Hi!!

Konnichiwa!!  Friends and Family!

 

Transfer calls are tomorrow!  Aaaahh!  We're getting twenty-four new missionaries and only four are leaving!  It's crazy!  There is a possibility that we could go to a three man companionship!  Weird.  Anyway,

 

Funny moment:  Elder Jordan received a Spiderman actionfigure in a package about three weeks ago.  He was like, "What am I going to do whith this!?!"  Well, it turns out that there is an awesome young couple in our branch and the husband LOVES Spiderman (to the extent that he wears a different Spiderman tie each week to church).  It was his birthday last week, so we plotted with his wife on how to surprise him.  Hehe. . .  And we did!  He was super excited and happy.  That couple, the Nagata couple, has been super helpful.  They gave us rides to the stake center for General Conference so we would have to take the two hour round trip bike ride.  They are great.

 

Ah-ha:  You know how Nephi talks about the condescension of God in his tree of life vision (I think it's 1 Nephi 11).  Well I never really understood what that meant until recently.  We were reading that chapter with Kyan Shimai and when we read that verse I understood it!  I had just learned the Kanji that was used for the word condescension and it totally gave new meaning to the verse and concept!  Kanji are so cool!!  :D

 

Cultural/Language Lesson:  Speaking of Kanji. . .  Guess what I learned this week!  Our favorite verse (you know, 1 Nephi 2:15 - "And my father dwelt in a tent") has a really cool word in Japanese.  The word for tent is tenmaku (天幕).  The first Kanji, ten, means heaven and the second Kanji, maku, means curtain.  Tent in Japanese means heaven curtain or heaven's curtain.  I am told that an old Japanese belief is that if one lived in a tent they were closer to God.  Like a hermit or something.  Isn't that cool!!  Lehi dwelt in a heaven curtain!

 

Spiritual:  Kyan Shimai is amazing.  Talk about someone being totally prepared.  She told us this last week that she is still strictly following the Word of Wisdom and that when she becomes a member she will gladly pay tithing (we haven't even taught her tithing yet)!  She is incredible.  There's just one problem. . . her husband is anti.  They own a resturant together and they don't have staff working on Sundays which means it's just the family running the place on Sundays.  She said she totally wants to be baptized but she knows that she has to come to church for that to happen.  Please pray for her husband to soften his heart.  Our goal right now is to try and get him to sit in on the lesson with his wife.  Kyan Shimai is so inspiring!

 

Well, she's our only investigator currently.  We've met some good people but no bites yet.  We may have potential with our neighbors upstairs.  They gave us a tin box of fancy cookies (not cheap!), and greeted us.  They recently moved into the building and they are a cute little young couple!  We going to return the favor today; pray that it works out!  Okay, my time is up!  I love you all!!  I hope you have a wonderful week!!  Smile at your neighbor for me, please!  And hug your kids for me since I can't!

 

With a little wave and a Japanese nod,

 

Jenkins 長老