Become as a child

5/5/2016
Minnasan konnichiwa,

This week has absolutely flown by, especially because we are working extra hard. At the beginning of last week we learned that Elder Stevenson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles would be coming to visit us on the 22nd of May! Along with this information we received a challenge- that every companionship in the mission would see a baptism before he comes to speak to us. Honestly, my first thought when I looked at the calendar was that we only have three weeks to find someone to be baptized, and we didn't have anyone that we were currently teaching that was very close to receiving baptism. But I am constantly being reminded that this is not the work of man, but the work of God. As we gave all of our time, talents, and abilities to the Lord in trying to find people to teach, we have seen so many miracles, big and small, throughout this week.

I don't think I can even begin to share all the miracles we have seen this week, so I'll just share one experience we had while teaching a less-active member. We didn't have an appointment with the less active, but we knew where he lived, so we decided to see if we could catch him at home. At exactly the same moment we arrived on his street, he pulled up in his truck, just returning from work. We asked him if we could share a quick message with him, and he said that was ok with him. Elder Tanaka decided to show him the Easter video, because he hadn't seen it yet. When he started the video, though, a young girl playing on the street ran up to us, trying to figure out what we were looking at. She unknowingly joined in on our lesson, and watched the video with us. The video was in English with Japanese subtitles, and she was still too young to know how to read, but as the video played, her face broke into a huge smile. She was definitely feeling the Spirit, and I was reminded of the counsel given to us in Mosiah 3:19 to "Become as a child, humble, meek, submissive, patient, and full of love". As the video ended, the first thing this little girl does is to try and give a hug to each one of us, complete and total strangers. When her sister came looking for her, she introduced us as her "very important friends" and as we left, she pleaded with us "don't forget me!" This experience really reminded me of the purity and innocence of a little child, and that when we can humble ourselves to that point, we will be able to feel of our Heavenly Father's love for us. I know that He will never forget us, that He has our best interests at heart. When we choose to trust and follow His guidance, we can begin to become the type of person that He desires for each and every one of us to become. I know these things to be true, and I say them in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, amen.

Love
Winegar長老より

Our important friend, Itoha