Fwd: Transfer six week three

From: Lindsay Sanders <lindsay.sanders@myldsmail.net>

Date: June 7, 2015 10:18:42 PM MST

Subject: Transfer six week three

Hello everyone! Rainy season has started! Yay? It is fun. I get to wear my rain suit all the time and it is so fun stopping people because they can't tell that I am American because I have my hood on! Haha! We had a really good week,

We had an awesome lesson with our investigator Murakami San. I love her so much! She felt the Spirit for the first time. We spent all week trying to decide what to teach her, and we were praying but not getting any immediate answers. We know she is really progressing, so we wanted to help her progress towards her goal of baptism on the 27th. The morning of her lesson, we still could not decide what to teach her. Then Popham Shimai, after she said a prayer, got really excited! She felt like we just needed to read the Book of Mormon with her. The Book of Mormon  is my favorite book! When I read it, I feel God's love and find direction in my life. If anyone needs direction in their life, it is Murakami San. We went to a member's house and read around her kitchen table, just starting from 1 Nephi chapter 1. It was exactly what she needed. She is now able to recognize the Spirit and find answers from the Book of Mormon. We asked her if she had any feelings during the lesson. She said she was remembering sitting in church and seeing everyone sitting with their families... And how she wanted that too. She has been reading and praying every day. I am so proud of her! She was a former investigator that we found in the area book.  Her future is so bright! Someday she will have her dream of having her whole family sitting together in sacrament meeting... And then the temple. She is now starting to have a vision for where she wants her family to be!! I was soooooooo happy! She has made so much progress! 

This week is one of those weeks that just makes me so happy to be a missionary. We had a lesson with our investigator Hiromi San. She is very sick sometimes, so she isn't able to meet often. We planned on teaching her the Restoration lesson. The first point is God is our loving father. We talked to her about her image of God. She imagined a きびし, cruel force that gave her trials. We were able to testify that God is literally our father. He is the Father of our spirits  that He loves us, and wants us to grow. Hiromi was shocked. She never imagined a loving God. She told us how her father was very harsh and not loving at all. We asked her how she would want to raise her kids if she had some... She said, "I want them to be happy and learn how to help themselves!" We testified that Heavenly Father wants the same for us. She said "I understand now! I feel so happy! My heart is warm!" Sister Popham asked "do you know what that feeling is?" Hiromi said "Yes! It is love!" Furuta Shimai, our joint, talked about how God helped her through some hard trials. Hiromi gasped "so that means I am not alone?!" I may have cried a little bit. It is so amazing to watch people learn that God loves them. Nothing has brought me more joy than introducing people to Heavenly Father, then hearing them pray. Her prayer was so beautiful. I can't write it out, but man, the Spirit was so strong! As she left, she said "my whole life has changed! I am so happy!" We called her the next day to see how she was doing and she told us she had prayed three times already that day, and she said after our phone call she wanted to pray again! She loves talking to her Heavenly Father! 喜んでいます！ I am so happy. This is why I came on my mission- to tell people that God loves them! Can you imagine not knowing that? How sad and lonely that would be. I know that God remembers my name and He loves me. He sees who I have the potential to become. I know He loves all His children that much.

This week we saw quite a few miracles, for which I am very grateful. I have also been kind of sick, so that has been interesting, but I am getting better and more genki, yay! More miracles to see! We are getting close to some baptismal dates, so I am kind of stressed, but all is well! OH! And I saw Brother Magleby at church is Sunday! He is being so nice and taking us out to dinner!! Mariah, I love you! I am so excited to see you! This really is the best mission... Just saying. And we definitely need missionaries like you. You are going to love it!

My advice for anyone going on a mission is to expect the unexpected. I know that is cheesy, but you will understand when you get into the field. Like Elder Klebingat said, you just have to force a smile, gaze heavenward, and say "I understand Lord! This is a time to prove myself, isn't it?" 

Much much love from Kumamoto! 愛していますよ。

Sanders Shimai

Sent from my iPad

Love notes from an 8 year-old.

A recent convert gave us socks?! :)