Kobe

Kobe
Kobe, Japan

Monday, April 7, 2014

Week 35 - Does the Lord Change?

Thank you for the pictures!!! Beebz looks gorgeous, and I miss my little niecey Finnley. I wrote to Tai...there better be a huge package from him for me by next week...(hint hint, TAI!). Man, everyone`s getting beat up so bad! Heelz needs to take it easy or there won`t be any part of him left by the time I get home. Football`s cool but he`s got to be careful! Everyone looks happy and pretty healthy...hope you`re all doing well!

I don`t have very much time so I`ll keep it short. I want to tell you about something really cool that happened this week. So every night there`s a chunk of time set apart just for planning the next day: where you`re going, who you`re teaching, what you need to study, all that stuff. During planning Wednesday night we prayed and felt like we should be in a totally opposite part of town called Kusatsu where we usually don`t go. We finished planning and the Elders called us and said they needed our help for a lesson which happened to be in that area that we had already planned to be in. So the next day as we were making our way to Kusatsu and realized we had an awkward 15 minute interval of time that we didn`t really plan very well for. So we decided to do some streeting and hand out free english class fliers. Usually people are way willing to take the fliers as we talk to them in English. But on this particular night NO ONE wanted them and no one would stop to talk to us. We had circled around the same block a couple times and I thought okay let`s just go around one more time. So we did. All of a sudden this lady passed us on her bike and slammed on her brakes, making a really loud screetching noise! She yelled, `SISTERS!` Which is crazy because no one knows we`re called Shimai. She then started telling us about how she had just been praying and she thought we were an answer to her prayers. She was on her way home from work and she had been praying the whole time while she had been on her bike. We asked her if she`d met missionaries before and she said only once. She started to tell us about how she`s changed a lot since the first time she met missionaries and that the question she wanted to know was Does the Lord change? We reassured her that He does not -- and she began to cry...right there in the middle of the street! You need to know that here in Japan, people don`t show emotion very often, and NEVER in public. She was in a hurry to get home but she asked for a Book of Mormon and we exchanged numbers. I thought it was really amazing how the night before we had an impression that we followed, the Lord opened our schedule for just a few minutes just for us to find this woman, and He guided all of us toward each other. We haven`t been able to meet with her yet, but she`s definitely in our prayers and we look forward to talking with her again.

With General Conference approaching for us in Japan (it will come on next week!) it never ceases to amaze me how well the Lord knows us. Through modern-day revelation, He tells our beloved prophet and His apostles what to tell us. Those words are means of comfort and sometimes means by which many people are admonished to change their lives. I hope you all listened to conference carefully! Use the revelation these servants of God receive, apply it in your lives, and I promise you can be like the woman we met on the street on her way from work...finding answers to your life`s deepest questions and concerns.

In order to watch Conference here we all have to travel to Kyoto. There will be about 300 members there! I know our ward back at home is about that size, but 300 members is HUGE here! I look forward to seeing everyone`s testimonies strengthened, along with my own of course. I`ve been really blessed to serve here in Otsu, we have an AWESOME ward and stake. Sister Hall and I absolutely love working with the members here. I`ve learned so much about what kind of member I want to be when I return home, just from being in this ward. We`re good! We`re healthy! And it`s warming up again. Temps dropped last week but now it`s finally going to be Spring again! I love you all and you`re in my prayers!

Love Always,
Sister Heimuli

PS. Just for Mom:  Pics!  (Note from Mom:  Yay!)

Beautiful Springtime in Japan -- cherry blossoms are everywhere!
Our 13-yr old investigator and her mom love to do hair
Our 13-yr old is such a doll!
YSA activity at the church
(Front) Investigator; (Back) Bishop's daughter who just put her mission papers in
Cherry blossoms, Lake Biwa and outfit from Aunty Nei...doesn't get any better than this!
Ahhhhh, P-day

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