I didn't hear that
Elder Perry passed away. That makes me really sad.
I don't have anything too spectacular to report. On
Tuesday we had to come to the church for Missionary Leader Conference
because Cox Shimai is the Sister Training Leader now, and I got to see
Lowe Shimai! We did splits with the Fukuoka Shimai and it was a lot of
fun. Basically all of the beans who had trainers who are STL's had to
just go on splits here in Fukuoka for the day. It was a lot of fun, and
it made me really happy to see some people from the MTC I haven't seen
in a while.
The best thing that happened this
last week was that I had the wonderful opportunity to go through a
session here at the Fukuoka temple! It was really wonderful. The temple
is such a beautiful place. I love the spirit that I feel when I go
there, and there really is nothing like being able to go into the temple
and to receive that peace and comfort that you are seeking. It was a
really good experience and I felt really blessed to get to go. Not a lot
of people/missionaries get to go to the temple, so I felt very
special.
We still haven't had anyone to really
teach, and it's getting a little hard. I want to be teaching! We have
been doing a lot of finding things and it is good, but not quite as
rewarding as being able to teach someone a lesson. We did teach a lesson
to the Sakias this week and it went really well. We are hoping that
they will keep progressing.
Probably one of
the best things about being American is that I can get away with being
awkward. The best is when you go up to someone and say who you are and
put your hand out for them to shake it. It is just this whole new level
of awkward that somehow breaks the ice. Haha it's awesome. There is
something here called "gaijin power" and it's real. People are either
very startled when we stop them or very curious. I am getting really
good at stopping people on my bike too. You just ride until you get
close enough, then you put your hand out and wave and greet them and
usually they stop, and assume you need directions or something. Well,
nah, I'm a missionary. But we do A LOT of street contacting. Margaret
also asked how many doors I knock. I honestly don't know. If we are
housing and trying to get about 30 contacts, that's probably like 60
doors we have to knock to get those contacts. Maybe more. I don't know
but it's a lot. Sometimes we do whole complexes, sometimes a few blocks
at a time, it just depends.
Probably the
scariest thing that happened this week was we had to go into the grocery
store and get a few things before we had nothing to eat, so we went it,
got milk and a few things and low and behold a spider probably
three-four inches big was next to the guy at the register. I'm
panicking. I gestured to Cox Shimai and she starts panicking, but she is
laughing at me because I'm so horrified, and I'm just sitting there and
of course it starts moving towards this little girl and I had this urge
to say, "It's going to eat your children! RuN!!" Of course I didn't but
we got out of there very quickly. Haha. The spiders and bugs are
getting to be quite......... interesting. I've gotten so many bug bites.
I'm trying to use the repelant that I have more though so hopefully that
will help.
I have been thinking a lot lately
about what it means to be a missionary. I often feel like I'm not doing
any good. I'm stopping people and talking with them, but I haven't been
able to really help someone progress. Sometimes I feel like missionary
work here in Japan especially is all about making sure that we are
contacting people. It's important also to be teaching and bringing
people closer to their Savior, but I often feel that sometimes just
meeting the missionaries once, or just receiving the Book of Mormon for
the first time, really is a step in peoples progression. There are so
many things that you do as a missionary and you want to be doing the
right things.
On P-Day we actually got to just
stay home and do normal P-Day things, and it was really nice. We haven't
had a P-Day for about two weeks now so, that was really needed. I wrote
a ton of letters. So hopefully those will be coming soon. We have
Lesson Mastery which is, basically, all alone I have to be able to teach a
short medium and long length lesson for all 5 lessons. I have to do my
first one today, The Restoration short, and I'm way nervous, so pray for
me! I love you.
I hope you're doing well. I love you all!!
Keep me updated!
Love, Raines Shimai
No comments:
Post a Comment