Week 40 – July 11, 2012
Dear Family,
Things are going great here in Sagamihara. I baptized Silvia this past Sunday. Her baptismal service was great. We've been teaching her for about six weeks now, and have been able to build a great relationship with her. She's 36 years old and full Japanese, but born and raised in Brazil. She moved to Japan about 10 years ago, so her Japanese is pretty good and we teach her in Japanese. During the end of last transfer she received an English class flyer from us at a train station. It was pouring rain and she though we looked interesting, running around soaked in the rain, trying to get people to take our fliers. She came to Eikaiwa that week and we set up a quick introduction lesson. From that lesson she wasn't too interested, but took a Book of Mormon in Japanese. The next week after Eikaiwa she asked me some questions about the Book of Mormon and said she had a really hard time understanding it. So I set up a lesson to teach the Restoration more completely. From there we gave her a Portuguese Book of Mormon and she basically just read it really quickly and gained a testimony. The Book of Mormon is the most powerful tool we have in conversion. The divine truths and principles contained in it, invite the spirit into the hearts of all those who read it in sincerity, and provide undeniable proof of the truth of Joseph Smith and the restored gospel once again here on the earth. She's really a great person. After her baptismal service this past Sunday was ward conference, so we had the stake presidency there and they were able to be in the circle for her confirmation. Then we had a shokujikai (potluck) after church, and many of the members were able to talk to Silvia and begin
building great relationships with her. It's been just over a year
since the last baptism here in Sagamihara, so now we have
another recent convert! We will work hard to keep the momentum going.
This past Saturday we had SMCC with the stake followed by a zone conference, where we were able to meet President Budge and his family. He is an amazing leader. He's only about 52 years old, but was the president of Tokyo Star Bank. Yesterday (Tuesday) ended up pretty interesting as well. We got up early to go the temple and were the first ones in the session. After the temple we went to eat Shabu Shabu with a bunch of other missionaries. Mom, do you know Shabu Shabu? You have really thin sliced meat and a pot of boiling water or other sauce where you swish the meat around in for a few seconds to cook it. "Shabu shabu" is the sound that's made when the meat is being cooked. But that was a lot of fun and really good. After that we got on a train to come back, and fell asleep pretty much right after sitting down. I woke up about 35 minutes later and realized that we had been going the wrong way! We ended up at Oshigaya station, really far from Sagamihara, under the new Tokyo Sky Tree. So since we were already there we went up to to see it, and did some clothes shopping at a place call Uniqlo.I bought a new pair of slacks and a white shirt. Then we get back on the trains to head back. We got pretty close to our station here in Sagamihara (four stations away) when there was a "jishin jiko" or accident with a person. Someone had jumped in front of a train ahead of us on the line. So we were stuck there at that station for a little over three hours. We left for a little bit to talk to people on the streets and ring on some doorbells, but we weren't in our area and we didn't know where the nearest church was. Anyway, we ended up getting back to the apartment around 8:50 pm.
But all in all, it's going good here. I am so grateful for the gospel
of Jesus Christ, and the power it has to make you happy. It really
does have the power to make you happy! The power to make anyone happy, if they just let it. And that is why are here. To help everyone accept it, and let it work in their lives.. to make them happier, to make their families stronger, and to allow them to return to our Father in Heaven after this life.
I love you all so much!! Take care.
Love,
Elder Rindlisbacher
P.S. Dad, I talked with Elder Van DeGraff at the temple yesterday and he said you met his mom at church on Sunday in Maui. Small world, huh.
Things are going great here in Sagamihara. I baptized Silvia this past Sunday. Her baptismal service was great. We've been teaching her for about six weeks now, and have been able to build a great relationship with her. She's 36 years old and full Japanese, but born and raised in Brazil. She moved to Japan about 10 years ago, so her Japanese is pretty good and we teach her in Japanese. During the end of last transfer she received an English class flyer from us at a train station. It was pouring rain and she though we looked interesting, running around soaked in the rain, trying to get people to take our fliers. She came to Eikaiwa that week and we set up a quick introduction lesson. From that lesson she wasn't too interested, but took a Book of Mormon in Japanese. The next week after Eikaiwa she asked me some questions about the Book of Mormon and said she had a really hard time understanding it. So I set up a lesson to teach the Restoration more completely. From there we gave her a Portuguese Book of Mormon and she basically just read it really quickly and gained a testimony. The Book of Mormon is the most powerful tool we have in conversion. The divine truths and principles contained in it, invite the spirit into the hearts of all those who read it in sincerity, and provide undeniable proof of the truth of Joseph Smith and the restored gospel once again here on the earth. She's really a great person. After her baptismal service this past Sunday was ward conference, so we had the stake presidency there and they were able to be in the circle for her confirmation. Then we had a shokujikai (potluck) after church, and many of the members were able to talk to Silvia and begin
building great relationships with her. It's been just over a year
since the last baptism here in Sagamihara, so now we have
another recent convert! We will work hard to keep the momentum going.
This past Saturday we had SMCC with the stake followed by a zone conference, where we were able to meet President Budge and his family. He is an amazing leader. He's only about 52 years old, but was the president of Tokyo Star Bank. Yesterday (Tuesday) ended up pretty interesting as well. We got up early to go the temple and were the first ones in the session. After the temple we went to eat Shabu Shabu with a bunch of other missionaries. Mom, do you know Shabu Shabu? You have really thin sliced meat and a pot of boiling water or other sauce where you swish the meat around in for a few seconds to cook it. "Shabu shabu" is the sound that's made when the meat is being cooked. But that was a lot of fun and really good. After that we got on a train to come back, and fell asleep pretty much right after sitting down. I woke up about 35 minutes later and realized that we had been going the wrong way! We ended up at Oshigaya station, really far from Sagamihara, under the new Tokyo Sky Tree. So since we were already there we went up to to see it, and did some clothes shopping at a place call Uniqlo.I bought a new pair of slacks and a white shirt. Then we get back on the trains to head back. We got pretty close to our station here in Sagamihara (four stations away) when there was a "jishin jiko" or accident with a person. Someone had jumped in front of a train ahead of us on the line. So we were stuck there at that station for a little over three hours. We left for a little bit to talk to people on the streets and ring on some doorbells, but we weren't in our area and we didn't know where the nearest church was. Anyway, we ended up getting back to the apartment around 8:50 pm.
But all in all, it's going good here. I am so grateful for the gospel
of Jesus Christ, and the power it has to make you happy. It really
does have the power to make you happy! The power to make anyone happy, if they just let it. And that is why are here. To help everyone accept it, and let it work in their lives.. to make them happier, to make their families stronger, and to allow them to return to our Father in Heaven after this life.
I love you all so much!! Take care.
Love,
Elder Rindlisbacher
P.S. Dad, I talked with Elder Van DeGraff at the temple yesterday and he said you met his mom at church on Sunday in Maui. Small world, huh.
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