You Need to Have a Solid Foundation of Faith.

MONDAY:  

We emailed, went to go begin setting up the missionary couple`s apartment, went to McDonalds and ate tofu nuggets (a real thing).  And wrote some letters!  That night, we went to a Chinese restaurant as a bye bye to Elder O******* (who goes to the mission office today, and then home to Sapporo tomorrow), and it was so yummy!  I ate way too much food.

TUESDAY:

We made okonomiyaki with E**** and her friends!  And I saw that it was delicious.  Did I really learn how to do it?  Not quite, but she gave us the recipe, and I could probably figure something out.  After that, we went to go visit her friend who she referred to us, named M******* san.  She and her husband talked to us for a while (in English), gave us what are apparently the thinnest cookies in Japan, and then set up an appointment for Tuesday.

Then, we had an appointment with H******* Shimai.  And H******* Shimai is wonderful. We`ve been asking her to keep a prayer journal, and since she`s started doing it, she`s begun receiving answers.  She`s been recognizing miracles in her life that she feels like she can`t help but contribute to God.  And it is good. :) And we finished at 9:10 and had to speed back to our apartments to make it by 9:30 so fast that we were both seconds away from spontaneous combustion when we finally got there.  (It was fast.  Also, imagine me spinning away like crazy on that little bike, and you`ll have a better picture.)

Wednesday

We had a lesson with Y*** Shimai, then one with A******* Kyoudai (both less actives).  Then we had a short little lesson with C*** san before he goes back to China for a month or two and went to eat Okonomiyaki before Eikaiwa.

Thursday

We did service at O*** Shimai`s for a while, had some SKK, and another lesson with H******* Shimai!  But we made the mistake of starting out by asking her how she got so darn good at English, and she ended with, `You just have to speak the language all the time.  You know what, how about we talk from now on tonight in Japanese? Nihongo de hanashimashou!` And then we had to surprise do a lesson in Japanese that we planned on doing in English.  But it was still good!  And we read from Enos 1 and she realized some things she needed to do to make her prayers better.  She is progressing so much, and I literally can almost not stop thinking about her and trying to receive revelation on what else she needs.

Friday

Zone training meeting!  I learned good things.  My favorite was our zone leaders talked about the three things that Joseph Smith said in the Joseph Smith papers that you need to have a solid foundation of faith.  

1)  A belief in God

2)  A correct understanding of him 

3)  The knowledge that you`re living your life in harmony with His will. 

I`d heard those before, but they talked about how faith in Number 3 is a choice.  You have to work your best and then choose to believe that you`re following God.  It doesn`t always come easily.  And that was something that helped me a lot.

Saturday

We had a great lesson with LA O*** Shimai. She`s been having a hard time consistently reading the Book of Mormon, but by the end of the lesson said on her own that we need to make reading the Book of Mormon just as much of a habit as eating or sleeping is.  For the win!  Then we found a cool PI who was so excited to hear we were Christian missionaries that she literally ran to the door (whaaat?  Is this Japan?) and we had a Yakiniku party (grilled meat and vegetables) at O*** Shimai (active member) with D*******san, his mom, and the Elders.

Sunday

We visited lots of LA`s with O*** Shimai!

It was a good week.

I`m really going to miss Eddy Shimai, but I know she`s going to love her new area!

The church is true! 

The book is blue!

Love,

Sister Whitney