SOS (April 6, 2015)

Hey-O, Sister Luke here!!!

Raising a quick SOS... I need your help. Yes, every single one of you. We have an investigator, and her name is Kayo. She is a young mother of two and is learning about God for the first time. It is beautiful to watch her begin to recognize His hand in her life. So, I ask a favor--there is great power in prayer. Will you please pray for her? We're not perfect teachers, but I know the Holy Ghost is, and I want her to fully understand the things that we teach her and know that God loves her. Thanks:D Our most recent lesson with her was about 120% by the Spirit, and I have really great hope for her. It's a wonderful thing.

For those of you with friends in the Kobe Mission, this is gonna sound like old news, but we got iPads this week. Yikes. Heaven knows how bad I am with technology... We shall see how that pans out;)

Along with that, we also had Zone Training Meeting, and guess who got to translate? Yup, yours truly. I can't exactly say I did a perfect job of it, but it was SUPER FUN. It's mentally challenging in an entirely different way than I've had before, and it was fun. Somebody go find my parents and give them a hug for teaching me Japanese as a kid, life would be so much harder right now if it weren't for them. What blessed souls they are:)

One theme of the week for me was learning that no matter who we are, the Lord can use us for good. I have different talents and abilities than my companion, and our district is a bunch of kids who are totally different from one another working together, and it's important to maximize the abilities that God has given you. (Like the parable of the talents!) God doesn't just put you somewhere because He didn't know what else to do with you; He's very aware of who and where you are. So. Just be you, the best you you can be... [insert Dr. Seuss quote about no one being youer than you.]

I know God lives, and I also know that He can use imperfect people to be the perfect help in a time of need. I know that Jesus Christ was resurrected on that Easter over 2000 years ago. I wasn't there, but I feel it in my heart, just as I feel His love. Hope General Conference was great! Our Conference is next week so that they have time to translate, so I'm excited to hear the word of the living prophets:) If you haven't seen the "He Lives" video put out by the Church, go look it up! It's super spiritual, I cried. That's all. Love you all:)

Luke out! 

Pictures: Raindrops keep falling on my head... And my hair is rapidly approaching hobo phase. I sense a hair cut in the near future. And we got food from a member!!! Yay for Brother O! (PS, Japanese apple juice is the best ever.)

Bonus photos!

Easter pictures!!!

Note: the statue is a character from an old Japanese manga / anime series that started back in the 60s, called Cyborg 009.

Note: The eggs say "Happy Easter!" on them. I assume the were a gift from a Church member, probably?

We like bananas!!!

Note: The building behind Lisa is the Ishinomaki train station.

Doremon Easter Egg. I love him.

Note: Doraemon is another manga / anime character (a robot cat from the future). When Lisa and her siblings were young, her Japanese grandpa would tape the show and send the tapes over, so she grew up watching it.

P.S. Additional information from a sideband e-mail:

Hey! So, we have an investigator coming to General Conference!!!!!!!! (Which is next weekend.) I'll talk about her in my general email, but if you have a recommendation on which session to invite her to, will you let me know??? Thomas S. Monson has to speak in it, and if there are topics relating to family, that would be awesome. Someone leaked that Linda K. Burton talked about love and something something, so that might be good. We got iPads, so I will be able to read (but not reply) to any mail you send me, and we will see her on Wednesday so if you can let me know before then, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks:)

To answer Mom's questions: Sister T is Takahashi Miruka Shimai, after Milcah, Rebekah's grandmother in the Bible. She's from Aizuwakamatsu, which is in our mission, but like I said she's originally a Fukuoka missionary. We don't know where she'll go after this, it's up to the Missionary Department:(

Our apartment is small but tidy, and really close to the church, which is nice. (Dad, it's across the street from Ujie Super, across the smaller street, not the big one.) We cook dinner, and we eat things like marubo dofu, yakisoba, yasaiitame, and Takahashi s. made us daigakuimo once. Oh, and okonomiyaki, stuff like that, pretty Japanese-y:) And I eat granola cereal every morning because I love it. We have futons, and I have a down comforter, it's super nice. I didn't really get to talk to Elder Evans, but I did get to shake his hand, and also Elder Aoyagi. Elder Aoyagi actually sat in front of me during the second half of the devotional, so when I came to sit down after our musical number he shook my hand again, that was pretty exciting:)