Dear Everyone,
It's been an exciting week.
As for the 12 points that the ward is challenging everyone to do, Ill try to name them off the top of my head,
1. Give a Book of Mormon to a friend
2. Write your testimony about the Book of Mormon and give it to the missionaries
3. Invite the missionaries over for a meal/message
4. Invite a friend to Family Home Evening
5. Invite a friend to Church
6. Invite a friend to Other Church Activity
7. Give a passalong card to a friend
8. Introduce yourself to new people or non-members at church
Hmm... I can only remember 8, but next week Ill write them down so I can email all of them to you. Anyways, its just sort of along those lines. Everyone will pick one thing to work on each month. Some things are relatively easy, some things are much harder, but because you have 1 entire year to do them all, it seems a lot more reasonable. Everyone can probably find 1 person among all the people they know sometime in 2010 that would like a Book of Mormon. I think the difficult part is not many people know how to talk to their friends about it.
However, there is one thing for sure.
1. The better friends you are with someone, the EASIER it will be for them to listen to you when you talk about the gospel. The better relationship you have with someone, the more seriously they will take you when you talk about your beliefs. They will be more likely to seriously consider what you say.
2. Don't ever think that 'If I talk about it with them, they will stop being friends with me'. Someone that you know closely will know you as a person, and already know you are not crazy or wierd, and won't think badly of you if you try to explain to them something that is important to you. They will continue to be your friend even if they have no interest in the gospel, so it's always good to see :)
3. Sometimes I think that the nervous or akward feelings are put into our hearts unnessecarily. Explaining what is important to you, and what you think is only as akward as you make it :) Sharing the gospel is like sharing your opinions on something else, explaingin why you think the way you do. There are probably many opportunities that will come up naturally - friends asking you questions about the church, clarifying what we believe. People will be curious.
4. Finally, know that it is true. :) We have nothing to fear, because we know that what we believe is true, and it will always do good for us. Because it's not just a mere belief or opinion, it is something that we have recieved an answer about. We can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, beyond just hoping that it's true (or believing because that's what someone told us to believe), we can take assurance in the fact that we can know for ourselves, completely unrelated to the influences from others, by asking God, and he will tell us. Everyone can do this. That's why there is no reason to fear, because we know it's true.
Some may want to learn about it, some may not. That's OK. We all have choices and we're not going to force anything on anyone. That's a critical point. However, everyone needs to be offered a chance at least. So, find one person this year who you want to give that chance to. If they dont accept, they will still be your friend. They will respect you for having strong beliefs and reasons for believing them.
The view from Elder Mumford's apartment window in Shonan.
(Talk about tight parking! How do you suppose that little white van is going to get out?)
I want to thank everyone for the wonderful letters and packages. I just got in the mail, the camera, cheese, and posters, and everything else. I've already taken a LOT of pictures and I still have space for about 1000 more, but Ill take a lot of pictures of Elder Matias and send it home right away so you can give them to his mom. Elder Matias also is about ready to send home a very full SD card, with pictures of his whole mission.
We have been making lots of good omlets with the sharp cheese :)
Elder Matias' mom asked him to tell me to tell you thank you so much for praying for her. She loves having you as a friend. I was also very touched by her letter. It sounds like she is having a very hard time right now, but is still so strong in the gospel and extremely grateful.
Elder Matias is also a great person, we are having so much fun here, and he loves being a missionary. He plans on going back to Brazil after the mission, working for a few months, then coming to BYU for college. So maybe we'll be able to see each other again :). Elder Maitas has been out for about 1 year now, this is his 6th transfer in Japan. His brother recently finished his mission in Nagoya. He is now back in Brazil. His city (Guaruja) is a surfing city, its actually a small island right next to the capital. Its kind of cool because, Elder Matias' brother actually served in Shizuoka, which is actually pretty close to Shonan, but in a different mission.
Hamamatsu is probably only a 1 or 1/2 hour drive from here. (Hamamatsu is where Ryosuke Kato lives.)
(By the way, tell Seth thank you for trying to secure that apartment for me. I really appreciate it. Also I got the cat calendar from Madison! It arrived the day after Seth's birthday, so sorry for missing it, but go ahead and wish him a happy birthday from me).
Anyways, I think you will enjoy the pictures, we had lots of fun with the new camera. We have to cut it a bit short today, because we got to the email place a bit late, but thank you everyone for the great support!
Keep up the great work wherever you are. Make sure to have fun!
Enjoy it, you only get one life!
-Elder Martin D Mumford
-AAJKN, OOPTY
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