All I can really say about this week is that, for some reason, God really really loves me and likes giving me blessings. I know God loves me because He keeps making good things happen for me. Now do I deserve it? Probably not, but He does it anyway and it makes me want to serve Him that much more. For example, this week one of our investigators named Mikami told me that he wants to keep reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. He also wants to come to church and get baptized. That's what I'm talking about.
We also went on Splits with the other Elders in Chosei and normally the District Leader does it in his own area, but I wanted to see their area for myself so we did it there. Elder Kashiwa and I were able to find a new investigator! We taught him the First lesson, gave him a Book of Mormon, and invited him to come to English class. He was excited about everything and agreed to it all. He's a Senior in High School by the way and his name is Suzuki. That was another little miracle.
Now for a big miracle. Yi got baptized last week. She brought a friend to her baptism too. Her friend's name is Tai and she felt good (the Spirit) during church and the baptism. She decided she wanted to start learning for herself and be baptized too! We ended up teaching her 3 lessons already and she's way excited to be baptized. Her friend Yi is just such a strong example for her and always there to support her. We set a goal for all of us to go to the temple together next year. (That was while we were still assuming we'd still be here)
Not that important of an event but a fun one all the same; we had 8 new students at our Kid's English Class! Usually there are between 3 and 5 students but for no apparent reason, this week 13 people showed up! It was the perfect day for it too because we had planned a treasure hunt for the day's activity. We hid candy all over the church and the kids had a great time. We even put some in our hand made font just so the kids would be used to it for when it was their turn. Lol. The kids were more than happy to jump right in and their moms helped them do it.
Speaking of English students, we went down to Tateyama to help Takashi write some essays so he could get into BYU and while we were there we saw one of our students! She was holding a cake and after saying hi to us looked at the cake....and then at us......and said,
"Do you like cake?"
"HECK YEAH! I mean, yes ma'am, if you're offering."
She gave us the cake.
It was such a delicious cake too. God just kept giving me presents this week to make me happy. Maybe to prepare me for a hard time ahead? We did have Transfer Calls coming up so I was worried he might be doing it to soften the blow when I got transferred. I mean, I've been here 6 months already. That's a quarter of my mission. I was more than a little worried about what today's Transfer Call would bring. Apparently I wasn't the only one either.
Yesterday on Fast Sunday I found out that a lot of the members were praying and fasting that I would stay in Kisarazu. That floored me. I had no idea. Members kept walking up and saying, "I'm praying for you! Please don't go yet." My Branch President told me to debate it with President Nagano and rebel. I was moved. I didn't know anyone felt that way. When I left my other areas no one cared or even noticed. But here, it was different. It was easy to honk about leaving my other areas because no one was opposed to me leaving. But after hearing how everyone felt it pulled some heart strings and made the idea a hard one to accept. I did NOT want to get transferred this time. To top it off were the Recent Converts, Jonivar and Yi. When I told Jonivar I might be leaving it was heartrending. That last hug was hard to let go. Even harder was when I told Yi. She's a girl so she cried. That was a hard night. I knew what I wanted, but I also knew that since God had blessed me so much I had to submit my will to what He wanted. So I got down on my knees and just pleaded with Him to give me peace with whatever happened. He gave me the peace I was looking for. I didn't know what would happen, but I knew that I would be able to handle it, whatever happened.
Now here's where I get to say that God loves me more than I could have ever anticipated. He let me stay. All of those blessings weren't just to soften the blow, they were truly just because He felt like blessing me. I can't understand what I did to earn such treatment but I am overjoyed to be the recipient of it. I know all I can do now is my very best to repay Him, if only in small part.
I know God loves me. I may not be able to express it well with my writing but what I can say is this: He cares about us and wants to bless us. He's that dad that likes to give you stuff just because you're His kid. He's the dad who loves you even when you make mistakes. He's the dad who knows exactly how to cheer you up and make you happy. He's the dad that I get to tell people that they have. Because of Him we can overcome our imperfections. Because of His love we have a Savior who makes it possible for us to return to Him as an everlasting family.
I'm so thankful to be a part of God's family and I'm thankful that I can spend my days as a missionary, helping others join in. I'm so thankful for my mission and I wouldn't give it up for the world. I'm also so thankful that of all the places in the world He could've sent me, God sent me to Kisarazu. I'm looking forward to continuing serving here and seeing more miracles.
頑張りましょう！
Elder Rogers
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