To clarify some of the Japanese terms that Addy uses:
shimai = means "sister"; the female missionaries are called shimais & also the female members of the Church
san = like Mr. or Mrs.
chan (used for a girl) = more informal, friends
kun (used for a boy) = more informal, friends
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This week was transfers, but I will be staying in Nagasaki with Chapman Shimai and we will continue being the STL's for our Zone! We are super excited to get even closer this transfer!
Last P. Day was super fun! We made origami and brownies with our investigator Shiori chan and Honami Shimai. They were able to become pretty good friends, which was perfect. Then we all went to the Lantern Festival which was so pretty!
We had a cool miracle this week when we prayed at a decision point. We were housing and just not seeing the success we wanted to see, so we prayed and felt like we should go street on the main road for a while. Like 10 minutes after we started streeting we ran into Kristy, a less-active member in the branch. We have been trying to make an appointment with her for this whole past transfer! We were able to make an appointment right then and it was such a blessing from the Lord!
So Haruka san, the new invesigator from last week... we went to her house and saw lights on and heard peoples voices inside and even saw someone come to the door, look through the peephole, and then turn away. It was such a bummer! I really thought she was going to start progressing. Sometimes it's frustrating, because we find all these new investigators but they never show/ don't start progressing.
We were able to meet with Urakawa Shimai, another less-active. Her testimony is struggling, so we are going to have her pretend to be an investigator and we are going to role play all the lessons to her - one each week. We just need to help remind her that her testimony is still there!
Shiori chan is seriously so confusing... haha. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she said she wanted to go to the Terrestrial Kingdom, not the Celestial Kingdom to live with Heavenly Father & the Savior. She thinks it's weird how we believe there is only one way to salvation (Ephesians 4:5) We talked about how many chances people would have to accept the gospel and we had an amazing member help us with her concerns. Shiori chan comes to church every week and reads the Book of Mormon every single day, but isn't really wanting to change. We've been praying hard for guidance about what to do with her. We'd stop teaching her, but she is progressing in so many other ways; I don't know how to explain it!
So the Nakamura's, a couple in our Ward, said their non-member daughter had some inerest about our Church. They brought her to church this Sunday and we taught her a lesson! Her name is Mari San and she's 35, and she wants to take the lessons! It was such a huge miracle! Maybe now is finally her time. Her mom has leukemia, and Mari San has seen how much this gospel has blessed her mom's life. Please pray for her to keep our commitments and to have her own spiritual experiences!
It's crazy how I hit my half way mark this week. I've been thinking a lot about my goals for my mission and how I'm doing at accomplishing them. I've been able to see my testimony grow so much! I just want to keep getting better and better. It scares me that I only have 9 months left! I love missionary work and I know this Church is true! Sorry I'm out of time! Love you all!
Klein Shimai
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