#48 "Stars, in your multitude. Scarce to be counted, filling the darkness with order and light."

Woah, I almost forgot to write a post for today. Can't stop now, can I?

This week wasn't a very exciting or eventfull one. Another week of much training and preparing Sister Abe for her week as 'sempai' (senior companion). I'm pretty excited for this week - I pretty much get to become a green bean again and let her take care of everything! Haha no worries, I will still help her when she really needs it, but for the most part, this is a test for her to take what I've said and now to have to use it. It's also a test for me, to see how much went in one of her ears and out the other, hahaha.

Training has been fun for me too, just to revisit things I was taught as a young missionary, but also to be able to learn more and to become a better missionary. This week we focused on the Book of Mormon and why it is the key stone of our religion, and why, if one would take the chance, through reading it one can gain a testimony of the book itself, the prophet who translated it, the church that was restored, and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I made an arch out of pieces of chocolate (you should have seen her face when I told her she could eat them afterwards - she's hilarious). I explained to her that by putting in the keystone of my arch, everything holds together, but when I take it out, the arch falls down. We talked about how the Book of Mormon plays a similar role to one desiring a testimony; when we read the Book of Mormon, sincerely pray to know if it is true, and recognize an answer, then Joseph Smith must have been a prophet, he must have restored this church, and Jesus, of whom the book testifies, must be the Christ. But like wise, if one does not read the book, sincerely pray, or strive to find that answer, building an arch that will stand tall and strong seems an impossible task. So if you're out there and you have not read the Book of Mormon, I have a challenge for you; pick up a copy and READ. If you are out there and you've already read the Book of Mormon, read it again. President Gordon B. Hinckley said that it does not matter who you are or how many times you've read the Book of Mormon, it will strengthen your faith. It's that good of a book. I highly recommend it.

This week we were able to do something fun with an investigator; we went to see the Science museum of Nagoya! IT WAS SO COOL. I rediscovered just how much I love science!! The museum was SO cool! It had so many interactive pieces, my face hurt afterwards from smiling so much - I had a lot of fun. (The lockers were the periodic table - does anyone else find that as entertaining and hilarious as I do? I hope so).

I remember going around looking at everything and a certain scripture came to my mind, Alma 30:44. It says, "The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."

How can they not? I looked around at all the patterns and designs around me - is it not fascinating? How everything is in this specific pattern and design? Doesn't this just lay out in front of us as evidence that there is a Supreme Creator?

There is. I know He is there, because He's told me so.

The stars aren't just "fireflies that got stuck up there", as Timon from the Lion King states, they are "balls of gas burning millions and millions of miles away" as Pumba guesses. And they were created, as was everything that surrounds us, by our loving Heavenly Father.

#47 "I Think You Got It Wrong, Poca"

Wow this week has been a slow one. I'd tell you what we did every day, but we didn't really do much. We've been so busy planning for a summer festival that was supposed to happen on Saturday that between those preparations, training, and visiting some people, we haven't done anything new. 

I say "supposed to happen" because by the time it was the night before, we got a text message from the ward telling us the the activity was canceled because of a typhoon (kind of like a hurricane?) was coming. The storm mainly hit on Sunday, so church was also canceled. But seeing as missionary work isn't exactly a cancel-able activity, we were still out and about in the storm doing what missionaries do best! All I have to say about that crazy adventure is that Pocahontas had it all wrong. The [humidity] and the rainstorm are [NOT] my brothers, and the [mosquitoes] and the [cicadas] are [NOT] my friends. But we seem to be connected to each other, in this circle, this hoop that never ends... until late October, when summer is rumored to finally give up its attack and allow Fall to make a quick appearance. Gotta love summer! 

Sister Abe is doing so well, though. I've noticed recently, as I watch her start to take the lead on things we do together, that she has grown so much from when I first picked her up in Meito. The other night, we had just come home from visiting a very interesting (in not a very positive sense of the word) woman who loves to talk, we were exhausted, and we had about 20 minutes before it was time to plan for tomorrow's activities. I was all ready to just plan right then and there and then see if we could go to bed early, but she said she wanted to do some practice teaching. So, just thinking off the top of my head, I asked her to teach me about faith. I was expecting this practice lesson to be much like the first ones we had together, we hadn't had much time recently to practice teaching, but she surprised me. She really followed the Spirit and taught a beautiful lesson about faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. She then tied baptism to Christ and almost invited me to be baptized. I would have said YES, had I not already been baptized and this was not a practice lesson, she did such a wonderful job teaching and I could feel God's presence in the room so strongly. Man, I was just so proud of her. She finished her lesson and I just could not express in Japanese how wonderful a lesson she taught, so I just went off in English telling her all the wonderful things she did within her lesson, and she nodded and nodded and laughed, and then at the end of my praising-rant, she asked me if I could repeat the last bit again. I asked her if she meant the last sentence or the whole last bit and she said all of it, actually. Haha I did my best to translate what I had said, but really all I could do was smile and tell her that she's an amazing missionary. 

...now we just have to find someone to teach.... wish us luck!

#46 "Well, that depends on where you want to go"

I think I'll start off by saying that I haven't had a week so stressful since the MTC (and that's a story I should share with you in person). 

On Monday, Aoki left early for transfers and stayed in another apartment closer to where the actual transfers would take place, so Sister Abe and I were left unexpectedly in a very quiet apartment....We have gotten to know each other a lot more this week, we both don't like quiet. 

On Tuesday, we went to see the transfers take place. I got to see Sister Grant! But I don't think she was happy to see me haha. After that we went to a Trainer's Training, where Sister Abe and I shared our insights on the training program with other missionaries who would be receiving trainees this transfer. It wasn't until after this meeting when I received about 4 phone calls that I realized just how hectic this ward can be. (That's not necessarily a bad thing - they just happen to be on-the-go, all-the-time). That night we visited a recent convert, who essentially told me that he is going less-active, meaning that he doesn't want to be involved with the church. It broke my heart - when I came to this area, he loved the gospel so much that he was preparing to serve a mission. 

What happened?  

Then later that night, another recent convert calls me to tell me that she is so sick, she had a fever of 39.9~ (in Cel.) and that she needed to cancel our appointment we had made to study the gospel together. This would mean that we would not be able to meet with her for the next fifteen days or so, because her son was then scheduled to have surgery on his knees and that recovery time, all ten days of it, is spent in the hospital. 

On Wednesday, we taught Tsuchida, and prepared a birthday part for the recent-convert-less-active. He was so happy, it's been a while since I've seen him smile like that. I just remember going home that night feeling totally exhausted, and just wanting to cry, knowing that I'm doing my best but that things will still fall through. I love this boy so much, but I can only do so much. I've had to acknowledge that right now, I just need to be his friend, and do all that I can to keep his dimming faith burning. I had also tried to visit the sick recent convert, but she wasn't home. I told my companion how stressed I was feeling and how I was at a loss of what to do, and she decided we should make her some food. 

We didn't have so much good food on our shelves, but on Thursday, we made her a mushroom pasta, some fruit salad, and picked out a health drink at the grocery store. We dropped it off at her house. She didn't have much time to look at it, (she was so sick, she couldn't even speak) but we got a text from her later that day saying she was so grateful for it. 

On Friday we visited her again, and she was doing much better. She told us that when we gave her the food, she hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours, and the food tasted so good! It helped her so much. I almost cried, I was so happy and relieved. 

The weekend starts to wind down there, time filled with preparations for the next ward event, meeting potential investigators, planning and training, which brings me to my Disney reference for this week; 

Sister Abe is doing so very much better with her training. She wasn't awful before, but her head was so in the clouds and not down here with me where it needed to be that I was so nervous that she would not make it when she is left here in Fukutoku and I need to leave. This week she has surprised me as I've given her more and more responsibility, and with seemingly no (almost, there was a little) struggle, she has been able to take it in her stride. It seems like we might make it out of training okay! 

This week I've been trying to have her get a bearing of where she is at all times. I have her be in front when we ride bikes and try as hard as I can not to tell her where to go. I've given her the cellphone, so she has a GPS if she needs it, but sometimes even that can't help her. I never realized my mom wasn't kidding when she said I was blessed with a sense of direction until I met someone who didn't have a hint of one. Yesterday, we were riding along, and I asked her; "Where are you going?"

She replied, "I don't...know"

"Are we going to visit an investigator? or are we going home to do more preparations?2

"I don't know...."

"Well what direction are you heading in?"

"I don't know....Where should I go?"

"Well that depends on where you want to go?"

"I don't know..."

and I laughed to myself as I finished in my head "then it really doesn't matter where you go". 

Gotta love some Alice in Wonderland.