Come Follow Me: I never wanna leave this place

December 7, 2015

Hello!! Wow isn't the gospel great? Sorry it's later today, we went to the zoo with an English class student so we are later today... But wow, what a great great week for everyone! Everyone just looks like they had a blast and just are enjoying the amazing Christmas spirit. I love all the pictures and such! I just man, k love my family and friends. I'm so blessed. I hope you all continue to stay happy and just great people that you are. Well this week for us was GREAT! I LOVE THIS PLACE! I'll share some highlights of the week... We had a lesson with a member who needs just a little up lifting and Fuller Shimai wanted me to take control and lead the lesson. And guess what?! It went SO WELL! It felt so good to just talk and commit her and do all those things. Yes it wasn't perfect but I saw the growth in me and it was just a good experience for me. After the lesson fuller Shimai told me that's the most confident she's seen me speak. So I mean yeah it wasn't perfect but I tried and it ended up pretty good. So we had a shoukugi (dinner) with a family who is the most hilarious/sarcastic family I've ever met in Japan. Because most families aren't like that so it's fun cause our family is so anyway. Come to find out, they leave like an hour away by bike so that was a fun experience in the pouring rain and hail. But they live in the inaka part of Izumo (the country side) and there house was literally like by itself in the woods ha it was awesome! We are in their barn and she is like a gourmet chef so it was sooo good and she made deviled eggs... I miss those! But anyway, the best part, they have a grand piano, no one does here.. So we played all the Disney songs and sang our hearts out together because fuller Shimai is SO skilled at the piano so we just loved life with that ha that was the fun America part of the week. So Welch 会長 gave us a challenge for December.. We are to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John this month. While we read it we are marking 1: The gospel of Jesus Christ 2: The relationship between God and Jesus Christ 3: The way the Savior teaches. I am so excited to get my nose into the bible. Yes, it's hard to understand compared to the amazing Book of Mormon but I have never been good at reading it very good so I'm excited to gain a better testimony of these few books and see how the Savior taught. What a perfect time to learn more about him, CHRISTMAS. Speaking of Christmas and the Savior.. HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW VIDEO?! Please tell me yes.... If not zehi, (go ahead) go watch it now. It is such a great video and the church made it just perfect. And also, PLEASE share it with friends and or strangers. Whoever... We need to remember and focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Yes it's good to enjoy the fun holiday spirit but the true meaning is an even better joy we feel. Our Saviors birth is so amazing and because ofthat day we can all be born again and live with our Heavenly Father again. Isn't the Savior just the most amazing/loving person ever? So we went on a random Koukkan this week... These like never happen but our zone leaders wanted us too so.. After zone meeting we switched. Taecheira Shimai who is a THIRD TRANSFER, yes we both are learning the language right now came with me back to Izumo haha then fuller Shimai went with her comp back to their area for Saturday. Well on our way back from the Eki (train station) I thought I would take the back way Fuller Shimai showed me past week... Well I got lost so it's 9 o'clock, freezing, windy, and we are both exhausted and we are lost.. So I finally found the way but we had to back track and it took a little longer than normal but we made it haha I fixed my mistake but the next day we had two lessons planned. Our first was with a recent convert who has been struggling with coming to church lately cause he has Shougi tournaments (Japanese chess tournaments) We just teach him with a member usually but no one could so the elders came and well I basically had to be the "leader" of the lesson and boy was it scary because we both didn't know Japanese that well but it ended up really good and I was pretty proud of what we accomplished... He agreed to followed God better and he will come to church. My short thought of the week is a quote from Fuller Shimai during our study that just stuck out to me... Hit me hard.. We were discussing hope and how we feel like hope kind of has a negative connotation too it in America. "Like oh I hope we can... But like not sure if it'll happen, probably not." Type of thing... But we both didn't like that cause hope is almost the same as faith and that's for sure not negative right? So she said "Hope is a desire with confidence." And that is perfect way to describe it. Hope is wishing for something to happen but that wish is very confident in it. And I just thought, we need to change our definition of hope. Hope is a positive thing that goes hand in hand with faith. So I've been trying to work on how I use hope and how my hope really is. This week, look at your hope. Does it portray the negative way or the faith way? If it's the negative, I challenge you to pray and work on changing the way you see hope. It'll make a world of difference in your life. It has made my life seem happier and more positive and I love it. So there is the challenge of the week to improve your life or recognize a good thing you're already doing.#RELY #HOPE
スミス姉妹 Smith Shim