December 9, 2013
Oi minha familia!!
Soooo I officially sent off the FBI
stuff (for the visa)!! It will be sent
to you and then you guys have to send it to the Salt Lake to the travel office?
I'll send an email that has the
directions and stuff. wooh! On my way!
haha. no
OH!
So, good news! This week, the
best thing ever happened!!! WE FOUND A BOBA PLACE!! WOOOOOH! It's not the best
boba, but hey! Beggars can’t be choosers
right> haha. I was sooo happy. Sister
Jensen-Coon was a little weirded out, but it's okay. I didn't think she'd like
it haha.
Also, we found a little Japanese
food place called Midori's! haha! Tell Aunty Midori to take the family
there--has to be pretty good, huh?:)
WOW! Let me just thank you all
again!! You have nooooo idea how much
you saved my life with the coats and warm clothes! (I got the box from
Bishop. Wow! whatta present haha :))) )
thank you tons!!! I am nice and
toasty!! It is FREEEEZING and seriously,
I would literally be a little Sister Yoshi-sicle with out all the clothes! so
seriously, from the BOTTOM of my no longer frostbitten toes, thank you soooooo
much!!! Aunty Midori, Uncle Jimmy, the Arima family, and Family at home! I love you all soooo much!!!<3
So, cool thing I found out about
this week was about something called Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar and if you mix
it with honey and a drop of olive oil and something else--check the internet I guess
haha--and it suppsed to be super good for kidney stones! and for everything
else too! So it's like another
healthier airborne! haha. Sounds gross
though. but yeah, it has to be Bragg's! I just thought of Dad. Fun little home remedies!
So, I realized last week sometime
that I have been a horrible letter writer home! haha. I like seriously don't
tell you anything about any of my investigators!! :( Sooooo, for some reason I just
assume everyone knows who I'm teaching! I will just start by saying that our
investigator board has EXPLODED!!! At
the end of last transfer, it just exploded in our area! We found amazing people! I'll just briefly
tell you about a few:
Amber Romero. She's been kind of an
etern-agator. She's been investigating
the church since she was in high school --almost 4 years ago. She was being taught by the home ward
missionaries and finally wanted to be baptized, but she wanted to go to the
single's ward, so she's going to our ward and we're teaching her and helping
set it up for THIS SATURDAY! woohooo!
She's so awesome!! She's
basically a member. She's gone to church
her whole time with her friend who's a member.
And she knows the lingo, the way things happen in the church, she prays
like a pro. You would literally think
she grew up in the church if you didn't know she was getting baptized! So crazy!
She's seriously the coolest girl ever and just so down to earth! I love her!! :) So that's super exciting!!! yay!!
Another amazing new investigator is
DJ!!!! MAN! So his story is sooo
cool! We had a potential written down
from a while ago in an apartment complex and so we knocked on the door and this
guy answers and says she moved a while ago--which happens a lot. And we, as usual, contacted him and introduced
ourselves and what we do and what we were here to tell Ellis--the girl we were
originally planning to see--and before we could invite him to learn about it,
he was like "well, yeah, she's not here-- but you can tell me!" We were like what....... uh YEAH! and he was
like yeah, I've been looking for the
truth and just trying to figure out why there are so many different ones, like
what makes you different, and how am I supposed to know what's true?" We
were like........what. omg it was like the GOLDEN CONTACT! Literally.
So we explained about Joseph Smith and how he had the exact same
question and what the Book of Mormon was and how he could really know and we set up a time to meet him that weekend.
He ended up not being there, and it was someone else's apartment. It was seriously the saddest let down. He was sooo perfect and I was soooo excited
to teach him!! butttttttttt..... last week, the other sisters ran into him and
referred him to us. We were SOO
excited!! We finally got to see him and
he is soooo awesome! He is seriously looking
and thinks soo deeply. It's amazing. we'll
read a scripture with DJ and he will really break it down and be like woah,
well if that means this, then that means that, and then that and then... but
what about this. and then we'll keep reading or give another scripture and it
just answers it and he's like wow! No way!
This is soo cool, I'm going to
read these more later! He's this 22year
old gangster kid. Ahhhh he's sooo
amazing. And every time we talk to him
it's just like more and more clicks! The
only hard part is that his girlfriend, Chansity, is really cool too but just
really quiet and will just sit there and listen, doesn't like to talk or answer
anything, but will kind of take notes and stuff which is really cool. but the
only hard part is that he doesn’t have a phone so we have to go through her and
she's not quite so interested as he is so they won't go to church!!!! We’ll have a ride set up for them and we'll
call or visit Sunday morning and she'll answer and be like he won't be ready in
time, he's tired, etc. and we're like NOOOO he's NOT!! :((( He's
seriously soooo excited to go to church! He's like telling us what he's going to wear
and asking if his shoes are okay for church and stuff! He's like it's okay, I'll just figure it out
and make it work. It's church. I just want to teach him EVERYDAY, but
finals are this week and it’s sooo hard to meet with people especially with the
Christmas season coming.... DJ's
leaving for 3 weeks back home to Texas.... soo
HARD achh!! Darn holidays. worst
enemy to missionaries!! haha. but DJ is soooo great. We're soo ezcited for him!! ahh! I'll keep you updated.
I think the biggest lesson I learned
from this week is really, the power of the scriptures. Even just from DJ,
seeing how the scriptures really solidify what we teach. The spirit is
just sooo much stronger when we read the scriptures and then expound with our
testimonies. It's really kind of amazing
how so much power and Spirit can be contained in this one tiny little blue
book. It literally has the power to heal
you, to make everything clear, to answer the questions of the soul, to lift you
up and to save us, to give us that comfort, the peace, the peace of mind, the
strength and everything we would ever need in this life. What an AMAZING gift from our Heavenly Father.
The power we get from reading everyday
is seriously such a spiritual recharge.
It's so cool to compare to physical food. We can feast as much as we want and need to
one day, but no matter how much we feast today, tomorrow we'll be hungry again.
So we need to feast again. Every day, we need that Spiritual food just
as much as we need the physical food.
I would like to challenge all of
you, just like we have been this whole week with those strong members we meet,
to read from the Book of Mormon or other scriptures every day. Even if it's the busiest day in your life, read
one verse and think about what is means, what you can learn from it and how you
can apply it in your life--then DO IT! There was this super cool picture
--kind of a joke--that had a pic of Mormon that said “Oh, you don't have time
to read your scriptures today? That's okay, I only spent my WHOLE LIFE putting
them together for you.” hahhah I thought
that was soo funny but yet sooo true! Mormon spent his whole life on the Lord's
errand to bring us this collection of records.
So every time you read, think about WHY Mormon was inspired to choose
this passage, out of allll the records in their history, to be in the one
record that would be preserved for this day--for YOU. and I can promise you
all, as a representative of Jesus Christ, that you WILL feel the power of the
scriptures in your day. You will
literally sense the Spirit more present in your life. There will be a strength to go on even when
the list seems too long and the path ahead is too rocky. The strength and time and energy and help will
be there seemingly from nowhere, but you'll know where it's from. I don't even know if I'm allowed to promise
blessings to people not in my assigned area, but I just know that this is all
true, because I've been able to see it in my own life, day to day. Even before I had a real testimony of the
Book of Mormon or of the church at all, I did notice a difference when I read
the Book of Mormon. I didn't realize it
at the time what it was or that it was even really that different, but looking
back, It definitely is [a testimony]. Obedience Precedes Understanding, and it truly
does. As we obey the commandments and
even just “experiment on the word” like
in Alma 32, we will grow that understanding and spirituality and that
testimony! It's amazing how it really
works on that little speck of faith--or even that DESIRE to have faith, that
desire to believe. The Book of Mormon holds so many precious treasures. So enjoy them! Show our Heavenly Father that you appreciate
His Love and Gifts and help by using them!
I just want you all to know how much
I truly love this Gospel. I guess,
looking back, there's always been a part of me that knew this was true, I had
my doubts and my times of rebellion, but I can now say that there is not a
single part of me that doesn't know this church is true. I have never known anything so much in my life
and I'm so happy to know that I can have my family forever. Emily, I hope you're reading too!! Because it's really amazing what you can
learn from reading, and not just reading, but studying and really thinking
about what it means. I am sooo happy to hear from Cami and Jeremy! Thank you for writing me! It means soo much to me to know that you're
doing well and staying strong! I will
write again next week and let you know how the baptism went and if I got the
package!!
I love you all soooo much!!!
Com Muito Amor!
-Sister Yoshimoto
<3
I love you all! I want you to know how much I appreciate the
prayers and thoughts and support and love that I feel from you all every day
and that keeps me going. You are all in my prayers every night.
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