We saw so many miracles this week! We met this man from Africa and then later on met him again and he was was like, "Okay,okay fine, next time we meet I will listen to what you have to say." Everyone pray that we will meet Sam again this week! He is so ready for the gospel!
Afterwards we met another man from Ethiopia and he was totally down to meet again and when we called him he asked if he could bring his friend. So we're meeting him on Friday, yay!
Tuesday my heart died! Brother Kono took us to this karaoke bar. He knew the owner and then we taught her about the gospel and then we sang You Are My Sunshine with Kono Kyodai and man, he can (not) sing. It was so much fun! Then we went to a concert!! Not just any concert, BYU Hawaii concert choir!!! I saw my friends from before, it was so happy but both of them were dudes, and I couldn't hug them, that was hard. And I didn't get pictures, I know I'm stupid but it was so nice to see them and also listen to them sing. It was so good! I was a little trunky though afterwards. I miss Hawaii so much. It took like a day to not think about it.
Wednesday we got two more referrals and they are from Australia! Woah! Then English class where it's getting too political....sigh, I love teaching though, it's so much fun! I get to act like a goof ball and make people laugh!
We went to district meeting on Friday (skipping Thursday because you'll read below). I made Sister Larsen a breakfast burrito, right and we had to leave to catch the train so I wrapped it so she could have it later. At district meeting she pulls it out and starts eating it and Elder Weakly shouted, "Woah! Where did you get that burrito? It came out of no where!" Hashtag Mexican. My comp and I died and the rest of our district (the other four elders) were like what is wrong with these sisters?
We have a pet spider in our apartment. His name is Beasty. Yeah. We haven't killed him and our apartment is so small and bare that we see him all over. He actually is pretty big and has white fangs...yeah.
On Thursday we had a normal day, planned for the week, right, and then biked all the way out to teach English/gospel to our investigators. We had a member come. To be honest though, it wasn't the best lesson, our investigators were surprised by our member and turns out we forgot to tell them that she was coming with. We tried to invite them to church and they said the wouldn't come. It was very disappointing, heart breaking, and now I have to bike home for an hour and bike fast in order to make it home on time. I was mad. Okay, not mad but really, really frustrated. What was I doing wrong (besides the mistake mentioned above)? Why won't people listen to us? Why does this work for everyone else? Why can't some just accept what I have to say?! Where are those prepared people? On the way home I prayed these words out loud to myself. I asked God a lot of why questions. I complained to Him and I asked for understanding. My lovely companion asked me how I was doing. I told her and said I'm not sure what I have to change to make this easier. I realized that it's not easy, it never is going to be but our burdens will be made light by sharing the yoke with Christ.
Sister Larsen the shared with me the words to How Firm a Foundation.
She began to say them aloud.
Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I joined in and said the next line.
I’ll strengthen thee,
Sister Larsen echoed back:
Help thee,
Me:
and cause thee to stand,
Together we said this as we biked home.
Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand!
The Spirit was so strong, it was like a thick chord that connected me to my companion. We felt His love once more. "Fear not, I am with thee!" The last part of the verse is when I felt it the most. I am upheld by his righteousness. His righteousness bears me up. I can't keep trying to do it myself. I have to lean on the support of my God, lean on that support and then also leap in faith. There is a line of a song that made me think a little more about faith, "We were moving mountains before we knew we could." Sometimes we don't realize we have faith already, we forget that we can, through God, do anything!
Now flash to Sunday. Wow! Sunday. So good! Okay, before I get a head of myself, let me back track a bit to last Sunday. Oh boy, so we met the Elder's nvestigator, Sister Nakajima and instantly we became "bosom friends." If you don't know the reference, it just means friends for life! Then Tuesday we went to the concert with her.
This Sunday, yesterday, she got baptized. We ended up running to the church so we wouldn't be late but it worked out. When we saw her she was in all white and she screamed! My daughters!! She introduced us all to the members and said that we were her angels and her daughters. She was so happy! The missionaries all got together and for her baptism sang the mission theme song. I played my ukulele, which was a hit because this little boy later asked if he could play it! Happy :) During the baptism you could hear her from in the bathroom all nervousness to walk in. The spirit was so strong. It engulfed the room. After the baptism we, Larsen Shimai and I sang to her, "I feel my Savior's Love."
Again, the Spirit testified to us all that this was true. We felt our Savior's love. She hugged us and she told us, you two are my daughters forever. My heart! At this point it's brimming with joy and happiness I might explode. We went back to our area and taught peeps, being awesome missionaries. We eat and as we were walking back to the church I
turned to my comp and said, "I am the happiest I have ever been in my whole life!" I was not ready for the last whammy that God had ready for me.
As we were putting in lessons, our phone rings and it's an unknown number. Guess who it is?! Because I can't actually hear your guess, I'll just tell you! It was Jheff!! It is my wonderful recent convert Jheff and he said he felt a prompting to call me! We talked and as we
talked the miracles in his life began unfolding in front of my eyes. First he goes out with the Elders in my last area everyday to help teach and find. He has recently had his family return and he is sharing with them gospel. He has quit his job that wasn't good for him and now he is getting ready to be endowed in the temple in a year. And then he is going to go on a mission! He has taken the Gospel and has made it his own! He told me that he knows that this Gospel is the reason for the happiness in his life. He was talking to me about how
through the power of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost nothing is impossible. The more he spoke the more the Spirit testified to me that he is the key to so many and their happiness. He has the greatest testimony in the world! He told me to have a Happy Sabbath and I thought of you mom! (I think you two would be good friends:) He just kept talking more and more about the miracles of this gospel and the happiness it brings! When the phone call ended I started jumping up and down!
Now I had to correct my precious statement. At this moment my knees and legs hurt and are sore, I have a headache, my investigators didn't come to church like they said the would but THIS was the happiest I have ever been in my entire life! My comp told me, "It's because God wanted you to know he is watching over you." Just earlier in the week I was complaining to him for all the things that are wrong and he's just gave me such a sweet mercy! He loves me. He not only loves me but he cares enough to show me what I have done and what knocking on this one guy's door has done for so many! I give thanks to my God, my Heavenly Father.
I love you all so much! Life is good! Smile because there is so much to smile about! Hallelujah! Amen.
Love, Sister Oswald
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