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| Sister Homsead with Umehara and Elder Wheelwright |
Like I probably mentioned I got a new companion. But now I know probably just a bit more about him. His name is Elder Olsen and he's from Canada! So I make Canadian jokes all the time, but I realized that I don't have too much to go off of besides Canadian Bacon and Hockey. He's a way nice guy that's about 3 months older than me exactly. He was transferred from Misawa, which has an American military base on it, so he brought us the priceless gift of real peanut butter. Oh man... I love it. Japan only has this gross peanut cream that has a jello consistency. I mean, Japanese food is amazing for the most part, except for their peanut cream. We're both hard working, but there are some expected challenges, such as neither of us have been missionaries very long. We're working hard and trying to find some more people to teach now, and I was reading in Alma about the son's of Mosiah that weren't Ammon, and how they had it pretty rough at first too. 'Pretty rough' is defined as being spit upon, beaten, thrown into prison and being starved . So I suppose it's really not that bad. But after they get released and heal for just a minute, they get back on their feet and go out there to preach again. There are many lessons to be learned from this story, but the one I want to focus on is the part where Mormon says (and I may misquote) "the Lord began to give them success"
The Lord is the giver of all, and I suppose He's the giver of success as well. All I can do is work my hardest, invite people to come unto Christ and then allow them to chose. That doesn't mean that I can't constantly improve my methods every day, of course not. That falls under the 'doing my best'category.
So I'm doing my best. And things are looking up. A lot of missionary use the excuse that we're in Japan as a reason not to do their very best. People are Children of God no matter where you are, and they have a natural desire to be close to Him. We as missionaries just have to help these people recognize that the thing that they are missing in life, the empty hole in their heart that no amount of TV, Video Games, Work, Alcohol, and all other addictions, can fill.
They've just got to see that the Atoning Sacrifice of a person that they've only heard about in a paragraph of a high school history textbook, is going to make every sorrow, every pain, every ounce of guilt and imperfection that prevails in this world, better. It's going to make it better. You've just got to lean yourself off the cliff of life, trusting that the rope you have will hold. Because it will. It always will.
Alright, before I start writing sonnets I guess I'll tell you about my week.
We had big enough to be noticed, earthquakes the first three days Olsen Choro has been here.
Hanzawasan (even though he's not my investigator anymore) has accepted to be baptized. YES!!
We met Onaderasan at ping-pong (and even though he's no longer my investigator) I got to talk to him about how he's doing. he told us about how he'd read 3rd Nephi 1-11 and then just shut the book, and rubbed his eyes "zenzen wakaranakatta" (I didn't understand any of it) He said he closed his eyes and prayed "tenno-on chichi, please help me understand." Then he said that every single chapter one by one flashed through his mind, and every one made sense. He said he's scared now because he doesn't want to give up coffee or osake, but I know he knows it's true.
Man. I love them so much.
Elder Wheelwright
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| Here's one of the many rivers in Ishinomaki |
The Lord is the giver of all, and I suppose He's the giver of success as well. All I can do is work my hardest, invite people to come unto Christ and then allow them to chose. That doesn't mean that I can't constantly improve my methods every day, of course not. That falls under the 'doing my best'category.
So I'm doing my best. And things are looking up. A lot of missionary use the excuse that we're in Japan as a reason not to do their very best. People are Children of God no matter where you are, and they have a natural desire to be close to Him. We as missionaries just have to help these people recognize that the thing that they are missing in life, the empty hole in their heart that no amount of TV, Video Games, Work, Alcohol, and all other addictions, can fill.
They've just got to see that the Atoning Sacrifice of a person that they've only heard about in a paragraph of a high school history textbook, is going to make every sorrow, every pain, every ounce of guilt and imperfection that prevails in this world, better. It's going to make it better. You've just got to lean yourself off the cliff of life, trusting that the rope you have will hold. Because it will. It always will.
Alright, before I start writing sonnets I guess I'll tell you about my week.
We had big enough to be noticed, earthquakes the first three days Olsen Choro has been here.
Hanzawasan (even though he's not my investigator anymore) has accepted to be baptized. YES!!
We met Onaderasan at ping-pong (and even though he's no longer my investigator) I got to talk to him about how he's doing. he told us about how he'd read 3rd Nephi 1-11 and then just shut the book, and rubbed his eyes "zenzen wakaranakatta" (I didn't understand any of it) He said he closed his eyes and prayed "tenno-on chichi, please help me understand." Then he said that every single chapter one by one flashed through his mind, and every one made sense. He said he's scared now because he doesn't want to give up coffee or osake, but I know he knows it's true.
Man. I love them so much.
Elder Wheelwright
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