Week 49 - She Didn't Call the Cops...Thank Goodness

This past week feels like a blur! All the events that happened just mush into one big....blur! Time just seems to be going faster and faster, and I am afraid there`s nothing I can do about it. Maybe I need a companion that I don`t love so much -- maybe that would make time slow down. I just adore Sister Scheffler!

We had to be home by 9:30pm. It was 9pm when we left an investigator house which was still an hour away from home. We biked fast and furiously to make it on time!

It makes being a missionary easier when you`ve got a sister that`s got your back right beside you! She`s such a trooper, she`s learning Uke and Hula and how to sing while doing both! We are SOOOOO excited for our luau this Saturday. The ward`s getting pretty excited about it too. Yesterday, the relief society presidency pulled me aside and set up a hula class this week for me to teach. Then the bishopric printed out a million flyers and had all the youth and YSA go to the surrounding neighborhoods here at the church and put flyers in all their mailboxes letting them know about the luau! There`s so many things we need to do for the party and so many details that factor into it. Thank goodness the ward is working with us and helping us out. I think it`s kind of like the work of the Lord, without the ward`s help it`s impossible!

But without the Lord`s help, it`s DEFINITELY impossible. As a missionary there are very few things we can do alone. Very basic stuff like wake up, talk to people, walk around. But when we are doing the things we are supposed to do, the Lord is able to place people in our paths to help us get done what needs to be done. Here are a few examples from the week:

-a kind SGI (japanese religion, super stubborn believers who usually want nothing to do with us missionaries) woman gave us the address to a Less Active brother`s house whom she used to live next to. Because of that we were able to contact his family.

-Fukuda shimai (a less active we`d been working with, but who got offended by some members and then wouldn`t talk to us) suddenly called us after a month and half of no contact and wanted to meet up for lunch. At lunch we got to rebuild our friendship again and now she`s going to start coming back to church.

-a nice mom by some apartment complexes, even though her baby was screaming bloody murder, took the time to use her navigator and help us find the address to a less active man`s house. She said she might come to the luau!

-the neighbor of a less active man came out after seeing us. She read our tags and said that even though she doesn`t feel she needs religion, she felt our presence when we got to her neighborhood and she knows what we`re doing is for the good of her neighbor. She didn`t call the cops or anything...thank goodness.

-We found 27 more less actives houses thanks to kind and patient neighbors and people willing to help 

-a less active sister we found is now in a wheelchair and she`s too  old to really talk anymore. But her daughter and her daughter`s family were kind enough to let us teach her and they participated in our lesson. They weren`t against our teaching and they said they`d like to take their mom to church again.

-we taught 2 less actives in one afternoon and that`s really rare here!

We were dripping when we got home, we threw our clothes off and soaked up our sweat with our towels. 

We can be that person the Lord puts in the paths of others too! If it weren`t for these people we couldn`t have found and contacted as many less actives as we did this last week. And as of yesterday we`ve gotten 2 newly reactived members in the ward!!!! I can`t explain how rewarding it is to see your fellow brother or sister return to church.

I hope we all feel that way when we see people we haven`t seen in a while come to church. Do me a favor, try to notice them! When you see them tell them you`re happy to see them. Even just that simple acknowledgment will make a world of difference for the members in our wards. Here in Japan they`re really good at noticing when people haven`t been around and they`re really good at being sure to shake every person`s hand. I believe that if we just take a few minutes after sacrament to walk around and just say hello to people you haven`t seen in a while or don`t usually talk to, it will make all of our journeys of `enduring to the end` just a little easier. I`ve learned that and many other things this past week.

Love you all! I`ll let you know about how fun the Luau is next week :)

Sister Heimuli

These sweaty pics are super gross, mom. Not even kidding. DO NOT put these on the blog. [Note from Mom: Oops.]