Week 75 - Home in a Month!

Dear friends and family. 

It's gotten pretty cold here. I wondered if it was a bad idea to ship my winter coat home early but then I remembered that I only have a month left and then I get all worked up about that snd forget that I was cold in the first place. It's horribly exciting, and excitingly horrible, all at the same time. The going home part, I mean. 

We had lunch with a lady who we met on the street the other day. Her uncle had just recently died and was sure that our meeting was a sign from God. I think so too. Over some delicious eggplant bacon pizza, she told us how she didn't really know much about Christianity except for those "two really handsome foreigners from Salt Lake who wore name badges. Do you know that church?" It was a miracle sent from above. She came to church with us on Sunday and was half confused why Sister Dopp and I were not wearing habits, but she enjoyed it all the same. She also thinks Tom Cruise is really handsome. 

Also, there was the day our recent convert informed us she was almost going to skip church next week to go on a date with a man from the Japanese mafia. But then she decided against it when the Relief Society President informed her it would be better to marry someone in the temple. That was a close one. Forever families are a really great thing. I just realize how incredibly much I love my family being separated by the distance. 

Per the recommendation of a most wise mission president, I was directed to Elder Neal A. Maxwell's talk, "Content with the Things Allotted unto Us". While it, in true Elder Maxwell fashion, contains far more literary references and deep doctrine than my brain can grasp, it reminded me of several things. 

ONE. Be content with what I have. 

TWO. Don't fall into apathy and be content behaviorally. 

THREE. Being content is not a state of being, but rather, a participative action. 

"The Lord knows our circumstances and the intents of our hearts, and surely the talents and gifts He has given us. He is able to gauge perfectly how we have performed within what is allotted to us, including by lifting up some of the many surrounding hands that hang down. Thus, yearning for expanded opportunities while failing to use those at hand is bad form spiritually.

What we could and have done within our allotted acreage, therefore, is known perfectly by the Master of the vineyard."

Click here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2000/04/content-with-the-things-allotted-unto-us?lang=eng&query=Content+wi 

Heavenly Father's got some pretty big plans for us. Sometimes we just get in the way. 

Anyways. That's all I've got. Thanks for all your love. I'm praying for you! 

Love, Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, November 17)

Pic 1:  We are so happy.
Pic 2: Today I ate some vegan food. It was magic and we became best
friends with the owner.

Week 74

Dear family and friends.

I wrote an email earlier but somehow it got wiped.

So. Take two.

When I look back on this week, it felt like a lot of meetings,
meetings to plan for more meetings. I enjoy myself a good meeting
every once in a while, but I decided that I get antsy as a missionary
when I'm not on the street getting to talk to someone about the
gospel. A strange, but somewhat rewarding realization / revelation I
had about myself today.

I made the mistake of looking at the calendar today (who's counting)
and realized that I have exactly 40 DAYS left in the field. I often
feel urgent, but today it was kind of reminiscent of "I have to give a
concert in two days and I haven't touched that Chopin étude in 3
weeks" kind of urgent.

Fortunately, I can be a missionary for the rest of my life. Problem solved.

I've been also having these moments of intense cheesy missionary
love--where I love the work I'm doing, love the people I'm working
with, love the awkwardness of loving people who don't really love you
back, just LOVING LOVE. Almost to the point of tears. I've never
considered myself a terribly sentimental person, but I've become so
incredibly aware of how love is at the core of the gospel, and if
everyone just had a little more love in their beings, the world would
be a more beautiful place.

Anyway. About the work. My favorite moment of the week: we had made a
jar of scriptures written on little bits of paper for one of our
friends. I'm normally not the cutesy type of missionary that takes
cues from Enrichment Night but ... you do what you gotta do. We show
up to the lesson, and she has a scripture from the jar pulled, with
REPENTANCE ENOS 1:4-8 written on it. And I felt squirmy. Sometimes
missionaries struggle with "bold but not overbearing," but it's a work
in process. I was hoping the first scripture she would pull would be
sort of "rainbows and smiles" type of scripture ... So ... Anyway, she
sits down and says, "I've been feeling lately that repentance is
really important. I've never thought about this in my entire life but
I just think it's really really important and I want to do it."

When we met months ago I felt like our first interaction was something
of, "Hey, sure you can come over, you two little cute foreign girls."
But the interest has changed, because the Atonement is more real than
you can ever imagine.

I love her so much. She's pretty great. And loves the ward. And can't
figure out why she wants to cry in sacrament meeting. "IT'S THE
SPIRIT, FRIEND, AND ISN'T IT GREAT?" Seeing how people change through
the gospel of Jesus Christ is one of the most incredible things,
especially when the change is literally right before your eyes.

There's a lot of other great things about the week. I baked a batch of
peanut butter cookies from pancake batter and melted chocolate
truffles from last Christmas. It was a hit with all of our friends, if
I do say so myself :)

One of our friends calls us and says, "I normally don't become friends
with people I just meet somewhere random (it's okay--me neither), but
there is something different about you." It's not us; it's the gospel.
With the gospel of Jesus Christ, there's always something to smile
about.

Have a terrific week. Loves to you all.

Love, Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, November 10)

Pic 1: look at this nice electric line isn't it beautiful
Pic 2: our friend Cindy gave us flowers from her Ikebana class at school!

Week 73

Dear family and friends. 

Well, it looks like I will be spending my very last transfer of my mission here in Togane. 18 months, three areas, four transfers each. It definitely satisfies my affinity for nice, even things. Not to mention, the work in Togane is on fire, and I'm so grateful to be allowed to be in the thick of it. 

This week was full of many good things. Too many good things. Here are some of them. Ready, set, go. 

1. President Budge just happens to be good friends with one of the main priests at the Meiji Jingu Shrine in the heart of Tokyo, so we were fortunate to take a tour of the shrine. Lately there has been a huge emphasis on learning how to relate to people in a non-Christian nation. From day one in the field  I have wished I had a "Shintoism for Dummies" to refer to and so ... last Thursday was marvelous. I suppose all the French and Polish and Japanese people in the park were wondering what 20 Mormon missionaries were doing wandering around a Shinto shrine with a bunch of headsets, but it was an invaluable look into the school of thought for so many that we teach. More than anything, I was just struck by how grateful that the gospel of Jesus Christ is so clear and simple, and makes both sense in my mind and heart, as well as a newfound appreciation for this land. 

2. Today we went to a festival at the local international university in Togane with one of our friends. I ate Polish pancakes from our Polish friends, a basil-y cheese bread from our soon-to-be Brazilian friends, fried mochi from our Chinese friends, and sipped boba as I tried to explain why we don't drink tea or alcohol to another of our friends. In return she tried to teach us about belly dancing. I'm not sure we were very good students, but it was really nice of her. 

3. And then the police called us and told us they found Sister Dopp's bike, a forty-five minute ride out abandoned in the parking lot of Avail, a retail-chain here in Japan. When the police brought it to our doorstep, we found the seat had been lowered all the way. A midget stole Sister Dopp's bike, rode a million miles, and then tried to do some retail therapy, but to no AVAIL. #pitylaugh (Japanese people really like puns. Do you?) 

4. And then there was the day we went housing and ONE DOOR opened. She comes out, let's us give our little introductory spiel, and she says, "Can't you read the door? I'm Buddhist." She points to a little sticker written in Korean. "Sorry ma'am, we don't speak Korean," we say. For reasons I can't explain, we keep talking and talking, even though she insists she has zero interest. Just as we are about to walk away, she says, "Come inside my house. You look freezing." I later thanked Sister Dopp for having the foresight to not wear tights on a rainy day. She makes us the most AMAZING drink (to this day I'm not sure what it was, other than it was NOT tea or coffee and was this almond-y mug of goodness) and begins telling us how every Christian person she has ever met has turned out to be a hypocrite. What ensued in the next forty-five minutes was an enlightening discussion on the meaning of true Christianity. 

James 1:27. Isn't this what it's all about? Also, I love the Bible. 

Have a marvelous week. Thanks always for your love and prayers. Go share the gospel with someone today. 

Love, Sister Margaret Willden 

(Monday, November 3)

Sent from my iPad

Pic 1: Good wishes from visitors all over the world at the shrine. 

Pic 2: MEIJI JINGU. 

Pic 3: Polish pancakes, courtesy of our Polish friends. 

Pic 4: My model friend Helen, enjoying the maple leaves of Togane.

Week 72

Dearest friends and family.

Well. It was one of those weeks where you don't feel like you're
really doing anything, but when you look back, you realize somehow
lots of things happened.

I suppose that I should preface this feeling of not getting anything
accomplished partially due to the fact that Sister Dopp's beautiful
black mamachari (dictionary definition: ladies' bicycle (of a kind
often used by housewives, usu. with a basket in front), granny bike)
was STOLEN. Which, in reality, turnout out to be a blessing of sorts.

I will elaborate.

We walked to the Koban (little police box where the little policeman
sit) and find it empty. So, in the interest of time, decide to grab
food nearby for dinner. We walk past the mall and see a donut shop
which, naturally, piques our interest and we decide to go in. Who, of
all people, should be here but one of our investigators of eight
years, having a little donut and coffee with one of her friends.
"SEEEEESTERS! Come meet my friend!" We didn't need to be asked twice.
Turns out this friend lost her husband two weeks ago and is in serious
financial difficulty. Interestingly enough, she confessed after a few
minutes that she always sees us and wants to talk to us but was never
brave enough to say anything. Whoa.

She then proceeded to whip out her cell phone and summon her 20-year
old son. "QUICK. I'm with to foreign girls." A very Okinawa-n looking
boy walks in the door and his mother says, "Aren't they adorable?" And
he feels probably a lot more awkward than we felt. And so we exchange
information and decide it was time to go, but make plans to bring her
our most favorite book in the whole wide world (that is not Harry
Potter or Twilight).

Needless to say, it was a very opportune encounter that reminded me
that Heavenly Father has a most unique plan that sometimes involves
theft, college hooligans, and a Mickey Mouse-shaped donut. But it is
all part of a bigger plan.

1 Nephi 11:17.

Sometimes life is complicated, but fortunately, the gospel is not. And
what a blessing that is. Have a beautiful week.

Love, Sister Margaret Willden

Sent from my iPad

Pic: I failed to take any pictures this week. And so I send you this
pumpkin Oreo McFlurry that has been gracing McDonalds during this
Halloween season. There is also a squid burger on a black bun that I
do not have any desire to try.

Week 71

Dear family and friends.

And so, today we are expecting the biggest typhoon that Japan has seen
this year. It's pretttttty exciting. The mission home has instructed
us to not go outside and take pictures, even if it looks cool. We may
be missionaries but we sometimes still lack common sense. And so I'm
going to try and keep this short. The wind is picking up outside. But
I am not worried. Yet. (お母さん、心配しないで下さい！^_^)

In no particular order, a few notable moments from this past week:

1. Today we tried to share the gospel with five Filipina ladies over
some not-so-tasty salad. Needless to say, it was not entirely
effective and thoroughly full of taking selfies to post on Facebook,
but they did think we were pretty adorable (though I did not feel
terribly adorable ... ) and they all love the Book of Mormon. Me too.
Next time we will meet at the church.

2. We also had lunch with one of our lovely neighbors, who speaks more
elegant English than most Americans and cooks like a pro. We talked
about priesthood authority and how the restoration of the same
priesthood as in Christ's time is so crucial to the foundation of
Christ's true church.

3. On exchanges, Sister Brumley from Kisarazu and I were able to meet
with one of our dear friends, who has been MIA for a month or so and
finally got in contact with us. We talked about the grace of the
Savior's Atonement and she says, "It's like climbing a mountain. When
you look at the ground and count your steps it's hard to endure, but
when you look up at the beauty of the mountain it's suddenly more than
bearable." (Except it was Japanese, so ... ) It was pretty beautiful.
I wanted to cry.

4. We also had a church tour with two Chinese friends. Neither of them
had ever been to a church, so we took them around and showed them the
chapel. Contrary to their expectations, I t didn't have the
ornate-ness of those Baroque cathedrals all over Western Europe (which
I do also happen to love), but the gospel of Jesus Christ is one of
exquisite simplicity. After we played some hymns on the piano and with
them for the first time in their lives, they just sat there in awe of
the feeling that this is all something bigger than all of us.

5. On a completely unrelated note, I stumbled upon this the other day
as I was studying. From Mere Christianity. C. S. Lewis explained this
teaching of the Savior:

“The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting
yourself first--wanting to be the centre--wanting to be God, in fact.
That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human
race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex,
but that is a mistake. … What Satan put into the heads of our remote
ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’--could set up on
their own as if they had created themselves--be their own
masters--invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God,
apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come … the long
terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which
will make him happy.”

In short, sometimes ... often ... we forget where this whole thing
started, and our pride gets in the way. And that, my friends, is why
we continually read our scriptures, pray, and attend church. So we
don't forget.

Hopefully that wasn't too preachy. But it's true.
Have a marvelous week. Love you all.

Love, Sister Margaret Willden

Pic 1: General Conference with my dear friends from Chiba, nearly a
year after their baptisms. I love them all so much!

Week 70

Dear family and friends.

This letter is brought to you from the refuge of the Togane church
building as we sit in a horrendous typhoon (see pic for details). We
are throughly soaked but nevertheless happy. So there's that.

A list of a few random, probably unrelated thoughts:

1. I have a new companion from Idaho. Her name is Sister Dopp. She's
majoring in peacemaking at BYU (no, really). So if anything, I will
come out of this transfer trained to be a professional mediator.

2. Yes, it's cliché, but Christmas comes faster and faster every year.
This past Friday we had a zone meeting about our goals for the
Christmas season (it's going to be GRRRREAT!) and something felt a
little strange about having a Christmas tree already decorating the
church (a Christmas tree decorated with pictures of temples and Joseph
Smith--well done, Chiba elders!)  But to be even more cliché, here's
just something so MAGICAL about Christmas, and I love the feeling of
focusing everything on the birth of the Savior.

3. Halloween is a bigger deal in Japan than in America, at least
amongst the 18-30 year-old female population. We had a relief society
activity this week making pumpkin tarts out of kabocha (better than
American pumpkin pie, if I dare say), ghosts out of mashed potatoes
and green peas, sandwiches shaped like dragons. Thanks, Pinterest. It
was pretty great. Plus, it was a great opportunity for friends to come
and see that the LDS folk are somewhat normal people (if dragon
sandwiches qualify us as such ... ).

4. Did you watch General Conference this week? I felt like a little
kid on Christmas Eve when I saw the download for the talks pop on my
Gospel Library app. #thejoysofbeingamissionary I took it for granted
before my mission, being able to watch it in English in the comfort of
my sweats and own living room as my father made some delicious French
toast, but I realize now that a chance to hear from a LIVING PROPHET
is a bigger deal than I sometimes realize. (If none of this is making
sense, see lds.org for details (^_^)

5. A quote from an email I received this week: "The future is always
bright with the gospel of Jesus Christ." Whether you accept it or not,
it's always there, and He's always waiting for you.

Have a splendid week, friends.
Love, Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, October 6)

Pic 1: Pinterest-y food.
Pic 2: Pinterest-y food continued.
Pic 3: A pretty accurate depiction of our apartment.
Pic 4: Sister Dopp and I, having just walked through a typhoon.

Margaret's Handwriting

Margaret's thank-you postcard written to her grandmother. Margaret is so lucky - she receives care packages often!