I LOVE the opportunity I have to work with Arisa chan! She is incredible. Last monday, we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ. It made complete sense to her, she said she believes it all, and she committed to be baptized! We invited her to be baptized on December 15, and she said yes! We also asked her to pray about that date and see if it is when God wants her to be baptized. We gave her a notebook to write down any thoughts or feelings she had. The next lesson we followed up on it, and it was amazing. We asked her how she felt about her baptismal date, and she pulled out her notebook. She wrote a whole page (it was in kanji so she had to read it to us) and it talked about how she prayed to find out if she should be baptized and as she prayed, all of the worries and concerns she had had before her prayer were gone and she felt Gods peace in her heart. She knew that was an answer from God, and she knew she would be baptized on December 15th. Isnt that incredible? I wish you could have felt what we felt in that room. Dobson shimai tried to say something to Arisa chan but she was crying...it was SUCH a manifestation of Gods reality! We are excited to teach her about the Book of Mormon tonigiht.
We were finally able to teach Reira and Johna again this week! Last week we were supposed to teach them, but Reira was sick, so we just dropped treats off at her door. This week we stopped by again on Wednesday, and they were home (we heard them), but they would not come to the door. Sad. So we left a nice note. We were really praying for the opportunity to teach them again, and on Saturday, we mogi-ed their lesson and made some little changes to it and tried again to visit them. They let us in! But I felt really really bad. Reira was still in her pajamas, her kids were not dressed, and I think Johna was still in bed. Ah I felt bad but she let us in and said she wanted to listen to our message! Because they do not speak Japanese or English very well and they have a strong Christian background, we decided to teach them the Restoration using the pamphlet in Tagalog and watching part of the Restoration video in Tagalog. Besides her kids running around all over the place, I think it went pretty well. Johna does not speak to us at all, we just get everything through translation from Reira, but she seemed really interested in the video and really touched by it. We decided that because they do not speak our languages very well, we REALLY need to rely on the language of the Spirit! It was hard with her kids running around, but we did our best to testify heartfeltfully and boldly. We are going back again this week!
The Lord really blessed us with a big miracle this week. We have had a hard time knowing how to help one of our investigators, Fukushima san. She is the one who called us and said she wanted to go to church, and when we got to the church on Sunday, she was already sitting there in the chapel. We taught her a lesson and she said she wanted to come back to church and to learn more from us, but she has been calling each week and saying she cannot come to church and she cannot meet with us. We do not know where she lives and we did not know how to help her. This week as we were biking to go house an apartment, we saw her waiting at a bus stop! We stopped and talked to her and she seemed really happy that we were able to visit with her. We left and housed the apartment, and on our way back, she was still there! She was just sitting on the sidewalk with all of her groceries. We asked her when the bus was coming, and she said seven thirty, but it was already eight. It was cold and dark, so we sat next to her and Dobson shimai wrapped her scarf around Fukushima san and we waited with her and talked with her until the bus finally came. We were not able to set up another appointment with her and she was not able to come to church, but I know God was blessing us with the opportunity to show Christlike love to one of our investigators. I know he led us down that sidewalk, and I have high hopes for how He is going to bless Fukushima san.
We spent the majority of our weekend (as in Thursday, Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday) in our apartment planning for our investigators. We were doing our normal weekly planning session, but with the new mission training plan, we thoroughly thought through our investigators needs and how to best help them. Also, in order to show the Lord that we were as prepared as possible for our investigators, we made a new lesson plan for each of our investigators and mogi-ed it. It was a LOT of planning and a LOT of mogi-ing, but I am excited for this week to see what results come from our preparation!
On Thursday we had interviews with Zinke Kaicho! It took almost the whole entire day. I LOVED the training we got from Kaicho before interviews. It was all about faithfulness. In the Kobe Japan mission, we do not have a problem with obedience. (From a survey, the church found out this mission is one of the most obedient missions in the world!) But we talked about how that is good, but we need faithfulness on top of obedience. We talked about how Laman and Lemuel were even obedient. They went along to get the plates and the helped with the ship, but they were not faithful. They complained and they doubted and they had to be compelled. Zinke Kaicho talked about relying completely on the Lord, to the point where we never quit early while we are out finding. We never complain or go about doing things merely because we feel like we have to in order to be obedient. We do our missionary work because we know the Lord is guiding and we work so that we can be His tools. Zinke Kaicho is so wise. I cannot tell you how much I loved my interview with him! I feel like the fifteen minutes I was in with Kaicho he answered every question I have ever had about missionary work. It was so wonderful! We also talked about relying on the Lord, and how all the Lord asks of me is to trust Him. From the interview, I felt a lot of relief, and a lot of excitement to help the Lord in His work.
In case you are wondering, yes I did eat REAL sushi this week. REAL RAW FISH. Also, the vending machines now have warm drinks in them, and I found a pop can of hot corn, so of course I had to buy it.
I hope you all had a fun halloween!!!! Have a great week and remember that I love you SO SO SO SO SO SO SO much!!!!!!!! Thanks for being the best family in the whole wide world!
Love,
Krissy
Dad: I will sort out my favorite food for you. THe order is probably: octopus, squid, raw salmon. Octopus being the worse and the raw salmon being just a little bit higher up the list.
Mom: i am happy i got your letter this week! That story about Eli is such a miracle!! GIve Jacks family my condolences (whew I am forgetting how to spell sorry!) How was Halloween?
Jason: otsukarasamadesu! I think becca will make it.
Becca: I love you!!! What is the cutest thing you have for jason jr??
Peach: Happy halloween! we have a cd that we listen to. Ha we all have ipods but no speakers.
Jana: congrats on the homemade bread!
Ty: we have about 45 members in our ward who come to church. apparently it is a lot bigger ward though. Japans members are 90 % inactive!!! thanks for the quote
Sarah: good luck this week!!!!! have fun. you are beautiful. make sure you dont walk like a barbie.
Dan: congrats dude!! you are amazing!!! dont you love kabalevsky?? all the little boys here ride unicycles. do you want to learn how to ride one too? I wake up at 6*15 and go to sleep at 10*30 and I do missionary stuff all day long!! I LOVE IT!!!
Joseph: HAPPY BIRFDAY!!! omedetou gozaimasu!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!
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