Hey everyone!! It has been so great to hear from friends and family this week. It really lifted my spirits!:)
My new companion is Sister Oaks, and the first thing she said to me when she got off the train was, "I fell up the stairs getting here!" She is great haha! She is the most energetic ball of sass I have ever met in my life! If you all thought i was sassy....you really need to re-evaluate. ahah
Saying goodbye to my trainer was really hard. I didn't really understand how much I really depended on her until she left ahha. But my mom did teach me to share...so I GUESS I can for a little while!!
I have only gotten us lost about 10 or so times since Wednesday! so I am on a roll!! haha
CHARITY
I wanted to share a really cool experience that I had this last week.
Lately, I have been studying a lot about Charty and the love of God. And I was pondering about how I could develop charity myself. I prayed for experiences and opportunities to develop that kind of love for people. (it's really not that hard here in Japan, because everyone is so sweet!)
After that study I had about Chartiy, we went to go visit one of our investigators. I got on my bike, and I led the way to her house.
We were riding on the sidewalk (on a huge hill) , next to this insanely busy road. As I was cruising down the hill, a lady walks right in front of my bike! I didn't have any time to react but I knew that I didn't want to hit her! What happened was, I clutched my breaks and swerved out of the way, and I FLEW off my bike. Sister Oaks said that I should have landed on my head, but somehow in mid-air I flipped in a way that I only landed on my side instead. I just went tumbling down the road. The next thing I knew, there were police officers surrounding me on the ground saying, "Hospital??" haha and they were about to press charges!
I stood up and I only had a few scratches and cuts. but I was completely fine. I didn't feel anything! I looked at that woman and I started to cry a little bit because I LOVED HER! It was like the lord gave me his heart for like 5 seconds. I walked up to her..gave her a hug, and said that I loved her! She widened her eyes, (probably for a number of reasons....1) I'm American 2) she probably isn't a touchy person 3) I was towering over her...) but nevertheless! aaha I told her I didn't want to press charges, and that I was okay!
I got right on my bike and kept riding.. got to our investigators house and she wasn't home! On the way back, I was like..."why did all of that have to happen? I crashed my bike, and our investigator wasn't even there! why?" and right when I thought that, I heard a voice that said, "Well...Sister Phelps, what did you learn?"
The Lord taught me a valuable lesson that day. Not only did I learn the importance of biker shorts (because I probably flashed a good amount of people) but I learned just how much the Lord loves his children. He allowed me to feel just a glimpse of that love. And the importance of CHOOSING to love people everyday.
I have been asked a lot recently about my Japanese...and how the language is...and WELL...it's definitely so hard. But the great thing about being Gygene, is that its okay to make mistakes because you're gygene! I pull that white card on the daily! Its kind of discouraging sometimes because its really hard to express myself. But I just smile and act genki, and that gets me through! I couldn't do this whole mission thing without prayer...WOW. THERE IS NO WAY! Before my mission, I always thought it was weird when missionaries prayed like every 7 minutes ahah. But now, i totally understand. Its a totally different ball game. Without the companionship of the Holy Ghost, being a missionary is impossible..and doing missionary work in general..is impossible!! Praying makes the biggest difference!
I love you more than anything! I am so grateful for the knowledge that I can be together with my family for eternity. I love you Phelps fam. Have a great week and I will talk to you next week! Also, Happy Halloween!đ» Missionary work and Halloween have a lot in common! We go knocking, and instead of asking for candy, we ask for return appointments. And they still think we're scary...I don't really get it!
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-Sister Phelps
Pics) last few days with my trainer.đ
