I left Ishigaki?
Hello again! This week flew by so quickly it's crazy! It was P-day and next thing I knew it was Saturday and we were preparing for chruch! It was crazy short but also so crazy busy! We taught tons of language lessons (which always end with a gospel message) and a few just gospel lessons!
I almost choked to death today at a steak place! One of the Elders we are on exchanges with gave me the Heimleck maneuver so I could breathe and then like 30 miserable minutes later I threw up the piece that was stuck.
I'm on exchanges in Miyako right now (a different island) our plane was so small it had propellers. CONGRATULATIONS MATTHEW LEONE! He got his mission call this week to Newport California, Russian speaking! CONGRATULATIONS to Jacob Hamilton! He was in the at home MTC last week! Ashton Hahl still killing it in the Brazil MTC! And Jackson Felkins with his call to Lima Peru, starting the MTC in a few short weeks!
We are still living at the Shimada's apartment, we move into ours on Thursday! I'm so excited but also sad, I love Elder Shimada so much! (I love Sister Shimada too but she's been gone almost the whole time helping their daughter with her baby so I haven't spent as much time with her) Elder Shimada cooks for us almost every breakfast and dinner and then we had a few lunch appointments with friends so I think we only cooked like twice this week! (We helped cook Dinner on Sunday because we were at the apartment before it was finished! We have to send a screenshot of our schedual to the District group chat after we finish our daily planning and so Elder Shimada sees it and almost always has food waiting for us when we get back. What a man! Elders, brothers, fathers, husbands be like him! (Be like my Dad! He's even better!) There are also a few members who live really far away so Elder Shimada drives us there! (The top of the island is 23 miles away (and uphill) so it would only be realistic to bike to them if that was all we did for the day)
OK... this is really hard. Definitely the hardest thing I've ever done. Japanese is so hard. I've never struggled to learn anything as much as I have with Japanese. Latin, spanish, calculus, physics, finance, history, essays, chemistry, leadership, scouts, talking to women, all seem like simple asks compared to this. Ok I'm going to share an experience here really quick hang on. We were teaching on of our friends, I'll call her N. N has was taught by missionaries many times about 5 years ago when missionaries were last in Ishigaki, there've been a few times where she has said she is not interested, but eventually comes back to learn more. We called and then met with N this week (pretty late at night since it was after work, it was dark). We decided to talk about faith for this first lesson. we went through the lesson and it went ok I think, I have a very hard time understanding Japanese. I went to bear my testimony (not prepared before, not just a recitation, something from my heart) at the end of the lesson and I felt so lost, I couldn't express what I know about faith so I said what I could. I said in very broken Japanese something along the lines of this: "Japanese is hard. My Japanese is not good. Coming to Japan was very hard for me. I left my family." (At this point I was in tears because I felt so inadequate with my Japanese) "Faith is the reason that I am here. I have faith that God will help me." Then we finished the lesson with a prayer and left on our bikes in the dark. I cried a few tears on the way back. When we got back to the apartment me and Elder Nagao were talking as we went to the third floor and I expressed some of my feelings of inadequacy. Before we went inside with Elder Shimada we stood on the balcony for a second and talked. He said that he felt the spirit when I was bearing my testimony in the lesson and that comforted me. I'm still learning but when I open my mouth and make the effort, Heavenly Father helps my words be understandable to those we are teaching. This has been such a humbling experience for me. I've pretty much always been able to keep up or stay ahead in everything, anytime I've been behind I've been able to catch up. I have been studying Japanese for months now and still feel so inadequate but that is ok. This is His work, and He calls imperfect people to do it. I'm not supposed to be fluent in Japanese yet, but I am supposed to try and try and try and try. I know that when I try, while I may fail, God does not.
Even will all my struggles, there is still so much good being done. Me and Elder Nagao are planning on inviting 2 of the people we are teaching to be baptized this week. We are working with all the efforts we can muster to find and teach people. We are seeking to be perfectly obedient and are studying the standards and additional resources from our mission president and I know that our efforts are being blessed for that.
I won't share much more than that, but I will close with my testimony. God is real. He is our loving Heavenly Father. He cares about you. He will help you if you turn to Him. He created this world and us, which is why I think we find the most peace and joy in nature and with others. Reach out for God, He is reaching out for you constantly. If you turn to Him, I testify that He will be there for you.
Elder Rasmussen <3
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