23 March 2015 Sakado
Hello! It's almost spring here. Technically, it
is spring, but it's still a little chilly..so it doesn't count yet. But,
there are flowers everywhere and the trees are all covered in flowers
too. It's supposed to get chilly again this week. Poop. I'm loving
the flowers and the green. Winter is so grey and dismal. I am not a fan.
I think I become a little happier when spring gets here, and I'm not as
inclined to be too grumpy. How can you be sad when it is warm, sunny and
beautiful out?
In other news: I MISS SISTER BETTRIDGE. I probably won't get to see her before I go, that's a bummer. Everyone loved her here. She is missed by all.
We had an awesome few last days together though. We were able to teach quite a few lessons. They were the fun lessons too, where you pull the "I’m leaving" card. We heard people pray who never do! And now I get to pull the "well you prayed last week" card. It's great. Especially since prayer is important. You can't develop much of a relationship with our Heavenly Father if you won't talk to him. We got to teach one of the less actives, who told us she never got the gift of the Holy Ghost because every day is normal. We were quite certain she had. We talked about it and read scriptures about it and by the end I think she was almost convinced. So we did an experiment, and sister Bettridge and I sang. We asked her to pay attention to what she felt. At the end of the song she told us she felt peace, and love. Would you look at that! She had the Holy Ghost all along! Oh I almost forgot. At the beginning of the lesson we had a good laugh. Sister Bettridge was trying to ask her what the spirit was, if she'd felt it..some question like that.
Well, Nakesone Shimai had no idea what she was
saying. So Sister Bettridge just kept repeating Holy Ghost. She was just
getting a blank stare. Haha finally I said it in Spanish.
"Oooooooooooh" and then she says Holy Ghost in Japanese just
as Bettridge Shimai was saying it! Hahaha it was a great moment.
We had a miracle lesson with an investigator who had a baptismal date. It was great. Bishop helped out. And we set up a return appointment. But, due to a recent event in the news, where Christians are targeted, she won't leave her house, and it was cancelled. Please pray for her that She can receive help overcoming her fears. It's tough.
We got to hear from elder Nelson again. I loved what he said. Loved it. He talked about and asked us to become disciples of Christ. It seems to be a common theme lately. I think we all have unlimited potential to make an impact, b people are just too lazy to put in the work. Or are putting off repentance. Or don't feel worthy. But, in all honesty, anything can be overcome through the atonement. Anything! So the only ones who are holding us back from reaching our true potential is ourselves. We also talked about the new stuff that is coming for missionaries and technology. It was good. I think once it's all in action it will be better. It is really exciting for upcoming missionaries. But, I'm glad I don't have to be here for all of it.
At the conference I got to say goodbye to all my sister missionary friends. Basically everyone I knew went home last Friday. It's weird. I'm an oldie in the mission now. I don't know anyone! I also said goodbye to Sister Bettidge and hello to my new companion. Her name is sister Warren. She is from California and over six feet tall! She is pretty cool. She has been out for almost a year..or something like that. She's served in quite a few areas and might have had more companions than me. She is really good at drawing. And loves sports.
We are gonna have fun this transfer.
Funny story: we visited Nakesone Shimai again. This time it was Sister Warren and I. After our lesson we asked her over cookies, do you like dogs or cats? She made this face and said neither. Then we asked if she liked other animals. She hates animals. Do you like zoos? Zoos were ok. Are there zoos in Peru? She didn't hear that question right..she says of course there are animals in Peru! And then continues to say that they are much stronger than the animals here haha. Cats don't get walked on leashes and dogs are bigger and run wild in the streets. She also talked about how cats eat mice in Peru.
She thought the whole thing was pretty funny. And laughed particularly hard at the thought of cats on leashes (something nihonjin do) and when I said "poor mice." She is something else!
Sunday we had two miracles. First, our less active Nishibori Shimai let us into her house! Wow! I've been here for 7 months and that has never happened. We were the first ones! It was a crazy miracle. Also, her son, who is completely innactive came to church! He missed church...but he came despite how late it was. Then after we were plugging things into our iPads (ed. note: "things"= weekly statistics report) and I realized we hadn't done quite as well as the week before. That was a bummer. But, just as I was thinking that one of our investigators texted and asked if we were at church and we ended up having a surprise lesson. Miracle!
Ok,gotta go!
Love you all!
Sister
Molinari
