Week 13: My weirdest housing experience ever (Week 4 on the field)

Hey,

    So my weird experience... I was on splits with one of the zone leaders, Elder Boll.  We were housing and going door to door.  And it was the LAST door of the night.  Before we headed back to the apartment, we were like..."Okay, one more door."  So we rang a doorbell of this one apartment door.  We saw that the person looked through the peep-hole like 4 times, and then this lady, about in her 30s to 40s opened the door and said, "Bikkuri Shita!!" (Which means "you scared/suprised me").  She's then like "okay, come in, come in."  Brother Boll and I gave each other a look like "Whaatt?" and then we went in slowly.  When we asked if it would be okay to go in, she's like "yes, yes, come in."  When we went inside, there's a father cooking food and gave us a look like "sup".  The lady said, "I think you're looking for him".  She then pushed us (literally) into this 12 year old boy's room, and said,  "talk to him".  So we did.  We talked about the plan of salvation; how we can live with our families for eternity-even after we die- and how we lived with our Heavenly Father before this life.  We also spoke of the Book of Mormon and its importance.  Stating that this book shares stories of Jesus Christ coming to the Americas, how there was this prophet named Nephi who followed the commandments of God and blessed his family because of it.  We told him that even he, the kid, could be like Nephi.  As we were talking, the mom came and checked on us like 4 times (she just opened the door).  We then get out of this kid's room.  The mom was helping her other son (probably about 5 years old) put on underwear.  She then asked us if he listened, and we said "yeah."  Then she was like, "okay come again".  We set up another appointment and even spoke about the free English classes we do and she said, "okay, we'll all come then".  It felt like a MTC roleplay.  It was so weird.  I was so confused.

     I also saw General Conference this week.  General Conference is a special 2 day program that runs semiannually.  The prophet and the apostles speak of issues and ways we can improve ourselves to become more loving, more service oriented, and become more like Jesus Christ. 

It was so good.  I urge you to look at these messages multiple times throughout the month being reminded of the miraculous inspirations that these leaders get and teach to all of us.  It was one of the historical conferences.  We were introduced with a new family-oriented gospel study, and a new 2-hour-block schedule for church. This is a divine help.  Please listen to the counsel of these leaders!!  You will be able to gain love, peace, and joy as you follow what is said by these prophets, seers, and revelators. 

Here's a shout out to all my friends I saw in the choir from the MTC: Elder Spilling, Elder Israelsen (He's a former EFY buddy), Elder Shimabukuro, Sister Akinaka, Sister Peterson, and Sister Brandt!!

Just to think of it, I could've been there if I came to the MTC 3 weeks later.  I especially loved Elder Rasband's talk called "Be Not Troubled."  He shared about the dangers of fear.  How fear is Satan's tool to bring us down to a nulling state-where we can't improve.  He said "since ancient times, fear has limited the perspective of God's Children" (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/be-not-troubled?lang=eng).  It was also stated, later in his talk, " In contrast, when we stand in holy places, we can feel God’s love, and 'perfect love casteth out all fear."  That's how we conquer fear, through LOVE!  Use of Charity is always important.  With everyone--especally in a world that is getting more and more corrupt.  As we love, we may be hated, as Jesus was, but we can influence so many people by our kindness towards one another. The 2nd greatest commandment is to "love thy neighbor as thyself."  Of course, we shouldn't disregard the 1st --to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.”  Remember this in your daily lives. Your lives may become hard, they may become busy, but always remember that charity and love are always worth the struggle of time, and you can ALWAYS be loving towards one another.

All of us with our bikes

With Yuuki. He's a less active member because of his work.

We are an investigator from the Philippines, Ri. We had a great conversation about the gospel. We switched her over to the sisters and I think they'll do great things together (Sister Gallarde was in the MTC with me and is a filipina as well). Sister Gallarde's testimony is super powerful. We all felt the spirit. She also shared her conversion story and it's really amazing. It's for her to share so I won't go into detail but she connected with Ri really well.