"At All the Wrong Places"

I've always thought that when you fast for things, that extra spiritual power/strength is manifested in ways that are inconspicuous to you. But that is a lie! At least that's what it's been feeling like these past couple of days. On Sunday I fasted to feel more confident in my Mandarin speaking skills. Soon after we started the fast we got a text to take 4 Mandarin people on a tour. I was terrified that it would be scary business men, or apathetic college kids, It turned out to just be one lady who recently got baptized and was the sweetest person in the entire world. She let me fail and practice multiple times, and it was awesome. The longer I talked to her and the more times I messed up and had brain farts, the more I felt confident and started remembering all the terms I needed to. I loved her so much! 

Later that night we got a call to take a Japanese tour while we were assigned to be in the Assembly Hall just before a concert for the West Point Brass was starting. Truthfully we felt a little inconvenienced since we were hoping the catch the first few minutes of the concert, but we went anyways. As we were walking over for the tour, the sisters in West Gate (the little booth that texts out and organizes tours) called out to us and said, "map desk called; turns out it's actually a Mandarin tour!" Still a little irked and a little nervous, we introduced ourselves to the guests. They were also members that found it more endearing rather than cheated that my Mandarin was not perfect. They were a really sweet family and I felt privileged to take them around. And the coolest part: in the middle of the tour, not thinking properly, I said, "now we'll take you to the Assembly Hall!" And my companion whispered  "theassemblyhallhasaconcert wecan'ttakethemthere" 

And the dad said, " what concert? Let's go! We're stopping by for a little bit, I want to see!" 

We shuffled around awkwardly. "okay I guess we'll end the tour here?" 

"No! Come join us! We insist! No, we request that you come with us!" And since we try to fulfill every guests request we sat and enjoyed the concert for a good 15 minutes, which is way more than we would have gotten to stay if we stayed in the Assembly Hall. I felt spoiled. Hehe. 

The moral of Sister Takeshige's email today is this: do all the things that make you uncomfortable. And laugh about them. There are good things ahead. 

Also, fast. It works. 

Pictures: 

1. West Point Brass: 

2. "The field is [bread]" D&C 4:4 

3. "Already to harvest." D&C4:4 

4. Temple Square fun fact: the Star of David decorates the Assembly Hall. It has nothing to do with Judaism and everything to do with the fact that the pioneers who built it were looking through a catalogue of stained glass and simply thought the Star of David was pretty, and at he time it was not widely recognized as a Jewish symbol. Silly pioneers. 

Sister Kaede Takeshige 

"subject:"Nephi Does Whatever The Heck He Want

We met a man from Florida in the South Visitors' Center the other day. He had moved to Utah a couple of years ago solely based on the fact that his wife had been told by God in the Temple to do so. I asked him, "Have you found out yet why God told you to do that?" and he said, 

"No. I don't need to know why. The only important thing is that we answered the call." Me and my companion were both a little confused. But didn't he want to know? Did he not even have the slightest curiosity? Didn't he have the right to know, especially after he had followed God's will?

The next day as I was doing my personal studies in the Book of Mormon, I read this golden nugget: "Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not." God commanded Nephi to make two sets of records. That's not an easy or simple task in 600 B.C. It's not like you can copy and paste. But Nephi was totally okay with doing this whole other record even though it seemed redundant. He had no idea what God's plan was, but he did it simply because God commanded him to. Which is pretty cool of him. Good for you Florida man, for remembering Nephi's good example. 

Then I kept reading where Lehi, Nephi's father sees a vision about the tree of life, and Nephi asks God if he can see the vision also. And then this scripture happens: "he that diligently seeketh shall find, and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." And then God says "okay" and Nephi gets to see the vision too.

What the what? This messed with my brain; Nephi just said that he was chill with not knowing the mysteries of God. Why is he going ahead and asking God for favors again? And then the Spirit gives him a play by play of what Lehi's vision was. 

After some time of "whaddaheck" and "????" I figured out what was up (God told me what was up), and why God divulged at Nephi's request. Here is a passage from a talk "The Very Root of Christian" (a BYU speech (go cougars)) That kind of explains what I understand from all of this: 

"We should not use appeals to pride or even to a rational c

alculation of what is in one’s best interest: heaven or hell. The best way—the only way—to persuade people to repent and come unto Christ is to get them—to get us—to think about what He has done for us and especially about what He has suffered for us. That is how Christ does it." 

If Nephi asked God why he needed to make another set of records, it would have been for his own best interest and pride. When Nephi asked God to show him Lehi's dream, it was not for his own best interest. It was because he had a true desire to understand God and Jesus Christ. And anybody who asks to understand the mysteries of God shall find it. It's made me think, when I ask God about things, what is my motive? I truly truly believe that as soon as we put away our pride and best interest, God answers. And when we learn about the Atonement of Christ and it's magnitude, we will naturally want to turn away from ourselves and turn to God. 

Have a good week everyone. 

And Happy Leap Year. Here is a leaping picture: 

And a stupid picture: 

"Sister Takeshige's Most Illustrious E-mail"

Fun week. A drunk man sang a song in Navajo to us in the middle of the South Visitors' Center. The wind blew off a 2 meter branch off of a tree and almost killed 4 sisters. 

We saw a lady taking pictures with rubber ducks in the North Visitor's Center. I received letters from my favourite people in the world (thank you Tiff and Danielle). The weather got warm enough for me to wear flats again. 

Took some MTC kids on a tour, and MILANI(ahem, Sister Ho) WAS IN THE GROUP! 

And we had ramen today. Real ramen. Tonkotsu ramen.

Additional picture: 

All in all, a good week. There weren't too many people visiting, and those visiting were really disinterested in talking to missionaries... But we have met the coolest people on chat! Genuine, cool people who are looking for Truth and don't know where to turn to, except the internet. It's a good feeling to know that there is capital T "Truth" out there and that we can find it in within God. I don't know if I've already shared this in an e-mail, but here is a cool thing from the King Follett Sermon (which is my new favorite thing). "When we come to understand the character of God, and know how to come to Him, he begins to unfold the heavens to us, and to tell us all about it. When we are ready to come to him, he is ready to come to us." 

Turn to God. He will unfold all things. He will do it slowly, but He will do it. 

Love, 

Sister Takeshige 

"Oreo(s)"

Thoughts that I have had this week: 

"I need to improve my Chinese." 

"I need to improve my Japanese." 

"We are never on time" 

"Why am I not full of energy in the morning?" 

"Why can't I give the most spiritual tours in the world?"

"Why don't I work harder?" 

"I don't feel like a missionary." 

"Why don't I stop eating oreos" 

"Why don't I have more time to study everything?"

Everything felt overwhelming and all of my imperfections started bubbling up. There were a lot of things that were making me and my companion feel crappy about ourselves. So. many. things. We weren't doing anything outrageously disobedient, but for some reason Satan got a hold of us. 

We set three simple goals. 1: Be on time and 2: stop talking about home, and 3: stop talking about negative mission things. There were no miracles, no immediate! results! but the week ended so much better. The days were still hard but we could go to sleep knowing that we had tried our hardest, and that was enough to lift 30% of the burden. There were moments where I could feel my heart beating from anxiety from all the things we could be doing better; but I kept being reminded that I needed to work on things one at a time. 

In Mark chapter 9 there is a man whose son is afflicted with a spirit. Jesus says to him, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." The next verse, my favorite, says, 

"And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief."

Elder Holland comments (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng) that we learn from this story the importance of acknowledging what you already have. If we were to all take a second to turn around and reflect on journey thus far, we would know that we could go on for so much more. It is also important to know that it's o k a y to acknowledge our unbelief. This man is begging Jesus for help, because he is lacking. And that's okay. 

I survived this week. I've survived worse weeks. Even though sometimes I'm still not the best or most obedient missionary, I'll be okay as long as I work on it one by one.

I know that you will all be okay too, because you have all been through worse and God is okay with imperfection. The entire purpose of Jesus is to heal our imperfection; and who are we to deny that help? 

On a more lighthearted note, this week was valentines day. What better way to spend your valentines than by being a missionary? Especially a visitor's center missionary? Where we spend some of our time being a part of the free chat service on mormon.org? And we get to talk to all the lonely hearts that roam onto the internet on this very romantic day? I say to you all; there is nothing--NOTHING--more amusing/traumatizing/hilarious than this. 

Here is the winner (prior to reading this chat you must know that the phrase "asl" is used to inquire one's "age/sex/location"): 

Also last night I invented something good. Here is a recipe for goodness in your life:

1. Fill up a microwave safe mug with about 2cm/1in of your favorite kind of milk 

2. Microwave the milk for 45 seconds

3. Put three regular oreos into the milk. Crush until there are no chunks, and every part of the oreo is saturated into the milk. 

4. You should have a gloopy oreo mixture that makes you question Sister Takeshige's health habits. Stick mug back into the microwave for 30-60 seconds. 

5. Take out mug and eat hot oreo mug cake with spoon. Repeat. Steps 1-5 until you feel disgusted with yourself. 

Hope you are all well,

Sister Takeshige 

True Blue

Sister Chamberlin, my brand new companion, is a fellow BYU Cougar. She lived in Provo for a long long long time before her mission, and surprise; she is NOT going home after this transfer! Yay! I'm going to have friends in this mission!

She has gone through a lot and knows for herself that every single principle that we teach as missionaries is true. It's also neat because even though we encounter argumentative people, she is the most patient and level-headed human being to these people. She knows that our job is not to whip out scriptures and prove people wrong, but to help them feel loved, and understand God. If it is their choice to not open their hearts, she leaves it at that, instead of trying to tell them how stupid they all are. 

She is also great at taking Mandarin tours with me. It can be really really hard balancing language tours because more often than not, your companion does not speak the language that you and the guests speak. But she has had a Japanese-Mandarin companion before, and is really good at picking up keywords in Mandarin and following what we are saying. This has helped me be more conscious of myself and how much I translate. Because after all, we missionaries are commanded to teach two by two. When I include my companion, I feel less critical and frustrated when I don't rely on just myself. Which is what the point of Jesus Christ is. I think I just gained revelation as I write this e-mail why God commanded us to teach two by two. Cool beans. 

Sorry if this e-mail didn't make sense. I think it was more for myself. 

Love you all. 

Here is the adorable Sister Chamberlin:

And her nephew, who came and visited us: 

Stomach Knots and Crannies

Does anybody else have too many good things happen to them, that they get some anxiety and nausea? 

This week, Kimberly from the US and two brothers from Congo got baptised. And also all of our investigators are doing great. They have all called the missionaries in their area and met with them, gone to church, and loved it. What the heck did I do to deserve to be a part of all these beautiful people's lives? 

We talked to a man this week named Eric; he isn't very convinced of the legitimacy of the things we believe in the LDS church, but he said something so beautiful. He said: God exists in all cultures and places, and all of those gods are mighty and high. The common idea of a God is that he sits up in a throne of clouds and watches us try to get up to Him. What a radical and simply beautiful notion that Jesus Christ is one that came down to us. 

In reading the New Testament over again, I have noticed that Christ did not perform miracles just to show us His superpowers. He came to tell us that if we have a little bit of faith and trust in Him, He can magnify all things. In the miracle of the fish and loaves of bread, I was reminded that Jesus Christ didn't just snap his fingers, and feed some hungry people. He asked his disciples to serve; "Give ye them to eat". As the disciples brought what little food they had, and trusted that He would make it work somehow, the multitude were fed. No matter what little we have to offer, that offering is enough for God. He will make it work. 

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Wednesday is the beginning of a new transfer (doesn't help the anxiety)! I will have P-day on Tuesday now, so I won't be able to write until then. My companion will be Sister Chamberlin from California (I think). 

French sentence of the week: Je vais m'ennuyer de toi 

Pictures: 

Music and the Spoken Word for Sister Desjourdy's last Sunday

Exploring the secret parts of Beehive House

Skyping Kimberly's baptism!

Le francais c'est difficile!

Last week our Iranian investigator who lives in England got baptised despite living a 90 minute bike ride away from church, and this week our French investigator who lives in France got baptised after finding a Book of Mormon lying on a park bench a couple of months ago. A part of me wants to high five myself and do a little dance, but another part of me feels like we have no part in these miracles.

We had a worldwide missionary broadcast-training-thingamajinger and the gist of what I got out of that training was that we only give people the tools of how they can feel the Spirit of God, and then the rest of it is between them and God. None of these are "our baptisms" or "our investigators". These are all of God's children.

"We teach repentance, and we baptise converts." - Elder Nelson, Worldwide Missionary Broadcast-Training-Thingamajinger

French sentence of the week: Je veux marrier ton frere. Merci beaucoup.

Pictures: 

We hiked Ensign Peak today!

Sister Thomas and Sister Desjourdy are thinking about why a nose runs, but feet smell. 

The weather is different when you're taller. 

VIP tour of the back of the tabernacle organ: (jk, it's just a civilian tour)

Temple Square fact: there are 11,623 pipes in the tabernacle organ