Fresh Courage Take

Ohaiyo gozimasu, minnasan!

So, here I am! In Hanayashiki! And boy, am I loving it here! First off, it's much more country-like than I was expecting. I thought it would be in the big city part of Osaka, but it's actually pretty small. Our apartment is SO NICE! Very new. Kind of small. But there are only two of us living there, instead of four, so that is really no problem. Honestly, it is more than enough space. And like I said, it's very nice. I feel really blessed!

Sister Weigl all packed and leaving her apartment
in Akashi, Japan

The first couple days in the area were a bit...interesting. We had absolutely NO idea where we were going or where anything was. Not to mention that our apartment was completely empty. We had no food, no tables, no nothing. The very first thing we did was go buy bikes, so that we could, you know, go places. Then we went and bought food. We seriously misjudged how much food we would need though, and bought way too little. By dinner time that night, we had a brand new list of things we realized we had forgotten to buy, such as salt, oil, and other vitally important food items along those lines. 

Our new Apartment front door "Welcome"
from the Hanayashiki Members

Our first meal in our new apartment was a blast! Luckily, the ward members had stocked the apartment with plates and knives and the like, so we had those, but had no place to eat. So we ate on the floor! Whoo-hoo! Like I said, it was a party! We couldn't stop laughing the whole time because it looked so ridiculous. 

Throughout the week, we received multiple packages from the Mission Home (which is sort of like the mission headquarters), so don't worry. Now we have a dinning table, desks, chairs, a rice cooker, drawers, and everything else we need for living. And the Ward is crazy nice! The very first night, the Ward Mission Leader (the person who helps us missionaries coordinate with the members of the ward) and his wife brought us by food. Not to mention that some members heart-attacked our Apartment door with candy and a sign that read, "Welcome to Hanayashi, Sisters!" Like I said, the Ward is AWESOME! I already love them to death! On Sunday, they basically mobbed us with questions of what they could buy for us and what they could do to help us. One sister pretty much tackle-hugged us, she was so excited to have Sister Missionaries here in Hanayashiki again (there hasn't been any for around five or six years, I believe).

So, upon arriving in Hanayashiki, we had absolutely no investigators. Nobody to teach. Not even one phone number or name. Nothing. We had absolutely no records of any previous teaching that had been done in the area and absolutely NO idea where anything was. But, we know our purpose, so my companion and I said a prayer asking to be lead to someone willing to accept our message, and off we went. We rode our new bikes around Hanayashiki, going where the Spirit told us to go. And it lead us to one particular apartment building where we met THREE separate people who said that we could come back and visit them. Three, all in the same apartment.

My New Companion - T-Shimai

I know that if we turn ourselves over to the Lord and try to seek for revelation, our footsteps will be guided. We don't even have to know where we are going ourselves. The Lord knows us, He knows Hanayashiki, but most importantly He knows those willing to hear His voice and accept it. He knows exactly where these people are, even if we do not. If we pray and seek for guidance, He will lead us to them, or them to us. I hope that I can be faithful enough to be a profitable servant to the Lord. I hope to gird up my loins, fresh courage take, and put on the whole armor of God. I want to go into battle as a warrior of God. I want to battle for the souls of those waiting out there, prepared to come unto God, their divine leader and protector. 

On Saturday, we went to the baptism of an eight-year old member. Oh gosh, was it cute! There are so many children in the ward! After the baptism, all the children sang, "I am a Child of God" together, and as they did so, I couldn't hold back my tears. I just felt this overwhelming love for them. I KNEW in my heart that they are loved by God. I just imagined Christ sitting there, among them, just like in the New Testament. I imagined the smile on His face as He called each of these children by there name, and lifted them up onto His lap. I am sure He would tell them how special they are, because truly, each of us is so special to Him. We are so special, He was willing to sacrifice His own life so that we could overcome death and sin and live with God again after we die. 

The love of God is a strong and precious thing. To be able to feel just a small portion of that, well, it is the desire of my heart. To be able to truly love the people of Japan like the Savior does, to have that love be the motivation for my every action and desire. To be a conduit of that love, so that everyone to whom we speak can feel the immense love of God and come unto Him. For we truly are His children. 

Sister Weigl

FIVE QUESTIONS:

1. How far away is your new area from the mission home?

I have no idea...maybe about one hour. Probably about the same distance as Akashi, but in the other direction.  From your old area? Two hours? One and a half? Not too far, but boy, is the terrain different. This area goes up a mountain.

2. Is the church close by? what time is church? 

Oh my gosh, the church building is close to our apartment, about 15 minutes away, but we have to go up this KILLER hill to get to it. Like, it is SO STEEP. I pretty much die every time we go to the church, haha. I guess we will just get extra strong this transfer! Church is the same time as it was in Akashi, from 10:00 to 1:00, but Ward Council is at 8:00 and somehow we got roped into being in the choir (my companion, Sister Takanezawa, is an AMAZING singer), so church this Sunday was pretty much an all-day affair. 

3. Do you meet at the church for most things like the last area?

So far, not really, but that's because we've been so consumed with assembling the things in our apartment (we had to put all the desks, tables, and drawers together ourselves), which was pretty time consuming. And then just running back and forth trying to get everything we need and to learn the area, we have had a bit of an abnormal schedule this week. This coming week should be more normal. 

4. Will you be teaching English classes in this area?

YUP. I really love teaching the English Class (Eikaiwa). We teach at the church every Tuesday and it is something that is set up in every area and to my understanding, is a mission-wide thing. So YAY FOR EIKAIWA! 

5. How are the members? Is the ward big?

The Members are so nice. The ward is HUGE, probably twice or three times as big as Akashi ward. Not to mention how big the church building is. The atmosphere really just reminds me of Rolling Valley. 

Making Up The Difference

Dear One and All, 

Another week has passed in Akashi, and yes, it shall be my last. That's right, I am transferring this Thursday to an area called Hanayashiki. I'm sure many of you may be curious as to why I am transferring. Well, as a missionary, we are sent where ever the Lord has need of us. I was needed in Akashi, but now I'm needed in Hanayashiki. I guess there are people there I'm supposed to find and lessons that I can learn only by going to this new place. Hanayashiki hasn't had Sisters there before...meaning that there have been no female missionaries in the area for awhile, maybe ever. So, that will be exciting! It also means that my companion and I will have a lot of shopping to do this next week, because our apartment will be new...and most likely very empty. 

My last week with W-Shimai

I am excited to go where the Lord needs me, but there is a little part of my heart that will always belong here in Akashi. It's a very sacred place to me. It is here that I began my mission. It is here where I experienced my first crazy days not knowing ANYTHING; not knowing up from down. It is where I really started to understand who my Savior is and who I am. I learned so much here. and not to mention all the people I've met and the way they've changed and taught me. Like I said, Akashi is a sacred place. 

I've talked about sacred places before with a missionary friend of mine. We all have them. Places that for some reason or another, have become very special to us. Sometimes they are not exactly where you might expect. For example, another one of my sacred places is a broom closet in the Mission Training Center in Provo. It was there that I really poured my heart out to God for the first time. If any of you would be willing, I would love to hear about some of your sacred places! 

This Sunday, two of our investigators came to church! Really, such a miracle! They are our Family English Program students. I don't know if I have talked about this program yet, so I will just quickly review (if I have already explained it, sorry!). But yes, this program is set up so that we teach a family 30 minutes of English (for free, of course), and in exchange for this, the family listens to 30 minutes of a gospel message in Japanese. A member of our Ward  asked us to do this program with her two nieces, who are about 15 (H-chan) and 19 (A-chan) years old. These are the very same two investigators who came to church this week! 

We taught them about prayer, and they both willingly accepted the invitation to pray everyday! We asked them to say prayers in the lesson, and what a sweet and tender moment that was! These two young women praying to God for the first time. A-chan was a bit embarrassed and asked if it was okay if her prayer was short. We told her that of course that was okay, and so her prayer was only about 3 seconds long. But just think how wonderful those three seconds must have been to God. It's like being away from your child for a really long time, and not having any contact from them. And then, you hear their voice, talking to you. Even if it's only for three seconds, don't you think that those three seconds would be infinitely valuable? That's the way I imagine it, anyways.

Sister Weigl is getting good at eating with chop sticks!

After church was over, all four of us (my companion, A-chan, H-chan, and I) all had lunch in the kitchen of the church building. It was a great time to really get to know them. I've probably talked about this in the past, but when you truly take the time to get to know someone and care about them, it makes all the difference. Not just in teaching (though that is true --  they are much more willing to listen when they know you care about them), but also as a teacher. When I love my investigators, they become my whole world. I just want to do WHATEVER I can to help them come unto God. Why? Because I love them and want to live with them again with God after we die. But when I don't try to think about them -- about their lives, their thoughts, their feelings, THEM -- then my teaching becomes so much less meaningful. 

So, this week has really taught me something about myself. It has taught me that I am fearful. I am doubtful. I am prideful. But, you know what? That's okay. It's okay to be afraid. It's okay to have doubts. It's normal to want to think about yourself more than others. Now, if we dwell in these feelings and these thoughts, that's when they become an issue. If I let myself drown in a sea of doubt, reside in a dark abyss of fear, or set myself upon a rich throne of pride, then that's when these traits become destructive. 

But, we are all human. I am going to have fear and doubt. It's part of the human existence. What I, and what we must all know, is that Christ is the way we can overcome these things. And overcome them we MUST. We must continually be striving to become better. To let go of fear, doubt, and pride. As long as we are trying, then Christ will make up the rest. That is the essence of His atonement and His purpose here on earth. 

He is willing to make up the difference. But are we willing to let Him? I hope that I can become humble enough, faithful enough, and believing enough to truly let Him make up that difference. To let Him into my life, instead of blocking Him out. I hope that you all can, too. 

Let us be willing to let Him help us. He wants to so very desperately. Of this I testify,

Sister Weigl

Missionaries Serving in Akashi

Molded By The Master

Konnichi wa! 

Another wonderful week in Akashi has gone by! Fun little fact: I might be transferring next week! Well, we shall wait and see.

One of our investigators, M-san, hasn't been answering any of our calls or texts for pretty much the last six weeks. Her husband is a little uneasy about the church and we think that maybe that has something to do about it. Anyways, we felt really impressed that we should go visit M-san on Friday. We didn't have an appointment or anything. In fact, like I mentioned, we hadn't talked to M-san for a really long time. But we felt like we should go. So we did. We prayed, and felt like we 3:00 pm was a good time to visit her, so we went. That, in and of itself, is a lesson I have learned. We must ACT. ACTION leads to miracles. How can we do anything if we are stuck in park? How can God work with a parked car? It will go nowhere; it can't do anything. So, the first thing we have to do is ACT.  

It can be scary sometimes. Okay, a lot of times. When we went to visit M-san, we had no idea what lay ahead. What if M-san's husband slammed the door in our face? What if they told us to go away? What if...but you know, as I biked to her house, I took a deep breath and thought about the lessons I had learned, the lessons God had taught me, over the last couple weeks. About how He always knows what He is doing. How we have no reason to fear. With those experiences and thoughts in my mind, I took a breath and really just tried to let all of those "what ifs" go. And when I did that, well, a miracle occurred.

M-san was home and she answered the door! Not only that, but she was just about to leave to go to the HOSPITAL. Her daughter had apparently been in some kind of accident, and had to stay in the hospital overnight! Not only was our timing interestingly perfect (Coincidence? I THINK NOT), but we had also felt prompted to make a card for M-san's daughter that morning right before we left the apartment. The very daughter who was now in the hospital. Since M-san was in a rush, we didn't want to keep her. We asked if we may pray for her daughter's health together, and M-san agreed. My companion said the pray, and the Spirit was there in abundance. We are meeting her this Saturday.

It was a faith building experience for me  -- a confirmation of something I already knew. That God knows all of His children. He knew M-san's needs, and her situation. He sent us there to give her comfort; to give her peace in a time of need. 

Oftentimes, I find myself wondering if I can really be a tool in the Lord's hands. Can I be a representative of Christ? Can I do all the things that He would have me do; say all the things He would have me say? I am a mortal trying to help an immortal being bring His sons and daughters back to His presence. A little bit of a daunting thought, yes? But, this experience showed me that I can be a worthy servant. I can help Him do this work. I can be a good missionary. If I give it my all, I can become the kind of person I so desperately want to be. 

And that's a promise open to each of us. If we take ourselves out of "park" and start moving forward towards our worthy goals, whatever they may be, we will be able to reach them. We will be able to overcome the obstacles, we will be able to do the impossible. We are much stronger than we think we are. But, in order to see any sort of miracle, any sort of progress, we first must ACT. 

Change can be scary.  Action can be hard.

But when we take the time and put in the effort, and leave our fears and doubts behind, that's when we will become clay in the Hands of the Lord. We will be modeled and shaped into something much more grand and beautiful than we were before; something that we could never become alone. Without the hands of the master, we would forever be a lump of clay. But through the tests and trials, we are shaped. We become a masterpiece.

I am not yet that masterpiece. I don't know if I ever will be, in this life. But I know that I am being molded and shaped, and for that I am grateful.

Sister Weigl

Getting Off the Roller-coaster of Faith

Konban wa, Minnasan!

So, this week was a trial of faith. Yes, a really big trial of faith. It's really interesting that when you pray for greater faith (which I did), you are given trials to strengthen your faith. God truly does answer our prayers, though not always in the ways we expect or are wanting. I think that in order to have the greater blessings and faith that I desire so desperately and need so that I can do missionary work, I first must prove that I can and always will be faithful to God, no matter what happens. Sometimes I feel like I get stuck on this faith "roller-coaster," as my Mission President explains it. When times are good and easy, then it is really easy to believe in God. But when times are hard, then I often find myself questioning. The word "WHY" always comes and circulates around in my head, and it grows and grows until it overshadows my faith completely. I like to know the "Why." That's just how my brain works. But, we can't always know that. God has a plan, we are in His hands, and we sometimes just have to except that and keep moving. That is what faith is all about, I think.

 Some things came to my attention this week that have really rocked my boat, in a sense. If I did not have a testimony that this work was true and the faith that this is what I need to be doing right now, I don't know what I would do. I really don't.  But, I DO know that this work is important. It is the MOST important thing I could be doing. It is probably the most important thing I might do EVER. Because of that knowledge, I know that everything will be alright. I have the strength to keep going and keep working. As I have written before, FAITH NOT FEAR.  That theme has come up over and over again in my life here in Japan. If I get caught up in worrying about this or that, I can't have true faith in God, because fear is, in essence, a form of doubt. And where doubt exists, faith cannot. I need to put away all fear, all doubt, and that is when my faith will truly be able to become unshakable. I won't get caught on the "faith roller-coaster,"constantly judging my faith upon what is happening in my life. 

This week, my companion and I had our first, "Family English Program" lesson. This program is a new program that our mission has just started in Japan. It's structured something like this: we teach a family 30 minutes of English, and then 30 minutes of a message about the church in Japanese for about 6 weeks. The family understands this trade-off when they start the program. Anyways, so our bishop jumped on this opportunity and asked us to teach his two nieces. My companion and I were all excited! We didn't know where the bishop lived, and so thus, we obtained directions from our ward mission leader, which is basically just somebody who helps us work with the Church Members in the area; sort of like a coordinator. We were supposed to take a train, then a bus, and then the bishop's wife would pick us up from the bus stop. 

However, it seems like our fate to be eternally lost in Japan, haha. Yes, once again we got lost. Hopelessly so, I'm afraid. First, we missed our stop on the train, so we had to get off and go back. Then, we took the wrong bus and ended up at a bus stop who knows where (in our defense, the Ward Mission Leader told us to get on the wrong bus; but at the time, we didn't know that). So, we were feeling pretty low. It seems to me that whenever there is a small reason to have negative thoughts or feelings, Satan snatches onto that immediately. He likes to drag us down into a never-ending spiral of self-pity and degrading thoughts. If he can get us to open our can of "Whys" just a little bit, then he can take care of the rest. Satan likes to take the little things and warp them into supposed big ones.

Where Am I?

This is what started to happen to me. I started to think something along the lines of, "I'm a terrible missionary! We're late to our teaching appointment!" and so forth. However, I quickly realized that it is these kinds of thoughts that distract from the progression of this work. Satan is just trying to get me on that roller-coaster of faith, and stay on it. However, we've got to get off of it. It might be tempting to stay on, but we can't. Christ is unchanging, so thus, our faith should be too. 

Every time my companion and I get lost, it humbles me more and more. It reminds me that we can't do this by ourselves. We can't even get on a bus by ourselves. It is a lesson I need to learn, and God seems determined to teach me it until I've got it.  If I can learn to really trust God and have faith and not fear, then I think that is when I will really be able to become the missionary I want to be. I hope that I will be able to really internalize this lesson soon.

As Always, Faith not Fear!

Sister Weigl

P.S. In case any of you were wondering, we did eventually find where we were going! The Bishop's wife came and picked us up by car! She wasn't even a bit mad that we were so late! We were even still able to teach their nieces and it was a great lesson! We're teaching them again next week! I'm so excited!

God Has the Map; Christ is our Guide

Dear Friends and Family!

This week, we were able to meet with a woman who we found from the Area Book, which is basically a huge record of all the people who have ever been taught by the missionaries or ever exchanged numbers with the missionaries. One day, a week or two ago, we opened up the Area Book and just picked a number from a list of people who had exchanged numbers with previous missionaries. The number we called was that of a woman named S-san. S-san spoke really fast on the phone and we couldn't really understand what she was saying. She told us that it was getting late and that she would call us back. We thought that was the end of that. But once again, just like I wrote last week, the Lord was showing us that He is who sets the expectations, not us. S-san called us back in a couple of days, and asked us to come and visit with her!  Amazing, right?

The miracles continue. She sent us her address, but it was really far away from our apartment, and we couldn't find it on the map that we have. All we could find was a train station that was supposedly close to her house. So, having faith that we would find her house somehow, we got on the train and started heading to meet S-san. I was so stressed out as we rode there. We had no clue where we were going. We couldn't read road signs or maps or anything really (they are all in Japanese). All we had was an address. I prayed on that train, pleading with God that we would be able to find S-san's house. That we would be able to meet and teach her.

As soon as we got off the train, pretty much the second we set foot out the train doors, S-san called us on our phone. She asked us if we knew where we were going. We told her we didn't, and you know what she said? She said, "It's okay, wait right there. I'll come and get you." She drove her bike to the train station (it's about ten minutes from her house) to come and show us the way. She even left her children at home to come help us. Isn't that not only an immediate answer to my prayer, but also an enormous demonstration of faith on her part? 

I think that is such a great metaphor for life. Sometimes we get lost. We can't read the map. We don't even know where we are going. We know our end goal -- to return to live with our Father in heaven and have Eternal Life --but how we can get there...well, that's the part we don't fully understand. 

Four Sister of Akashi
Sister Weigl, next to her trainer
her second transfer companion on the far right

Luckily, we don't have to go at it alone. God has sent someone to show us the way in which we should go, to teach us how we can return to live with Him. Can you guess who that is? If you said Jesus Christ, then you are right! Christ left His beloved Father, His home in Heaven, to come show us the way. Just like S-san dropped everything to come show us the way to her home. 

It is easy to get caught in the noise of the train station or bogged down and confused by the maps. If you're like me, if you don't know exactly where you're going and exactly how to get there, you get stressed out. You get worried. What if we NEVER find our way? What if...what if... that's how I felt about finding S-san's house. But God taught me an important lesson. And you know what that was? Let me tell you. It's this: JUST BREATHE. 

Everything is in God's hands. There is no reason to be stressed. God is all-powerful. He has the map. He knows the way. Can any of us deny that? No. Can we doubt that He is willing to help us? We shouldn't. We just need to keep the big picture in mind. We just need to have the hope that everything will work out, BECAUSE IT ALWAYS WILL. 

There is no need to be stressed. So we might not know EVERYTHING right now. Maybe we only have an address. But that's okay. It really is. We must remember that when we have enough faith to slow down and get off that train, that Christ will be there waiting to show us the way. Like I said, there is simply no reason to be stressed.

I testify that God knows the way. Christ has shown us where we should go, and if we follow Him, we can return to live with God forever. We truly have no reason to be worried. Everything is in God's hands.

Love,

Sister Weigl

We just finished our morning exercise...in the rain!
(standing inside our apartment door)

Let Us Have Love

Dear all:

Somehow summer has disappeared and Fall has dumped itself upon us. Literally, dumped. Last week was still relatively warm and then a typhoon came and it rained itself into the brisk coolness of fall. I had to unpack my winter suitcase and start wearing long-sleeves and tights. Crazy thought, right? It feels like just yesterday I was writing about how much I was sweating and boiling under the hot Japanese sun. I guess that's just how time works, huh? It like, changes! Haha :)

So, this week we met with a woman who we found in a list of old investigators of the church; people who have met with the missionaries before but for some reason or another did not choose to get baptized. We contacted her to see if she might be interested in meeting with us, and low and behold, she said she would! (Fun side note: This woman later told us that the missionaries had called her in the past, asking to meet, but she always said no. But when we called, she found herself saying yes. She said she didn't know why she said she would meet us. Isn't that amazing?) We were not expecting her to say yes, but that just goes to show you how this is not about us. We should not rely on or set our own expectations. This is God's work, and as such, we should let Him set the expectations. Let Him set the standards. Because He understands the bigger picture here. We will never be able to fully comprehend the things that the Lord can do.

Picture of a Mister Donut in Japan

Anyways, we met this woman in front of Mr. Donuts at the train station (okay, here's an aside about Mr. Donuts: It's basically this restaurant  where you buy, you guessed it, donuts. Sounds sort of like Krispy Kreme, right? WRONG. These donuts are really tiny, at least they look so to me, but to a Japanese person, it's normal. Japanese portion-sizes are quite a bit smaller. Not only that, but they aren't as sweet. You're first reaction is kind of: what is this, a bagel? But the funny thing is...I LOVE THEM. But anyways, we met her outside of Mr. Donuts and then walked over to a Starbucks to have a lesson. Not the best place to invite the Spirit, but it was raining pretty hard outside, so we didn't have very many options.

The lesson started out wonderful. The woman was really interested and was receiving all we had to say really well. That is, until we brought up baptism. In the first lesson, we have been asked to briefly introduce what baptism is,  just so the investigator is not surprised in later lessons or feels like we were meeting them under false pretenses and such. The woman told us that she was not, under any circumstances, going to get baptized. It got really tense then. I had no clue what to say. I just sat there, heart pounding and mouth dry. I must have looked like a deer in the headlights. But and then, my companion opened her mouth. She started speaking. Everything that she said was so powerful. Every word rang with truth. I know that she was led by the Spirit to say what she said -- that we loved this woman. She said that many times: We love you. She explained that baptism wasn't the sole motivation for us meeting with her that day, but rather it was because we loved her and wanted her to better feel God's love. That was why we wanted to talk with her. This response really touched this woman's heart. She was surprised that two young girls she had just barely met could say so confidently that we loved her, and really mean it. It brought tears to her eyes. Sure, this woman still doesn't want to meet with us again. But by meeting with her, I learned something really important: Love should be our motive for everything. 

I must have not truly understood it, though, because God felt it necessary to teach the same lesson to me again. We went to a local park to try and meet and talk with some people there about the gospel. While there, we heard someone playing beautiful music. We followed the sound of the music until we found a college aged girl playing an accordion. It was so beautiful; my companion and I just had to stay and listen to her play. As this girl played, my heart was opened to her. She played us a couple of songs and she even let us try playing the accordion ourselves! This girl shared with us how, through music, she was able to find peace and comfort in her life. As I watched her play her accordion, I could feel such a love for her! And I know that she felt this love too. We were really able to connect because of it.

Love is what should motivate us and drive us. It should be at the center of our lives. When we strive to truly love and cherish those around us, that's when we will be table to overcome our selfish ways. Love opens doors. Pride shuts and locks them forever. When we love others, our hearts grow. They are filled and filled; they don't have a point where they can stop growing. Let us strive to have more love for all those we come in contact with; let us pray for more love so that we can touch the hearts of others, and have our own hearts touched as well.

Let us all have Love as our motive.

Love, Sister Weigl

The Spirit is the Key

Dear Friends, Family, and Well, Pretty much Anybody who might be reading this:

What a week! My first transfer has successfully been completed, and it is so amazing, and a bit werid, to think that I have been in Japan for as long as I have (a little more than six weeks). My, the time does go by, though where, I can't say I'm sure. As I mentioned, I have a new companion, and she is a sister I know well since she lived in the same apartment as me last transfer. As I also mentioned a bit in my last email, It is a bit scary to think that she has only six more weeks of Japanese experience than me, but I know God has put us together for a reason. If I spend all my time worrying about the language or how inexperienced we are, there will be less time to rely on the Lord, for fear always overshadows faith. I am excited and eager to continue the work here in Akashi! Like always, there is so much we can do to help the work move forward! 

Our companionship "theme" or "motto" for the next six weeks is this: The Spirit is the Key. The Spirit is the key to unlocking pretty much...well, everything! Without the promptings, we would be lost--eternally locked outside the door of God's everlasting knowledge. I wouldn't have a clue as to what I should do, especially now that I am in Japan serving a mission! The Holy Ghost is how we, as missionaries, are able to unlock the powers of heaven and access the guidance of God Himself. When we listen to the Spirit and it's promptings, we can receive revelation. When we act upon that revelation, that is when the work starts to move forward. Miracles happen. People come of know Christ. I become more than just me, I become a representative of the Lord. So remember, THE SPIRIT IS THE KEY.

We have already experienced an incident where this "motto" or phrase has become real to me. On the very first day of my new transfer, with my new companion, we felt like we should go visit the home of an investigator named L-san. We were hesitant.  L-san has been feeling rather smothered by the missionaries of late, and hasn't really wanted to see or meet with them. We didn't know how our visit would be accepted, but we felt we should bike over and leave a simple note in her mailbox inviting her to church and letting her know that we love her. 

The weather was extremely windy (it was blowing against us the whole time), and the bike ride to L-san's house usually took an hour and 15 minutes because it was all uphill. However, it only took us 45 minutes to bike there! I know that was not due to any strength of my own, because as big as my muscles might be getting from all this biking, I am still so very weak. What's even more amazing is that we got there just at the moment that L-san was leaving her apartment. We were able to give her the note and two big smiles. Some might say that all of that is coincidence...that L-san just happened to be going out at that time, and we just were lucky to get there faster than usual. I would like to argue against that way of thinking. Because we were open to the promptings of the Spirit, and because we acted upon them, the rest fell into place. We were strengthened, and we were able to see L-san. Once again, when we let the Spirit guide our steps, our lives will become much more than what we could ever make of them on our own. 

On my last day with my previous companion, something very...interesting...happened. We met with I-san, one of our investigators who has been struggling to understand who God is. We began the lesson and everything was going normally, until about five minutes into the lesson, I-san started to jerk her legs about. I thought at first that maybe she was feeling uncomfortable with something that we had said or taught her. But then, before we knew it, she fell off her chair and onto the floor! She was having some kind of spasm attack! 

My companion had enough presence of mind to run and grab our Zone Leader, who was in the next room over. With his help, we were able to call an ambulance for I-san. It was a very frightening experience; an experience that once again reminded me how helpless we truly are in the grand scheme of life. All we could do was pray and stroke I-san's arm to let her know that we were there and that everything was going to be all right. We rode with her to the hospital in the ambulance and stayed there until a member of her family could come. We found out later that I-san has epilepsy, and these episodes are normal for her. 

Those hours sitting in the hospital waiting room were brutal and frightening, filled with deep prayers of pleading to the Lord. I had no idea what was going on -- the people in the ambulance were talking in Japanese, and my companion wasn't very sure either. All I knew was that a daughter of God was in danger. It was such a humbling experience, one that I am not going to forget very quickly. I can still remember the ringing sounds of the ambulance in my ears; they never seemed to end as I sat staring at my semi-conscious investigator. I can still see the bump on her head and her neck in a brace. 

This experience, as frightening as it was, really made me realize how much love the Lord must feel for each one of us. I was so worried and heartbroken over I-san, and I barely know her. Just think how much God must worry over us, and love us, then. Although it was a horrible incident, I learned more about God's unending love for each of us, and the power that can come from praying. Prayer was the only way I was able to get through the day without breaking down into a mess of tears. God's power is available to all of us, in a variety of ways. Sometimes in ways we might not be expecting. And we can always access that power, as long as we have the faith to knock on the door of prayer.

With love from, 

Sister Weigl