Here's the week in pictures.
Celestial seasonings and Quakes oats, two things I love about America.
My lovely sister-in-law's mother Mickey went to America and brought
all this back for me. She's the best! Sister Mondano and I have been
having a non-caffeinated tea party after our daily planning session.
[pic 2] We went to my grandparents house for a delicious meal of
gyoza, pumpkin potage, and huge slices of bread covered in Nutella and
homemade strawberry jam. Grandma's kitchen is a wonderland. And then
we talked about the Plan of Salvation for an hour about how awesome it
is. (See http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/plan-of-salvation for details).
[pic 3] We had the Niigata sisters come to Sado for an exchange, and I
got to spend the day with Sister Jones. All our friends wanted a
picture with a "real, live American" because I don't really make the
cut. People audibly gasped when we went housing because no one was
expecting to see a blonde blue-eyed girl show up on their doorstep.
[pic 4] On Sunday we said goodbye to Sister Lin, who is moving back to
the Philippines with her two little boys. The branch is so sad to see
her go, but we know it's for the best!
[pic 5] Our post-church 食事会 (literally means dinner meeting) to say
goodbye to Sister Lin and her family. It was a lot of food. And very
oishii.
[pic 6] My two favorite kids! (Next to my little brother). We gave
Hikaru the Book of Mormon picture book and the next time we came he
told us he read the story of Laban getting his head chopped off and
loved it. Go figure.
There's currently some sort of cycling marathon going on in Sado so we
are constantly competing with 40-year old men wearing spandex whenever
we go bike anywhere. People stand on the streets and cheer them on,
and then stare at us really weird when we pass. We love it. There's
one man who wears devil horns and has a pitchfork strapped to his bike
who we've spotted a couple of times. I wish I had a picture of it.
This morning, I was rereading one of my all-time favorite talks, "Of
Regrets and Resolutions"by President Uchtdorf
(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng&media=video).
I first heard this talk when I was at BYU playing the piano, a little
[a lot] stressed that my Chopin étude and Bach Toccata were not yet
perfect. Yes, it was my major, and yes, it was important, but other
things were falling to the wayside, and this talk shifted my focus for
the better.
President Uchtdorf reminds us to be happy NOW. "Life is not meant to
be appreciated only in retrospect." Furthermore, he reminds us to not
forget what it is that we are here for. "When it comes to living the
gospel, we should not be like the boy who dipped his toe in the water
and then claimed he went swimming. As sons and daughters of our
Heavenly Father, we are capable of so much more. For that, good
intentions are not enough. We must do. Even more important, we must
become what Heavenly Father wants us to be." I feel like if everyone
remembered / knew this, the world would be a lot different.
And there it is. This week we are headed to Tokyo for a conference
with a real, live apostle, Elder Cook! So I will hopefully have some
interesting tidbits to share next week.
Love you all!
Sister Margaret Willden
(May 19, 2014)
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