28 July 2014 Sanjo
Hello! I can't believe it’s Monday again already! Wow! This week was full of exciting adventures and a few miracles too.
I'll start with our big adventure.
Wednesday we had a zone meeting and on our way home had a
miracle! We found a college girl who wants to learn more about the
gospel! We talked for our entire half hour train ride and at the end we
asked if she wanted to learn more. She said yes!
We said "really?" It was shocking.
Everyone is always too busy or Buddhist. But she wanted to learn more!!
Sadly she lives in another area though, so we handed her over to the
sister missionaries in that area.
After lunch and some paper crane making we set out to visit Hoshino shimai. We were already gonna be late but she told us no worries, later was fine. Sister Skabelund almost got hit 3 times and we very quickly became lost. Finally we found the river we needed to cross, and started to cross it. On the bridge Sister Skabelund stopped and said it felt like something was stuck to her tire. She spun her wheel and I gasped in horror! There was some giant chunk of metal jutting out of her wheel!!
She reached to pull it out and I exclaimed
"don't touch it!" But it was too late. Pstzzzzzzz....sister Skabelund
said we could keep riding and so we keep riding...ptszzzzzz...and the tire
became even flatter very quickly...we were so far out we decided to keep
going..on foot and pushing our bikes.
We thought we were close!
We thought we were close!
We went down the bridge and walked for a few
more blocks, took a left and ended up In front of a huge shrine. We took
a picture and then continued on our way..we didn't make it too far
before an obachan asked
us if we were ok. We said we were but she saw Sister Skabelund’s tire
and exclaimed daijoibu jinai!
She asked where we were going and we showed
her. She didn't think we were going the right way. So she told is to
follow her and she brought us over to her across the street neighbors.
Out walks another obachan and then an old man in just his underwear.
Don't worry they were married. They looked at the map and we figured out
that we weren't even on the map! We were wayyy off. It was about 30
minutes away by walking! It was already 8:00. Ah!
We called Hoshino shimai and she ended
up talking to the old man in his underwear. They figured out where each
of us were BUT her car couldn't fit both our bikes. At some point during
all of this the original obachan
that found us wandered over to her house then wandered back.
She had called someone for a truck!
A little while later a HUGE white truck
shows up and a younger looking boy pops out. She had called her grandson
and he was gonna take us to Hoshino shimai's home! He loads in the bikes
and tells us to get in. But, as missionaries we can't be in a car alone
with a guy so we explained this and the obachan says no big deal and
climbs into the back of the van and sits with the bikes!
We sat in the front. It was a little awkward...getting into the van was too! It was pretty high off the ground. So sister Skabelund and I and the grandson sat in the cab while the obachan sat on the bed of the van with the bikes. It was pretty funny.
As we were driving we talked to the boy
a little bit. Haha he tried to flirt a little bit. My favorite moment
had to have been when he asked how old we were..21 and 22. He was
shocked. I asked how old he was..30. Hahaha. We invited him to eikaiwa.
We got to hoshino shimai's house and they took
the bikes out. From the back of the van the obachan waved and said
goodbye. It was soo funny. She was sitting Indian style and waved both
hands at us with
this huge smile on her face. I think she was planning on staying back
there for the ride back..luckily her grandson didn't let her.
We got to do phone lessons with quite a few less active members. And one of our less active members, Ogura shimai, is really progressing! It's exciting. She wants to come to church but can't because of work so we asked her to pray about what she should do and then fast. We would fast with her too! We called her Saturday night and all prayed together to start our fast. I'm excited to see the outcome and what answers she receives. She is really ready to take a bigger step. It's exciting.
Sunday evening we found another less active member who I think had managed to fall off the map; Yokohama shimai. She hasn't been to church since she got married. Sister Skabelund and Linquist Shimai accidentally found her 2 transfers ago. And when they housed into her she did not hesitate to say she wasn't interested. This time was soooo different. She had had a complete change in heart. We re-invited her to church And testified.
I handed her a map so she could see where the
church was, it was one of the ”I'm a Mormon” flyers, and she just kept staring
at it and flipping it over and opening it. It was a really sweet moment.
We prayed together before we left, the spirit was definitely felt by
her. And we will be visiting her again this week! And if we can find a
member to give her a ride I think she will come to church too!
We almost didn't even go to her house. But we
decided to act on what was possibly a spiritual prompting Skabelund
shimai was getting and it turned out just right! And because we went
there, we were able to see the last two people we wanted to see as well.
Perfect timing!
This weekend I have really felt and seen Heavenly Father's hand in the work. He is preparing people for us to find and helping us lead his lost sheep back. I love it. I love my companion and I love Sanjo.
I love you all too!
Sister Molinari
