Hello everyone! :-) How is everyone doing this lovely day? Oh, wait.. that's right.. it's freezing it Utah. >:)
Well let's get started with this weeks email shall we?
Job Offers:
So, this week was rather
uneventful, but I did have a few good stories for you guys to share!
This one just made me laugh. Really hard. On Tuesday this last week
Lundy shimai and I went to visit a Less Active in the ward. We were
worried we wouldn't be able to find her house so we left really early to
make sure we made it to our appointment on time... Well, we were
definitely on time. We were about an hour early actually. xD So we
decided to spend that hour streeting around her house. :-)
While we were streeting we received a phone call from a man who we
found while we were Denwa Dendoing (Uhmm... Looking through the List of
previous investigators from like 10 years ago and calling them to see if
they have an interest... Yeah. :D) Lundy shimai was talking with him,
so while she was talking I was just sort of standing around listening to
the conversation. Off in the distance I noticed a man who was sort of
watching us. It's not extremely uncommon... Lundy shimai has REALLY
beautiful long blonde hair that attracts a lot of stares. :P
While Lundy shimai was talking, the man walked up to me and started
talking. He asked me if I spoke English and Japanese. I told him I
spoke English and was learning Japanese. Just like I tell everyone. :P
He then proceeded to tell me (from what I understood) about how he was
going to open an Eikaiwa (English Class) in Europe and was looking for
people to be teachers there who were able to speak Japanese AND
English. He asked if we'd be interested. I politely explained that
right now we can't accept jobs because we're working full time for God
for the next year and a half. He then asked "Well, how about after
that?" In effect I said "We'll see". So we exchanged business cards
and he went on his way.
After that, Lundy shimai hung up the phone and started laughing. I
asked her what she was laughing at. She explained that the man on the
phone had just offered us a job in China! xD 2 Job offers in the space
of 5 minutes. We laughed pretty hard... but it didn't end there. xD
After we visited the Less Active's house, we stared walking back to
the train station to come back to Urayasu. On the way, a man on a
scooter pulled over and started talking to us. First reaction: What the
heck?! That's what WE'RE supposed to do! x) Translating what he said
from Japanese to English kind of sounds weird... so sorry. :P He
basically said "Because you both were so beautiful I had to
stop and talk to you! I run a bar and I'm looking for foreigners to
come and work for me! Are you interested?" LOL!! Job offer number 3. xD
Oh my gosh we cracked up. We invited him to come to Eikaiwa though and
he seemed sincerely interested! We'll see if he comes this week or
not. :-)
There ya go. If I ever were to move back here to Japan after my mission, I'd be set jobwise. ;)
Earthquake:
So,
I'm not sure how many of you guys heard about the 7.3 magnitude
Earthquake or not here in Japan... but I was right by the epicenter.
That day, Lundy shimai and I got a strong prompting that we needed to go
Chirashi Kubari (Hand out Flyers) in a station called Minami Gyotoku.
That's where we were when the Earthquake hit. At first, I didn't
actually notice anything. This group of High School girls who were by
me started screaming and bent over covering their heads, and that's when
I started to feel it. I looked over to Lundy shimai who was over by
the bus stop and... she was just out there doing her thing! xD She had
no idea there was an Earthquake, she was just still walking around to
random people offering them flyers! LOL! She said after that she
wondered why everyone was looking at her like she was crazy. x)
Meanwhile, right next to her, the things by bus stops to cover you from
rain and such were shaking up and down like they were going to break at
any second...... and my companion is handing out flyers. ;) Oh my gosh I
couldn't help but laugh. I loved it. If you guys want more details on
the Earthquake write me and I'll give you more! :-)
D&C 88
This one was
probably the biggest experience of this week. I wrote about it to my
mission President so I'm just gonna copy and paste. :-)
This week was actually kind of hard on me. Not nearly the
hardest I've experienced out here but it was fairly hard. This week I
received an AMAZING revelation. It seriously changed my entire outlook
on missionary work and what I'm doing here in Japan. I was reading in
D&C 88. In verses 51-60 the Lord tells the parable of servants in
several fields and the Master promises to visit each in their own hour.
While I was reading this it hit me that this parable was written for US.
It wasn't a parable told over 2,000 years ago, this parable was told to
a prophet 200 years ago! This is for US! Keeping that in mind I
continue to read.
I reached verse 73 which says "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time." I received a letter recently from a friend of mine who was in the MTC at the time of the announcement concerning the age change in missionary work. He said that week Elder Bednar came and spoke at the MTC and said "The reason for the announcement is that the Lord is hastening the work." AH! So, NOW is the time that the Lord is hastening the work. That revelation given to Joseph Smith 200 years ago is NOW being fulfilled. (And I'm here to participate in it!!) After that verse the Lord goes on to specifically talk to those who are called to spread the gospel during the time the work is hastened. He's specifically talking to us! Verses 80-90 talk about how we need to do everything we can to warn those around us because it's not long before Christ comes and they will stand before God and Christ to be judged. They're running out of time and right now we're the only people in the entire world who can bring them eternal happiness! In Tokyo, there are 180 of us trying to save the souls of 4 million people! When that thought hit me, I couldn't help but feel extremely overwhelmed. I kept thinking "How is it even slightly possible we can rescue them all!?" On that note, I had to end my personal study and Lundy shimai and I started Companion Study. During companion study, Lundy shimai shared a scripture she'd read during her study. 2 Kings 6:16 "Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." We're not alone in this. Besdies. We've got GOD on our side! "With God nothing is impossible." 180 to rescue 4 million? Bring it on.
This seriously changed my entire perspective on why I'm here. With all the Earthquakes and everything lately I keep being reminded that Christ is coming. Christ will be here soon and soon it will be too late for these people! These people are my brothers and sisters and if I don't do my best to help them... Well, I just have to be my best! Which is why this week was so hard on me... I think because I got that revelation, I've started to be TOO hard on myself. Everytime I make any sort of little mistake I get really mad at myself... but I keep trying to remind myself, I can't be a perfect missionary all at once. Little by little I'll get better and better.
Anyways! That was the biggest thing of this week. Because of this though, I feel like I HAVE improved a lot as a missionary! I've always struggled with talking to people... It's like pulling teeth to talk to someone I've never met... Especially in Japanese... but the day I had this revelation, I was able to talk to 9 different people about the gospel and even give out a Book of Mormon! :-) I'm improving! Just slowly. :P
And that was my week! I love you guys and I'm so grateful for all of your prayers. You're amazing and I love each and every one of you! Have a fantastic week!
-
Christine
I reached verse 73 which says "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time." I received a letter recently from a friend of mine who was in the MTC at the time of the announcement concerning the age change in missionary work. He said that week Elder Bednar came and spoke at the MTC and said "The reason for the announcement is that the Lord is hastening the work." AH! So, NOW is the time that the Lord is hastening the work. That revelation given to Joseph Smith 200 years ago is NOW being fulfilled. (And I'm here to participate in it!!) After that verse the Lord goes on to specifically talk to those who are called to spread the gospel during the time the work is hastened. He's specifically talking to us! Verses 80-90 talk about how we need to do everything we can to warn those around us because it's not long before Christ comes and they will stand before God and Christ to be judged. They're running out of time and right now we're the only people in the entire world who can bring them eternal happiness! In Tokyo, there are 180 of us trying to save the souls of 4 million people! When that thought hit me, I couldn't help but feel extremely overwhelmed. I kept thinking "How is it even slightly possible we can rescue them all!?" On that note, I had to end my personal study and Lundy shimai and I started Companion Study. During companion study, Lundy shimai shared a scripture she'd read during her study. 2 Kings 6:16 "Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." We're not alone in this. Besdies. We've got GOD on our side! "With God nothing is impossible." 180 to rescue 4 million? Bring it on.
This seriously changed my entire perspective on why I'm here. With all the Earthquakes and everything lately I keep being reminded that Christ is coming. Christ will be here soon and soon it will be too late for these people! These people are my brothers and sisters and if I don't do my best to help them... Well, I just have to be my best! Which is why this week was so hard on me... I think because I got that revelation, I've started to be TOO hard on myself. Everytime I make any sort of little mistake I get really mad at myself... but I keep trying to remind myself, I can't be a perfect missionary all at once. Little by little I'll get better and better.
Anyways! That was the biggest thing of this week. Because of this though, I feel like I HAVE improved a lot as a missionary! I've always struggled with talking to people... It's like pulling teeth to talk to someone I've never met... Especially in Japanese... but the day I had this revelation, I was able to talk to 9 different people about the gospel and even give out a Book of Mormon! :-) I'm improving! Just slowly. :P
And that was my week! I love you guys and I'm so grateful for all of your prayers. You're amazing and I love each and every one of you! Have a fantastic week!
-
Christine
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