October 10, 2011

愛する家族：
Alright I'm back.

Mom, it certainly is very interesting to be Derricott Shimai's companion. Today we went to a lunch with a lady that Derricotts stayed with in Japan when they very first moved here. They are nonmembers but have remained friends since and had pictures of Sister Derricott and her siblings when they were little and had come over to the house.

Also, tonight we had dinner with some members and arranged to have a gathering next week with a whole bunch of their non-member friends and invite Brother Derricott. We are really excited about the effects it could have and the doors it could open for missionary work. This kind of missionary work is something I wasn't exactly trained for... but it is certainly interesting.

Something else: This week Sister Derricott ate the last 2 green olives we had left in the fridge. We lamented over that for a few moments and then forgot about it. The next day we got an e-mail and as Sister Derricott read it she said jokingly, "The Lord really does know every detail of our lives; my dad just asked if we wanted some more green olives when he visits us! God even knows about our olive situation." I jokingly asked, "You mean He knows 'olive' our situation?"

I'm for sure not telling you this because I think my humor is of any quality (I know it's not...), but that has sort of become the theme of our lives lately. The Lord does know 'olive' our situation. He knows what circumstances we are in and expects us to still follow His commandments.

Thank you for always thinking about Sano. I was thinking about her and remembered about the night before she got baptized. We had prepared all that we needed to for the program, had found a dress, and were ready to go except for one thing: we needed some white underwear. At about 7pm that night we started getting a little nervous; stores were beginning to close. Isn't it amazing all the little teeny things that can keep someone from being baptized? We had gone to several places and hadn't found any. We came out of yet another store that did not carry our much-needed item and offered a fervent prayer, that of all things, we would somehow be able to cross paths with a pair of white underwear. At 7 we had a dinner appointment, so we went there and trusted that things would work out. They did: the members suggested another place to try and we left the dinner early to go check, and they were there. (God really does know olive our situation.)

Last week when Cam sent me a letter he referenced Alma 41:14-15. I read it and thought about that a lot. Before, I have mainly thought of our resurrection being a physical restoration. But reading the first part of verse 15 that says "That which ye do send out shall return unto you" made me realize how spiritual it will be. Kind of a karma sort of phenomena: what goes up must come down. That all the good, all the mercy and justice and love that we have given away in this life will be restored to us in the next. Really, our happiness that we receive in the next life will be proportional to the happiness we give out in this one. It makes me think of the scripture 'He that loseth his life shall find it...". God can't 'restore' something to us that we haven't already given up... so if we want to receive mercy and justice, we have to give them. That's a really basic principle that everyone besides me probably realized, but it's something I've been thinking about lately. And now I have a testimony of karma. : )

Alright, I'll stop pretending like I've got anything else interesting to say.

Goodnight! Love from Japan! お休みなさい！

ーウエイト姉妹