Faith, Fukuoka and Fun!

It's been a busy week! Last Tuesday we went to Fukuoka for Missionary Leadership Council, which is always fun because I got to see cute little Heaton Shimai again as well as plenty of other good friends. I was still the youngest missionary there in terms of mission age, so that was a little bit lonely and intimidating. But President talked to us and trained us on a bunch of super awesome topics and now I am just pumped to go out and baptize Japan! Thursday, we met as a Zone in Nagasaki and my companion and I, along with the Zone Leaders got to lead the Zone Training Meeting. It's always a little scary talking to a bunch of missionaries about things that they can do better, or different things that President wants us to do, when I myself have SO MUCH that I should be doing better. It was a good experience for me though. Nihei Shimai and I got to talk to everyone about a goal that President has challenged us all to work towards. Basically because this month is Easter, in order to exercise our faith, and show our dedication to the Lord for all that He has done for us, President has challenged each companionship in the mission to set a baptismal date with someone by Easter, April 20th. And then also, because dates isn't what we actually want to lead people to, he also challenged us all to have a baptism before Mother's Day next month! It was super exciting to talk about this with the zone and feel everyone's faith and desire to achieve this goal. We're actually hoping to set a date with one of our investigators this week! Can't wait. Miracles. They're everywhere. Well, I know there were more wonderful things that happened this week, but I'm about out of time. As Easter time approaches, (which they don't actually celebrate in Japan, so I haven't seen ANY Easter decorations, :( ) I have been thinking a lot about the atonement. A little while back, our mission President talked to us about how if our investigators truly understood the atonement and all of the blessings that can come from it, they would get baptized. I really think there is a lot of truth to that. Through Christ, we can be free from guilt, from sorrow, from suffering, and pain. And ultimately, have eternal life and eternal progression. I know that we can all have these blessings if we are willing to submit our will to God's and come unto Christ. I hope everyone had a wonderful conference weekedend, we don't get to watch it until this weekend but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be serving in Japan! Thank you for the prayers and love! Wells Shimai