こんにちわ！
How are you all doing? I hope you're doing well. It's so weird. Half of me feels like I just wrote you and the other half of me says "Oh my gosh it's been ages." Kind of weird to feel both at once. :-) I don't have a lot to say this week... It was an eventful week, but nothing that really was huge if that makes sense. :P
Temple with Tamae:
This week we went to the Tokyo Temple grounds with one of our kyudosha named Tamae. :-D It was my first time going to the Tokyo Temple. It was really really fun. The temple is so different here in Japan. It's so small and... orange. xD I asked Kuwahara shimai about it and she said that Japanese people don't like bright rooms so instead of it being completely white like all the temples in Utah it really is orange. I'm excited to go there again in 2 weeks to actually do a session.
This time though it was all about Tamae and helping her to feel the spirit. It went really well. :-) Here's the basic deal with Tamae... Tamae has been a Progressing Investigator since June, which is a ridiculously long time. She's received all of the lessons and she attends church every week and reads the Book of Mormon every day... but she won't be baptized. She doesn't think she has enough faith to be baptized. We were hoping that we could help her realize the importance of baptism by going to the temple... She was really interested in Endowments, but I'm not sure she understands why baptism is important... It can be slightly frustrating to be honest. Stupid agency. ;)
Anyway, we're hoping to meet with her again this week so we can talk to her more and figure out exactly what the problem is. Ta-da!
Zone Conference:
This week we had a mini zone conference! It was really fun... I learned a lot... I felt the spirit... xD Yeah, pretty normal. The fun thing from this was that we rode the trains for about an hour and a half!! I love trains. Love love love. I seriously am like a little puppy staring out the windows in awe at how fast we're moving and how pretty Japan is. :-D I like trains. (Yes, that was an asdf movie reference. ;D)
Yoko:
Last thing for today. Told you I didn't have a lot... A lot happened, but not a lot worth mentioning. :P
Last week I wrote about meeting Yoko-san. She's SO awesome. I didn't get to really go into a lot of detail about her so let me give you a quick description of her background. She's a Nihonjin, born and raised, but when she turned 26 she moved to Florida to study English for 10 years. She loves America... or at least Americans. She's dyed her hair a ridiculously blonde color, she wears contacts to make her eyes really really really blue, and she always stares at me. :P
Apparently while she was in America her friends told her she should try to find a religion to join. She said "Well, okay!" And started studying the bible. She LOVES the bible. Well, she forgot about the whole church thing after a while and then she moved back to Japan. When she got here she was like "Hey! I should try to find a church again." (This kinda gives you a glimpse of her personality. :P) So that day, she decided she was going to get dressed up and walk down all the streets in Japan until she found a church to go visit. There is not a doubt in my mind Heavenly Father guided her to the street our church was on. When she walked by the church, she saw a lot of people dressed up who looked friendly going in and said "This looks good!" That's when we met her.
Yesterday, we had our first real lesson with her. :-) It was amazing. Kuwahara shimai and I had 2 lessons scheduled for the same time though so we ended up going on splits. I went with this rather intimidating lady named Saito-shimai to teach Yoko. Saito shimai doesn't speak any English though, so I had to do my best to teach in as much Japanese as I could. I relyed a lot on my English though and Yoko translated anytime I did. I think that was good though. I think it helped to make sure she knew what I was talking about, you know?
Anyway, I taught the first lesson, The Restoration. The whole time she was just smiling and nodding and saying "Ohhh. Ohhh. So what you're saying is..." Then I started explaining the Great Apostasy and how God's church was taken off the Earth. People became confused and began their own churches. She said "YEAH! I want to know that! I want to know how so many churches believe in 1 book but they all teach different things!" AH! I got so excited. x) I started to talk about Joseph Smith. I said "Joseph Smith had that same question. He wanted to know which of all these churches was true." I told the story of the First Vision. The spirit was so strong. After I finished, Yoko-san was fighting off tears. She just kept saying "This is wonderful. Amazing... This is wonderful. It's true, isn't it?" I told her that I know it's true and she can really know for herself by praying and reading the Book of Mormon. She said "Of course! Of course!" Then came the really scary part. We have a rule that Tokyo Missionaries always extend the baptism invitation during the first lesson... So I did.
"Of course!! Of course! Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes yes. Definitely. This is amazing!"
YAY!!! So Yoko has commited to baptism on October 28th. :-D I'm so happy for her! It's amazing to me just how willing she is to hear the gospel and just accept it! She doesn't even question anything, she just says "I know it's true!" She's emailed us every day since last Sunday saying "I love this book! This book is amazing! This book is true! Thank you so much!" It's been amazing. Everytime I think of her I just smile. :-D
Well, that about sums up my week. :-) Other than that, we sang in Sacrament Meeting... We had a small little festival called "Outreach" that I think they do every week for members and nonmembers (OH! I met this girl there who's almost as obsessed with Disney as I am. xD), and... Oh! Elder Aoyagi from the Quorum of the 70 came to Sacrament Meeting yesterday... and I taught Primary yesterday. That was fun too. Hahahaha! Like I said. Lots of things happened, but not a ton that's worth mentioning more than that.
Thank you all for your prayers and your support. I miss you all a lot, but I know that this is important. It's amazing to me that I've finished 3 weeks now. Everyone says it goes faster after your first transfer too. It won't be long before I'm back home! Crazy. :-)
I love you guys! I'll write you all again next week!
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グラスランド姉妹
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