One Good Sunday

After church is always busy for us.  Today Melissa went Visiting teaching right after church so Callan and I hung out in the chapel until she was done.  While we were waiting I got asked to sit in on a lesson with the missionaries, so I passed Callan off to a few of the American sisters who were still at the church and Went with the Missionaries.  Melissa got done visiting teaching and took Callan home.  Meanwhile I got to see first hand the new missionary approach at work (by ‘new approach’ I am referring to the fact that missionaries no longer use memorized discussions, but are instead instructed to study the doctrine and formulate lessons based on the needs of those who teach. This is much different from even four years ago when I served as a missionary here).  The second lesson I was asked to sit in on was for a young woman named Makishita.  The missionaries met her while waiting outside the church for their free English classes to begin.  She came with book of Mormon in hand, having read and enjoyed 3rd Nephi Chapter 11.

The first thing I noticed was the lack of ‘stuff’ the missionaries had with them.  They carried no notebook, no lesson manuals, no flip charts, nothing except their scriptures.  The senior companion gave the entire lesson and the junior (who is really new and can’t speak much Japanese) bore his testimony at the end.

Weird doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling of sitting in on a missionary discussion in Japanese again after so many years.  I felt at once the desire of the missionaries to help Makishita understand the gospel, I felt the mix of interest and apprehension in the young woman as she experienced the new taste of Christian doctrine, and I also felt something new.  Something I hadn’t felt as a missionary. It was the feeling that I am sure many members had when they sat in on lessons with me when I was a missionary.  I felt a great concern that try as they might, these poor young missionaries might not be able to overcome the language barrier and teach this young woman the things she needed to know, and at the same time I felt a certain level of amazement about what was actually happening before me.  These two American missionaries with less than a year and a half of Japanese language training between the two of them were preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ!  Their audience was eager and the spirit was their.  The language was far from perfect, but the doctrine was pure, and Makishita could feel that.  

After the lesson I caught a ride home with my boss and her husband.  They are both ward missionaries and had been teaching new member discussions to Maki, the 22 year old woman who was baptized last week.  

This evening, after a very Japanese dinner of Miso soup, grilled salmon, salad, and sliced honey-do mellon, the three of us, Callan, Melissa, and I went for a walk in what could actually be classified as cool weather.  Fall has officially arrived in Japan, at least after five pm.  The evenings are cool, the sunsets are vivid, and the rice fields are full.  

After the walk we came home for family home evening.  Callan helped me choose some pictures from the ensign to use for a lesson and he ‘taught’ me and Melissa all about them.  We sang ‘As I search the Holy Scriptures,’ and then ate some apple crisp for desert.  

Callan has been going to bed very well lately, and tonight was no different.  After scripture reading I got him a little snack and a glass of water and then took him into the bathroom to brush his teeth (which consists of putting a very tiny amount of toothpaste on his tooth brush and asking him to open his mouth so we can ‘get all of the animals off of his teeth.’  He gleefully open his mouth as I hunt for Monkeys and elephants and giraffes and bunnies).  After the tooth brush got put away I helped him turn off the bathroom light, and then the bedroom light and he lied down on his bed in the dark.  I handed him his doggy and bunny, (Calvin’s tiger Hobbes would be jealous of the attention these two stuffed animals get) and tucked his blanket in around him.  I went to say goodnight but he grabbed my arm and said, “Daddy, story! Daddy, Story,” So I lied down next to him and began to tell him a story about a little boy who got in a big plane and flew all the way to Japan to live their for a year.  After the story I gave him a kiss, wished him off to sleep and closed the door.  The whole process took less than 20 minutes.  

And now, I am off to sleep myself.