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