Transfers week and Stoneman Shimai went off to the opposite end of the mission in Izumo and my new companion is Larsen Shimai!
Monday was Nanzenji with the most beautiful fall colors. At night we went hard, sadly one of our new investigators that we thought had a lot of potential gave the BOM back, said her husband said no but she was really sorry. So she'll have another chance later, just not right now, but then to make up for that we found around the church and met a jr high girl who's pretty interested! Plus gave away a few BOMs to our neighbors.
Tuesday a member took us out to Okonomiyaki for lunch so I was very very happy! Later finally met one of our investigators plus she showed us some fun Japanese kid candy- really strange but fun! In the evening met a member and overall felt he Spirit and found out how she's really trying to figure out how to dendo right now and was very open!
Wednesday was regular recent converts who were all sad to hear about transfers, but Spirit was strong, and everyone's continuing faithfully. Also putting bikes in a box to transfer is just the biggest nightmare, that was fun. And more people came to Eikaiwa than usual, yay!
Thursday we got up super early for transfers and everything went pretty smoothly! Came back and planned with Larsen Shimai, did some finding around the church, then went to dinner at a member's and they had sushi! So good and fun- mom and 2 daughters, one an RM and the other in college and they are just so funny! Made plans to help some of their friends!
Friday our neighbor had a chanto appointment with us! She doesn't have as much interest in the gospel as we thought, but grateful that we were able to help her as much as we can and besides, she still lives across the street from the church and next door to the sisters, she defiantly has other chances. Later did some finding around the eki and talked to some really cool people- 2 high school girls were going back the same direction we were, stayed with us and we're going to McDonalds close to the church so we asked if they wanted a tour and they came over to the church with us! Another crazy thing with that was that this girl asked if she could have our number before we asked for hers (turned out to be more English interest, but hey we're happy if she comes to Eikaiwa). Later Game Night and although investigators didn't show up, there were some les active kids that I met for the for the first time!
Saturday we started in the morning teaching a recent convert Masaki Kyoudai with the elders and the bishop- kind of interesting trying to teach with 5 people but it worked out! Then in the afternoon Fujii Shimai had invited us to some singing service thing at a senior center- we weren't a lot of help since it was all old Japanese songs we didn't know, but we had fun! From there off to Shimogamo for Stake Conference! One little miracle- left my backpack on a train, talked to a conductor, waited 10 minutes ish then got my backpack back, no problems at all- wow. All Ward Council members and missionaries were invited to priesthood meeting and Welch Kaicho did a really cool training on member missionary work and had us all mogi together- especially to help members talk to people more in uncomfortable places: work and the train. Good training, then hurried back and stayed with Fushimi for the night.
Sunday up early for Stake Conference round2! The Spirit was really strong (aka I was crying through the whole thing) and so much of it was about the Area Plan (Finding joy in the gospel) and dendo. After the normal session they had a special meeting for missionaries, new members and "friends"...not sure why they didn't just say investigators. Anyways- Joyo looked really good! All of our recent converts plus Fujii Shimai's mom- shared testimonies, had questions, and Yamanaka Shimai said the closing prayer, which was the cutest thing ever- she summarized her conversion story and gave a lot of thanks for it. Plus it's pretty cool to have Welch Kaicho Shimai meeting, teaching our people! Came back by train with members- miraculously found an interested lady and then a member's non-member husband recognized us and stopped to say hi! Came back and went to get some new investigators, meet some less actives. Not a lot of people, but the ones we did talk to were pretty quality. Then there was a less active we hadn't planned on visiting but felt like we needed to, so we stopped by and had a really nice lesson with her. Still don't know exactly why, but seemed like that was where we were needed.
Also I've been thinking a lot about the message we share with her and also a theme that popped up at Stake Conference- there is so much we "need" to do and that can get overwhelming and then we're doing too much on our own, but that's not the best way. Heavenly Father has a perfect plan and he guides us through the Holy Ghost, little bit at a time. Our role is to courageously follow the promptings we receive. We have the Atonement of Jesus Christ to rely on and we can improve! If we're following the Spirit, we're doing what's right and Heavenly Father is happy with us. This was a message I really needed and maybe there's someone else out there that needed a reminder! Love you all so very much!
Sister Wagstaff
Also today we went to this giant shrine and there was supposed to be a giant flea market but we were there late and everything was being packed up, so enjoy the view from outside!
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