Come Follow Me: Miracle Week

January 18, 2016

こんにちは皆さん！
How was the week for all you great people in America? It sounds good from what I've heard from emails etc. I'm so glad all is well and that everyone is just happy, healthy, and loving life. Man, we are blessed aren't we?! TDAWG! お誕生日おめでとうございます！Happy Birthday! 愛してますよ (I love you) Have a great day okay?! Everyone else, just have a good day always too okay? I mean we have the knowledge of the gospel, how can we not have a good day everyday? Can you believe I've been out 6 months?! Scary! Time is flying by so fast and it is scaring me.. But I'm just enjoying all the time I got. Well to start this AMAZING week off it snowed.... NOOO HAHAHA Jokes. It was pretty! And it didn't stick so it's fine already. But anyway, last Monday we had an awesome lesson with our Ekaiwa students about the WOW. One is a mom of 2 little boys and the other is a 14 year old girl who ismSO cute. We went to an all you can eat restaurant with them and the restaurant had green tea ice cream and deserts and they asked us why we didn't get any? And so then we shared with them why we don't drink tea coffee and etc. and they thought it actually was a good idea and they thought it made sense. So we asked them if they thought they could go one week without drinking tea and coffee and they both were in shock when we asked them but they could see we were serious and agreed to do so. So we would send them a reminder everyday and encouragement and they both went the whole week without tea and they said it went so good. BUT the best part... So on Saturday we have Takyuu or like a game night with investigators and the mom came and said that her and her husbands relationship has been so good the past week and she got a new job that she really needed this week! Wow!! BLESSINGS so we testified to her that because she was following the WOW she was receiving blessings and she agreed. So we are so happy we are little by little adding the gospel to her life not just an Ekaiwa student! Tuesday was MIRACLE day so we went and bought Miller Shimai's bike finally... Whoops, we've been too busy haha sorry! But anyway, so we bought it and it ended up being hard and kind of frustrating cause Japanese struggle. So after we both were just frustrated and we for sure did not have the spirit so without knowing it, we both were just praying on our bikes as we were heading back home and on the way we had these two ojichans or grandpas stop us and asked where we were from and just wanted to talk to us. So we were able to share a message with them and it just brought the spirit back and it just put both of our attitudes in the right state. Heavenly Father hears our simple prayers of just needed something to change our attitude. He answers them always and I'm so grateful for prayer it's so real and helps in ANY situation. So no one here lets us serve them by like cleaning, or just like anything service wise it's so annoying ha Japanese are too polite and don't want to have it be a jama or burden. But a branch member finally gave us a service opportunity! Mami Shimai, our like best friend in the branch, has been overwhelmed and her house had been so unorganized so we asked her if we could clean her kitchen for her and she agreed. So we deep cleaned her kitchen and it helped her SO much and it looked so good afterwards. Miller Shimai is like me, she has OCD for being clean ha it's the best! So it was great and we got some Costco popcorn out of it too. So we taught our cute nurse student a lot this week but the lesson that was just spirit tsunami was about the BOM. We have been really trying to make sure she has a strong testimony of the BOM because then it all just works out if they know that's true. So we read the intro to the BOM and talked about how it can bring us closer to God and we can receive help in anything because she gets overwhelmed with school and has anxiety sometimes. So we asked her to read from the beginning everyday for a week and pray about it whether it is true or not and you could tell she couldn't wait to do so. So next time we met we asked her about it and she said I don't know if it's true or not yet but every time I read this I don't feel overwhelmed or anything. I just feel calm and good. YAY!! That's exactly right haha she has read and prayed about every day since and we just are waiting for that answer. Another spirit filled lesson that was such a miracle was with "worry wart" a LA who just worries ALL the time and just is so awesome but just needs encouragement and help so we met with her Friday and we had this whole lesson planned about the spirit and such but when we got in there she started opening up about things and we just felt the spirit tell us to switch to these scriptures and change and wow the spirit was so strong during it and it was amazing what the spirit has us say and read that for perfect to her needs that day. She kept telling us "I'm not God enough, I need to be better for God." And hearing that broke my heart cause she is amazing she just has weaknesses like we ALL do. So I asked her if she believed God loved her? And she didn't answer, she just like beat around the bush so I said again, do you believe God loves you? And she looked at me and knew I wanted an answer and she said I think so. So right then and there the spirit hit me so strong that I need to let her know my testimony that God loves her and everyone cause we are his children and I just cried and felt the spirit so strong and so did she. It was amazing what I felt at that time. She text us that night and said Sisters, today helped me more than you know, I am praying about all we talked about. And I just was SO grateful for the spirit. Last, I spoke in sacrament this week.. It went good except Sunday was one of the hardest days of my mission because we were supposed to have 2 LA coming and 3 investigators coming to church and only 1 LA and 1 investigator came and it broke my heart in half. But before my talk, I said one of my most sincere prayers to help me still feel happy and joyful so I can share the talk he wants me to and show the light of Christ and I felt so much peace and joy after that. The talk went well and I just LOVE my Heavenly Father and Savior. Last is the thought of the week, I LOVE this thought so much and hope you can all apply it and use it this week and for the rest of your life. So during District Meeting we talked about PMG the whole time and we talked about how it is not for missionaries only, it can be for ANYONE! Even members should make it part of their study. And I just felt like that is something I want you all to strive to add to your gospel study this week. Study PMG, it'll help you I promise. It has changed my life and testimony more than I ever thought possible. "What knowledge we keep we lose, what knowledge we share we keep." I LOVE THIS QUOTE! If we don't share what we know, it'll be lost because we won't use it daily, it'll just be something else in our head. So please add PMG to your study and share it!! The gospel needs to be heard and sharing it is such an amazing feeling. So there is the challenge that can and will change your life forever. I promise. I love you all and miss you lots but I'm just so happy here so. Haha Have a great week and stay safe okay? Love you! #RELY #SHARE
スミス姉妹