Well this has been our longest week here in 野並 but it was a good one. We
had several member appointment cancellations so we unexpectedly had to
fill our time, but other than that we have been seeing a lot of good
things.
This week with our investigator 松本 has been very good. We taught her
twice this week. We talked to her about the importance of prophets and
then she was able to come to a baptismal service for the Nonami
Sister's investigator. It really helped her understand what baptism is
and see how it is performed. She also came to church again yesterday
and told us that she doesn't always understand everything at church,
but she feels so good while she is there. The members of the branch
have become her friend and she is opening up with them and it is so
exciting to work with her. She really wants an eternal family and we
are helping her on her pathway towards creating one. We are
going to the 本部(Mission Home) and are doing a family home evening with
her, her kids, and President Ishii, so we are really excited for that.
This week we also had an opportunity to work with a part member
family. A lady in the branch named Sister Fujimoto (藤本姉妹) wanted to
meet us and have lunch together and as we were finishing eating she
started talking to us about her husband. She has been a member of the
church for about 24 years and has really strong faith and really wants
to be sealed in the temple and create an eternal family, but her
husband is not a member. She told us her husband likes the
missionaries, but doesn't show any interest in the gospel. She wanted
our advice and what she could do to help him. We talked about having
her discuss things about church in her home and then she remembered
that we had a baptismal service this week and she said she'd bring her
husband so we could meet him. They came and he was a nice enough guy,
but showed almost zero interest into what was going on and he wanted
to go home as soon as the ordinance was done. Sister Fujimoto came up
to me right before they left and seemed so stressed. She told me how
hard it was to get him to come and he didn't show any interest. She
looked at me with absolute desperation in her eyes and said, "What can
I do Elder? What can we do?" This was kind of a life changing moment
for me. I saw this woman who wants an eternal family-something which
is more precious than anything- so bad, but she doesn't know how to do
it and is looking at me, an almost 21 year old guy from a small town
in northern Utah who has never had to worry about this, for
assistance. Her desperation showed me how important eternal families
are. For those of you in this email list who don't know, our church
believes that through the power of the restored priesthood of Jesus
Christ our families can be sealed (united) to live with each other for
time and all eternity. It's a pretty big deal. Who doesn't want to
live with their wife and children forever? Through this gospel there is
no more "until death do you part", but living in unity for eternity.
My goal as a missionary is to help people achieve this dream, this
state of eternal happiness.
I guess the last thing to make sure I talk about is the actual
baptismal service. He sisters had a baptism on Saturday! The lady who
was baptized was Filipino and since Tommy has been studying Tagalog he
performed the ordinance in Tagalog. It was a really good service with
every missionary companionship in the district bringing an
investigator to the baptism. The members in this branch are really
pleased with the success that we have had since the five of us came
into the area and it has been so much fun to work. This lady was
confirmed yesterday at church and I also bestowed the Aaronic
Priesthood on another recently converted Filipino. So many blessings
here.
Last night at a members house I was asked what makes being a
missionary fun/why do I like being a missionary even with all the
rules and restrictions. I just expressed how great of an experience
this is from living in a foreign country and learning a new language,
to teaching people about how to become eternally happy, to seeing these
people accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and let that light
fill their life. It is indescribable. Just as Dad used to always say,
"Missions are so cool."
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We didn't have one... But we
are going to try to do one this week! I love you all! Thanks for all
you do!
スピードと天使
堅城長老
Team 野並 getting it done
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