Thursday, June 26, 2014

#40 "Following the Leader"

I HAVE A NEW COMPANION!
 
Her name is Abe Shimai. She is Japanese, 20 years old, and from Akita-Ken (way up north). She is probably the cutest and happiest person I have ever met, and I am just ever-so lucky to be her trainer. She makes missionary work 10x more fun! 

This week has been pretty much just getting her unpacked, settled in, and ready to go for the rest of our time together (we have a total
of 12 weeks together, granted we don't transfer, so now we are going on week 2). We've begun training, which is really good review for me. I've told her that I'm not perfect and I want to improve as a missionary, so she has my back on that. She's just so energetic and ready to go! Or at least she was at first. Yesterday after our nightly planning (9:30pm-ish) she completely passed out with her planner in her hand. It was the cutest thing. I just remember planning with her and she muttered something about being so tired, so we wrapped it up and said a prayer. I started to clean a couple of things off my desk and then turned around to go do a load of laundry and she was OUT. I called her name a couple times, turned on music, took some pictures, but she was just OUT. I ended up being able to wake her up enough for her to get ready for bed and crawl into her futon. She's so funny, I absolutely love her. 
 
 

She is Japanese, which means that we only speak Japanese. There is one hour a day that I get to speak English to her, and that's during language study, when I should be studying Japanese haha. I just figured that my whole day is language study, so I may as well get one hour study break. I like teaching her English, it's way fun. Yesterday I came up with some tongue twisters for her to work on pronunciation. We like to play around with them;

"How is your companionship relationship?"
"Did you sincerely seek some lovely revelation from the Lord?"
"I threw my liver in the river" - (this one is not original, but it's fun anyways)

These phrases are hard for the Japanese to pronounce, so we say them over and over again. They make her laugh. I make her laugh. She makes me laugh. We just laugh.

I cannot believe I am now a senior companion. I thought God knew I would never be ready. But maybe that's His logic - I'll never be ready, so I need experience to grow. Leave it to Him to have it all figured out. For now, "we're following the leader, the leader, the leader. We're following the leader wherever [she] may go... We're following the [young] leader, the [inexperienced] leader, the [doesn't-know-what-she's-doing] leader. We're following the leader because [He] told us so". 

I have no idea why, but He apparently told us so. 

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

#39 "No Matter What"

I'll start off this week with my Disney reference from Beauty and the Beast. In the musical (yeah, that's right, it is also a musical), Disney adds a song in which Belle asks her father if he thinks she is odd, and he tells her that from his point of view she is "creme de la creme". Belle replies that "no matter what they say [he] makes her proud" and that she loves "the funny way [he stands] out from the crowd". They realize that even though the townspeople think that they are strange, they are the only family they have, and they love each other no matter what others may say. 

I thought of this recently when we assigned Disney characters to all the missionaries in our district. I was voted Belle, because apparently, I'm odd. I love it - Belle loves to read, is very sassy, and loves adventure. Yesterday was Father's Day, so I just wanted to ask my dad, "do you think I'm...'odd'?" 

Haha, I love you Dad, and no matter what they say, you definitely make me proud. (although I haven't heard what they say yet... JK!)

Yesterday was also a beautiful sunny day for Tomoko and her son Kouki, as they came to church, ate their lunch and hopped into their white clothing....yes, that's right, their white clothing! 

TOMOKO AND KOUKI GOT BAPTIZED!

It was a beautiful service. I was given the task to introduce them to the ward, so I gave a brief introduction of who they are and how they met the missionaries. Aoki Shimai gave a talk about baptism, and then the Elders sang Come Thou Fount. We then proceeded to the baptismal font, and watched as Tomoko and Kouki began a fresh start and their life-long journey to follow Christ. After their baptism, Tomoko bore her testimony to the ward. She was just glowing. 

I was so privileged to teach Tomoko and Kouki. They are so wonderful. She has such strong faith, she told us that she did not know everything, but she knew that she was doing something good. As I watched her share her (short, but soon to be longer) testimony, I was overcome with this feeling of peace. We've spent the past couple of weeks frantically deciding what she needs to learn and how we can teach it in such a short time, and it was at this point when she stood up with so much confidence and thanked the ward for letting her be a part of them that I realized what baptism truly is. 

I used to think that when one has a testimony and a strong knowledge of the gospel, that's when one should get baptized, but I've since learned that when one receives baptism, it is an act of faith. I remember my own baptism, and how I was 8 years old. I did not know why one pays tithing. I did not know that God really did ask us to eat our vegetables (but I know my mom did). I did not know what Salvation was, or even that there was a Plan for it. There was so much that I did not know, but I did know the promise that baptism was, and that after my mom had shown me the promise in Mosiah 18, I wanted more than anything to be a part of it. I remember being filled from my head to my toes with warmth and love, knowing that I was a part of something so much greater than I could ever become on my own. I didn't know everything, but I had faith. That's what baptism is: an act of faith. 

Before I sign off, I thought I maybe should mention that we had transfer calls this Saturday (it was a busy weekend for us). But I have only been in Fukutoku and with Aoki Shimai for one transfer (she has only been here for two), so we both assumed that we would not be getting a phone call and that neither of us would transfer. We were half right. Neither of us are transferring BUT WE DID GET A PHONE CALL (it scared us to death). 

So maybe, I just might tell you that I kinda sorta might be TRAINING NEXT TRANSFER! (WOOHOO). Yep, that's right, I am becoming a trainer, and Aoki Shimai is as well. We each are getting a brand new missionary to train and teach the ways of the Japan Nagoya Mission. The Fukutoku sisters have just doubled in size (watch out, Nagoya city!). The "Bean"s will be arriving Tuesday night, and staying over in the Mission home. We will go on Wednesday morning to pick them up and welcome them to mission life.

Cleaning the Baptismal Font with Sister Aoki,  June 2014

Monday, June 9, 2014

#38 "What Does Your Heart Tell You?"

This week was...well...this week. Everything went by fast and crazy with hardly a moment to think. There were hours of stress, and seconds of rest. It's weeks like these that really test your faith in God. 

This week we felt it was time to ask one of our investigators to be baptized. Her name is Mika Nakane. She is a mother of three children, the eldest being mentally handicapped. Her husband left her when her children were young and ever since then she's been on her own to earn money, raise the children, take care of the household etc.. She's truly an inspirational person - she's so nice. She's been listening to our lessons, praying and she even came to church. She said she really loved church, and that it was a great place to learn. We talked about the Plan of Salvation, God's plan for us, and then we focused on our life on earth. We talked about how Jesus Christ is our example, and that if we follow him, he can show us the path to eternal happiness. She listened so intently and asked questions along the way. I was so nervous to ask her, but as we taught I felt like she was willing, that her heart was ready, and that she would answer yes. We asked her and she said.....no. She told us her reasons why, and the big underlining reason is that she believes no religion is wrong, and that they are all right, so if she were to join our church, she would be saying that the rest are wrong. 

I remember feeling so heartbroken, but a quiet voice whispered to me and told me it was okay, all I needed to do was listen to her and pray for her and ask her if she will keep listening to us. That's really all we can do as missionaries, we can only invite. Whether or not people come to a knowledge of truth or not is between them and God. This is not the first time I have invited and been told no, and it most certainly will not be the last. 

To be honest, I know where she is coming from. I remember plenty of hours I've spent on my knees asking God, how come this church is called the "one true church", and why must there be a "right" church and a "wrong" church. I believe it is a very sensitive and difficult subject to discuss, but I can only offer Mika the way I received an answer and the way she can receive an answer, should she ever want one: prayer.  

In the movie Pocahontas, the Native-American princess speaks to the Grandmother Willow and asks her what direction she should take. Like Pocahontas, I was wondering which direction I should take, I wondered which path was the right path for me. Grandmother Willow then answers Pocahontas to "let the holy spirits guide you" and to "listen to your heart, you will understand". 

I know that when we get on our knees and truly pray, God listens. He will guide us. If we listen to our heart, He will answer us there. Then we will understand.

Friday, June 6, 2014

Lunch with an investigator (far right) in her restaurant.  (Sister Johnson in the back.) June, 2014

#37 "You're Not A Lady"

I can't believe it is already June. It seems like just the other day I was heading into the MTC, completely dazed, drying my tears, and putting all my trust in the Lord. But here I am, reaching my half-way checkpoint this Saturday. I'm halfway done, can you believe it? I sure can't. There are moments where it feels like I've been a missionary for years, but there are moments when it feels like only a day. Eventually, you hit checkpoints, and you suddenly realize that time does move, not too fast but fast enough, that you just have to enjoy the time you're given. 

This week was a lot of housing (going door-to-door, asking if anyone is interested in hearing our message). It's a tiring task, and involves a lot of doors shut in our faces. It puts your resilience to the test, but I think it is so worth it. Just to know that they hear who we are, if not our entire message, is important to me. 

During this housing, however, we may have slightly noticed that the weather is becoming ever-so slightly warmer...it's hot. As one of our investigators said, "But it's only May!" It is, but it is already hot. According to the locals this is unusually fast, so I'm hoping that it will cool down faster as well, but something tells me it's going to be a loooooooong summer. Japan is almost famous for it's hot, humid summers and already we crank the AC the second we get to the apartment, eat plenty of ice cream, and do whatever we can to dry ourselves off from all the sweating that goes on. It's barely June...

But this reminded me of a funny joke I had with a sister back at the MTC. We were joking around one day, I think getting ready for gym, and we were quoting Disney movies. She pulled out "you're not a lady, you're my sister!" from Aristocats and it made us laugh so hard. We began using it all the time, whenever we felt that what we were doing made us lose whatever dignity we had held on to - "you're not a lady, you're a Sister!" 

In the state we do our missionary work, I wear the baggiest clothes I own, my hair is always up in the same bun or ponytail, and I am always sweating. I'm not a lady, I'm a Sister. And it's so worth it.