14 April 2014 Chiba, Tokyo
Transfers were today!!!!! Actually, they happen Thursday, but we found out about them today.
I am going to be
staying in Oyumino!!! And my companion Orton shimai is leaving and going to Shibuya!
My new companion will
be sister Hubner, who, when we were little, used to live in New York and we
went to church together! How fun is that!? I'm pretty excited.
This past Sunday and Saturday we finally got to watch general conference. It was wonderful. As usual. Our investigator Murai San came to the afternoon session of general conference. She's old, and coming to church takes a lot of effort so she told us she would have to leave half way through but she ended up staying for the whole thing!
And she loved it! We went over to her house that night to follow up on conference. My favorite part of the night was when we told her the hymns were available on line! Her eyes lit up and she got soooo excited. I bookmarked the page on her computer so now she can listen to the Mormon tabernacle choir whenever she wants!
Highlights from conference:
I think my favorite
talk was Dieter F. Uchtdorf's. He spoke about being grateful IN all things, not
just grateful of things. At the end of his talk he also said something really
powerful " we are made of the stuff of eternity... endings our not our destiny..." I absolutely loved
that! How lucky are we. The end of this life isn't really the end. We have a
loving Heavenly Father who wants us to be just like him! When we die we are
reunited with him and our loved ones. There is so much comfort in that. And I
know it is true.
I also really loved
that Elder Bednar said we each need to have a load. I think that was something
everyone needed to hear. In this life we have hard times, trials and challenges
but that is part of the mortal experience. And through Christ we can carry our load! Pain and sorrow
can be eased, and burdens made light.
President Thomas s. Monson taught that love is the very essence of the gospel. And that every day we are given the opportunity to show kindness. It was a good reminder for me.
Earlier this week one of our investigators became a progressing investigator! We spent the first half of our first transfer in Oyumino trying to get a hold of her, then up until last week teaching awkward and kind of painful lessons, or just being stood up. 2 weeks ago, she called to tell us that her son was sick so we couldn't meet with us the next way. Great. Later that week we made treats for some of our investigators and some for the members as "thank you's". We dropped off one of our treats at Ezaki sans house, and hoping, in addition to showing that we care, that we could also see her. She was asleep! So her husband took the treats for us. We heard nothing from her until the end of last week when she called to see if we could come over the next week(this week that just ended) and to thank us for the treats. I was blown away that she had called us! And wanted to know when we could come over!
We went over on Thursday and had the best lesson ever since we've gotten to Oyumino. The
spirit was present. And Ezaki San had read from the Book of Mormon! When we
said the closing prayer she also participated! She usually gets distracted by
her son, but she closed her eyes, folded her arms and ignored him during the
prayer and said amen.
When we asked when we
could come back she told us any day would work! That was a big change from
before as well! Usually, we would receive a not so straight answer with (I'm
pretty sure) having the intent of not having to meet again. It was amazing!
We'd been praying for her lots, and Heavenly Father has been working with her too
and I'm so excited to see what happens and to teach her again Tuesday!
This week, we befriended another little obachan (ed. note: "grandmother"). I complimented her on her flowers, telling her that daffodils were my favorite (they are everywhere in Japan) and she cut a bouquet for me! It made my day, and week...it was so nice coming home to beautiful daffodils every day.
Okay, that is all for now. Can't wait to see what this week brings!
Love you all!
Sister Molinari
