Week 46 - A God of Miracles, Yesterday, Today, and Forever'

Dear Family, 

This week was wonderful!! We saw so many miracles, and met so many wonderful people! I'll kind of go day by day, and see how that goes :) 

Monday: We went housing and were able to give away two Book of Mormons! The first guy started out like he was going to reject us, but recently I have been focusing a lot on trying to testify boldy and from the heart - even when I am nervous - and when I was trying to figure out what to testify about to him - I remembered the Book of Mormon. I explained that it was this evidence that you can read, and hold in your hands - and that I knew it too be true. I think he was a little taken aback, and he suddenly seemed interested! He took the book, and we have an appointment to go back today! The next lady was an amazingly good person - she just was one of those people that you see and know they are just a good person. I wanted to give her the Book of Mormon, so I asked if she liked to read, and she said yes, I asked her what kind of books she likes, and she said she likes 1 - books that she can apply to her life, that have lots of good advice and things like that in it, and 2) history books. What better Book to fit those requirements than the Book of Mormon! We are going to go and visit her again today as well. 

Tuesday. We had a PI that we found just on sunday come to Eikaiwa! She had a really good time, and it was all because of a member that attended and sat next to her the whole time, and really became her friend. The miracle was that we had just invited that Sister to come to Eikaiwa the week before - this was her second week coming, and she turned out to be the PERFECT support for the new student - they were talking for a long time after class, and both promised each other to be there next week, and I was just so amazed at how well the Lord knows his children and what they need!

Wednesday. This miracle actually came because the new missionaries coming to Sapporo missed their flight in Tokyo and ended up coming a day late - but their trainers had already come down from the country areas - leaving two sisters in our apartment with nothing to do for a day. It worked out that I got to go on splits with my old companion Sister Nanjo, and we got to go back to our old area, Atsubetsu (because its still technically in my area now) and we got to see the Nakandakari family!! It was SO much fun - I don't know why we got to be so lucky! It was so good to see their family - they really feel like my second family, I love them so much! While we were there we also got to share a spiritual message - and we felt inspired to talk about the Book of Mormon. We talked about how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion, and how everything else ultimately relies on whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. The mom and dad said they had never really understood why the Book of Mormon was so important before - but now they understood. The Mom is still reading bit by bit, and I challenged the Dad to read with me - a race of sorts to read the Book of Mormon in Japanese by the end of my mission. Miyu chan is reading - but not everyday it sounds like - I am going to try and start following up with her a  little more proactively about that. The spirit was so strong in the lesson though. My favorite part was when the Dad explained to us his position right now, he said I am all ears right now, I am not turning anything down - but I want to know it all first before I commit. Once I know it, if I do find out its true, I will be really fast - when I commit I commit. I am just still in the learning phase. I am so excited for the day when he will know!

Thursday. We got to hear all the testimonies of the new missionaries that came in - it was amazing how much my dendo fire grew just from listening to their simply two minute testimonies! They are a really strong group - we have 11 new sisters and 9 new elders. One of the sisters went to Waterford, Sydney Horne, and another Monica Johnson I have met a few times before at different places (choir festivals, EFY, and BYU). 

Friday. was focused on Watanabe Megumi san, one of our investigators. She has four kids, and was able to come to a primary activity in the morning with her two younger ones - it was a really fun activity and she got to know and talk to a lot of the moms in the ward - she was really impressed and had a really good time. Then later that night was Sports Night - and activity that she comes to every week with her kids. We were able to meet today a little before and teach the Plan of Salvation, with two of her kids as well! The lesson went really well, they asked lots of questions, and understood pretty well. And we were able to make a Baptismal Date!!! She said that she feels like she has been guided to this church to bless her family. It was a GREAT day!

Saturday. We didn't have any lessons scheduled when we started that morning but as the day went on we were able to lessons with two investigators! One was Tanaka san, a brand new investigator, we had just given her a Book of Mormon about two weeks ago, but hadn't been able to have any lessons yet - but we called her and were able to make an appointment for that same day. We met, and were able to teach all of Lesson 1, and we found out that she had already read about a tenth of the Book of Mormon! It was amazing! She is super genki, and really has a desire to learn - probably because she is a school teacher :) She said she plans on reading the whole thing through at least once!

Sunday. We had the opportunity to take the sacrament (as always), and it really just meant a lot to me this week. Also that night we were able to meet with Watanabe Megumi san again - because she invited us to come see her older two kids (middle schoolers) perform on the Taiko drums at the park - we knew it would be a really good opportunity to build our relationship and trust with her family, and a great way to show support - and super fun!- so we went! I think it really meant a lot to her. Her husband passed away just last year, and I think it meant a lot to have someone to go and support her children with her. We took lots of pictures! (well mostly she did :) ) 

I know that this is the Lord's work! He is behind and through every step, and He knows where he needs us, and who needs us, and who we need. I know that he is a God of miracles, the same yesterday, today, and forever. I know that repentance is real. I know that God forgives, and that he heals. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that he loves each and every one of his children. I know that there are so many ways that I need to improve, and that I will never be perfect - but I know that He will always be there to support me and give me the strength to try.

I don't know if I always express enough how grateful I am for my wonderful family,  and all the  friends who have supported me and been the examples and strengths for me all my life. I love each and every one of you! Thank you so much! This gospel is true!

Love, 

Sister Budge