We were called on by the President to prepare some 'inspired questions' for a Taikai (big meeting... we'd probably say 'conference' in English).
We combine our Aomori (blue forest) Zone with Morioka (a helping of hill?) Zone, and headed to Morioka.
We took the train down (I love the train) and it took two hours. I love the train.
Every missionary's dream is just to sit down and have floods of people come to them.
A train is a dream come true. Just sit down, people will sit by you- strike up a conversation, figure out when they're getting off, and plan the conversation accordingly.
(The time that you should bring up the gospel is like the way a story plot goes in a movie. You've got a snappy intro, got a slow build up by talking normally to get them to see that you're human (and working in little bits to get them curious about the gospel), then at the climax you invite them to do something to bring them closer to Christ.... then based on how they take that determines the resolution. For a bad example, I talked with a very nice 60 year old mother and grandmother going to visit her grandchildren, she was willing to talk, but once I testified to her about the gospel and families, she wouldn't even take a pass-along card.
The Taikai (big meeting) in Morioka was pretty great. Elder Whiting of the area presidency came, and just stood in front of all of the missionaries with his well worn scriptures and said in effect: "Let the questions begin."
He only officially answered two questions, but in the process he answered I'm sure many more.
Dear every teacher of doctrine in the world- It is impossible for you to teach directly to all of the needs of every student in your class (even if you've only got one). So long as you prayerfully prepare a lesson that invites the Spirit into the room, then the student's needs will be met. The beauty of the Spirit (as well as the gospel as a whole) is how individual it is.
Dear every student of the gospel- You've got to do you part to listen to the Spirit. I've heard time and time again by different general authorities (at once again at the taikai) that we should take two different types of notes- first is the normal, just write down in effect what they say, and the second and far more important is the personal impressions from the Spirit, usually coming in the form of - you should do--- this.- . And mark the difference of the notes. Some said they write the Spirit on one half and the other on the other, and other people have said they write slanted with one and not with the other. I put a little star by the things the Spirit says.
Then, we need to actually review the notes when we get home. I do it in the next day's personal study. (all of us as members of the church should be doing personal study every day) Then make goals and plans on how to apply the things the Spirit has told us.
I don't think very many of the righteous members of the church intentionally ignore the promptings of the Spirit. The word remember is mentioned in the Book of Mormon more than 240 times. The Lord knows as well as we do, that we as human beings living with such a short sided perspective have the tendency to forget. Spencer W. Kimall Daikancho said:
"When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is?... Remember’ is the word.”
. We cannot forget and unintentionally ignore the voice of the Lord. It telling the Lord that you don't think His advice is worth while.
And where do we get His advice?
1. Daily Scripture Study
2. Daily Prayer (sincere)
3. Weekly Church Attendance
The Big Three as they're called by many missionaries- are made for us to receive God's guidance and direction in what He want's us to do personally in our life. The constant revelation becomes the landmark that keeps us from our natural human tendency to wander in circles- https://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/06/walking-in-circles?lang=eng
It was a good time.
In Japan there are a lot of types of trains, but I'm going to run the risk of over symplfying and say there is only two. There are normal trains, and then there is the Shinkansen. The train that flys. Like literally floats off the ground. The lev. train.
I've never ridden on it despite it's speed and usefulness.- It's too expensive so if we want to ride it, we've got to pay our personal money....
Before we were going to ride home, I was comparing the price of the Shinkansen with the price of the normal train back to Hachinohe... The Shinkansen only costed two dollars more....... I'll pay two dollars out of my pocket to fly across Japan.
So we did it.
We made the normal two hour trip in thirty minutes.
The train was glorious. it was a beast that pulled up silently, like it was creeping up on the eki (train station).
It was insane. It was like an airplane on the ground. There would be forests one second and tunnels the other. It was sweet.
We got an extra hour and a half to dendo (do missionary work) for only two bucks.
mand the computer is breaking down. stpupid vista
love ya
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