And so, today we are expecting the biggest typhoon that Japan has seen
this year. It's pretttttty exciting. The mission home has instructed
us to not go outside and take pictures, even if it looks cool. We may
be missionaries but we sometimes still lack common sense. And so I'm
going to try and keep this short. The wind is picking up outside. But
I am not worried. Yet. (お母さん、心配しないで下さい！^_^)
In no particular order, a few notable moments from this past week:
1. Today we tried to share the gospel with five Filipina ladies over
some not-so-tasty salad. Needless to say, it was not entirely
effective and thoroughly full of taking selfies to post on Facebook,
but they did think we were pretty adorable (though I did not feel
terribly adorable ... ) and they all love the Book of Mormon. Me too.
Next time we will meet at the church.
2. We also had lunch with one of our lovely neighbors, who speaks more
elegant English than most Americans and cooks like a pro. We talked
about priesthood authority and how the restoration of the same
priesthood as in Christ's time is so crucial to the foundation of
Christ's true church.
3. On exchanges, Sister Brumley from Kisarazu and I were able to meet
with one of our dear friends, who has been MIA for a month or so and
finally got in contact with us. We talked about the grace of the
Savior's Atonement and she says, "It's like climbing a mountain. When
you look at the ground and count your steps it's hard to endure, but
when you look up at the beauty of the mountain it's suddenly more than
bearable." (Except it was Japanese, so ... ) It was pretty beautiful.
I wanted to cry.
4. We also had a church tour with two Chinese friends. Neither of them
had ever been to a church, so we took them around and showed them the
chapel. Contrary to their expectations, I t didn't have the
ornate-ness of those Baroque cathedrals all over Western Europe (which
I do also happen to love), but the gospel of Jesus Christ is one of
exquisite simplicity. After we played some hymns on the piano and with
them for the first time in their lives, they just sat there in awe of
the feeling that this is all something bigger than all of us.
5. On a completely unrelated note, I stumbled upon this the other day
as I was studying. From Mere Christianity. C. S. Lewis explained this
teaching of the Savior:
“The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting
yourself first--wanting to be the centre--wanting to be God, in fact.
That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human
race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex,
but that is a mistake. … What Satan put into the heads of our remote
ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’--could set up on
their own as if they had created themselves--be their own
masters--invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God,
apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come … the long
terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which
will make him happy.”
In short, sometimes ... often ... we forget where this whole thing
started, and our pride gets in the way. And that, my friends, is why
we continually read our scriptures, pray, and attend church. So we
don't forget.
Hopefully that wasn't too preachy. But it's true.
Have a marvelous week. Love you all.
Love, Sister Margaret Willden
Pic 1: General Conference with my dear friends from Chiba, nearly a
year after their baptisms. I love them all so much!
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