This week my companion and I felt like we needed teach our
investigator about baptism. So we really thought hard about this and
prayed and we both felt that teaching and extending a baptismal
invitation will be the best way to determine to what extent they were
interested. We talked with our mission leader who just got back from his
mission in Nagoya and felt it was the best action. He said
that he would join with us for the lesson. So for the day of the lesson my companion and I had fasted that everything would go smoothly and
that either way things went we could take it and have it be a good
experience. We had prepared a lesson which included an object lesson to
show them how baptism works. It was water, food coloring, and bleach.
The water was expressed as our purity in life and the food coloring was
represented as sin and things that draw us away from God and then we
used a white paper to cover up the cup so you couldn't see the food
coloring and expressed that we can hide our sins from the world and no
one would know but God will always know. Then we used the bleach to
represent repentance and baptism. So when we pour the bleach in it
takes a little bit of time so we used that time to explain Baptism with
our investigators and we talked about Christ being the Perfect example
and showing us everything that we must do in order to return to our
Heavenly Father. So we shared Christ's example with them and how
even He being perfect, the Lamb of God, still needed to be baptized. They
asked us a lot of questions and were very receptive to our message. The
joint helped a lot. So it got down to the end of the lesson and I knew
it was time and I asked them if they would Follow Christs example and be
baptized. They both were in kind of shock and said that it would be
hard to be baptized. And I asked them why it would be hard for them and
they explained to me that everyone in Japan is basically budhist and
that if they converted and they would lose friends and lose trust at
work with employees and that it would be a betrayal to their families.
They explained that Japan has a negative image towards Christianity and
it is a really hard decision. They asked me a question ``being a Mormon
in Utah if you were asked to convert to Buddhism, what would you say?`` I
told them I understood and I bore witness of the truthfulness of the
Gospel and explained that Everyone has their personal agency and they
said that they love this Church and how they are different from all the
others in letting people exercise their Personal agency and they thought
it was very unique. At this moment I was pretty sad inside but I
wasn't going to let myself breakdown because I still had to teach them
English. But they told me something that gave me hope and I realize and I
know it is essential for them to be baptized. They said that if they can
know that this church is true then all those other problems with friends
and family won't matter because this is the path. So they said please
continue teaching us and so I still have really good hope for them and I
hope that through my obedience and diligence as a missionary they can
feel of the spirit and gain that witness that this church is true and
receive baptism.
Now I felt a little bummed that day, not going to lie. I had fasted
all day and I just felt like I wanted to pray. So I did, my companion was
in the bathroom and I had a good prayer and I really began to learn and
be humbled. But I knew Heavenly Father is aware of me and of those we
teach and all the people we talk to.
So the next day was Sunday
and I was greeting the members who were coming in, when unexpectedly
a less active member who we had tried visiting when I first came to
Aizu walked in. I was in shock because when I had met him he wouldn't even
allow us to pray. He had come to church, I was so happy and I knew
Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and that he is aware of all his
sheep.
So we also had an appointment with another less active that I
talked about last time. I had made some cookies that you sent for
Christmas to take to bring to that appointment and I felt like I just
needed to ask him how he gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon
because I was still thinking about The Hoshi family and I wanted to know
if it was hard for him to convert. And he explained and opened his
scriptures and shared his experience it was amazing and we talked about
how the he came to understand the scriptures and we received revelation
on how to teach using the Book of Mormon and we asked if we can visit
him every Sunday
night and do a scripture study. He was actually really happy. He has a
special room that he likes to study scriptures in that is full of
plants. So It was a miracle. This man has a testimony! It's just figuring
out why he hasn't come to church in 20 years now.
Anyways I don't have too much longer.
I love you all and I pray that everyone is happy and healthy.
Love,
Elder Nebeker
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