Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Crazy Cool Blessings

I actually wrote all of my week basically on my notes on my iPad. (So translation may be a bit rough)

We met this this less active on Monday named I. She was awesome! Recently she hasn't met us but for some reason she said yes to meeting us and we had a great talk about how God helps us through different ways. She thinks God hasn't helped her throughout her depression. But in reality she realized that every time when she was at her lowest, the missionaries came around. She recognized that! She may start to progress!

The next few days we spent in Kagoshima for getting the iPads and other training. We learned so much!
Today we were in Kagoshima for a training called common sense dendo. Elder Mcclain, who is a transfer above me, and Elder Boyden, who is transfer 6. They nailed a lot of simple things that we tend to forget. It was really good to recap and I hope I can master these things before the end on my mission. Then I can tell other missionaries the same thing. Then we went and did some dendo with some other missionaries. I was paired up with Elder Bunker from Colorado. He is a transfer 1 missionary. We were by the church so we hit up a lot of people that have been taught before.  But we almost got the cops called on us.  It wasn't the best experience for the poor kid but it taught us to be more respectful to people who are angry. Then we came home and taught eikaiwa. The kids are wild and it is so hard to teach them. Especially when you are tired. I made a lot of new friendships in the mission. So many kind people here in Japan. One thing I learned today is patience when getting angry. It was hard towards the end of the day to be more kind. But I hope I can always do better. Through a heist and trying my best, I can overcome this!

A cool miracle was when this girl named S brought her friend to eikaiwa. Her name is Yu. Hopefully we can start talking to them about the gospel.

Thursday was a good day! We had weekly planning but before that we were at the church waiting for an investigator to come, but he didn't. But we did talk to the guy who lives right next to the church. He was super nice and we got to invite him to the bbq that is coming up soon. Then we had weekly planning. We headed out and started to dendo. We are trying really hard to focus on working 50-50. We did pretty well and met this family called the M family. They liked how we were there to strengthen families. We will meet them on Saturday.

Then we met Ya. We were able to have him say he was smoking but he says that he wants to try to quit for one day. What a blessing! We will meet him tomorrow.

We had a few lessons in the afternoon and dendoed at night. We first met with S San. It was ma ma lesson. (I have no idea what he meant by this.) Just because we didn't tell the members what we wanted to talk about. So it became really barabara.she was really cool about the whole thing. (Again, no idea what he meant. Lets blame it on auto correct on his iPad.)She still doesn't know what God to believe in. It's a little hard for her right now just because of her grandma was hard core Buddhist. But in the end we just look at the fruits of the gospel. Hopefully she can pray and really feel for herself what is true.

Then we headed to Ya. The lesson was really long because we were both really tired. But he said that he would live the law of tithing if he were to get baptized.

Then we talked to Y shims. We talked about tithing as well. She is so incredibly kind to us.

After dinner we headed to N, streeting  along the way. N wasn't there or rather his dad was busy with dinner. We started to house and we met this man that was going to a different church that he doesn't really know if it is true or not. He is only going because his wife is going. Hasn't gotten baptized yet but is still learning. Another guy was from Vietnam and he said he has learned about Christ. He said he wanted to meet so he will call us. Met two young people who said they would meet with us. I'm super excited!

Saturday we met a guy from Syria. He was soooo cool. We will met him soon. Also met an American who came here a month ago. It turns out that Maris kaicho knows her. So things look good for her.

Sunday was amazing! Sa is still uncertain about baptism because she doesn't want eternal life. She doesn't understand what it really is. She thinks it's just an extension of this life including pain and suffering. In reality it is a rest for eternity from those things.

K came out of no where and came to church. He changed back and wants to come!

Also this really old lady we housed into yesterday came to church as well. She came just to listen and she loved it. Crazy coooool blessings.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

I'm so happy to be in Miyazaki

Any-who this week!!!!

To be completely honest we worked super hard but there aren't a lot of things to report on. Kikuchi is a great missionary and helps so much. Tt seems when you get better at talking to people it gets harder for some reason. When you are a bean you see miracles like crazy. When I was with Davies it was easier to talk to people but now the Lord is stretching us to really reach for those people who really matter.

Tuesday we had some upsetting lessons with Y and K. Y is most likely lying about his smoking problem. On Thursday we talked more about it but he keeps asking why the word or wisdom is needed. We just told him to pray about it and see what he feels about it. He wants everything from the gospel but he hasn't made a huge commitment in his life so its hard for him.

K went to go quit his religion and the lady there totally convinced him not to quit and now he wants to wait things out. He wants to stop the lessons too so he can wait it out. Ugg! He was easily convinced. It was really hard for us to try to teach him.

Wednesday we dendoed quite a bit and met a less active. Its always awkward - to be completely honest is super awkward. But I love it! We figured out her work and her free time so we told that to the branch.

Thursday we taught Y again. Same as listed above. We came home from a training and found a really cool man. He liked how everything we were doing was free so he would like to learn more. The things that interests people are amazing.

Friday. We were finally able to meet the media referral. Well it turns out she didn't really have interest but that's okay. We were able to dendo around her and meet some great people.

Saturday was all dendo. We tried meeting people but things fell through. So we went around town to different spots and found some great areas, met a lot of college students. We are looking forward to this next week since we found good areas. We were able to meet the Ks and introduce Kikuchi. They are doing good. We invited them to an activity that will be coming up soon. They said they wanted to come. Honestly I think their interest will start will grow as they see other members and see how happy their families are.

Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!! People came to church. one came late so it didn't count for the numbers but Y and N were in time. S came later. It was great!!!!!!!!!! S said she would make time this week to meet. She is amazing. N is one of the most pure people I have ever met. We started to teach a lesson and talked about baptism. she said from hearing how it has blessed everyone so much, she wanted to receive it as well! We set a date for June 7th.

We went from church and ran into this guy from the Dominican Republic that was so incredibly drunk. I have never seen someone have such a hard time riding a bike. But he hasn't found a church yet here and wanted to go. Well... we would love for you to come.

We dendoed hard the rest of the day. Its been a long couple days but things are going great. We called a former investigator from China and he agreed to meet with us. We also called a less active that just completely opened up with us and we will meet with them both. The work is going well and I'm so happy to be here in Miyazaki with Kikuchi.

Monday, April 13, 2015

A message that has no end or sorrow

This week was really busy with a lot of things and we weren't able to get a lot done since we had transfers and general conference.

Tuesday night we ran to the K family to say goodbye since Davies was leaving. They were happy to see us but they are starting to not like talking about religion. I'm a little concerned.

Wednesday was spent trying to get last minute things done. We had luck with S - the girl from Nepal. She brought 3 friends again!

After a while we went to M, it was good to see her but she is not willing to budge on her opinion. Its really rough but now we can redirect our time on other people.

Davies actually got a call on Wednesday changing his transfer. It was weird but the Lord needed him somewhere else.

Thursday Kikuchi Choro came in. He wants to work super hard and make this last transfer his best. I hope this thought continues. We have planned to see 3 baptisms this transfer.

We went to teach Y. It is so weird being with someone who is fluent again. Its like being a bean but understanding everything. I don't know how to join in and help. Its a future problem we need to fix. He likes to teach and he is a great teacher. He taught Y really well and he committed him to com to general conference!

Friday,the bikes came so we were ready to go. We dendoed a bit and then had a lesson with Ki. He is doing great! Willing to meet and ready for his baptism on the 9th of May. He really wants an eternal family soooo bad! It makes me realize that we are sharing a message that everyone should be excited about! A message that has no end or sorrow! How incredible that is!

Saturday was spent for general conference. Speaking of which, it hammered hard on families. It wasn't leaving a good feeling as a missionary. I'm not supposed to be thinking of that. So I just made a mental note to read all the stuff later. Y came to the first session on Saturday and Sunday. He looked so good in a suit.

Later we headed to F. The poor guy. He just wants friends. We would love to be his friends but he doesn't want to learn. He is stuck on the fact of that since his is sick, everyone needs to care for him. He has no desire to do anything. We told him to call us if he wants to listen to the message. Since then he has called us around 5 times - each time saying that he doesn't believe in God. But each time, I feel like it gets closer to him wanting to learn. The last phone call he said "it would be good if God existed." We can only encourage him to continue to learn.

Sunday S and Y came to general conference. S had some confidence and doubts. but the conference speaker in the morning really hammered on its okay to have doubts. Just focus on the things you do know. She thought it was just for her and she looks forward to talking to us. Right now she doesn't have a job so we can meet her more during the week. I can't wait! I'm really excited to teach people, especially if gaining a testimony or finding salvation is important to them. I want to help everyone find salvation. I wish I could declare it better so that they can understand the feelings of my heart!

We were able to dendo a bit and we met N. He was super good! He doesn't seem like he has interest but he actually does in the end. Its weird. The kid has no emotion on his face at all times.

We were blessed by a family who gave us dinner last night. They were talking about how there used to be 200 people attending church years ago. It drove the Spirit inside of me and it really makes me want to help this branch to grow. We just need to get things together!!!!

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

The power of the member present lesson

SO this week was super amazing! We had 4 investigator came to church, the other Elders had 2, and a member's parents came.

On Tuesday we went to visit a recent convert and it is such a privilege to talk to these people.  She has grown so much and she has an amazing testimony. She actually jointed for a lesson yesterday which went really well!!! I'll tell you about it in a little bit.

Tuesday we found a new investigator named F. He yelled for us to come in. We walk in and his house is a hot box of tobacco smoke. It was pretty rough to stay in there. The poor guy has nothing, just sitting in a room smoking tobacco all day long. I'll tell you more about him.

Wednesday. Lots of things learned. When you call an investigator for a lesson, and she says she wants to bring friends, make sure she knows that it is a lesson we are teaching. We didn't do that with our friend S. She brought her friends and they were expecting to hang out. Nope. We had an awkward lesson. They were all Hindu. We explained the first vision and they kind of were surprised something like that would happen. S turned out to be really cool about it. She said "I've thought about why there are so many religions and which one is true." So in the end it was good. At the start.... not really.

Thursday was super good! We went to meet a young investigator named N. He wasn't really seeming like he had much interest. That is just his personality. But we went there and talked about the restoration again and how he can find an answer. It was so good! He said he wanted to know if Joseph Smith saw the Father and Christ. He also said he would be baptized if he came to know it was true. On the way home we found a new investigator on the street named H. He is 16 and thinks because our bodies are too complicated, there must be a God here.

Later we had lessons with Y and F. F is so hard because he has depression and doesn't do anything. He says he wants everything we have to offer but doesn't do anything about it. Y went well. Buuuuut still something was missing. We finally found it out yesterday, but all the previous lessons were missing something. We were focusing on baptism but not the right parts.

Cool miracle. During the lesson with Y, both Elder Davies and I felt that we needed to visit a past investigator that was apparently really amazing. We rush to her house with 5 minutes to spare in the night and she said "Wow! I was just on the phone with a member from your church. Right as I hung up you guys rang the door bell. I'm quitting my job and I'm coming to church on Sunday." WOW~~ That's missionary work!

We really dendoed hard on Friday. Honestly I don't really remember it. It was straight dendo.

Saturday we ended up with some extra time because an appointment fell through. We decided what to do through prayer. It was really cool. A single apartment came to mind and that we needed to do the bottom row. So we went there and found a contact was pretty normal. I was thinking "oh no, what we are we going to do with them. The son in the background was being goofy and the mom said sorry. I said no problem he just seems happy. She started to cry and started to tell us how he tried to commit suicide the day before. She really wants more peace in her life and to have a happy family. Well I'd like to testify that the Lord watches all of our families and wants that same thing for us.

Saturday night an old investigator named N (not our investigator, the shimai investigator from a while ago) called and wanted to meet. She gave us the time and said she was so excited to finally have time to talk.

Sunday was great! The K family came! S came! And Ki came. We set a new baptismal date with Ki. He really wants to find an eternal family. He is a members friend. He has a date for May 9th. We also met him yesterday. He really wants to get baptized.

S was amazing!!! She apparently quit her job because the wall of her work place was peeling off and she saw a cross in the wall. It reminded her of church and she said "I need to go to church to feel the happiness that I felt before" So she quit and came. We didn't have time to talk about baptism but next time for sure. She is an amazing person.

Later we taught N. She is so amazingly pure as well. She lives far but she wants to com to church and continue to change. Apparently the shimai who taught her never went over baptism so she doesn't really understand what our purpose is. We reviewed that a lot and will introduce baptism next time.

Monday!!!!!! Great 2 lessons with Y and K. We had a recent convert talk about her baptism. Through that we figured out what was wrong with why he didn't commit to things. He said a while back he thought the Book of Mormon to be true but he didn't actually know. We didn't dig enough and this time is just came up. He said he thought it was true because it was the word of God but he never really prayed for it. Now we are pretty excited to teach him. The past lessons felt like something wasn't there or we needed to think of something different. Thanks to the member, we now know! I love member present lessons.