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