Forgiveness

愛する友達と家族ヘ

Hey everyone! I can't believe this transfer is almost over, it feels
like I just got to Nakatsu. Next week we get our transfer calls and I
have no idea what is going to happen, although I'm pretty positive I'm
staying since I've only been here for a single transfer. This last
week was pretty fun and surprisingly enough we actually dendo'ed more
this week than we did last week. Lately we haven't been able to meet
with our investigators so we have had quite a few days were we just go
out and street contact or knock on doors all day. So needless to say
we have contacted a very large amount of people this week. Which is
good because my dendo techniques are getting better and better the
more practice I have.

At the beginning of the week we went to Beppu (neighboring city) to
have a meeting there. After that we went on Junkai's. Which simply
means we switched companions for a day and dendo with them to mix
things up and learn from other missionaries. I had been on Junkai's
many times before but this was my first time going with a Japanese
missionary! Plus I got to go with one of my favorites, his name is
elder Mizoguchi so that just made it better. We went out and dendoed
hard and talked to a lot of people but unfortunately didn't see to
much success, it was still a good time though. After a long day we
went back to the apartment and he made this dish called chicken nanban
(one of my favorite Japanese meals). Elder Mizoguchi is known for
being one of the best cooks in the mission (he actually wants to open
up his own restaurant when he returns home) so of course it was way
good. We talked some more and as I talked with him I looked back to
the beginning of my mission when I couldn't speak Japanese at all
(still not all that great) but the fact I was able to hold a normal
conversation and be able to express my thoughts freely with him felt
so cool. For many reasons, other than actually being able to speak to
them semi clearly, I really hope my next companion is Japanese haha.

The rest of the week was normal in terms of dendo. This week is
another Japanese holiday so unfortunately people are telling us no a
lot faster than usual but we do occasionally run into some people that
are willing to listen. But anyways since we didn't have to much going
on with our investigators I figured I would talk about a seemed to be
reoccurring topic that has been on my mind. This week I studied a
little bit about forgiveness and was able to teach a lesson about it
as well. It is kind of interesting though, the more I have studied
different Christ like attributes and qualities the more I realize how
much I need to work on each one of them haha. Forgiveness was no
different. As I was studying it I found a really good video about
forgiveness as well as a great old conference talk about it. I could
give my own thoughts on forgiveness but I feel that the video and
article do a far better job than I could. Although I would like to
share one scripture about forgiveness I don't believe is used in
either the video or article, it is one of my favorites. It is Doctrine
and Covenants 64:10, "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive,
but of you it is required to forgive all men." Forgiveness is so
important and definitely something I know I can always improve on. It
is a commandment just as any other commandment we receive from
Heavenly Father. Anyways, I added the links to both at the bottom of
the email so please give them a view!

I love this work. There is no better nor rewarding work than
missionary work.  Being a missionary definitely has a lot of
challenges, but it is one of the best experiences I've been able to
participate in. Learning all about the Japanese culture, the language,
and helping others come unto Christ is truly something I'll never
forget. I have already noticed things begin to change with my
attitude, study habits, work ethic, and many other things change
positively because of serving. I really do believe it when people say
the things learned on a mission will shape your life. I can already
see that beginning to happen. Thank you everyone for all your support
and love, it really means a lot! Till next week!

Love, Elder シェリル

PS: Transfer calls are next week so I will be emailing a day later than usual.