Hellllllllooooooooooooooooo. Happy 2014! It is good to be in this year! This is my mission year! I am almost 6 months into my mission and have about a year left! It is crazy! I am trying to appreciate all the time that I have on my mission and every single night I ask myself, "Did I do everything I could to help someone come unto Christ today?" and even though that may day may of been filled with rejections and not so promising people. I know that I have done my part and that the Lord is happy with my work.
President Budge had a wonderful idea of having a good apartment clean out on the 31st and then we would spend the whole day on the 1st reading the Book of Mormon. I loved that idea! We would have a new fresh and clean start with our apartment and start the year of with reading the book of mormon. I can go out on the streets with a renewed testimony of the Book of Mormon and it's truths and testify away. It was a wonderful experience! I learned so much! Although I couldn't get very far because all the members in our ward wanted us over for meals during that time. But I got to Jacob! yay! I am hoping to finish the Book of Mormon by March. I read the whole thing in the MTC, but I want to do it again. :)
On New Years Day we went over to Tanaka Shimai's house and she really wanted us to come over because she lives alone and wanted someone to celebrate the holiday with. She picked us up at the train station and then we stopped at the market and she picked up a whole bunch of fish from the market. Just raw fish. I was thinking, K cool we are gunna cook fish! Then it hit me. My time has come. I am going to eat raw fish today. I have gone 6 months without eating someone completely absurd. We went into the apartment and she set the fish stuff in front of us and she said to me, "Do you not like my food?" And I'm like, "No, I LOVE your food!" And I picked up that raw thing and ate it. The feeling that I had was........I don't. I can't even. Nope, not going there. Oh my GASH! This isn't your average California roll or little sushi things that you Americans think is Japanese. This is the real thing kids. I have not been the same the past couple of days. Nor shall I ever be the same.........*whimper in the corner*
On Friday we had exchanges and I got to be with Sister Tan! She was Sister Vail's companion before she was with me. We had a good time! We always see so many miracles when we go on exchanges! I love them! I feel so lucky to always be the Sister Training Leader's companion, I get to experience so many new things and learn from other sisters.
On Saturday I was with Sister West who is quite shy and has a harder time getting out of her comfort zone. She is just an inspiration to me of courage, it was so brave of her to come on a mission. She has so many wonderful insights and makes me want to be better. Her and I were going around trying to find people. We were not having success. I felt like something was off and I didn't know what to do about it because I was the senior companion and Sister West has only been in Japan for 3 weeks. So I'm trying around like a chicken without a head. But then I looked at sister west and told her that we need to pray. We prayed that we could follow the spirit and find an investigator. About twenty minutes later I see this lady from Nepal walking down the street on the other side of road. We made eye contact and she ran over to me, I asked her if we had met before. She told me that she has met sister missionaries a couple months ago. A man who was her friend, (he is actually the elder's investigator in our area and has a baptismal date) came up to her and was said hi to her. He kind of looked at me and saw the Book of Mormon and smiled and walked away. He knew what was up! He knew exactly what was happening. Good man. I told her that we have an important message for her and asked her if we could meet with her. She said yes! Spirit guides kids. :)
Today for P-day we went to this cute paper, stickers, and scrapbooking shop a couple stations away (emmy you would have died of happiness if you saw that place) We met this woman on the train from China and she said that she is new here. She kept on staring at us I could tell she was trying to figure out what was different about us. I pulled out a Book of Mormon and promised her blessings that she could have if she read from it. We got her phone number and email. When she had to get off the train I gave the Book of Mormon to her and she gasped and said, "Can I really have this?!" She acted as if it was Christmas. I promised her that it was free and she was overjoyed! She kept on waving goodbye to us as the train pulled away. I am so excited to meet with her!
We are working hard and praying everyday that we can have our investigators become progressing. It is hard. But I love it. I know that I am supposed to be here in Japan. I know that the Lord has a great plan prepared for these people whom I love. I love you all :)
Love, Sister Staples
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