Dream Come True(From Oct 16th)

Hello everybody!!! I'm so genki right now! Uchida Shimai just spent the morning of our Pday going to seminary, shopping at the nearby mall for clothes we couldn't buy and eating delicious ramen. :)

I can't believe Its almost Halloween. We're having our first Halloween party this Friday morning with our Oyako Eikaiwa (parents and kids English class). Uchida Shimai have yet to decide on our costumes, though and its getting down to the wire! I was thinking of being Uchida Shimai but I don't think I have enough money for a nasty black witch wig, haha.

Ok, this week I only have one thing I want to write about. This week, for the first time, Uchida Shimai and I taught a WHOLE FAMILY! Dad, Mom, and two sons. I can't even tell you how happy we are! On my mission so far I have taught a lot of single women, single moms, and kids, and a married couple, but never a whole family. So so so amazing! They are the Oyama family and the mom has brought her two sons, 14 year old Yuto and 11 year old Shintaro to Eikaiwa for the past three weeks. A couple of weeks ago she asked us if we could possibly come to her house and teach Eikaiwa because she also brings her two nieces and nephews as well as two of her friend's kids. We told her that would be alright as long as we could use half of the time to share a message about the gospel. She agreed and actually told us she has a lot of interest in hearing what we're teaching. Two weeks ago on Saturday morning we taught English and then taught about eternal families, and I was completely shocked by the reaction and behavior of these 6 kids. They all really loved the English lesson, but when we started talking about how we can live with our families forever, and telling them about the temple, they listened intently to the whole thing and then bombarded us with all sorts of questions. The next week we taught about the meaning of true joy and asked them if they had ever been so happy they cried. This week on Saturday when we taught them one little girl said, "I went home and asked my mom if she had ever been so happy she cried, and she said yes! When she got married and when I was born!" With this huge grin on her face. We were so excited that these cute kids are going home and having gospel discussions with their families! Oyama san as been so impressed with how the kids are responding to the lessons that she agreed to let us teach her family separately, so last night (Sunday) we went to their house and taught them about the Plan of Salvation. It felt so cool extending the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray as a family to the Father, who accepted and then said the closing prayer! They seem really prepared to receive the gospel. They also agreed to come to church next week! We made them a little calendar for scriptures to read everyday, so we're praying that they will read and pray everyday as a family.

One more exciting thing this week was that our Chinese investigator Saifu, who has this random hate for living prophets, watched President Monson's talk from General Conference about the five dollar bill and decided that she likes President Monson after all! She doesn't know if he's truly the Lord's prophet on the Earth today, but hopefully her heart has opened a crack and she will know soon. She really wants to be baptized, but prophets are her only hangup. We're working hard to help her overcome that obstacle!

Another great week! Time is just flying so fast I can't believe it. In other news, this week almost all I could think about was my adorable new niece Violette and how I can't wait to meet her!

Oh, one more thing. I had a really cool experience this week having to do with journal writing. on Saturday I was having kind of a hard time with something, and Uchida Shimai suggested that I review my journal entries from the MTC. When I was doing that I came upon this one entry where I was sitting in the Celestial room of the temple and this one random Elder came up to me and told me he didn't know why, but he felt like he should share this scripture with me. I read the scripture, and didn't really feel like it had any application to me at all, and was kind of weirded out honestly, haha. I thought maybe he just had a creepy crush on me or something. Anyway, luckily I wrote the scripture down in my journal because when I stumbled upon that entry on Saturday I got curious about what the scripture was, and when I flipped to it in my scriptures it was just what I needed to read! A random scripture given to me in the temple by an Elder was a direct answer to prayer six months later! So crazy!

I know that the scriptures were written for us, and that if we read them every day our prayers will be answered! I also have learned recently a lot about patience and how Heavenly Father works with me in my life. I have often read how most answers to our prayers don't come from some giant miracle basket dropped to us from heaven, but mostly through other people being worthy of, and responding to the spirit to answer our prayers through service. I have also learned that I just need to be patient in my afflictions because kanarazu the blessings afterward ALWAYS outweigh the trouble I had, and I always come out stronger and more resilient. I love my life!

But mostly, I love my family so much!

Holding our 9 year old investigator, Rin Kun's bird. It sits on your finger and if you start singing it sings with you.So cute!

The beautiful Fukuoka temple

Kids we teach Eikaiwa to and on the right is the Oyama family that I told you about last week. They are still doing really well and read the Book of Mormon and prayed every day last week! They didn't come to church but hopefully next week!

Me and Elder De Freitas in Funakoshi Shimai's antique shop.

Love, Sister Tingey

Did I tell you about the Oyama family's dog yet? Its 15 years old and about on its death bed and can't eat on its own, so they sit it on a little high chair during family meals and feed it with a spoon. Probaly the ugliest, most hilarious dog I've ever seen. I was cracking up watching her spoon feed it dog food. They're the same family with the creepy salamander.