Prayer

So my trainer, since he has control of the phone, got an e-mail yesterday informing us that on Thursday we will be having Trainers` and Trainees` training.  If there wasn`t enough trains in this e-mail, we will also be taking a train to Nagoya, the center of the mission where the mission home is.  Originally it was going to be just at the end of the transfer and I would be able to meet all of the other people being transferred but since my doki (which means all of the missionaries that came over to the mission the same day as me) is so huge, it will be easier to have the twelve of us and our trainers come sooner rather than with everyone else.  So, early Thursday morning, I will go by the bullet train to Nagoya and be trained and get to see the other five elders from my MTC district!  It is like a reunion!  So it should be fun and we should learn a bunch from President Yamashita as well.

My adventure this week also involved the toilet yet again but instead of pushing buttons, I decided to clean it after my neglect.  While it was worth it, I think I would rather try out all of the buttons.

The highlight of my week was yesterday when we got a call during church from one of our investigators named Bart who is from Poland, is married to a Nihonjin, and speaks English and out of the blue came to the church last week.  He said he was sorry he couldn`t come to church but wanted to meet with us later that day.  So, right after sacrament meeting, we asked an American member to come with us to the lesson at the church at four that day.  So we were all prepared and ready to teach Bart when he showed up.  We taught him about the history of the Book of Mormon and really just did a recap of lesson one since he hadn`t heard it for a couple of months.  It was a really good lesson and the member got involved and I was able to speak a lot because it was in English.  And Bart asked a lot of good questions about prophets and prayer and he actually answered a lot of his own questions.  The best part about it was when we taught him how to pray. We talked about how it was like talking to God and was very personal.  Then we asked him if he would feel comfortable saying the closing prayer.  He said yes and he said the most awesome prayer ever!  It wasn`t like many of the prayers me and other members say that have almost a pattern of things that people say to take up time or just out of habit.  Instead, it was very sincere and personal.  I could really feel the Spirit in the room as he asked God to help him in his life.  It made me realize how much prayer really means to me and how much more it could become if I didn`t see it as a burden to say my prayers before meals or before getting onto my futon at night but instead as an opportunity.  It made me realize that I can learn something from everyone, even an investigator who barely knows anything about the gospel.  Hopefully I can be able to have more sincere prayers and realize always the blessings of the Gospel and God in my life.  

Here is to everyone out there having an awesome week!  Until next time...