When faith, work and endurance is the message,...
James 2: 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. |
When work is done, the message from Christ is: Matthew 11:
28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Hello Everybody!
A New investigator and new potential investigator this week!! WOOOHOOOOOOO!!!! Obedience to the Lord is paying off :D
It is true what you mentioned about Japan. Often Japanese people may say "Ah Bukyō." Which means I'm Buddhist. I could ask them what their favorite teaching is and they wouldn't know, they just claim the religion because their parents were that. Sister Riggs got that often. I felt impressed to go back and stop this mom that we biked past and she wasn't interested. I had a thought pop in my head that was something like, "Sometimes you follow the Spirit and get rejected to get the right timing to meet the right person." The next lady we stopped was interested in our message. We exchanged numbers and have talked on the phone! :)
It is true what you mentioned about Japan. Often Japanese people may say "Ah Bukyō." Which means I'm Buddhist. I could ask them what their favorite teaching is and they wouldn't know, they just claim the religion because their parents were that. Sister Riggs got that often. I felt impressed to go back and stop this mom that we biked past and she wasn't interested. I had a thought pop in my head that was something like, "Sometimes you follow the Spirit and get rejected to get the right timing to meet the right person." The next lady we stopped was interested in our message. We exchanged numbers and have talked on the phone! :)
That's a good idea about the index card with a scripture or positive thought written on it! I do hand out chirashi [flyers] to people that aren't interested if they'll take it. I don't have as much email time today. We had other stuff to do like with an investigator and grocery shopping. My comp is waiting for me. I'll try to email more next week I'm so sorry!!!
This week has been great, but a bit different. Since I've become area Senpai [Senior, a position of more responsibility], my Japanese is already noticeably improving and I can understand a bit better. I was worried before about doing things right, but Sister Nagano [The Mission President's wife] called at the beginning of the week and comforted me. Sometimes, I feel like I have the memory of a goldfish [probably due to having to remember so much right now, brain overload]. I give about 80% credit of my memory to the Spirit. The Spirit has really lead Sister B______ [new companion] and me where we needed to go.
Even though I got lost sometimes [the Japanese address system can be a challenge], the timing of finding people was perfect. We were going to a member's house to give a gift to a young woman and I couldn't remember what apartment it was they lived in. We walked a little further by the doors and there was the member we needed to talk to outside! She just got home and her daughter was home.
We also were going to visit our investigator, and again, I couldn't remember the apartment number. I was checking doors and double-checking and I couldn't remember where she lived. But then we saw her on her bike. She just arrived home and we were able to talk to her and invite her to read her scriptures!
We have a list of less-actives that we want to visit. None of them were home this week. We dropped a birthday card off at a less-active's house, I___ Shimai [Sister I____]. After we left, there was a lady I felt we needed to talk to that we passed. She wasn't interested in our message. I remember thinking as we were turning around on our bikes to go speak to that lady, "sometimes the Spirit tells us to speak to people, even when they aren't interested in our message, so we can have the right timing to meet the next person who God has prepared." The next lady we talked to spoke English. Her name is S______! She goes to a Japanese Christian church and was interested in our message. We exchanged phone numbers and will be meeting soon!!
Take care, Parker Shimai
Sent from my iPad
A thank you to Google translate: https://translate.google.com/ It's a handy tool when you need it!
Here's a webpage with some typical gospel vocabulary words in Japanese:
http://www.freejapaneselessons.com/for-LDS-Missionaries.cfm It also has audio.
The most important gospel word in Japanese, is, Jesus Christ [ Iesu Kirisuto ], because he is our Savior [ Sukuinushi ]
Cultural note: Parking lots in Japan, filled with bicycles too, not just cars
Mt. Fuji, image from a Google search |