The Miracles Keep Coming

Dear Family & Friends,

 

So first of all I have to tell you of the first miracle that we had this week.  It started on Tuesday which is one of our longer days because there are hardly any appointments.  However, we managed to set something up with our recent convert Tatsuya, and we planned on meeting him at a park.  We went to the park and sat there and waited and waited and waited until about 30 minutes had passed so then we thought he wasn't coming (and obviously we tried contacting him). So we decided we would leave when we got a text that said, "I have someone I want you to meet". So he came to the park with one of his roomates and he introduced us.  Tatsuya told us that his roomate wants to know why Tatsuya is always happy when he goes home. So he told his roomate about us and introduced us to him. We were able to give a book of Mormon out to him and set up an appointment. Talk about a miracle! It was way cool!

 

During our next lesson with him, we asked if he would recieve baptism and he said yes! But he said he wants to get an answer to his prayers to know for sure. So that was way awesome.  We will be teaching him from here on out and helping him to try and gain a testimony and recieve answers to his prayers.His name is Mizuki he is 22 years old and he has the same job as Tatsuya cleaning radiation in Fukushima.

 

The second Miracle we had this week was Tatsuya and Izumi.  On Saturday night as we were all sleeping the phone went off buzzing.  It was a text from Izumi and Tatsuya and she said, "I finished.  I have a lot of questions."

 

Awhile back I had given her a a kids book of mormon which is still fairly long, and she and Tatsuya read it that entire night and so she said I want to meet tomorrow.

 

So we met with her on Sunday after Church, and we taught a lesson with one of the members, Holy cow I have never had to answer so many bizzare questions before, but it was really fun. She asked us about the 3 Nephites and wanted to know whether or not they were still living. So we talked about that and then she had a really good question about dispensations.  She wanted to know about all the people before Christ what happened to them, because from her reading she understood that it was Christ who made it possible for us return to heaven and be ressurected. So we started teaching her parts of The Plan of Salvation then moving into Parts of the Restoration. We had no idea where our lesson was going, but we finally got it centered down to, "What do we need to do in this life to get to heaven".  So we taught Christs doctrine about Faith, Repentence, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the End. It was an awesome lesson.  We got to talk in depth about faith and about Repentance and a little bit about baptism, and of course they are hesistant on baptism because they realize that it is a complete 180 degree turn in life style but that is where the Member came in and rocked the lesson. He talked about his conversion and how he loved to party and that's all he wanted to do.  Then he met the missionaries and he thought that he wanted to become more like them and be more serious about life and he could notice difference too in his life after meeting with the missionaries.  He was afraid to make the 180 but he did it.  His parents were against it and it wasn't easy for him but he has grown so much and he bore testimony on how much it has blessed his family and how happy they are. Izumi and Tatsuya loved it! They were so thrilled and we didn't feel at that time it was necessary to push baptism, but they said they want to start the proccess of repentance and prepare to be baptized so they are going to do that. And everyone in the room was encouraging Tatsuya to give up alcohol.  It was really funny, but we commited them to prepare for baptism and we set up an appointment to go to the Members house and do a family home evening with them. So I am pretty excited for that. It was way cool.

 

Thanks for always praying for the investigators and the people in Japan. There are so many miracles going on and they will just continue to keep coming.

 

Love,

 

Elder Nebeker

God Sends Trials Because He Loves Us

So I wonder if I will transfer?  It will be 6 months at the end of this transfer and if I don't transfer I have the potential of being in Aizu for a very long time because the new mission president will be coming after the next transfer. A.k.a. my year mark. So it just depends on what he thinks and the inspiration the mission president gets.

So to update you on things this week here in Aizu, we have been able to teach the Hoshi Family,

It is a little bit weird because Izumi wants to be taught by the sisters and her husband wants to be taught by us and we just want to teach them as a family. They are on such different levels of understanding right now so it is really quite confusing, but we were able to teach her husband Tatsuya.  We went over the plan of salvation with him. It was way good.  After we had explained a portion of it, I looked at him and I felt prompted to ask him what he was thinking and he went on a 10 minute spill about how cool he thought it was.  He looked at the picture of the plan and he said, "Now that I understand, what do I need to do to get to the top kingdom?".  We were pretty excited so our next lesson with him is on the doctorine of Christ about baptism, faith, repentance, and enduring to the end. So we are excited and we are going to try giving him the baptisimal commitment because Izumi always just says that his parents are against religion so that is why he cant get baptized.  However, when we talk to him we feel differently so were going to see if that is really what it is or not. Be praying that the spirit will touch him and he will open his heart.

This week we weren't able to meet with Yoko and Tom, unfortunately but when they came to church on Sunday she had a lot of really good questions.  The only problem is that she lives in a place that doesn't have missionaries and we would have to obtain permission to go and visit her.  So we basically have to wait until she comes to Aizu to meet with her.  We are trying to stick closely to Tom but haven't been able to contact him this week.

Two weeks ago we visited a less active and she wasn't home.  I remembered a suggestion given by one of our newly called branch missionaries and he said that when we visit the less actives to write a note especially to them.  Obviously we have done this in the past, but as we visited this particular less active I felt like I should write a note, so I told Elder Bailey and so we took a sit on her porch and I wrote a letter telling her who I am and that we were really wanting to meet her.  I wrote our number down and didn't think much about it. So the next day as we were eating lunch Bailey got a call and said it was for me and that it was someone I gave our number to yesterday.  For the life of me I could not think of who, then she said thanks for the letter.  I remembered and she said she had time for us today if we could come. So we got very excited and went shortly there after and when we met her and started to get to know her she told us that she doesn't believe in God and that she is Drinking beer and Coffee. SO we asked her why she doesn't believe in God and she says because I have terrible health problems that make it so I have to go to the hospital once a week. She said if there was a God he wouldn't do such a thing, that she would be healed. Now my first thought was obviously she isn't going to get better if she isn't keeping the commandments, but we knew that telling her that would just make her mad.  We bore testimony of God and that he gives us trials so that we can become stronger. And she still wasn't too happy and told us to leave.  We asked her if we could do anything for her and she surprisingly said yes.  Because of her health problems she can't really weed her flower beds, so she asked us to.  We set up an appointment to do that. 

So our next appointment with her we pulled her weeds and had fun doing it. If there is one thing I took from this is my testimony being  strengthened by Service.  After pulling her weeds she was a completely different person she thanked us and gave us fruit and all sorts of food and asked for some of the members numbers to talk to them. It was really awesome and she asked us to please come back any time and talk with her.  She told us to make sure to call because she doesn't always hear her doorbell. It was amazing.

I thought about her questions, and why she doesnt beleive in God and why do bad things happen. Which I think is a very frequently asked question.  So in my personal study I looked at this deeper. And as I thought about this less Active person I was drawn to faith because she isn't keeping the commandments. I was reading in Ether Chapter 12 which is awesome for faith.  In Ether it is written that is only until after the trial of our faith that we will see miracles. So she and everyone must show their faith before we can recieve the miracle.  For the Hoshi family, they are stuck at the wall of faith where either they can choose to show faith in Jesus Christ and be baptized and hope for a miracle that God will soften Tatsuyas parents hearts or not. Maybe that isn't the miracle God has in store for them but I know that when we show our faith without doubting is when God will provide us with the miracles.

Now what about people who do good things, keep the commandments, yet still have trials and sorrows? As I was reading in first Nephi I realized how many trials Nephi and his family went through.  Although Nephi was a great young man, keeping the commandments and he was put through a lot. As I read this I looked to my Book of Mormon study guide book.  I read a talk that stated even though we may be living the commandments and choosing the right, because God loves us so much he wants us to grow and learn so that we can become more like him.  So sometimes we are given trials not to hurt us, but because God loves us and wants us to learn something. So when our trial has ended we can thank God and cherish the things we have learned and seen how our testimony has grown.

I forgot to tell you all, but I got to play the piano in a big concert.  I had been practicing for a very short time but Bailey Choro was on the guitar and a members husband played the saxophone.  We played "Isn't she Lovely", by Stevie Wonder. Got to play it in front of all the branches in Koriyama zone and President Rasmussen because it was his farewell party. It was way fun. And we got to work closely with this members husband who is hilarious. Probably my favorite Nihonjin in Japan. He still hasn't been baptized because he can't give up smoking.  I swear everyone in Japan smokes. They have cigarette vending machines everywhere! But I loved working with him.We call him Haga Papa.

This week my companion and I decided to ride our bikes to a really far place because we were recommended to visit a less active who lived out there.  Apparently they were quite the family. The husband was a Branch President and also served on the Koriyama zone presidency. We decided to go and visit him so we rode our bikes out there and I had no idea where I was going.  I was surprised bailey Choro even trusted me but I just followed the road signs and we magically got there. It was probably one of the most pretty bike rides I have ever been on in Japan.  As we got there the phone died, so we had no way of finding the address. We walked into a business and asked a lady and she was really weird with us and kept on asking why we were looking for this neighborhood.  So we explained who we were and she was still super weird with us and pretended like she didn't know and told us to talk to the police. So we left that place with no help.  Then we found the City Hall and went in and asked for help from the man working there. He was super nice.  He pulled out google maps and printed out a really nice directions paper and was super friendly.  He asked who it was we were visiting and said that he knew them a little bit. Then he asked why we were visiting them and we told him they are friends.  He said, oh cool, I will give them a call.  He called them and obviously they weren't expecting us and so he hung up and asked us again why we were visiting them.  We told him that we were missionaries and they were members. So then he looked at us and says, "So you want to go bug them, I see".  I kindly said, yes we are going to visit him and his family and see if we can't help him out with service or anything and make sure he and his family are happy. Then the man took the nice maps and directions and threw them away and wasn't as nice anymore.  He said, "yep, well I think you're good to leave now". So we got out of that joint fast.  Luckily from just looking at the map for a short time, we were able to understand where he lived. We visited him and he was way nice and gave us stuff to take home.  We talked about scriptures and everything, but we felt like we had to get out of there fast.  We were pretty sure the cops were after us, which sadly has happened recently in our mission because people think that we are like spies our something.

Anyways, today I had a member take me and my companion and bought us 3 new pairs of pants, 2 shirts, and a neck tie. It was probably the nicest thing that I have had happen on the mission. I will be forever grateful for her.  She will be going on mission shortly with her husband to Germany. I am very excited for them. Her husband is German so they move back and forth every year from Germany to Japan. They have decided to serve a mission.

Thank you so much I love you all and I pray for you everyday. Hope everything is going well,

Till next week.

Elder Nebeker

Prayer Can Bring About Change

Hello family! it has been such a fast week and I feel like I just barely talked to you on Christmas! can't believe it's almost been 6 months since then!  Me and my companion, (Elder Bailey) are trying to work something out so that we can skype and it will probably be on Monday.  We have to go to Koriyama this Sunday so it will be on Mothers Day in America! Works out just perfect!

 

We will probably do it at a members house, the Saito`s, so you might get contact from them (maybe). But I'm thinking that our 9:00 am should work fine it just depends on when Elder Baileys parents call too. So I gave them your email so that you can stay in contact with them. They will probably email you I imagine.

 

So this week was a very cool week,

 

This week we haven't been able to use the church,  because they are making an addition which includes an elavator so the old and wise folks can get to the sacrament room. So we found a park instead and have been teaching there at the park.  I really enjoyed it and will be sad not to teach there as much.  There were frogs in the pond though that were really loud which I won't miss. We mostly taught Tatsuya there because we are preparing him to receive the priesthood. He understands the Gospel really well and was definitely prepared by God to hear the message. He and my companion are teaching me how to play a little bit of guitar so that will be fun if I ever get good at it.

 

During one of our lessons with Tatsuya we were teaching about eternal marriage. He is a person who doesn't have too many questions, but during this lesson he looks at us and asks, "I understand that this is important but how do I find my future wife?" We were stuck... Didn't know how to answer that one. So I told him I have four older sisters and if there is one thing I learned is that by being a gentleman and trying to become like Christ will probably help you find your wife. Unfortunately I couldn't promise him he would find his wife.....

 

This week we also got to meet with my favorite man Tom.  We talked about the atonement with him and he had a a cool question about whether Jesus Christ had suffered for our sins collectively or individually.  It was really fun to talk to him about that then he told us that he wants us to meet with his wife and friends and talk about our message. (SCORE!) SO we set a next appointment with him to meet them on Saturday.

 

So on Saturday, we showed up at Toms art studio and walked upstairs to his room.  His wife was there and unfortunately we couldn't meet with his friends. So we got to teach him and his wife, which I think was probably better. My companion brought his guitar to play some songs and we could sing along so we played hotel of california and Tom sang his heart out not knowing a single lyric except for "sweet Hotel of California" It was awesome. I laughed pretty good, and his wife took videos. Then after that and eating a small meal with them, we asked if it would be alright to share a message.  They said yes, and so we told them that we always like to start out with a prayer.  We prayed, and right after the prayer we looked up and his wife was in tears. She really enjoyed the fact that we pray. So we talked about our message and taught her the plan of salvation and parts of the restoration and she had so many sincere questions. I felt so much joy being with them that day and being able to talk to them about our message. The funny part is when we are talking about how God loves Yoko san( Toms wife) and she is crying and Tom stands up and lights a cigar and says, " I just think it is a good opportunity for my wife to learn about Christ."  I thought it was pretty funny. But she was so awesome. She cried again during the closing prayer with us. She and Tom said that they would come to church the next day.

 

So they came to church and I was way happy but sacrament meeting was a little bit hard for Yoko san to understand because she doesnt come from a Christian background or know essentially anything. But they stayed after for Gospel Doctrine class which was awesome because the topic just happened to land on prayer that day. As we were talking about prayer and why it is important she cried and the teacher stopped and asked, "Are you okay?" She said yes, and in a soft voice asked "Can you really change and be a better person through prayer?"  We all went around the room and confirmed to her that she can and we all got to bear testimony on prayer to her. It was so awesome.

 

She lives in Shirakawa though which is 70Km away and currently no missionaries are there.  We only get to see her 2 times a month at most because of her job. She had the same heart surgery as mom did too.  She was born with similar things as mom, so I felt like there was a little connection there.

 

Oh there was so much to say this week I just don't have too much time on the computer today, but there was a lot of fun things that we did at service and other things.

 

I love you all and I will talk to you next week!

 

Love,

 

Elder Nebeker