The week I prayed in front of a General Authority

And not even in English. In Japanese, Yamashita chōrō's native language.  [Elder Yamashita is a General Authority, or a leader with responsibility over Northern Asia]  My heart was somewhere in my throat region. And it was acting more like a hammer than a heart. But I lived to tell the tale. I'll talk more about the meeting with him later.

Tuesday: We weekly planned. As usual. Then we went and visited a Canadian member who's been sick. We shared a short message with her and then just talked. It was like in English. It was so nice. O shimai told a story in English that we prepared together and I was so happy. It makes me really happy when she uses the English I teach her. Or when she surprises me and prays in English.

Chocolate sauce for
McD Fries, and homemade
Tuna Sandwich
Wednesday: We ran from lesson to lesson. I guess we didn't run, we biked really fast. We had a lesson with J, a young mom. We didn't actually teach much. We played with her son. But it turned out to really support our message. We shared Mosiah 3:19 which talks about becoming like a child. It was perfect because we could use her son as an example because we had been playing with him. We were there for an hour and a half, taught for 10 minutes and it was so effective she was willing to make a baptism date! However, she wants to be baptized but doesn't want to be a member of the church. We'll see how that turns out. Then we sprinted to the church for T's lesson. She's a solid investigator and has finished all the lessons but has trouble coming to church on Sunday because she has to rely on other people to switch shifts at work. But she committed to come to church next week and
we're excited. We had a joint for the lesson too. Which is rare for us. But members make all the difference. Then we ran to a lesson with A (the Korean less active). We hadn't had lunch yet and we were both starving and we walk into A's house and she asks "have you eaten lunch?" We said "no". And she was like "perfect, I felt like I should make lots of sushi for lunch so I have leftovers I want to share."  We almost cried. I had been praying for a way to not notice my hunger as we taught and God delivered. In a very delicious way. We had an amazing lesson with her. Then we hurried over to the K family (recent converts) house to deliver some baked goods and share a short spiritual message. She's been having a rough time at church. Not many people are interested in being her friends. Then we went to McDonalds for a lunch dinner and I fell asleep in McDonalds I was so tired.

Thursday: we had a Streeting miracle. We were biking down the street and I stopped this girl and she I interrupted me to say "wait, I got your Eikaiwa flyer [English Class] in my mailbox. I wanted to go but didn't know where it was". What?!? People actually read the fliers we give them? We were on the road of the church so we could point out the building. Then we went and weekly planned in the park because it was oddly warm. We brought bubbles so we could have brain breaks. It was lovely. And he park was gorgeous. There was a lovely view of the mountains.





Friday: Yamashita Taikai!!!!!!! We had to got to Fukuoka for the meeting. I sat in the front row. And I shook hands with him!! It was such a cool experience. As I walked up to him, I just felt surrounded by love. Like, I could feel it in the air. It was amazing. I got to tell him and his wife my name and where I'm from and then shake their hands. And he said everyone I needed to hear. He answered all my
questions (even the ones I didn't realize I had). He didn't speak from the podium so he was just walking around in front of me occasionally asking me to read quotes or scriptures. His wife is the cutest little Japanese lady. She taught us how to make origami mouths that moved to remind up to open our mouths. It was an amazing day and the spirit was so strong and I left wanting to talk to everyone. I can't even put into words how I felt. But I was so happy.

Saturday: We weekly planned and had kids Eikaiwa. We got a call around 6 from the bishop asking us to go visit this member because it was her birthday and she was sick. So we did- and we brought a cute strawberry cake with a candle. When she saw the cake she was so happy. She had been craving sweets all day but was too sick to go out of the house. We were an answer to her prayers. We had a lot of those experiences this week. We did things that didn't count towards our weekly numbers. But we were able to help people. Just goes to show God doesn't care about numbers. He knows us individually and wants to help us individually.

Sunday: was yesterday. But it was normal??? We went home teaching (yes). It was K shimais first time so we were there to make it less awkward. It was really good I think. 

Have a good week everyone! I love you!!!!
あい、
ベア-マン姉妹