Week 47

Dear everyone,

It's official: no-tights weather in Sado, and I couldn't be happier.
FREEDOM! The week in a nutshell with all its ups, downs, and
in-betweens:

Tuesday: We met a lady and got a good dose of some Bible-bashing. It's
unusual to talk to people who have any sort of background in
Christianity, much more, Bible references readily spewing at every
moment. #whydidialwaysfallasleepinseminary

Wednesday: With special permission, Skyped my family to hold family
night with my grandparents, who were in America / England with the
rest of my family. We talked about The Family: a Proclamation to the
World, and Sister Mondano and I were pretty much crying at the pure
joy of it all. Aren't families the best?

Wednesday: I made my first visit to the hospital as a missionary
(don't worry--it wasn't for me). We brought our friend some flowers to
cheer her up, and then she asked why we brought flowers meant for the
butsudan (Buddhist altar in people's houses, in other words, for dead
people). We are so ignorant.

Wednesday: During housing, we met a man sitting in his car who, with a
sort of funny grin, asked us if we knew what the kanji said on his
car. (Sorry, my kanji is still at about the third-grade level). "I
sell butsudans. So no, I'm not Christian." That's okay, if everyone
was already Christian, we wouldn't be in Japan!

Friday: We went on a hunt for a referral with some vague instructions
(somewhere behind that one government building ... ) Frustrated, we
sat on a stump, ate a piece of chocolate, and decided turned back to
do some research on GoogleMaps. Little did we know that the stump was
literally 100 meters from the lady's house.

Saturday: we set two solid baptismal dates for May 10! A lovely lady
and her eight-year old son. We also got to take the brand-new ferry to
Niigata again. Except we found ourselves sitting by a man who had the
most intense snore I have ever heard. Everyone got up and left the
room except for us and a nice grandma eating her rice ball. Poor guy.

Sunday: The Niigata district is getting reorganized, so we went to
Niigata for another conference. I had my first official stint as a
English-Japanese translator for Sister Budge and I'm afraid no one
understood her talk. Also, I went on a split with the Niigata sisters
and taught a little nine-year old girl, who happens to speak better
English than I speak Japanese. We taught her the entire plan of
salvation (in English, mind you), and she prayed at the end and had
these great big tears in her eyes. "I just feel so happy!"

This week, I've been extra aware of how much love can change people.
At first I felt kind of cheesy, showing up on people's doorsteps
saying, "Hi I'm Sister Willden and I came from America to tell you
that God loves you." But isn't that the the truth? Here is a quote I
love about love from President Monson:

"My dear sisters [and brothers, I suppose should be added] your
Heavenly Father loves you--each of you. That love never changes. It is
not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the
amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by
your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you
when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God's love is
there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply
always there." And don't you ever forget it. Until next week!

Love, Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, April 28)

Picture 1: My feet. And the big blue sea.
Pic 2: I've got my sea legs on.
Pic 3: Skype lesson with my dear family! Oh the wonders of technology.