One Month Down!

Elder Sherrill hosting Elder Winkel

The elders in the zone with new arrivals

       Hello everyone! This week has been good but also pretty stressful especially with the language. The days are really starting to blur together and go by really fast. I feel like before I know it I will be in Japan. So on Sundays we have to prepare talks to give in sacrament meeting because our Presidency doesn't tell us until we are having the meeting who will be talking. That way it helps us prepare talks in Nihongo but it also makes
everyone nervous because nobody knows when it will be the day that they will give a talk. So this Sunday I lucked out and didn't get called haha but my doryo did. He did a really good job and gave a great talk. Then another elder in my zone was called up but he hadn't prepared a talk because he didn't think he would get called.. so he went up there and kind of stammered and tried thinking of words to say but since he hadn't prepared anything he had no idea what to talk about. I felt pretty bad for him because I would have been just as embarrassed as he was. Moral of the story, always be prepared!

    We had TRC again on Monday and it was great! Kind of a funny story too. So my companion and I have the same lesson plan for every person we teach in TRC. It is a paper filled with a few get to know you questions to build our relationship with them and then a few more personal questions like what are you struggling with, what is most important to you, do you feel like anything is missing in your life, etc. Then depending on how they answer those more personal questions we take the lesson in that direction and try to help them the best we can by sharing a short message with them, share a couple scriptures, and invite them to do something. So each week we get 2 new people to teach so our lesson plan works out great every time. Although this week we happened to get the same guy we got last week.. haha. So all of our questions kind of went out the window since we already got to know him and knew a little bit of what he was struggling with. So we ended up just making up a lesson on the spot and seeing if he was doing better with what he was struggling with last week and built the lesson around that. He had brought up some new concerns and we helped address those with some ideas on what he could do that would help him. The lesson was a little hard at first but I feel like we definitely connected with him really well especially having him before so that was way cool.
    

      We got to hear from Elder Hugo Montoya of the first quorum of the seventy on Tuesday! He was just called to the first quorum of the seventy in the April General Conference earlier this year and I believe he spoke then as well. He delivered a great message and talked about a lot of important things. One thing I really liked that he said was talking about the importance of smiling as a missionary and just as a person in general. He said it conveys love, sympathy, acceptance, comfort, warmth, and the light of Christ. He also shared a scripture that I loved, it is Doctrine and Covenants 16:6, it says, "And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen." I have heard from a few people and my teachers included that the people of Japan are generally a very stressed people and they don't have much happiness in their lives. Which makes me sad but also very excited because I get to go share my smile and the light I have with them and hopefully help them see the joy that they can have in this life and the next.

     My teacher Norawong Kyōdai was talking about his mission in Japan and was expressing his gratitude to us for going there because he is sad he isn't there anymore to help them because he really fell in love with the people. He told us, "You are the hope for Japan". That really put my mission in perspective for me. When I am down or struggling with the language I just need to remember to keep working hard because I need to know this language in order to help the people in Japan. This language is really difficult but I know that it will be so worth it when I am in Japan and able to teach and help so many people. I can't wait until I get there! I am so excited for the rest of my mission and I look forward to learning this crazy but awesome language. I love you all and I hope everyone has a great week!

Love, Elder Sherrill