Welcome Home, Sister Harris!

Well, This Is It!

Well, this is it.  (I`m sorry I don`t have anything better than a cliche to start this out with.  お許し下さい.)  It was a great second to last week!  We taught 10 lessons and found three new investigators!  Which is basically unheard of for me.

Monday - We went to Kasuga Taisha shrine with our investigator, A Shimai!  It was quite fun.  We did some good finding. :) 

Tuesday - We met with A, a Chinese referral from Tokyo.  Her husband lives there, and just got baptized, so she`s really interested!  We had lunch with her at her college campus and got to teach her about God.  Turns out, she already has a Book of Mormon (in Cantonese!) and knows how to pray.  The funny thing is, when they sent us the referral, it said, `Japanese is not her strongest language.  Use very simple Japanese and Chinese materials to help her understand.` ...  Her Japanese is BEAUTIFUL, and at least 17 and a half times better than mine. :)

We also had a lesson with A Shimai which...well...was a lesson with A Shimai!

Wednesday -  We had a lesson with Fsan, which went really well!

Thursday - We met with E, the woman we found a little while ago who is interested in who Jesus Christ is and what the difference between Christian churches is.  She was really excited about the Book of Mormon!   We also met with K Shimai and started teaching the first half of the Restoration.  She started out the lesson by telling us she would never join the church, but by the end, the Spirit was still incredibly strong.

Friday - District Meeting.  They made me give ANOTHER dying testimony.  How many of those do they want me to give?!  Haha.  And then indo Curry for the last time.   We had a great lesson at the church with Fsan and set a baptismal date with her!  She wants to be baptized and grow closer to God.  the only thing stopping her is her job, which is always on Sundays.  When we brought up that she needed to come to church to get baptized and stay strong, though, she said that this week, she had suddenly felt like she should change her job, and it going to try to switch jobs this month, and begin coming regularly to church by the end of December!  Talk about the Lord preparing people!

Saturday - We met with K, a cute little 18 year old we met streeting the other week.  She came all the way to the church, which she was so impressed with.  She wants to come to church so badly!  And she believes in God, and she loves the Book of Mormon.  She was so excited to get one, and said she would read it over and over again.  Then we had a lesson with Isan--the lady we mysteriously got to teach when we went to go visit O Shimai the other week.  We got to share about the role of the Savior, and her daughter listened in as well.  We then went to the N`s for a fun FHE and dinner!

Sunday - Church!  Surprised all the members by telling them it was my last Sunday.  Watched an adorable primary program composed of 5 kids. :) Attended the branch SYA lunch, got to teach a sudden lesson with K Shimai, and she surprised us by going in for hugs at the end.

And that was the end. :)

I have a few more days left to give my all to the Lord, but this is my email, so I figure I should share my wise thing now.

Before Zinke Kaicho left, he told us the phrase that he had written on his meishi (business cards you hand out like candy) when he was a missionary.  It said, `Man can`t change the truth, but truth can change the man.`  At the time, I just thought it sounded epic, but didn`t give it a whole lot of thought until a couple of weeks ago when I was reminiscing about my mission.

Every missionary is assigned to a mission, which each have a `mission within the mission,` something that the Lord specifically wants the individual missionary to accomplish on his or her mission.  Mine, it seems, has been largely about internal, rather than external change.

During this last year and a half, I have been dedicated entirely to the truth, to simply put it.  The truth that God is our Heavenly Father who loves us, and that Jesus Christ is His Son. The truth that through Jesus Christ, we can be saved, live happier lives, and be perfected in Him.  The truth that in 1820, a young boy named Joseph Smith saw both the Father and a Son in a quiet little grove of trees, and that through Him, Jesus Christ`s true gospel has been restored on the earth today.  I have tried to preach these truths from my heart every day, largely to people who don`t want to listen. (But granted, the elect--those who WILL listen--are there.) But I know that they are true.  I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Jesus Christ`s true church, and that it contains the fullness of the Lord`s gospel as revealed to us today.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior.  I`ve known these truths not just since before my mission, but for as long as I can remember.  But during this year and I half, I have become closer to them.  These truths are no longer just things that I know, but things that I feel, things that I cannot live without.

If we let it, I know we can all be changed by the truth, every day.  And it isn`t easy, but it`s worth it.

The church is true.

The book is blue.

See you soon--

Harris Shimai