week 54: an instrument in His hands
some of the greatest missionaries I know!
こんにちは
Hey everyone! I want to let you know I'm still going write emails, but I'm excited about the policy change. Shout out to my brother Carter! If you didn't know, he got his mission call to Mexico Veracruz! We will not see each other for 3 and 1/2 years, but it is worth it to serve the Lord.
This week was a bit slower in some aspects. We had junkais and recently I learned the Japan Fukuoka mission is the only Japanese mission that calls exchanges that. Everyone else calls it koukan (exchange). Junkais actually translates to patrol. So we are cooler! I junkaied with Rasmussen Shimai (my MTC roommate)! It was way fun and we reminisced about the MTC. We also had a few lessons on the street, making junkais super fun. Sister Jorgensen and I had lessons too and one was to our recent converts. They have young kids so we taught the Restoration with a twist. (See if you can find the connection) We related the restoration to Disney's Aladdin. Really creative lesson. We also had a wedding! It was not for anyone we knew or for our church. Sister Jorgensen helped translate at the wedding and it was awesome. So I got to sit in on a ceremony for a general Christian wedding. On base this week, we saw a spy plane! So cool! Being assigned to work on a base gives me crazy cool experiences that I couldn't get anywhere else. On Sunday we had a party after church. It was a wedding reception for my old mission leader and a good friend from this ward.
Funny keiken: On P-day we went to the rycom mall and hung out with some of the Okinawa elders and the Naha elders. Well at one point, Sister Jorgensen got super excited and ran over to a dark maze (its not meant to be scary, just dark). So of course we all went in. Sister Jorgensen was the most excited. The order went Elder Bodily, then me, then Sister Jorgensen, and last Elder Elhert. Elder Bodily and I were moving pretty fast and Sister Jorgensen was expecting something to scare her, so I decided I shouldn't let her be disappointed. I stopped and waited. Now mind you, this maze is so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. So I waited very quietly and then jumped out and scared her! It was super funny because after that, the elder behind her would just randomly scream and she would then scream too! It ended up being super fun and yes, Elder Bodily scared me a few times too!
Spiritual keiken: So this week was full of a lot of love from God. I notice it more and more the longer I'm on my mission. On Sunday, I noticed that there was a sister who is from a part-member family and she was by herself. She usually has her son but not that day. After the opening song, I went and sat by her. She looked at me and said "Thank you." It was the most sincere thank you I have heard. During sacrament meeting, she would ask me questions she had about different things and at the end she told she me she wants to invite her friends next Sunday to church. I felt so blessed to be an instrument in God's hands to help her not feel alone and have confidence to invite her friends next Sunday.
German story: (I just learned this and wanted to share it) So once there was a king and he had thousands of white sheep. But only one black sheep. One day the black sheep was lost. So the king told one servant. if he found the sheep he would give him 1 gold bar. The servant went and looked for 2 hours but couldn't find the sheep so he returned to the king and said "I'm sorry, I couldn't find your sheep." The king was angry and killed the servant. Then he got a new servant and offered 10 gold bars for the black sheep. Well the servant went and looked for 2 days he searched but no luck. He returned and said "I'm sorry, I couldn't find the sheep." The king was angry and killed the second servant. He brought one more servant and offered 100 gold bars to find this black sheep. The servant searched for 2 weeks . He searched near and far, one day he returned to the king and said "I'm sorry I couldn't find the sheep. " The king was sad and killed that servant. From this story I learned that unlike the king and his servants, our Savior will never give up on us. No matter how far we have gone astray, he will sacrifice whatever is necessary to help us find our way back.
New words:
じあい(jiai): charity
こうかん(koukan): exchange
わら(wara): LOL, haha (for texting)
My testimony this week has to do with charity. Now in Japanese the closest word anyone could find was じあい. Now the kanji for it is mercy and love. I love the mercy to it. I was thinking about Christ's role in our lives and how he is the one to provide mercy. Charity is the pure love of Christ and that means giving mercy to others when we can. I just love the meaning behind kanji. This week please try to show mercy to someone including yourself. I love you all so much!
Hey everyone! I want to let you know I'm still going write emails, but I'm excited about the policy change. Shout out to my brother Carter! If you didn't know, he got his mission call to Mexico Veracruz! We will not see each other for 3 and 1/2 years, but it is worth it to serve the Lord.
This week was a bit slower in some aspects. We had junkais and recently I learned the Japan Fukuoka mission is the only Japanese mission that calls exchanges that. Everyone else calls it koukan (exchange). Junkais actually translates to patrol. So we are cooler! I junkaied with Rasmussen Shimai (my MTC roommate)! It was way fun and we reminisced about the MTC. We also had a few lessons on the street, making junkais super fun. Sister Jorgensen and I had lessons too and one was to our recent converts. They have young kids so we taught the Restoration with a twist. (See if you can find the connection) We related the restoration to Disney's Aladdin. Really creative lesson. We also had a wedding! It was not for anyone we knew or for our church. Sister Jorgensen helped translate at the wedding and it was awesome. So I got to sit in on a ceremony for a general Christian wedding. On base this week, we saw a spy plane! So cool! Being assigned to work on a base gives me crazy cool experiences that I couldn't get anywhere else. On Sunday we had a party after church. It was a wedding reception for my old mission leader and a good friend from this ward.
Funny keiken: On P-day we went to the rycom mall and hung out with some of the Okinawa elders and the Naha elders. Well at one point, Sister Jorgensen got super excited and ran over to a dark maze (its not meant to be scary, just dark). So of course we all went in. Sister Jorgensen was the most excited. The order went Elder Bodily, then me, then Sister Jorgensen, and last Elder Elhert. Elder Bodily and I were moving pretty fast and Sister Jorgensen was expecting something to scare her, so I decided I shouldn't let her be disappointed. I stopped and waited. Now mind you, this maze is so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. So I waited very quietly and then jumped out and scared her! It was super funny because after that, the elder behind her would just randomly scream and she would then scream too! It ended up being super fun and yes, Elder Bodily scared me a few times too!
Spiritual keiken: So this week was full of a lot of love from God. I notice it more and more the longer I'm on my mission. On Sunday, I noticed that there was a sister who is from a part-member family and she was by herself. She usually has her son but not that day. After the opening song, I went and sat by her. She looked at me and said "Thank you." It was the most sincere thank you I have heard. During sacrament meeting, she would ask me questions she had about different things and at the end she told she me she wants to invite her friends next Sunday to church. I felt so blessed to be an instrument in God's hands to help her not feel alone and have confidence to invite her friends next Sunday.
German story: (I just learned this and wanted to share it) So once there was a king and he had thousands of white sheep. But only one black sheep. One day the black sheep was lost. So the king told one servant. if he found the sheep he would give him 1 gold bar. The servant went and looked for 2 hours but couldn't find the sheep so he returned to the king and said "I'm sorry, I couldn't find your sheep." The king was angry and killed the servant. Then he got a new servant and offered 10 gold bars for the black sheep. Well the servant went and looked for 2 days he searched but no luck. He returned and said "I'm sorry, I couldn't find the sheep." The king was angry and killed the second servant. He brought one more servant and offered 100 gold bars to find this black sheep. The servant searched for 2 weeks . He searched near and far, one day he returned to the king and said "I'm sorry I couldn't find the sheep. " The king was sad and killed that servant. From this story I learned that unlike the king and his servants, our Savior will never give up on us. No matter how far we have gone astray, he will sacrifice whatever is necessary to help us find our way back.
New words:
じあい(jiai): charity
こうかん(koukan): exchange
わら(wara): LOL, haha (for texting)
My testimony this week has to do with charity. Now in Japanese the closest word anyone could find was じあい. Now the kanji for it is mercy and love. I love the mercy to it. I was thinking about Christ's role in our lives and how he is the one to provide mercy. Charity is the pure love of Christ and that means giving mercy to others when we can. I just love the meaning behind kanji. This week please try to show mercy to someone including yourself. I love you all so much!
愛しています,
Thompson 姉妹
from the mama:
The new policy this week that missionaries can make weekly
phone calls/video chats is WONDERFUL!!!
Talking to miss Maddy was the happiest!
I also got to meet in person her sweet mtc roomies,
and I truly couldn't be happier about hearing more about her mission
each week, and learning about the people she is teaching!
What a tender mercy for all of us!!
we came over together from the MTC
and now we're all together in Okinawa!
Junkais with Rasmussen shimai
Young women and relief society activity!
missionary lunches with these amazing people!
the American branch and Japanese wards combined
for a Okinawan ceremonial dance!
some friends from Futenma dropped by!
When you point to yourself in Japan to say "me"
you point to your nose!
the wedding sister jorgensen was translating for
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