Transfer 9 Week 3
Hey friends and family! Hope you're all doing well :) this was an
awesome week here in Ube! We watched General Conference this week and
I loved all of the messages. Last year, I was in the MTC watching
conference in a room full of missionaries. This year I watched
conference with my Japanese branch family! My testimony of modern day
prophets was strengthened. I am thankful to have been able to receive
personal revelation for how to more deliberately conduct my life and
also how to help my investigators and this area. I love General
Conference! I hope you are all ponderizing a scripture this week!
What's your verse? Mine is 3 Ne 13:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto
you.
On Tuesday We took a train to Shomonoseki for district meeting. Our
fearless district leader is Elder Flippo from Louisiana, his bean
Elder Tschirky from Utah, Elder Madsen from Washington, his bean Elder
Colton from Georgia... Then me and Akuta Shimai. We feel like the
grandma's of the group. We made cookies for district meeting and the
Elders were so happy. One of them said "I haven't eaten no-bake
cookies since before my mission!! Thank you!" They are good Elders.
Elder Takaya said "my companion tried to make these before, but it was
awful. This cookie is a million times better!" Sister Akuta and I
high-fived. It was a good day.
Akuta Shimai has been teaching me funny Japamese phrases. Today's is :
Mashumaroojoushi means marshmallow girl. So like when you hug a girl
and she is squishy like a marshmallow. My companion says I am a
marshmaroojoushi. But she says in magazines, it is trendy. So it is a
good thing :) I was just like "um, thanks?" I thought it was funny.
This week I would like to talk about the atonement. We taught 8
lessons this week (for here, that's a ton) and as we were planning, we
felt like all of them needed to be about the Atonement. It was really
cool. We taught about Christ's sacrifice for us in 8 different ways! I
want to talk about 2 right now.
1. Kanji. Using the language is really helpful for teaching for
understanding (see chapter 10 of PMG). I use this with a lot of the
doctrines that are hard to grasp. It works perfectly with the
character for atonement!
The kanji for atonement looks like this:
It is made of three parts: person, to buy, and shellfish
A long time ago in Asian Countries, they used shellfish as currency!
It was very rare and worth a lot. The character for atonement
literally means to pay a high price for a person.
We taught Shimamoto San who is almost 90 years old! We taught her
about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. I asked her what her
greatest hope right now is. She says "I really want to become clean,
and know I am right with God". I was like WOAH!!! We said next time we
come, we will teach you how you can do that!
2. We taught a 7 year old about the atonement in preparation for his
baptism in a few months... Akuta Shimai came up with this story and
drew cute pictures and it was awesome! Here is my rough translation of
the story:
Once upon a time, there was a curious monkey. Perhaps his name was
George! This monkey went to the market one day and saw a beautiful
display of bananas. Even though he did not have any money, he took one
of the bananas and started to eat it. A police man saw the monkey
steal the banana and quickly took the banana away, arrested the monkey
and put him in a jail cell. He said the monkey would not be free until
he paid the price. The monkey was so sad. He just wanted a banana! A
few days went by, and the monkey felt bad about stealing the banana.
He knew he shouldn't have done it. He wanted to go home, but he had no
money and no way to get out of jail. The monkey's friend, a sheep,
came to visit. The monkey said how he felt sorry for doing the wrong
thing and just wanted to go home. The sheep said that if the monkey
was truly sorry, that he would pay for the monkey to get out of jail
and return home. The monkey was so happy! This sheep had the most
beautiful, thick wool coat, bright white and clean. The sheep wanted
to help his friend, so he went and had his beautiful wool coat
sheared, and sold it so that the monkey could go home. After being
sheared, the sheep looked really different. His beautiful white wool
coat was gone! But his friend, he monkey was free! They both walked
home happily together.
I know that through the Atonement, we can be made clean. We can change
into someone better. Our weaknesses become strengths. Our doubts
become peace of mind. I am thankful for the knowledge of a loving
Heavenly Father and a Savior. It brings me so much peace! I have
experienced the change that comes through the Atonement. It has
changed my heart in small degrees. I can look back a year, a month,
and even three days ago and tell you I have changed! You can too. I
know that we can change through the Atonement. If you want to know
how, read the scriptures, or ask the missionaries :)
If you don't like where you are, get up and start walking!
God loves ya! Have an awesome week! Ponderize and keep working hard :)
One of our investigators, Mori San, everytime she prays, prays for her
missionaries' families and friends. Know that you are all being prayed
for by a sweet lady who lives in the middle of a rice field in Japan!
No comments:
Post a Comment