Good evening, everyone. It is really good to come to the beginning of another week!
As you might of guessed, today we had our Temple Day, which is why I am updating today instead of yesterday. The temple was a beautiful, uplifting experience, as always.
We had a few really amazing, simple miracles happen this week that I would love to be able to share with you.
The first is not too much of a miracle, but still amusing. We were walking to visit a member, when we passed the most adorable little cake shop with some adorable German decorations. We stopped to look at them and the girl who was working their was very friendly and waved to us. We continued on our way, but when we were returning, I felt like it might be a good idea to visit the girl at the shop. And eat some cake.
Some missionaries are lead by the spirit, but I am apparently just lead by the stomach. Embarrassing.
So we went, and had several wonderful conversations. The girl who worked there was really interested in learning about English, and the owner of the shop remembered the names of some Elder's that he had met a couple of years ago. Those Elder's must have quite the impression on him. We hope to be able to go again! (And by the way, the cake was DELICIOUS.)
The next evening, Matsuzaki Shimai was not feeling well, and we were considering canceling the eikaiwai/lesson that we had planned with a referral from Imano Shimai. Imano Shimai, being also sick, suggested that Bickmore shimai go with me. We were a bit nervous, but we sallied forth. I don't think I have gone into anything with so much faith before. Luckily, both of the parents spoke really good English, which made life easy for the both of us. Before we started the church part of the lesson, the husband was very clear with us. "I really respect everything that your church does to help people." he said "But I don't believe in God." I was just like, "Ok, ok.... Still gonna teach you about the Restoration." When we got to Joseph Smith's experience, I asked him to read it. You could see the speculation on his face as he read. Afterwards, as we were explaining a little further, he began to read ahead and flip through the pages of the pamphlet. He said "This is really hard to believe." We took a moment to acknowledge that and I said something along the lines of "I realize that it is. But that is why there is a book that Joseph Smith translated from an ancient record through the power of God. It is something you can read and pray about and find out for yourself if it is true." We testified of the truth of the Book of Mormon and he started flipping through the one in Simplified Chinese (they are both Chinese) Book of Mormon's that we had brought. After a few moments, he asked "Can I borrow this?" We just about died, I swear. We gave them the book and committed them to read it.
I am so grateful for The Book of Mormon. Without it, our message would seem like a bunch of bologna. While we were riding our bikes home, Bickmore Shimai commented that I was rather brave to be so bold. (At the end of the lesson, I was pretty insistant that he, as the head of the household, say the closing prayer.) But I don't really remember thinking in the moment "wow, I am being bold" or "wow, I think the spirit is helping me know what to say." It wasn't until afterwards that I thought, "That was all the spirit."
It was quite the experience.
Another nice thing that happened to me this week, was after English class, one of the students said that it looked like I had lost weight. She's too kind, really. But it still made me WAAAY happy! Yay for losing weight, whoohoo!!
I hope that everyone else has had a fine week! I have a lot of interesting stories that have come from this week, buuuut... I really can't find the words to even start to begin explaining our tea time with the conspiratorial non-denominational missionary couple. Perhaps that is a story for another time.
The church is true. It is the one true church on the earth. I believe it. I know it. I LOVE IT!
Have a lovely week! :)
Sister Teagan Clark
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