Dear family,
I will not deny that this week was tough, way hard, and lots of
emotions came to the surface that I hadn't even fully realized I had
been feeling, but I have also had so many wonderful experiences, and
blessings from the lord, so it is all right, and I know I can keep
going forward as I rely on my savior!
Monday was good, we went to arashiyama, and went to the monkey park at
iwatayama, which was lots of fun, missionaries apparently go crazy
over monkeys, I had no idea. I thoug they were cool, but i didn't go
as crazy as the other missionaries did. After pday we visited a sister
without an appointment, and she was so grateful, her husband died at
the end of last year, and so she is now all alone, and she was so
happy to have a visit from us, and have a chance to talk with us, it
was definitely an awesome experience, and reminded me how much I love
working with the members.
Tuesday was rough day number 1. I woke up, and things just felt a
little off, for both me an my companion. After study we went out
finding, and we talked to one lady, and it wasn't the best, and then
we sat down and talked about what we had been feeling and just cried.
It is hard to know how to talk to people sometimes, what to say, and
everything, and I don't even know what all my emotions were, but they
were there. We decided that we were going to still be productive even
though we didn't feel like finding, and went home and wrote notes to
members, and also scheduled some appointments with members. While we
were doing phone dendo, there was a break, and I just felt like I
needed to pray, and so I went in the other room and I prayed... Found
out afterwards that I prayed for about an hour, my dear companion is
so patient, but it did help to just talk it out, and at the end, I
realized I had one question, and one thing I needed to get better at
recognizing, which were linked. The question: how do others see what I
don't feel, and the improvement point: I need to get better at looking
at myself through gods eyes. Though I don't know if I have the answer
to that question yet, I am working on it, and it is going to be all
good! I had the thought that day to ask for a blessing, but I'm not
really comfortable asking for a reason I don't quite understand, so I
procrastinated it until Sunday, but it did ask, and it was definitely
helpful.
Wednesday was a lot better, we tried to visit some less actives, and
then went finding, and it was a lot better than yesterday. Talked to
some people, and although we couldn't get their numbers, some of the
wanted to come to church, so there is at least potential for them one
day. And then we taught eikaiwa and had to leave early, but it was
fine, and the elders and the eikaiwa coordinator worked together to
make it work out. We had to leave early to make it to fushimi before
9, so we could start our kokan tomorrow.
Thursday was the kokan, and it was good, but not the best. My
companion for the day was Merrick Shimai, who I kokand with in
Kurashiki a couple of months ago, and I think she is awesome, and I
love her, but it just felt off. She ends her mission after this
transfer, and we did a lot of finding as we went places to visit
members, and I didn't feel necessary. She had it under control, I had
to jump in, force my way in if I wanted to talk, and half of the time
I didn't understand any of her Japanese, because she has the fancy
Japanese down now. But it was ok, I learned that I can jump in, and
that I am way grateful that with me and my companion we can bounce
back and forth off of eachother almost seamlessly, and that we are
able to rely on eachother like that. I prefer that over feeling like I
am just tagging along for the ride, but it was definitely a good
lesson in appreciation. You never know how blessed you are until you
are placed in a situation without those blessings, and then you learn
to appreciate them so much more.
Friday was good, we had an awesome district meeting, and I learned a
lot about the power of prayer. I loved how my district leaders chose
not to just talk about it, but to show it. As a district we each
picked an investigator that we weren't sure how to help, and then we
prayed for them one at a time, and then everyone shared what the
spirit had whispered to them, it was amazing, after district meeting
we were teaching the investigator we chose, Kanako, who we found not
too long ago, and is still a new investigator. We followed the advice
that we were given, and it was an amazing lesson. The spirit was so
strong, and there was no denying that we all felt it, it was powerful!
She said that she felt the power of the spirit, after we each took
turns praying, and it was just so good! She accepted an invitation to
pray daily, and also to receive baptism when she knows that it is
true, I don't think it will take that much longer. She really does
want the gift of the Holy Ghost, and she is just amazing! We also
taught an almost eight year old boy who is getting baptized right
after his birthday, and was a little nervous. He speaks really good
Japanese, but his first language is Spanish, and we had to be careful
to use simple words, but it was so good, and we answered his
questions. We also used a boiled egg to explain baptism... Try to
figure that one out, but he loves eggs, and the idea just came to me,
it was way cool!
Saturday was a really good day, we thought we were supposed to go help
clean the church, but it ended up being just an elders quorum thing,
so we called out tech staff and had them help us fix our iPads a bit,
cause they were sturggling, and then did Our weekly planning session,w
hi was way thorough and good, and then we rushed off to ping pong
night, which was lots of fun, but most of the time I didn't play ping
pong, I kicked the soccer ball around, or kind of played badminton,
but it was lots of fun, and then we connected head shoulders knees and
toes to the restoration of the gospel, that was another fun tatoe I
came up with.
Sunday, equals rough day number two. Most of the days this week were a
little rough, but especially Sunday and Tuesday. I felt a
reconfirmation that I should ask for a blessing during my prayer last
night, so I determined I would, and put it off til the last moment I
could've, but I still asked, and that was good. During sacrament a
member had asked us to sing a song as part of his talk, so we all got
up there when he told us, in the middle of his talk, and I played and
sang, and everyone else sang families can be together forever, I love
that hymn! So powerful. Sunday school we got asked last minute to
teach the English class, so we decided to do eternal families, and it
went way well, it is good to talk about families, and think about
their importance. After church we mingled with members for a while,
and then right before the elders were going to go out finding with a
youth, I asked Barton choro for a blessing. They had to do finding
first, but after that we met back at the church for the blessing. We
also tried to go finding, but instead we just ended up sitting on a
bench looking at the river, as I just talked about what I was feeling
and my fears. It was good to just express them, even though I couldn't
do a good job of it, and we ended up reading ether 12 from the Book of
Mormon. I just wish I didn't have weaknesses, but I know it will be
ok. And then I got a blessing, two things stuck out, well more than
that, but two things that I want to share. First, be more grateful. I
have been keeping a gratitude journal from the first of the year, but
I don't know how much effort I have really been putting into it, it is
just something I have been doing, but I know I need to do better, so
that even amidst the chaos and confusion of trials, I can have a
grateful heart, and rely more fully on my savior. I know that this is
true for all of us. gratitude really does have the power to up change
our perspectives about our entire lives. The other main thing I pulled
out that I want to share is that God is mindful of us. He knows how we
feel, he knows how we think, he knows our imperfections, he knows it
all, and despite all of that, he still loves us and trusts us. And our
savior does as well! We need the atonement, we need the support that
comes from relying on our savior. There is not a moment that goes by
that our Heavenly Father is not thinking about us, loving us, and
rooting for us. We need to do the same, we need to look to him, be
mindful of him, and strive to understand his ways. I will never be
able to know the perfect words to say on my own, but as I strive to
rely on my savior, and lean on him, and just do my best, I can come to
understand what he would have me say and do, and I can also do it
without as much difficulty. The lord is mindful of you guys and loves
you. No matter what you are going through, it is for you, and he will
help you through it, if you will just humble yourself and ask him!
In the atonement challenge, we were given some chapters to read first,
my favorite of which so far is 2 nephi 2, I hope you will all go read
it, and learn something about the atonement from it, I know I did, and
even though this past week was rough, I have had better weeks, and it
will all be ok. I'm not going to tell you what I learned til next
week, because I hope you will take the time to learn for yourself, and
receive the message the spirit wants you to receive.
My ponderizing scripture for this past week was Colossians 2:5-7. "For
though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit,
joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith
in Christ.As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as
ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." His
scripture is true. We cannot see the savior standing next to us, but
he is there, he is with us every step of the way, every stumble and
fall, every heartache and every joy we experience, he experienced. He
knows us perfectly, he is ever mindful of us, and he wants to help us,
he wants to strengthen us. As we WALK WITH HIM, he can do so. He can
show us the true way to peace and happiness, and can help us overcome
our weaknesses. Be grateful, humble walk with Christ, and you will
receive more blessings than you ever have before! I know this is true!
I testify of it in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I am so grateful for all of your support and prayers, I love you and I
miss you, but even though it is hard, I would rather be in Japan than
anywhere else in the world right now. What I wonderful opportunity I
have to serve my god and my king in this land so full of promise, and
people who are just seeking the gospel, and I can find them. I love
you all! This week I will be ponderizing ether 12:29, 31, and 37.
There is power in the fact that we as humans have imperfections and
weaknesses, it helps us humble ourselves and turn to God, and be able
to succor those around us.
Love, Sister Makin
I will not deny that this week was tough, way hard, and lots of
emotions came to the surface that I hadn't even fully realized I had
been feeling, but I have also had so many wonderful experiences, and
blessings from the lord, so it is all right, and I know I can keep
going forward as I rely on my savior!
Monday was good, we went to arashiyama, and went to the monkey park at
iwatayama, which was lots of fun, missionaries apparently go crazy
over monkeys, I had no idea. I thoug they were cool, but i didn't go
as crazy as the other missionaries did. After pday we visited a sister
without an appointment, and she was so grateful, her husband died at
the end of last year, and so she is now all alone, and she was so
happy to have a visit from us, and have a chance to talk with us, it
was definitely an awesome experience, and reminded me how much I love
working with the members.
Tuesday was rough day number 1. I woke up, and things just felt a
little off, for both me an my companion. After study we went out
finding, and we talked to one lady, and it wasn't the best, and then
we sat down and talked about what we had been feeling and just cried.
It is hard to know how to talk to people sometimes, what to say, and
everything, and I don't even know what all my emotions were, but they
were there. We decided that we were going to still be productive even
though we didn't feel like finding, and went home and wrote notes to
members, and also scheduled some appointments with members. While we
were doing phone dendo, there was a break, and I just felt like I
needed to pray, and so I went in the other room and I prayed... Found
out afterwards that I prayed for about an hour, my dear companion is
so patient, but it did help to just talk it out, and at the end, I
realized I had one question, and one thing I needed to get better at
recognizing, which were linked. The question: how do others see what I
don't feel, and the improvement point: I need to get better at looking
at myself through gods eyes. Though I don't know if I have the answer
to that question yet, I am working on it, and it is going to be all
good! I had the thought that day to ask for a blessing, but I'm not
really comfortable asking for a reason I don't quite understand, so I
procrastinated it until Sunday, but it did ask, and it was definitely
helpful.
Wednesday was a lot better, we tried to visit some less actives, and
then went finding, and it was a lot better than yesterday. Talked to
some people, and although we couldn't get their numbers, some of the
wanted to come to church, so there is at least potential for them one
day. And then we taught eikaiwa and had to leave early, but it was
fine, and the elders and the eikaiwa coordinator worked together to
make it work out. We had to leave early to make it to fushimi before
9, so we could start our kokan tomorrow.
Thursday was the kokan, and it was good, but not the best. My
companion for the day was Merrick Shimai, who I kokand with in
Kurashiki a couple of months ago, and I think she is awesome, and I
love her, but it just felt off. She ends her mission after this
transfer, and we did a lot of finding as we went places to visit
members, and I didn't feel necessary. She had it under control, I had
to jump in, force my way in if I wanted to talk, and half of the time
I didn't understand any of her Japanese, because she has the fancy
Japanese down now. But it was ok, I learned that I can jump in, and
that I am way grateful that with me and my companion we can bounce
back and forth off of eachother almost seamlessly, and that we are
able to rely on eachother like that. I prefer that over feeling like I
am just tagging along for the ride, but it was definitely a good
lesson in appreciation. You never know how blessed you are until you
are placed in a situation without those blessings, and then you learn
to appreciate them so much more.
Friday was good, we had an awesome district meeting, and I learned a
lot about the power of prayer. I loved how my district leaders chose
not to just talk about it, but to show it. As a district we each
picked an investigator that we weren't sure how to help, and then we
prayed for them one at a time, and then everyone shared what the
spirit had whispered to them, it was amazing, after district meeting
we were teaching the investigator we chose, Kanako, who we found not
too long ago, and is still a new investigator. We followed the advice
that we were given, and it was an amazing lesson. The spirit was so
strong, and there was no denying that we all felt it, it was powerful!
She said that she felt the power of the spirit, after we each took
turns praying, and it was just so good! She accepted an invitation to
pray daily, and also to receive baptism when she knows that it is
true, I don't think it will take that much longer. She really does
want the gift of the Holy Ghost, and she is just amazing! We also
taught an almost eight year old boy who is getting baptized right
after his birthday, and was a little nervous. He speaks really good
Japanese, but his first language is Spanish, and we had to be careful
to use simple words, but it was so good, and we answered his
questions. We also used a boiled egg to explain baptism... Try to
figure that one out, but he loves eggs, and the idea just came to me,
it was way cool!
Saturday was a really good day, we thought we were supposed to go help
clean the church, but it ended up being just an elders quorum thing,
so we called out tech staff and had them help us fix our iPads a bit,
cause they were sturggling, and then did Our weekly planning session,w
hi was way thorough and good, and then we rushed off to ping pong
night, which was lots of fun, but most of the time I didn't play ping
pong, I kicked the soccer ball around, or kind of played badminton,
but it was lots of fun, and then we connected head shoulders knees and
toes to the restoration of the gospel, that was another fun tatoe I
came up with.
Sunday, equals rough day number two. Most of the days this week were a
little rough, but especially Sunday and Tuesday. I felt a
reconfirmation that I should ask for a blessing during my prayer last
night, so I determined I would, and put it off til the last moment I
could've, but I still asked, and that was good. During sacrament a
member had asked us to sing a song as part of his talk, so we all got
up there when he told us, in the middle of his talk, and I played and
sang, and everyone else sang families can be together forever, I love
that hymn! So powerful. Sunday school we got asked last minute to
teach the English class, so we decided to do eternal families, and it
went way well, it is good to talk about families, and think about
their importance. After church we mingled with members for a while,
and then right before the elders were going to go out finding with a
youth, I asked Barton choro for a blessing. They had to do finding
first, but after that we met back at the church for the blessing. We
also tried to go finding, but instead we just ended up sitting on a
bench looking at the river, as I just talked about what I was feeling
and my fears. It was good to just express them, even though I couldn't
do a good job of it, and we ended up reading ether 12 from the Book of
Mormon. I just wish I didn't have weaknesses, but I know it will be
ok. And then I got a blessing, two things stuck out, well more than
that, but two things that I want to share. First, be more grateful. I
have been keeping a gratitude journal from the first of the year, but
I don't know how much effort I have really been putting into it, it is
just something I have been doing, but I know I need to do better, so
that even amidst the chaos and confusion of trials, I can have a
grateful heart, and rely more fully on my savior. I know that this is
true for all of us. gratitude really does have the power to up change
our perspectives about our entire lives. The other main thing I pulled
out that I want to share is that God is mindful of us. He knows how we
feel, he knows how we think, he knows our imperfections, he knows it
all, and despite all of that, he still loves us and trusts us. And our
savior does as well! We need the atonement, we need the support that
comes from relying on our savior. There is not a moment that goes by
that our Heavenly Father is not thinking about us, loving us, and
rooting for us. We need to do the same, we need to look to him, be
mindful of him, and strive to understand his ways. I will never be
able to know the perfect words to say on my own, but as I strive to
rely on my savior, and lean on him, and just do my best, I can come to
understand what he would have me say and do, and I can also do it
without as much difficulty. The lord is mindful of you guys and loves
you. No matter what you are going through, it is for you, and he will
help you through it, if you will just humble yourself and ask him!
In the atonement challenge, we were given some chapters to read first,
my favorite of which so far is 2 nephi 2, I hope you will all go read
it, and learn something about the atonement from it, I know I did, and
even though this past week was rough, I have had better weeks, and it
will all be ok. I'm not going to tell you what I learned til next
week, because I hope you will take the time to learn for yourself, and
receive the message the spirit wants you to receive.
My ponderizing scripture for this past week was Colossians 2:5-7. "For
though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit,
joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith
in Christ.As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as
ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." His
scripture is true. We cannot see the savior standing next to us, but
he is there, he is with us every step of the way, every stumble and
fall, every heartache and every joy we experience, he experienced. He
knows us perfectly, he is ever mindful of us, and he wants to help us,
he wants to strengthen us. As we WALK WITH HIM, he can do so. He can
show us the true way to peace and happiness, and can help us overcome
our weaknesses. Be grateful, humble walk with Christ, and you will
receive more blessings than you ever have before! I know this is true!
I testify of it in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I am so grateful for all of your support and prayers, I love you and I
miss you, but even though it is hard, I would rather be in Japan than
anywhere else in the world right now. What I wonderful opportunity I
have to serve my god and my king in this land so full of promise, and
people who are just seeking the gospel, and I can find them. I love
you all! This week I will be ponderizing ether 12:29, 31, and 37.
There is power in the fact that we as humans have imperfections and
weaknesses, it helps us humble ourselves and turn to God, and be able
to succor those around us.
Love, Sister Makin
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