God Speaks and He Lives

Dear One and All:

Wow. Just, wow. That's the only word I can really think of to describe this week. I have learned so much, and have been pushed harder than I ever have been before. But I have never been happier. It's interesting how that works, isn't it?

So, let me backtrack a bit and explain what has made me say this. As I explained in my last email, we've been teaching a 90ish year old woman named S-Shimai. Initially, my companion and I had a companionship goal for her baptismal date set in about March of next year. We figured we need to go really slow, teach her through lots of repetition, and make sure she was absolutely ready. Our motto was, "Just take it slow." Well, God had other plans. 

We've been praying everyday this transfer to see a baptism, but I guess I never really thought too much in depth about how the Lord would answer that prayer. I just prayed for it, blindly hoping it would happen. Then, this week changed everything. One day, probably around Wednesday, my companion and I had the impression that we should kneel and pray, so of course, we did. And when we did, we both received the impression that March wasn't good enough for S-Shimai. S-Shimai needed to be baptized sooner. And by sooner, we felt that she needed to be baptized THIS MONTH. On the 28th. Our initial thoughts were, "BUT HOW?" 

As I mentioned, S-shimai has trouble remembering what we teach her -- how in the world was she going to be baptized? We didn't know the answer to any of our questions, but we knew that God was telling us His will. So, we put aside our fears and decided to go forward in faith. We could not deny that God wanted S-Shimai to be baptized on the 28th, so all the other little details didn't really matter. It was a matter of do I believe in God or not? Does He have the power to do miracles or not? Once I decided the answers to those questions, our next course of action was clear. We had to invite Shimai to be baptized.

The next lesson, S-Shimai expressed a lot of worry about baptism when we brought it up. You see, she is DEATHLY afraid of water, and has been ever since she was little. With the Spirit as our guide, we testified to her that through baptism, she could return to live with God, and become clean. That really caught her attention. We felt prompted to ask her to pray about it right then - to ask God if she should be baptized. She did. And guess what happened? SHE RECEIVED AN ANSWER. Just like that.

She looked up at us with her big eyes, and told us, "I got an answer. God says I can do it. I should be baptized." Oh, I wish you could have been there.  The spirit in the room was so strong! I wanted to jump and shout and sing hosannas and all of that! S-Shimai couldn't stop smiling! Joy was radiating off of her; I had never seen somebody so happy. She was still deathly afraid of water, but she had received revelation from God, and that gave her the faith to go forward, despite her fear. 

God speaks, my friends.  He answers prayers. He changes lives. He changes people. I read this quote recently, and it hit me so powerfully, especially since we experienced this miracle:

"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."

Ever since she received that answer to her prayer, S-Shimai has been progressing so fast. She has been changing. Her outlook on life is so different. We were worried that she would forget her experience since her memory is so bad, but she remembered it perfectly the next time we met. In fact, she brought it up herself without any promptings from us. That, in and of itself, is a HUGE miracle. She NEVER remembers our lessons, she always has to be reminded. But now, every time we talk about baptism, she lights up. She is willing to do whatever it takes to receive baptism: to become clean and return to God. To accept Him and change her ways. She is so excited to be baptized. I can barely contain myself when I think about it. A daughter of God is preparing to return to Him. This is a HUGE DEAL. 

I finally get what it means to truly rely on the Lord. It means going forward with faith, even when you have no idea how you are going to accomplish what the Lord has asked of you. It means putting all of the "but..."s and the "how?"s aside. Those are nothing in comparison to God. God has told us this is possible, so it is. It's just that simple. 

I know God is in this work. His hand is leading us, and guiding S-Shimai. This work is a work of miracles. God lives. God loves each of us, and if you don't know this for yourself, take my word for it, because I know that these things are true with all of my heart. I cannot deny it. I have seen miracles. I have participated in miracles. I KNOW, I do not just BELIEVE. You, too, can know. You can ask God, and He will answer your questions, just like He answered S-Shimai's simple prayer of whether or not she should be baptized. 

I am so grateful for answers to prayers! I am grateful that the Lord is guiding us and that He is a God of revelation. 

Sister Weigl

A Japanese-Style Christmas Tradtion
CHRISTMAS CAKE 

Christmas cake is wildly popular in Japan. For most Japanese people, Christmas cake is ordered in advance and picked up on Christmas Eve, along with Chicken ordered from the local KFC, Mos Burger or other fast food grocery stores.

FIVE QUESTIONS:

1. How many children do most Japanese families have? 
One or two. They are normally pretty small.

2. Do you see many multi-generational households? 
Yeah, S-Shimai lives with her son and granddaughter, for example!

3. Who's in charge most of the time...the mom or the dad? 
The dad.

4. Have you seen any cool family traditions around holidays or other events? 
I can't really think of any right now...I'll think about it and get back to you.

5. What do they do for Christmas? Any special foods, traditions, games, presents that they do? 
Well, Christmas is more of a commercial holiday since most people here don't believe in Jesus Christ. Christmas Eve is a day for couples, and on Christmas, I think most people eat Christmas Cake and eat chicken (KFC gets a lot of customers that day). Honestly, it's not a really big traditional holiday, just something that they picked up from western culture. The REALLY BIG deal is New Years.