Ellie's Mission in Japan: Week 16 - 奇跡の週 (Week of miracles)

おはようございます！

Oh my goodness this week was amazing, I don't even know where to begin. Every single day we see miracles, it is insane.

So first off, IM STILL IN ABENO!!! And I'm still with Isom 姉妹 and am still living with the other sisters! No one saw that coming, but I am so happy about it! I know this transfer is going to be amazing.

Some of my favorite days on the mission are when you don't really have any plans and you honestly just pray and let the spirit guide you. It's amazing how it all works out and Heavenly Father puts you right where you need to be. We were riding home from an appointment and we passed this one street and I remembered this lady we have been trying to find but her address was all messed up. But I knew the general area where her house was. I knew it would bother me all day if I just pushed away from this thought, so we took a detour over to her house. Right, when we pulled up to this street this lady was hopping on her bike, about to leave. I hurried and stopped her and asked her if she knew the 姉妹 we were looking for, And it was her! Like what!? If we would've left like 10 seconds later, we would've missed her. We were able to see where she lives and talk to her for a little bit before she left to work! So that was a miracle.

Another day we were so busy that we barely had any time to go talk to people. We had like an hour to go out and でんど。 So we decided to go do sign dendo which is where we go to the train station and hold an English sign and try getting people to do the 30/30 program (30 minutes of English/30 min lesson). We had a goal to get some people's contact info so we could actually get a hold of them. After one hour we got 9 PEOPLES NUMBERS. That is insane, you have no idea. And 5 out of 9 wanted to take pictures with us and post something. Two girls even took a picture with all of us holding BOM and posted it on her social media. My companion and I just looked at each other, not even processing what is going on. Benefits of being from America. Haha

We had a lesson with a girl named しんじょうさん。 Missionaries have been trying to meet with her for forever, but she wanted to meet with us. In her profile it said she wanted nothing to do with religion, so we were a little scared. But we went over there and she was so nice! We told her that if she had a desire to learn, little by little, she will begin to understand what we are teaching. We taught her who God is and about Prayer. We asked if she would pray and she was like yeah let me see that pamphlet, and she just snatched that pamphlet about prayer and gave the best prayer ever. Like what? It was crazy how much her heart has been softened, and how willing she is to try everything!

We had a lesson with 山野さん, who is a members husband. It was my first time teaching him, and all I really knew about him was that he hates commitments, and doesn't understand the why of the gospel. He's learned the majority of the lessons, but he still doesn't see the point. So we go over there and he told us he read Mosiah 2, as we asked him to, twice! And he remembered everything from the chapter. So that was crazy. For the lesson, we kind of just started from base one and just testified that if he sincerely tried applying our teachings, he would see the difference in his life. In the middle of us sharing our message, he just stopped us, and said: "I want to try it". It was pretty funny because he said everything else in Japanese except for that sentence. But oh my goodness, I was mind blown. He told us he would start praying every day and would read the scriptures we sent him. His wife was just sitting there mind blown. It was sooo awesome. Then after the lesson, he asked me what foods I like in Japan, I told him I love Ramen, and after I said that, he went and grabbed his coat and told us he would take us out for lunch for Ramen! So yeah best lesson and meal. Haha

On Sunday we had an amazing church experience. のえちゃんandかなちゃん came to church! They are two 16-year-old girls, and I love them so much. They loved church and said they could really feel the spirit. We have been teaching them for a while now, and so it was awesome that they could finally come! It was fast Sunday, so I went up and bore my testimony. I honestly don't even remember what I said, but everyone came up to me and told me they loved it, so that's good. Except now they all think I'm fluent in Japanese which is not the case whatsoever. But oh well. This ward is seriously the best.

Sorry for the terribly long email, but I had to share how much Heavenly Father is looking out for us! The scripture I wanted to share is, Alma18: 32 "And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning." I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of each and every one of you. He knows and loves you perfectly, and can help you through our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Hope you all are doing amazing, love you all!
クリステンセン姉妹