Miracles in the Mission Field

Dear One and All,

This week has been especially busy. Our investigators were all just suddenly able to meet with us, which I know to be a blessing from God! For example, one day we called one of our investigators, and asked her to meet with us. She said that maybe she would be able to meet in May. We were disappointed, but such is the outcome of agency. Then suddenly the next day, she called us back and said, "I want to meet tomorrow!" We were able to meet and talk with her about the nature of God and just how much He loves her. Apparently we called her right as she had been thinking about us, and after she thought about it a bit, realized that maybe that meant something.

During that very same lesson, my companion testified powerfully of how God oftentimes answers our prayers through the help and actions of others. This fit perfectly with what our investigator had been talking about and was asking. Later, as I talked to my companion, it turned out that she had no clue what was being said, but simply felt like she needed to testify about that specific topic.

Sister Weigl - Spreading Happiness

Then, one of our investigators came to conference. General Conference is this special meeting that happens every six months where all the church leaders talk to the members . It's super awesome and I always get so excited to watch it! Our investigator is fluent in English, and wanted to watch it in English with us, which made us a bit nervous because we weren't sure if she would be able to understand everything. I mean, sometimes the people who talk in conference use really big words that even I don't really get all the way! As we watched Conference together, I felt a bit nervous anytime someone talked about something we hadn't taught her yet. Would she understand? What would she think? All I could do was pray and trust the Lord. She was there acting on her faith, so I just had to trust that it would all work out the way it needed to. Stop stressing. Stop worrying. Just believe and have faith. Afterwards, we asked her what she thought; if she understood. She said that she understood 98 percent of what was being said, and that it was all basically the same things that we taught her. She said that she was able to learn a lot and that she enjoyed it.

Life is good, and the work is moving forward. It's not always a walk through the cherry blossoms, but it was never meant to be. If it was, what would we learn. As one of our investigators put it, "I don't always want to be happy. I want to be sad sometimes, because those are the times I learn the most."

Remember, God lives. Jesus Christ is His Son. And because Christ conquered death, we all can too. There is no end. There are only beginnings.

And it's all Because of Him.

Sister Weigl

Cherry Blossoms in Kitarokko, Japan - April 2014

FIVE QUESTIONS:

1. Where did you listen to general conference?
At church with my companion and we had food on Sunday.

2. Which talks(s) made a big impression on you? Or which couple of talks did you especially like? 
ALL of the Sunday morning session. 

3. Anything out of the ordinary happen this week besides conference?
We had a lot of lessons this week.

4. How has the first week gone with visiting less actives in the area?
Slow. We haven't gotten any of the records yet, and we can't start visiting  and stuff until we have the records.

5. Anything fun/funny happen to you or your companion this week?  
Hmmmmmmm. Well, last week we got to wear Kimonos on Preparation Day! It was a lot of fun! Pictures will be sent!

Weigl-Shimai and her Companion B-Shimai
wearing Kimonos on Preparation Day

Apartment in Kitarokko, Japan

Rescue The One

Dear Minnasan, 

PLOT TWIST. 

Yeah, so, you know the whole like finding (tracting) thing that missionaries do? And like the whole teaching only non-members thing? You, know, like teaching people not of our faith. Yeah. Sisters aren't doing that anymore in the Japan Kobe Mission. 

In our mission, sisters are now supposed to focus only on less active members of the church - members who were baptized but then fell away and lost their faith. We won't be doing anymore housing or streeting. 

Big shock, huh? Yeah, I felt that way too. 

So, you're probably wondering how that is going to work. Well, the bishop, the ward mission leader, and the clerk will be organizing records of less-active members. We will receive such records and visit everyone. By ourselves, with members, whichever. The point is that we will visit them. All of them. We will invite them back, tell them they are needed and loved. If they want to come back, or aren't sure but want to meet with us, we will teach them and remind them why they became a member in the first place. That is it. We won't be finding because we'll be too busy visiting all these people. They've done this on Shikoku (a small island in our mission), and they found over 400 people who said they would be willing to meet with the missionaries again. So now, all the sisters in the mission are doing it. 

But Sister Weigl, what about your investigators you love so much? Do the Elders teach them? Well, the answer to that is that we will be able to choose to keep our investigators and continue teaching them, or choose to hand them off to the elders. It's our choice. We just won't be spending time finding. 

But Sister Weigl, what about less-active part member families? Can you teach the non-member child of a less active parent? Yes, we can. We can still teach non-members. In fact, they encourage us to do so with part member families. Zinke Kaicho told us that pretty soon, we'll have as many non-members to teach as less actives. So yes, we still expect to teach non-members and help them progress to baptism. 

But yeah. There are still a lot of questions we have about this whole thing. And they are just starting to get the ball rolling. We have a meeting with the bishop this week in which I assume he will talk with us about this change. 

This is a pretty big change. The elders are really jealous too. Our District Leader was joking about buying a wig so he could visit less actives too. Sorry, elders. Sisters are just way less scary than six foot tall gaijin (foreigners). And we know how to make cookies. :) 

I was thinking about why the Lord might have inspired our mission president to make this change. And the answer is God's love. That seems to have been really something on my mind recently. Not only does God love those who do not know about Him, but also those who once accepted Him, and then forgot. 

In Luke 15, it reads: 

"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance." 

That is our focus now. On rescuing the one. God loves those who have forgotten Him. He wants them to come back. He wants them to enter the safety of the fold again, so much so that He has sent nearly 100 Sister Missionaries in Kobe to go find them. 

FIVE QUESTIONS:

1. Have the Cherry Blossoms come out yet? 

Yes, the cherry blossoms are out in full bloom.

2. Is the weather warmer? 

The weather got warmer last week, but then got a tiny bit chilly again around Saturday and Sunday. It's supposed to warm up again this week. 

3. When will you be seeing General Conference and will you be able to listen to it in English this time? 

We will see it this Saturday and Sunday in English! Yay! So excited. We saw a bit of it at a member's house this weekend (they put it on in English for us while we waited for them to prepare the dinner). 

4. Are you getting use to your new area....and the members and investigators? 

Yes, I love it here! It feels like I've been here forever, but it's only been a week! I love Kitarokko and B- Shimai! 

5. What kind of shape is your bike in? Is it new or old? Tall enough? 

It is...well...kind of not that great. It has only three gears, but it works just fine.