Oh my goodness so much has happened this week! We were able to find so many people to teach through Social Media and by talking to people to the street! We've taught a few lessons already and we were going to extend a baptismal invitation last night but our appointment got cancelled because the Sister was not feeling well. This is crazy! We are doing God's work! It is so cool how simple the gospel really is and how natural it is to teach it. I feel the conversations flow naturally as I talk about what I love, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the love that He has for each of us (in our english lessons we always end with a spiritual thought, so I get to talk in English which really helps me)! I know that God is blessing me in so many ways. When I started using social media to find people I didn't really think it would work and I felt that there were better ways we could do the work. This week I have realized that I was wrong, God has chosen (at least in my mission) for social media to be our main source of finding, our mission president, President Hara, has receieved the revelation that this is what we need to do. We still magnify opportunities to talk to people whenever we can, me and my companion say hello to every single person we pass by on our bikes, if it does anything, it helps people know that we are joyful, the kind of joy that comes from the gospel. There haven't been missionaries on Ishigaki in so long so we are making first impressions on many of the people walking these streets. If anything they'll know that the foreigner in the white shirt with the helmet is happy to be here, happy to see them, and is a kind person (Only the missionaries wear helmets, everyone else has been biking their entire life so they don't wear them but we do to be safe!).
Ishigaki is such a beautiful place, please look at my pictures. Just walking or biking down a street there are so many beautiful flowers at every storefront and by people's houses. The pictures I've taken have only been a few the beautiful flowers that I've seen, and not even the most beautiful. I take pictures when is conveniant, I'm trying to make sure I focus on doing Heavenly Father's work and less on being a tourist, but the photos I have captured are beautiful.
A few highlights:
I got called "Yoked" by the hotel worker. We were in a hotel for the first few days since we don't have an apartment yet, now we are staying with the amazing Shimadas (the senior couple here). We were eating breakfast and I aparently hadn't eaten enough and he talked to Elder Nagao in Japanese (which I didn't understand) and then turned to me and said "you yoked" and gestured for me to eat more. I'm definitely not yoked but Japanese people are pretty small so I guess I am big compared to them!
I saw a big bat! Shimada Choro drove us to see a member and while we were driving a bat with a wingspan somewhere between 1.5 - 2 feet flew a few feet above us.
The food is pretty great! There aren't many spices so most things are just salty but maybe I haven't had the right food yet. Right now we are living the easy life, the Shimada's insist on cooking breakfast while we excersize and cooking dinner before we get back home! Once we move out in a week or two I might have to sneak in for a meal or two!
Rejection is good! People don't always like us and it's not always sunshine and rainbows (it is most the time), there was one person we met with that we had a good meeting with, we got his Line (main messaging app in Japan) and then later he just messaged "I don't like Mormons" and stopped responding. Heavenly Father has things to teach us from these seemingly 'bad' interactions, we may not realize it right away but there is always something to learn when we are paying attention to the spirit.
General Conference was great! On Sunday we watched the Saturday morning and afternoon sessions! They talked about temples so much! The temples are houses of God, they are places were we can go to make covenants with Him to grow our relationship with Him, feel peace, and to recieve guidance for our lives! (General Conference is a conference that happens twice a year where our modern Prophets speak to us and give us guidance! You should watch it, just look up General Conference and go to the church's website!)
Also I think I may be the first white person some babies have seen, at the store one day a baby just stared at me with its mouth hanging open.
God loves you and so do I!
Elder Rasmussen
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