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."
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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
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