No, you don't understand. I have this $250 picture on my wall. I can't take your lessons.

Aug 31

So... This week. This week has been one where I've really been able to feel led by the spirit in what I've taught. (EL GASP--am I getting good enough at Japanese to be able to say things that make sense? From my heart? Answer: No, probably not ;) But thankfully there's a member of the Godhead serving beside us, and he's a lot better at Japanese than I am.)

Monday, we taught an awesome lesson to a wonderful lady who doesn’t come to church often. After feeling out her retention level again, we decided to teach a Plan of Salvation overview with her. It was very, very simple, and we basically just named the parts as we put them down. But it worked really well with her. She was actually asking questions and making remarks about what she would do when she was resurrected. She was talking about how exciting it would be to see all her ancestors again (she relates teachings to the Buddhist beliefs she was raised with), and this is the first time we've seen her respond so well to a lesson. And she actually agreed to come to church for my birthday.

Tuesday--There was a typhoon going on, so our SGG members (group of Japanese English speakers) told us to absolutely stay home and do not go anywhere, because it will get worse. It did not get worse--it was another wimpy typhoon. So we went out, and on the way back, we ran into a woman who was having issues with her bike, so we stopped to help. Not much we could do--didn't have oil, which is what we needed, but struck up a conversation with her.

Us: We're missionaries.

Her: I'm Bukkyo.

Us: That's okay.

Her: No, you don't understand. I have this $250 picture of <Buddhist god> on my wall. I can't take your lessons.

She made sure we understood the full, $250 value of her investment several times before thanking us and sending us away, but before we left, we managed to squeeze in a question:

Us: There's a lot of different religions, aren't there.

Her: Yeah, there's a lot in Christianity, too, right?

Us: Yeah, there are. How can one truly know the truth?

Her: *laugh* No one can know the truth.

Us: Yes, you can. By this thing called prayer--

Her: No, you don't understand. I have this $250 picture...

So we gave her a picture of Christ. Because salvation. It's not $250, it's free. The truth. It can be known. But only if you experiment on the word. If you don't try it out, you'll never know.

 Wednesday (8/26)

Karaage (fried chicken--Japan-style) at my favorite Karaageya. But before that, we stopped by to meet a lady that someone from church asked us to meet. We were told that she's suuuper busy, so we came early and when we saw there was no one parked in her store lot, it was like "RUUUUUUUUN!!!!" So we said a quick prayer and ran in.

News: She's really busy. She does want to hear the gospel, though, and we taught her a lesson on prayer. She took it in extraordinarily well. It was pretty cool to see. W. shimai gave her a quick demo prayer and she was like, "Can I ask God to do things for me?" (We had asked for blessings on her, in the prayer.) Us: Of course. Will you pray every day this week? Her: Yes!

Then she thanked us for teaching her prayer and she was grateful that we swept her floor and thank you and come back and goodbye! (She's a fun one--really friendly, very gaijin-poi (foreigner) voice.)

Friday, we went to District Meeting and W. shimai tried her first beef bowl. Yum :) Then we did SKK at the church until our miracle girls from last week came. They were an hour late, but they came. And you know what? We taught an AWESOME lesson on the Godhead. Well, more than our ability to teach was their ability to learn. R-chan is so visually receptive, and S-chan is very thoughtful. They pushed each other to accept our invitations, and in the end, they said their first prayer. I love listening to first prayers. They're really so sweet. Any prayer, really, helps you look into the heart of an individual. I love listening to people talk with God. That's the time when I know most that the gospel is true.

Afterwards, we had about two hours left, so we decided to visit the lady I found with F.shimai who cried when we prayed for her. She was home! We met her as she was going inside and said hello.

Us: Did you pray this week? :)

Her: No, not really. I read a bit of the pamphlet, and I don't understand it much, but you see, everyone in Japan is Buddhist. So we pray in our own way...

She had a few problems: 1.) No solid belief in our image of God, 2.) My prayer is my prayer, your prayer is your prayer, 3.) There are so many religions, 4.) No one really knows where we're from or going, 5.) The pamphlet type is small.

We found those problems out in that sequence. So, we taught the beginning of the Plan of Salvation. I had just laid down the pieces of the Premortal life and Earth, and said, "Before we came to earth, we lived with God as spirits. He is our father in heaven, and…”

She looked like she was about to object, and I thought to finish, but she stopped me.

Her: Wait. Wait. I need to tell you this--When you said that--"We lived with God as spirits"--I just---I just naturally... *hand motion from head-down* Whoosh. That kind of feeling. I believe now. I believe in God.

Then I smiled, and said, "You felt that way because this is true."

And it is. Don't believe me? Try it.

By the end, we had somehow answered all of her concerns, and when we wrote out the prayer houhou (method [address Heavenly Father, thank Him, ask for righteous things that you need, and then close the prayer]) and invited her to pray, she looked at us with an incredible smile and said, "I'll pray."

Sometimes I can't believe that God lets me be one of these people's missionaries.

Tell you about Sunday later.

Love you

Sanzu