Week 33: TRANSFERS

Dear everyone,

This is going to be short.  But here are some things.  

BAPTISMAL DATE: We made a solid baptismal date with Brother Yoshida!  We had a super stellar doseki (member present) who told Brother Yoshida that the sisters were servants of God and he should listen to whatever we say, haha, even get baptized on February 9th.

OPENING: President Budge called this morning and I get to open a new and undisclosed location (I'll tell next week!)  I will say that I feel like I hit the jackpot.  It just became part of the mission over the summer and is still untouched by sisters, so me and Sister Mondano will be taking it on starting Thursday.  Details to come ...

In light of things that happened at home this week, I read President Monson's talk "I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee," and I really loved the following.

Good timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees.

The further sky, the greater length.

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.  

-Doug Malloch

"This should be our purpose--to persevere and endure, yes, but also to become more spiritually refined as we make our way through sunshine and sorrow.  Were it not for challenges to overcome and problems to solve, we would remain much as we are, with little or no progress toward our goal of eternal life."

It's bittersweet leaving Chiba.  I've been here 6 months, but I think it's probably time to start somewhere new.  

Until next week!

Sister Margaret 

(Monday, January 20, 2014)

Pic 1 : Pic 1: Last week of kids eikaiwa (English conversation class that the missionaries teach for free)!  I had to beg them to get this picture

Pic 2: Us and the Yoshida kids.

When is Sister Willden Coming Home?

Dear Brother and Sister Willden:

We are pleased to inform you that the December transfer schedule has been changed so that missionaries returning home in December of 2014 will depart Japan on the 16^th of December instead of the 26^th of December as originally scheduled.  We wanted to advise you of this change so that you can plan your holidays accordingly.

While it seems a little early to wish you a Merry Christmas, I am sure that this news brings you glad tidings of great joy.  Thank you for sharing your missionary with us, and for including them and the Japan Tokyo Mission in your prayers.  Shall we not go on is go great a cause?

Sincerely,

L. Todd Budge

President

Japan Tokyo Mission

(Monday, January 20, 2014)

Sad Family News

Margaret's grandmother passed away in St. George on Friday, January 17th. President Budge gave her a permission and we were able to talk to her on Sunday, January 19th. We wanted to make sure that she did not feel like she was alone. Grandma Willden was so very proud of Margaret serving as a missionary.  They communicated via Skype during her Christmas call about a month ago.  Margaret is sad, but she will be okay. A big transfer is coming up and she needs to pack up!

Love to all,

Takako

Week 32

Dear Minasan (everyone),

Happy January!  I hear rumors of a bitter cold in the U.S. of A. so I'm sorry for you all.  It's cold here too but I think I probably have nothing to complain about.  

It's been a miracle filled week.  Some of the notable:

OLD HIPSTER JAPANESE DOCTOR-TURNED NOVELIST: Sister Legge and I have been on a bit of a housing blitz this week, which is always fun because you find some people who might not ordinarily be walking around in public.  Dr. Sakai is a novelist who wanted to pay us for the Book of Mormon we wanted to give him and gave us one of his books, a novel about psychopaths in America with a creepy Surrealist painting of a screaming child on the cover.  Saving that read for when I get home.  Gave him so homework on faith (Alma 32) and referred him to the elders.  He looked straight out of an Urban Outfitters catalogue except he was 60 years old and was Japanese. 

COLD-CALLING ALL OF CHIBA: I temporarily put aside my dislike for the telephone and began calling random former investigators from 10 years ago (which always yields some interesting results), and was pleasantly surprised to find a lady who was recently feeling like she should be reading the scriptures more (shouldn't we all?) and said she listens to the Primary Children's CD that the sisters gave her years ago quite often.  We set up a lesson, and she said her parents are Christian and would love to hear our message too.  She was the sweetest lady.  3 investigators in one phone call, KISEKI.

MTC TEACHER'S FACE STILL BRINGING INVESTIGATORS 5 YEARS LATER: Back story: my MTC teacher, who served in Tokyo several years ago, is the face of the eikaiwa chirashi.  Present story: On Wednesday, we had the cutest lady walk in and give us a huge hug, and say "Hi I got your eikaiwa chirashi five years ago from the man on the flyer, and found it a month ago and decided to come to eikaiwa.  Isn't that the best Christmas present?"  I couldn't have said it any better.  She's so excited to learn English AND the gospel.  We have high hopes! It's so inspiring seeing how the effects of missionary efforts extend further than we might ever know.

Transfer calls are next week, so stay tuned.  I will probably be leaving Chiba, but I thought that last transfer too so I should probably just stop trying to guess.  This whole age-change thing has made transfers completely unpredictable. 

Today we went to the temple, and I was just thinking.  The temple is the tiniest glimpse of what heaven will be like.  And considering how wonderful the temple is, I'm pretty darn excited for what heaven will be like.  It was just a very happy thought I had today.  If there's anything that I've learned, it's that GOD LIVES and LOVES YOU.  Even when investigators drop, we don't teach any lessons that day, the apartment is disaster, my hair is a disaster, I face plant while riding my bike, the gospel is still
true and real, and He's there every bit of the way.

Okay.  I'm done dumping my thoughts now.  I love you all.

Love, Sister Margaret Willden

  

PS. I got some emails about my current address (which is the mission home's address), so here it is:

Sister Margaret Willden

Japan Tokyo Mission

4-25-12 Nishi-ochiai

Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo-to

161-0031 

JAPAN

(Monday, January 13, 2014)

Pic 1: If Monet came to Tokyo, this is probably something he would paint.

Pic 2: Obligatory temple pic 4 of 12

Pic 3: Sister Nagamine--she's going home next week! Bawl my eyes out.

Week 31

Hellooooo. 明けましておめでとうございます！

Happy New Year.  I hope you have all made you goals and are all so gun-ho to keep them.  I know I already failed at my (yearly) new years resolution to actually write in my journal.  It is never to late to try again.

So, I know I pretty much say this every week.  BUT THIS WEEK WAS SO CRAZY.  

We spent all of New Years Eve deep cleaning the entire apartment so we could start off the new year all sparkly and clean (literally speaking).  And had a countdown to 10pm so we could be obedient and be in bed by 10:30.  

And then we spent all of New Years Day reading the Book of Mormon, so we could start off the new year all sparkly and clean (figuratively speaking).  

It was probably the best present I could have asked for.  

The members have been wonderful and feeding us non-stop.  I think I cooked one meal this entire past week.  We've been eating lots of mochi (pounded rice).  And sushi.  And pizza (yes, a surprise to me too, but somehow the members all knew that Americans like pizza).  

We anticipated that dendo would be tough this week, as literally no one is home due to the New Years holiday (it's a big deal).  BUT WE WERE WRONG.  It was pretty incredible.  Sister Legge and I pretty much met one new investigator for every hour we housed.  Which I still sort of can't believe, because I have housed for 5 solid months and never found anyone (I know, me of little faith).  This week we found one cute grandpa we referred to the elders, one Indian lady, one Filipino lady, one Japanese lady, and one Chinese lady, all who are now investigators.  

On a random note, my favorite new dendo tactic, courtesy of one of our zone leaders.  It goes something like this:

  

"Do you like broccoli?"

"Yes."

"You know how broccoli has all those little things that stick off the stem?  That's like all the little things that we have going on in our lives, like basketball, tests, lost dog, relationships, biology, the flu, bad hair days, etc. etc."

"Okay."

"You know the stem of the broccoli?  It's like the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It keeps us rooted so all those little things are a little easier to manage.  Do you want to study the stem of broccoli together?"

I can't say I've ever used it, but apparently lots of high school boys like to learn about broccoli.  If they don't like broccoli, you can use cauliflower.  If you are looking for a way to introduce the gospel to someone, I think this is the pick-up line you have been waiting for.  

So I've officially been on a mission for seven months.  I still feel like I got here yesterday, except my hair is magically a lot longer and I can sort of read kanji (but maybe that's an exaggeration).  Time is the strangest thing as a missionary.  God's sense of time is obviously a lot different than ours, and at times I feel like being here is the ever-so-slightest sense of what time must feel like to God.  As in it doesn't really exist.  And when I realize that, I realize how terrible it really is to procrastinate.  Both on a mission and not on a mission.  Time is so short. 

Fortunately, the gospel is one of hope, so don't freak out.  Like I sometimes am prone to do.  I probably have already shared this scripture, but I'm sharing it again because I like it so much.  Ether 12:4 is my go-to pick-me-up as of late.  

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."  

Okay, that's all.  I've quickly realized that these letters are mostly me just dumping me thoughts, so thank you for being privy to them.  Until next week!

ウィルデン姉妹

(Monday, January 6, 2014)

Pic 1: 6 hours of Chopin and EFY music later ...

Pic 2: This is New Years.  Pokemon sparkling stuff (the non-alcoholic variety, of course.)  And no, I'm not sick.  We were just cleaning mold all day.  

Pic 3:  Waiting on the doorstep before a dinner appointment.

Week 30

Hello reader, 

Happy merry Christmas and new year.  Thank you for all the lovely Christmas packages!  And it made my day (week / month) being able to Skype you all.

This week's email is brought to you by me and my undoubtedly widening waistline.  I would just like to think that is the muscle I used to have just turning into fat but that doesn't really account for all the sugar that I intook / will intake this week.  But hey, the holidays are only once a year.  And Japanese junk food is a million times tastier than that of America's.

Christmas Eve Eve (or Christmas Adam, as Sister Dunn likes to say), we went over to the bishop's home and caroled to all of his neighbors.  One family invited us in and their son was a little concert pianist.  Someone made it known that in my former life I played the piano, so I was volunteered to perform right after he played his little Khachaturian Toccata .  (gulp ... )  I wanted to crawl in a whole because my Chopin just sounded like a dead fish flopping across the keyboard, but I just reminded myself that I haven't busted out any classical in 7 months so it is very しょうがない (probably one of my favorite Japanese words ... meaning it can't be helped).  

Christmas Eve was spent with Ramoちゃん and her lovely family, eating Filipino delicacies and Christmas chicken.  (Did you know?  Japanese Christmas is the time for eating KFC.)  

Christmas Day, we all insisted on getting up early (because it wouldn't be Christmas if all the presents weren't open before 8am), and we all huddled in my futon and ripped open the packaging from the packages our families sent us.  Whoever invented fleece-lined tights (and then sent them to me) is the saintliest of saints.  Sister Legge and I went housing later in the day and tried our "hi we are Christian volunteers and want to sing you a happy Christmas song," but little did we know we were housing a complex full of grandmas and grandpas who are mostly deaf.  But that's okay.

As for dendo, this past week was a bit of a struggle, as most investigators / PIs just tell us "See you next year!"  Which I guess next year is coming up pretty soon so I think things should pick up in a bit.  As of this week we pretty much have one investigator, who told us she likes cats better than human beings and "will be Buddhist until the day I die" so progress isn't so evident ...  but I'm hopeful.

This week: since it's new years, pretty much no one is at home so the members have invited us over to eat pretty much every meal with them.  Mmmm!  This Tuesday was designated as all-day deep-cleaning (hallelujah! I'm currently sleeping among boxes of cookies and candy, not that that's a problem ... ) and this Wednesday we have been asked to read the Book of Mormon all day.  I am very much okay with that and can't wait to just REFRESH.

Okay, to close.  In my very imperfect Japanese, some thoughts as of late:

今年は多くの祝福を受けました。その一つは伝道に来る事です。宣教師になる前に証があったと思いましたがやっぱり日本に来たら神様が本当に生きておられると知る事が出来ました。宣教師として分からない時は多いですが神様を認めると彼が必ず助けてくださると知っています。祈りである事に心から感謝しています。神様は私たちの祈りに答えてくださいます。また永遠の家族である事に心から感謝しています。また天国で私たちの愛する家族たしかに会えるとしっています。辛い事があってもこのイェス・キリストの福音である事によっていつも完全な希望があります。

明けましたおめでとうございます！

Love, ウィルデン姉妹

Pic 1: Who's excited that it's Christmas Eve?  Sister McAllister and I are.

Pic 2: Christmas lunch with Hiyori, our most faithful eikaiwa student.

Pic 3: Instead of getting ready for bed, Sister McAllister and I created a sculpture of all the food we received for Christmas. 

(December 30, 2013)

Week 29: This place is FREEZING!

千葉からこんにちは!  Hey friends!  

Happy pre-Christmas Eve! 

This is going to be short.  But here is a non-exhaustive list of the Christmas miracles here in the Chiba zone.  

We found a Chinese lady housing this week during the coldest day of the winter (I was wearing my pajamas under my skirt).  She used to be an eikaiwa student years ago.   MIRACLE 1.  I also happened to order a Chinese Book of Mormon thinking that I might run into a Chinese person one of these days.  MIRACLE 2.

I called a potential investigator that the sisters found 5 years ago.  She said she would love to meet with the missionaries.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and will be able to meet again come the new year.  Probably the nicest lady that I have met in quite a while.  She gave us book covers that her grandmother made!  MIRACLE 3.  

We found a Welsh girl at an eki in the middle of nowhere.  Her old client used to be a Mormon and started telling us all she knew about Joseph Smith.  MIRACLE 4.  

I got a companion who doesn't mind calling people on the phone.  Heavenly Father must have known that I don't like talking on the phone.  MIRACLE 5.

As of last Sunday, every ward in the Chiba Zone had a baptism happen this month.  Chiba is white!  MIRACLE 6.

We sang a musical number in our ward Christmas party on Saturday.  The elders decided to pass on the musical number and I took on the bass part.  MIRACLE 7. 

There's a lot of other miracles.  I just can't remember them all right now.  

But I do remember that the Church is true and that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and how grateful I wake up every day to know that.  To close this haphazard letter, my favorite scripture of the week: Ether 12:4.  Check it out. 

Happy Christmas!  またね！

マギーちゃん

Pic 1: My bestest friend, Sister Nagamine, after an exchange.  Nothing brings people together like housing in a hailstorm.  We met a nice man who gave us umbrellas to protect us from the elements.  

Pic 2: Look! It's our Charlie Brown Christmas tree that we found in the closet.  I like that we get to stack the tree on top of the presents instead of stacking the presents underneath the tree.

(December 23, 2013)