Transfer 5 Week 7: March 25, 2013

That's right.  We're on Week 7.  xD  Weeeeird!  This week would normally be transfers, but because of the age change announcment the schedule over at the MTC has changed things up for us out here.  This transfer is an extra week long.  This Saturday, Transfer Calls will be coming.  More than likely what will happen is that I'll stay here in Kichijoji and train and Long shimai will be going somewhere else.  Who knows though right? :-)

This week was super crazy.  The scariest experience I've had so far on my mission happened this week... But I'll save that for last. ;)

Wednesday:

We went to Inokashira Park (A really big famous park here in Japan) and met these two girls who were 19 and 20.  They were SO cute and both had a relation to Christianity which is REALLY rare in Japan.  We started talking to them and eventually the conversation turned to the Book of Mormon.  We told them that the Book of Mormon could answer any question they had and asked what questions they had.  They asked (get this :P) "What is the purpose of life?  Where do we go after we die?"  Word for word.  Talk about perfect!  :-D  We shared with them some scriptures and they seemed to like it.  We gave them both Books of Mormon and they said they'd read it... Unfortunately (kind of), they don't live in our area... so we'll probably never see them again, but it was still an awesome experience!

Friday:

On my Mom's birthday we met these 2 Mom's out in the park playing with their kids. We invited them to come to Ritomikku (Our kids English class for kids who are like...1...2?) and both of them have come now!  On Friday one of them invited us to her house so we went and played with her and her son!  It was a lot of fun.  She introduced us to her Russian friend.  :-)

Saturday:

HAPPY COOKIE DAY!!!! :-D

(PS: Yes Peach, I totally gave out cookies!  ;D)

We went to an investigator named June's house for a lesson... but when we got there she was really surprised to see us.  Turns out I made a mistake on what day she said... She meant next Saturday. :/  Oops... Luckily though, she had time so we got to talk with her for a little while. :-)  Then we went to this 80-year-old womans house named Matsunaga and had a quick lesson with her and gave her some cookies!  :-D   Then we had a dinner appointment with Naoko!!  I LOVE HER!  It turned out to be a really fun dinner appointment.

Sunday:

Right now in Japan it is SAKURA SEASON!!!  AHHH!  The Sakura trees only bloom for a week before they're gone so everyone told us we should go to the park because there would be a ton of people there!  They were right.  We went to Inokashira Park and tried to dendo for a little while... we quickly discovered that was going to be impossible.  There were SO pany people that trying to talk to any one of them was not working. It was weird.  Every time we've gone to Inokashira Park we've gotten at least 1 really good Potential Investigator, but this time it was like... Impossible.

That's when Long shimai got this brilliant idea.  "Let's make the Plan of Salvation out of sticks!!"  So we did. ;)  We gathered tons of sticks and rocks and started drawing out the Plan of Salvation (All in Japanese).  At first nobody really noticed what we were doing, but as we got going more and more people stopped to look at what we were doing.  We had several people ask us to explain what it was we were making and of course we would!  When we had finished, we put at the bottom the link to mormon.org. x)  I don't know if we'll get any investigators out of it, but it was a lot of fun and if nothing else got the church a lot of attention. :-)

Monday (Today!):

Today we went (again xD) to Inokashira Park!  This time with one of our investigators. :-)  She made us lunch and we all sat under the sakura trees eating.  The Japanese call that a "Hanami"  (Lit. Flower Watching)   It was SO much fun.  Sakura is SO pretty.

Scariest Moment of My Mission (so far):

This happened on Thursday of this week.

Long shimai and I went out streeting near the house of one of our investigators.  We reached an intersection and started debating about what direction we should go.  While we were debating I heard this huge crash behind us.  I turned around to look and saw a woman on ground groaning and holding her ribs.  Next to her was a man flat on his back with a bike wrapped around his legs.  Long shimai and I ran over to make sure they were okay.  I noticed a pair of glasses in the road (luckily it was a red light) and quickly grabbed them.  The woman stood up and kept saying "I'm okay.  I'm okay. Is he okay?"  The man wasn't moving.  Long shimai went to try to talk to him (meanwhile another man was calling an ambulance) when I noticed a big red puddle next to the mans head.  Long shimai was about to start moving him so I ran over and told her not to move him.  I pointed out the blood.  The man was just staring out into space.  He was breathing though so we knew he was okay.  I noticed his eyes starting to close though and I heard this voice say "Don't let him fall asleep!"  I bent over and started talking to him.  I asked what his name is and where he was going, when his birthday was, told him who I was... Anything to keep him awake.  After a little while he started to look like he was registering what was going on.  He eventually sat up (much to the protest of all the onlookers who had moved his bike out of the way) and started patting the ground around him. Someone handed him a hat and a woman came out of a house closeby with a giant towel for his head.  He put on the towel with the hat on top and kept patting the ground.  I handed him his glasses and he looked at me and said "Ah!  Sumimasen.  Arigatou Gozaimasu."  The man who had called the ambulance said "It okay.  Ambulance come. Thank you."   We took that as "You're excused." :P  It was scary, but I'm pretty positive the man is okay.  :-)  I haven't been able to go past that spot since then though.  xD

And that was my week!  It was a good week.  A little crazy, but good!  I hope you all had a good week too!  I love you all so much!  Look forward to next weeks email.  Who knows where I'll be (And who I'll be with!) !  :-)

Please keep praying for me!

I love you all!

-

Christine

グラスランド姉妹

Another video of Christine singing, but this time, I have no idea what song it is...  If you know, leave a comment!  I thought this video was funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvLKXkQXjzs&feature=youtu.be

A video of Christine and her companion, Sister Lundy, singing "I'll Find You There My Friend" in Japanese.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT9t3KT3rrw&feature=youtu.be

Transfer 5 Week 6: March 18, 2013

皆様こんにちは！！愛しているよ！

It's so hard to believe that I'm already almost on Transfer 6!  Next week transfer calls come... Dun dun dun.  :-)  I'm actually pretty nervous because my 予言 is that Long姉妹 will be transfered out of Kichijoji and I'll be make a trainer.  We have a TON of 姉妹 coming in this next transfer and the rumors are that half of the sisters already here are going to be made trainers... and Presdient Budge really likes people to train while they're still young missionaries... I'm nervous.

This week though was really good!  We didn't really have a lot of things happen so I'll go through each day quickly again.  :-)

Tuesday:

Went on Exchanges with the Hibarigaoka Sisters!  I stayed in Kichijoji with Walbeck姉妹.  She and I went to visit this Less Active sister who ended up not being home... However, as we were leaving, her neighbors came back and we said hello! There was a man and a woman.  We talked with the woman for a minute and then the man came up with this big black bag. He opened it up and pulled out two pairs of bracelets and phone charms!  He gave them to us and then they went back to their house.  It was awesome. :-D

That evening we had a lesson with a girl named Hiromi who was a new student at Eikaiwa.  We taught her the first lesson about the Restoration and at the end she said she wanted time to really think about what we were saying before moving forward anymore.  It was a really good lesson though.  :-)

Wednesday:

We finished up Exchanges and went to trade back... However there was a HUGE windstorm going on.  We rode 20 minutes through this windstorm to Hibarigaoka and then 20 minutes back.  Long姉妹 and I nearly crashed like... countless times.  It was ridiculously scary.  There was so much dirt and wind. Not fun.

We also had a lesson with Hasegawa姉妹 (who still hasn't worked up the courage to tell her parents that she wants to be baptized, but is still making progress.  We've been reading the Book of Mormon with her.)

Other than that we had Eikaiwa and Hiromi came!  We also had a girl who we met while streeting the other day (Her name is Runa, but in English it literally means Lunar Star Field. How cool is that?!) and she said she really enjoyed our class and wants to come back!  Yay!

Thursday:

We had a lesson with Yuka and read the story about Nephi on the boat with his brothers.  At the end she started crying and said "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm crying... I'm just so impressed with Nephi's perspective!  He really saw the big picture!  He could've stopped his brothers right?  He had God's Power... but he didn't stop them?  Why not?"  It was a really good lesson and I'm excited to meet with her again this week to see how she's doing with reading the Book of Mormon on her own.  We're really hoping that after that lesson she'll want to read on her own more. :-)

Friday:

We went out to the very edge of our area to visit a Less Active. On the bus ride there we talked with these 2 sweet Obachans (Grandma's) who liked Hymns.  We invited them to church and gave them a flyer.  As we were talking to them, another obachan who was sitting behind them kept staring at us.  When we gave them the flyer she was leaning over the seat to try to get a look at the map.  Then the two obachan's got off and this obachan that was sitting behind them scoots up a seat and says "I saw you talking to them and it looked so fun so I wanted to talk to you too!"  xD  We got her contact info and we're going to go visit her again soon. :-)

Then we went to the LA's house and played with her pet dog. x) I was reminded why I don't like dogs very much...  Long姉妹 was pretty much in heaven though.  xD  It was so much fun.  Other than that, really not a lot happened on Friday.

Saturday:

Definitely my favorite part of this week.  There was a concert at the church this week by a group called Little Witnesses.  (Listening to them try to say that in Japanese was hilarious by the way. xD)  The concert was incredible.  I loved every single second of it.  I really can't go into all the details because it would take WAY too long, but to keep it short I really REALLY felt Heavenly Father's love for me.  While listening to them sing I said a prayer in my heart asking "Heavenly Father? Do you really know me?"  He does.  :-)  And He knows YOU!  He knows you by name!   This concert was AMAZING.  I ordered their CD I liked it so much. x)

After the concert we headed to Inokashira Park to do some park dendo.  While there we saw this girl who was walking her pet rabbit!  (I know, right? :D) It was on a leash and everything. x)  We talked for her for about 30 minutes and got her contact info and everything.  She said she'd be coming to an activity we're having tonight so I guess we'll see in 2 hours if we'll ever see her again!  :-)

Sunday:

I spoke in church this week... Well, I tried anyway.  :P  I worked SO hard on my talk, but when I got up there I was SO nervous I couldn't really speak very well... Someone else spoke after me (of course) and said "Listening to Sister Grosland speak was like listening to a little child.  Although they mess up all the time, it's so pure and innocent that it's okay!"  -sigh-  I just want to be able to speak!! xD

Other than that, the only exciting thing on Sunday was we had a dinner appointment with this family who has lived in America for a long time as well as in Japan... So it seriously was like a normal Sunday dinner in America!  It was super 懐かしい！I loved it. :-)

Monday:

Yesterday!   We met this woman named Shiwaさん who we didn't think was going to have any interest in the gospel... We ended up having a 3 hour long church tour with her and at the end she said she'd come to church in 2 weeks and by then she wants to read the Book of Mormon!  (She also tried to set us up to go on a double date with some of her coworkers who are around our age.  xD  Oh my gosh it was hilarious.) She really seems to have an interest in learning about what we believe, but right now I think it's more out of an interest in US than in the church.  We'll see what happens. :-)

And that was my week!  It was a good week and I'm looking forward to an even better one! 

To all those who have sent me a letter since... like December... that I haven't responded to, I'M SORRY!! P-days have been SO busy this transfer.  I've had no time to answer letters... I'm getting to them I promise!  Please don't forget about me!  xD

I love you guys!  Thank you so much for your prayers!  Have a fantastic week and DON'T FORGET TO CELEBRATE COOKIE DAY ON SATURDAY!!! (For those who don't know what that is, just bake some cookies and go give them to someone! :-D)  I love you!!!

Love,

Christine

PS: Description of Pictures: Long姉妹 being her adorable self, me right as a train goes by, TUNA TETRAZINI (*cough* Kinda...), and the bracelet I was talking about!

Transfer 5 Week 5: March 11, 2013

皆様こんばんは！

信じあらない！！今週は「Week ５」です！やばい！ (I can't believe it!  This week is week 5! *Insert slang word for AHHHH!*)

 

I seriously can't believe that my 5th transfer is almost over.  This Wednesday marks my halfway mark as a missionary!! :-( It's going so fast!  I love Japan so much.  There are so many things here that I used to think were SO weird, but now I find totally normal.  Long姉妹 and I were talking about that yesterday.  Apparently her aunt told her that she needs to write down everything that she thinks is weird about Japan because someday it will be completely normal.  She didn't do it and she says she regrets it because now she can't remember what America was like!  xD  I actually kind of agree with her... There are certain things that I keep trying to remember about America and I just forget!  Like what it was like to have big streets... or being able to read all of the signs... or people understanding you when you speak English!  (Oh my gosh I'm going to be in SO much trouble when that starts happening again.  I've gotten into this REALLY bad habit of whenever I don't want someone to know what I'm saying, saying it in English because nobody understands but my companion. :P)

 

Family: This week was kind of a hard week on me.  A lot of little things happened every single day this week that made me really homesick, all of which culminated on Sunday.  Luckily I had a nice little crying session and got over it.  I never really realized before my mission just how much a good cry helps... It really gets out SO much stress. :-)  (I know you guys are all thinking "Poor thing", but I swear it was a good thing.  It was like "Okay.  I've gotten it out.  Back to work." kind of thing so it was good.)

This week was really depressing in that we had exactly 4 lessons as opposed to our 11 we had last week... We tried really hard, but nobody was able to really meet!  Soooo.. that was kind of depressing.  However, because of that we spent most of the week out FINDING! Finding is one of my favorite things to do as a missionary.  I love just wandering around and talking to people. xD  My favorite is handing out fliers at the train station, but this week I discovered a new type of finding that is almost better... Park dendo.

On Saturday, (Happy birthday Sara!) we went to a really famous park here in Kichijoji called Inokashira Park.  It's famous for it's Sakura Tree's. (Cherry Blossoms!  There a big deal out here in Japan.  It's something I've wanted to see practically my whole life.)  The Sakura don't bloom though until the end of March... however there was 1 tree that decided it would start blooming a little bit early! I freaked. I was SO excited.  We took a picture there that I've attached to this email!  :-)  Enjoy!

The reason I like park dendo so much though is that nobody in parks are in a hurry.  It's not nearly as rude to stop a person walking their dog through a park.  We talked to SO many people that day, just because we were wandering throught his gorgeous park in amazing weather saying hello to everyone. Does it get better than that?  This particular time of park dendo was SO fun.  We met so many interesting people.  For example. While we were walking next to this track-like thing there was a (kind of scary looking) lady standing in the middle of the track yelling "Douzo(Go ahead)!" Over and over again.  Suddenly Long姉妹 stopped in her tracks and says "Oh my gosh.  That guy has a Falcon!" Sure enough there were 5 people standing in the middle of the track holding rather large scary birds.  I noticed that the lady yelling "Douzo" had one of those falcon trainer arm band things on... but no bird.  I looked up and there was a falcon right above our heads!  It was awesome!! We wanted to talk to them, but we both chickened out... They had giant birds that could eat us. :P  I can just imagine... "Hello!  We're representitives of The Church-" "SICK 'EM!!!" :P

Another fun finding moment we had was while handing out fliers!  There was a guy dressed like a wizard!!  I swear.  He was on his way to Diagon Alley... best part?  He took a flier for Eikaiwa.  ;)

Other than that, we only had 2 really exciting things happen. 1: Neighbor funness and 2: Chinese Sand.

Neighbor Funness!

So there is this lady that lives next door to us who is... probably in her 80's or 90's.  Every now and then when we're leaving or coming back she'll talk to us, but she always says the same thing.  "I bought some mikan (Little oranges) for you, but you weren't home!  Have a nice day!"  This week we had that same conversation with her and then went into the apartment just like usual.  A few minutes later, the doorbell rang.  I went and opened it and that lady pokes her head around the door with her finger on her lips. "Shhhhh!  My child doesn't know I'm here! Here!" She handed me this bag of treats and starts closing the door saying "Shhhhhhhhhh! Don't tell my child!"  After the door closed, we both laughed a little bit... but it doesn't end there.  After that we had our Weekly Planning Session.  It was really nice weather so we opened up the back screen door for some air flow.  A little bit into our planning we heard a voice saying "Is anyone there?"  Long姉妹 went to see and it was the same lady.  She said "SHHHH!  I just bought this for you. Don't tell my child!"  She secretly slid some tofu to us across the balcony.  It was hilarious. :-)  We want to do something for her later to pay her back, but we're not sure what to do... xD

Chinese Sand!

So after church on Sunday we were getting ready to leave when we noticed it had gotten REALLY dark outside.  Everyone was in the foyer pointing at the sky and taking pictures and stuff.  Long姉妹 and I looked at each other and decided to go figure out what was going on.  It turns out there was a GIANT sandstorm.  The wind blew a ton of sand from China.  Apparently it happens in Japan a lot, but it's really dangerous when it does.  They were saying that people get really sick from being out in it too long.  We were like "Well... we have to get back to the apartment at the very least."  So the ward members gave us a couple of masks (It was a miracle they had 2 random extras) to help us breath better, and told us not to leave the apartment until this cleared up.  We got on our bikes and off we went.  It was bad... I felt like I was riding my bike with my eyes closed the whole way. Anytime I opened my eyes I got what felt like a handful of sand thrown in them.  They were right about barely being able to breath too.  Even with the mask I was struggling a bit not to breath in too much sand.  We got back to the apartment safely, but we both were sandy and gross. My blue bike had streaks of orange sand.  Neither of us wanted to be outside any longer than we had to so sorry, I didn't get any good pictures of us or my bike, but I did take a quick picture of the sky.  I know you guys haven't seen what it looks like normally so this may not seem weird to you, but also keep in mind that this was taken at around 2:30pm. That was definitely the scariest part of the week.  I know that Heavenly Father definitely protected us and helped us make it home safely.  :-)

 

And that was my week!  :-)  A lot of really little things happened, but nothing super huge this week.  Just a lot of little stuff. Today I went to the Ghibli Museum which was EPIC!  (Yeah, I know.  I'm such a missionary. I think museums are epic.)  That was about it! :-)  I hope you guys all had an amazing week!  And I hope this next week is EVEN BETTER!  I wanted to give a quick shoutout thank you to Shauna and everyone from the ward who contributed to that AMAZING Valentines Day present.  I read it and just about died.  It gave me that extra little boost I needed this week, so THANK YOU! Family: Thank you guys for your amazing Valentines Day Presents too!  I've already eaten all of the fruit gushers.. xD and your hug is sitting on my desk! :-)  THANK YOU!!  I'm so lucky to have all of you amazing people back at home supporting me and praying for me.  I miss you guys!  Keep praying for me!  I love you all!

 

Love,

Christine

Catching Up

We finally got all the posts up!  We will try to keep them current.
Christine has written some pretty neat things in personal emails to us, which I hope to go through and post highlights of.  She is having some amazing experiences!  She has also sent us a LOT of pictures, so we will try to get those up. 
We will do better!!

To start with, Kim got an email this morning from a man from Texas, who went to church with Christine today.  He sent some pictures too!  Here it is:


Brother and Sister Grosland,

My name is Rob Carlson and today I attended church at the Kichijoji Ward and had the pleasure of meeting your daughter and her companion, Sister Long.  As you will see in the attached photo, she is happy and enjoying her service to the Lord and to the people of Tokyo.  I evesdropped on her talking with several sisters at church today and was very impressed with her fluency.

Forty years ago I started my missionary service in Japan.  In looking back over my life I can state without any hesitation that everything good that has happened in my life since I was released as a missionary is a result of that mission. Not only my faith and testimony, but also my career was influenced by a desire to stay in touch with Japan.  I have worked for and with Japanese-owned companies nearly all of my career, including two years living and working in Tokyo (and, coincidentally, I home taught the mission president who lived in a house on the site of the church I attended today).

I always am thrilled to meet missionaries serving in Japan -- I feel they are an important part of "my" continuing love for the Japanese.  Thank you so much for sharing your daughter with the wonderful people of Japan.

Sincerely,
Rob Carlson
Friendswood 2nd Ward
Friendswood, Texas

BTW, I am attaching one other photo -- of a strong dust storm that hit Tokyo while we were in church meetings today. The "dust" in the storm originated in a desert in China and was blown all the way to Tokyo -- across the Japan Sea, up and over the high mountains that form the backbone of the main island and finally to Tokyo. As I walked through it I could occasionally feel grit from the wind in my eyes. It was a unique experience.

Take care and have a lovely week!!

Transfer 5 week 4: March 4, 2013

皆様こんにちは！

I can't even believe that it's already week 4!  AHHH!   Why is time going so quickly!?

This week was crazy busy.  We saw so many amazing miracles, I doubt I'll even be able to talk about half of them!  I'm going to go day by day... but a little out of order today.  I want to save the biggest thing for last. :-) I'm going to keep each day fairly short so I can have enough time for everything though!

Tuesday:

While housing, we ran into these two ladies walking their dogs.  We stopped and were able to talk to them for about 30 minutes about our Eikaiwa class and they seemed to have a real interest!  Mostly this was just entertaining because of how they treated us.  One of the other missionaries (who is about to go home) was saying "What am I going to do when I get back to America and nobody looks at me like I'm a movie star anymore!?"  xD  That is SO true.  That's how these 2 ladies were treating us. :P

Wednesday:

One of the busiest days of my mission so far.  We had back to back lessons and 2 lessons actually overlapped a little... I got back this night and collapsed in my futon.  My companion did the same thing.  We were SO tired. xD

Wednesday morning we had a big study meeting with all of the shimai in our Zone and the Zone Leaders at the Senior Couples house. Oh my gosh it was awesome.  We had delicous pancakes and it was seriously like visiting grandmas house!  :-) I loved it.  On the train there, we met a very interesting woman who about died when she met us.  She basically just told us her whole life story and then left. :P  I love being a missionary.

After the study meeting we had a lesson with Hasegawa姉妹 which was good, but we kept getting calls during it and we didn't know who it was.  Turns it out it was our next appointment (Bi) calling and saying she couldn't come... So instead we actually had time to prep for Eikaiwa! (OH!  And the Elders got sick this week so we had to do Eikaiwa by ourselves this week... That was kind of interesting.) Then we headed out to Mitaka for a lesson with Makita.  We met our joint at the eki and then walked to where we were supposed to meet her. When we got there, I couldn't help but glance through the window of a nearby resteraunt. (I was hungry. :P)  There was a girl who looked about 16 or 17 sitting there crying... Right before coming there, we had bought these treats called Taiyaki (look them up. They're delicious.) and I had the thought come to me "You should go give her your taiyaki!"  So, Long姉妹 and I walked in, went up to this random teenage girl, and gave her some taiyaki.  :P  She looked at me and said she remembered seeing me in the window!  I said that I noticed her crying and I wanted to help her... My goal was to cheer her up... Her reaction was to cry harder. ;)  Hahahaha!  She thanked us over and over again for the taiyaki and said she didn't really want to talk about what was wrong.  We talked to her a little bit about things like school.  She said that she was really surprised to see us though... Apparently, just that morning her teacher gave them all a lecture about how they needed to join a church... and then we showed up. :-)  We gave her our number and told her to call us any time. We want to help. :-)  Then unfortunately we had to leave.  I haven't seen her since, but it was such a good experience anyway.

The lesson with Makita didn't go extremely well... She left for Chiba for a month to do missionary stuff for her church... Yeah, we're not sure what to think right now. Please pray for her. :)

My Eikaiwa class had 15 people today!  I was told by several of them though that I was a very good English teacher and that I should stay in Japan after my mission and teach English.  :-) That was a major self esteem boost.

Thursday:

We had a really powerful lesson with Yuka. She had a dream on Wednesday night about her Dad who died about 6 months ago.  She said that she dreamed he and her mom were in the room next door and she was worried about them, but then she went to check on him and he said "Don't worry about me.  I'm very comfortable".  She said she felt peace, but when she woke up she realized it was all a dream.  She started to cry and said "I just can't believe that my dad doesn't exist anymore."  We re-explained the post-mortal life specificially about the spirit world. We said that the people in the spirit world really are just that close and that maybe Heavenly Father was sending you a message in your dream.  Maybe he wants you to know that your dad really isn't that far.  He's just in the next room and he's comfortable.  He's just waiting. :-)  It was such a good lesson.  And MIRACLE! She agreed to come to the church next week to have a church tour!  Please pray that it goes well!

We also met with Naoko and asked her about how prayer is going.  She said that she feels so much peace now that she's praying every day.  You could literally see it. Last time we met with her she was SO stressed out, but Thursday... she was just relaxed and calm!  She says she knows that God is answering her prayers when she prays and she says she wants us to keep teaching her how to be happy.  :-D  YAY!

Thursday night we taught Matsuoka-san and her son Tatsuki how to sing Families Can Be Together Forever in English.  They both seemed to really enjoy it!

Friday Afternoon/Saturday:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!!!

On Friday we had a BIG conference, after which all the shimai went on kokans (Exchanges).  This time I went to.... URAYASU!!! :-D :-D :-D  Sister Lundy and I were companions again for a day and Sister Facer came back to Kichijoji to be companions with Long shimai again for a day. :-)  On the train ride to Urayasu, Sister Lundy and I were just sitting around talking about the different experiences we've been having lately and this guy came up to us.  He asked if we spoke English and said "I'm sorry.  I've been watching you both for a while and I just had the thought come to my head that I needed to talk to you..."  Turns out he lives in Koiwa which is very close to Urayasu and had an interest in Eikaiwa.  We got his number and asked if it was okay to give it to our friends in Koiwa.  I don't know what will happen with that, but it was a cool experience. :-)

Because we were talking to that guy, we missed our stop on the train... :P  So we got on another train to get back to Urayasu!  Again, Sister Lundy and I were just talking when I heard a woman behind us say "That's English!"  I turned around and apologized for being kind of loud.  Her eyes got big and she said "You speak Japanese?!"  I smiled and said "A little.  I'm learning". (This was all in Japanese by the way.  She didn't speak any English.)  She asked what we were doing in Japan.  We talked about how we taught a free English class and she freaked.  She said she's been searching for a long time for an English class!  When we gave her a chirashi for ours she seriously died.  I'm not sure which area's Eikaiwa she'll be going to, but she will DEFINITELY be there. :-)

In Urayasu I was able to visit the Bishop's wife and the flower shop lady (Chizuko) and KAORI!  :-D  It was so much fun.  Friday night, we got a call from Helen.  She told us that she'd done a bad thing... She said that she felt REALLY guilty and that she didn't think that Heavenly Father could forgive her for what she did.  I talked to her for a little while (without telling her who it was) and she said towards the end that she felt a bit better.  I asked her if she knew who it was talking to her and told her it was me. She got SO excited.  I told her that it was a miracle that she called that night because it was the only night that I would be in Urayasu. She said she knew that was true.  I hope she's doing okay.  :-)

On Saturday we had lunch with one of the Young Women from Urayasu (Family: If you care, Sarasa. :-D) It was SO good to see her again.  After that, I went back to Kichijoji! Saturday evening in Kichijoji was amazing though.  Elder and Sister Aoyagi, and Elder and Sister Callister (From the Quorum of the 70) came to Kichijoji and spoke. All of the talks were amazing, but especially Sister Callister.  Sister Callister stood up and the first thing she said was "I feel inspired to change my message to you tonight."  The message she gave was exactly what I needed to hear.  I won't go into details (sorry), but I needed it.  :-)

Now... The best for last.

Friday Morning:

I woke up at 5:45 with butterflies, anxiety, and just excitement.  We left the apartment at 6:30 and rode the train for about an hour to Hiro-o (where the temple is).  We went to the Temple Annex and there were already a ton of missionaries gathered there for the conference.  There was a buzz of excitement everywhere. :-)  Then, Sister Facer and I went to where the missionary choir was practicing because she and I were singing in it together.  (Sister Long and Sister Lundy became companions while we were doing that.)  President and Sister Budge looked REALLY stressed out (and probably were!  xD).  At 8:30 everyone was in their seats studying their scriptures, praying - a few people were even crying already. :P  I was just praying the whole time that I would be able to really feel the spirit and learn what Heavenly Father wanted me to learn from the conference.  Then the door opened.  President Budge walked in and motioned for everyone to stand - which we did - and then in walked Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.  :-)  He stood at the front of the room and announced that he wanted to shake everyone's hands at the beginning instead of at the end. Oh my gosh.  It was amazing.  :-D

I wish I could write about everything that happened, but I just wouldn't have the time!  We listened to talks from President and Sister Budge, Elder and Sister Ringwood (Of the 70 - also Elder Nelson's daughter), and of course Elder and Sister Nelson.  It was incredibly powerful.  (Family:  This part is for you. :-)  I have a message for you guys from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.  Especially for Mom and Dad.  He said to tell you Thank You.  He said that we were one of the best groups of missionaries he's ever seen and he knows that our families were a big reason for that.  He called us "Messengers fit for the message".) It was an amazing experience. Really. :-)  There was SO much I learned from it, but I don't have time to talk about all of it.  One of my favorite things said though was said by Sister Nelson.  In the middle of the meeting, Elder Nelson invited all the Elders to take off their jackets.  Sister Nelson said "What if Elder Nelson had said something else instead? What if he had said 'any of you who would like, come with me right now to the temple. It's time to meet the Savior'? How would you have felt? It's going to happen someday. Are you ready?"

I'm so grateful to be a missionary. :-)  I love this gospel. I know that it's true.  This gospel is a message of peace, love, and hope and it will bring happiness into the lives of all those who receive it.  Thomas S. Monson is God's living prophet here on the Earth.  Joseph Smith truly saw God and Jesus Christ.  The Book of Mormon is true and it's proof of our message.  If there is anyone who reads this who is not reading the Book of Mormon - READ IT.  It is God's word and it is true. 

I love Japan. :-)  I love my companion!  I love everything about my life right now. (Except the lack of dryers. ;D)  I'm so grateful to all of you at home and for your prayers on my behalf.  I feel them. Every day.  They help me.  Please continue to pray for me and my investigators.  I can use all the help I can get out here. :-)

I love you all!  Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Christine