Atsui meaning hot and Atsugi the place I live. It's so hot and humid here lately. I have to carry around a little towel to wipe my sweat and shirts are yellow the next day after you wear them. Japan summers are miserable.
Feel free to skip this paragraph, some updates on some things a lot of you may not care about:
Kobayashi- can't seem to get himself to church and he prays but won't sincerely pray. We are sharing with him the scriptures I will talk about later. Since he won't do those two extremely important things we are having trouble helping him progress. He is having trouble with drinking too. It's kind of funny how ridiculous it is but after we compared eternal life and happiness to beer he kind of picked beer... He just kept saying, "but beer is so good!" I think he knows what's more important though. So Shimizu is ok after his wreck and it was actually kind of a wake up call for him because he "felt God's hand protecting him." His testimony is solid and he is ready to be baptized! Though.. This last week he told us he has work off Sunday. Next Sunday he has off was supposed to be his baptism. Kinda frustrating that he didn't tell us earlier.. We told him we could do it even though it was short notice... He told us he is waiting for a girlfriend and new job before he gets baptized... We were shocked, we thought he was over waiting on ridiculous blessings. We decided to have one more lesson and potentially stop meeting with him for a while so that he can take some time to decide if he wants to do this with or without receiving worldly blessings. After that lesson the decision was made to not do either because he is soo close and it sounds like his real concern is falling away from church after baptism and a few other things. I'll keep ya updated.
We sat down this last Saturday to call some of our contacts we made earlier in the week. Usually this is a disappointing thing for missionaries because people give wrong numbers, block you, ignore you, boot you, etc. In a short amount of time we scheduled lessons with three of them! Craziness. Then yesterday we found a guy outside of the church who is totally down to take lessons. Really good stuff. Hopefully we start seeing some solid new investigators from these contacts.
I'm in kind of a hard/awkward time in the mission where I have been out long enough to realize what I have gotten myself into but not long enough to feel close to halfway...haha Two experiences this week really motivated and helped me.
The first, testimony meeting of all the missionaries going home. One Elder shared his feelings as he read "Japan Tokyo South Mission" in his call letter. He never would have guessed Japan but he knew it's where he needed to be right when he read it. It reminded me so much of my experience. As I felt the Spirit, it testified to me again of the truthfulness that I am supposed to be here at this time for these people. A basic teaching of the gospel is that when we feel the spirit we can know that whatever we are thinking about, reading or hearing is true. Though sometimes I tend to forget that for myself. Concentrate on the Spirit guys!
One of my best friends in the mission, Elder Stevens, went last. He said serving a mission is the hardest thing he has ever done. I right away thought how it hasn't been that way for me. Waiting around to be able to serve, sticking it through my senior year basketball season and selling alarms door to door were probably all harder so far. This was a big wake up call that I can be going a lot harder out here. If it doesn't end up being the hardest thing I have ever done I probably am not doing it right. It doesn't have to be discouraging or upsetting but it should push me. Elder Stevens also shared something he heard in the mtc that really helped him, "Christ loves us so much that he would perform His atonement and die for any single one of us. Even if it was just me, or just you he would still do it." I believe that's true, that statement helps us understand His love for us.
Next experience, interviews with President Wada. Though this is really long and some of you already know these scriptures, all of you have something to learn from this. My question was a little misunderstood by President but he still answered it perfectly with these scriptures. My question was, "as missionaries we pray so much that it has become a chore for me, I hate that, how can I keep my prayers meaningful?" He started by sharing Moroni 10:3-5.
For any of you that don't know, this is the promise written in the last chapter of the Book of Mormon. I challenge all of you who haven't already done so to read the introductions to the Book of Mormon, maybe a few chapters, this promise, then follow the council from the promise that I have bolded down below. I know this promise is true because it's worked for me and I have seen it work for others. If you have any questions about this don't hesitate to ask me!
If you feel like you already have a testimony of the Book of Mormon this promise still applies in helping us know how we go about praying for anything not just an answer about the Book of Mormon.
3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
So this scripture asks you to think about how much He loves you and wants you to be happy, the plan and atonement He has provided for us to live with Him again because of the fall of Adam. As we think about that it says to pray and ask God if The Book of Mormon and its teachings are true. Having a sincere heart and real intent (really wanting to know) and having faith (believing you will receive an answer). If you feel a special feeling as you pray or later think about it, that's the Holy Ghost this scripture speaks of and the Holy Ghost is telling you it's true. I share these things because I love all of you and want you to feel the joy I have through the Book of Mormon and its teachings. You have nothing to loose and everything to gain. All it takes in an experiment. When you receive an answer it's important to act on it and take the next step in following its teachings, whether it's being baptized, serving a mission, etc.
Another great scripture that helps us understand how we should pray and what we should pray about is Alma 34: 17-28
Hope all is well much love fam <3
Spackman 長老
Pics
1-2. Japan takes photo booths to the next level with something called Purikura. It's for girls but we do it sometimes haha. It edits photos to make you look like a model (not me tho cause I make it as ugly as possible). This is the homie Elder Stevens and our friend Issei.
3. Awesome sunset off Atsugi bridge
4. Elder Quilter came over (Mom he is the grandson of sister gleed!) and joined us in Atsugi for a few days, this was at Eikaiwa.
5. Elder Browns butt sweat after a bike ride
6. So I flicked this glue cap first try off the wall, bounced on my desk, then in the cup. I knew I had to get it again after that and I didn't bounce it off the desk but still cool.
No comments:
Post a Comment