We have been meeting with a family and a single woman who need the gospel more than anyone, but will not accept it. The Usui family is extremely loud and irreverent. We have been trying to talk about love, something they are lacking in their family, but it just doesn't seem to go anywhere. We came up with the idea to play a game to get the kids attention. It involved candy so there was no way they would say no. The game was Simon says. "Simon says jump on one leg!" Then we would give them candy. "Simon says hug your mom!" "EW!!! no!!!!" After yelling louder than them they were convinced and hugged their mom. "Tell your family you love them!" The kids said no, gave up and walked away. It was so sad. We asked their mom if she could say it to the kids. She ran over and grabbed her kids, hugged them and said "I love you!!!....... stupid"
Words are very powerful and the Usui family are using them the wrong way. The kids calmed down and ran away to eat their candy, so we were able to talk to the mom one on one. "your children and soooo fun. They are cute and they are happy. But they don't know what true love is. True love is found in the family, and right now your family needs some help to feel that. We have that help and we are more than willing to give it to you, it just required effort on your part. Are you willing to try?" The mom was silent. She knows that her kids need help. She knows that this gospel can help her family. She wants a stronger family, yet she chose not to.
The next example is a woman named Goto san. She has had a very very hard life. She was pregnant and engaged. Her Fiancé was in a car accident and rushed to the ICU. He was there for 5 months. She prayed every day to a God that her fiancé would come out alive. "If there is a God, you would help me. God is fair and taking him away is not fair." After 5 months of being in the ICU her husband passed away. Goto san then had a beautiful baby boy. She loved him so much. One night when the boy was 5 months old she laid him to sleep and said goodnight like any other night. The next morning she woke up and her son had passed away. It was unexpected and there were no signs of sickness. He just passed away. Goto san then relied on the only things she had left. Her two dogs. Shortly after one of the dogs passed away. Goto san built walls of depression around her and has since been stuck inside. She got trapped in a dark cave of depression and does not even recognize light anymore. She is always sad, but tries to be happy. To be honest Goto san did not really want to meet with us, but we pushed her because we know how much she needs this gospel. She was nice and willing to meet, but she would not make time, not tell us her phone number, and hid behind her front door when she talked to us. We prayed hard and felt that we needed to try one more time. Yesterday we visited her and testified of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the plan of salvation and the reality of a living and loving Heavenly Father. She felt nothing. She was cold. We gave literally everything we had and asked her if she is willing to try. She said no.
My companion and I talked a lot about this. This was very hard for us. People that need the gospel so much, yet chose not to accept it. Why? We are doing EVERYTHING we can. We love them. We study for them. We pray for them. We fast for them, yet they still say no. This is because God loves us so much, He lets us choose. It wasn't that our faith was weak, or we did something wrong, it is their agency and we can't take that away.
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