Letter July 30

Hi family,

 

Thank you for the emails! It really makes me feel appreciated and loved. You're the best!

 

Today I went to Tokyo for my very last temple p-day in Japan...It was weird saying goodbye to almost everyone. The ones who got the most teary-eyed were the mission president's wife and the office sister who will see me again this week anyway. After we complete a temple session as a mission, the tradition is to assemble in the chapel next to the temple to chat, exchange meishis (business cards with personal notes on the back), and make lunch plans. It's always awesome to be surrounded by so many friends who are all hard-working dedicated servants of the Lord. I love missionaries. For my last p-day lunch in Tokyo I picked my favourite pizza restaurant and everyone made fun of me for not choosing Japanese food, but we all had fun. On the way back to the train station, we passed a puppy store with huge windows, which was dangerous for everyone. My companion had to drag me away before I went inside and completely lost it.

 

Missionary work in Oyama is still going steady. We're struggling a bit to find investigators. We're making lots of friends, but we're trying to focus our efforts on people who want to hear about forever families, the gospel, and eternal life. We always appreciate your prayers in behalf of the missionaries! This week we followed some of Trina's advice and talked to shop-keepers, people window-shopping, people in community centers, etc. It sure beats knocking on doors where nobody's home, but we have to be a lot more casual with our approach, so there are always new things to learn. I wish I could just put up fireworks announcing God's plan of happiness and have people flock to the church, but missionary work is a lot like the rest of the gospel: it happens one at a time, to individuals, at the time they need it and in the wisdom of Heavenly Father. I'm glad He's in charge.

 

My favourite scripture this week was 3 Nephi 13:8. We shared it with a lot of less-actives. Heavenly Father knows our needs before we even ask Him, but He wants to hear from us in prayer. He loves us. He rejoices when we ask Him for help or even just talk about how our day went. I'm grateful for a God who knows me and who knows everyone I serve.

 

I love you all and wish you a great week! Look out for my email next week talking about miracles, because I know we will see many!

Long Shimai