2 February 2015 Sakado
To be perfectly honest, I had a terrible week
this week. Lots of good things happened but I just wasn't happy. But
it's ok. I fixed it! As a missionary a lot of your success is defined by
numbers. How many people you teach, how many baptisms you have...it goes
in and on. And quite honestly none of that matters. As long as you are
trying your best and working, it doesn't matter what your numbers are.
But, I'd gotten a little caught up in numbers and because of it, I got
frustrated and grumpy.
During Sunday school the bishop showed a video of this southern Christian talk show host. She was funny. And everything she said was great. But at one point she says "your worth is not based on the things you do." Duhh I know that. But I guess I just needed to hear it from someone with a southern accent. After class I perked right up and I've been dandy ever since!
Anyways, transfers were today! Sister Bettridge and I are staying together! Yippee! I'm so happy. Soooooo happy! In fact our whole district stayed together. That is so rare here. And it has happened to me twice here in Sakado. Crazy! The sad thing is though, that I will most definitely be moving next transfer. Well...I don’t know for sure...but odds are I will. I've only got two more transfers left, well three including this one. It is highly unlikely that I would stay in Sakado for that long. But if I did, I most certainly would not complain. I love it here. I love the members. I love it all.
Wednesday we had a mission conference. Elder and Sister Aoyagi were touring the mission. They lived in my first area and I was able to eat over at their house a few times. Guess what? They remembered me! And Sister Aoyagi said that her granddaughter still remembers me too! When she told me that, that really made my day. Also, the fact that I could have a real conversation with her in Japanese made me pretty happy as well.
Elder Aoyagi had asked us to look for missionaries in the scriptures and study what they do to prepare for the conference. I didn't have time to really write anything down until the week before the conference but, I had sooo much fun doing it. I started making all these cool connections and seeing how everyone else in the Book of Mormon is connected. It was a little too much fun. I love reading the Book of Mormon! It is the best book ever. I think some missionaries might just say that to say that. But, I'm saying it cus it is true. When you read the book of Mormons with the intent to learn its crazy how much you actually learn.
On Monday we had a lesson with one of our investigators about
reading the Book of Mormon with the right purpose and intent. We showed
her our Books of Mormon and she was shocked we had so much highlighted and
marked up. She couldn't believe that we found it that interesting, but I
think she wants to have the same
experience..so I'm excited to see what happens!
Friday it snowed! A lot. I hate snow. Luckily it's all melted away again. But, we decided to go housing that day, despite the snow. We knocked on 100 doors (sister Bettridge and I like to count). And not a single person was interested in what we had to say. Not one. And I was told some of the rudest things I'd ever heard. That's never happened before. Needless to say it did not help my mood I was in. That evening we had a lesson with Kikue, who I love. Itō kyodai sat in too. We read Joseph Smith history. When we got to the verse where Joseph Smith tells about finding James 1:5 (if any of ye lack wisdom let him ask of God...) it was my turn to read. I started reading and burst into tears! I was just so sad. I know this is true. So true. I don't doubt it. Not a single bit. And I was just overcome with this sadness that people won't listen. It's the key to happiness. It blesses lives in more ways than one can imagine. But no one wants to listen because they are too "busy" or prideful or just don't care. If you had the opportunity to be truly happy, wouldn't you want it? Well, I cried all through the rest of the lesson. Despite that though it was a really great lesson. Kikue believes it! And she loves the Book of Mormon. Blessings.
experience..so I'm excited to see what happens!
Friday it snowed! A lot. I hate snow. Luckily it's all melted away again. But, we decided to go housing that day, despite the snow. We knocked on 100 doors (sister Bettridge and I like to count). And not a single person was interested in what we had to say. Not one. And I was told some of the rudest things I'd ever heard. That's never happened before. Needless to say it did not help my mood I was in. That evening we had a lesson with Kikue, who I love. Itō kyodai sat in too. We read Joseph Smith history. When we got to the verse where Joseph Smith tells about finding James 1:5 (if any of ye lack wisdom let him ask of God...) it was my turn to read. I started reading and burst into tears! I was just so sad. I know this is true. So true. I don't doubt it. Not a single bit. And I was just overcome with this sadness that people won't listen. It's the key to happiness. It blesses lives in more ways than one can imagine. But no one wants to listen because they are too "busy" or prideful or just don't care. If you had the opportunity to be truly happy, wouldn't you want it? Well, I cried all through the rest of the lesson. Despite that though it was a really great lesson. Kikue believes it! And she loves the Book of Mormon. Blessings.
I can't think of anything funny that happened this week. But I know there were lots of funny things. Sister Bettridge saw her first man peeing on a wall...She's still talking about it. Hahaha. Also during a lesson our investigator was telling this hilarious story about her dog eating some mans dentures. Sister Bettridge was laughing along and so I figured she got it. After, she asks “why is that so funny?” She hadn't understood but she thought our investigator's faces being made were funny so she was laughing. When I told our investigator that, we all had a really good laugh.
Ok well, that's it for today.
Love you all!
Sister Molinari
