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.

Week 46

Hi everyone,

How was the week? I'm feeling very grateful today (which I should be
feeling always). Here are some of the blessings of the week:

1. Set a baptismal date with one of our investigators who we met on
the street a couple of weeks ago. She came to church yesterday and
loved it!

2. Practically set another baptismal date with another of our
investigators who has been praying for a long time to know whether or
not she should be baptized. She's allowing us to start teaching her
adorable 8-year old son this week. (May 17 is going to be a busy day
we are hoping ... )

3. Got to ride on a brand-new ferry to go to Niigata. (If it seems
like we take the ferry every week, you would be correct). See pictures
for the staircase where Sister Mondano and I re-enacted Princess
Diaries to avoid getting seasick. At the meeting, Sister Mondano and
trained on inviting people. To hear the gospel, read the Book of
Mormon, get baptized, etc. etc. I personally invite you to do all of
the above if you haven't already :)

4. I ate some Thai food. Our ventures to Niigata for meetings have
become also an excursion into food that cannot be found in Sado.

5. We had more investigators at church this week than missionaries.
Interestingly enough, it almost beat the number of members we have in
the branch all together.

6. Biked into the mountains to find a potential investigator. Saw some
pretty sights, got some pretty sore legs. The elders and our
investigators laughed at us when we said we biked to Aikawa.

7. This week we actually had an eikaiwa class. Before coming to Sado,
that was a blessing I took for granted. Old people here don't really
want to learn English.

I know I had more than 7 blessings this week but time is short. To
keep with the theme of gratitude and such, here's a good quote from
President Uchtdorf's talk from this past general conference:

"It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our
way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be
far out of reach?

Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life
that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I�fm
suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on
being thankful in our circumstances--whatever they may be."

It reminds me not to wait to be happy and grateful, not "I'll be
happy when it's P-Day / done biking this hill / eating chocolate cake
/ in a new area / home / etc." Be happy now. It's a happy way to live.

Have the best week! Love you all!

Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, April 21)

Pic 1: The new ferry. So fancy schmanzy.
Pic 2: my favorite koala cookies. It's the simple joys in life.
Pic 3: Easter package from my mother. SHE'S THE BEST.
Pic 4: We were so pleased with ourselves, fashioning little Easter
goodie bags for Primary out of Saran Wrap and twine meant for garbage.

Week 45

Dear everyone,

Thanks for all the emails! Dear family, travel home safe from England,
ね！And eat some good fish and chips and see some good artwork until
then.

I am pleased to report that both Sister Mondano and I will be staying
in Sado for the third transfer in a row (my seventh transfer ... where
did the time go?). There are a million things still left for us to do.
We plan to knock on every door on the island before the transfer is
over. Because it's actually kind of doable.

This Sunday was Miracle Sunday. Really. 6 people we are teaching came
to church this week! There is something so magical about sitting
there, being depressed because a member calls and says the
investigator she was supposed to pick up isn't actually coming, only
to have the investigator walk in the door halfway through conference
and say she decided to call a taxi and come after all. "Better late
than never," she said.

We had a lot of appointments fall through this week. But that isn't
the first time that it's happened, nor will it be the last. It just
gave us a little push to work a little harder, talk to more people,
knock on some more doors. We were headed to an appointment and snuck
up behind a lady and decided to stop her. We introduced ourselves and
our message and her eyes got all big and she said, "I was just
thinking about how we could have more happiness in the world when you
stopped to talk to me."

General Conference. So good. (If you don't know what that is check out
lds.org). Something so interesting about watching it in Tagalog while
having headphones plugged into my iPad and watching it in English.
Sister Mondano and I had our own little Tagalog-speaking room full of
all our investigators and their adorably rambunctious children.

I'm sure every quotable quote from Conference is already all over the
blogosphere/ Instagram/ whatever new social media has come out since
I've been gone, but here is one gem that I particularly loved, from
Elder Holland:

"Be strong. Live the gospel faithfully even if others around you don’t
live it at all. Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion,
but defend them."

His talk made me cry. I've never had anyone spit mashed potatoes on me
(can I even get mashed potatoes here? I guess I can make them ... )
but it struck a chord in me. Christlike discipleship is sometimes
going to be hard, but it's 100% absolutely worth it.

Thanks always for all the love. It means the world!

Love,
Sister Margaret Willden

PS--it's cherry blossom season in Sado! Check the pics. It's the most
beautiful thing I've ever seen.

(Monday, April 14)

Week 44

 Dear everyone,

Did you watch General Conference? I don't think I have ever
appreciated it as much as I do now. WE ARE JUST SO BLESSED.

I feel like this past week I had one particular theme drilled into my
head: PRAYER.

In a lesson this week, one investigator, who struggles with the
concept of God as a being, asked, "Who made up this whole prayer
thing? Why do you do it?" (Obviously this is in Japanese.) It struck
me so funny. I guess I had never really thought about it. No one "made
it up," it's just something that I do. It felt sort of like asking,
"Why do I eat the frosting out of the Oreo before the cookie" or "Why
do I have to set my alarm 15 minutes before I actually want to wake
up." I don't really give it much thought; I'm just sort of programmed
to do it. I immediately felt so grateful to just have the knowledge
that I CAN pray.

It made me think of the Bible Dictionary definition of prayer. I just
wish I had had a translation of this in Japanese to whip out during
the lesson.

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward
God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once
prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part.  Many of the
so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this
relationship."

If we always remember / understand this relationship, prayer makes a
lot of sense. God is our Father, so naturally we should and want to
talk to Him. Enough said.

Earlier this week, we had mission leadership conference in Tokyo (did
you know that bus prices hit the roof in Japan when cherry blossoms
are blooming?), which meant Sister Mondano and I sat in a cozy little
room for 7 hours and stared at the iPads while we watched all the
other missionaries in a meeting somewhere in the bustle of Tokyo. The
topic of discussion: church attendance. For seven hours. For a little
non-LDS fly on the wall, that fly would probably think we'd all lost
our marbles. Why on earth would 40 kids (let's face it, we're pretty
much kids) sit and talk about how to bring people to church for 7
hours? Because it's that much important.

We don't just go to church to go to church. We go to church because
it's about what we can become, not what we have done, and we learn
about how to do that at church. Also, the sacrament is kind of
important.

So we as a mission are making a huge push to invite everyone to
church. Which is something that we should always be doing anyways, but
... We're still learning. Zones often initiate the BIG
SUNDAY CHALLENGE to see how many people can come to church on a
particular Sunday, but from now on, every week is the BIG SUNDAY
CHALLENGE. The goal is to have more investigators come to church than
missionaries (with six missionaries in Sado, we have our work cut out
for us, but everyone wants to come to church, right?)

On a side note, next week is transfer calls. We are waiting on pins
and needles because Sister Mondano and I have been companions for two
full transfers, but never say never I suppose. Stay tuned! And write
me, if you feel like it.

Love,
Sister Margaret Willden

PS I'm rereading this email and realized it's really preachy. Maybe I
just wrote this for myself, but hopefully there's something in it for
you too.

PPS: Who are you bringing to church?

Picture 1: My grandparents' perfectly groomed yard.

Pic 2: Tromping around in the backyard with my grandpa, and saw this
lovely scene.

Pic 3: Going to my grandma's. And grandpa's.












Pic 4: Hello Sado District.











(Monday, April 7)

Week 43

SPRING IS HERE. It's the most glorious thing. We are starting to see
Sakura and other flowers blooming (see pic below, of my grandparents
yard this past week) and it's like a dream. (Except for the severe
allergies it's causing some of our investigators ... )

Some highlights:

KAITENZUSHI ROUND ONE: My dear grandma and grandpa picked up Sister

Mondano and me up and took us to the local kaitenzushi shop (or
conveyor belt sushi, if you prefer). For someone as indecisive as me
it meant staring for a long time before deciding what to nab off the
conveyor belt. I am taking advantage of all the tasty fish that the
island has to offer.

TWINS: I realized that nearly every one of my skirts had a huge whole
in it (thank you bicycle) so Sister Mondano and I hit a local shop and
nabbed these 300 yen (3ish dollars) shirts. Maybe not the most
attractive things you've ever seen, but there was something in the
novelty of matching that made it attractive.

KAITENZUSHI ROUND TWO: We took the ferry to Niigata again (this would
be the third week in a row) for a zone training meeting.
Post-training, six of us went for some sushi at Genki Sushi to make us
very genki (genki - happy/being fine/feeling well).

EXCHANGES: Sister Mondano and I went on exchanges with the Niigata
sisters. It was strange, being on the streets and actually having
people to talk to. Sister Wright and I had never talked to so many
people in one day in our entire lives.

THE WORK: The branch is slowly but surely growing (this week's count:

17!) We are praying every day to find a family (or multiple) and

priesthood holders to keep the branch afloat, because within a couple

of decades the current faithful members will be ... well, rather

elderly. Sister Mondano and I have been given charge to talk to all

the mamas on the island to build the branch. We have 2 baptismal dates

this month and several other solid potentials. Niigata is the only

district in the mission so we are working like crazy so that it can soon become a stake. Keep praying!

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Yesterday we were lucky to have a couple from the

district presidency come visit the branch and the sister gave a lesson

on parables in the New Testament (I loved it--even though it was in

Japanese, haha).  We talked about the Ten Virgins and why the five

with enough oil did not share with the other five who lacked. Simply

put, the oil wasn't something that could be shared. Yes, we are all in

this together #highschoolmusicalrunningthroughmyhead #soworldly but

this life is about preparing for the life to come, and that's

something that no one else can do for you.

Until next week!

Love from the island,

Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, March 31)

Here is what was supposed to be last week's email

Happy Monday! Today I was riding my little bicycle through rice
patties just SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY that spring is here. Meaning, no more
wearing 5 layers of tights and feeling like the kid from "A Christmas
Story." It's the best.

This week I will organize my thoughts by way of photos.

Insert picture of salad)

FOOD: Earlier this week we were in Niigata for zone conference and hit
the local tonkatsu restaurant for some post-conference dining. I've
decided I'm not very good at eating greasy food (which isn't exactly a
problem I'm trying to resolve) I ordered a GREAT BIG SALAD and it was
the yummiest thing of my life.

(Insert picture of Sado)

BLUE SKIES: Isn't this the prettiest thing you've ever seen? I admit
to editing it. But still. The trip back to the island made for some
incredible photo ops.

(Insert picture of cereal)

MORE FOOD: We shall never go hungry! My favorite sister-in-law
Kristen's mother, Mickey, sent me the biggest package of cereal,
granola, and more cereal.  My concerns for lack of cereal once I got
to Japan were for naught.

(Insert picture of books)

SUBTLE STATEMENT: There was a mixup with an order and now I find
myself with 3 copies of "The Miracle of Forgiveness." I think there is
something I am supposed to learn. Times three.
#christmaspresentsforthewholefamily?

(Insert picture of dock)

TAKE 1: In honor of spring (and in an attempt to mitigate the effects
of the millions of treats we receive) Sister Mondano and I took a
morning jog and did some beachside yoga.

(Another picture on dock)

TAKE 2

(Me standing on dock)

"EXERCISING:" aka curbing "rice cheeks," a euphemism for "gaining weight."

(Picture of sister Mondano and I)

BEST: My cutest (and only) companion. I love her so much! Sister
Mondano has taught me so much about how to just LOVE. We pretty much
cry during every companionship inventory (tears of joy). We are not
ready for transfer calls to come ...

THE WORK: I love it. The week was full of miracles. After the zone
conference, we left directly from the port with our suitcases and my
massive box of cereal to go to a lesson with a lady nearby.
(Backstory: we had met this Japanese lady nearby when we had come to
the port specifically to find the rumored large population of
Filipinos.) Unfortunately, a no-show. So we dragged our luggage to the
curb and decided to begin our weekly planning session on the curb
since we were not exactly mobile. 20 minutes in, Sister Mondano
suddenly stands up and dashes across the street to talk a lady, who
just happens to be Filipina and just happens to know a sister from the
branch who lives about an hour away and just happens to have interest
in the gospel. The Lord has a plan bigger than all of us. Had we not
met the Japanese lady the week before and had she not cancelled on us,
we would have not had the answer to our prayers that we had been
seeking.

INSPIRATION: In regards to obedience, particularly when it is not
convenient. In the words of Jane Eyre: "I care for myself. The more
solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I
will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God. ... Laws and
principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are
for such moments as this. ... If at my individual convenience I might
break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth--so I have
always believed. ... Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are
all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot."
(Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (2003), 356). It's kind of dramatic, yes.
But commandments are called commandments because they are meant to be
kept, and it will all work out (D&C 90:24).

Well that's all I've got. It's scattered, but that was the week. Love
you all so much.

Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, March 31)