Monday, January 18, 2016

January 18, 2016 - Good Bye Bike


Say good bye to missionary work on bikes for a while cause it's finally dumping snow here in Izumi !!!  I finally can break out my boots that nearly didn't make it to Japan in the first place because they are so heavy.  Haha  If I left them at the MTC, I know Mom, you would have probably killed me!

On Tuesday a member took the whole district out for steak!  She is the funniest old lady in the ward.  We started talking about when she was baptized.  Get this, she was baptized in April, 1954.  Dad, you were 3 months old!!! Haha

Sorry but I realized that at the restaurant and had to share it.  Sorry!!

When she was baptized the 泉ワード (ward) didn't exist all.  People met in a house in the Kamisugi area.  There were about 50 members at the time and the missionaries did everything in the branch!  Now 60 years later the 泉ワード is the biggest in the entire mission!  It was a huge testimony builder of the incredible progress has been done here in Japan!  Lately I've learned about the history of the Sendai mission and how small it started out.  It is gaining members and the missionary work seems to be picking up.  The Sendai mission and really all of Japan is a sacred and preserved land and now is the time for the Lord’s work to be done!

Thursday we had a mission conference and Elder Yamashita was there.  He is a member of the area presidency.  He was the mission president in the Nagoya mission at the same as Smith Kaicho's brother.   The conference was all about obedience and putting more effort into everything that we do because our time as missionaries is very short!!  Like Coach Wall always says, "Before you know it...!"  Two things that stuck out from the conference was the comment about how many eternal friends you are going to go find in the coming week, month, transfer, or year.  It is so true that we are out finding and teaching the gospel to our one day eternal friends and family!  Also, was that we need to work as hard as we can especially on p-day!  Sadly I had to be reminded/learn that p-day is prep day not play day!  It's insane that missionaries are the only ones with p-days, the mission presidents don't get p-days.   No one should stop working and doing their best to help the people of the mission and other missionaries!  Elder Yamashita told a story about his son who served in Seattle.  He said that he really struggled with learning English and was very sad all the time because he couldn't help anybody out.  Then one day, he went on a split with a zone leader and the zone leader’s example of positivity and obedience changed the course of his mission!  He learned to serve people in any way possible and just be positive about the things that went on day to day!  He said that the service to others and a positive attitude helped his language skills skyrocket.  He ended up being a zone leader and he was the most obedient missionary because he knew the blessings would come if he was positive and obedient!  Seriously, I could almost say it was life changing!

Our really good investigator is still accepting the gospel and came to church recently!! So keep praying for us!  Remember you can do anything with confidence in the Lord!

Love y'all and keep up the good work wherever you are!!

 頑張ってね

愛してます

ハルバソン長老



New Year's Morning

Sunrise on New Year's

First Snow...Bikes grounded
 

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