Monday, August 25, 2014

On Monday, August 25, 2014 Sister Johnson wrote:

Hey Momma!

This week was a pretty normal transfer week, I guess. Sister Ishikawa left for Yamagata on Tuesday. It was pretty sad. I miss her a lot! But now I have Sister George, and we are doing well together. We had a lesson right after she came into town; we left as soon as she got there. The zone leaders took us to visit a woman named that they had found the day before. She called the church and said that she wanted to learn about the Bible together with them! When they got to her address, they discovered that it was a mental hospital, unfortunately. But, as they taught her, they learned that she has lots of knowledge about in faith in Christ, and she seemed capable of learning and keeping commitments, and so they took us to meet her the next day. We had a good lesson and she asked good questions. We also felt like she had a lot of knowledge that could help her grow her faith, and it didn't seem like she had that much of a mental problem, maybe just some depression. So, we decided to make another appointment with her for the next day. We went to teach her on Friday, and we took a member with us to help. When we got there, she was a little disoriented and couldn't hold a solid conversation. She mentioned in passing that she thinks she is not saved and that Christ didn't die for her. The look of sadness and dispair in her eyes was so saddening, and it brought me to tears. But, in that moment, I was able to testify to her of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and that He loves her and has saved her. After we left, we decided that she is not in a right mindset to be a real investigator and that the Atonement of Christ already has her covered. She is saved. I felt much love for her that day. So in the future, if we go to visit with her, it will just be as friends, and not as missionaries teaching her. It was a good experience for me to meet and get the opportunity to love her. As we were sitting with her, I had such an overwhelming feeling of love for her and peace fill my heart. I knew right then that she is okay. She doesn't need to worry. She is wrapped about in the arms of her loving Savior. Her life is hard right now and it will be until the end, but she is guaranteed rest in the presence of the Savior. This I know.

On Saturday, we had a great day! In the morning, we had a church activity that was so much fun! A bunch of the YSA in the ward came, and also our friend Mitsuru San was able to come (he is the guy that surprised me with a cello)! We did a game called "Minute To Win It," which is just a bunch of really ridiculously fun and silly games with a one-minute time limit. One of the games involved pulling all of the tissues from a tissue box in less than a minute. Just little funny games like that. It was way fun. Then, when that was over, we had a wanko soba contest! That was SO MUCH fun. Basically, it is little amounts of soba (buckwheat noodles, my favorite thing EVER) and you have to eat as many as you can in three minutes. I did so badly, and it was super sad, but it was way fun! Elder Iida won; he ate 25 bowls-full. Wow! I want to do that again someday for real. I have un-American noodle-slurping abilities now that I can't let go to waste! After the soba activity, we had sports like we always do, but the weather was BEAUTIFUL this week! So we had about 20 people there other than us missionaries, and they were all FRIENDS! Only three of them were members, and they are all recent converts! It was a great activity and we got to build lots of really great relationships with people. The majority of our new investigators as a district come from this sports activity and Eikaiwa, and we are seeing lots of success as a district. It will be good to see the miracles that come from here on out!

Well, that is about it on my end. It was a very normal week with nothing too spectacular. But I still know that Jesus loves me and I know from the bottom of my heart that He loves you too! I hope you have an awesome day!

Love Shak