Hello, everyone! I'm sure
you've all been anxiously waiting to hear the news about Takumi (last week's
miracle). Well, turns out he wasn't interested....
Disappointing, right?
Yeah. I know.
That's why I wanted to
set it up so that you have even a better emotional YES when I say that he has a
baptismal date! But it really is a sad story.
We met with him on
Tuesday night. He came with us and we taught him the 1st lesson. For those who
know, the 1st lesson's 1st point it "God is our Loving HEavenly Father".
We talked to him about his family, and asked him if he had one.
He said no.
He told us about how he'd
lost a lot of his Dad's money, so he'd been abandoned by them. Lost, scarred,
and alone, he was wandering the streets of Niigata (my area) probably wondering
if he had any worth; probably praying in his soul, without consciously knowing
how, that he could experience the feeling of the prodigal son (like his email
adress title) and return home, loved and secured.
That was when an awkward,
bumbling foreigner that couldn't speak Japanese very well stopped him asking in
chopped up Japanese if he was ok. Surprised, but still utterly hopeless, he
responded, "no. I'm not." This awkward foreigner said something about
religion and some sort of free class, but said to ignore that. The stranger
gave a flyer with a phone number and a map to a church. He then ordered, quite
impolitley, "Give me your number. I call later."
This hopeless young man,
abandoned by family and aching for anything, gave out his number.
4 days later, he sat,
learning about a boy called Joseph Smith, who had read the bible. This
abandoned young man said that he, too, had read all of the New Testament in his
life. Then, two strange foreigners and one stranger from Japan asked this poor
young man if he would consider following Jesus Christ, and be accepted into His
church.
Takumi said yes. And
since Tuesday, he has become so much happier. He reads the Book of Mormon
daily, and has read up to 2nd Nephi 9 (this was on Friday. I don't know how far
he is now).
But, he's 19. In Japan,
you can't get baptized without parental permission before the age of 20.
WHat do we do?
We had a member-present
lesson with our Mission President this Saturday. In in, President Budge asked
how old Takumi was, ready to break bad news.
Takumi said, "I turn
20 November 13th."
His baptismal date is on
the 16th of November.
God is preparing people.
This is my burning testimony. "Shall we not go on in so great a
cause?" Every member a missionary, eh? Let's do this.
Sincerely,
Elder Chun
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