MONDAY
We got some winter boots for Croft Shimai (who needed them
badly), and I bought some presents for the family. :) And we went
finding!
TUESDAY
We had a lesson with A Shimai on Tuesday, which was pretty
good. It had been a little while since we`d met with her, but she texted
us a couple of nights before telling us that she`s been feeling farther away
from God lately, which she didn`t like. So we met with her and talked
about our mission theme and Walking with Jesus Christ. She loved that,
and said in her prayer afterwards that she didn`t feel quite so far away
anymore. She`s been making some reaaaally good progress this week.
Then we went to go visit a less active named I Shimai and shared a little
message with her. Her daughter is coming to visit from the states next
week, and she said that she`ll come to church when they`re here! Which is
great! Also, on the way, I had my first really good success with
streeting! So mostly, I`m just really bad at streeting--especially
stopping people without being awkward. But, we met a college student on a
walk with her younger sister, talked about what happens after we die, shared
Alma 40:12 with her there on the sidewalk. She thought it was so cool
that we exchanged numbers, and will hopefully be able to meet with her again
this week. :~
ALMA 40:12: 12 And
then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous
are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a
state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their
troubles and from all care, and sorrow.
That night we had Eikaiwa, and after Eikaiwa, we usually have
ping pong. But I learned a lesson far more important than how to speak
English or hit a plastic ball with a paddle. It was my turn for pingpong
when Tsan motioned me over to his laptop to show
me the recipe book he`s making, which I knew was going to take a little bit of
time. For a moment or so, I wasn`t terribly excited about it, just
halfheartedly saying, `Wow, that`s cool. Looks delicious,` because I`m a
punk who was just thinking about how I would rather play ping pong. But
then I looked at Tsan and how excited he was about his cookbook and I had
another thought, `What do I want to do right now? I could play ping pong,
or I could show this man, my brother, some attention and care about him and
make him feel good. Would I REALLY rather play ping pong than do that?`
And I realized, no way! It was just a silly little thing, but it
made me think about putting my desires in perspective. When I realized
that, I didn`t care or think about ping pong at all, but was just grateful for
the opportunity to talk to Tsan and praise him about his book. If we
can fix our desires to be in Alignment with the Lord`s, I know he can work
INCREDIBLE miracles through us! And plenty of small ones that bring our spirit
siblings joy and help them come closer unto Christ.
WEDNESDAY
WENDESDAY was crazy. We were bummed a little at the start,
because we faced nothing but about 8 straight hours of finding.
Yuck. But we made goals to pray at every decision point and seek the
Lord`s direction in every decision we made, and we set off to work.
At the beginning (for the first hour or so), we were housing.
(We like to switch things up to stay effective.) And I was NOT
doing a good job. I was tired. I didn`t want to be finding.
So we stopped, and I said a little prayer by myself, telling him how I was
feeling, but then applying the lesson I learned about desire the night
before. I said, `Heavenly Father, I want to sleep right now. Really
badly. But I promise that`s not really what I want. I want to serve
thee! More than anything. I know that I have so little time left to
serve with all my heart and time. Please, help me to FEEL this desire to
serve and to find those of Thy children who will listen! Strengthen me to
do this work!` The very next door became a PI. And we just kept on
finding, the rest of the day, 7 pi`s in total. We found a Mom with a
couple of kids, who wanted to know how Christianity helps family relationships,
two teenage Sisters who want to learn English, but also think Jesus is cool
(which is is), and old obaachan who is very devout Buddhist, but we hugged her,
and she said she hadn`t been hugged in years, since her husband died; and
another Mom who wanted us to come back in a couple days. The Lord is
leading this work!
THURSDAY
Weekly planning, and a good lesson with K Shimai about
prayer. O Kyoudai came this time, and was a fantstic doseki with a
strong testimony! And after the lesson was over, he brought over pictures
from when he was baptized, with the missionary who taught him--my molecular
biology professor--Professor Nielsen--from BYU! We`d talked about this
before. Semai sekai, as they say. It`s a small world.
Also, Croft Shimai felt prompted to go visit a week PI we`d had
from the week before, a Philipina woman named E who said her daughter had
interest in Eikwaia. We went over and told her we wanted to share a
scripture with her from the Book of Mormon. She said that she believes in
one God, but lately she`s been wondering about who Jesus Christ is. We
testified of him to her, read Mosiah 16:7-9 with her, and she is so excited to
study with us now! We are so excited to meet with her. She`s a
kinjin! A golden person. :)
Mosiah 16:7-9:
7 And
if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of
death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have
no sting, there could have been no resurrection.
8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
9 He is the light
and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never
be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be
no more death.
Also, we made dinner at the church with N Kyoudai, a
member. And he brought bread bowls and clam chowder. DELICIOUS!
FRIDAY
Zone conference. Gave my dying testimony. Saw
Broadhead Shimai and Derksen Shimai and gave them both big hugs. ALSO,
watched "Meet the Mormons" during lunch. The missionary mom at the end was
the best.
Then we went and dosekied for P`s lesson for the
Elders. It was cool. He wants to know if God`s there, because he
realizes that if He is, he`s going to have to make some big changes in his
life.
SATURDAY
Had lunch with O Shimai and her inactive daughter, then
had another great lesson with A Shimai in which she basically just shared
all of the things she`s been learning from reading the New
Testament. She is doing SOOO well.
Then we tried to find our way to the Stake President`s house
with the elders to have dinner there...it took us two hours. ... we were
late. It was tricky. They forgave us! And it was DELICIOUS!
Then we sprinted home to make it back in time for planning.
SUNDAY
CHURCH! Talked to the older guy who lives close to us, and
he said we can come back and share a message with him and his wife.
Then we went to go visit a member with the Elders and shared a
message with her and her less active son.
I love the work!
The church is true!
The book is blue!
Love, Harris Shimai
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Me at the Buddhist temple today!
Hōryū-ji (法隆寺?, lit. Temple of the Flourishing Law) is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is Hōryū Gakumonji (法隆学問寺), or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, the complex serving as both a seminary and monastery.
The temple's pagoda
is widely acknowledged to be one of the oldest wooden buildings
existing in the world, underscoring Hōryū-ji's place as one of the most
celebrated temples in Japan.[1][2] In 1993, Hōryū-ji was inscribed together with Hokki-ji as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area. The Japanese government lists several of its structures, sculptures and artifacts as National Treasures. A study of its shinbashira, the central wooden column almost suspended inside the Tō in 2001 led to a conclusion about the structure being older than previously thought by a century.
It was beautiful with all the
trees. You`ll just have to wait a couple of weeks to see the rest of the
pictures!
