We had a lesson with a new investigator named Ig. She was actually an investigator last year, but was dropped, then this last week she gave us a call, wanting to meet. She is Chinese but has been living in Japan for about 20 years. We read from the Book of Mormon together, we would read in English and she would read in Chinese, then we would talk about it in Japanese. As we talked about praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true, she told us that she has felt the Holy Ghost before. She also has a testimony of the power of prayer from when her younger sister (who is Christian) prayed for her to recover from an illness, and she did. It seems like she will progress very well, her only concern is that she doesn't want to be pressured to join the church. When we asked if we could call her Ig Shimai (sister), before she said yes, she checked to make sure that it didn't mean she was committing to join the church. But since she already knows what the spirit feels like, I think that she will be able to overcome her concerns pretty quickly.
Y moved to Akita this week! That was so sad. But we had the best lesson with him on Saturday--we talked about repentance and what it means for his life. We went through all the baptismal questions, the only thing he wasn't sure about is if there is a prophet on the earth today. We invited him to watch general conference this next week, and promised him that when President Monson speaks, he would feel the spirit and know for himself that President Monson is God's prophet. We were seriously floored by the strength of his testimony! He is so great, and honestly ready for baptism. He is starting college at AIU in Akita this week, and he said it would be nice to start off college with a seiyaku and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The only problem is still just that his parents want him to wait. Luckily, we were able to meet his step-dad (who is a Buddhist monk) on Saturday! Y invited us over to his house, and his step-dad gave us a little tour of their o-tera. We asked a lot of questions and were able to learn a lot. It was actually really interesting. At one point we saw a picture of a man who was glowing, and he had just died. All the people were gathered around weeping, and the animals and the earth and angels were weeping as well. He told us that it was Buddha, and that he died, but he lives on, through his philosophies. But we were both like...wow this is definitely Jesus right here. Also the top 3 Kamisama's were in gold, with one at the top and 2 by his sides, like counselors in a presidency or something That was so good, and I think it was great for his Dad to see that Mormons are nice people and respectful of other religions. Hopefully that will help soften his heart to let Y be baptized.
My favorite part of the tour was when Y's step-dad was telling us the story of one of the Kamis who used to eat children, but then recognized his wickedness and changed his life to start protecting children instead. Then Y whispered to us, "repentance." We went out to Yakisoba with him and then said goodbye--luckily, we go to Akita at least once a week so he said that we should go to lunch sometime when we're there!
We spent some time on Saturday chilling with T, a less-active member. He is trying to quit smoking and start keeping the commandments, and we made some huge progress on Saturday. Mostly thanks to Elder Haskins' knowledge of death metal music, we were really able to talk to him and strengthen our relationship with him. We had a good time and he wants to keep meeting with us consistently. He agreed to cut his cigarette usage in half, from 20 a day to just 10. He said he would come to church the next day, but then when church started at 10:00 he wasn't there. We were pretty disappointed, but about 10 minutes into the meeting, we saw him walk in with another member! He sat down and stayed for all of church, it was great.
We did some hisashiburi ni housing this week, and we have been visiting some long-time PIs more consistently, things are really starting to pick up! We're doing great in Yokote, and hoping that we can have this next transfer together too.
Thanks for all you do! Love you!!
パスケット長老
Elder Paskett
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| Otera tour with Y and his dad |
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| chilling with T |
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| District P-day |
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