. I then had the chance to testify that I didn't know that my grandpa was going to die while I was on my mission. But I told him the last time I saw him in america, I thought to myself "this is the last time I will see him." Then 3-4 months later he died. We told him that families can be together past this life. The amazing thing is that you could see the Spirit working on him. He changed as the contact went on. He eventually said, "when and where do you meet?" We gave him a chirashi and he said "I'll come next week." It is amazing to see the Spirit of the Lord work on people and see it change not only their hearts, but their lives.
Elder Jameson
Monday, June 16, 2014
Convenience stores, rich houses, bunpei, and member testimonies
We started off this week talking to T san. She is a wonderful person. We talked to her about how she felt during church and she said it was a warm happy feeling. We were able to testify to her that that was the spirit testifying to her. We started the plan of salvation and related it to a test with a teacher, and study material. It really hit home with her and she is starting to recognize the need for prayer and other basic church teachings. But she, like most Christians, believes that God is a spirit so we ended with that and said that we would explain more on a different day.
Tuesday passed by because we had a zone training meeting and didn't get home until 6. We talked to a man who said we could come back on Sunday and then we went to N san. Elder Knighton made some rolls and we brought that to her. She was super happy and gave us some Thailand candy.... which isn't the best but still it was very kind of her.
Wednesday we tried to have an appointment but the person wasn't home so we went to a less active bunpei. He told us on Monday (he took us shopping for some reason) that he didn't like the church for a bunch of reasons. First off he asked me if we could buy him food. I told him the money we have is for missionary purposes only so if he wanted the church to buy something, it would have to be through the Branch President. He said the Branch President is a liar and that the church isn't led by Christ because he always gave to the poor.
Ironically enough, he has a free car with unlimited gas and miles. He lives with his parents. In his room (which we helped clean up on Wednesday) he has a big tv, game-cube, and a play-station 3. He isn't poor. He doens't know how to control his money.
But he told us the story of how the Branch President lied to him saying that there was a rule. But according to bunpei, that rule doesn't exist, therefore making him a liar. We brought up forgiveness and asked him if he knew the story in the bible about forgiveness. (A little backup info, bunpei believes only the words of Jesus are correct so only the 4 gospels are correct.... a little weird. He also takes things literally so he twists the doctrine a lot.) Saying if you don't forgive, you wont' be forgiven. He said, lets meet on Monday to talk more about it.
Thursday we went to sign language class, I love the deaf members here. I can kind of communicate with them but mostly I have to write everything down. I know a little bit of sign language, enough to get by. We went and dendoed a bit and dropped by U but she was in the shower so we returned home.
Friday we had a day full of finding in different places planned. The first place we went, I saw this nice looking house and said to Knighton "the rich love the gospel!" I said it in a joking manner but it turned out to be a great contact. It was a lady by the name of N. She went to the English class held by the elders over 30 years ago. She still remembers a lot about the elders. We asked her if she learned anything about the gospel. She said no. We asked her if we could explain some things. She said yes. So we pulled some stools outside. Se talked for over an hour about the gospel. Most people say since there is suffering in the world there can't be a God. She had the same opinion but we explained how only in this life we have suffering, and if he have hope through Jesus Christ, we can experience joy for eternity. She seemed to accept that and we asked if we could meet at church on Sunday. She said "shall we meet there?" It was great!
We went from there and had a great lesson with E. She loves stories so we chose to tell her the story of Enos in the Book of Mormon and how he got an answer to prayer. She really recognized the principal behind it and we gave her homework of Alma 22:7-23 and asked her 4 questions to think about when she read it.
1. From the gospel what good things can we receive. Is this what the king wanted when he asked Arron his question?
2. What did Arron say back?
3. What did the king do.
4. How can we apply this?
She said she will do it and we will meet tomorrow.
Saturday is a long day of explanation. Long story short we had a lesson with K at the church after he came to eikaiwa. We wanted to talk to him after but one of the eikaiwa students recognized it and stayed after to prevent it. It turns out the student called us out on why we believe in God. It turned out really well actually and in the end it went from I can't believe you believe God, why do you believe in God, to us saying to the student, after all of things testifying of God, why do you not believe in Him? K sat through the whole thing and seemed to drink it in. At the end he said he believes our church was true.... but all peoples beliefs are true as well. We will get going on that. But afterwards we went with K and another college student to get ice cream. It was super fun!!!
Sunday! T came to church! N didn't but still T came to church. It's really important too because she has been receiving a lot of opposition from her sister who goes to a different Christian church. But T said "no, I'm going to continue listening to these people." Great faith she has!!! We went around to visit some people we haven't seen in a while and to house more. We gave a Book of Mormon to a college kid on the street telling him he could receive guidance from God. We went on our way but after 2 hours when we were housing... we found him again. It was super awkward but we just talked to him about his life and got to know him more.
We went to the bathroom at a 7-11 and Elder Knighton was standing on the other side of the store. I said "hey elder, its time to go." He didn't hear me but the cashier spoke to me in English saying "he probably didn't hear you" in perfect English. I turn to her and said "what did you say?" It turns out this lady was a second generation Japanese American who was bilingual who went to a Christian college in America. So she called us by the actual title of our church, not Mormons. The LDS title... in English. It blew my mind. What is even more awesome is that her minor in college was religious ethics. Come on. Seriously? Who knew going to a convenience store on the Sabbath would yield something great? We gave her a chirashi and hopefully she will come in contact again.
Monday. We met with bunpei again. He has a big problem with the law of tithing. Since he only believes in the 4 gospels, he says it is not needed. We showed him that through all the books (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants) we gain God's gospel. Not just Jesus' gospel. We showed him in the Old Testament the law of tithing. He then said that the president of the church and the apostles glut themselves on the labors of the church. We pulled Korihor's example from the Book of Mormon and he said the same thing. But Alma said, we don't receive anything from the church. Being able to work with Elder Cherrington was a great opportunity. He has met a lot of the First Presidency and has eaten at their house since his dad was a member 70. I told bunpei that I believed Elder Cherrington when he said they live normal lives and don't glut themselves on the people. He asked, "is it okay if I believe you?" I was confused but he asked again. I said, "yes I know this is true." He is looking good.
We met T san last night. It was a great lesson. We wanted to rest anything that was harming her relationship with her sister so we explained simply what the church was compared to other churches. We said that in a classroom setting you have a teacher and a textbook. How would she feel if the teacher randomly went away? How would she feel if other kids in the class drew in the book, crossed things out, and tore out pages? She said, "well I have had that in school so I would be confused. I wouldn't know how to study." We said that's what happened when Jesus died. People did that to the church and the bible. But how would you feel if a new teacher came in the room saying he has a new book that will help us understand the old one better, and it will help us pass the test?" She said "I would feel happy." We said, that is what the prophet Joseph Smith did when he translated the Book of Mormon. It really hit home with her. With that we told her that it also restored things like how God had a body. Se showed her the scripture in D&C 130. She freaked out and said "it's unbelievable!" Then turned to the member and asked, "Is this true?" and the member said, "yes it is." I know through the power of God that the testimony of that member entered into her heart. I believe she started to believe the doctrine of God having a body. She did ask a hard question of "where does God live?" The best I could do is say heaven and that we don't know exactly where that is. We also testified that we would be resurrected. using scriptures from the bible we taught her. Things are going well!
Jameson choro
Tuesday passed by because we had a zone training meeting and didn't get home until 6. We talked to a man who said we could come back on Sunday and then we went to N san. Elder Knighton made some rolls and we brought that to her. She was super happy and gave us some Thailand candy.... which isn't the best but still it was very kind of her.Wednesday we tried to have an appointment but the person wasn't home so we went to a less active bunpei. He told us on Monday (he took us shopping for some reason) that he didn't like the church for a bunch of reasons. First off he asked me if we could buy him food. I told him the money we have is for missionary purposes only so if he wanted the church to buy something, it would have to be through the Branch President. He said the Branch President is a liar and that the church isn't led by Christ because he always gave to the poor.
Ironically enough, he has a free car with unlimited gas and miles. He lives with his parents. In his room (which we helped clean up on Wednesday) he has a big tv, game-cube, and a play-station 3. He isn't poor. He doens't know how to control his money.
Thursday we went to sign language class, I love the deaf members here. I can kind of communicate with them but mostly I have to write everything down. I know a little bit of sign language, enough to get by. We went and dendoed a bit and dropped by U but she was in the shower so we returned home.
Friday we had a day full of finding in different places planned. The first place we went, I saw this nice looking house and said to Knighton "the rich love the gospel!" I said it in a joking manner but it turned out to be a great contact. It was a lady by the name of N. She went to the English class held by the elders over 30 years ago. She still remembers a lot about the elders. We asked her if she learned anything about the gospel. She said no. We asked her if we could explain some things. She said yes. So we pulled some stools outside. Se talked for over an hour about the gospel. Most people say since there is suffering in the world there can't be a God. She had the same opinion but we explained how only in this life we have suffering, and if he have hope through Jesus Christ, we can experience joy for eternity. She seemed to accept that and we asked if we could meet at church on Sunday. She said "shall we meet there?" It was great!
We went from there and had a great lesson with E. She loves stories so we chose to tell her the story of Enos in the Book of Mormon and how he got an answer to prayer. She really recognized the principal behind it and we gave her homework of Alma 22:7-23 and asked her 4 questions to think about when she read it.
1. From the gospel what good things can we receive. Is this what the king wanted when he asked Arron his question?
2. What did Arron say back?
3. What did the king do.
4. How can we apply this?
She said she will do it and we will meet tomorrow.
Saturday is a long day of explanation. Long story short we had a lesson with K at the church after he came to eikaiwa. We wanted to talk to him after but one of the eikaiwa students recognized it and stayed after to prevent it. It turns out the student called us out on why we believe in God. It turned out really well actually and in the end it went from I can't believe you believe God, why do you believe in God, to us saying to the student, after all of things testifying of God, why do you not believe in Him? K sat through the whole thing and seemed to drink it in. At the end he said he believes our church was true.... but all peoples beliefs are true as well. We will get going on that. But afterwards we went with K and another college student to get ice cream. It was super fun!!!Sunday! T came to church! N didn't but still T came to church. It's really important too because she has been receiving a lot of opposition from her sister who goes to a different Christian church. But T said "no, I'm going to continue listening to these people." Great faith she has!!! We went around to visit some people we haven't seen in a while and to house more. We gave a Book of Mormon to a college kid on the street telling him he could receive guidance from God. We went on our way but after 2 hours when we were housing... we found him again. It was super awkward but we just talked to him about his life and got to know him more.We went to the bathroom at a 7-11 and Elder Knighton was standing on the other side of the store. I said "hey elder, its time to go." He didn't hear me but the cashier spoke to me in English saying "he probably didn't hear you" in perfect English. I turn to her and said "what did you say?" It turns out this lady was a second generation Japanese American who was bilingual who went to a Christian college in America. So she called us by the actual title of our church, not Mormons. The LDS title... in English. It blew my mind. What is even more awesome is that her minor in college was religious ethics. Come on. Seriously? Who knew going to a convenience store on the Sabbath would yield something great? We gave her a chirashi and hopefully she will come in contact again.Monday. We met with bunpei again. He has a big problem with the law of tithing. Since he only believes in the 4 gospels, he says it is not needed. We showed him that through all the books (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants) we gain God's gospel. Not just Jesus' gospel. We showed him in the Old Testament the law of tithing. He then said that the president of the church and the apostles glut themselves on the labors of the church. We pulled Korihor's example from the Book of Mormon and he said the same thing. But Alma said, we don't receive anything from the church. Being able to work with Elder Cherrington was a great opportunity. He has met a lot of the First Presidency and has eaten at their house since his dad was a member 70. I told bunpei that I believed Elder Cherrington when he said they live normal lives and don't glut themselves on the people. He asked, "is it okay if I believe you?" I was confused but he asked again. I said, "yes I know this is true." He is looking good.
Jameson choro
Monday, June 9, 2014
The path is simple and the adventure is rewarding
We started off the week well! We went to T san with a member and talked about how to feel the spirit when we go to church. It was interesting to see how she has changed. When we first met she said she won't change churches but based off of one church visit she was different. Coming to church changes people. She likes how everything was modern. It wasn't people talking about how old men from 2000 years ago did things. It was about how we can do things. She really liked that, yet she didn't "feel" the spirit. But we want to explain that sometimes the spirit comes as good thoughts.
The funny thing about that lesson, is that a lady from down stairs heard our conversation at the door step. So she walked up stairs. All old people that want trouble have the same kind of walk. I have seen it many times. So when this old woman came upstairs, she started to walk, I thought, "oh things are about to get interesting" and they did. She came over trying to seem innocent but she said "oh, what are you guys talking about? Christ? Hmmm have you ever hear about soka gakkai?" Interestingly enough, both the member and T were former soka gakkai members so they did a little fu fu fu fu fu laugh and said that they didn't receive answers to their questions and they found those answers in Christianity. The funny thing about the whole situation is that a lot of it was lead by T san. She united with us as Christians and started to have the old lady be taken aback. I asked the old lady if she has every received an answer to prayer. She said no (because soka gakkai members pray, but they all have said they haven't felt anything from it) and I invited her to listen. The old woman went into Japanese mode and made an excuse of why she couldn't do it. Every other old person says they have a messed up head so they couldn't possibly do it. Yet they are full fledged in another religion. Honestly I have come across many cases this week that are slightly ironic. She walked away saying to spend time looking into her church. I said to her, "okay, will do, but also please spend some time listening to our message."
Tuesday and Wednesday I hit some kind of slump. We went to a different area which we think a lot of missionaries haven't hit up all that much. Man we walked into the rich families of Iizuka area. These houses were huge. What was interesting was that everyone was young too. We met a 20 year old man who was fishing. He contently sat there and listened to us. He kept asking awesome questions but it derailed the contact and became really mixed up. We gave him our number and he asked up if he could call us so hopefully he will call soon. But anyways, these rich people... I have no idea what to say to them. They had a completely different feel to them. They also haven't ever seen missionaries before. Lucky us, but they felt like different Iizuka people. A people I had no idea how to teach. It was really weird but hopefully the Lord will prepare the ones we did talk to.
Wednesday I was in the slump of the previous day so I was always double guessing everything. Which made Wednesday hard but we pushed through it.
On Wednesday night, we talked to a former investigator who is an English student. We asked her what she thought about the church. she felt from previous missionaries they were trying to force her into baptism and make her believe so she had a feeling or a wanting to stop. But she said we can talk about it. She's fine with that but she is not really interested in converting.
On Thursday we went finding the last part of the night. We found some really awesome people but they didn't become potential investigators or anything of that sort. One lady we started to talk about the 3 life questions: where did I come from, life purpose, and where will I go. We asked her has she thought of these before? She said yes! I about freaked out because most Japanese people live such a lifestyle that doesn't create a concern for their life. Like one college student said his life purpose was to laugh and die. Nothing else. iI was kinda funny but still not very directed. We met this 16 year old high school student (whose high school is within view of the church) and we asked her what she thought she was meant to do in life. She said to help people so she wants to become a nurse. (Usually we don't do much with the teens her age because they usually pass anything right over to their parents but in her case her mom passed the conversation to her. She was very outgoing.) We said we want to help her find that goal, a way to help people. We asked her to meet up before English class on Wednesday.
Friday. Very long day. We met with a less active who loves Jesus, loves the bible. loves everything about Christianity. He has like 893489572 scriptures memorized. But what is the thing missing? We are trying to find that out.
We met with W again. This was our fault the lesson went so long. It was 2 hours and 15 minutes. Most of our lessons are 30 minutes max. The man kept saying since there was so much suffering in the world there is no God. We explained how this world was a test for him, if he passed he can live in happiness forever. He kept making all kinds of examples of people suffering. That's why the lesson went long. I eventually told him, "look all these people suffer, it's really sad. We don't like it. But can you answer with your beliefs and you reasoning why this world has suffering?" He said no. Then I said "then why is it so hard not to think of this time as a test? If we pass it we can always be happy?" Again he just brought up because why would a God have so much suffering. Needless to say, we did explain it many times. We had a member there who explained it as well. At the end of it Elder Knighton gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read 2 Nephi 2. The man said yes and we went on our way.
Saturday. We had eikaiwa again. Some random girl came in this time. She said she received a chirashi about 3 years ago and wanted to come in. She was very interesting. I asked her age and if she was a high school student. She told me my questions had no relation to English. Since we only have 2 missionaries here, trying to prep for 3 classes is impossible. I prepped for intermediate. This girl had no idea what English was, didnt' know how to read it or write it. At the end of it she sat in the class room and I was cleaning up. She said when everyone left. "you are a terrible teacher. This wasn't fun at all. I didn't learn anything. Now. Teach me English" I was confused so I sat down with her and taught her good morning, afternoon, evening, hello, goodbye, thank you, and I'm sorry. By the end of the next hour she had a perfect accent in all of these words. It was amazing. Completely amazing.
Afterwards we went to a college student we met last week. He became an investigator with a Book of Mormon. He seems pretty cool with trying to know if God is alive. We got on pretty gopd terms with him too. We are going to hang out and play baseball sometime.
We went to another college student and we wanted to go eat ice cream with him. I received gift cards to Baskin n Robins. His dad was home and he said "yeah come next week. We will totally go."
Sunday. T came to church! She listens to the things so intently. She also has a pretty sweet alto voice. She can rock those low notes. We went housing after church. Apparently we went to an area that was really mean. One man came out of his house, trying his best to be polite but you could tell he was in a rage. He kept telling us we were loud when he was the one yelling at us. Another ironic thing, as we turned away to go to a different place, he came back outside called us back just to tell us to go away. I looked at him weird and said "I'm sorry, we were just leaving." There is a high chance he was drunk. Either on beer or on anger. But there were so many cases of people who after hearing our message, saying something along the lines of wanting part of it, said they were good. This one college student said his parents were Catholic but he doesn't know if any religion is true. He wants to receive forgiveness. He said "I want the weight off me." I explained he could have that, so we wanted to come back to explain that. He did the usual Asian head tilt to one side and inhaled making that shhhhhhhh sound. Then responded with, his time is strict. In other words, that is just another Asian way of saying no, politely.
I don't understand why so many people see the blessings of the gospel, want it, but aren't willing to take the step towards it. We are offering it at a free price. The path is simple and the adventure is rewarding. We present it to them and they said they would like something like that, but then say they can't do it because they are Japanese. I am frankly so tired of hearing that excuse. "Because I'm like this I can't do it." I wish there was some way to help them see that they aren't limited to what society forms them to be. It is hard to break the views of society. We are going to try our best to change that.
Elder Jameson
The funny thing about that lesson, is that a lady from down stairs heard our conversation at the door step. So she walked up stairs. All old people that want trouble have the same kind of walk. I have seen it many times. So when this old woman came upstairs, she started to walk, I thought, "oh things are about to get interesting" and they did. She came over trying to seem innocent but she said "oh, what are you guys talking about? Christ? Hmmm have you ever hear about soka gakkai?" Interestingly enough, both the member and T were former soka gakkai members so they did a little fu fu fu fu fu laugh and said that they didn't receive answers to their questions and they found those answers in Christianity. The funny thing about the whole situation is that a lot of it was lead by T san. She united with us as Christians and started to have the old lady be taken aback. I asked the old lady if she has every received an answer to prayer. She said no (because soka gakkai members pray, but they all have said they haven't felt anything from it) and I invited her to listen. The old woman went into Japanese mode and made an excuse of why she couldn't do it. Every other old person says they have a messed up head so they couldn't possibly do it. Yet they are full fledged in another religion. Honestly I have come across many cases this week that are slightly ironic. She walked away saying to spend time looking into her church. I said to her, "okay, will do, but also please spend some time listening to our message."
Tuesday and Wednesday I hit some kind of slump. We went to a different area which we think a lot of missionaries haven't hit up all that much. Man we walked into the rich families of Iizuka area. These houses were huge. What was interesting was that everyone was young too. We met a 20 year old man who was fishing. He contently sat there and listened to us. He kept asking awesome questions but it derailed the contact and became really mixed up. We gave him our number and he asked up if he could call us so hopefully he will call soon. But anyways, these rich people... I have no idea what to say to them. They had a completely different feel to them. They also haven't ever seen missionaries before. Lucky us, but they felt like different Iizuka people. A people I had no idea how to teach. It was really weird but hopefully the Lord will prepare the ones we did talk to.
Wednesday I was in the slump of the previous day so I was always double guessing everything. Which made Wednesday hard but we pushed through it.
On Wednesday night, we talked to a former investigator who is an English student. We asked her what she thought about the church. she felt from previous missionaries they were trying to force her into baptism and make her believe so she had a feeling or a wanting to stop. But she said we can talk about it. She's fine with that but she is not really interested in converting.
On Thursday we went finding the last part of the night. We found some really awesome people but they didn't become potential investigators or anything of that sort. One lady we started to talk about the 3 life questions: where did I come from, life purpose, and where will I go. We asked her has she thought of these before? She said yes! I about freaked out because most Japanese people live such a lifestyle that doesn't create a concern for their life. Like one college student said his life purpose was to laugh and die. Nothing else. iI was kinda funny but still not very directed. We met this 16 year old high school student (whose high school is within view of the church) and we asked her what she thought she was meant to do in life. She said to help people so she wants to become a nurse. (Usually we don't do much with the teens her age because they usually pass anything right over to their parents but in her case her mom passed the conversation to her. She was very outgoing.) We said we want to help her find that goal, a way to help people. We asked her to meet up before English class on Wednesday.
Friday. Very long day. We met with a less active who loves Jesus, loves the bible. loves everything about Christianity. He has like 893489572 scriptures memorized. But what is the thing missing? We are trying to find that out.
We met with W again. This was our fault the lesson went so long. It was 2 hours and 15 minutes. Most of our lessons are 30 minutes max. The man kept saying since there was so much suffering in the world there is no God. We explained how this world was a test for him, if he passed he can live in happiness forever. He kept making all kinds of examples of people suffering. That's why the lesson went long. I eventually told him, "look all these people suffer, it's really sad. We don't like it. But can you answer with your beliefs and you reasoning why this world has suffering?" He said no. Then I said "then why is it so hard not to think of this time as a test? If we pass it we can always be happy?" Again he just brought up because why would a God have so much suffering. Needless to say, we did explain it many times. We had a member there who explained it as well. At the end of it Elder Knighton gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read 2 Nephi 2. The man said yes and we went on our way.
Saturday. We had eikaiwa again. Some random girl came in this time. She said she received a chirashi about 3 years ago and wanted to come in. She was very interesting. I asked her age and if she was a high school student. She told me my questions had no relation to English. Since we only have 2 missionaries here, trying to prep for 3 classes is impossible. I prepped for intermediate. This girl had no idea what English was, didnt' know how to read it or write it. At the end of it she sat in the class room and I was cleaning up. She said when everyone left. "you are a terrible teacher. This wasn't fun at all. I didn't learn anything. Now. Teach me English" I was confused so I sat down with her and taught her good morning, afternoon, evening, hello, goodbye, thank you, and I'm sorry. By the end of the next hour she had a perfect accent in all of these words. It was amazing. Completely amazing.
Afterwards we went to a college student we met last week. He became an investigator with a Book of Mormon. He seems pretty cool with trying to know if God is alive. We got on pretty gopd terms with him too. We are going to hang out and play baseball sometime.
We went to another college student and we wanted to go eat ice cream with him. I received gift cards to Baskin n Robins. His dad was home and he said "yeah come next week. We will totally go."
Sunday. T came to church! She listens to the things so intently. She also has a pretty sweet alto voice. She can rock those low notes. We went housing after church. Apparently we went to an area that was really mean. One man came out of his house, trying his best to be polite but you could tell he was in a rage. He kept telling us we were loud when he was the one yelling at us. Another ironic thing, as we turned away to go to a different place, he came back outside called us back just to tell us to go away. I looked at him weird and said "I'm sorry, we were just leaving." There is a high chance he was drunk. Either on beer or on anger. But there were so many cases of people who after hearing our message, saying something along the lines of wanting part of it, said they were good. This one college student said his parents were Catholic but he doesn't know if any religion is true. He wants to receive forgiveness. He said "I want the weight off me." I explained he could have that, so we wanted to come back to explain that. He did the usual Asian head tilt to one side and inhaled making that shhhhhhhh sound. Then responded with, his time is strict. In other words, that is just another Asian way of saying no, politely.
I don't understand why so many people see the blessings of the gospel, want it, but aren't willing to take the step towards it. We are offering it at a free price. The path is simple and the adventure is rewarding. We present it to them and they said they would like something like that, but then say they can't do it because they are Japanese. I am frankly so tired of hearing that excuse. "Because I'm like this I can't do it." I wish there was some way to help them see that they aren't limited to what society forms them to be. It is hard to break the views of society. We are going to try our best to change that.Elder Jameson
Monday, June 2, 2014
They welcomed her in
SOOOOOO birthday week!!!!
Crazy awesome week.
Monday started off slow. There were lots of old people we contacted because we wanted to house... houses instead of apartments. It turns out old people live in houses. That or really rich young people. We did meet one lady whose dad died a few days earlier. She was freaking out at the door and told us to come at a different time, so we will.
Tuesday. We had 2 member present lessons planned out. Both fell through. I though, "stink, what are we going to do?" So I called around trying to make appointments. One of which was that less active we found by accident 2 transfers ago. She started to say,"Well I have something to say. Its about you guys, me, and my daughter." I immediately thought, "what did we do? I didn't do anything bad? Are we not going to be able to meet with her anymore?" But just the opposite happened. She said, "I want my daughter to take the lessons and maybe even get baptized. She is 11 now and she can make her own choices. Not only that, I may change my mind as well."
I sat there. I had to repeat what she said to me to make sure. It was true. She told me to talk to our Branch President so we can set something up. They will come to church next week.
Wednesday. We met A-san just for a bit. She meets with us but she doesn't have motive. I think it is the factor of two American boys coming and talking to her. We may have to drop her because she doesn't retain anything. I've explained everything as simply as I can. I've taught prayer 4 or 5 times and yet she doesn't know what it is. I love her but things are not progressing at all.
We met two people on Wednesday. H san and Y san. they both agreed to return appointments. H said that because she can't see God she doesn't believe. I stepped behind her door and asked her if I existed. she said "I can't see you." I asked," can you hear me?" and she said "oohhhh I see" so we explained prayer to her. Y, we explained Christ's role. She said that she might want to hear one more lesson.
Thursday was hard. We tried sooooooooo hard to plan for a member present lesson we had planned with T san. No matter how much we tried to think of what we should teach, we couldn't think of anything. We got to the lesson still not knowing what to share. We told the member that we will try our best but we are not sure. We first followed up on the reading she had (she is a Christian and she has the Book of Mormon.) It was over Moroni 10:3-5. She said she didn't understand the Holy Ghost and prayer. We asked her if she prayed before. She said yes but never has received an answer or has never felt the Holy Ghost. This was perfect because the member we had there has an amazing testimony of prayer and the Spirit and honestly the rest of the lesson was the member explaining her life and the power of prayer. It was exceptional and something we could not plan. We had a feeling to invite her to church. (She is the girl who won't split from her sister... who was there during the lesson so we taught both of them) So we invited her. She turned to her sister and said "lets go and see" the sister was busy on Sunday but T san committed to come to church.
Friday. We met H san and Y again. H knows how to pray now and we will go to visit her on Wednesday with a member. Y for some reason rejected us. She said its impossible to meet. I asked her why. She said she didn't know. Then I asked then what is stopping you from listening. She said she didn't know. I said, well then we will be around here sometime and we will try to say hello. But until then, please think about this again.
We met that less active with the weird alien religion. It has baptism and many other Christian beliefs but it can't be further from the truth. We want to investigate it more.
We met E san. She became an investigator. It was just a short meet but we can visit her Friday with a member.
Saturday started off really rough. On Wednesday when I had my birthday, I felt on cloud nine. For some reason I felt really good while dendo.Words were just coming out of my mouth. At eikaiwa, 2 college students came. They were super awesome but they rushed out of the building really quick so I felt they didn't like it. But on Saturday we were doing terrible. Everything felt wrong. I was really sad. Then eikaiwa came around. Not only did the 2 college students came, our group of long lost friends came (a mom and a daughter who wants to go to school in America.) They came to eikaiwa a while ago but then left for America. Well they came back and they found a school! They will be going to San Jose. how far is that from San Diego? Maybe Colby can help them? (Uncle Colby lives in Sand Diego, a short 460 miles from San Jose.) But yeah, it was a great time.
I felt super happy and ready to go. We went to some college houses and met some great people. We have appointments with them next week.
Sunday! Fast Sunday! T came to church. She loved it! She wants to come next week. At the end of church all the old woman swarmed her, but she loved it. They welcomed her in and she wants to come back. We met W. he was a referral from the church but he has a lot of thoughts and ideas that if he had a knowledge of the gospel he would find peace. I told him that we could find those answers through God. He said, "I don't want God's answers." (Up until this point I have been getting upset from everyone not wanting anything from us) So I asked him, "why don't you want those answers? Do you have those answers now?" He said no. I said, "then why do you not want them?" He couldn't answer the question. We made a return appointment and we will try to find a way to help him.
Last story. We were housing last night and we went into an apartment complex. I saw one name on a mail box and thought, "we need to visit this person" so we went and knocked. This lady was fluent in English. She believed in God. So I asked her, do you believe God gives you feelings to help others? She said yes! That's why she can't refuse to help others. She has been a volunteer for over 17 years. I told her how we had the feeling to visit her. Also that God wanted to help her. She said sorry I don't need that help. I about cried. It hurt so bad. I know that we were sent to her and she straight up rejected us. But please pray for N so that she can have that change of heart.
Love,
Elder jameson
Crazy awesome week.
Monday started off slow. There were lots of old people we contacted because we wanted to house... houses instead of apartments. It turns out old people live in houses. That or really rich young people. We did meet one lady whose dad died a few days earlier. She was freaking out at the door and told us to come at a different time, so we will.
Tuesday. We had 2 member present lessons planned out. Both fell through. I though, "stink, what are we going to do?" So I called around trying to make appointments. One of which was that less active we found by accident 2 transfers ago. She started to say,"Well I have something to say. Its about you guys, me, and my daughter." I immediately thought, "what did we do? I didn't do anything bad? Are we not going to be able to meet with her anymore?" But just the opposite happened. She said, "I want my daughter to take the lessons and maybe even get baptized. She is 11 now and she can make her own choices. Not only that, I may change my mind as well."
I sat there. I had to repeat what she said to me to make sure. It was true. She told me to talk to our Branch President so we can set something up. They will come to church next week.
Wednesday. We met A-san just for a bit. She meets with us but she doesn't have motive. I think it is the factor of two American boys coming and talking to her. We may have to drop her because she doesn't retain anything. I've explained everything as simply as I can. I've taught prayer 4 or 5 times and yet she doesn't know what it is. I love her but things are not progressing at all.
We met two people on Wednesday. H san and Y san. they both agreed to return appointments. H said that because she can't see God she doesn't believe. I stepped behind her door and asked her if I existed. she said "I can't see you." I asked," can you hear me?" and she said "oohhhh I see" so we explained prayer to her. Y, we explained Christ's role. She said that she might want to hear one more lesson.
Thursday was hard. We tried sooooooooo hard to plan for a member present lesson we had planned with T san. No matter how much we tried to think of what we should teach, we couldn't think of anything. We got to the lesson still not knowing what to share. We told the member that we will try our best but we are not sure. We first followed up on the reading she had (she is a Christian and she has the Book of Mormon.) It was over Moroni 10:3-5. She said she didn't understand the Holy Ghost and prayer. We asked her if she prayed before. She said yes but never has received an answer or has never felt the Holy Ghost. This was perfect because the member we had there has an amazing testimony of prayer and the Spirit and honestly the rest of the lesson was the member explaining her life and the power of prayer. It was exceptional and something we could not plan. We had a feeling to invite her to church. (She is the girl who won't split from her sister... who was there during the lesson so we taught both of them) So we invited her. She turned to her sister and said "lets go and see" the sister was busy on Sunday but T san committed to come to church.
Friday. We met H san and Y again. H knows how to pray now and we will go to visit her on Wednesday with a member. Y for some reason rejected us. She said its impossible to meet. I asked her why. She said she didn't know. Then I asked then what is stopping you from listening. She said she didn't know. I said, well then we will be around here sometime and we will try to say hello. But until then, please think about this again.
We met that less active with the weird alien religion. It has baptism and many other Christian beliefs but it can't be further from the truth. We want to investigate it more.
We met E san. She became an investigator. It was just a short meet but we can visit her Friday with a member.
Saturday started off really rough. On Wednesday when I had my birthday, I felt on cloud nine. For some reason I felt really good while dendo.Words were just coming out of my mouth. At eikaiwa, 2 college students came. They were super awesome but they rushed out of the building really quick so I felt they didn't like it. But on Saturday we were doing terrible. Everything felt wrong. I was really sad. Then eikaiwa came around. Not only did the 2 college students came, our group of long lost friends came (a mom and a daughter who wants to go to school in America.) They came to eikaiwa a while ago but then left for America. Well they came back and they found a school! They will be going to San Jose. how far is that from San Diego? Maybe Colby can help them? (Uncle Colby lives in Sand Diego, a short 460 miles from San Jose.) But yeah, it was a great time.
I felt super happy and ready to go. We went to some college houses and met some great people. We have appointments with them next week.
Sunday! Fast Sunday! T came to church. She loved it! She wants to come next week. At the end of church all the old woman swarmed her, but she loved it. They welcomed her in and she wants to come back. We met W. he was a referral from the church but he has a lot of thoughts and ideas that if he had a knowledge of the gospel he would find peace. I told him that we could find those answers through God. He said, "I don't want God's answers." (Up until this point I have been getting upset from everyone not wanting anything from us) So I asked him, "why don't you want those answers? Do you have those answers now?" He said no. I said, "then why do you not want them?" He couldn't answer the question. We made a return appointment and we will try to find a way to help him.
Last story. We were housing last night and we went into an apartment complex. I saw one name on a mail box and thought, "we need to visit this person" so we went and knocked. This lady was fluent in English. She believed in God. So I asked her, do you believe God gives you feelings to help others? She said yes! That's why she can't refuse to help others. She has been a volunteer for over 17 years. I told her how we had the feeling to visit her. Also that God wanted to help her. She said sorry I don't need that help. I about cried. It hurt so bad. I know that we were sent to her and she straight up rejected us. But please pray for N so that she can have that change of heart.
Love,
Elder jameson
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