Monday, November 10, 2014

November 10th

Dearest Family, 

It was a crazy week. We did lots but then got to the end of the week, looked at our stats and I thought, "did we even do anything this week?!" Yep, we did. Part of that included going to Kichijoji 4 days in a row. So we were hardly in our area! 

On Tuesday I went on Splits with eyring Shimai. We had a really fun day. I love working with her! She is a really good missionary and bears her testimony in every conversation! Her companion told her once that she feels the Spirit every time Eyring Shimai speaks! It's really true actually. It doesn't matter what she says or if her japanese makes sense because it's said with sincerity and love and guided by the Spirit. We visited 2 recent converts and 2 less actives together. And... Miracle... They were all home!! It made for a really happy and busy day. Eyring Shimai and I are planning on being companions when the earthquake comes... So we can wear our yellow helping hands vests and bring the gospel to a nation in crisis! So pray for an earthquake! I think natural disasters soften hearts and bring people together in love and service. 

Family history... I'm doing it! Sort of. The mission has asked all the missionaries to finish their "my family" booklets so we can share family history with those we meet. There is a section in preach my gospel about family history as a method for finding investigators and I always thought that was silly or sounded boring. But it's actually a miracle worker in Japan. Japanese people, whether they are a real Buddhist or not, receive an influence from the Buddhist religion. Families and ancestors are given a high priority and are very important to most people. Many pray to their ancestors morning and night, visit their graves on occasion, and believe that they are with them and watching over them. There is even a special day in the summer when they come back. This value placed on loved ones who have gone before is a really good way for us to introduce the gospel and the plan of salvation and eternal families. Also, people are hesitant to talk about religion, but they'll open up if we talk about our families! As I have been copying information about my ancestors into my family book and reading stories about them on family search, I'm actually feeling the spirit of Elijah. I thought it wasn't real. But it is. I want to know more about my family and get to know living relatives better than I have. We don't have time during the day for family history, so I need your help! I'll be emailing you personally ;) 

MLC. This was one of those days in Kichijoji for mission leadership council. It's really long but fast paced and way exciting. We weren't even able to get through everything on the agenda, but we got in lots of practice and discussed the progress of the mission. Our mission is seeing so many miracles right now. 7 baptisms in October! Our goal is for each companionship to extend 3 invitations to be baptized by the end of the year. When we invite, we succeed. Before elder Ringwood came, each missionary took an online survey to see where we are at as a PMG mission. We broke down the results of the survey together and decided the possible root causes for the low results and chose items for future training in our zone and district meetings. Lots to do! And so much growth to see! 

Interviews. On Friday we were back in kichijoji for interviews with president wada. Mine was shorter than usual because I didn't come with too many questions. But he gave me some good council! To not run faster than I have strength, but to build my strength and use this time to understand the Spirit and revelation and to enjoy missionary work! I took his council and studied further in my personal study. I'm definitely the type to freak out about all the things I have to do and forget to have fun. But... My current companion is way good for me! She is really easy going and always positive. She is good at finding miracles in a rough day and she helps us to recognize the good that we are doing and the good that is happening around us. And so... Each day is imperfect. And each day is fun! Imperfectly fun. :) 

And... We went back to kichijoji for stake conference on Saturday and Sunday! Fun thing about having been in the same stake the whole mission so far is that I get to see all the old members from kichijoji, too! The focus of so many of the talks was missionary work. President and Sister Wada spoke in both sessions and we heard from 2 recently returned sister missionaries. It was awesome! When we went for interviews this week, sister wada interviewed us as we were waiting and asked us about the good influence our mothers had on us. and then she shared our answers in her talk! This is what I said ;)『私の御母さんは天使です』(My mother is an angel!) I love my mom! I told her about Mom's silly songs and how she taught us that our siblings were our best friends and how she is good at being the mom and the friend. 

Riding the bus to kichijoji a million times turned out to be a miracle. I re-met people I had met before several months earlier! Our mission and our approach has changed since then so I was able to extend a proper bold invitation to attend church or hear our message. The statistics say that a person typically comes in contact with the missionaries 7 times before they decide to take lessons. This time I got to be time number 1 and time number 2! And I saw the difference in these ladies. They remembered me and asked if I was headed to church! They brought up the church this time and I was able to invite and share my testimony and my purpose. They didn't accept the offer, but I saw how their hearts had changed and I feel like if they had that experience 5 more times, they would certainly say yes! We never know the difference that these simple conversations can make. 
Me and kana chan! Look at her crazy hair ;)

Well. That's all for now! I love you. 

Love, 
Kinz

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