Aomori Transfer 10 Week 5

一石二鳥、

This week was another week of meetings, planning, and trainings but overall a great week and lots of fun! After our trip over to Hirosaki to see the hanami- cherry blossom festival - we boarded our shinkansen- bullet train - down to Sendai for a training. 

Had a lesson with Sotoyama San in which we had planned to set a baptismal date but after a long lesson that seemed to go all over the place with a lot of questions about just about everything, we felt it would be a bit too much to do so in that lesson. So, we're waiting until the time is right to commit him to baptism but... he's doing way well, learning and progressing slowly but surely. 

No contact with Fujita San this week, he's in Sapporo for "Golden Week". Golden week is every year on the first week of May and serves as a nation wide week-off pretty much. Always way good for finding cause people are happy & genki and willing to talk. Anyway, Fujita is still in Sapporo but we plan on getting him back on track, discussing some of his concerns and helping him be part of something great.

We titled our ZTM this Friday as "Our Commission" which in Japanese sounds pretty sweet~ 私たちの使命〜watashitachi no shimei. We made it very activity based with lots of participation from everyone in the zone which made it pretty fun. Our Commission was a wide-based theme aimed to get us thinking about why we believe in the restoration, what blessings God gave us through Joseph Smith and the Restoration, and our job as missionaries to help others as well understand really how much God loves us and all the blessings He is ready to pour on us if we simply choose.

This week too I've been thinking a lot about becoming that light and brightness for others in their lives. There are plenty of ways to become that light; the most central and important being to develop Christ-like attributes that help you become who God wants us to be. But perhaps more tangible ways of doing so are to smile at everyone- share your joy with everyone. Compliment someone who looks like they're not enjoying life! Like they're stuck in a rut and need something from someone else to get out, pay them a nice but genuine compliment, something you really do like about them. It will make their day if not week. Refrain from criticizing, even to those who may deserve it. Encouragement goes much farther and is much more effective all around than criticizing. Smile, compliment others genuinely, and encourage instead of criticize are the things I've been working hard on applying and forming into habits to slowly become more like our Perfect Example, Jesus Christ. 

Currently on another 5 hour bus ride to Sendai for companion exchanges with Elder Uehara but I hope you all have a fabulous week full of happy. 

Here are some pics!

Elder Robins

ロビンズ長老

Hirosaki Castle last week

Other thought of the week- for those who have tasted of the fruit of the tree of life know it's the best and know it is God's pure love. But temptation and the aching need to be accepted of others can be deceiving. Stay strong, have faith in God and His plan for us and remember God's judgement is much more important to consider than the world's.