Transfer 4- Week 2: January 06, 2013

皆様おはいおございます！

This week was rather eventful... I'm just going to go through day by day!  There wasn't a single day this week that something big didn't happen.  First thing you all have to know though is that I've been really sick this week. It's just a cold, but it zapped all my energy and made this week really hard on me.  I'm just greatful for my amazingly awesome companion. :-)

 

Tuesday:

Tuesday was techincally P-day... but we only got a couple of hours of P-day time in.  xD  We were invited by a ward member to have Lunch with them at their house!  When we got there we discovered that they wanted to introduce all of us American missionaries to the way that the Japanese celebrate New Years!  Basically they have a REALLY big meal together, but they eat certain foods for New Years that they don't eat at any other time in the year... Probably for good reason. ;) One of the things they serve is Mochi! I really like mochi!  But they way they serve it for New Years is they mix it with different kinds of Miso soup.  It was really interesting. They also have these bento (You'll have to look up pictures of Bento's on google or something. xP) boxes with stuff to eat on New Years that will bring you good luck for the year!  Most people go to their parents houses and celebrate with their families and play.  Here's the best part of Japanese New Years... They all take a WEEK off work!  :-)  School finally started again today (1/7/2013).  They've been out of school since right after Christmas.  Ta-dam!  That's New Years in Japan.

 

Wednesday:

We spent the day with one of our investigators who I don't think I've written about in an email before... Her name is Kaori and she is FANTASTIC!  I love her so much!  She invited us to come over to her house to meet her family since they'd all be over for New Years!  Before we went, Sister Lundy and I set a goal to give Kaori a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World".  When we got there we were able to meet Kaori's 3 kids (ages 14, 10, and 8), her husband, her little sister, and her two nieces (ages 7 and 5).  It was so fun!  The littlest ones and I played most of the time. xD  At the end when we were about to leave, Sister Lundy turned to me and said "We can't just give a proclamation to Kaori and not give one to her sister now..."  I said  "You're right... What do we do?"  It took us all of last week to find just one proclamation and that was totally by chance that we discovered it.  Then Sister Lundy said "Wait a second..." and went over to her backpack.  Next thing I knew, she pulled out two copies of the proclamation and gave one to Yoshimi and one to Kaori.  :-)  Both of them were so excited to get it!

I asked Sister Lundy where the other one came from later and she said that she'd accidently bought 2 of them while she was in the MTC.  When we left the apartment she didn't remember that. She just grabbed the proclamation.  Then she remembered having two in the MTC.  When she went to look in her backpack, sure enough there were two!  Bread and fish anyone? ;) This really was a testimony builder for me.  Heavenly Father knew that we would be meeting Kaori and her sister.  He has been preparing us for them and them for us!  He really does know everything from beginning to end.  There is no other possible way to explain how we had two right when we needed them.  :-)

 

Thursday:

This is when the cold started to really hit.  I decided to ask the Elders serving here in Urayasu to give me a blessing.  It also turned out that Elder Petersen (he was my first Zone Leader and came to Urayasu at the same time as me.  He finished up his mission this last transfer) came to visit Urayasu!  I asked him to join too.  So Thursday night I got a blessing to help me recover quickly from this illness.  :-) It helped me a lot.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it through Friday, but I know that the blessing was the only reason I was able to.

 

Friday:

Was miserable... We went to a Zone Meeting first thing that morning and I felt SO sick.  I wanted nothing more than to curl up on the floor and just lay there.  After Zone Meeting the Dendo Shunin (Ward Mission Leader) wanted to take all of us out for sushi!  After Zone Meeting I said a little prayer and asked for the energy to make it through lunch with him.  Heavenly Father definitely answered my prayer.  In the Sushi store I actually met a family and started talking with them.  It turned out they lived really closeby and they had an interest in Eikaiwa!  I was able to give them a chirashi (flyer) for Eikaiwa and they really seemed like they wanted to come!  Yay!!

After that we went back to the apartment and Sister Lundy forced me to go lay down for 3 hours.

Then it was time for us to go meet with Rosalin who I wrote about last time...

Her birthday party turned out to be outside our area so we had to get permission to go over there. It was in this REALLY fancy hotel.  Like seriously.  It was like something out of a movie... Sister Lundy and I felt SO lucky that as missionaries we're always dressed up... But even with what we were wearing we felt extremely out of place... Then we met everyone else that Roslalin invited to her party.  4 of them were missionaries from other churches.  After a little while of being there, they started ignoring us and wouldn't talk to us. Then Rosalin came. She was wearing this incrediably fancy gown that was rather immodest...  She went to entertain all of her guests and we ended up keeping her two kids (5 and 3) entertained.  My life is so hard.  ;)  Then towards the end, they pulled out the champane.  The spirit was just... gone.  However, we were able to build a good relationship with her kids and she really wants us to come over again!  So although it was really rough on both Sister Lundy and I we were able to get a lot of good things out of it.

 

Saturday:

We were able to meet with another Less Active member named Maria.  We had a really nice lesson with her and the spirit was there really strong.  Other than that we took the day really slowly.

 

Sunday:

Maria came to church!!!!!!!!!  She bore her testimony and cried a lot saying that she wants to come to church more often and she's so greatful to everyone who has been helping her the last year through all her trials.  Then she said "The sisters shared a scripture with me yesterday that really helped me." She shared that scripture and bore her testimony on it.  It was SO good. :-)

 

Although most of our stats for the last month have been nothing but zeros, I feel like we're still getting a lot of work done.  I just have to keep reminding myself that although the work I'm doing isn't being recorded here on Earth, it's definitely being recorded in Heaven and in the end that's all that matters. :-)

 

 

And that was my week!  Thank you guys all for your prayers and everything!  I love hearing from you so please keep writing me!  Also, any members of the ward that may be reading this: THANK YOU!  The letters I got for Christmas from all the primary kids really brightened my day. You all are amazing and I'm SO blessed to come from such an amazing ward. :-)

Write you all again next week!  Have a great week!  :-D

-

Christine

Transfer 4-Week 1: December 31, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!

あけましておめでとうございます！！！

 

I have a whole bunch of New Years cards from out here I want to send to a bunch of you... but I haven't had a chance to write them yet. xD  HOWEVER.  They exist and they will be sent to you all! :P  ..even if it is kind of bad luck to get one of those after New Years.... Look forward to it! :-D

So not a ton happened this week...  But there were a couple of things that happened I can share. :-)

 

First though...

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BESTEST LITTLE BROTHER EVER!!!! :-D I LOOOOVE YOU!!!!!! (And Sister Lundy and I may or may not have recorded something for you on the Voice Recorder. >:D)

 

Transfers:

This is probably the biggest one this week. :P Transfer calls came last Friday (the 28th).  At the time, Sister Lundy and I were on exchanges so I was in an area called Kichijoji.  How transfers work is that if your transfering area's you'll receive a call from the Honbu(...Uhmm... I don't know the English word for that. xD Where the Assistants to the Mission President work! :D).  If you're not transferring you'll get a call from your Zone Leaders.  Well, neither I nor Sister Facer (the girl who I was on Exchanges with) wanted to transfer so we were praying that it would be Zone Leaders that would call us... Then another set of sisters who are in the same Zone as Sister Facer got their call from the Zone Leaders. The Zone Leaders told them that they were the only companionship in the whole Zone who would be staying together in the same area.

Here's why that affected me.

There's so few sisters right now that if any of them change there's a HUGE change to everything... So Kichijoji sisters were definitely changing...  Sure enough, the phone rang and we got a call from Honbu.  They told Sister Facer that she'd be transferring to the middle of nowhere (Also known as Kiriyu) and she started crying... Then she handed the phone to me and said "They want to talk to you." GAH! My heart was pounding out of my chest.

"Sister Grosland. We're here to give you your transfer call.  We want to thank you for all of your hard work the last 6 weeks in Urayasu.  You and Sister Lundy worked really well together and saw a lot of miracles and we're very proud of your work out there.  Are you ready for your transfer call? (Me: YESS!  JUST GIVE IT TO ME ALREADY! :P) Well, Sister Grosland.  We believe that it is the Lords will for you to serve... in Urayasu with Sister Lundy for 6 more weeks."

 

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!

 

Kimura Linda:

Kimura Linda is a Less Active member that we've been working with for as long as I've been in Japan.  Missionaries have been trying to reactivate her for much longer than that though.  I know that it goes back at least 2 "generations" of missionaries.  Kimura Linda got into this really large argument with another member in the ward. -_- Because of their argument both Kimura and the member she fought with went inactive because they didn't want to see each other.  Since then missionaries have tried to get them back to church.  The other member has come quite a few times since then, and honestly has a desire to come back! She just has a really busy work schedule that makes it difficult for her.  Kimura Linda on the other hand only didn't come because she was afraid she'd meet this other member.

Well, during these 18 weeks of being in Urayasu, Kimura Linda really started to like me.  She said she felt like I really listened to her. (Mostly it was just that I was to polite to interrupt her 1.5 hours of ranting about the other member. xD)  She also liked the way that I treated her son Masato (who is Autistic).  So we invited her to church just like we do every time we visit her, but this time she said "I'll try".  :-)

Sure enough, last Sunday she came to church with Masato!! She had a really good experience and said she was looking forward to coming again!  :-D YAAAY!  It seriously was a miracle.

 

Rosalin:

Rosalin is another Less Active member.  Missionaries and Ward Members alike have been trying to get hold of her and NOBODY has been able to.  She works at a konbini which makes her work schedule unpredictable and busy.  She has two little girls who spend more time at her mother-in-law's house than with her because she has to work so hard.  She LOVES missionaries and the church, but she just has no time.  She's seriously working herself to the bone... Well, on Sunday night while we were thinking of people to call and try to make appointments with I said "Why don't we call Rosalin? She probably won't answer, but we can try.  If by some super amazing miracle she does answer, try to set up an appointment for Friday sometime."  So Sister Lundy starts calling.  Next thing I know she's saying "AH! Moshimoshi! Rosaline shimai desu ka?! Eeeehhhh!  Sugoi!!" I sat straight up and said out loud "SHE ANSWERED?!" So Sister Lundy sits there and talks to her for a second... Then she gets this look of just "No way" and says "Yeah!  Friday should be perfect! What time?!"  It turns out we called Rosalin during her 2 hours she would be home that day and this Friday is her birthday!  Her whole family will be there and she invited us to come too! :-D  YEES!!   It was amazing. Seriously.  I can't even tell you how much of a miracle it was. :-) SO cool.

 

New Years:

Happy New Years Everyone!!!  :-D So I'm sure you're all dying to know what 2013 is like... You'll find out in a couple of hours! ;)

New Years is THE biggest holiday out here in Japan. It's Japan's Christmas.  People have been asking us about what our plans for shogatsu (New Years) were for about a month now!  It's been crazy!

So what did I do for New Years?

Went to bed at 10:30 and laid there talking with Sister Lundy until midnight (partly on purpose, but mostly on accident. xD) and then we sat up and yelled "HAPPY NEW YEARS!!"  All of the sudden there were these loud BANG's from outside. We looked outside and DISNEYLAND EXPLODED!!!!  With fireworks... ;)   Seriously it was the most amazing Firework show I've ever seen.  I wanted to get a video of it, but I couldn't get to my camera fast enough.  It was SO cool!  Sister Lundy and I stood there watching it going "Oooo!  Ahhhh!" for like 15 minutes. It was SO cool.

Then we went to sleep! xD

Today is P-day obviously, and we also have a Lunch appointment at a members house! YES!  So that is how I plan on celebrating my shogatsu! Writing all of you, eating, taking a bath, and then SLEEPING. ;)

 

I love you guys so much!  Thank you all for everything!  All of your prayers seriously mean everything to me! I can't tell you how many times I've been sure I couldn't do something and then been able to do it.  I know that it has to do with all the prayers for me from home!  I love you all!  I can't wait to talk to you again soon! You're amazing!

 

PS: Emrix, Miranda, Peach, Josh, Deanne, and Mason! All of your letters are sitting on my desk right now... a reply is coming I promise! :P You'll probably get a new years card first though. :-)

 

LOVE YOU!

-

Christine

グラスランド姉妹

Transfer 3-Week 5: December 24, 2012

皆さん！メリークリスマス！！！！

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I hope you all are having a fantastically amazing Christmas! I know I have!

As with all other holidays out in Japan, Christmas is pretty boring... No body really celebrates it. Really little kids do, but that's seriously about it. Kind of sad. :/ Everyone is getting ready for shogatsu! (New Years!) That's the super huge holiday out here. They've been prepping for it all month. :P I'm kind of excited to see what happens!

This week was amazing. We saw so many miracles!

Kaori:

Kaori is an Eikaiwa student we've got a really strong friendship with. Recently she's taken an interest in the gospel. Mostly out of curiosity than anything, but that's okay. We've had a couple of lessons with her, but she's told us that she's not interested in entering a church. She just wants to learn about it. But she's agreed to keep meeting with us and hearing about it! :-D

This week we had a lesson with her where we watched the Restoration Video. Honestly, Sister Lundy and I hadn't prepped much of a lesson for that...  I can only say that the Spirit guided that lesson. Neither Sister Lundy or I had to question what we would talk about. We just knew what the other one was going to say and we were ready to keep the lesson going. Everything went amazingly perfectly. :-) She even said her first prayer by herself and she did SO good. It was amazing. :-) I loved it!

Tamae's Baptism:

The day of Tamae's baptism was ridiculously stressful. xD We wanted everything to be perfect for her baptism. We stressed and planned and practiced. The service ended up going really really smoothly. All of the missionaries who came ended up singing this BEAUTIFUL song. I don't have a video of the final performance sadly, but I attached to this email a video of Sister Lundy and I practicing on our own... It's not the greatest, sorry... but hey!

Yamamoto:

Oh dear. I think I talked about this last week, right? Yamamoto came to Eikaiwa, freaked out and left... Well, we had an amazing miracle this week with him. After Tamae's baptism we headed over to Kaori's house with a birthday cake for her! It was so fun! We got to meet her family and it was awesome! After, we were walking back to the eki to go back to the apartment when I saw a man that I recognized and immediately a name came to mind. "Yamamoto-san!" Amazingly, when he saw us he actually stopped and started talking to us! Short version, we were able to start over with him! He said he still wanted to meet and talk about the church. We said "When?!" He said (Keep in mind it's currently 7:15pm) "8:00?" So for the next 45 mintues we stressed beyond all reason about what to teach, getting the Elders there, and trying to find another woman to joint with us so that we actually could meet with him. Again, Heavenly Father seriously helped us out... The Elders and one of the members just dropped everything they were doing and came to the church as fast as they could so we could have a lesson. :-) The lesson went fairly well. I mean... He mostly just talked at us, but that's okay. He agreed to meet again! Heavenly Father seriously put us exactly where we needed to be to meet him. It was incredible.

I love you all! I hope you have an incredible Christmas! I know Heavenly Father is aware of every one of you and loves each of you! Don't ever forget it! :-) Thank you all for your prayers! Keep praying for us! We love you!

-

Christine