"Sister Black will understand me!"

Ushiku Transfer 10 Week 2

Konnichiwa!

This week has gone by way too fast! I really can't believe it. I remember hearing something in the MTC about how weeks feel like days here, and it is so true.

We saw some amazing miracles this week though!

We only had a little bit of finding time this week, but during that time I was really trying to be in tune with the Spirit. At even the slightest poke or thought, I would change directions and it led us to this one house where we were able to talk to a girl in Junior High. It was so amazing though because she used to play basketball at the basketball court we have in the parking lot, so she totally recognized what church we were from and she was very friendly. It was a nice little miracle for that short finding time that we had.

We were also able to meet with a Less Active. She is so sweet! She has a hard time reading small font, so she has this journal where she writes thoughts and scriptures and it was so organized and beautiful. She has such a strong testimony and it was so amazing to get to talk to her and learn from her.

Another miracle less active that we met this week was a Sister from Chile.  Her husband is from Brazil. We went with a member who used to have a lot of contact with her a few years ago, and it was amazing. She really opened up to me (in Spanish) about some of the problems and struggles she had been having recently. She really wants her sons to come to Primary and learn about God and Jesus Christ and we really want to help her and her family! At the end of the lesson, I was prompted to share a scripture with her. We brought a Spanish Book of Mormon with us just in case and I was so thankful that we did because her Book of Mormon was packed away. We shared Mormon 9:21 with her and it says:

"Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth."

Taking pictures while bowling

When she read this scripture, she started to tear up. I know that this was a scripture that she needed to hear. I am so thankful for the Spirit and Heavenly Father who guided me to find something that she needed to hear. I had only been talking with her for 30 minutes. I didn't know everything that was going on, but Heavenly Father always knows what is going on and what we need. There was a powerful Spirit in the room as she read and pondered on the scripture.

I was so so thankful for the opportunity to visit her. It really was a miracle that we were able to find and visit her. About 3 week ago, we were asking all the Spanish members in the ward about what they knew about her, but no one really had any information. Then we went to Koike Shimai's house for lunch one day and she brought up this sister to us! It was amazing! We were able to organize a time to go with her and that led to this amazing experience. I am so grateful for all the guidance we received from Heavenly Father to find her!

Then right after we saw another miracle! Last week we found the high school girl named Nodoka-chan. Well this week we met her! We waited for her at the train station for 30 minutes, but she still hadn't come. The only reason that we kept waiting was because we had talked on Line and she was really excited to meet us. She had even messaged us to say that the original meeting time didn't work for her, and could we change to earlier? So we knew that if she wasn't coming, it was because something else happened. We decided to make the 15 minute walk (in the super super hot weather) to a nearby 7/11 even though we were already dying because it had been a long day. I'm so glad we did though, because sure enough, when we got there we saw that we had a message from her saying that the train was delayed. We were able to meet with her and it went so well!!!!

So flashback to District Meeting 2 weeks ago. We had a training on listening while finding and Elder Kooyman (who was giving the training) gave us all situations to do role plays with. Well, our person was a girl who lived near a church, had never gone, but always wondered what church was like. It was a good role play and we got some good tips on how to improve.

Now back to Nodoka-chan. We were able to really BRT with her and talk about some of the things we do as missionaries, and then she told us she LIVED NEAR A CHURCH!!!!! AND HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE WHAT CHURCH WAS LIKE!!!! As soon as she told us that, my mind went straight to the role play and the tips we had received. We were able to invite her to church and she is going to come next week! She is so excited and we are so excited for her!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! We were honestly in so much shock after that lesson because she was just so prepared. Yay for prepared people!

The other exciting thing from this week was that on Saturday we went bowling with Nao-chan, our other young investigator. It was a lot of fun, and surprisingly we all did really well. I managed to start 2/3 of my games off with a strike. Nao-chan had so much fun too and we were really able to build a relationship with her. We also gave her a list of our favorite Book of Mormon scriptures. We were going to read some of them with her after church the next day, but then she didn't come and we were so sad. School starts back up in Japan next week and she won't be able to come to church anymore because she has study school. We were devastated when she didn't come, but we have faith that we will be able to meet her even when school starts and help her continue to progress and grow.

Lastly, as always Sunday was crazy. Since we are in charge of the Japanese and the Portuguese ward, our Sundays are always booked. Well in the Portuguese ward, the two sisters who were giving talks actually spoke Spanish and I was shocked that I understood so much of what they said compared to normal. (Although Spanish and Portuguese are very similar, they are just different enough to make Portuguese much harder to understand for me). It was such a blessing to be able to hear the talks in a language that I know very well. It was funny because one of the members who gave a talk is from Peru, and she always tells everyone that I speak really good Spanish and that I understand more Spanish than Portuguese. Then she started her talk by saying "I could try to translate this into Portuguese for all of you, but for the sake of Hermana Teresa [the other Spanish member] and Sister Black, I will speak in Spanish. They will understand me." I DIED!!!!!!!!!! I almost lost it right there, I was trying so hard not to laugh. But I did understand and that was such a blessing to me.

"We" - a new character I learned

Heavenly Father really does bless missionaries. I know that many of my emails over the past 14-15 months have mentioned the gift of tongues, but I have a very very strong testimony that the gift of tongues is a real gift. I have been studying the gifts of the Spirit recently and one thing that stood out to me is that every person receives different gifts, but they also receive those gifts at different times for different lengths of time. Spiritual Gifts come to us and they leave us. I know that I have not had the gift of tongues with me for every single day of my mission. However, it's times like this when I can almost feel Heavenly Father physically hand me a gift to help me. Heavenly Father has brought so much Spanish to my remembrance. I don't think anyone, not members, not my companions, no other person can understand how big of a miracle this is, for me to remember how to speak Spanish as fluently as I can right now. I repeat myself, but Heavenly Father knows exactly what is going on in our lives, he knows exactly what we need.

And here it is on a sign

I am so so so grateful to know that I am a child of God and that he loves me and cares for me and always always wants to bless me. I know that he loves each and everyone of you as well. I know that he knows us, our situations, our triumphs and our trials. He knows it all and he will guide us and help us every day.

The scripture that we shared with Tabe Shimai, I know that that scripture is true. No matter who we are, or what situation we are in, if we pray to Heavenly Father without any doubts, he will help us.

I am so grateful to be a missionary here in Japan.

I love you all!

ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai