What's up everyone! The heat is coming here in Gunma Prefecture. I have been told by probably 20 people by now that somehow this prefecture is the hottest in all of Japan and it is coming with accompanied humidity which let me tell you I have been loving. I hope the cruel winter never comes again. This week me and Elder De Hollanda got pretty destroyed to say the least. Lots of ups and downs and failures and successes.
Starting off at a ward activity to go see fireflies. Our ward has this really sweet bus that looks like it came from a prison but it comes in handy sometimes. We met at the church with Kagarisan, Keikosan, and some others and left by bus. There were also about 20 members who participated. This was really good because we have been working with the stake for a while now trying to get wards doing activities for members to come and invite their friends to as well as missionaries and their friends for great fellowshipping and to help investigators feel like they already have a friend when they come to church, as well as getting part member families, unbaptized children, and inactive members to all be involved for the purpose of bringing everyone in their different stakes back into or into the fold. Anyways it was really good and on the way back in the bus we had transfer announcements and me and Elder De Hollanda are staying together a 4th in Kiryu so that is pretty exciting.
It's been raining a lot lately so we've been knocking a lot and I love it. Reminds me of the states. Granted I'm yet to see success from it other then foreigners but its good. We ended up meeting a guy from Sri Lanka who has actually been looking for a Christian church to go to and we made the connection that his wife is someone that started coming to our English class recently so that was sweet. They didn't come to church but hopefully they will next week.
Anyways on Saturday we made the hike out to teach Luiz and well, short story is he wants to follow Christ but isn't willing to give up things to follow the commandments. Like he just said that he doesn't want to follow them so it's kind of tuff. It's funny cause he has like nothing in his life going for him, absolutely nothing but he doesn't even want to try and follow the commandments. It is what it is. Then we also had a lesson with Ki San and he is struggling with tithing. He said his answer is no but after some talking he said he will pray about it. Then he said he got no answer per usual, probably expecting an angel to appear or something, but we are gonna meet with him tonight and try and work things out and see if he will do the baptismal interview on Wednesday. Not really sure what will happen with him but who knows.
We did see some miracles at church however. We had someone from Iran that we met on the train come to church. There is also a member from the Philippines that just came to Ota and came to church and brought her non member friend. So we taught a 2nd hour class in English for them but just taught them with Bishop the restoration as if it was a normal class and it went well. They took a Book of Mormon and said they wanna come back. I've got a lot of faith in the member's friend though. She was super excited to be there and said she had heard a lot about the church but had never been and has a member friend to go to church with who has a really strong testimony she wants to share. The member was so excited to get a temple recommend again. So we will be praying for her and the others we are working with.
This week I feel like I've found my self asking myself why it's the latter days and this and that yet I feel like we see such little out of the things we do and whether or not we are really making a difference here. I feel like the church in Japan or at least northern Japan is still in its pioneer stages a little bit and there are a lot of missionaries who really wanna make a difference here yet it feels like Satan wins more then God sometimes. Which I know isn't true but its definitely been a humbling experience to trust God's timing. Sometimes I miss being a young missionary not worrying as much about whether or not someone accepted baptism or stressing over our failures.
Riding back from Oizumi on the train I read through chapters 15-19 of Mosiah and those are very spiritually strong chapters of Abinadi that helped me understand some things but I turned to my companion who I love and had him read some stuff and then I told him, "I don't get it, why are we in the times prophesied that salvation through Christ will be known in every kindred, and tongue, but what about Japan and China and a lot of places that are struggling" and he told me, yeah I'm pretty sure Japan is probably just gonna be done in the spirit world. Haha I had to laugh. Its been a learning experience to trust God's plan. But the harder and more diligent we work and pray the more I find myself, killing myself over bad situations and failures. Through it all I imagine I am learning so much that it will benefit me for the rest of my life that I may not be able to see in the moment but I recognize it. I think the spirit punches you a little bit harder as the mission progresses and I feel like the spirit presses me stronger then ever these days so we will keep doing are best. I study hard, try and achieve Christlike attributes with everything I got and I am being changed, becoming someone like my Savior who loves me and that matters most. Especially in the spiritually draining environment here where anywhere you go you can be pretty sure your the only one who believes in Christ or has ever prayed to a Father in Heaven before. I definitely am grateful for challenges and trails because through them I find myself turning to the Savior quite often. It upsets me and I stress a lot about the missionary work but in the end it's all things to help me grow.
Anyways, I am in Alma of the Book or Mormon now. I love Mosiah so much as it swaps with 3 Nephi and Ether for being my favorite however the teachings of King Benjamin, Mosiah, Abinadi, and Alma are very profound so please don't forget to read!
Until next time- Elder Parker パーちゃん
写真がいっぱいあるよ！
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