Week 65

Covenants, Zone Conference!

Well, for those who like short emails, I have time this week, so sorry for another long one ;).

Tuesday was a great day. We left for Ibaraki City and had District Council there! We did introductions as it was the first District Counsel for this Transfer! Our district is mostly the same. Elder Bettinson and I, Elder Walker and Matsumoto, Sister Parmley and Nitta, and Sister Rich and Belnap. And I'm not sure if I mentioned it two weeks ago. But Elder Matsumoto was with us in Fushimi for my first two transfers! It was great to hear he was coming back to the district. He is awesome! What made it more hilarious is that he literally went to the farthest area not just from the mission home, but from Kyoto. Literally the opposite corner of the mission. It's about an 8 hour bus ride from the office (in Kobe) to Uwajima. And it's about an hour and a half from the office to Ibaraki. Haha, so much traveling!

But in District Counsel we really focused on covenants. Last transfer we focused on Christ and we had several amazing counsels. This transfer it's about applying what we learned about Him and remembering the promises we have already made! It was a very simple and yet great District counsel. 

Haha we started a English/message type of lesson with this lady that set up a lesson with us. She literally stopped us and set up a lesson. How cool is that? It is mainly for English, but we hardly get any service opportunities where I live (out in the countryside, probably a different story). But we also have been sharing a short spiritual message as well. We talked a little about the Restoration as she knows about religion and God. 

We had a good amount of meetings this week. Had a District Leadership meeting and then a TTTM (for trainers and trainees). 

Saturday was interesting to say the least. This past week was just interesting. There were a lot of hard parts. A lot of self-reflection and recommitting. I got blocked on HelloTalk. Someone asked me where I did our English class. I wasn't going to lie, I told him my address (the church's of course) and then BOOM. Blocked. Haha it was kind of funny, but not really. It was a great place to serve the Japanese people and to be an example of Jesus Christ, we weren't allowed to do religious things of course, it's a language learning app. But it is a shame I can't help people with English :(.

Sunday was amazing as usual. Loved talking with all the members, our friends talked with a ton of members and we left them upstairs and spent our time with the youth. Didn't understand anything, but it was a great lesson! We had a great lesson that night on repentance and a broken heart. The Spirit was there and then we bonded a bit with the members. 

A great miracle I've seen has been in the hearts of the members here. One Brother texted us after we invited him to share his testimony on social media and thanked us! He was scared about what his co-workers would think, but he did it and saw blessings! He was super grateful that we invited him to do that. It blessed us as well to hear! Another Sister started reading the Book of Mormon again everyday and she saw lots of little blessings and experienced an opportunity to serve another co-worker! 

Zone Conference was great! We did an activity where we "spent time with Jesus" and they played this slideshow with tons of scriptures and played music. We then spent time and wrote on a piece of paper our thoughts about Him. We then shared our testimonies. I learned a lot. Spend time with Him. I promise there is no better way to spend your time. We then practiced for the Kyoto Stake Christmas Concert and then after 9 we planned our District Christmas party. It'll be awesome!

God cares about the little things in our life. Isn't that so amazing! He cares that you are happy. So if you aren't, start today! Read the Book of Mormon. I promise you will see increased power and strength to overcome this world. Reading the Book of Mormon everyday isn't a "Oh, I got a big decision, better study" or a mission thing. It is a life thing, everyday, little by little. I'm going to put some spaces here, because this is important. And haha, most people don't read most of the email (don't worry, I don't either).

I have met thousands of people. The happiest are those who read and feast on the Words of Christ everyday through the Book of Mormon and other scriptures.

It's that simple, people on the streets, members, family. The ones reading everyday with the right focus have more peace, more joy, and are still experiencing hard things. So start today. I promise you will experience the promises from the prophets and from God. I know Christ lives! I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and President Nelson holds that same office.

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Well this is later today, but I was able to ship my family a Christmas package! It was a very hard process, especially since it was international. But it worked out! Had a good personal study and did some good shopping. We then dropped off a heater to some Sisters in our District, haha it was literally just going there and then coming back and that was the last part of our pday, but they needed that heater! They've been sleeping in their futon closet. Anyways, hope you all have an amazing week! Remember to listen to the Spirit and to read the Book of Mormon everyday. 

Love you all!

ロバートソン長老