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| Sweater Suiyoobi!! (Wednesday) |
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| Just hanging out in the dorms |
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| Elders in District at Provo Temple (Thursday, 10/29/15) |
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| District Missionaries |
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| All of the Fukuoka Missionaries |
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| All of the elders in the zone |
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| Some elders |
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| P-Day! |
So I have survived 2 weeks in the MTC! The language has been very hard this week but before I dive into that I want to share a funny story that happened last week that I didn't get a chance to email you guys about. It happened with Shimizu san (our investigator) on our 3rd lesson. So we had just got semi used to teaching in just Japanese but still were very inexperienced with the language. We were teaching her about the law of chastity and to help us learn the language better instead of writing our questions down word for word on paper so we knew exactly what to say we just wrote the vocabulary down and tried to formulate our sentences the best we could. Anyways my doryo (companion) had written down some vocabulary that I didn't have on my page and one word he had written down was "sacred" which is "reitekina" but instead of that he had accidentally written down "seiteki na". So I went on to say to her that "marriage is sacred" and "the law of chastity is sacred" using the "seiteki na" not knowing I was using the wrong word. After I said both of those she looked a little puzzled and confused so we looked in our Japanese dictionary and noticed that "seiteki na" actually means "sexual". Sooooo as soon as we see that we start busting up laughing and of course now Shimizu San understands what happened and that we messed up so she started to laugh with us haha. It was pretty embarrassing but we laughed it off so it was all
good.
So onto this week! On our Tuesday devotional we got to hear from an Apostle!! Neil L. Anderson came and spoke to us and gave a wonderful talk. He talked about the trials we face in this life and how we can over come them and be comforted by the Lord. He shared like 10 different scriptures throughout the talk and they were all amazing. One thing he said that really stuck with me was "He won't take all of your pain away from you, but instead will help you to rise above it". I've come to realize I really need to rely on the Savior more in my life. I need to go to Him and ask sincerely for help more often and try to be more Christ-like in all different aspects. One scripture he shared was John 14:18, " I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." Reading that and knowing that really helped me. The Savior wants to help us, we need to be there though to accept his help. One
other thing he said was "one sacrifice is no greater than another". I really liked this one as well because sometimes I feel discouraged because I feel like my sacrifices are to small. Although with that
principle Elder Anderson shared I've come to realize that if it is a personal sacrifice to us, no matter how small it is in comparison to other people's it will still be seen as a sacrifice to Heavenly Father.
This week we stopped teaching Shimizu San and started teaching two new investigators. One is Nozomi San and the other is Ling San. Oh! Something really cool happened, after we finished teaching Shimizu San she became one of our now 3 teachers. Her real name is Carlile Shimai. I was asking about where she served a mission and how long ago she got back. She said she served in Tokyo and just got back this March. So I asked here if she knew who Lacey Shimai was and that didn't ring a
bell. So I went on to tell her about how I was going to meet one of Brooke's companions in Okinawa when I get to Japan. I told her that it was a sister with the last name Teruya (hopefully I spelled that right). She perked up and got real excited and was like "Teruya Shimai was my last companion I had!" Then she went on to say how much she loved being her companion and I thought it was pretty cool how Brooke was companions with someone my teacher was companions with. Then another cool coincidence happened. I was telling my other teacher, Babcock Shimai the story I just explained and she asked who the sister missionary was that was companions with both of them and after I said it was Teruya Shimai she got super excited too and then told me about how when she was serving in the Fukuoka mission about a year ago she served on the island of Okinawa and met Teruya Shimai in her ward who was just about to leave on a mission! So kind of crazy story that 2 of my teachers know one of Brooke's companions and one of then served with her! Anyways back onto my new investigators, they are a lot
harder than our first one. They aren't as nice and they are a little more resilient to the commitments we extend. With Shimizu San she said yes to everything we asked. We asked here to read the Book of Mormon or pray and she said yes without hesitation. With Ling San and Nozomi San they tell us no haha so we have to really explain ourselves and even after we do that they are still pretty distant to any idea of reading or praying. They also don't seem to grasp the concept of having a Father in Heaven or the plan of salvation all that well. Which I guess is giving us good practice because I'm sure the people in Japan will be similar but it makes for a way more difficult
lessson.
Before I came out on a mission people would tell me that it would be one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing I will do in my life. I heard that and didn't think it would apply to me. However, just two weeks in I can tell already that this will be the hardest thing I have done so far in my life. The language is difficult, the rules are strict, and it is a long time to be away from loved ones. Even through all of that though I know that this mission will bless me for the rest of my life and I will gain so many great experiences from it. This gospel truly does bless peoples lives and is so amazing. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to serve and to devote the next 2 years to helping the Japanese people come unto Christ. I love all of you guys and thank you for all your continued support!
Aishiteimasu!
Love, Elder Sherrill
