Dear wonderful family,
It was a great week!
Tuesday
we went to the Honbu [mission home] (in Nagamachi) for Mission Leadership
Council (MLC). So at 8am we caught our five hour bus to Sendai. Miracle--there were so
many people on there for us to dendo [do missionary work] to! The woman I sat
next to was actually drinking sake [rice wine] so I was a little concerned
about bringing up the gospel but she was very kind. We didn't talk a whole lot
about the gospel, but I gave her my meishi [business card] and some chirashi [flyers]
and she said she would read it and seemed very pleased. Then we got to Sendai
and did a little dendo there (saw Elder Reynolds and Elder Berkley from the
MTC!) and then took a train to Nagamachi and went to drop off a letter in that
apartment but the Sisters were home so I got to see Carr shimai [Sister Carr]!
Then we stopped by an old PI [potential investigator] and she gave us rum
chocolate, haha. Then we took a bus up to the honbu and ate okonomiyaki [pancakes]
next door. Then went to the honbu for MLC.
·
President
Smith: Get all information from MLC to your missionaries and come here with
questions.
·
Assistants: Purpose of
MLC is to relay information, council together, and stay on the same page so all
zones are the same. 2014 results. Baton pass when you transfer.
·
Then we all shared our
experiences of people we talked to on the way to MLC.
·
President
Smith: Stand as witnesses wherever you go and be happy because of it.
·
Assistants: Everyone
has felt the Holy Ghost before we just need to teach in terms they
understand--use experiences they can relate to. (The feelings people have for
the important things in their lives, family history.)
Then got ready for bed and slept at the honbu. I got to see
Sister Stice, Sister Smith, and Sister Nishikawa!!!
Wednesday we had breakfast at the honbu and then more MLC. This MLC was a
review of the past 2 MLCs so all of the STLs [sister training leaders]/ZLs [zone
leaders] did a 14 minute training on a topic that was discussed at one of the
previous MLCs. (7 minutes Japanese, 7 minutes English, 6 minutes for questions/commentary by
President Smith)
1.
Why
are we obedient? We are given rules
because Heavenly Father and our leaders love us and want to protect us. Look
through their viewpoint and say "I love you, I'll obey you." John 14:15. Obedience is a principle of power. When we choose to obey
Heavenly Father blesses us with power. But to get this power our obedience has
to be from our heart. Use every act as a way to show God your love for Him.
2.
Mission
Dress Code. We express
who/what we represent through our clothes. So express Jesus Christ. Express
yourself the way He would. It is not about us. It is a way of showing respect.
(Sister Smith: And please smell good.) We cannot write enough rules to cover every situation--that's
why we need a personal filter. And the rules might change. But the question of
obedience will always be there. So LEARN IT NOW. Learn it here. Learn here how
to control yourself. Self-discipline. If now [not] now, when? Now is better.
3.
Conversion
Triangle. We are also
investigators. And so are our children. Revelation = success.
4.
Setting
Goals for things we can't control. Doctrine: God knows
everything. Principle: We need to seek revelation from God in order to see
success. Application: Pray, follow the Spirit, focus on people and key
indicators. A perhaps/maybe goal
is a good goal! Set this goal but then realize you can only control how hard
you work. Our goal is for ALL to receive the gospel. But even if only
SOME come our joy will be full. Just do your best and so long as your heart and
actions are right, don't be discouraged. Don't feel guilty about not meeting
goals. If you wanted the goal and worked hard, smile.
5.
Successful
Missionary. Ammon and
Abinidah [Abinadi] were successful because they yielded their hearts unto God
and gave their lives over to Him. Because of this their authority became power,
they were able to receive revelation for the people in their stewardship, and
their Gift of the Holy Ghost became the companionship of the Holy Ghost. We can
know through these indicators know if we've become God's instrument.
INDICATORS: The Spirit, can pray to the Lord and say you've done your best. Not
obedient = not successful. Obedient with heart = success.
6.
Gathering
of Israel. This was our
topic. I've attached my notes on what we said and the handout we gave out.
7.
Daily
Planning. Pray for people
by name, pray for specific blessings. Set goals FIRST. Focus of goals: People
and their faith. First priority is Recent converts, then normal order. We can
help them progress even if we don't have an appointment. What are we going to
do? What specific time? RC board in genkan
[entryway]. Ammon: What can I do to help the king so I can earn his trust? Go
from people to activities, not the other way around. The PERSON is the focus.
8.
Fasting. Little brother didn't know to pray--our
investigators are the same; don't know why or how so we need to explain. Don't write down names. It's okay to have a
group fast but don't write down names. Fasting not on Fast Sunday should be a rare occasion. Sacrament is for
members to renew their covenants. If you want to partake, let's set a baptismal
date so you can partake after you're baptized.
9.
Lehi
and Nephi. Power and
Authority. Knew perfectly God's will. Exactly obedient with unwearingness. Did not fear man. Gave up things of
lesser importance. Prayed for the people. Followed the prophet. Application:
Personal conversion to the Lord, obedience, become unified with God.
·
Assistants: Interview
information, okay to talk about the church at Eikaiwa [English class].
·
President
Smith: To have power in teaching the gospel we must live it. I have been richly
fed and learned so much today. Good job. Thank you.
Then we ate lunch and planned a little for Zone Training Meeting
and then took a 15 minute bus to Sendai and a 5 hour bus to Hachinohe in time
for Eikaiwa.
We spent all day Thursday preparing our 40 minute training for Zone Training
Meeting.
Friday we got up at 5am and
left and caught our first train to go to Aomori for Zone Training Meeting. But
the train to Aomori was stuck in Aomori because of snow. So after waiting for
an hour Zone Training Meeting was post-poned to next week. We came back to
Hachinohe and got our ticket refunded and came back and did our study time at
the church. Then had a lesson with a recent convert on keeping the Sabbath Day
Holy. She forgot we're not supposed to shop on Sundays so it was a good lesson
to remind her. Then we did weekly planning and then we had Fun Friday and gave the spiritual message. We were able
to talk to an Eikaiwa student (Sae-chan) after about the church but because
she's not legally an adult yet she can't become an investigator until we get
parental permission to teach her.
Saturday we did chirashi kubari [flyer distribution] (SO COLD) and then
had a FFEP [Free Family English Program] (30 min. English, 30 minute gospel)
lesson with the Ishita family. Then Eikaiwa.
Sunday we had church and Sae-chan came and stayed for all 3 hours! All
the lessons were perfect level for her (God, Joseph Smith). Then we taught her
a little more about God after church and went to the Japanese sign language
class together and it was all Book of Mormon words so we gave her a Book of
Mormon and she was way excited and said she'll read it! After that we had study
and then went to visit an LA [less-active member] but she wasn't home (or maybe
asleep?) and didn't answer.
So that was our week! Busy as always. So happy we got to teach
more lessons and hear so much wisdom from President Smith! Today I am giving a
training in District Meeting about working with Less Actives and Recent
Converts. o_O Thursday we will train at ZTM [zone training meeting] and
have splits. I will be staying in Aomori and Iwahashi shimai [Sister Iwahashi] will
work in Hachinohe. Pray for that and for us to be able to receive parental
permission to teach Sae-chan!!
I love the goals and the happy list you sent me! The kids in
kids Eikaiwa are having fun but Ishita-san wants me to teach harder things (she
says right now it's too easy) so I'm going to try to come up with some phonics
and more difficult vocabulary for them. We'll see how it goes! Hopefully they
will still enjoy it even if it's rough at first! I got to go to my first
Japanese sign language class this week--so fun! Brings back memories of
BYU. :)
The branch here has about 5 active youth. Our Branch President
is very young and friendly. He is happy to help with whatever the missionaries
need, he just needs us to tell him what it is that we need.
The weather has been the same snow, ice, melt, kind of a deal.
I'm thinking maybe that's how it will stay. On warm days it's probably in the
30s. Cold days are obviously colder than that. Today was good weather. It
snowed a little in the morning but then it all melted. They say our funny
weather is from the strong winds from the ocean. It's supposedly so windy that
it blows almost all the snow to Aomori so we get only a little and then
everything melts really fast. So I'm sure once we head up there the amount of
snow will be very surprising. :) Iwahashi
shimai caught a cold which she passed to me and we thought might be strep so we
went to the doctor and they took a blood test and a strep test (don't know why
they need blood for that, but I guess it's a Japanese thing. You know how they
love their blood types. :) )
but it wasn't step so they gave us normal cold medicine. My symptoms are all
gone away except for a cough. Hopefully that will go away soon as well.
Glad everyone is having fun with the sports! Maybe I can
convince Iwahashi shimai to go running with me in the morning. :)
I'm excited to hear all about how Lamb of God goes. I hope
you're able to video-record some of it!
Well, my dear family, I'm happy with all the wonderful things
you are doing! I'm so glad to be a missionary and I'm so grateful for all your
support! I know this gospel is true and I want to share it the best I can and
follow the Savior with all of my heart.
Hope you have a great week!
I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Your missionary,
Bellows shimai :)
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