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)