Did you watch General Conference? I don't think I have ever
appreciated it as much as I do now. WE ARE JUST SO BLESSED.
I feel like this past week I had one particular theme drilled into my
head: PRAYER.
In a lesson this week, one investigator, who struggles with the
concept of God as a being, asked, "Who made up this whole prayer
thing? Why do you do it?" (Obviously this is in Japanese.) It struck
me so funny. I guess I had never really thought about it. No one "made
it up," it's just something that I do. It felt sort of like asking,
"Why do I eat the frosting out of the Oreo before the cookie" or "Why
do I have to set my alarm 15 minutes before I actually want to wake
up." I don't really give it much thought; I'm just sort of programmed
to do it. I immediately felt so grateful to just have the knowledge
that I CAN pray.
It made me think of the Bible Dictionary definition of prayer. I just
wish I had had a translation of this in Japanese to whip out during
the lesson.
"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward
God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once
prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Many of the
so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this
relationship."
If we always remember / understand this relationship, prayer makes a
lot of sense. God is our Father, so naturally we should and want to
talk to Him. Enough said.
Earlier this week, we had mission leadership conference in Tokyo (did
you know that bus prices hit the roof in Japan when cherry blossoms
are blooming?), which meant Sister Mondano and I sat in a cozy little
room for 7 hours and stared at the iPads while we watched all the
other missionaries in a meeting somewhere in the bustle of Tokyo. The
topic of discussion: church attendance. For seven hours. For a little
non-LDS fly on the wall, that fly would probably think we'd all lost
our marbles. Why on earth would 40 kids (let's face it, we're pretty
much kids) sit and talk about how to bring people to church for 7
hours? Because it's that much important.
We don't just go to church to go to church. We go to church because
it's about what we can become, not what we have done, and we learn
about how to do that at church. Also, the sacrament is kind of
important.
So we as a mission are making a huge push to invite everyone to
church. Which is something that we should always be doing anyways, but
... We're still learning. Zones often initiate the BIG
SUNDAY CHALLENGE to see how many people can come to church on a
particular Sunday, but from now on, every week is the BIG SUNDAY
CHALLENGE. The goal is to have more investigators come to church than
missionaries (with six missionaries in Sado, we have our work cut out
for us, but everyone wants to come to church, right?)
On a side note, next week is transfer calls. We are waiting on pins
and needles because Sister Mondano and I have been companions for two
full transfers, but never say never I suppose. Stay tuned! And write
me, if you feel like it.
Love,
Sister Margaret Willden
PS I'm rereading this email and realized it's really preachy. Maybe I
just wrote this for myself, but hopefully there's something in it for
you too.
PPS: Who are you bringing to church?
Picture 1: My grandparents' perfectly groomed yard.
lovely scene.
Pic 4: Hello Sado District.
(Monday, April 7)
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