Well, the only unfortunate thing that happened this week is that we
got word from our district leader that the Fukuoka missionaries are no
longer allowed to use the mission home computers, which means that four
of us have to share the one computer in the church every Pday. We're
not sure what the reason is but that cuts email time to 30 minutes
instead of an hour so my emails will be extra short from now on I guess.
This week as SO eventful! I don't even know where to begin. So many
hilarious/awesome things happened but guess since I have very limited
time I'll just tell you about the most memorable spiritual experiences.
We were invited by a couple named the Izumis to come to their house for
dinner. They liver super far away so we had to ride our bikes 15 minutes
to the station, ride a train for 15 minutes, and then have them pick us
up and drive 10 minutes to their house. You can see how giant our area
is! Anyway, it was our first time meeting the wife. She hasn't been able
to come to church because she has intestinal cancer (her intestines are
literally sticking out of a hole in her stomach; she showed us!), but
she has the strongest testimony of anyone I've ever met. She and her
husband are planning on filling out their papers to serve another
couples mission if she is able to get approval. I couldn't believe she
would want to leave on a mission in that state, but she knows the
blessings that come from serving the Lord full-time. Anyway, that night
was filled with nothing but amazement and testimony strengening. She
gave us advice about visiting teaching and they told us their conversion
story. They then pulled out keepsakes from when they took lessons from
the missionaries back in the 70's. As a baptism present, their two Elder
missionaries wrote a book outlining every lesson they had ever taught
them, what they taught, how they felt, etc. So the Izumi couple has a
detailed record of that time, which I thought was so amazing. We were
reading that book and the love that those missionaries had for that
couple was practically jumping off the page. It was humbling to see how
much the Izumi's treasured that gift they had received, and they had
also pasted every single note, scripture homework assignment, etc that
they had ever received from those missionaries into an album that they
also showed us.
We came away from that experience in awe of that couple's faith and
for how deeply impacted they were by those two Elders some 40 years
ago. They are even still in contact with them and showed us recent
pictures of their kids' graduations and weddings. It really strengthened
my resolve to never lose contact with those I meet and teach during my
mission.
I found Charly in Japan! Our investigator's dog |
The Flying Squirrel
|
Nabe party |
Ok, I've already run out of time but here are just a couple other funny happenings from this week:
1. We visited a couple for the first time who we were recently
assigned to start Visit Teaching and they have a pet......FLYING
SQUIRREL! It wouldn't come out of the cage but they said the next time
we come they'll have it fly for us!
2. Last Pday we went to the mall looking for some new skirts and
all of a sudden in the big main area this Brazilian puppet master came
out and did this awesome act with all these puppets and music.We were so
happy we felt like we were at Disneyland
3. I got a haircut and got bangs! When the elders saw me for the
first time Elder Triffitt from Australia said, "So are you gonna be
bangin' it from now on then?" Hahahahahah.
4. Nabe party with the YSA\s at the ward mission leader's house. It was a blast, and we had 3 investiators come!
5. Our investigator Mineoi san is following the Word of Wisdom this
week by not drinking coffee, tea or alcohol so Sister Uchida and I gave
up sweets. Probably a good thing, eh? haha
Ok, I love you and I love this gospel! Have a great week!
Love, Tingey Shima
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