I only have 2 stories to share this week and not much time to share them. So here we go. :-)
Akiko:
I
talked last week about Akiko's birthday. It was an amazing experience
for her and she really did feel SO much love.President Wada called her
and talked with her about Baptism to which she said she'd think about
it.
Well, this week I was on kokans with Sister Barnes in Yamato. We
decided we were going to go visit Akiko and see how she was doing. It
was a surprise visit so we weren't even sure if she'd be home... but
miracle number 1, she was! She thanked me for making her birthday the
most memorable birthday she's ever had. She also thanked me for the
present that I gave her. (A pocket-sized hymnbook) She said it was the
perfect present. It's too small for her to read the notes, but just big
enough to be able to read the words to the hymns... and since it's so
small she can carry it with her everywhere she goes. I talked with her
about her birthday and she mentioned a phone call from a man who's name
she couldn't remember. She said he mentioned something about baptism
and said "I realized that right now in my life there are so many roads
in front of me. I have to choose one of those roads or I'm not going to
progress... I've decided I want to be baptized." :-D YAAAAAAAAAAY!
Ayda:
On
Sister Feist's second day here in Japan we were walking back to the
apartment after a very long day of dendo. Both of us were pretty tired.
As we were walking back I we began talking to this woman near our
apartment. It turned out she was from Iran and had been living in Japan
for quite some time. When she heard that Sister Feist had just gotten to
Japan she quickly gave us her phone number and said (in perfect
English) "If you have any questions or need any help call me!"
We've kept in
touch with her ever since then. We came to find out that she was really
really busy with work making it hard to meet. Apparently being a model,
an actor, and teaching belly dancing is pretty busy. Finally though we
were able to make an appointment to meet with her this week. When we got
there, both of us were pretty nervous about meeting her... We walked in
and of course the first thing she did was offer us coffee. We explained
to her quickly about the Word of Wisdom and she said "Wow! That's
amazing! I love that! Our bodies really are special." We went on to
talking about her modeling job and what it was like and she said
"Actually it's really hard. A lot of times they try to get me to wear
those really sexy clothes, but that's just not me! I don't like wearing
immodest clothes. Like you said, our bodies are special!" She went on to
teach us pretty much the entire Law of Chastity. :P We talked with her
about how we believed in Eternal Marriage and she said "Wow! That's so
good! I want to learn more about your church!" We ended up at the end
giving her a Book of Mormon (which she offered to pay for) and
committing her to read it. It was incredible and the spirit was there so
strongly.
Those prepared
people really are out there if we keep searching. Although we may not
immediately recognize them as prepared, if we just open our mouths and
do those 10 meaningful contacts, God really does put them in our path.
:-)
It's been amazing week and I'm so sad to have to leave. I don't want to go!!!
I
love you all so much. I'm looking forward to seeing you all in 2
weeks. :-) The church is true! God lives and loves us SO much.
Everytime I look back on any of my experiences on my mission I can just
feel it with every part of me. God knows us and loves us. He wants to
help us and he always has his hand reached out to us. I'm so thankful I
have had this chance to be his servant and I can't wait to be his
servant for eternity. I have LOVED being a missionary so much. I'm so
grateful for the chance I've had to be here among the Japanese people.
Love you all! See you soon. :-)
Sister Christine Grosland
PS: Isaiah 41:10
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