Dear family,
This week was awesome! I am really leaning to recognize the spirit more. At a stop light we met a boy named Masato, it happened to be his 20th birthday. It also happened he was studying peacebulding --- my major! You can imagine my shock! I felt like he was one of my friends from Hawaii --- such a thinker but very soft spoken and gentle. I hate being a in a rush to go places now because I hate the feeling of passing people who I feel we should talk to. It doesn't always mean they accept but even if they will listen for a moment it is more than they had before. We were on our way to meet our friend Lin to teach English so we invited him along to buy him a birthday donut. He came along and we were able to teach him about the Book of Mormon and chatted about peacebuilding. What are the chances, we thought. I never meet anyone with my major especially in Japan. He even recently returned from Rwanda after studying the events there. So many people are scared of religion though --- like because of that, they will be biased. Anyway,I know all our job is, is to invite. If we invited there is always a chance they will say no, but there is a 100% chance the answer will be no if we never invite them. I want to live by this!
This week I went to Oizumi for exchanges. It's about two hours away, it is this cute little Brazilian city. I LOVED Brazilians! They know how to laugh and are so loving. I love how Brazilians just kiss you and hug you when they see you just like Hawaii. We did a music night there and we all sang songs and played together for the new members. One lady Nadia who just got baptized last week said she loves to scare the elders. Since one of the elders has arachnophobia, she purchased plastic spiders and was always trying to put them near Elder Shibuta. She told me "my son's the same way. He is a big fellow but when I put the spider next to him, he screams like a woman!" They just love to laugh. I loved being with them, such wonderful people.
This week we did a little service cleaning up this lady Takida Shimai's home. She had a lot of stuff! Afterwards she took us out to lunch and we saw this Beatles cafe called Pennylane. One thing I've really come to grasp on my mission is how many lonely people there are in the world. People just aching for someone to talk to, laugh, just share life with. I have been visiting some of these sweet but lonely people and it has caused me to never want those closest to me to feel abandoned and alone. We don't have all the time in the world. I'm learning that instead of standing around asking how can i help? Just pull up a seat and dive in. If you ask most people how can I help? They don't know what to tell you, because sometimes they don't even know how to help themselves. But if you just start small, visit them, hug them, talk to them, take time for them, you won't have to ask, you can find ways on your own. I know Heavenly Father is with us helping everyday.
One other miracle from this week is meeting our new friend Kenkun. He is 26 and showed up to our English class this week so we invited him to church on Sunday. He came yesterday and stayed for all three hours! He actually went to Bellevue Community College a few years ago so we had a lot in common! We were able to teach him about Jesus Christ after church and he says he will try to follow the same steps as Christ so now we will teach him again this week!
Lastly my companion is hilarious. Today she got her Birthday package which includes her childhood stuffed animal Eyore. She couldn't put him down all during study. She even said this "In a way he does have a good attitude. Becuase if you think about it, his house is made of sticks, and when it blows over he's always like 'oh okay, I'll just rebuild it'. He is so cute with his donkey tail" I love her.
Also Usa kyodai who got baptized last week is doing great! Yesterday he came up to me after church and asked when he could get interviewed to go to the temple. He is amazing!
Okay sorry this is all over the place.
Love you!
Sister Vail
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