Also the new missionaries came this week! Elder Akagi who is one transfer ahead of me, and Elder Wadsworth who is straight from the MTC but his Japanese is RIDICULOUSLY good. He bore his testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday and I couldnt understand a lot of it because his vocab was just tooo good. Man. I was way impressed. I think our district is gonna be way fun.
This week we did lots of hand massaging! When I get home I will make sure to give y`all a good hand massage. Its pretty fun talking to all the old ladies and stuff that come in, but their Japanese is usually impossible to understand so I just nod my head and say stuff like, "Oh really?" "Is that right?" "Cool!" and they are usually satisfied with that ha ha. Lately us sister missionaries and 2 members have been practicing the recorder and we did a mini concert at the hand massage place and everyone seemed to like it! Next time I think we are going to perform a hymn so its practice practice practice from here on out!
We had the natsu matsuri (summer festival) at the church this week! I love Ishinomaki because the branch actually plans the activities and the missionaries dont have to! But actually this branch is incredible. They function like a ward and they love each other like a family and everyone and I mean EVERYONE helps and participates in every activity and they always always support the missionaries. And there are only 20 active members. Incredible. I cant say enough about this branch... it is just too good. But the festival was good! We had 80 people come! An old grandma that me and Sister Kanno met on the street even came! It was a good dendo opportunity.
But speaking about how great the branch is... us missionaries just recently got a challenge from President Ringwood (the Asia North area president) and he said that every companionship needs to teach 20 lessons every week. 20 LESSONS. We taught 5 lessons this week. It seems like an impossible goal but me and Sis Kanno are gonna try our best! The branch is so great because they all signed up for us to do mogi lessons with them and I think we have 6 lessons planned with members just this week! And we have 5 investigators so there is 11 lessons total... then we just need like 9 less active lessons which is not very easy to do at all. A good week is 3 less active lessons... pray for the Japan missionaries so that we can do it!
Here is an investigator update.
Ryotaro- we taught him Lesson 3, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said he when he comes to know the truth, he wants to get baptized! That is way awesome, but I still dont think he really gets it yet. I dont think he realizes that getting baptized requires change and commitment... we are going to be passing him to the elders this week though so we wont really any more lessons with him.
Michiru- she was an investigator, but had no interest so we dropped her. But then we had a lesson with her again and she has a little bit of interest now so she is back in the pool! We used a cool example to help her understand how great the gospel is but she will never know if she doesnt try it. Just like with food! "You gotta try new food cuz it might taste gooooood!" And then we taught her about Jesus Christ and who he is, why we worship him, and why he matters to us. She payed attention pretty good! And we have an appointment next week!
Kimura- he became an investigator my first day in Ishinomaki but we havent been able to teach him since. We had plans to teach him but he got busy so we were only able to meet him this week outside of a super market for like 10 min and that was it. But at least we met him! We will be passing him to the elders as well.
Mitsue- she is so great! Love her! We taught her a lesson about the nature of God because she had questions last lesson about if he really existed or not. Then we taught about how the gospel blesses our families and how families are so important to God. Just so you know. I am so grateful that my loving parents taught us kids to read our scriptures and pray! I was able to share a personal experience about how waking up early in the morning with my family and praying and reading the BOM together has strengthened and blessed my family! Thank you!
Yuki- she is our investigator but we have never actually taught her before. She was an investigator from the sisters that used to be here but she got busy or offended by one of the members or something so we havent been able to meet. But we did meet her for just a few minutes at the hand massage place this week and we were able to do an introduction so that was good!
Thats it on investigators. Ishinomaki is way great! I am learning lots and lots about Christ and repentance here. Its so great actually. My personal goal this week is to ALWAYS REMEMBER HIM. Yesterday in Sacrament meeting as I was listening to the sacrament prayers I started to cry because I was so grateful for the Atonement, but also so sad that I make mistakes. But it was a good experience. Its crazy how listening to the prayers in Japanese helps me understand the covenants I made better. Also we sang I Know that My Redeemer Lives and again, hearing it in Japanese just makes it have a little bit more meaning for me! I started to cry during that too ha. Im such a baby.
Here are answers to your questions! We get the Liahona every month from the mission office which has the same stuff as the Ensign in it, so no need to worry about that! Thanks for sending a package!! And happy anniversary to you squirrely parents of mine! And happy birthday to our family! Thats kinda a cool way to think about it. They day you were sealed was the establishment of our eternal family. Thank you thank you thank you for getting married in the temple! I promise I will go there someday, too!
Love you all so very much. Dad, be safe in Kuwait! Mom, have fun on your mini road trip!
Love Miranda
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