Konnichiwa! I hope everyone had a great New Years! We had a great start to 2015 here in Taniyama!
We had a cool miracle on Pday. First of all, we received an Eikaiwa (English class) referral from a member, so that was awesome. We never receive referrals, haha, so we were way stoked to get one, even if it was just for English class. The member wouldn't give us the exact address though, so we were planning on housing the whole chome (City district) until we found them. Well, we prayed for the Lord to guide us to their house and the 2nd door we walked up to had their name on the mailbox. They were home and will come to Eikaiwa this week. That was such a testimony builder of how the Lord really does listen to our prayers, even if it seems like something that would not matter to Him. He really does know us & care about us!
Lots of people were home this week and together with families, so it made missionary work so much fun! And no one was drunk! We did meet one crazy grandpa that we had to run away from though haha. no joke. It snowed on Thursday! not enough to stay on the ground though; it melted right away. We got hot chocolate from a vending machine and it was so good! We kept putting the hot can on our faces to warm ourselves up haha.
So the Chinese guy we were supposed to have our first lesson with yesterday cancelled, so that was a bummer. He is still in Fukuoka for the New Year, but we will hopefully meet with him this week.
Mana Chan... we met with her on Tuesday and just talked about all of her concerns. So, we think the reason she doesn't want us to talk to her parents about baptism is that she feels that she doesn't have a real testimony of what we've taught. We're trying to help her realize that she really does know that it's true! She won't pray about it to know for herself, so of course she won't get an answer. She's busy right now with big tests, so we think she is avoiding praying about it because she doesn't want to get the answer right now. I hope I said that right... now is just a trial of faith for her. Our Zone Leaders have been helping us a lot and they think now just isn't her time. So, just please pray for her!
This week as a companionship we have a goal to bring 5 nonmembers to church on the 11th. So this week in dendou (street contacting) we tried to give every person an invite to church. Well, we talked to this one lady for like 2 seconds because she said she was super busy. Then as she was passing to leave, I randomly asked her, "Do you like music"? Then she turned around and came back to us! We went on to explain how in church we sing really beautiful hymns and that she should come to hear them! Then we pulled out our mini hymn books and sang a hymn right there on the street! The Spirit was so strong! It made me want to sing a lot more on the street! She said she felt good and that she will try to come to church on Sunday. I've never asked someone on the street before if they like music; that was definitely the Spirit!
So Kanae Chan, the 8 year old girl we have been teaching the lessons to, got baptized! Her family are all members, but she had a huge fear of water, so her mom asked us to help. Well, she decided to get baptized and her cousin was also baptized the same day. It was such a neat day! Kanae didn't want anyone to see the baptism except her mom, brother, and the Priesthood holders, so the door was closed and none of us saw it haha. But we heard her go in and out of the water, and I felt the Spirit so strongly!!!!
The Kanekos had us over for lunch on Friday, which was way fun. We shared a message and had everyone write down their goals for this year and asked them to help us in our goal by inviting someone to church on the 11th.
The less active couple that we helped move came to church!!! And one more miracle- last night we were streeting and we met a lady who did a home stay in America and her host family was LDS! So she was asking questions about Joseph Smith, etc. It was awesome! We tried setting up a time to meet again, but she said she was super busy. Well, we got her phone number and will definitely be calling!
Next week is transfers, and I feel like I might transfer. I've been in my first area for 4 transfers now. I really want to be with Kashiwa Shimai for another transfer 'cause I love her so much, but we will see what happens! Talk to you next week!
The church is true! I know that the Lord is helping us here every day! I love you all!!
Klein Shimai
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