Hot Outside but the Spirit is Cool: Nihon Week 64

Minasan, konnichiwa!

Hope this email finds you all happy and well wherever you might be! It

sounds like my family and others are all spread around the world right

now being engaged in the work of the Lord, and it is just cool to be

so United with so many of my brothers and sisters, wherever we might

be.

I'm going to be honest, I don't remember a ton of what happened this

week! I must be getting old or maybe the heat is just starting to melt

my brain...regardless that is where we are at, at this point, haha

gomen ne. However I can do a highlight list, so we can start with

that!

So on Wednesday we had the awesome chance to head over to Sakai to

have an exchange with the sisters over there! I worked with Sister

Rees who is a fourth transfer, and it was a lot of fun to spend an

awesome day in my past area super focused on finding. Sister Rees is a

great missionary and we had a good time together, and saw some neat

miracles. Highlights include meeting so many of my beloved members

from Sakai (one of my favorite members brought me another huge bag of

100+ full size Snickers, it is super yabaii), meeting some wonderful

PI's, and then getting kidnapped by a former Eikaiwa student and the

elders to get taken to get sushi for dinner. I will literally never

understand Japanese people, they are crazy but I love them haha.

Needless to say it was an awesome koukan!

So the next day I started getting sick...my dang nasty cold came back

and had me out basically the entire day because I hadn't been sleeping

well up to that point and I was exhausted beyond belief. I rested for

a lot of it (I hate being inside, it makes me crazy) and then that

night we went to go teach the children's Eikaiwa class. The member who

was in charge of it thought it would be a good idea for us to teach

the children (who are like 2 year old, mind you) how to make American

cookies like we were Rachel Ray or something and so we tried but then

it turns out that Japanese measurements are a slight bit different, so

it actually sort of completely failed, but it was fun anyways. We were

able to share a great spiritual message about overcoming failure

through faith in Jesus Christ haha.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key because I was honestly dead

to the world...shoutout to my amazing companion though, she was an

angel and took care of me like a champ. There were some nights I would

be up coughing at like 3 AM and she was already up and making me

oatmeal and herbal tea. I don't deserve Larsen Shimai, she is such a

great example to me of patience and charity. It has been a blessing to

work with her over the past two transfers here in Kawachinagano!

One blessing of being sick and dying (I like to try and look for the

positive in things these days haha) is that I have been able to spend

lots of quality time in the Book of Mormon! I know I say this like all

the time, but I LOVE the Book of Mormon. I get so excited every time I

get to read it and am just learning so much all throughout. A huge

theme I have been noticing lately is the responsibility that we have

to help BRING our brothers and sisters to repentance. I think the

phrasing of "bring" is interesting, because it implies that we have to

already be there ourselves. The central purpose of our life is to

bring our lives and wills in line with God through repentance, and

embracing that brings us joy in our own progression, and joy in the

progression and change in others. I know I have seen that so much as a

missionary, and I am so grateful for the chance to have been here to

see and witness it firsthand. I am honestly excited to keep repenting

for the rest of my life haha.

Something kind of fun was that Saturday evening we had a family home

evening activity at the church, and so many investigators and members

came! It was seriously so much fun, we just shared a short message and

played some fun games and ate some treats and it was just way

successful for our investigators to get fellowshipped by the members

here. We also had this less active family we were working with come,

and that in and of itself was so satisfying. I just love this work so

much.

Sunday we were also blessed to have two investigators there at church!

It is always a little nerve wracking to have people at church because

you are always a little nervous that someone is going to give some

crazy talk or like testify of something apostate haha, but thankfully

all went smoothly and the second hour lesson was planned perfectly to

be about baptism. I will never stop being amazed at how perfectly God

plans out His work.

So for my spiritual thought this week I need to take you all back to

Friday morning, when we were sitting there in the Kawachinagano church

having another lovely district meeting. We were discussing something

missionaryish (I don't exactly remember specifics at this point haha)

but it ended up turning into this super passionate sermon by our

beloved district leader Elder Wride where my companion and I got

chastised for being too hard on ourselves. I had made some offhandedly

comment about how I hoped I would make it to the celestial kingdom if

I died like tomorrow, and then Elder Wride just let us have it haha.

He asked us how we could possibly go out and preach repentance to

others if we don't believe that it applies to ourselves (as

missionaries who preach the gospel and repent DAILY) and it was

actually super enlightening. It was interesting because as he was

talking p, in my brain I was sort of being sassy and I was like "Well

of course they would think that about me and my work being sufficient,

only I am inside of my head and so nobody really knows what is going

on in here except for me and so of course I am gonna be hard on myself

because I know what is up" and basically I was just in this super

negative spiraling train of thought about myself and my mission and

efforts here in Japan. It was in that moment where the Spirit came to

me so strongly and clearly and simply said "Sister Pickering, there IS

someone who knows you better than you and He loves you and is proud of

your work and knows your potential and efforts and His name is Jesus

Christ. He knows all your weaknesses and loves you BECAUSE of them."

When I heard/felt that, I couldn't help but be overcome with gratitude

and love for my Savior. No matter what we pretend, no matter what

ridiculous self pity parties we like to throw about how nobody

understands us and or would love us if they did, we simply cannot deny

the fact that it isn't the truth. We have a Savior, someone who knows

us better than we do, someone who loves us infinitely, and I know He

is rooting us on every single day. I have never been more aware of

that then I am now, and I have never been more grateful for His hand

that is always extended to us. We simply need to reach out and take

it.

I love Jesus Christ and I love serving here as His representative to

the Japanese people! I can think of no place I would rather be or

nothing I would rather be doing. So so blessed.

He lives and loves you and so do I! Hope that you all remember that

and have a wonderful week! Aishiteimasu minasan!

Love,

Sister Pickering

 

 

Revelation for Days: Nihon Week 63

Words of Wisdom for the week:

"I just keep thinking about how we can't ourselves be disciples of Christ and endure to the end without helping everyone we can and bringing others along the way with us. Charity should be our walk and our talk and is truly the lifeblood of how we should treat others and handle our lives, and it all stems as we live the Doctrine of Christ and by applying those simple principles like faith, repentance, etc. I know as we wholeheartedly embrace the Doctrine of Christ, we can become more charitable people and more worthy for the kingdom and more filled with joy as well."

Minasan, konnichiwa!

Wishing you all a happy week from over here in Kawachinagano! For

those of you who graduate this week...CONGRATS! Super proud of all of

you. For all of you receiving mission calls and heading out to the

field and whatnot, also super proud of you. The mission is the best

and happiest thing ever. For those of you getting married soon....haha

also congratulations but also not gonna lie the fact that I have

friends getting married weirds me out. Carrying on.

This week was a wonderful one for us in Kawachi, and I just love this

area and these people so so much. Monday after P day and some super

fun (#sarcasm) record updating and phone calls we had to do, we headed

out to go finding for a bit. Hit up this super large apartment

building and unfortunately didn't find anyone, but had a great chat

with a grandpa who sternly lectured us for 25 minutes on how dangerous

it is for us to be out at night. I love how considerate these people

are.

Tuesday we had our monthly visiting Teaching spree with Maekawa Shimai

and Soga Shimai to go and find all the less actives. These members are

just so funny and passionate about taking a selfie and eating fruit

with the less actives, it always makes for a good time. Later the day

we had a Skype coordination meeting with the Zone leaders (I don't

like meetings anymore haha, I just want to go out and work) and then

ended the evening with Eikaiwa where we all had them play musical

chairs to teach a spiritual Message at the end. It was sort of a

stretch but we made it work and overall it was a success.

Wednesday we headed over to Sakai where I had my last interview with

President Welch before he heads home. Holy cow can I talk about

emotions. I love that man so much, I know he is so inspired and called

of God and the idea of him not being here is just too weird. We had a

good chat, he gave me my new temple recommend (and this one is in

Japanese, so it's fancy) and then ended in a prayer that moved me to

tears. He is so led by the Spirit and I am so blessed to have been

able to serve with him here in Kobe. The Welches will always be a part

of my life from here on out! Right after interviews we started a

companion exchange with the Sennan sisters where I worked with Sister

McGuire. This sister is literally the Alma to my Amulek and so we work

hard and have a blast and basically experience all the joy of the

gospel. Way too fun.

One interesting thing that happened is that as we prayed during

companion Study, we both felt super strongly that we needed to go and

visit this dropped investigator...it had ended on sort of rocky terms

and I was nervous but we couldn't deny the Spirit, so we went. We

visited and nothing immediately happened but it ended up in us later

receiving a very mean and nasty phone call from this investigator

where my heart basically got torn to shreds (haha AGAIN) and I was

super super confused why God would have had me do that when He knew it

would cause me that pain. Honestly I was sort of upset and angry with

Him, and honestly I still don't know the reason why He has us do that,

but recently I was impressed with a lot of Peace and the knowledge

that sometimes God just needs to see if we will be obedient. How can

He trust us with the BIG prompting if He doesn't have the assurance we

will follow the small and simple ones? It was hard and not fun, but I

was grateful for the chance to prove my loyalty to my Heavenly Father

in some small way.

Once the exchange ended on Thursday, we headed to the church for

ANOTHER Skype correlation meeting for Zone Conference, and then that

night we taught children's Eikaiwa and then had a meal appointment

with this family named the Kyoutani's. They are just awesome, they are

all so strong and have such a love to share the gospel in any way they

can and it was humbling and inspiring to be their home. Can't wait to

keep working with them to move the work forward here in Kawachinagano.

Friday we had district meeting here in Kawachinagano! We talked about

how we could improve on how we teach repentance but it ended up on

warping into this super spirit led discussion on how we can better

serve with our heart, might, mind, and strength and what our barriers

might be to doing so...super humbling and I have lots of repentance to

do haha but that is okay, repentance doesn't scare me anymore. That

evening we taught the Eikaiwa 30/30 Program to the Oonishi family and

had a Follow Up lesson about Jesus Christ, and it was awesome.

Children just love and accept our Savior so easily, it is the coolest

thing. We all need to be more like them!

SATURDAY WAS THE DAY. After the Sennan sisters came over again on

Friday night and staying with us, Saturday morning we all got up early

and headed over on a train to Ibaraki (this place in Osaka) where we

had a mission wide Broadcast with Elder and Sister Oaks, Elder and

Sister Gong, and Elder and Sister Aoba. First of all it was awesome to

be together with the WHOLE mission, I saw my trainee Sister Epperson

and we cried together haha, as well as tons of other friends that just

mean so much to me. For all you Westlake people out there, I also

finally saw Elder Braden Allred! It was super fun to chat about life

and catch up on the mission. He is doing way happy and is a great

missionary, although he is currently banished to this tiny island and

I so never ever see him haha. The conference in and of itself was

amazing. The Spirit was overwhelming and joyful, and that was exactly

what Elder Oaks talked to us about...the joy of the gospel! He asked

us how we could NOT be joyful because of the truths we have about our

Savior and the Plan of Salvation? How could we NOT share that and use

it to strengthen others? Just awesome and so much revelation. Shaking

his hand and meeting him and feeling his love was humbling and

amazing. He is definitely called of God and was sent by Jesus Christ

to come and visit the Kobe mission at this time. Another crazy thing

was when we all stood together and sang the mission theme song and I

was just hit with emotions and tears and memories and love over my

mission the past 16 1/2 months has given me. I love being a missionary

here in Kobe.

Sunday was also special because we had a special Stake Conference with

the Area President Elder Whiting over in Sakai. For those of you who

keep track (or are even reading this email at this point still, sorry

it is so long haha) I have been blessed to have been serving in this

Sakai Stake for the past six months, and so there were more just happy

reunions. I saw some less active members return, some sisters heading

out on their missions, and just so many people dear to my heart. I

love the Sakai Stake with everything I am. That meeting was also

wonderful, the Spirit and love I felt was overwhelming. I am not ready

to leave this place.

That evening there was ANOTHER Devotional with Elder Oaks and Elder

Gong and their wives, and that was also awesome. He spoke a lot about

how the growth in Japan right now doesn't look strong according to

numbers, but it is amazing when we look at the individual growth and

strength of faith and foundations of the members...and now it is time

to go up and improve from here. That in particular was so special to

me because I feel so strongly so much of my mission has been dedicated

to helping these amazing wards I have been so blessed to serve in.

Ironically I go in there to try and help change them, and yet they

always end up changing me. So grateful for every single one of these

people here. Haha needless to say, it was another good meeting, lots

more revelation, I am spiritually dead but that is okay.

In reading the Book of Mormon this week, I am learning lots about

Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah! Aside from the fact that they are just

completely boss, I learned about the essentiality we have as members

to be good examples. Ammon didn't do much for Lamoni besides humbly

serve and be a good example of the believers, and then took the

opportunity to testify when it came, and from that THOUSANDS were

converted. As members of this church and as true disciples of this

church, we have such a great power and responsibility to share the

light and love of Christ with everyone around us! I promise as you do

your best to share that light and example with those you can in your

small sphere of influence, lives will be changed and joy will be

found. It is true and real and joyful, I promise!

I love this gospel, it means EVERYTHING to me. Also love my Savior and

my Heavenly Father and how they have blessed me with the chance to be

in this special place with people I love more than words can describe.

To simply quote Alma, I cannot say the smallest part of what I feel.

I love you all and hope everyone has a great week! Minasan, aishiteimasu!

Love,

Sister Pickering

Photos: Various members and events, Oaks Taikai reunions, road trip

for Stake Conference, happy Stake Conference reunions, humidity and

hair at train stations haha

 

 

Angels in the Streets: Nihon Week 62

 

 

So we had a fabulous opportunity this past weekend to Skype with Alyssa because it was Mothers' Day.  This skype felt a little different than the last two.  I am not sure if it is because she has been gone for a long time now and we are settled into a routine or because we know we will see her in a short two months.  But it was less tense and more joyful.  Alyssa was just radiating and looked so beautiful.  You could see how much she loves being a missionary.  Every now and then she would slip into Japanese as we spoke and she still took delight in the simple things such as seeing the cat or comparing how much her siblings have grown.  It was just so wonderful to hear her voice and talk back and forth.

 

Near the end of our conversation we did bring up a few things about the end of her mission.  Roger and I are picking her up in Japan, when she is done, and we had a few details to discuss.  As soon as we started to talk about her coming home, you could see her physically deflate before our eyes.  It was painful to see the trepidation and worry that she has about coming home.  She can't imagine not being a missionary and that is hard to accept.  It proves to me even more that she has given 100% and loves those people wholeheartedly.  A mission is truly a wondrous thing.  It is difficult to go on one and just as difficult to return.  I am hoping that she can focus on these last 2 months and give it all that she has left.  We will continue to pray for her strength and success.

 

We ended with her sharing he testimony in Japanese.  And boy, did she get emotional.  He testimony of this Gospel has grown so deeply and means everything to her.  You could feel in her words and see it in her tears.  She knows without a doubt of the truthfulness of the work she is doing.  That is priceless.

 

 

Minasan, konnichiwa!

First of all, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! Especially wanted to send a super special shoutout to my own mother and grandmothers and aunts and basically any other women in my life who have made a difference and have helped me to be here. Truly so grateful!

 

It was another wonderful week for us here in Kawachinagano! I love this area and this ward so much and I am just so crazy blessed to be here.

 

Monday after a nice P day of nothing (honestly we are just so tired and so like taking naps basically every week haha) we decided to start combing through our Area book and called TONS of former and potential investigators. We were working for a while and had no success until we finally made contact with this 15 year old who wanted to meet with us again. Super exciting! We ended off by heading out to go and visit this elusive less active that we were FINALLY able to make contact with and have a good lesson with. Success in the little things!

 

Tuesday we were up bright and early to head to Kobe where we had MLC! I know I say this like every single month but I seriously love MLC. I love going and seeing so many missionaries that I love and respect (and it was fun, because some other elders from my MTC days were made Zone leaders and so it was like having this giant family reunion) as well as receiving training from President and Sister Welch. The entire morning session we spent having this giant discussion on what we are learning from the Doctrine of Christ Book of Mormon Challenge, and how we can better apply it as leaders, missionaries, sons, daughters, future spouses, etc. It was super neat and the Spirit was definitely present and able to teach me lots of things I needed to learn and hear. One thing I really liked that was talked about was the essentiality of having our lives and our countenance be the biggest testimony that we share of the Doctrine of Christ and its ability to change people. We can share about it all we want, but until we experience it, it means nothing as we share it with those around us. It was a cool moment for me to sort of sit back and reflect on how I have changed these past 16 months. Alyssa used to be a good person and all but through the doctrine of Christ, Sister Pickering has been able to change into someone so much better (haha I hope).

 

Wednesday was another super happy day just being back and working in the area. Had some good studies, had a lesson with a member, taught some less actives, visited a former Investigator, and contacted all along the way. Nothing crazy memorable or miraculous, but just good and happy nonetheless. That evening we packed up and headed on a train to go to Wakayama where we would have an exchange with the sisters down there, which brings me to Angel #1.

So it is 8:15 PM and we are walking along this dark country road in a random place in Japan called Wakayama when I receive a phone call from an investigator that is incredibly dear to my heart. We talk for a second and she proceeds to drop us...but this wasn't like a nice "Thanks for everything, maybe someday" drop, but it was one of those gut wrenching drops where it feels like your heart gets torn out and thrown in a blender. Basically I was being called a child and was told that none of this is worth it and I am wasting my time here. I was pretty devastated and was walking to this apartment with tears just coming uncontrollably, when I see this car pull up to us. I am about to be annoyed when I assume it is some random Japanese person being racist and suspicious about the gaijin walking alone late at night when I hear a familiar voice say "Pickering Shimai?" I look inside the car and it just so happens to be one of my favorite members in the WORLD, Minamimoto Kyoudai. He reaches out and shakes my hand and gives me a smile and just thanks me for everything and in that moment I was so overwhelmed with comfort and the Spirit. Wakayama is like 2 hours away from Kawachinagano but God cared enough to send me one of His angels in that moment to comfort me when I really needed it. 

 

 

The next day we were on exchanges with the sisters in Wakayama! I was super blessed to go out and work with Sister Morris from Orem, Utah and it was so much fun because she had literally been out in the field for like a week! Her faith and testimony was so strong and she was just way cute and fired up about the work, and it was awesome to work together and see tons of miracles that day. Honestly it made me miss training so much! Being with a new missionary is one of the coolest experiences of all time. That night we all had a good time back in the apartment and it was awesome to catch up with Sister Miller, one of my dearest friends ever as we tried to catch up about our lives and missions for the past 16 months. She is awesome and I am way grateful for her! 

 

 

So Friday was supposed to be Zone Training Meeting in Wakayama but it sort of got spontaneously cancelled indefinitely which meant we were up early again to catch a train over to Hashimoto (and on the way we taught a man from the Dominican Republic and got him committed to go to the church, and no I don't remember any Spanish FYI hahaha) for a district meeting. It was a super great meeting with tons of Spirit as we focused on testifying and teaching from personal experience, and as always I just learned so much. That evening we taught the Oonishi family about Jesus Christ (we used a tatoe with books to explain the atonement and it was super good), and then we went and taught Yuto and read a picture New Testament book together and he soaked it up. Kids are incredible. 

 

 

Saturday was a super rainy day but it was filled with tons of small miracles! We had some appointments fall through with people, but it ended up leading us to some other areas where we met some other solid potential investigators and found some awesome neighborhoods with tons of new families. I was also over the moon because we found the SUPER countryside part of our area, and I felt like I was just living the dream as I biked through the Japanese countryside and the rain. We met with a former Investigator that day who was sadly only interested in foreigners (but the good news is I held a hamster and a ferret during that experience), had some good contacts, placed some Book of Mormons, and ended the night teaching a less active. We also found a cockroach in our apartment which basically brought me PTSD from the plethora of crises we had last year, but we will see what we can do to overcome this summer. 

 

 

Sunday morning brought Angel(s)#2 and it was simply the fact that I was able to Skype my amazing family. There were lots of tears of joy and just all the emotions basically at seeing them again, but I was just so struck at how blessed I am to have such amazing parents and awesome siblings. I love them more than I can describe and even though I am in no way ready to not be a missionary anymore, I will be excited to see my eternal family again. 

 

 

After Skyping was the usual church block and it was awesome as usual, and then we went on splits with the members which bring me to all the rest of the Angels. I was blessed to go and work with a sister named Kyoutani Shimai and we went out and passed out tons of flyers for our new Eikaiwa program and guitar class and church, and she was just a fireball and contacting everyone before I could even get over there haha. She is way sweet and I learned lots from her example. While I was doing that, my sweet companion Larsen Shimai went with the Minamimoto couple to go and visit the family we found last week! They are named the Oonoya Family and it is a mom and dad and two daughters, ages 9 and 7(?) and they are SUPER excited about taking the lessons and reading the Book of Mormon together as a family. Seriously the blessings in this place are unreal, and Minamimoto Shimai was a dream of a companion for Sister Larsen. Couldn't do this work without these angel members. 

 

 

I know I say this all the time, but I am always just filled with so much love and gratitude for my mission. It is the most special experience and has changed me so much. To close I would just like to share a scripture that prompted me to serve a mission, and one that I read this week during my studies:

Mosiah 4:9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

 

 

To all my wonderful family and friends back at home, Believe in God. He is there. He loves you. He wants your happiness. Turn to Him and you will never be disappointed. 

 

Hope you all have a wonderful week! Aishiteimasu minasan! 

 

 

Love, 

Sister Pickering 

 

 

 

 

 

Help Thou Mine Unbelief: Nihon Week 61

 

Minasan, konnichiwa!

Hope that you all had a wonderful week, it was as always a good one

for us here in Kawachinagano! The weather is warm, the people are

wonderful, and blessings are just everywhere. Life is good and I

really can't complain!

Monday night after P day we had the chance to go over and have dinner

with a wonderful family in the ward named the Suzuki family! Holy cow

I love these people so so much. They are a family where basically

everyone is a returned missionary and so we had lots of good talks

about dendo and they were able to give us a lot of advice about

working with this ward to see so many miracles. We shared some great

stories, received lots of revelation, and the Spirit was just felt in

abundance. I have said it before and I will say it again, but I work

with angels every single day here in the mission, and they are the

Japanese members! To end the evening we all knelt together in a

"family prayer" for us to be able to find new investigators, and I was

honestly just overcome with the Spirit and with so much love. I love

these people so much.

Tuesday my sweet companion unfortunately got super sick, and so not

much happened. What I did learn however, is that it is possible for

someone to literally sleep for 24 hours straight (shoutout Larsen

Shimai, she only woke up because I poked her to check if she was still

alive haha), and that I should never kill someone because I could not

handle the whole solitary confinement thing haha. I did have lots of

chances to read from the BOM though, so that was special as always. I

love the Book of Mormon.

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and I got to fulfill one

of my mission dreams and go labor in a Hatake (field) of one of the

members of the ward, and it was just a blast. It was also service

which was fun, and it was a good time to just develop more

relationships with some members. After that my companion was still

dead so we were back in the apartment where I found a dinosaur

Area book and basically went excavating to find some former

investigators that we can go visit soon. We have some addresses now

though, and so we are excited!

Thursday was Transfer day in the Kobe Mission, and although neither my

companion and I were transferring, we had to go to Sakai and wait with

a sister whose companion was coming from Shikoku (which is the island)

which is already a far trip...basically she ended up missing her bus

and so was even later and so we spent a good portion of the day with

Sister Maiwiriwiri doing some finding around the eki until Sister Rees

came in! It was good though, we got a bunch of super cute new sisters

in the zone (INCLUDING MY DEAR FRIEND SISTER MILLER! We were in the

MTC together and I love her with my whole heart), and so koukans and

whatnot should be a blast this transfer! That evening we had our

weekly planning session and made our plans to baptize everyone and so

we are excited to get it done!

Friday after some good studies in the morning, we headed out to go to

this concert for the Oonishi girls, the daughters of this family we

are doing the English/Gospel program with. It was super cute and a fun

way to get exposure about us missionaries out in the area! There

happened to be a former Investigator that lived near the concert hall

and so we biked on over to check it out, and this super cute mom

answered the door and really wants us to come back and meet again!

Such a miracle! After that we headed over to this pond to go do some

findings, and we ended up having a way boss lesson with this 16 year

old girl named Yuka. She is CRAZY prepared and really wants to learn

more about God and Christ, and she just glowed with the Light of

Christ, it was awesome. We gave her a Book of Mormon and set up an

appointment to meet again and were just thrilled, but then were super

devastated when we heard from her that night that her mother was not

down with her meeting Christian missionaries because of the Buddhist

ties. Way heartbreaking but we know God has a plan for this special

girl, and one of these days she will be older and absolutely golden.

Saturday was another day in the apartment because poor Sister Larsen

was just not able to kick this sickness. She slept a lot and I did a

lot of studying and I will just say once again that I love the Book of

Mormon haha. That evening we went to go and study with a member who

had been having a hard time of late, and it was neat because it was

one of those special experiences where I really felt the Spirit

working through us to bless this lady. It is honestly the most

humbling experience ever to be a missionary where people seek you out

to feel the Spirit and learn and be uplifted...very humbling and cool

and very much a model for how I want to be as a friend for the rest of

my life.

Okay in order to explain the miraculous day that Sunday was, I kind of

need to go into my spiritual thought a little early. So Saturday

evening we made a specific plan for how we would see a baptism within

the next six weeks and it was super good and solid and we were excited

about it all and just ready to see miracles. However that night we

were talking and we realized that it has been about a year since

either my companion or I have had an investigator enter into the

waters of baptism, and honestly without knowing it, it has kind of

become a normal thing for both of us to not baptize. It was sort of

heartbreaking and humbling for me to realize that just like faith

without works is dead, works without faith is dead and in some ways

that it had sort of been me. Sure my faith is stronger than it ever

has been, but I realized that my faith to baptize was NOT where it

needed to be. As we were talking about what we needed to do, the story

from Mark 9 came to mind where the man with the possessed child

approaches the Savior and asks Him to heal his son. Christ asks the

man if he has faith for it to happen, and the man simply says "Lord, I

believe, help thou Mine unbelief". In that moment I realized that was

me. For so long I had been so sure of my testimony and my faith that I

hadn't felt the need to try and strengthen it beyond regular dendo

life. That night I got on my knees and had a super super heartfelt

prayer where I repented LOTS and just pleaded for the Lord to help

mine unbelief and strengthen my faith so that we could see a baptism.

The next day instead of just fasting for a baptism like I had

originally planned, I fasted for my faith to increase so that we COULD

see one.

The next day we had a super promising investigator come to church and

found four new investigators, including a FAMILY that wanted to hear

our message. Larsen Shimai and I just kept looking at each other in

complete shock and wonder at all the miracles that were happening

before us, because it was honestly a day unlike one I have ever had on

my mission. I was so blown away by the mercy that God has for us, and

I was SO struck by the fact that when we simply have a DESIRE to

change and improve, we are endowed with power from on high to see

those miracles. My faith increased so much in that one day, and I know

I still have a long way to go, but I am so grateful for a God who

blesses us as we simply seek to have more FAITH.

I know that the Lord wants to bless us, and wants our faith to

increase so that He can bless us more. All we need to do is turn to

Him and seek and ask, and more miracles than we can even imagine will

come our way.

I love God and Jesus Christ and this beautiful gospel message. I

absolutely love this work and I love being a missionary.

Hope you all have an amazing week and remember how much God loves you!

Also shoutout to all the amazing women in my life that have made a

difference in my life, and happy Mother's Day to you all! Aishiteimasu

minasan!

Love,

Sister Pickering