Re: Week 63- one person can change you

Sorry P.S.S.. I called the member and told her about the referral and
she was soooooooo happy. And I told her I made a mistake and she said
it was totally fine... sorry I forgot to say that.

Sent from my iPad

> On Nov 20, 2017, at 14:24, Jordan Ann Lockett <jordan.lockett@myldsmail.net> wrote:
>
> Dear family and friends,
> God is sooo cool.
> That's all I have to say...
>
> Haha... well God is just so cool isn't he. I've been seeing him a lot
> in my life this week. So much has happened I don't know where to
> begin.
> Well I will just start and say how grateful I was for this week. One I
> hit my year mark in Japan. And what a scary feeling that is. But, it
> was one of the sweetest moments to realize that you have been serving
> the lord in his vineyard in Japan for 1 whole year is more than I
> could ask for. Two, I thought a lot about my mom for it was her 20th.
> Birthday! Hahaha.. Happy Birthday mom, and I was also really thinking
> a lot about my best friend Dallin. His birthday was also this week...
> and I know he is looking out for me.
>
> Wednesday I took Savage Shimai out and around the city of Kurashiki. I
> learned a lot from her, I always do, but i especially learned about
> patience. When we were on our Kokan(exchange) we went and visited a
> historical site, called Bikanchiku. We were walking through and if
> anyone has ever been it's full of tourists, so we were looking for
> someone to talk to.. and we did.. God is too good. We met a lady from
> the Netherlands, she was taking pictures, we stopped and talked to her
> for a little. She was amazing she talked about how she is Protestant,
> and that she believes in God. She talked about her home back in the
> Netherlands and she said that on one street in her home town there is
> 7 churches, like what? It was crazy to hear that from her. It was
> awesome though to talk to her in English, don't get that very much
> anymore. Just bearing testimony of Jesus Christ and the church is
> just so powerful in you mission and native language.
>
> The other day, I believe Thursday it was, we went and did some
> visiting teaching with the bishops wife and she is just sooooo on
> fire, she asked us if we had anything planned for the day, we told her
> no no really... she asked if we could go together and visit less
> active members and members, and anyone we wanted to visit was okay.
> So, we didn't pass this chance up one bit. We went and visited like 20
> people it seemed like. Haha, somewhere in between we got to go to
> sushi and this was Smith shimais first time eating sushi.... oh boy...
> we tried shrimp first and I will add this was really one of the best
> sushi places I have ever been to. I loved it. Smith Shimai took a bite
> and was like hmmm.. yah it's okay... I told the member "okay let's try
> different ones, so we got some tuna and salmon, and I will never
> forget the look on Smith Shimai'S face when she tried the fish, she
> kinda looked really disgusted, kinda sad, and kinda sick... oh I felt
> so bad hahaha... I asked her how is it? And she said "oh it's okay",
> so then the member orders more
> hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhahahaahhaahhahaha.... it was so funny but
> kinda sad... everything that poor girl tasted she hated and didn't
> like one bit, and I sat there like girl, this is your life for a year
> and a half.. :) But, by the end of that lunch, we gave the man a Book
> of Mormon.
> That night we also got to talk to Donna on the phone, she has been
> really busy lately, but she informed us that she talked to her husband
> and he is against her being baptized..... darn... she was sooo sad, we
> were too... but no worries,,, we are praying extra hard that her
> husbands heart will be softened. Please pray for her.
>
> Well on Friday we had district meeting, and our district leader, since
> its close to Thanksgiving wanted to have a thanksgiving lunch, we had
> salad, mashed potatoes, and meat! Lots and lots of it! But, it was
> really fun! We also got to go over to Kaori chans home for dinner that
> night. Kaori is one of the investigators my MTC companion Epling
> Shimai found when she was a bean(trainee). She is so awesome, we made
> dinner together and had dinner with her family and shared a message
> about family history and started an account for her. It was so
> exciting. I learned so good o'japanese style cooking.
> The next day was fun... but I felt so bad. So, we received a referral
> from a member in Okayama. And we wanted to go visit her friend she
> referred us to as soon a possible. So, we did, we biked all the way
> out there about a good 30 minute or so bike ride. And, we didn't know
> if the member told her we were coming or not, so we did normal housing
> approach. "Hi, we are missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ. Of
> Latter Day Saints, and we ...." well we talked about the Book of
> Mormon and asked if she has ever seen one, and she said she actually
> has one. She brought it out and we talked for a minute or two... she
> then said if she has time she will listen to us.. so we told her we
> would be back soon... I felt sooo accomplished after we did that, I
> wanted to tell the member, so I go to call the member and I call, and
> she didn't answer so, then I leave a message.. I was feeling awesome.
> So, then the same number calls me back.. I answer and say "hello, this
> is Sister Lockett", "Hi, this is (the referral'S name)" my heart just
> like stopped completely.. "oh sorry wrong person." I almost started
> crying... I left a message for the referral we just talked to, which
> was meant for the member says that we contacted her.. like oh
> crap..... yah... I was freaking out... I prayed so hard! We thought of
> all the things we could do to help this situation, finally we decided
> it probably wouldn't be a good idea to sneak back into that house and
> delete the voicemail.
> We then went to the church for a church activity. It was the Kurashiki
> ward's 45 year of being established. It was so nice to see the ward so
> happy, we had tons of food and talked about the history of the church
> here in Kurashiki. Kaori chan and her boys showed up.
> And yesterday.. I just love Sundays because you never know. Well, oh
> BIG NEWS....the mission is on a search for a Swahili speaking
> missionary.. so we are awaiting a missionary to doeseki(be present)
> for us in a lesson. Stay tuned. But, yah Philamon wasn't able to come
> yesterday to church.. which was okay.. he let us know.. but instead
> another man and his daughter showed up. I had no idea who he was, but
> he smelled like Tobacco big time. After we talked to him, and found
> out he was actually wanting to go to the Protestant church and thought
> it was ours, had to use the bathroom and then a member told him to
> come in to sacrament, so he brought his daughter and they sat next to
> us. Afterward.. we talked to him and he has interest... Hana imagine
> that... he said he will be back next week and at 10 the right time...
> it was really interesting. Last night we got some time to go and find
> at the train station. And we did we found a cute family that lives in
> Fukuyama... so we gave the contact info to them, we also decided to go
> talk to this lady who was smoking... well she actually didn't have
> that much interest, but since we were there we talked to these two men
> standing next to her, and introduced the Book of Mormon, one man said
> he had heard of our church and didn't want to hear, but the other one
> smoking big time, stop smoking and put his cigarette in the trash and
> talked to us, we shared Mosiah 4:9 with him and he said he would take
> one. We gave him out contact info and told him to contact us.. he said
> he would read the Book of Mormon.
>
> What a great week.
>
> But, I think the experience this week that I really learned from, was
> the old man with his daughter at church. He made me think of the
> recent talk by Jeffrey R. Holland. "Be he therefore perfect,
> eventually." It applied to him so well. Here we have a man who looks
> like he could be a little tip. He smelled really bad, and really
> strong of tobacco, used this game of different Gods or something to
> explain to us what he was saying, but still came to church. Why?
> Because he is searching for the truth. He says he believes in
> everything, but he has not yet been able to enjoy what I enjoy. I love
> that line from the talk.. "Attack me if you will, but don't attack the
> path I follow, if I'm staggering from side to side, if I'm walking it
> drunkenly." Help anyone who is walking the path back to God.
>
> This man changed my life.
> My whole mission.
>
> We aren't perfect, but at least God is.
>
> Lockett Shimai
>
> P.s. Did some family history lately and found out that I have some
> ancestors that came across the plains with the saints and that one of
> my ancestors was blind for like 13 years and was ministered and
> blessed by Joseph Smith Senr. (President Joseph Smiths father) and
> received her eye sight! How cool!
> <noname.txt>
> <image1.JPG>
> <image2.JPG>
> <image3.JPG>
> <image4.JPG>
> <image5.JPG>
> <image6.JPG>
> <image7.JPG>
> <image8.JPG>
> <image9.JPG>
> <image10.JPG>
> <image11.PNG>