Tuesday, May 6, 2014

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

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