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| Skype on Christmas Eve |
This
Christmas has been the best Christmas ever! We had so many "Festavis
miracles"! It was amazing. :) I was so happy to talk to all of
you and see your beautiful faces! You are a great family. Did you
know that? :) Well if you didn't now you do!
Christmas
Day we had the special opportunity to go to Yokohama with a Ward
member and her daughter, her friend from work, her good friend who
loves the missionaries and her daughter (we will call her R-san to
make this a shorter explanation.) and R-sans mother and friend. We
were able to spend some good time with them. It was amazing and such
a good experience for all of us. Christmas time is magical! And it
snowed a little! Not much but just a small bit!
Later
that night we went caroling as a district. It was an amazing
experience. We saw so many miracles. :)
Here
is one that my companion wrote down and sent to me:
" We were on the way to an
investigator's home to carol to their family when Ashby-shimai
spotted a house covered in Christmas lights. She thought they were
too beautiful to ignore, so she stopped our group and went to ring
the doorbell. The lady who answered through the kekko box was a
little confused at first, but then came out to greet us. We were so
excited she didn't reject us and that we might get the opportunity to
sing. She was surprised to see such a large group of Americans at her
doorstep, but wanted to hear us sing. In fact, she and her mom
thought it was such a rare opportunity, that they asked if it would
be alright to call their neighbors! Of course you can call your
neighbors! As they went door to door, housing and bringing their
friends to meet the missionaries, our district became more and more
excited. We love caroling! Never did we imagine that knocking on the
door of one house would allow us to share the true Spirit of
Christmas with so many people. We could already feel the Spirit, we
could tell the Lord was helping us with our caroling this night. It
was the best feeling in the world. Over 10 people came out of their
homes that night to hear us sing.
After a moment's decision, we decided
to sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", then "Away in a
Manger", then "Angels we Have Heard on High." Though
we sang just fine, I couldn't tell if any of the songs had reached
their hearts. So I spoke up and asked if anyone had a favorite
Christmas song. To my surprise, an older man standing in front of me
asked us to sing "Silent Night". No one had ever suggested
a hymn before! The miracles continued to come forth... We were so
excited and flipped to it in our hymn books. It turns out this man
knew the first verse in English, so he asked us to sing the first
verse in English and the rest in Japanese. So we did just that.
During this song you could tell the Spirit was beginning to truly
touch the hearts of these wonderful Japanese people. One lady was
crying by the end of it. Another lady told us that our caroling was
the best gift she had received this Christmas. Everyone was so happy
& grateful, and many hearts were touched. It was such an
incredible experience - especially for Daiya-san, an investigator who
sang with us.
The
Lord works in small and simple ways, touching the hearts of many.
For us,
it was a true Christmas miracle."That
story kind of sums up how Christmas was! We saw more miracles but it
was that same feeling. Sharing the true feeling of Christmas we those
around us. :) A Ward member also brought us a Christmas cake! :)
I
love you all and hope you have a wonderful new year! This week is my
year mark in Japan. It is so amazing to think back to a year ago New
Year's Eve when I landed in Japan. I had no idea what this past year
of my life would bring, but it has been the best, hardest, happiest,
most rewarding year of my life and I wouldn't trade the testimony I
have received for anything in the world. I know God loves us and
knows who he wants us to become. Trust him and life will be
beautiful. :)
Love
you all!
Love,
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