It was a wonderful week to be a missionary!
Shaking Elder Christoffersons hand and listening to him speak was definitely a highlight of the week, perhaps even a highlight of my mission. I was impressed with the power that was in the room as he spoke. I was also impressed that every question I had prepared before the meeting was answered during the meeting. It was a wonderful experience. He began by talking about his role as an apostle. He shared the commission that the Lord gave to His apostles in Matthew, and then shared the same commission that was given to the apostles in the Latter Days in Doctrine and Covenants. He talked about his responsibility as an apostle to take the gospel to the world, and how because 15 men alone cannot do that, they have called us to help. He talked about how we are the apostles/prophets companions, and how just like companions, we pray for them and they pray for us, and we think they are honorable men and they hope we will be honorable companions. He said if there is one thing we should remember from the whole meeting, it is that the prophets and apostles say *Thank You.* It is wonderful to be a missionary. After that, he opened it up to a question/answer session, and the Spirit was very close as he talked about relying on the Savior and having an eye single to the glory of God. It was wonderful! It was also great to have the entire mission together. That was the first time for me! There was so much power in the room.
We spent a big portion of our week traveling. The devotional was in Osaka, which is about 5 or 6 hours away from me. We also went on exchanges with the sisters in the area next to us, and it was about a 2 hour travel to get there! I live in the country side, and we drove past rows and rows and rows and rows of rice fields with little Japanese people hunched over working in them. It was an amazing view!
It was my first exchange as a Sister Training Leader this week! It was amazing! The Spirit was working through us so much. We arrived at around 5:00, and they had a lesson scheduled for 5:30. Womack shimai and I looked over the lesson plan, mogi-ed it, and then the investigator arrived. We taught her a powerful lesson. Even though I had never met her before, I felt like I was able to connect with her and teach to her understanding and desires. That was definitely the Spirit. And at the end of the lesson, she asked us when she can get baptized!
I also had been praying and studying quite a bit to know how I could best help Womack shimai. I really did not know Womack shimai very well at all, and I did not understand her goals very well either. However, I put a lot of thought into how to help her, and then the Spirit helped to meet her needs during the koukan. We were sitting and talking during lunch, and I did not really know what I was saying, but she started crying. She said she NEVER cries, so it was very rare, and she said thank you for what I shared with her. To be honest, I do not know what I said. That was the Lord helping, again.
We have enjoyed doing missionary work here in Yonago as well. We have been working to meet the less active members, and we have met some great people! On Monday, we met Masuda kyoudai. We met him in his shop, which is a Beatles shop. I think you would all be blown out of your minds. He has rows and rows with thousands and thousands of Beatles records, CDs, posters, DVDs, recordings, pictures, etc. All of the Beatles. He is a cool guy. He was baptized more than 30 years ago and stopped going to church right after that. However, he still has a ctr ring that he keeps on his front desk to remind him to keep trying every day. And he told us how strongly he believes in Joseph Smith. That was amazing to me, because he has not been to church for SUCH a long time! We are excited to work with him.
We also met with Eiko shimai on Tuesday. I do not know if I told you about her. She is a real hoot. She took out the sliding doors in her apartment and bolted up a hammock and a wooden swing. If you knew Japanese houses, you would know that is impossible because the houses here are tiny. But she had a solution for that. She made her kitchen table, and she put wheels on it so she can wheel it out of the way for the swing and the hammock. She speaks English almost fluently, and she learned it all from watching TV, so it is really dramatic and not normal English. It is so fun to be with her. She was also baptized more than 30 years ago and has not come since, so we are starting over with teacher her about who God is. It is a great experience.
Last week, I noticed the hand of the Lord in so many little things. No huge miracles or anything happened (except that Ayako chan set a goal to be baptized and came to church!!), but in the little things every day, I was able to see the hand of the Lord. I know this is the Lords work. I know the church is the kingdom of God on the earth. I know God loves each one of you!!
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