Q & A

http://www.comgeo.net/archives/18588

1. How is your new area? 

Can I get back to you on this question? I just got here!!

2. How did you get there?  

Train. Bullet train. Bus. Car.

3.What was church like for the first time in your new area?  

It was great! Saturday night I got a call from a leader in the ward. He wanted me to talk about a missionary experience I’ve participated in. So I did. For the third hour we had a combined Relief Society and Priesthood class on missionary work! It was great.

The person I invited to come to church on Friday came for the first hour- Sacrament. 

Because we had the Relief Society foundation activity on Friday night, I was sure to greet the sisters that I met that evening by their name at church. I learned that a sister S. went to the same ward I served in Okinawa when she was a young girl!!!! 

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”

Romans 1:16

Letter Home: About a wonderful young mother

3 weeks ago or so Sis. J. and I were finding people and we stopped this one young mother and her daughter.  The mother was not interested - as such I asked if her daughter liked stickers and commenced to talk about eternal families as her daughter picked out stickers she liked.  This lead to her committing to read 2 Nephi 31. She joyfully accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. She wasn't sure when she could meet so we got her phone number and learned that Sunday was the best time to call.

On Sunday we called. I asked her how her daughter was doing. She was happy that I remembered her daughter's name. We set an appointment for the next Sunday.  As custom for me, I asked her if she needed any help with anything. She then informed me that she read the section we gave her, but she did not understand it.  I responded, "Let's learn together."

Yesterday we had the lesson we explained how we lived with Heavenly Father before we were born, why were are here on earth and that here on earth we can be sealed to our families so that when we leave this earth…we will be with them forever.  We also talked together about the priesthood, prophets, the Atonement, the Book of Mormon, Bible, Joseph Smith, and God. 

I invited her to church for the next Sunday and to have another lesson during the 2nd hour (Mormon's Sunday meetings are 3 hours long), she said yes.  I invited her to be baptized if she found this to be true. She said, "if it was true, yes."

Email Home: "Today is transfer call day. I am going to Taniyama."

Sister Breksa is just in time!  The average temperature during summer in Taniyama is around 90F degrees with a lot of rain!

LDS Teachings: Growing from Change

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“When a choice plant became root bound and began to deteriorate, a young friend of ours decided to transplant it to a larger container. Carefully he lifted the greenery from its small pot and put it into its larger home, trying to disturb the roots and soil as little as possible. The novice gardener watched and waited. To his dismay, the plant still struggled. Our friend expressed his frustration to an experienced gardener who offered his services. When the plant was placed in the gardener’s hands, he turned the pot upside down, pulled out the plant, shook the soil from the roots, and clipped and pulled all the stragglers from the root system. Replacing the plant into the pot, he vigorously pushed the soil tightly around the plant. Soon the plant took on new life and grew.

“How often in life do we set our own roots into the soil of life and become root bound? We may treat ourselves too gently and defy anyone to disturb the soil or trim back our root system. Under these conditions we too must struggle to make progress. Oh, change is hard! Change can be rough.”  (Marvin J. Ashton, October 1979)