When in Rome...
- Last Mon investigator cancelled lesson AGAIN (still haven't met her...) but I felt peaceful feeling doing my best. That's weird to explain- I want to teach her but if she's not ready, she's not ready and I am learning a lot about God's timing, patience and I've also seen that one aspect of the Atonement is increasing our abilities. Seriously as a mission we're finishing reading about the Atonement in the BOM and going back to the basics by all doing 12 Week training. In the evening we were invited to a members house who lives close by this giant fireworks show/matsuri (festival- way big in Japan, lots of little ones everywhere in the summer and a lot of girls wear kimonos). Saw an investigator family while we raced home!
Okay you can't really see anyone, but this was at the fireworks!
- Tue was MLC in Kobe! This is always one of my favorite days of the month (happens every first Tuesday)- talked a lot about 12 weeks, staying focused on Our Purpose and the different aspects with that. Lots to learn and change! I love serving in Kobe with some of the greatest people, seriously this is fun, plus of course Welch Kaicho and Shimai are amazing! Got back in time for Eikaiwa, Sakai sisters came and we started a koukan.
- Wed koukan with Nomura Shimai, new missionary! She is really working hard to be good at finding and we got to mogi (role play) and then went out and got to use our Mogi! For reals, I'm gaining a testimony of Mogi because we got to use exactly what we practiced and ended up with a new investigator within 10 minutes. Also visited one of the sweetest grandmas in the Ward who just makes you feel so good! Then Sakai went home in the evening, we went to Ping Pong, then sadly an investigator cancelled her English plus gospel lesson, but we were finishing up some Area Book work at the church, talked with a member who's usually been too busy and got a few soft referrals from her!
- Thu started with an investigator who isn't progressing as fast as we'd like, but is still reading the BOM- another miracle with this lesson was that she didn't havvery much time, but likes to talk and we were struggling to get her on topic and had the most amazing me,bet who boldly but nicely just stopped her random talking and asked how her BOM reading was going! Yesss, members are so necessary, as we walked back to the eki she just kept repeating how missionaries couldn't do this work alone, all of the members should get involved p, and she is very involved! For the rest of the afternoon we went after referrals and stopped people wherever we were and talked- sometimes it's more about having the courage to stop and talk, get to bear even a little bit of testimony- it still isn't easy, but I feel accomplished after. Spent the night prepping our training for ZTM and some weekly planning.
- Fri ZTM in Wakayama! I've been in the same zone since Christmas...probably out this next transfer, but it's so fun here and we have a new addition to our zone...new senior couple in Shingu! The Kamada's- they are very sweet, we sat and got to know Kamada's Shimai better at lunch. Anyways back at ZTM we had such a good meeting- one cool thing was training from Taguchi Shimai on Buddhism and family history, particularly because Obon is coming up- this is like the biggest Japanese/Buddhist holiday where their belief is that ancestors come back to your house for a few days- so everybody has a holiday and goes back to where they're from. Learned more about it so we can be better at connecting the gospel to what most people already believe. Kawamura Shimai translated most of ZTM for the Japanese missionaries and I helped out a bit. Translation brings a new appreciation for people who speak clearly and slowly! Also in the evening back in our area, dropped by a long time investigator, we're seeing progress with Kawamura Shimai, I think she's really needed a Nihonjin to help explain things- at this lesson she connected really well with a scripture we shared! Later stopped by a PI who was home and is a little shy, but talked and seems to have a lot of good potential- recently graduated college and living on her own.
- Sat during our 12 Weeks study time, we watched part of The District- okay so probably only a missionary could say this, buts it's so much fun! When we talked about 12 Weeks at ZTM as a zone I realized I wasn't alone as a trainee watching it and thinking- wow this would be great if I was in America but I'm in Japan and things are different here. This time watching it through, one I'm in a bigger Ward, but two I can see so many more applications to our dendo here- main thing is that members are the key! In the evening there was a random matsuri at a park by a members house, so our visit was a little interrupted but lots of people, so a good finding opp! Stopped and talked to a lady going home from a matsuri and turns out she's a former investigator- walked and talked for a while, sadly she seemed a little drunk because she wasn't fully capable of understanding, but hopefully we'll find her and her daughter again!
- Sunday. Wow so good. First sadly an investigator who we were going to invite to baptism again didn't come, BUT Miyu Chan (YW in the Ward, probably my favorite) brought friends to church with her! She just finished FSY in Hokkaido so she's full of fire and bore literally the most amazing testimony. She stood up there crying (so of course I was crying) and told us how she found out for sure that this church is true and how much more committed she wants to be now that she knows. Then her friends stayed for all 3 hours of church! I went with them to Sunday School and YW's- pretty good experience,though it was all super new. One cool thing was how little I did because of how much the YW were helping! They ended up learning about baptism, temples, importance of family and a little family history but the YW and leaders were good at checking for understanding and being simple in their teaching. In the evening the cherry on top of our day was a surprise visit from me,beds who brought us grapes- that sounds really simple until you know how expensive fruit is here!
There are plenty of struggles, but I wanted to share a bit of the example Kawamura Shimai shared with the Ward yesterday- Kawachinagano is full of hills and biking up the hills isn't very fun, and sometimes you think you're at the top and there's actually a little more to go- that's hard, but riding down is the best feeling, so even while climbing LOTS of hills (both kinds!) we know that there's going to be a great ride down. Plus look at all the good things already happening! With that, working on humility this transfer and I've been so grateful for the power of prayer- it feels so good to truly get on your knees and pray to God at the end of the day, no matter what kind of day. Love you all- From the emails I've read there's all sorts of good, hard, exciting things happening and that just goes to show Heavenly Father's plan. Love you all!
- Also this week last year I arrived in Japan!
Love you all! Sister Wagstaff
Sent from my iPad
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| Mashiro Chan...always taking pictures together! Her request |
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