August 18, 2015
Dear Mom,
The English Class students are doing great, and as
I've come to know them each a little bit more, I've really come to appreciate
them so much for their love, concern, and patience despite not learning to
speak very well or if we teach something poorly. This last week, a mother and
her daughter who had recently started coming to classes agreed to let us teach
about the Book of Mormon and about God. When we met her, she was very, very
excited to start, but she was more excited for her daughter whom she cares more
about than even herself. Her daughter is an incredibly talented candle maker
even though she's only in junior high, and her mother is always praising her
accomplishments and encouraging her to take every opportunity available. While
we taught, however, her daughter was pretty quiet and seemed kind of
uncomfortable about something. We tried to get her involved by specifically
asking her questions that she could answer, but her answers were usually only
one word and it felt like she was unsure of how to answer. I've never been good
at working with people let alone teaching them, and needless to say, I was
stumped. We had gotten to the discussion about why there are so many religions
and why exactly they are all so determined to be right. That sort of mentality,
she concluded, is the one that leads to wars and contention, broken families
and lost friends. She actually considers herself religious, but has hesitated
from ever joining any one religion because she feels they essentially all
describe the same thing in different ways. I'm not an expert on religion, nor
am I qualified to make any statements about what other religions believe in,
but I have at least learned that there is a way to know for sure what truth is;
and that is prayer. Those who desire to do good, who, like the Apostle Paul,
seek after "any thing lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy",
will be able to feel in their heart the truth contained in the Book of Mormon,
the Bible, and in the words of living prophets. If any of you are seeking after
that which is truly good and true, please come and see for yourselves! Take a
walk around the grounds of one of the many temples near you, and I promise you
that you will feel peace in your heart and the love of God as you do.
Today has been a crazy P-Day, and I feel more and
more like even though I'm becoming more experienced as a missionary I still
don't always know what I'm doing. Essentially, I left our cell phone somewhere
around the temple, and after we returned to our apartment, I realized, with a
sinking feeling in my stomach, that I probably left it in a bag that I threw
away in a McDonalds an hour and a half away. Cell phone's are literally a
missionaries treasure here in Japan and one of the only ways to get in contact
with some of the people we are working with. Without it, we might as well have
not been here the last 6 months, so I was pretty close to panicking myself to
death. As we headed back to Tokyo and as I sat down on the trains and spoke to
people whom I have never met about things like God's love and faith and
families, I realized that whether or not I found our phone wasn't something
worth worrying about. I love the people here in Japan, and nothing, not even a
stupid mistake could make me worry when I'm talking to the people I love about
the God whom I have come to know personally and trust with all my heart.
Just for the record, the people at McDonald's
actually went and searched through the dumpster and found the bag that I left
the phone in, and we were joyfully reunited! Yay, miracles!
Love, love, love
OOXXox,
Elder Adam Christensen
No comments:
Post a Comment