Week Thirty-one.

Dear mom and dad,

Guess what! We have Zone Conference this coming weekend and guess who is coming? Elder Aoyagi from the 70! Guess what else, 12 people got selected to have a personal interview with him and I got selected! At first I was really scared and wish my president would have chosen someone else, but now I am kind of excited. He recently has a short kids article in the Ensign called "The Harvest." It was pretty cute. The interview will be on Saturday.

This last week we didnt find any new investigators, but almost! We went and visited Scottie, the Jamacian and were able to share a message with her! But in order for someone to become and investigator you have to meet certain qualifications. They are start and end with prayer, teach some principle, and set a specific return appointment. We didnt get a specific return appointment so yeah, shes not an investigator, yet. Me and Sister Tui really think that she could be ready to accept the gospel. She recently has been really sick and thought she was going to die but she is still here and shortly thereafter the missionaries showed up. I think thats a sign that Heavenly Father kept her alive for a reason... We hope she can realize the blessing that the gospel can be in her life sooner rather than later.

We also were able to spend some time with Aimi. She is a 25 year old girl that is fluent in English. We were able to spend some time practicing Japanese and English together. It is kind of hard to teach her regular lessons in a way because she just wants the environment to be chill and friendly. She gets freaked out when we sit down and get all missionary professional. So it is almost like we are doing missionary work with her as if we were members in a way? We did teach her about God and prayer and she said that she felt really happy when we taught her. She also said she would be open to learning about different religions. I dont know if she is looking to exactly change her life, but maybe she will realize it after she hears about the rest of our message and the restoration. We were also able to have dinner with Aimi and her family and they are a real hoot. They are very funny and maybe they were a little drunk too because they were drinking alcohol and dinner... but they are a good family and we were laughing a lot with them. Hopefully the whole family will begin listening to the message! If that happened it would be the BIGGEST miracle.

Lately I have been reading in Mosiah and I am now reading about Abinadi. He says a lot of good stuff about the Atonement. It is really making me think a lot. I have really been trying to REALLY study the Book of Mormon and decipher all the little things I just looked over before. I constantly have questions and I ask my companion for help but she always tells me that I am over thinking it ha ha. I wanna know! This morning I was trying to understand what Isaiah means when he says "how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet." What does that really even mean? Why did he use feet? Why mountains? But... I think I figured it out. Well, I figured it out well enough that it makes sense to me. In the scriptures mountains are very holy places and often times mountains refer to the temple. Feet can symbolize the path someone is making because when youre walking its your foot that is making an imprint on the ground indicating which direction you are heading. How beautiful upon the mountains were their feet refers to how wonderful and lovely and beautiful the path is that people are making with their good works and peace in the spiritual realm of things. Or maybe in Gods eyes. It basically is a good thing to do good works and its extremely pleasing to God. So thats what I learned today.

Oh I received the package mom! Thanks! I already ate all the candy ha ha. Oh and I havent sent any pictures or hand written letters home in awhile. Sorry. Its because I always run out of time on Pday and dont have enough time to write. I wish P days werent so busy sometimes!!

Today all the missionaries are going to a Japanese funeral. This will be a first and last for me I think ha. A lady in my branch`s mom passed away recently. She was like 90 something years old!

Besides that, it is kinda starting to warm up I think. Well from here on out it shouldnt be snowing as much at least. Transfers are coming up next week and I probably am getting transferred to a new area. I dont want to leave Aizu though! I love Aizu! I have been doing a lot better than 2 months ago. I am realizing that this mission is a lot more for me than I thought it would be. I think about that half marathon I ran and how during the race I thought I was the dumbest person alive for decided to run one because it was really hard and miserable kinda ha but when I finished it, oh man, it was the best feeling. And I got so much stronger! Missions are kinda like that. Sometimes I think, what did I get myself into! But if I just think about the long run of things it isnt so bad.

Love you all!

Love Miranda

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES THAT MINDY SENT HOME!!

 

This is some snow and ice on a fence.