It's so crazy to think that it's 2017 right now! One year ago I was still uncertain about serving a mission. I was filling out my papers and just going one step at a time and trusting that Heavenly Father had a plan for me. I had no idea that he had this plan in mind for me.
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| View from a bridge |
I know that no matter how low I am, I can always rely on Jesus Christ to know how I feel. He is always there to help me up. Missionary work is hard, but knowing that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always there for me gives me strength. I am never alone. I know that when I see miracles they are right there cheering alongside me. This is Heavenly Father's work, he rejoices with every little success just like we do. These are his children that I am helping. He loves each of them just like he loves me and he wants to help them all feel eternal joy and happiness. I am so so grateful for the Atonement that allows each of us to overcome our trials and our mistakes. It is such an amazing gift that everyone has, whether they know it or not. I love being able to teach people about the power the Atonement can have in their lives!
As for the rest of the week:
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| Dinner with the Itou family |
It was weird this week to be celebrating the holidays without my family, but the Urayasu Ward showed us so much love. We had so many member meal appointments this week and I felt like I was a part of each of their families. I might have gained like 20000 lbs from all the meals (lunch and dinner basically every day) but it was worth it. We had the chance to talk to a lot of members about mission school and get to know them better. It's been so fun! I also feel like my Japanese is getting a lot better because I'm starting to understand more and more of the conversations that we have.
Wednesday was a really cool day though. So all week the Elders, Sister Bede and I and Yusuke (an Eikaiwa student/investigator) have been planning this suprise party for Sister Chinain's last Eikaiwa. Somehow she had no idea even though Elder Kenley kept calling us and saying he couldn't talk about it over speaker phone.
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| Lunch with Enomoto Shimai |
Anyway, after the class, we usually have a game, so we went down to the first floor in the elevator and when it opened all the lights were off. Then we turned on the lights and blew streamers and it was such a great surprise. Yusuke brought cake, flowers and a super nice card that we all had written in and it was such a nice way to say goodbye to Sister Chinain. She really loved and appreciated it! I'm glad the Elders and Yusuke were able to plan something so special. I really wanted to do something special for Sister Chinain, but it's hard since I'm with her 24/7 so it's hard to plan surprises, so I'm so glad they were able to put this together!
On Thursday, Sister Chinain went back to the honbu (Mission Home) and on Friday she flew home. It is definitely a weird feeling to know that she is no longer a missionary and that she has finished her mission.
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| With the Kawamura's |
After lunch we took her to the train and said good bye. Sister Chinain was such a fun companion. She really taught me how to be confident, to just open my mouth and talk to people, and how to study to receive personal revelation. We had so much fun dendoing together. I'm so glad I was able to learn from her! She was such an influence on me. I learned that dendo (especially finding) can and should be fun. There is so much joy to be found in missionary work and I feel like we were able to feel a lot of joy together.
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| New Years Eve Dinner |
The day that Sister Chinain left we were doing study when the Nemotos texted us. They had canceled their lesson with us the day before, but said we could come now. We had a meal appointment later that night, far away from their house, but we decided to roll with it and go visit them anyway. We ended up having a really great lesson. It just goes to show that when we do all we can to help our investigators, even when it makes it harder for us, we will see miracles. We could have just stayed where we were and justified that it would have taken too long to visit them, but instead we went and we saw miracles!
Because it's New Year's, which is huge in Japan, we have a few days where dendo is dame (forbidden). Yesterday, Jan 1, was our Book of Mormon reading day. We went to church then came home and read the Book of Mormon until we went to the Weatherstone's for dinner. It was so nice to just read! I wish we had more time to do it. I love the Book of Mormon, it really is my favorite book. I could read it for hours (and I did ^^). Dinner was so fun too! More nabe!!! It's such a simple dish, but it's so good.  |
| Studying Hard |
Today we have a normal p-day, but tomorrow is our big cleaning day so we aren't supposed to dendo either. Sister Bede and I are planning on deep cleaning for half the day then baking cookies as a thank you to all the people who have fed us. We are super excited! Tomorrow is also the last day of meals, I'm both sad and happy, haha.
My New Year's was pretty normal. We went to dinner at the Kawaminami's and their whole extended family was there. It was super fun.
Funny story, we actually got there like 20 minutes early (all 6 missionaries) so we just split up and did housing for 20 min. Twice, the family came home just as we were ringing the doorbell so that was really awkward.
Anyway, their family was so nice and they kept pulling out these traditional Japanese desserts. We would finish one then they would pull out another and another, it was crazy.
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| Happy New Year |
That was my New Year's celebration though :) It was fun!
Thank you all for making the last year so amazing! I am super excited to spend another (almost full) year in Japan! So much has happened during the last 12 months, but thank you for all of your examples and love. You really help me become a better person every day.
Have a great 2017! See miracles!
ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai
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