Another snail mail letter -
(Kazoku –
Family)
July
17, 2014
I always
have so much I want to tell you, and then I always run out of time! It’s a problem! Actually, more often than not
I feel like I don’t have anything to write about, and then I sit down and have
so many things I want to say, and so many cool experiences I want to share with
all of you, and then before I know it I am out of time. I guess that means
there is a lot that Heavenly Father wants me to share with you. J
Let’s see…
Okay so one of the cool things that happened this week with Nihongo. Lately I
have been struggling. I have good days and bad days when it comes to Nihongo.
Sometimes I feel like I know enough to go to Japan, and then other times I feel
like I don’t know anything! It’s a struggle. Well, after a week of craziness, I
was feeling down, and then during our lesson with Morimoto San, I had prepared
so much more (written out what I wanted to say – I had learned new vocabulary
that I wanted to use in our lesson, but I knew if I didn’t have it written
down, I would forget it). We were
teaching him about having faith in Christ, and how we need him to be the
Foundation of our Faith (Helaman 5:12). I was able to share my experience with
faith in Christ and how it has helped me. As I was talking Morimoto San made a
face (which normally means we said something wrong/weird), but I just kept
talking. After I had finished, Eyring Shimai asked him how he was feeling. We
knew the spirit was there, and wanted him to recognize that. HE started by
saying he was surprised by my Nihongo, and that it was josu (skilled/good).
Then he told us how he knew it could help him. It was a cool experience.
The next
day, we had skype TRC, and I was feeling less than confident again. Our lesson
was okay, but we felt like she was teaching us more than we were teaching her.
After we got to class, we had a lesson with Hasegawa San. We were teaching him
about missionary work, and I was able to share with him what the gospel means
to me. I once again felt the spirit as I was teaching. After our lesson Ellsworth
kyodai said that sometimes he feels like we are teaching him too, not just
Hasegawa San. Teaching by the spirit is
the MOST important part of being a missionary. It doesn’t matter how
perfect my Nihongo (Japanese) is, if I don’t teach by the spirit, it means
nothing. So for any of you going on a mission, or perhaps just sharing the gospel
with a friend and being a member missionary, never forget the importance of
teaching by the spirit. I’ve seen how powerful lessons can be when the spirit
is present, and I have seen what I thought would be a great lesson turn out not
so great because the spirit wasn’t there.
One of the
great lessons we learned yesterday, is to never apologize when teaching about
the gospel. (I mean apologize if you say something wrong/mean/offensive, but
never apologize for sharing the gospel. “When
you apologize, you weaken the Lord’s message, and you don’t have that
authority.” Improve, keep trying, but don’t apologize.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND – she has
official travel plans! She leaves early
in the morning, from Salt Lake City on July 29th. She will arrive in Osaka Japan in the afternoon
of July 30, 2014!
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