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