The Final Countdown

August 07, 2017

The Final Countdown

I'm just going to delve right in this week because our P-day is super busy so I don't have a ton of time to email. But a lot happened this week and I want to share my experiences!

Last Monday after we finished P-day things we went with a member and her mom to a small festival happening across town. I cannot for the life of me remember what it is called, but there was a giant ring and we walked through it a certain way and then they gave us good luck charms, haha. It was an experience to be sure. Super fun though. And then that night we had a tortilla party with an investigator and member. Haha, Megumi loves tortillas (not sure why) and so when we got tortillas from Costco, she was super excited. We decided to make quesadillas together with Mari-can. It was super fun and they turned out great! We also gave her a tour of the church and when we showed her the baptismal font we invited her to baptism and she agreed! She wouldn't set a date, but we're going to try really hard to work with her on it. She's just very busy with nursing school, so it's hard to find time to meet. *sigh* But we have faith!

Tuesday for lunch we went to sushi with a potential investigator. Her name is Rika and we met her on the street last week, haha. We told her about English and the gospel and she said she wanted to learn more! So we met up and taught her some English and then the beginning of the first lesson. She was super excited about prayer and so we are really excited to see how that goes!

Wednesday we had zone conference and really talked about faith and having hope. Zone Conference is always a really good pick-me-up. They have really been hitting home how important it is for us to have faith in the Lord and faith in ourselves. So this past week we have been praying really hard for the Lord to strengthen our faith. We're hopeful that through that we will be able to see more miracles than we have already seen.

Thursday we went to a potential investigators house to eat lunch. She's from Brazil and made us some delicious Brazilian food! Pastel, coxinha, and cocada <3 We gave her a Book of Mormon that we had marked up and she was really excited. Again, we are excited to see how she progresses in the future <3

Crazy experience of the week: Does anyone remember that lady who I cut her tall tree? Well, we were passing her house on Thursday and I happened to look over at the exact time she was looking out her curtains. We made eye contact and I immediately stopped. She ended up inviting us inside and became a new investigator! Haha, we're still in shock. But it's just proof that the Lord comes through when you put your faith in Him <3

Friday we taught Watanabe-san again and she had even more questions than last time! Haha, we were planning to teach some English, but she came in and immediately started asking us questions about the gospel. One hour later and we had taught all of lesson 1 and 2. It was a crazy spiritual roller coaster. She's so great and really wants to learn. Yet another blessing!

Then on Sunday we did a "concert" at a less active members house. It was the sister and her oldest daughter and her kids. As well as the member couple who drove us. We did songs on the guitar, piano, and sang. It was really fun and went really well! We just really wanted to bring the Spirit into their lives a little and help them slowly work their way back to church.

Then after that we were doing some phone missionary work and just calling everyone in our contacts. So we reach someone called Maria and give her a call. We weren't expecting much, but it turns out she speaks pretty fluent English because she is from the Philippines. Turns out she knows a TON of Mormons and is super curious. She kinda told us her life story, haha, but was really down to meet up again. So--on a whim--we invite her to church next Sunday and then to have a picnic with us after. She said "Okay, when is church? Will you send me the address?" Soooo, it was a really amazing miracle and I'm so excited to meet her! I can almost hear the font filling with water now ;)

Finally, to top off our amazing Sunday, we went to a festival with Watanabe-san. It was a summer festival called "Oboundori" where there are a bunch of teenagers playing Taiko drums in the middle of a circle and then everyone dances around them in a circle doing a synchronized dance. (Video below) Yes, it is as amazing as it sounds. Haha, it was at a really pretty shrine, too! So great and so much fun <3

Alright, we are off to try to not die in the typhoon outside! Wish us luck <3

--Armour Shimai