Bye-bye Sakai:Nihon Week 48

Change is never easy.  I know Alyssa is very sad about being transferred out of an amazing area.  She has grown to love this ward so much and has such a high respect for them and their faithfulness.  She also wishes she could finish her training with Sister Epperson.  They have grown and changed a lot together.  She is also concerned about her wonderful progressing Investigators, especially since they are bringing in all new missionaries into the area.  She has worked really hard to help them progress and desire to change and wants to see it through.  It is hard to have the faith to let them go and trust in their journey with new missionaries.  However, Alyssa is also very fortunate to be transferred only 1 area away. Her whole mission she has served within an hour and a half radius which is incredible considering the large geographical size of her mission.  But this has allowed her to continue to visit various people and hear of their progression.  As an STL I am sure she will be able to continue following up with many.  This is a neat new opportunity for her and as we all know, even though change is hard it usually allows for all kind of growth experiences and blessings.

In my letter this week she shared an insight that can apply to all of us no matter where we are or what are circumstances may be.  I will share it here:

"We went to meetings in both Wakayama and Kobe this week, and received tons of revelation and training and it was the best. It was cool because Welch Kaicho told us that one of the reasons that we have big meetings is for us to be put into situations where we can receive revelation if we are prepared. It got me thinking, shouldn't our regular church meetings be exactly the same? I had the impression that when I get home I want to continue to take diligent notes in sacrament and whatnot in order to try and keep that line of revelation alive. Personal revelation has become everything to me, because it has seriously become my lifeline here on the mission. It is cool though, because we can get it so many different ways, whether it be through prayer or the scriptures or just hearing speakers at a meeting. I have just really come to realize that God is there and He really wants to talk to us, we just need to tune in and make sure that we are listening."

Minasan, Konnichiwa! 

 

 

Hello from another busy week here in Sakai...actually I don't really know if I can say Sakai because we were on the road so much this week, but it was still a super good week! Time is just flying by more than I even know what to do here on my mission. . how  am I even starting my 9th transfer this week?? And today is 13 months in the mission??

 

 

Like I said earlier, this week was a good one (I am sorry that all my emails seem repetitive and are poorly worded...I have kind of given up haha). Monday night after P day we had a great service project called one of the chains on one of the elder's bikes broke, and so we spent a good time trying to fix that (I have become a pro at fixing bikes thanks to this whole mission experience) and then did some finding and Areabook work. It is awesome as we have been cleaning it out and trying to make it a more useful tool for working. One of these days we will find a kinjin (golden person) from it, I am sure. 

 

 

Tuesday we had the awesome chance to go to lunch with and start teaching one of our Eikaiwa students! She is a super cute young mom named Mayumi and she has this way precious 6 year old named Taichi who is fluent in English just because he watches Netflix...seriously the kid is insanely smart and teaching him is so much fun! Anyways at lunch we were able to teach her about what we do as missionaries and why we are here, as well as really bear some powerful testimony about how the gospel has blessed us and our families. She doesn't have any particular religion but she believes that God is there and that He watches over us, and it was neat to share about how He loves her as His special daughter. Goodness gracious I love teaching and bringing the newness and the light of the gospel into the lives of this good people!

 

 

We also got to go and do service with the RS and make bags for orphans, and just in case anyone is wondering, I still have no artistic skills. They gave me one try on the sewing machine and then kicked me off and replaced me with my trainee and I got to walk around and gather scraps and trash for an hour haha. Oh well, all in a day's work. 

 

 

Wednesday was another wonderful day. First I have to tell you about one of my favorite people in the universe...her name is Wada Shimai and she is an older lady here in the Sakai Ward. She lives alone but loves this gospel so much, and so always volunteers to go and work with us and offer us her car to travel to far away places. She set some New Years resolutions to do more missionary work and so we went out with her almost all day to go and visit less active sisters in the far away parts of the area, and it was wonderful. None of these sisters were Wada Shimai's "responsibility" so to say, nobody told her to go and visit them, but being the true disciple of Christ she is, she just cared about her fellow sisters in Christ and wanted to help them. I someday hope that I will be a church member like Wada Shimai! She is such an example to me. After we went out with her, we went back to the church for the AB Lessons we have been teaching, and then went to dinner with some ward members (this ward is gonna make me fat, help) and then taught Eikaiwa! Busy busy day until the end but so good. 

 

 

Thursday we got to Kobe for TTTM! This is a meeting where all the trainers and trainees gather and receive training from the AP's and President and Sister Welch, and it was awesome. The spiritual environment was so real and I received tons of revelation on how I can improve as a missionary and as a trainer and how to better help our area. It was also awesome because I got to reunite with some of my favorite humans in the world (Park Shimai and Miller Shimai, this is a shoutout to the two of you) and other great friends. It was fun to get together and talk about the struggles of training and the great questions of the soul, like why our trainees call everything and everyone "Fam" and what the heck a dab(?) is and other weird worldly trends haha. It was a great day and many amazing things were learned that have been so great to apply!

 

 

Friday we were back on the road but this time going to Wakayama for zone training meeting! It was another awesome environment and we all just got to have a huge discussion about the new key indicators and schedule and how we have been COMMANDED to become more effective. Seriously this is such an exciting time to be a missionary, especially in the great land of Kobe, Japan. I love all the missionaries I serve with here in the Sakai zone, and it is a privilege to see all the miracles that we do with them. 

 

 

By time Saturday rolled around we were DEAD exhausted but so relieved to be back in our area! We had a great day of finding and visiting some PI's and Less Actives, but the best was when we visited Hisako in her cafe. She is doing great and is praying and is pumped to keep meeting and learning! Seriously love her to pieces and she is helping me live the American dream because I can stroll into her cafe, take a seat at the bar and basically be like "The usual" and then a cup of hot chocolate gets sent my way. Life just doesn't get much better than this haha. 

 

 

Sunday was another awesome day, I love fasting with my whole heart and I love this Sakai Ward. We ended the night with dinner at the Ozaki family's house and taught about missionary work in preparation for the youngest daughter who is waiting on her mission call. This family is way boss and the Spirit was super strong. I just love these people so dang much. 

 

 

Something I have really been pondering lately is this quote I found recently by C.S. Lewis...“I pray because I can’t help myself. … I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.” I know that like all of my thoughts have been about prayer lately, haha but you are going to have to forgive me for not caring. The longer I am out here, the more beautiful the simple aspects of the gospel become to me! Anyways I was just reflecting on the role of agency and prayer this week, and thought a lot about my life before the mission and even at the beginning. It used to be if I got in a hard situation I would pray lots for it to change or for other people to change...but through all my studies and experiences I have come to realize that the most important change I have made is that I now pray to change MYSELF....and really it is changing me. When I turn every night to speak with my Father I am no longer praying to change His will or change the agency of other people, but now I am just pleading with Him to change me and my heart and my will to become more like Christ. It has been an interesting experience and a humbling one, but I can't even describe how much prayer means to me. It is my lifeline here on my mission, and every single day I am just so humbled by the fact that Heavenly Father cares so much about one of His crazy daughters running around here trying to do His work in Japan. 

 

 

So I guess it is time for the big news of the week...this morning we were going to Costco for P day and I received a call from President Welch where I received a pre-transfer transfer call...I was in complete shock because I had thought I would be staying here in Sakai to finish up training Sister Epperson, but it would seem that the Lord has other plans for me at this point in time. So I will be transferring really far away (#sarcasm) to...Kawachinagano! I am to become a STL (a Sister Training Leader).  I will be going to the area I worked for 2 weeks over Christmas and my new companion will be Sister Manwill, who I was in a threesome with. She is an absolute boss and one of the nicest people ever and I adore her, so I cannot wait to work with her! I am happy that I will still be able to work in the Sakai zone and check up on my beloved area and investigators and members through companion exchanges and whatnot, but I am not gonna lie that I am scared out of my mind about this new assignment. I emailed President Welch about that in my weekly email and he very simply said "You have been called of God-I can bear testimony of that". So I will take my fears and replace them with faith and can't wait to go and see what this new adventure has in store for me! 

 

 

I love this work and my mission so much. I have loved my time in Sakai and am heartbroken to be leaving, but I know God needs me in Kawachinagano (where I will probably end my mission...how crazy is that?) and to be working in this new assignment as an STL. I know that God lives and that He loves each and every one of us, and that He will enable each of us to do whatever we are asked to do in our daily lives. Jesus Christ lives! He is our Savior and He loves us and if we rely on Him, we cannot fall :)

 

 

Hoping you all have a wonderful week! Aishiteimasu minasan! 

 

 

Love, 

Sister Pickering 

Photos:

To infinity....

Making yakisoba #homemakers

Park Shimai and I at TTTM! Future roomies!

All the missionaries I came to Japan with that are training!

I LOVE MY FORMER COMPANION FUJII SHIMAI

All the trainers and trainees in the mission! 

The crazy missionaries in the Sakai zone

When you leave your bikes alone with the elders...

Wada Shimai!

Street contacting fun 

Some former investigators had us over for dinner

Us with the Ozaki Family! At least some of them haha

Mister Donuts because nobody has time for real breakfast when you travel as much as we do 

Me and Manwill Shimai...the future companion!

Bike shenanigans courtesy of the Elders

Trainers and Trainees

Park Shimai and future BYU roommate

The Sakai "digs"

Last Week of Transfer 8?:Nihon Week 47

I asked Alyssa how she approaches people on the street and starts talking to them about Christ.  I was curious how they do missionary work in such a predominantly non-Christian country.  This was her reply:

So it is really funny, but it is actually hard for me to teach Christians now. I am so used to the Buddhists or the people who don't believe in anything, and so now when somebody says they believe in Christ it kind of throws me off and I am awkward for a second haha. It is really interesting, but what is also interesting is that I am finding I like teaching the Buddhists more. They are always kind and usually open to other religions (whether or not they accept it is another story), but they are always kind to us and will at least listen. Other Christians I have come in contact with are not always the same...they are sometimes a little unkind and whatnot, so now I am team Buddhist. Most people have at least HEARD of Christ here from like history class, so we usually ask them what they have heard and build off of that. I LOVE testifying of Christ and teaching Him in the first lesson, it is always so powerful and brings miracles. We do a lot of connecting people to their ancestors and the good feelings they have in nature to God. We connect prayer to their chants at shrines and whatnot and really just try to add on to what they believe. Sometimes it is tricky, but it is really so cool. 

 

Minasan, konnichiwa!

Hello again from another great week here in Sakai! It was pretty usual
here for us in that we froze to death, had an earthquake, and saw tons
of miracles. Missionary life is seriously the best!

So Monday after we had to help the elders look up a bunch of medical
kanji (one of them got an eye infection, that was fun), we went out to
go and visit one of our progressing investigators and she opened the
door and after we talked she went back into her house and brought back
the Book of Mormon and told us that she couldn't take it anymore
because her culture was "too different" and all this stuff. We begged
with her and plead and did everything we could to try and help her see
the importance for her and her life and I was using every persuasive
tactic I had, but she wasn't having it. My heart was absolutely
crumbling the entire time and when she shut the door on us, we just
walked back to our bikes, not sure what to do....and then all of the
sudden I just started crying and couldn't stop. I kept apologizing to
my companion because I felt like I was losing my mind and I didn't
know why I was so upset, but then it just hit me how I have changed.
My love and charity for these people have grown so much, and my love
for this gospel has grown even more. For even just a second it gave me
a glimpse into what God must feel like when we choose to reject His
words and His gospel, when He knows how much they will bless us. Godly
sorrow is an interesting thing, it is a hard thing to feel, but it is
also beautiful to know how much God cares for us, and yet how much His
hope for us will never die.

Tuesday and Wednesday were busy as usual, working hard and just trying
to baptize everyone haha. We have been working hard a lot with the
members lately, and it has been fun because we have been going
together to visit LA's and then work with the young women that are
preparing for missions. I love the Japanese members so much, I know I
say it all the time, but they are honestly just the best.

Thursday we got up bright and early (4AM baby) to head to Wakayama! We
were doing a blitz of the sisters areas and so we got together with
all the sisters in the zone to go out and work! It was way fun because
I went on exchanges with my trainee and then Sister Gusman, a sister I
actually was in the MTC with. She is way cute and we saw lots of
miracles in her area while we worked! That night it was basically just
a party to be in the same apartment with all the sisters in Sakai
zone, I love all of them so much!

Also fun thing that happened while we were in Wakayama...we had the
chance to watch this world wide missionary broadcast! It was awesome
to receive training from some members of the 12 and other general
authorities as they talked about the importance of really teaching
REPENTANCE. One of my favorite things in the world that Elder Bednar
said is that when we cry Repentance as missionaries, we are really
just crying the need for a Savior. What a beautiful message to share
with the world! It was also interesting because they released some new
changes which basically allow us to have more sleep and exercise time
and choose when we study...it was so crazy and I feel so disobedient
sometimes as I have time to actually relax now haha, but it was meant
for our productivity and I know it was inspired. I already feel so
much more energized and ready to get out and work, which is awesome
because missionary work makes me so exhausted haha. Another change we
had is that we now only send in four key indicators now! Baptisms,
church attendance, Baptismal dates, and new investigators. It was
interesting and kind of stressful to think about the implications at
first, but I also know how inspired it is. It has already changed my
entire way of how I dendo and how I approach contacts, and we have
seen miracles. We are being blessed with people to teach, and I can't
wait to see how Sakai is going to continue to flourish! God is so
good.

Something I have really been pondering lately is how much I love
bearing testimony of Christ and working here as His special witness.
We had two experiences this week, one in finding where I bore
testimony of the Savior to this lady and the Spirit was just
overwhelming and she just started to cry and she didn't know
why...another time we were working with this LA who is really
struggling with her life and her testimony and we just were able to
testify of the atonement and the Savior and the love in the room was
tangible. It is just so special to bear testimony of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, because the Spirit will inevitably always bear
witness of that eternal truth. One of my favorite things in the world
is to bear testimony and promise blessings as a disciple of Jesus
Christ, and the idea of not being able to say that or have this name
tag anymore just breaks my heart. I might just stay here forever.
In other random events or news...our investigators are doing well.
Everyone is progressing, slowly but surely, but progressing. We are
finding new people to teach, our LA's are coming home, and the
miracles and tender mercies are everywhere. We also had another
earthquake on Friday night (it was like normal to me and I continued
on in life, but my companion freaked out and was way pumped haha), and
a well-off member took us to dinner and dropped like 300 bucks on us to
eat meat with the elders. All in a weeks work haha.

Lastly I just wanted to share my thoughts with you all on the doctrine
of Christ..as I study the BOM I just keep learning more and more and
love it more and more. I have truly come to know that the goal of our
lives should be to live the doctrine of Christ daily, and as we do, we
should strive to let it CHANGE us. As Elder Bednar beautifully put it
this week "Faith is believing in the Savior, Repentance is relying on
the Savior, Baptism is following the Savior, and enduring to the end
is walking with the Savior...all things are gathered together in
Christ." I invite you all to read 2 Nephi 31 this week and see what
you can learn and apply for yourself!

I love the Savior more than I can even describe. More and more He
becomes everything to me, because I know that He is with me every
single step of my mission and every single step of my life! He lives!
He lives and He loves us and because He does, we can all live and be
with our loved ones as well. So so blessed to be hear wearing His name
and introducing Him to my brothers and sisters here in Japan.
Hope you all have a wonderful week and that you keep the Savior more
in your life! All the love in the world to you all! Aishiteimasu
minasan!

Love,
Sister Pickering

Photos:
Weather problems
Our investigator named Shyouko! She is precious and loves prayer
and is progressing way well
Goat dendo
Exchanges in Wakayama!
Snowy days
P Day in Namba
Wakayama
Eikaiwa class

17(+) Miracles: Nihon Week 46

Minasan, konnichiwa!

First of all, ignore that I accidentally resent the same email from
last week..my time is short and so my fingers are flying everywhere
and technology hates me, so Gomen ne!

I want to share a few miracles with you this week! First of all let me
just say that God is so so good...this week we were literally showered
in blessings and tender mercies from our Heavenly Father and I really
can't even number them all or adequately describe them, especially
with the shortness of time I have. But God is real and He answers
prayers, that is one promise I can make with certainty.

So it was Tuesday and we were in the process of dropping one of our
investigators who just wasn't progressing anymore...before we could
talk she insisted that we needed to go to some cafe and we went and
ended up wandering around for like an hour because all these places
were randomly closed but she was not backing down and I was just
pleading with God forgiveness for wasting His time and begging there
to be a reason for this whole scheduling mess. We FINALLY find this
one cafe and we walk in and this lady who owns it starts talking to us
and ends up being this boss who has a Christian family and a desire to
learn English and so wanted to meet with us and learn about the church
AND get English help! She is so cute and crazy prepared and she came
to Eikaiwa and then we dropped by her shop again last week and taught
her again and she is awesome. I can't wait to keep teaching her, her
name is Hisako and she was truly such a miracle! I was so glad that
Heavenly Father put her in our path as we were trying to be obedient!

Okay so now it is Tuesday night and almost returning time...we went to
go and visit this less active and she was blatantly ignoring us. It
was freezing and I was discouraged and didn't know what to do. We
walked down to our bikes and then all of the sudden we see this
apartment complex and I know we need to go there...but our time was
way sketchy and so we knew we NEEDED to teach or we would be late.
Well we bike super quickly over to the apartment and pray and long
story short, we end up with this "4th Floor, Last Door" experience and
we found this 80 year old grandma named Fujioka Shimai who is just
PRECIOUS. She was so prepared and has such an open and sweet heart and
accepted the Book of Mormon and has been reading it to find the
questions of the soul she has been needing about the Plan of
Salvation. SUCH A MIRACLE! I was just so so grateful to our Heavenly
Father for leading us to her, as she can meet almost daily and is now
progressing and is doing awesome. Goodness I love being a missionary.

This weekend we had Stake Conference and were blessed to hear from the
Welch couple, our local leaders, and Elder Aoba of the 70. Such great
meetings and we were blessed to have Investigators and so many less
actives come! They were so uplifted and it filled my heart to be in a
room with so many people I love. My favorite part was when Welch
Shimai got up and bore her testimony in Japanese (and she speaks
literally NO Japanese) and the Spirit was SO strong I just cried. I
know the language of the Spirit has no barriers, and what a blessing
that is for us out here with all our minimal skills. The Spirit will
teach everything, we just need to let Him.

Really quick, our faith and repentance Book of Mormon challenge is
amazing, and I learn so much everyday. One theme that I have really
noticed lately is that a natural result of our faith in Repentance is
ALWAYS a manifestation of the Lord in our ways. I don't always know
how and I know it will be different for everyone, but I know that to
be true. I know He loves us and that He wants to be involved, and as
we seek him in faith and try our best to repent, we won't be able to
stop the manifestations of His love and His atonement in our lives. I
know I see that here EVERY single day.

I love this gospel so much, and I promise that it is true! Christ
lives and He loves you, rely on Him and everything will be okay.
Sorry this is sporadic and crazy...just know I am happy and alive and
well and can't wait to see a million other miracles that the Lord has
in store for us here in Sakai. Aishiteimasu minasan!

Love,
Sister Pickering

Photos: ZTM and we had exchanges and Smith Shimai and I with our new
investigator, Hisako!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas: Nihon Week 45

Alyssa had another fantastic week and her biggest concern is whether or not her fingers and toes will freeze off because of the freezing cold humidity.  She would take the super hot summer (remember it melted their bike tires) over this weather.  I am super impressed that she is persevering and finding success.  It is so great to see her growth week to week.

Minasan, konnichiwa!

Not that long ago, somebody asked me what the scariest thing I have
seen on my mission is. I am pretty sure I just recalled some
experience and gave it offhandedly, but upon reflection I have come to
the conclusion that by FAR the scariest thing on my mission is how
fast time goes. Is it seriously already Monday again?

Okay so now to explain the email title because I am so excited I can't
even wait! The other day it was FREEZING (like I am wearing two layers
of tights, gloves, adhesive heat pads, hand warmers, fuzzy socks,
cardigans, a winter coat and a scarf covering my face like every
single day now haha, who knew I would actually be serving in Siberia),
and then out of nowhere I see some suspicious white stuff start
falling from the sky...I wait a sec and think it is probably something
else...but then it continues and you better believe it was actually
SNOW! I was so excited! Haha it was pretty pathetic, just like a few
cute little flakes here and there, but it was the first time I have
seen snow in Japan and so I was STOKED. It didn't stick or anything
which was a disappointment, but I was just happy to say I could see
it. Then today we go on a P day adventure to Osaka and lo and behold,
it starts snowing again, but this time like legit flakes. I was so
happy, I have missed a good old Utah winter. Merry Christmas to me!
Anyways, this week was super good for us here in Sakai! We worked
super hard, received a lot of revelation, and saw a TON of
miracles...all while trying not to freeze to death on our bikes! We
actually have started making daily goals to not complain about the
cold, because I am sure it is building character or something. The sad
thing is that it is a little harder to contact people in this type of
weather because people don't really want to talk, but I am sure that
we will and are receiving blessings for our efforts here.

Training is so much fun! Epperson Shimai is doing great and it is
seriously such a joy to watch her grow as a missionary and increase in
confidence and excitement about the work. She has been doing awesome
talking to people on her own and trying to share the gospel. She is
learning lots and has improved tons and I know she will bless this
area and this mission so much. So proud of her and all that she is
doing!

Monday night we saw a cool blessing from following PMG exactly. We had
received a referral and so we went to go and visit them and it was
kind of far and out of the way, so we're understandably disappointed
when they couldn't meet with us. Not sure of what to do with an
awkward amount of time, we remembered that it told us in PMG to ALWAYS
go finding around referrals you receive, because you never know who
you are being led to. We decided to do some housing (I am still
awkward and not good at it by the way haha) and weren't having any
success, but the last house we decided to hit up RIGHT next to the
referral ended up being this Christian lady who loves church and
Christ and stuff and was way impressed with us as missionaries and
wanted us to come back. Hurray for obedience!

Wednesday we had Eikaiwa! Super fun as always, especially because my
class lately has exploded and now involves me running around for an
hour trying to teach 7 adults who speak like no English to so-so
English on top of wrangling 5 energetic little boys between the ages
of 4 and 9. They are cute but I have my hands full! Shoutout to Moms
everywhere for doing what you do. But after Eikaiwa was cool because
we had a former investigator show up and ask us to come and teach us
and his family again, as well as the news that one of our other
investigators is reading the Book of Mormon! Slowly but surely people
are making progress here.

Thursday was super special because we had the opportunity to have a
General 70 come and do a mission tour! We went to Abeno in Osaka with
the Osaka and Kyoto zones again and got to have a day of wonderful
conferences with the Welches and Sister and Elder Whiting. The
revelation was amazing and so real! I walked away with so much
revelation and things I want to improve, it was crazy. We talked about
spiritual erosion, and the importance of doing the little things in
the gospel in order to always remain strong, we talked about grace and
the enabling power of the atonement that makes good men better, and we
talked a TON about recognizing the Spirit in our lives and letting it
change us for better. It was seriously so special. At one point he
also opened the meeting up for Q&A and that was neat, because I had
come with personal questions and he somehow managed to answer every
single one of them without me opening my mouth once. Heavenly Father
is just so cool. One of the things that he said that I loved was in
regards to how we should dendo and treat our members...he quoted the
prophet Joseph Smith and said that if we all as members were doing our
job right, our chapels would smell like smoke and all sorts of things
as it is full of people trying to overcome. I loved that lots, are we
helping make the church a place where we all as sinners can go to be
healed? Another thing I absolutely loved (Okay so I loved like all of
it) was simply "How blessed you are to be you...you have a God that
loves you, a Savior that redeemed you, and the Holy Ghost that wants
to guide you...how blessed you are to be you." Seriously everyone, we
are SO blessed.

Something I have personally been working on lately is improving my
prayers. You would think as a missionary that my prayers would be
amazing, and they have DEFINITELY improved since before my mission,
but I can't even tell you how many times I have woken up in the middle
of the night still on my knees, not able to feel the lower half of my
body from falling asleep while praying (I'm a sinner too, we are all
working on it)...needless to say I wanted to level up a little bit, so
I have started going out on our little balcony in the cold and praying
out loud. I honestly cannot even tell you the difference it has made
in my week. I truly feel like I am CONVERSING with my Father in
Heaven, and the Spirit has led me to pray for specific things that I
have seen come to pass during the next day, all because my prayers
have improved. I feel closer to my Heavenly Father and even more
grateful for all of my blessings. Something kind of cool that came
from this is the other night I felt prompted to pray that in the next
day I would have an experience with the Spirit, follow the prompting,
and then see something amazing. Kind of strange and specific, but I
went for it and hoped. Flash forward to the next day and I am biking
along the side of the road and I see this woman with a cute dog and I
just feel like I need to stop her so I do. We get talking, she is
super sweet, and then she finds out we are missionaries. Turns out
that she has been reading the bible and looking for answers as to the
purpose of life and resurrection, because her brother is currently
dying with cancer. She was wanting answers and wasn't sure where to
look, and she had actually met Mormon missionaries before. It was
CRAZY and the Spirit was just SO strong. We talked for a long time and
did some hardcore testifying, and it was neat to see her faith in
Christ lift a little. We ended up asking to meet again and she said
she would love to, but was too busy right now always being in the
hospital...in that moment I was pretty much wanting to join team Satan
and take away her agency because she was CRAZY prepared...but we
settled for giving her a Book of Mormon. She was so excited and
grateful and promised to read it and then contact us after we gave her
our number. I know that she will be baptized someday, I don't know if
it will be in my time here or sometime down the road, but heavens was
I grateful for that miracle from my Heavenly Father. Prayer is real, I
promise.

Something I have been pondering lately is the difference between a
testimony and conversion. I used to think they were the same thing,
but experience and studies and the Spirit has shown me different. I
have come to the conclusion that a testimony is the words we say and
the beliefs that we have, and conversion is the life that we choose to
live based on them. At the end of the day, we all truly need to be
CONVERTED to the gospel of Jesus Christ. When the winds are strong and
the seas of life and rough and choppy, only a conversion to our Savior
and His precious gospel will give us enough a grounding to survive the
storms around us. As we seek to follow His will and stay true to Him
and His teachings no matter where we our in our lives, I promise that
we will all become as converted as He would have us become. Really all
in all I want it to be my CONVERSION that gets me out of the door in
the wind and freezing when I am already exhausted from the past year
of work, not just my testimony, and I know if I do my best and turn to
Him, He will change and strengthen me beyond anything I could do on my
own.
I love this gospel with my whole heart, and I love my mission more
than I can describe. Every single day I am so grateful I have for the
privilege to share the beautiful message with a wonderful people in a
wonderful place. To quote Elder Whiting, "How blessed I am to be me"
:)

Hoping you all have a wonderful week wherever you might be! Stay warm
and don't forget to say a good prayer tonight! Love you all and talk
to you soon! Aishiteimasu!

Love,
Sister Pickering

Photos:
Companion Selfie because why not
The rascals in my Eikaiwa class
Japanese Sunsets
Life lately
P Day Adventures at Osaka Castle featuring the Mikunigoaka and
Sekime Elders, and snow

Osaka Castle