Feb 21,2017 "Busy Week! (Nothing Feels Better)"

Whale

Happy Valentine's week everyone. 

This week was packed with 10000 things. 

On Valentine's day we went and served a special lunch at the Millcreek Senior Center. 

It was really nice to get out of our regular Temple Square routine and just do a service project and do something nice for people. We don't get a lot of opportunities to spend time with people and just be their friend on Temple Square. Everybody is always rushing to the airport or rushing to the temple or rushing to some concert. At the Millcreek senior center most of them had bad knees so they weren't rushing anywhere. The best part about this service project is when two ladies were asked if they wouldn't mind being seated with two gentlemen, and they said, "Yeah, they don't even have to be cute. They just have to be rich. You sisters remember that for when you go home from your missions." 

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On Friday we had a mission tour with Elder Kim Clark from the Quorum of the Seventy. He taught us a lot of things. Here is one of them:

 I learned that overcoming our weaknesses is a life long endeavor. In Ether 12:27, it says, 

"27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Elder Clark pointed out that in this scripture, it doesn't say "weaknesses (plural)". It says "weakness (singular)." Meaning that this scripture is referring to the fact that we are weak. I used to see weaknesses as kind of like a checklist. When we conquer one, we can move on to the next. But nah, that's not what the Lord was saying. He's not saying that he'll point out things we need to develop one by one. He's saying that we as human beings, in general, have weakness. We are tiny minuscule beings in this big big world. Sure we might overcome some trials and overcome weaknesses, but they will never completely go away and we will always need to rely on our Savior Jesus Christ to show us how to improve. 

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We also took a tour with a couple that basically said, "We have friends who are Mormon, and we came to Salt Lake City specifically to learn about your church." They were so touched at everything we were sharing that they basically cried the entire tour. "We have been to all kinds of cathedrals and churches in Europe and even Vatican City, but we have not felt anything as strong as we feel here on Temple Square." 

Cool. 

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We also made lasagna. I never thought I would want to eat it again, after being fed lasagna basically every single night in Provo, but here we are.

 

Happy Feb 20th. 

Sister Takeshige 

Feb 14,2017 "Love"

So this week I watched this Bible Video and felt really chastised in my heart. It's about Matthew 18:21-35. 

I invite you all to watch it and also get chastised. 

There is literally nothing that we are excused to not forgive. 

We can correct sometimes, but we must always forgive. Even when we correct somebody it must only be done carefully: 

"43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;" (D&C 121:43) 

Jesus only corrected and chastised those that he loved because he loved them. He never did anything out of spite. What a cool guy.

Also look at this thing:

Feb 7, 2017:"The Adventures of Sister Takeshige and the Lonely Tofurkey"

A former companion of mine 3 months ago left behind a frozen Tofurkey in the freezer. I decided that it was not good for this Tofurkey to be left alone, so I cooked it. 

It was quite ugly and bald when it came out of the oven. Much like a newborn child. 

But it ended up tasting pretty good. The fancy vegan stuffing was really yummy. Much unlike a newborn child.

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This week we also somehow ended up attending a baptism at the Burmese ward in SLC. No one was sure why we were there, but they had yummy food and it was nice to see a baptism in real life and smell the chlorine again. The sacredness of this ordinance is undeniable. 

Burmese sentence of the week: jama hin sajamale (I want to eat curry) 

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Have a sweet week everyone 

Sister Takeshige 

Jan 31, 2017

Hello, 

So this week we learned that there were 55388 Chinese guests who came to Temple Square for a tour. 

 

HOW COOL IS TEMPLE SQUARE THOUGH 

For all the missionaries out there who need some amusement: Look up bermuda triangle on Google Maps

HAVE A GOOD WEEK 

Jan 24, 2017 "Gather the Elect!"

This week we had interviews with our mission president, and he shared this scripture with us: 

"And ye are called to bring to pass the gather of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts;" (D&C 29:7)

On Temple Square, we have so many people to talk to, and it's exhausting. Most of the time they are polite, but not really ready to fully immerse themselves in the Gospel of Christ. Many people are willing to stay in contact, but not to change their lives. It's exhausting to try to convince someone who is nice but unwilling. Sometimes we think that just a little bit more and their hearts will change. We just need to pry and find the elect deep inside these people.

President Risenmay told us that the scriptures tell us exactly who the elect are. They are not people that we need to pry and dig and scavenge for. They are people who will "hear my voice and harden not their hearts". In essence, they are people who will accept invitations to go to church or read the scriptures. When people say no, we just say "well alright then. If you change your mind, we'll still be here to help you out. Have a nice day" and talk to the next group of tourists. The Elect are people that we shouldn't have to bargain with to increase their spirituality. 

Missionary work has been a lot more fun and a lot less exhausting ever since I learned that this week. 

Jan 17, 2017 ther 12:27"

In the Temple Square mission, we are not assigned to any wards/congregations. So for church on Sundays, we gather at 7:30 in the morning just with the missionaries, and the missionaries who are going home in the near future are assigned to give the talks. 

My companion, Sister Goncalves is going home in 5 weeks, so she was assigned to speak. She does not like public speaking, and she highly dislikes large groups of people. She was very nervous the night before, and we went through her talk together revising it and practicing it over and over. 

The next morning, she was pretty confident. She was ready to blow those missionaries' minds with the talk that she was about the give. "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear" (D&C 38:30). We did what we were supposed to, and there was nothing that could get in Sister Goncalves's way. 

We walked in to our chapel, and I took a seat in the pews, while she headed over to take a seat on the stands. And then I look up and see this on the stand:

It was Elder Quentin L Cook, a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles.

brain: "SISTER GONCALVES IS GOING TO DIE"

NO ANNOUNCEMENT AT ALL, AN APOSTLE OF THE LORD showed up at our church because he couldn't make it to his regular church because of scheduling conflicts. 😰😬😆😮

Sister didn't die while she gave her talk, but she did forget how to pronounce the word "wings", which was pretty funny. She actually shared a beautiful message about having gratitude, and how grateful we need to be to have the Gospel of Christ in our lives. 

Elder Cook was the concluding speaker, and he talked about how when he was a young missionary, he trained a companion who was from a tiny town in Utah. This companion had never been in a big city, and talking to people frightened him. Elder Cook said, "I did 95% of the teaching, and he recited the first vision and shared his testimony." 

They had a baptism later on, and when asked how they decided to be baptised, they answered, "Elder Cook, you are a good missionary, but when your companion shared his testimony, we felt the Spirit of God confirm in our hearts that this message is true." 

I thought it was pretty cool, because that's exactly what I've been able to learn from Sister Goncalves. You can be humble and powerful at the same time. 

That's the end of my story. 

Here are some other pictures:

Book of Mormon + Teachings of Presidents in braille 

(Temple Square secret: for a good time, take a tour of the LDS printing division warehouse) 

The directors of the Kirtland OH visitors' center! We got to do some missionary work with them on Temple Square for their training. Sister Jennings kept telling people "I love you". I want to be like her when  I grow up. 

Twin