11 May 2015
Kumagaya
 |
| From our Japanese barbeque |
Last
night we met the elders and headed over to the house of someone they had met
who was interested. Since she's a woman they can't teach her. So we get to! She
was really sweet. We had a really great talk and we get to visit her later this
week! As everyone was talking I had a wow moment. Here are four missionaries,
all except me are 19 and 20, in Japan, speaking Japanese all from different
places and different walks of life. We were united in the gospel and the power
that came from that was really special. It was a really cool moment.
Ok,
I don't have much time...so this week in a paragraph. Ready, set GO: after our
crazy Brazilian sports days on
Monday we turned it down a few notches and
went to an actual BBQ. Japanese Barbecues and American barbecues are very
different. The Japanese one is definitely yummier. I sat with the old people
and sang them American songs haha. They loved it. I did too.
We
got to meet with our super awesome friends: Kobayashi San and Atsuko San twice
this week. They are so nice. I love them already. And they are both on the
verge of something big. I can feel it. They are looking for answers, and lucky
for them, the gospel has them.
We
went to a member’s house, almost an hour away, all ready to clean. She had us
tie newspapers and card board together...probably took twenty minutes and then
she says “ok we are done, let's go eat!”
Friday We played some
ping pong, talked a lot about family history. Saturday was
a day full of eikaiwa. Kids eikaiwa was lots of fun. We did animals. We went
around the table asking the kids what their favorite animal was. My favorite
answer came from our new four year old student he said "ALL OF
THEM!". After, we had regular eikaiwa. That's always funny but sadly, I
can't remember anything so you'll just have to take my word for it. Saturday night we ate some yummy tonkatsu with Julia and then went
home, completely exhausted. Oh! We also made cookies! The oven didn't work so
we used the mircowave.
Sunday we gave the
cookies we'd made to all the women in the ward. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! Church was
really great. We are planning a luau for the end of June. I won't be there but
the ward is getting excited. It should be really fun. We are gonna open it up
to the community and invite Oyuzumi too! There will be hula and a haka (yes I
know technically not Hawaiian...but they won't know the difference) and of
course buta niku. pig. (ed. note: I have no idea what this is???).
After
church we didn't have anything planned so we went finding. We had some really
great encounters with people. I was really focusing on trying to find in faith.
We saw miracles. We ran into a member, who was on her way to the Eki to pick up
her daughter. Her daughter in not a member and she has had discussions with the
missionaries before. So, we waited a few minutes and then got to have a really
awesome discussion with her! It was so good. I was praying the whole time that
I would know what to say, and I did. It was really good.
We
ended the evening by visiting a lady the elders had found. A am so o excited to
get to know her better. She could recognize the spirit we had and I just know
it is going to go somewhere. I started the email by talking about her and our
meeting.
This
week there has been a big theme; Commandments. Something we hear all the time
is that commandments are restricting and
not fair. People don't like being told what to do. Therefore they cannot become
a member of this Church. I love talking about commandments. They say they are
restricting and I say. They aren’t. They appear to be so and it’s hard. But,
the freedom that comes from those commandments is like nothing else. The
happiness that comes from them cannot be compared to anything else. And
surprise, we are not forced to follow a single one of those commandments. We
have agency. A gift that God gave us. We are free to choose. If we were being
forced to follow commandments then we would not have agency, we would not have
the freedom of choice. It is our choice to follow commandments. And every time
we choose to follow a commandment we have just exercised that agency we have
been given. We choose over and over to follow that commandment. And through
those choices we are blessed. And we are happy. And we are free. When we choose
not to follow commandments we may be happy. But, in order to keep that
happiness, for it is fleeting, we have to choose not to follow that commandment
again. And again. And again. And in so doing we have become a slave to
disobeying that commandment. The only way to be happy is to do what God has
told us not to. And he didn't tell us not to cus he wanted to be mean or bossy.
He told us because he knows the source of true happiness.
I
love telling those we teach that I've found that source of happiness. I've
lived with and without it and I choose with. I choose to follow commandments.
And I love promising them the same happiness I have. It's great! I absolutely
love it.
Alright
that's all for now folks,
See
you real soon
Love
you!
Sister
Molinari
