Transfer 11, Week 6: November 10, 2013 -- The Last One

Well... This is it!  My last email home as a missionary!  I can't even believe it's over...  It's been a crazy year and a half and I would never change a minute of it!  I've loved every second and It's definitely changed my life. :-)

I only have 2 stories to share this week and not much time to share them.  So here we go. :-)

Akiko:

I talked last week about Akiko's birthday.  It was an amazing experience for her and she really did feel SO much love.President Wada called her and talked with her about Baptism to which she said she'd think about it.

Well, this week I was on kokans with Sister Barnes in Yamato.  We decided we were going to go visit Akiko and see how she was doing.  It was a surprise visit so we weren't even sure if she'd be home... but miracle number 1, she was!  She thanked me for making her birthday the most memorable birthday she's ever had.  She also thanked me for the present that I gave her. (A pocket-sized hymnbook)  She said it was the perfect present.  It's too small for her to read the notes, but just big enough to be able to read the words to the hymns... and since it's so small she can carry it with her everywhere she goes.  I talked with her about her birthday and she mentioned a phone call from a man who's name she couldn't remember.  She said he mentioned something about baptism and said "I realized that right now in my life there are so many roads in front of me.  I have to choose one of those roads or I'm not going to progress... I've decided I want to be baptized." :-D  YAAAAAAAAAAY!

Ayda:

On Sister Feist's second day here in Japan we were walking back to the apartment after a very long day of dendo. Both of us were pretty tired. As we were walking back I we began talking to this woman near our apartment. It turned out she was from Iran and had been living in Japan for quite some time. When she heard that Sister Feist had just gotten to Japan she quickly gave us her phone number and said (in perfect English) "If you have any questions or need any help call me!"

We've kept in touch with her ever since then. We came to find out that she was really really busy with work making it hard to meet. Apparently being a model, an actor, and teaching belly dancing is pretty busy. Finally though we were able to make an appointment to meet with her this week. When we got there, both of us were pretty nervous about meeting her... We walked in and of course the first thing she did was offer us coffee. We explained to her quickly about the Word of Wisdom and she said "Wow! That's amazing! I love that! Our bodies really are special." We went on to talking about her modeling job and what it was like and she said "Actually it's really hard. A lot of times they try to get me to wear those really sexy clothes, but that's just not me! I don't like wearing immodest clothes. Like you said, our bodies are special!" She went on to teach us pretty much the entire Law of Chastity. :P We talked with her about how we believed in Eternal Marriage and she said "Wow! That's so good! I want to learn more about your church!" We ended up at the end giving her a Book of Mormon (which she offered to pay for) and committing her to read it. It was incredible and the spirit was there so strongly.

Those prepared people really are out there if we keep searching. Although we may not immediately recognize them as prepared, if we just open our mouths and do those 10 meaningful contacts, God really does put them in our path. :-)

It's been amazing week and I'm so sad to have to leave.  I don't want to go!!!

I love you all so much.  I'm looking forward to seeing you all in 2 weeks. :-)  The church is true!  God lives and loves us SO much.  Everytime I look back on any of my experiences on my mission I can just feel it with every part of me.  God knows us and loves us.  He wants to help us and he always has his hand reached out to us.  I'm so thankful I have had this chance to be his servant and I can't wait to be his servant for eternity.  I have LOVED being a missionary so much. I'm so grateful for the chance I've had to be here among the Japanese people.

Love you all! See you soon. :-)

Sister Christine Grosland

PS: Isaiah 41:10

Transfer 11, Week 5: November 4, 2013

I officially have 2 weeks left from today... How weird is that to think about.  In 3 weeks from today I'll... still be in Japan actually.  x)  But! The next week I'll be back in America... Weeeird.  I don't really like to think about it... I feel like I'm on this emotional roller coaster right now. Some days I'm like "Yeah!  Let's dendo! I never want this to end!"  Other days I'm like "I can't do this for 2 more weeks!  Just send me home now!"  It's been kind of a rough week in that sense...

But let's get to it. :-)

Tuesday:

Sister Feist's BIRTHDAY!  :-D  It was... a really long day.  x)  We started off the day with a Halloween Party by a few of the members for their English Classes.  It was really fun, but really stressful. The kids were all around 10-13 years old and they really don't know much English.  So while the teachers would be giving them directions in English they would just start talking to each other instead of listening... I felt really bad, but tried to make it fun.  When that was over though we were approached by several of the Mom's.  They heard that we taught a free English program at the church and were really interested in coming!  :-D  Yaaaay!

When that was over we went out to the train station to do a kubari-kai (Handing out flyers like crazy! :P).  I saw this woman holding a baby and complimented her.  She stopped and complimented my Japanese and asked what I was doing in Japan.  I explained that we were church missionaries and she said "Wow!  That's interesting!  Did you hear about what happened down in *insert name of place I've never heard of before*?"  I was kind of taken back and said "No..."  She went on talking about what had happened... I'll be honest though I didn't understand everything that was being said.  Here's what I understood.  Some man out in some random place was supposed to be executed.  They put him under a guillotine and let it drop, but it didn't kill him.  The blade couldn't cut his neck.  Then he stood up and faced the crowd and started preaching about World Peace.  She said "Christ died on the cross, right?  You see!  He had no power.  This man has real power and all the world is seeing that now!  Nobody practices Christianity!  All Christians are now starting to worship this man!  There are Christians all over the world who pray to their God and they still have bad things happen to them right?  That's because your God doesn't exist.  He's not real.  Someday when you're going through a hard trial and your praying to your God and you don't get an answer, read this news article and remember what I told you."

-sigh-  I hate getting dendo'd...

After she left I told Sister Feist about what happened and went back to my spot to continue passing out fliers.  About 10 minutes later Sister Feist came up to me and told me about the man she had just talked to.  Apparently this man was even more rude than the woman I had just encountered.  He had said to her "You worship Jesus Christ?  Tell me something. Why wasn't Jesus married?"  Sister Feist tried to answer saying something about how we think marriage is something very sacred and special.  His response: "Yeah, that's 'cause you guys have like 60 wives each!  You should have done your research before you came out here!"

Needless to say, we both walked away from that kubari kai not feeling extremely genki...  Then we headed to the church for a lesson with Miki.  We walked into the church and headed into the cultural hall to set up when... SURPRISE!  A surprise party for Sister Feist!  :-) I've been planning this surprise party for nearly a week now.  I worked my hardest to make it happen and it all worked out lovely!  We had 2 investigators come as well as 4 of our PI's!  Sister Homem bought some DELICIOUS food that we all ate and the Elders brought a bunch of games to play. :-)  It was definitely the funnest part of the day. x)

Wednesday:

We've started a new activity on Wednesday mornings that I've been calling "Mama Eikaiwa".  There's a woman in the ward who has a bunch of friends who really have an interest in learning English, but because they have 2-year-olds in the house it's impossible to come from 7-8:30 on Thursday nights.  So instead we've started teaching them in the mornings!  :-D  This week was the first time we've tried it and it was definitely a success.  We ended up actually talking about the Word of Wisdom with them. :-)  It was way good.

Then we had a mogi lesson with Sister Meguro that was really good.  I learned the Japanese word for "Living Water".  It's so interesting because you here that in English and we think water that's alive or something.  In Japanese what it means is water you need in order to survive.  You drink the water and you live. I love Japanese!

Thursday:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  We had a really fun Halloween.  In the morning we were trick-or-treated by a nearby preschool.  SOOO cute. x)  Then we had a gyoza making party with Fifi (the girl we met at Friends Circle last week!)  There were 10 people there in total and of those 10, 4 of us were members.  We were able to give out a Restoration Pamphlet and another woman really had an interest in the church it seems! :-)  Success!

Then that night we had MUSIC NIGHT!!!  Whaaat!  :-D  It was a lot of fun.  There were about 70 people there total (Not including missionaries) with very little advertisement. About 40 of them were non-members.  It was a lot of fun. :-)

Friday:

I went on my first kokan of the transfer! First of 4.  The next one actually starts tonight!  Sister Ellingson and I worked together here in Fujisawa.  It was way fun.  We went to see a few of Sister Ellingsons old investigators and also had a mogi lesson with one of the members.  Loved it.  That night we had a lesson with Hiroko.  She's been reading the Book of Mormon and LOVES it.  She just finished 1 Nephi 5 and she said she really relates to Sariah.  She said that Sariah felt really real to her.  She's starting to find answers on her own in the Book of Mormon as well as applying what she's reading to herself!  I LOVE it!

Saturday:

We had District Meeting and then at 5pm a BAPTISM!  And guess who came... Toshiko!!!  Oh my gosh it was an incredible miracle.  This was the first time that Toshiko has been able to see a baptism service and she said it really touched her.  She said that she could tell baptism was something really important and that she felt something different watching it. :-)  Next baptism : Toshiko!

After the baptism we went to a members house for a dinner appointment.  Sister Feist got to eat octopus for the first time.  x)  I asked her how it was and she answered "Chewy."  Hahahaha!

Sunday:

Akiko's birthday!  I got her a present from the temple store last temple day and gave that to her.  She came a little bit late to Relief Society so I also announced her birthday to all the sisters in Relief Society and asked them to wish Akiko a happy birthday.  They all did. :-)  Akiko was so overwhelmed she started to cry.  She said that at her age nobody remembers her birthday anymore and she felt so loved that people cared about her enough to simply wish her a happy birthday. :-)  After church I also had President Wada give her a quick call to wish her a happy birthday which he gladly agreed to.  He asked her how her birthday was and she again talked about how much love she felt and how happy she was at church.  She said "I can tell by the feelings I get around all of you that this has to be true."  President Wada asked her if the missionaries have invited her to be baptized yet and he asked her to talk to us about it.  She said she would. :-D  Seed planted!  I've been waiting for this since June!!  We're hoping to meet with her and invite her to be baptized really soon. :-)

And that was my week!  It's been a really long week and I'm REALLY tired.  I'm definitely starting to feel a year and a half's work catching up to me. Just a little bit longer now!

Love you all so much!  Hope you all have had a fantastic week!  See you all very soon!

Love,

Christine

Transfer 11, Week 4: October 27, 2013

Well, everyone.  This is it.  The final countdown. (Ten points if you just burst out into song. ;D)  Hahaha!  Now that we're getting to the end here, things have been just flying by.  Here we go!

Tuesday:

Tuesday was a pretty fun day.  This last week was one of the Elders I work with (Elder Merrill) birthday!  That morning we had a fun Relief Society Activity where we made Halloween Cookies!  The Relief Society Presidency asked us to come in and help with the activity and it ended up being a miracle we were there since 3 of the women who came were nonmembers invited by members! :-)  Look at Fujisawa Members go!  Ever since all the talk of Hastening the Work the Fujisawa ward has picked up this Dendo Fire that is incredible!  We've been introduced to so many random people this last week.  It's been so fun. :-)

After the activity we took a bunch of the cookies and went to the Elders apartment loaded with two bags of balloons and random other things from Daiso (The Japanese version of a dollar store).  When we got to their apartment though we realized that we forgot to bring tape with us.  xD  Not to worry though.  We were able to tie half of the balloons to everything. >:) It was hilarious.

Then that night we had a surprise party for Elder Merrill that Miki came to!  It was way fun. :-) About Miki though... She recently found a part-time job and now she doesn't want to come to church... She's basically dropped us... It's waaay depressing...  We're trying to help her build some strong relationships with the members, but it's been way hard.  All of the members are WAY good a fellow-shipping her when they see her, but what we need is someone who will be her friend outside of church as well.  Someone who will invite to her things and call her randomly to see how she's doing and such... Hopefully we'll find someone like that soon. :-)

Wednesday:

I woke up Wednesday morning just feeling really really sick... Honestly, Wednesday was just not the greatest day.  We had an all white day (no plans...) and just really bad attitudes.  We went out and dendo'd but the whole day just felt heavy.  It kinda sucked. :P

Thursday:

Probably one of the hardest moments ever... All day Thursday we had a Zone Conference.  President Wada gave us all trainings for about 9 hours.  It was really helpful, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel like a lot of what was being said didn't apply to me.  They were talking about the future of the mission... It was pretty hard to focus... Especially because, since it was my last Zone Conference, it was my turn to give my "Dying" testimony. (All the missionaries going home bear their testimonies at their last Zone Conference.. We all call it a "dying missionary".)  I was SO nervous.  I had NO idea what I was going to talk about... I ended up bearing my testimony about one of the hardest parts of my mission.  I cried the entire time.  xD  I'm pretty sure every missionary in that room now thinks I'm a big crybaby.  Whatever.  ;)

After the conference was over I was approached by several people thanking me for my testimony. One of the people that approached me was the Fujisawa Stake President.  He thanked me for my testimony and asked me to bear it again for a youth Sacrament Meeting the next Sunday. 

Friday:

In the morning we were asked to go help out some of the members with something they do called "Friends Circle". It's a bunch of 2-5 year olds who all come together and play games and sing songs together and such. :-)  This week they were doing a Halloween Party and wanted us to teach a really fast English Class and help out with Trick-or-Treating!  :-)  It was SO cute.  I loved it so much. :-) The amazing part though was actually after it was over.  After it was over a woman walked up to us and introduced herself as a member of Yamato ward.  She pointed out one of the other woman there and said "That's my friend.  This is the first time I've invited her to any kind of a church activity, but hopefully she'll come again.  If she does, make sure you talk to her!"  We made a note and were about to leave... Then this friend (Fifi is her name) came up to us and asked us if we'd like to make gyoza with her sometime!  :-D  We set up a date to do it and now she's going to be teaching a bunch of members how to make Gyoza. :-)  We're way excited about it.  Not just because we love gyoza (:P) but this will definitely be a major defining moment for Fifi in her life.  She'll have a chance to make a lot of friends with members of the church hopefully bringing her one step closer to her Heavenly Father. :-D

Also on Friday we had a lesson with Hiroko.  Hiroko is still progressing really well.  She pulled out her Book of Mormon this week and asked us a few really good questions!  We ended up being able to teach her a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and invite her to be baptized.  She said no, but she does still want to keep learning from the Book of Mormon.  :-)

Saturday:

I got really sick and was ordered by Sister Homem not to leave the apartment.  xP  Honestly though there was a LOT of things that needed to be done inside the apartment anyway so we just spent all day doing inside dendo.  We emailed all of our PI's, spent 3 hours updating our Area Book, ate, sent out more emails, and just worked.  I was amazed.  Although we didn't leave the apartment we were WAY busy all day.  Talk about a miracle. :-)

Sunday:

President and Sister Wada came to church!  Honestly, yesterday was just jam-packed with miracles. I  can't even tell you half of them. President Wada really got the ward SO fired up about missionary work!  We've been approached by SO many people since he spoke.  Yesterday 2 different members talked with us about people they're hoping to refer to us.  The work is definitely progressing.

After normal church was the Youth Sacrament Meeting.  It was sooo cute.  x)  All these 12-18 year olds trying to conduct a Sacrament Meeting all by themselves. :P  It was pretty fun.  I was waaaay nervous to bear my testimony again, but as I stood up to speak I definitely was able to feel the Gift of Tongues take over. :-)  I don't know how I said half the things I said, but it came out and it was good!  After that, we went out and dendo'd!  President Wada has been having all of us count how many Meaningful Contacts we have a day lately.  It's this new thing he calls "The Power of Ten".  With about 100 missionaries in our mission, if each one of us has 10 meaningful contacts every day that's... A LOT of meaningful contacts.  x)   Yesterday, we saw a huge miracle... 24 meaningful contacts. :-)  I talked to 4 of those. xP  My companion is on FIRE!  She's amazing.  Love her!

Well, I've got to get off now, but I love you all!  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  See you all in about 20 days or so!  :-D

The church is true!

Love,

Christine

Transfer 11, Week 3: October 21, 2013

Woah... The transfer is almost half over already!  I can't even believe it!

Well, this week has been a lot of fun so I'll fill you in on all the good stuff!

Mogi Time!:

This week we were able to have a lot of mogi lessons (fake lessons where the members pretend to be investigators so we can practice teaching and practice our Japanese skills) that were really helpful!  My companion really is SO good at Japanese.  Much better than I was when I first got here and she's picking up on more and more every day.  Actually today, she had several conversations on her own with people on the train in JUST Japanese.  She's the best. ;)

Sister Barbie:

This week we went to the Bike Store to pick out a bike for my companion.  We got there and I started talking about what kind of a bike she'd probably need and asked her if she saw any bikes that she wanted.  That's when we found this pink bike. :-)  God put it there JUST for Sister Feist.  She saw it and immediately said "I want that one."  I called the bike store over and asked him a bunch of questions about it.  I asked him specifically how to take it apart for transfers and such.  He said that it was very difficult to take apart because you needed a special tool.  Sister Feist really wanted that bike so she asked "What kind of tool? Show me!"  The man brought over the tool and she says "Oh that's easy!"  She grabs the tool and takes apart the bike right there. xD  The mans jaw seriously dropped to the floor.  My companion just smiled and said "This one."

My companion is the best. x)

Return to Kichijoji:

Yes. We were in Kichijoji AGAIN this week.  x)  This week they had an activity where 70-80 SA's from all over Tokyo came to Kichijoji to dendo with the missionaries.  We all met up in Kichijoji and went out and dendo'd!  It was such an amazing experience.  I got to see a lot of the members from Urayasu and Kichijoji and catch up with them!  We went out streeting for about 2 hours and in those 2 hours saw tons of miracles.  After it was over though, I was exhausted.  You know you're getting to be an old missionary when only 2 hours of streeting exhausts you.  Sister Feist was pretty out of it as well and when we were on the train she literally fell asleep standing.  We tried so hard to talk to people despite our exhaustion though and Heavenly Father rewarded us.

As I was standing there, the girl standing next to me accidentally bumped into me a little bit.  She apologized and I smiled and said "Wow!  That's such a cute sweater!  Where did you buy it?!"  We ended up talking for a little while and she asked why we were in Japan.  I told her we were church volunteers and asked her what she thought about church.  She said she didn't know what church was like and asked about it.  I talked to her a little about how much love and peace I feel when I go to church.  Then my sweet companion, in her very limited Japanese, says "Do you want to go to church?"  Honestly, when she said it I cringed a little bit.  I was like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"  But to my surprise, the girl said "Yes!  I want to see!"  We gave her the address to the closest church to her and invited her to go.  We were also able to give her a Book of Mormon and she promised to read it. :-)  Unfortunately we reached our stop before we could actually get her contact information, but because I had ours written up I quickly gave that to her and asked her to call us. (Fail, I know, but it was better than nothing.)

The last few days that has happened a few times.  We've been able to give away a ton of pamphlets and Books of Mormon and all kinds of things.  God is truly preparing people for us. :-)

I don't have enough time to go into everything else that happened to me this week unfortunately... Shortened version: We had this amazing fireside all about member missionary work.  Lately I've been SO exhausted and I keep thinking to myself "I can't wait to go home so I can just take a break."  ... but I realized something this week.  If I am truly converted to this gospel, I won't stop when I get home.  This is a lifelong promise I've made to my Heavenly Father.  When I was baptized I promised Him that I would obey His commandments and one of those commandments is to declare the gospel to all the Earth.  Even when I come home, I will still be my Heavenly Fathers servant.  I cannot wait to serve Him for the rest of eternity. :-)

I know this gospel is true.  I've been watching it change the lives of so many people around me.  I know that this truly is the ONE way to happiness.  God loves us all so much. :-)  I hope that you know that.

This week has been fantastic and I'm looking forward to another fantastic week.  This next week I'll have to give my dying testimony which I'm pretty nervous about.  I'll make sure you guys hear about it...

Love you all so much!  See you in less than 30 days!

Love,

Christine

PS: Alma 37:6-7

A Personal Note from Mom,

We have 32 days before we leave for Japan to pick up our missing child.  I know Christine has very mixed feelings about coming home as she loves Japan and the people there so much, but I also know she is REALLY excited about coming home and seeing everyone again.  I am excited and scared to be going out to Japan, especially since we have never left the country.  It will be the experience of a lifetime.  We are all going-the whole family.  I know....Look out Japan!

Just so everyone knows, our plan is to be home on Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving Day) in the evening after driving home from Los Angeles.  If you would like to come see Christine, she will be home on Friday, but will probably need some time to adjust to the new time schedule.  She will be losing a whole day.  So, I would suggest Saturday or Sunday. 

I am so grateful to Christine for the example she has been to all of us.  This mission was not easy.  She struggled and even wanted to come home for a while, but she stuck it out.  She has grown in ways I never expected and yet she is still the same sweet Christine we all know.  I can't wait to have her home!

Thanks all!

~Mom

Transfer 11, Week 2: October 15, 2013

皆様こんばんは！

Hope everyone has had a fantastic week!  Mine has been pretty crazy....  But then again, when is my week not crazy.  x)

 

Tuesday and Wednesday:

TRANSFER CALLS! 

Well, transfer calls were definitely a huge surprsie. :-)  Here's the results.  Sister Miwa has abandoned her trainer and gone to open up a brand new area called Odawara as a sempai! (She's just that good. :-D)  Sister Thomas is opening a new area as well called Fussa as a follow up trainer.  That leaves me here in Fujisawa with... a new missionary!  :-)  That's right. I'm training again.  Woooo!

So because Tuesday was transfer calls that kind of took over the whole days plans.  xP  We had to get packed and ready to go and everything so that was exciting. Wednesday was also filled with packing and cleaning the apartment.  However, Sister Ellingson and I also had a childrens Eikaiwa and a normal Eikaiwa to teach in Yamato at evening... So we had to leave for that.  At Eikaiwa we had WAY too much fun and lost track of time.  Before we knew it, it was nearly 9 and we had about 40 minutes to get back to the Fujisawa Sisters Apartment which was a train and a bus ride away... x)  She and I ran all the way from the Yamato church building to the train station, from the train station to the bus, and from the bus stop to the apartment making it JUST in time.  xD  When we walked in Sister Miwa and Sister Thomas kind of freaked out and were like "Are you okay?!?"   It was pretty entertaining.

 

Thursday:

On Thursday morning we woke up bright and early to pick up our new missionaries.  All of us were way nervous.  Out of the 7 Fujisawa missionaries 3 of us were made trainers and we all rode the train together to pick them up.  It was a very long train ride. xP  When we finally got to Kichijoji and met all the sisters I noticed one very big thing... of the 5 new sisters, only 1 was nihonjin... Uh-oh. :P

Well, because I don't have enough time to make this super dramatic, my new companion is Sister Feist!  :-)  She's like 6' tall, blonde, blue eyes, SUPER gaijin!  I love her!  x)  It's been SO much fun.  On Thursday we spent most of the day in Kichijoji doing trainings and such on how to be good trainers and trainee's and such. Finally we came back to Fujisawa for Eikaiwa.  At Eikaiwa we had a new student named Momoko!  We talked to her for like 20 minutes and were able to get her email address!  Love her already!

 

Friday:

Sister Feist's first lesson in Japan... and oh my gosh it was.... Yes.  It was with Enomoto... but we weren't able to find a member to go with us to visit her so we were on our own... I didn't understand everything, and Enomoto kind of got mad at us and... yeah.  It was just a disaster... Hopefully we'll be able to make up for it later... That night though we had a lesson with Hiroko that went REALLY well.  We read 1 Nephi 3 with her and she loved it.  :-)  She's really progressing well.  :) That night, we got a call from Sister Miwa.  Turns out their new apartment's gas system wasn't working and so they had to spend the night with us in Fujisawa again!  :-D  YAAY!

 

Saturday & Sunday:

Conference!!  :-) It was fantastic as usual.   I loved it SO much.  There were so many good talks!  It was so weird though knowing that this was my last conference in Japan... After it was over there was just this weird feeling that hung in the air like "Well... That's it..."  I'm excited to come home, but... Man it's weird.

 

Monday:

Not P-day!  :-)  We met up with Momoko from Eikaiwa and went down to a big concert in Kichijoji where Bless4 and Jett Weiss performed!  It was a BLAST! It reminded me so much of one of Aunt Rachel's or Uncle Dan's concerts!  We had so much fun and Momoko was able to meet a lot of new people!

And that was my week!  It was a ton of fun and LOTS of crazy things happened. Sister Feist is an INCREDIBLE missionary and I'm so excited to work with her!  She is going to see SO many incredible miracles on her mission and change so many lives. Now, I've just got the pressure of teaching her to be able to do it. ;)

 

I love you all so much!  Thanks so much for the prayers and the letters!  They mean so much to me!  I'll talk to you all again next week!  Have a fantastic week!

 

Love,

Christine

Transfer 11, Week 1: October 6, 2013

Hey everyone!  Hope everyone is doing genki today!

This week has definitely been one of the most crazy weeks of my mission.  So many things happened I don't even know where to start!  Here we go though!

Exchanges:

This weeks exchange was with Sister Tada!  I was pretty nervous going into the exchange because she and I have had a really interesting history.  The exchange ended up being REALLY good though!  She and I talked the entire time and really had a lot of fun. :-)  She told me that lately she's been feeling like nobody likes her... I really really did feel God's strength getting me through the exchange. While being with her I really felt God putting words in my mouth of what to say to her and how to help her.  It was a really good exchange and I was actually way sad when it was over!  I don't know if I'll still be over her this next transfer or not, but I sure hope so.

Kichijoji Madness:

So, this week I've spent all of 1 full day in Fujisawa... The rest of the week I've been EVERYWHERE!  Monday we went to the Beach. Tuesday to Wednesday was exchanges with Sister Tada.  Thursday was Mission Leadership Council.  Friday we came to Kichijoji and Sunday night we came back to Kichijoji again!  Why am I in Kichijoji you ask?

Well.

One of my companions has been having problems with her stomach since week 2 of last transfer... I've been WAY worried about her ever since.  She hasn't been able to sleep for more than 20 minutes a day since then because her stomach has hurt too much. I finally was able to convince her to go to the hospital this week though... So we spent the night Thursday night in Kichijoji and then went with Sister Wada Friday morning to the hospital.  At the hospital they did a check up and made an appointment for today.  That's actually where she is right now... while I'm with a NEW companion!  Until Thursday... Right now I'm companions with Sister Ellingson.  :-)  It's been way fun here in Kichijoji!  It's waaaay 懐かしい！  (Sorry, use google translate. xP)  I got to see a few of my old investigators and I've emailed a ton of them!  :-)

I wish I could give you more details on how my companion is doing, but I don't really know... I won't know until later tonight, so for now... She's in the hospital... and I'm praying that she's okay. :/  Keep her in your prayers!

Thursday:

Last but not least.  The BIGGEST miracle I've seen on my mission.  For the last 2 transfers or so we've been teaching Toshiko.  I've talked about her before, but just a quick review of her... She's been meeting with missionaries off and on for about 8 years now.  She loves missionaries, but doesn't really apply the gospel to herself.  It's just sort of a nice story.  She's flat out told the missionaries over and over again that she will not be baptized.  She's apologized over and over for wasting our time.

About 3 weeks ago, President Wada had a fireside in Fujisawa for our investigators.  We invited Toshiko to come and she, very bluntly (which is TOTALLY opposite Japanese character) said "I will not go because he is just going to tell us to be baptized."  Well, Sister Miwa followed the prompting of the spirit and invited her a second time.  Again, Toshiko VERY bluntly told us no... but we didn't stop. We decided to invite her a third time even though it's more than a little rude in Japanese culture, ESPECIALLY because of how Toshiko had rejected us.  Then, to make it worse, the third time we invited her, we had President Wada talk to her on the phone.  Finally she promised to "Show her face". :P  Well, when she came she had a really good experience and ever since then things with her went up a pace.  We had a really good lesson with her about the Priesthood and for the first time she said that it made sense to her!  There was this new light in her eye. :-)

This Thursday we had another lesson scheduled, but I had a Mission Leadership Council to go to so my companions and I had no time to prep a lesson for her.  I told my companions to come up with a lesson plan while I was gone and fill me in once I came back.  They sat for 4 hours trying to come up with a plan. Every plan that they made though just didn't feel right and meanwhile the clock was ticking.  When they came to pick me up, they still had no plan.

Now for my side. :P

At Mission leadership Council we practiced teaching The Gospel of Jesus Christ using the pamphlet and I failed miserably at it.  It was WAY hard!  I just couldn't do it!  After the practice, I glanced at the clock and realized that our lesson with Toshiko was coming up and I still had no idea what I was teaching.  Then I got the strongest impression that I needed to teach The Gospel of Jesus Christ using the pamphlet.  I was like "WHAT?!  You're crazy.  I can't!  I just tried and failed miserably!"  But the prompting came again... So then I was like "Well, what do we commit her to?!  Baptism!?"  Right as I thought that, president Wada wrote "Baptismal Commitment" on the white board.  xD  Message received. :P

I filled my companions in on how to teach the lesson on the train and we practiced and practiced until we got back.  The lesson with Toshiko went SO smoothly and was SO powerful.  The spirit was there SO strongly.  At the end we invited her to be baptized and... She didn't say no!  She said "I know I need to be baptized.  Baptism is the next step.  But not now.. Once I know this is true I will be baptized."  WHAT!?! :-D :-D :-D

I'm out of time!  I hope you guys all have a fantastic week!  I love you all so much and I can't wait to see you all again in just a few weeks!  Talk to you again soon!

The church is true!

Love you!

Love,

Christine

Transfer 10, Week 6: September 29, 2013

皆さまこんにちは!!

Hope you all are doing fantastic!  This week seriously just flew by... and I actually wasn't even in Fujisawa for half of it.  The joys of being Sister Training Leader.  I've had to go on 8 kokans this transfer. Woooo!  ;)  It's been way fun. I love all the sisters I'm working with and I LOVE being able to spend a day working with them!

Tuesday: My trip to America

Elder Lohner and Elder Merrill went to a volunteer center last week to see if they could find some volunteer opportunities.  They discovered a lodging home that was looking for some volunteers and signed us up!  We went Tuesday morning to meet with them and get a feel for what it was like.  They were SO excited to see 6 gaijin with musical talents and 1 Nihonjin (also with musical talent) who could translate! :-)  It was way fun and it looks like we'll be going back there sometime soon.  Then on Tuesday I went to Yamato to spend the day with Sister Dolan and Sister Ellingson. :-D   While I was gone, Sister Miwa and Sister Thomas had a lesson with Hiroko!  They taught her how to pray and asked her if she'd be willing to pray everyday.  Hiroko was SO excited and LOVES praying. She's been reading the Book of Mormon on her own lately without us telling her and she's progressing really well!  We're planning on inviting her to be baptized on Friday!

Yamato was WAY fun.  Sister Dolan and Sister Ellingson are seeing SO many miracles out there.  They just opened the area so they started with NO investigators, but they already have so many people they're working with. The whole time we were together they were doing follow up and calling referrals and setting up appointments.  It was crazy how busy they were.  On Tuesday night however, we went to Zama Air Force Base for a dinner appointment.  Zama is an American base so while on base you are literally in America! Way fun, but definitely had culture shock.  xP  I tried so hard to talk to the adults while I was there, but I kept finding that I was stumbling over English words!  I just couldn't do it!  So instead I played barbies with the six-year-old the whole time.  (SHE HAD A RAPUNZEL BARBIE!! xD)  It was way fun.

Wednesday: Housing Miracles

I went with Sisters Dolan and Ellingson housing in Yamato area.  We were out for roughly 30 minutes and had about 6 people actually talk with us in the doorway for a while!  It was crazy!  4 of those six said they'd come to Eikaiwa next week and 2 of them said they'd come to church!  WAAAY cool. :-)

Other than that, we went to Kamakura to help them out with their Eikaiwa.  Kamakura only has 1 gaijin missionary but they're somehow supposed to teach 3 classes, so they ask Fujisawa to come help all the time. It was pretty fun though. :-D

Thursday: Unexpected Kids Eikaiwa

Thursday was a pretty normal boring day.  We did Weekly Planning and then went to Eikaiwa!  At Eikaiwa a woman came with her 4-year-old son who is fluent in English. We decided that we should take the kids aside and just do a mini kodomo eikaiwa!  Basically I went through the alphabet with this 4 year old and Sister Homem's daughter and niece.  xP  We drew pictures that started with the letters and stuff, but it was SO fun. :-)

Friday: Kanagawa Kokan

Kokans with Sister Matsumoto! Wooo!  Sister Matsumoto is SO sweet and really doing her best.  We worked really hard together and really saw a lot of miracles.  We met with one of their investigators on Friday night and actually had to teach a lesson... Problem was... the lesson was supposed to be in English and Sister Matsumoto doesn't really speak much English (or so she said. :P)  So basically I had to lead this lesson with an investigator I didn't know... but it was incredible.  I don't know how, but as I was talking to this woman, I really felt like I just knew her.  I knew who she was.  We talked about the Book of Mormon and we talked a lot about prayer.  I asked her what her prayers were like and she said something I thought was interesting.  She said that she felt like if she asked God for help with her personal problems it's against what Christ teaches in the Bible. I said, "You know, if all you were doing was praying for yourself then I would agree... but there is nothing wrong with asking God for help when you don't know what to do."  I testified that just like she would want to hear from her sons if they had a problem, God wants to hear from her.  The spirit was there so strongly.  It was incredible.  God really does know all of these people, and loves them so much. :-)

WAH!  I'm out of time... Saturday and Sunday were way busy coming back from kokans and church and a fireside by President Wada!

I love Japan so much!  I love being a missionary!  I hope you guys are all doing well!  I miss you so much!  Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Christine

Transfer 10, Week 5: September 22, 2013

皆様こんにちは！

今週はすごいおもしろかったです！

We had such a fun week this week.  We were WAY busy.  I'm skipping lots of it though so you can hear the best parts. ;)

MUSIC NIGHT!

Every Thursday we teach Eikaiwa (English Class)!  A few weeks ago we decided we wanted to have an Eikaiwa Party, but we wanted as much student participation as possible!  So we decided we would ask the students what kind of a party they would want to do.  The class ended up voting on doing a Music Night! :-)  We've been prepping for it ever since.  It turned out to be a HUGE success.  Over 71 non-members came.  Throw in members who helped and missionaries from other areas and such and the number of people who came was nearly 100.  It was intensely awesome. :-)  We were able to make a few new friends there, so hopefully something we'll come out of it that way.  The Elders also asked Sister Thomas and I to sing so we decided to sing Toshiko's favorite hymns "Nearer My God to Thee".  After we finished she came up to me with tears saying "That's my favorite!! Thank you! Thank you!"  Toshiko has been making huge progress lately.  It's only a matter of time now. :-)  I LOVE HER!

Kokans:

I went on kokans this week with Sister Tanaka in Kawasaki!  It was one of the most bizarre kokans I have EVER been one. x)  Before the kokan I asked Sister Tanaka to make some goals of what she wanted to get out of the kokan.  She asked me to help her work on Streeting so we set aside 4 hours of straight streeting time and off we went.  We started by walking along this river and I noticed this part of the river that looked like it was blocked off by a ton of garbage.  Litter is WAY weird for Japan so I was like "What is that!?"  As we got closer though, I realized that they were fish!  HUGE fish!  There were seriously like 50 of them jamming up this part of the river.  As we stopped and were goggling at them this older man came up, sat down, pulled out a loaf of bread and started feeding the fish.  I started talking to him a little bit and he asked me if I wanted to feed the fish too. Of course I said yes! :P (I'll never grow up. xD)　As we were feeding the fish we talked with the man a bit more.  We asked him what he thought about God and he said "God doesn't exist and anyone who thinks He does is an idiot."  Preeeetty bold. xD  We gave him a flyer and headed off.  We decided to head down to this really big street and go streeting there for about an hour.  Then we walked past this really small chinese restaurant that same old man came out and yelled at us to come join him.  He had in his hand a very large and mostly empty can of beer...  After he yelled for us to join him he went back in.  I looked at Sister Tanaka and she said "It'd be really rude to just walk away.  Let's go in and tell him we've already eaten."  So we went inside and he said "You don't have to eat.  I just want to talk.  Sit."  He ended up introducing us to the owner of the restaurant who actually had an interest in Eikaiwa and said she was going to come!  We continued to talk with him and we were able to share about eternal families.  He said that he "really liked that story". :P  He said "You should go visit my little sister!  Here!  I'll draw you a map to her house!"  Then he drew a completely illegible map and wrote his little sisters name.  Then, as we were leaving he said "I'll bring my daughter with me and come see your church this Sunday!"  Afterward, Sister Tanaka and I were laughing and saying "God works in mysterious ways..." xD  We kept streeting.  We found this lady who was handing out fliers and decided to go talk to her.  While talking to her I got a little distracted and looked around at the house next to us... And noticed that the name written on the house was the name the old man gave us!!  WHAT?!  xD  Sister Tanaka and I were like "No way. No way no way no way no way!  WE HAVE TO VISIT HER!"  So we worked up the courage to go ring her doorbell... and nobody answered.  xD  We did leave a flyer in her mailbox though, so who knows.. :P

Moral of the kokan: God works in the most bizarre ways to bring about His purposes. x) 

And those were the two big highlights of this week!  There were a lot of other little things that happened, but I don't have time to write about them all.  Guess you'll just have to wait until November when I can tell you them all in person!

I love you all so much!  Thank you so much for the love, support, and prayers!  I need them!   Thank you for everything and I'll see you soon!  Love you all!

Love,
Christine

 

Transfer 10, Week 4: September 15, 2013

Woah.  It's week 4 already!?  CRAZY!

皆様こんにちは！

 

I hope you guys all had a fantastic week! I know we did out here! It was way busy...  We actually weren't supposed to have P-day today because of this Helping Hands service project, but... then a giant typhoon had to come to ruin all the fun.  Oh well, now you guys get to hear from me instead!  ;)

 

Enomotoさん and Hirokoさん:

This week found 2 new investigators!  We're WAAY excited about it. :-)

First off Enomotoさん.  So right before transfers this last time, we went out dendoing with a girl preparing to serve a mission from the Atsugi ward.  We went to one of the stations to hand out flyers for Eikaiwa and while there, she met Enomotoさん.  She talked with her for about 30 minutes and ended up being able to get her phone number and address and getting permission for us to go visit her! She is going to be a FANTASTIC missionary!  I can't even wait.

Well, we went with her this week to visit Enomotoさん and see if she had any interest in the gospel.  Enomoto is in her late 70's and one of the sweetest ladies in the world.  She's living alone so she doesn't really have anyone to talk to.  When we met with her she talked and talked and talked for about an hour. x)  Sooo sweet.  Turns out she met the missionaries several years ago and had quite an interest in their message.  She gave them her phone number and address and invited them to come over sometime... but they never did. (We think there was probably a transfer call or her info got lost or something.) Well, after that she didn't really think much about church... Then she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  She was told she didn't have much longer to live.  Then, last year she went in for her usual check-up they discovered that the cancer had completely disappeared.  All of the doctors were shocked and couldn't believe it.  Enomoto feels like she was saved for a reason, and all of her friends say "It's because you're always serving everyone around you!  God is happy and saved your life!"  That's when she met us at the station.  :-)  She's SO prepared and SO ready to learn.

As for Hiroko!  Hiroko has been going to Eikaiwa in Kamakura for a long time now.  Last transfer, Sister Imano and I went down there teach because they didn't have enough teachers.  While there we met Hiroko and ended up walking with her back to the station to come home.  While walking we asked her where she lives.  Turned out she actually lives in our area, so we asked her "Why don't you come to our Eikaiwa?!"  Yup.  We stole her. ;) From then on she started coming to our Eikaiwa in Fujisawa and really liked it.  I invited her to listen to a shokai (introductory) lesson and she accepted!  We talked about the Book of Mormon, temples, and eternal families.  She was really interested in studying more about it and agreed to meet with us again!  She's SO sweet.  It was fun getting to know her too.  She has 2 daughters (ages 22 and 18... Coincidence? :P) and REALLY wants to learn English.  :-)  We're going to start reading the Book of Mormon in English and Japanese with her this week.  We're pretty excited about it. :-D

 

Kokans and a Migraine Miracle:

This week was kokans with Sister Hathaway in Kanagawa!  It was a LOT of fun!  :-)  We saw this really cool miracle together too!  There is a Less Active in the ward who we made the plan to go visit. Sister Hathaway had made this really cute birthday card for her, and said "She probably won't be home, so we'll just drop this off in her mail box and go housing." Well, when we got there, she ended up being home!  She invited us inside and we were able to teach her a quick lesson!  Waaay cool! :-)  That night though, Sister Hathaway and I stayed up waaaay too late talking.  The next morning I woke up, rode my bike for about an hour, taught a lesson, rode my bike for another hour, then went to Eikaiwa.  At the end of Eikaiwa I had this MASSIVE migraine with no medicine.  I couldn't even walk in a straight line it hurt so bad.  When we got back to the apartment, my companions ordered me straight to bed.  I didn't wake up until about 7 the next day, but when I did I woke up to the smell of a DELICIOUS breakfast.  When I left the tatami room I found all these cute little hearts all over the apartment that all said "We love you Sister Grosland!"  I have the best companions in the world.

 

And those were the exciting things of my week!  :-)  It's been a really good week and I'm looking forward to another good one!  I hope you all have had a fantastic week!  Don't forget about me out here! :P

 

Love you all so much!  Write you again next week!

-Sister Grosland

Japan Tokyo South Mission

Transfer 10, Week 3: September 9, 2013

皆様こんにちは！

Oh my goodness this week has been crazy.. We had a WAY busy week with somehting big going on every single day.  Luckily though, I don't think it will take long to explain so here we go! :-)

 

Wednesday: Kokans

This last Wednesday I went on my first kokan (Exchange) of the transfer!  One down, 7 to go!  x)  I went with Sister Imano in Kohoku and it was SO much fun.  Sister Imano is a SAIKO missionary and I LOVED working with her.  Sister Imano is training a new missionary named Sister Wells and the two of them are SO cute together.  They're working so hard and seeing so many miracles. It was way fun to spend the day with Sister Imano and catch up with her since she moved out.

 

Thursday: Toshiko

We had a lesson with Toshiko!  We asked her if she tried praying again and she said she did!  She said that for the first time she prayed and really wanted an answer.  She said when she did she felt really warm and we explained again that was the spirit.  :-)  It's AMAZING to see how much she's changing!  Only a little bit more!  :-)

 

Friday: MLC

We had Mission Leadership Council on Friday!  Sister Sasaki and Sister Miskin (My daughter and granddaughter) both came and we found out that they're going to be Sister Training Leaders from next transfer!  YAAAY!  :-D  I also got the chance to talk to Yuka!  My old investigator from Kichijoji!!!  AHHHH!

 

Saturday: Barbeque

The Homem family made this HUGE Brazillian barbeque for all of the missionaries!  It was WAY fun and we were able to build a really good relationship with Sister Homems nieces who are not members. :-D

 

Sunday: CHURCH

We sang in Primary, Gospel Principles, Primary again, and then I had to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting!  It was crazy!  I definitely felt the gift of tongues.  I had nothing really prepared, but somehow I was able to just stand up and bear a 5 minute testimony.  CRAZY!  I never would've been able to do that before!

 

Monday: Stuffed

We had 2 dinner appointments where the members fed us SOOO much. Seriously I gained like 20 pounds just from that.  We also went with a girl who is preparing for a mission to visit a PI named Enomoto.  Enomoto is SO prepared and agreed to take the lessons!  I wish I had more time to go into her story, but I don't.  I'll tell you more next week!

 

That was my week!  I love you all so much!  Have a fantastic week and I'll talk to you soon!  LOVE YOU!

 

Love,

Christine

Transfer 10, Week 2: September 2, 2013

こんいちは皆様！ 久しぶりだね！

Sorry I've missed writing the big email these last 2 weeks... It's been pretty crazy lately.

Quick Summary of the last 2 weeks!

There was a big drama that happened between a few of the sisters that required an emergency transfer.  My roommate Sister Imano was transferred out to another area and Sister Ellingson became companions with none other than... Sister DOLAN!  :-)  My sempai from the MTC!  For about a week the four of us were roommates and we did not get the right amount of sleep once in that entire week. xP

Sister Ellingson and Sister Dolan, although were living in Fujisawa until an apartment was found, opened an area called Yamato.  Sister Imano is now training a brand new missionary in her new area and seems to be doing really well!  :-)   As for me... Between the drama between the other sisters and getting ready to send Sister Dolan and Sister Ellingson off to there new area, Sister Miwa and I were just doing our best to stay afloat. xD  President Wada is incredible. LOVE him.  I seriously have so much respect for him.  It was a rough 2 weeks, BUT everyone survived.

Last week!

TRANSFER CALLS:

Well, when Sister Dolan came to Fujisawa and we were told that they were going to Yamato we assumed that that meant both Sister Miwa and I were safe here in Fujisawa!  (I just heard Bossman's voice saying "Never assume..." :P)  We were both way sad about the other two leaving and kept talking about how the apartment was going to seem even bigger now.

Tuesday morning rolled around and neither Sister Miwa or I expected anything to come... Then the phone rang with the word "Honbu" on it.  Both of us screamed, waking up Sister Dolan who was asleep with a headache in the other room. xD (Oops.)

"Sister Grosland!  President Wada has prayed a lot over the last few weeks about this transfer call and it has changed a number of times... but we feel that it is the Lords will for you... *Insert super long dramatic pause that only Elder Olson can pull off*... to stay in Fujisawa with Sister Miwa."  I cheered and then said "Well, why did you call us if nothing's changing?"  "Because... you're going to be a san-nin!"  *Insert another loud scream that I need to apologize to Sister Dolan about*. :P

And there you have it!  I am now in a 3nin with Sister Miwa and a sister named Sister Thomas from Spanish Fork, Utah.  :-D  Things have been going really well.  The three of us get along great. :-)  The hardest thing has just been trying to figure out how to be a san-nin... Things like streeting.  Having three random people stop one person on the street and start talking to them about church is, to put it lightly, just a little scary. xP  We've also started running into the problem of during lessons becoming slightly intimidating. 3 on 1 is... a problem. xP  We're adjusting to it slowly but surely. :-)

SAKAMOTO SHIMAI:

One really fun thing we did last week was go out and dendo with a girl who is currently preparing to serve a mission!  She's been trying to go on a mission for a while now, but her bishop encouraged her to get a job first and earn some money herself.  (Honestly, I believe that God has just been saving her because He saves the very best for last. :D)  She spent the whole day with us and it was SO fun. :-)  We had a mogi lesson in the morning that went REALLY smoothly!  I was impressed!  Then we went out and handed out fliers for about an hour. During that time, Sakamoto shimai showed us all up by finding a PI and getting her address for us to go visit this next week. :-)  When that was over, we ended the day by celebrating my one year mark in Japan by eating Baskin Robins! x)  While there we talked to a few different people as well!  Sakamoto shimai just had this glow about her and a real love for the gospel and an excitement to share it.  :-)  She's going to be an amazing missionary.

TOSHIKO:

The only other big update I have is Toshiko!  I'm not sure how much I've said about her in the past so quick refresher. :P  Toshiko has been coming to our English Class for years.  She's known TONS of missionaries and has actually been listening to the lessons for over 8 years now.  One day at English Class, one of the students invited her to take the lessons again from the missionaries.  She agreed and we set up an appointment to meet with her.  We've met her every week since then.  She's been a really tough investigator.  She doesn't really have those "I want to change!" feelings... Or just doesn't necessarily see why she needs to change is a better way of saying it.  A couple weeks ago we decided we were going to stop focusing on her.  We decided that if she came to us asking for a lesson then great. If not, we would look for more green apples. :-) Well, she asked us for a lesson and we met with her this last week.  I don't know what changed exactly, but this last lesson just felt... different.  It seemed like she was actually listening.  Something in what we shared with her last time (a talk by President Uchtdorf called "What is Truth") really hit her. 

We talked with her a lot about the spirit and she admitted that she doesn't really know what that is.  YES!  Now we know what we're working with!  We really believe that if she can just come to understand what/who the spirit is, she'll realize that she wants that Gift of the Holy Ghost.  The only way she can have that is through baptism which can only happen as she has faith and repents. :-)  I really feel like we're making progress with her now and I'm looking forward to seeing a baptism! :)

Other than that, the only exciting thing of this last week was that both Sister Miwa and I have gotten sick... I caught a cold in the middle of the hottest month in Japan.  Try to figure that one out. ;)  This week is going to be SUPER busy so next weeks email should be fun. :-)

I love being a missionary so much. :-)  I'm SO lucky to be His representative here in Japan.  I love the people here.  I love my companions. President Wada said that they were "God's gift to [me] at this time."  :-)  Best gifts ever.  I love my mission president!  He really is helping me to become the person that I am meant to be.  I know that God lives and is guiding His missionaries every day. Even through those hardest times in our lives, God is with us every single step of the way.  He loves us all so much and we're so lucky to know that.

This last year in Japan has been incredible and I've learned SO much. I can't wait to see how these last 70-odd days change me even more. :-)

I love you all so much!  Have an incredibly fantastic week.

Love,
Christine

 

 

Transfer 9 Week 3: July 28, 2013

皆様こんにちは！

I hope you guys are all doing well!  I don't really have much time to write so I'm going to get straight to it. :-)

 

Tuesday:

HANABI TAIKAI! This week was the Summer Firework Festival!  Oh my gosh it was insane.  I hate fireworks, but for some reason I LOVED these fireworks and didn't want to leave! They had it down the ocean and it was SO pretty! :-) We went there to meet with the Eikaiwa students down in Kamakura... Explain why in a second. :-)

 

Wednesday:

So a while ago there was this huge drama that happened with all of the Eikaiwa Coordinators and now there's a lot of Eikaiwa Coordinators who don't really like the missionaries.  One of those coordinators really doesn't like Elders so she specifically requested some Sisters to come teach Eikaiwa in their area, Kamakura.  Problem was, she wanted 2 native speakers, NOT Nihonjin... Well, that meant it was only Sister Ellingson and I who could go, but we're not companions... So short version, there was this drama figuring out who was going to go and how we were going to work this out... Turned out all 4 of us went down there, Sister Imano showed off her English skills, and we got permission for her to come teach too so Sister Ellingson can go to Japanese class.  Desu!

 

Thursday:

We met with Toshiko, one of our new investiagors. She's been meeting with missionaries for 8 years and knows TONS about the LDS church.  Like, she even knows the teachers at the MTC... but she refuses to be baptized.  She asked us a really interesting question.  She said "I know that I have to feel the spirit to know your message is true, but why does that mean it's true?"  We think she just struggles with the concept of "truth" itself.  It was a really interesting lesson. :-)

 

Friday:

We got a call on Thursday night from our other investigator Akiko (who has never called us before) asking if we could meet the next day. :-)  Our amazing Ward Mission Leader cancelled his plans for Friday and came with us to teach her.  I'll be honest, I did not understand pretty much anything that was said in that lesson.  I found out from my companion later that it was because she wasn't actually answering the questions we were asking.  We would ask a question and then she would talk about something completely not relevent making it really hard to follow.  Luckily, my companion is Japanese!  ;)  Please pray for Akiko though to be able to understand the Atonement and the role of Jesus Christ. :-)

 

Saturday:

We didn't have time on Thursday to finish our Weekly Planning so we finished up on Saturday.  Sister Imano got really sick so the Elders came over and gave her a blessing.  That probably was the most exciting thing of the day.  xD  Sister Ellingson, Sister Miwa, and I running around the apartment scrambling to clean up before the Elders got there. xD  Pretty hilarious.

 

Sunday:

Akiko came to church!  And even better than that... when she saw me the first thing she said was "I prayed and it worked!  This whole thing is true isn't it!"  MIRACLE!!!

Then we headed to a members house for a dinner appointment which was way fun.

 

And that was my week!  Way exciting week, but way boring at the same time! :P

 

Thank you all so much for everything!  I love you all so much and miss you so much!  It's weird to think how close I am to coming home now. I'm trying not to think about it.  :-)  I hope you all have a fantastic week!

 

Love,

Christine

Transfer 9 Week 2: July 21, 2013

Heeeeey everybody!  :-)
I hope you all had a fantastic week!  I know that I did. :-D  Let's
get things going shall we!  I apologize for any not correct English or
weird sounding english... xP

Tuesday:
I mentioned in last weeks email that transfer calls were moved.  We
used to do them on Saturdays and transfer on Monday, but now transfer
calls will be coming on Tuesdays and we transfer on Thursdays.
Tuesday was transfer call day... I was waaaay nervous.  I had no idea
how things were going to end up.  I got even more nervous when we
got an email from Sisters Imano and Ellingson saying that they got
their call and were both staying!  The
fact that we hadn't gotten ours yet meant that SOMEONE would be
transfering from us...  We were afraid to say the prayer to end our
companion study because we knew the phone could ring at any time.
Sure enough, as soon as I started to pray the phone rang. x)
Here are the results!  Sister Stankosky transfered to an area called
Hibarigaoka and I'm still in Fujisawa!! Yaaaaaaay!  I'm still a Sister
Training Leader and on top of that, I've been made a trainer again!  I
was pretty stressed out about it... Talk about pressure.
Well, that meant we spent most of Tuesday packing.

Wednesday:
We spent ALL day packing and cleaning the apartment.

Thursday:
We woke up Thursday Morning to the sound of the doorbell.  Sister
Homem had come to give my companion and I a ride to the train station
so we wouldn't have to walk carrying all of my companions stuff.  That
was at 5:15am.  Then at the train station our Ward Mission Leader met
up with us and helped carry my companions luggage halfway to
Kichijoji. :-)  I LOVE FUJISAWA WARD!
When we got to Kichijoji, I said goodbye to Sister Stankosky and met
up with the other Sisters who were going to be made trainers.
This time being made a trainer was completely different than last
time!  Last time it was this HUGE ordeal that took nearly all day to
figure out.  This time, we were done with everything by 11:30am. :P
My new companion is.................... Sister Miwa!!  Oh my goodness
I love her so much. x)  We make kind of a funny companionship though.
She's super tall and used to do athletics so she's pretty buff. ;)
Put that next to tiny wimpy me and we get a lot of stares. x)  She
doesn't really speak English.. like at all. :-)  She understands about
half of what's being said most of the time, but she can't quite speak.
 So if I talk to her in slow English, she'll respond in Japanese. It's
way fun. :-D  I can already feel my Japanese improving.  My goal is to
be fluent by the end of this transfer. Hahaha! :-)
Sister Miwa wants to be a PE Teacher after her mission, but coolest
thing ever, she used to study Astronomy as well!  She actually went
and worked at an observatory for a summer!  It's been way fun being
geeky with her. ;)  She's already a way good missionary too.
Seriously, the only stress I have with her is that she can't translate
what she's saying to other people. ;)  Waaa. :P

Friday:
We had to wake up again at 5am to go to Kichijoji, this time for
another mission leadership council.  The MLC was WAY good and I
learned a ton, but I was way exhausted.  Two days of waking up that
early was killer.  That took up most of the day.

Saturday and Sunday were normal days and not much happened... and now
it's Monday!

Sorry, I'm way out of time so I've gotta wrap it up here.  I love you
all so much!  Thank you so much for everything!  Love you!

Love,
Christine

Goodbye Sis. Stankosky!

Hello Sis. Miwa!!

Transfer 9 Week 1: July 14, 2013

Hey guys!
I'm sorry, I don't really have time for a long email this week...
Luckily very few exciting things happened this week.  I'll just
summarize quickly.  Sorry it won't be as exciting of a read. :P

We were supposed to get our transfer calls this last Saturday, but we
got an email from Honbu earlier in the week saying that our transfer
days are moving to Thursdays instead of Mondays.  We'll now be getting
our Transfer calls on Tuesday (tomorrow morning) and transferring on
Thursday! Craaazy.  So although today marks day one of transfer 9, I
don't know yet where I'm going to be on my 9th transfer.  We'll find
out tomorrow!
This week I went on exchanges with the other Sisters living with us in
our apartment.  Sister Imano and Sister Ellingson!  It was a WAY cool
experience.  With Sister Imano we saw SO many miracles.  We were able
to find 3 really solid potential investigators (who they are still in
contact with).  With Sister Ellingson we both had an amazing study
time in the morning and learned SO much from each other.  While out
proselyting we both got heat exhaustion though and ended up not
getting a whole lot of work done... Oops.
Friday night I woke up in the middle of the night with a massive
migraine that kept me up for about 3 hours.  I didn't get much sleep
making Saturday and Sunday really hard to get through...
Biggest news of the week though.  We got a call from Honbu about my
return date!  I will be coming home on November 19th, 2013.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY!  I don't even know what to think about it.  I'm
trying NOT to think about it!  I loved the way the AP's put it. "To
make your Thanksgiving Turkey taste even better, you'd better work
your best until then!"
So Transfer 9, 10, and 11 HERE WE COME!  Bring it on. ;)

I love you all!  Have a great week!
Love,
Christine

Transfer 8 Week 3: July 07, 2013

Hey everybody!!
I hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all a ton! :-)

This week was such an amazing week!  I`m not even kidding when I say
that this week changed my life.  So let`s get started!

*Tuesday:*
We met our new mission president this week! :-)  My new Mission
President is President Wada.  Back in the MTC I was told that part of
the reason you were sent to the mission we were sent to was for our
Mission President.  While I really liked President Budge, he sort of
just felt like another boss kind of thing.  This week when we met
President Wada, I really was able to confirm to at least myself that
this IS exactly where God wants me.  The Tokyo South Mission is where
I`m meant to be because President Wada is the Mission President. :-)
President Wada is Nihonjin, but he lived in America for as long as
he`s lived in Japan I`m pretty sure, so he`s fluent in both English
and Japanese... but the most important thing (of course)... his wife
is an ANGEL!  I love her SO much!  If I`m lucky, I will grow up to be
a Mom like her.  She`s so sweet and energetic and loving!   They
seriously feel like parents to me.
President Wada`s focus for the mission is really interesting too.  He
said "If you go home having no converts, but having a firm belief of
the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, I feel that is success."  The
best way I feel I can describe it is that he's going to focus on us as
missionaries and OUR testimonies, because he knows when our testimony
is unshakable, we want to share it with others.  He has himself a
REALLY powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon.
Sorry, short version: I LOVE President and Sister Wada!!

*Wednesday:*
The day that the new Sisters came to Fujisawa, my companion and I
decided to stop at McDonalds.  While there, I complimented this girls
shoes and talked with her for a little bit.  Then she left and a
little while later we streeted into her again!  We were able to get
her email and everything so we were way excited!  On Wednesday we met
with her and her friend to go get some lunch!  At lunch we talked
briefly about Jesus Christ and about who he is.  It went really well
and they seemed to have an interest!  We'll be meeting with them again
this week on Wedesday! :-)

*Thursday:*
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!  I hope your guys' 4th was amazing!  This
years fourth of July was SO fun. Because it was on a Thursday it meant
EIKAIWA!  (English Class!)  I spent all of Weekly Planning working on
this Red, White, and Blue paper chain to use as decoration.  We had a
picnic at the church for dinner where we ate TONS of sandwiches, sang
the National Anthem to begin Eikaiwa, had a short class and then
partied!  Sister Imano and Sister Ellingson prepped this HUGE party,
but in the end we only had time to play Mafia.  It was WAY fun though.
 The Elders got everyone all riled up and everyone started accusing
each other of being the mafia.  It was hilarious. x)
The best part of Thursday though was Sister Homem.  Sister Homem and
her family are all Brazilian and LOVE the missionaries.  We all call
her our ward mom. :P  She's always doing things for us and trying to
help us in any way that she can. I LOVE HER!  Well, she came to
Eikaiwa carrying this huge bag with 'Disney Store' written all over
it... and who does she walk up to with it? ;)  She said (In Japanese)
"I noticed on your paper that your birthday was in February!  I missed
it!  Here's a birthday present!"  That's right.  I got a birthday
present on the Fourth of July for my February birthday. ;)  Well, I
was good and waited until I got back to the apartment to open it... I
attached pictures of what she gave me. Oh my gosh I just about died.
Seriously.  My roommates all laughed at me. xD  Best belated birthday
present EVER!


*FRIDAY (the day my life changed)*
Friday morning I woke up at 5:45am to get ready for Mission Leadership
Council in Kichijoji at 8am.  The Mission Leadership Council consisted
of all of the Sister Training Leaders, the Zone Leaders, the AP's and
President Wada.
The training from President Wada lasted 6 hours and during those 6
hours, President Wada taught us nothing but things from the Book of
Mormon.  He said "The Book of Mormon is about you.  Each one of you.
Let me show you."  We started by reading the story of Ammon slowly...
verse by verse.  He taught us how to, while reading the Book of
Mormon, really apply it to ourselves.  He would read a verse, stop and
then ask us "What can we learn about Ammon from this verse?  What kind
of person is he?"  I'd never done that before.  Stopping verse after
verse and just thinking about what that one verse said.
Then he had us practice teaching from the Book of Mormon.  He had us
read 1 Nephi 1:1 with our "investigators" (Another set of
missionaries) and apply that verse to them.  We practiced over and
over and over and over again.  Then we came back and talked about what
we had practiced.  President Wada talked with us all about the power
of the Book of Mormon and how it had changed his life. While he was
talking, I looked down to the Book of Mormon I was holding in my hand
and just remember thinking "What kind of a book IS this?".
I've prayed many times to know whether or not the Book of Mormon was
true.  Every time, I just haven't really felt anything... but then,
sitting there looking at my Book of Mormon, all of the sudden it hit
me.  This overwhelming confirming feeling that the book I was holding
in my hand was the Word of God. I've never felt anything like it
before in my life.  I've heard since I was little that when you feel
the power of the spirit you KNOW it and you can never deny it.  I've
felt the spirit many times in my life... but never so strongly as I
did sitting in the living room of the Mission Home, staring at a book
in my hands.

The Book of Mormon is true.  It is the word of God.  It really is
about me, and it really is about you.  Whoever you are, read it.  Read
it over and over and over again because I guarentee there will be
something new you learn every single time.  God gave us the Book of
Mormon as our guide in our life.  No other book can bring us closer to
God.

We've had 2 lessons since I had this experience... Both were
incredible.  One of them, a girl named Miki, promised to read the Book
of Mormon and pray about it.  Then, she accepted the baptismal
commitment. :-)  Miki will be getting baptized on August 3rd.


This week has been such an amazing week.  Full of ups and a lot of
downs and a lot of ups.  I know that God is there though.  I know that
He is definitely guiding us in this work because I couldn't be doing
this on my own.
Isn't being a missionary the greatest thing ever!? ;)

Thank you guys so much for your prayers and your support!  I love you
and I miss you all so much!  I hope you had a great Fourth of July and
have an even better week this week! This Saturday we will be getting
our transfer calls, so look forward to hearing about that! ;)

Love you all!
Love,
Sister Grosland (Christine)

 Sister Imano and Sister Ellingson

Fujisawa