Week 68

Hello everyone,

There are some times ... many times, when I look back at the week and
feel like it was all just a really weird dream. Good thing I'm a
really avid journal-writer to remember all these weird, great dreams.

The other day we met a couple of Norwegian girls. We saw them probably
three more times that same week. It was like God really wanted us to
meet them. Or maybe it was just that we happen to pass somewhere in
the general vicinity of their apartment on a regular basis. Either
way, both of them believe in a higher being but don't really like
church, but I don't think I would either if I didn't know what it was
for. Good thing the missionaries live real close by.

We also met a Jamaican lady on the train. Except we didn't know if she
was from Jamaica, and neither Sister Sticht nor I wanted to be
presumptuous. So I started speaking to her in Japanese, she looks up
at me, pulls her earbuds out, and says, "Honeyyyyyy, do you speak
English? Also, why aren't you on a bicycle?" She was kind of sassy but
great. I guess that is what we get for trying to be politically
correct.

Here's the miracle of the week. Sister Sticht met a college-age girl
on the street months ago when she was here on an exchange, but our
friend, who had significant interest in the gospel, fell out of touch
with the missionaries after the exchange. Sister Sticht, thanks to the
miracle of Facebook, gets back in contact and we meet for dinner. She
brings along her friend (which is usually kind of scary to me, because
it's like this weird first date times two). However, all my fears were
appeased when her friend tells us how she went to Utah for three weeks
and went to church with the family there. "Totemo kandoushimashita."
("I was way impressed," she says). I have never seen someone squeal
with so much delight upon receiving the Book of Mormon. WHOO.

My favorite other moment. We also set a baptismal date with one of our
friends. The lesson in itself was pretty wildly anti-climactic, in
spite of it being a huge miracle. We were short on time, but Sister
Sticht and I just sort of looked at each other with those "knowing
missionary eyes," and Sister Sticht says, "Well, when you know this
message is true, would you like to be baptized?" It was pretty much as
calm as asking someone if they want ice or no ice in their glass of
water. She says, "Yeah, sure." And then we looked at each other and
said, "Okay, great. How about the end of October." And then we went to
eikaiwa.

And then we went in the bathroom and squealed with joy.
Missionary work is pretty great.

During one of our little bicycle rides this week, Sister Sticht and I
were discussing how to reconcile the fact that NONE of us will ever be
perfect, yet we are constantly striving for perfection. We are always
talking about those "mysteries of the kingdom" to occupy ourselves,
but here's what we decided:

Perfect love loves imperfection.

God loves you, your imperfections, and so should you. I'm still
working on that, but I just remember that perfect love that the Savior
has for me and suddenly it doesn't seem that hard anymore. (2
Corinthians 12:9)

Have a great week.
Love, Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, September 22)

Pics: Our glam pics from our day in Shibuya last week. Causing a
ruckus in the biggest intersection in Japan.

Week 67

Hey friends, family.

I'm sitting on a wooden stool in a 7-Eleven in the middle to Shibuya
and it's a beautiful thing. (Also, 7-Eleven's soundtrack consists of
"Girls just wanna have fun" and "Under the Sea." It really sort of
weird). Sister Sticht and I may have grown up around more cows than
skyscrapers, but I love the city in spite of not actually liking to
talk to people that much. Sister Sticht and I did some venturing into
the city and a bit of retail therapy at H&M and Zara, and I think I
felt more at home than I should have. Not exactly culturally
enriching, but entirely satisfying.

Speaking of feeling at home, this morning we went to the Tokyo temple
for our once-a-transfer trip and it was glorious. I always walk out
feeling like I can do a little better, but not in a down-in-the-dumps
sort of way. More like, we all have a lot of potential and it's pretty
much great when you remember you've got God on your side. Yes.

On Thursday Sister Sticht and left Togane for the day and did a little
blitz-ing in Chosei. We arrived early in the morning and set a goal to
find ten new people interested in learning more. We said a lot of
prayers, and I headed out the door with my old MTC companion, Sister
Cheney. It was strange because throughout the day I didn't feel like a
whole lot was being accomplished, but when we took a look at the day,
we realized we had run into exactly ten people who were interested in
the gospel. WHOA. It was one of those moments where I realized that
Heavenly Father is probably dumping a lot more miracles and blessings
in our laps than we realize, and we're just too dim-witted to pick up
on it. So I'm going to work on that.

Also, on a side note, we have a pretty great zone. We told the zone
leaders we liked avocados and ice cream and they put it in our bike
baskets the next day to give us a little pick-me-up as we headed out
for Chosei. If everyone walked around putting avocados and ice cream
in each other's baskets, it would be a pretty fantastic world.

Also, on another very unrelated side note, Sister Sticht and I like to
compare the mosquito bites on our legs. I think I won this week.

This week I was just feeling very humbled and so grateful for the
incredible faith of people everywhere. Yesterday we went to go visit a
member and prayed with her before we went housing in the area, and as
soon as we say "AMEN" she gasps and says, "Oh my gosh I have some
friends down the street I want you to meet." She proceeded to go put
on a frilly cute blouse and hobble down the street with us for the
next two hours introducing us to the entire neighborhood and telling
them they should listen to us. It was kind of great. She had recently
injured her leg and couldn't really walk but her desire to share
something that was so precious to her overrode the pain. Sister Sticht
and I wanted to cry (oh wait, we do that a lot anyway, ha).

I never know how to end these letters. Due to my lack of creativity
I'll just end it with someone else's words (though I'm not sure who
that someone is). "If today, you are a little better than you were
yesterday, then that's enough."

Wise words. The Atonement is real.
Until next week. Farewell. LOVE YOU ALL. Yes, you too.

Love, Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, September 15)

Pic 1: Possibly one of the last times I go to the Tokyo Temple before
I head back to America ... Rumors swirling ... I hope I'm wrong.
Pic 2: Old friends. Longer hair, probably wider waistlines, but just
as happy as ever.
Pic 3: Avocados and ice cream. Blessings of the gospel.

Week 66

Hello dear friends and family.

It was a wild week with lots of great moments.

Like on Tuesday, when we went housing and no one was home in the
entire apartment building except for the very corner door. Sister
Sticht was telling me about her father's doctorly profession when the
door swings open and we find ourselves standing in front of a large,
shirtless Chinese man covered in tattoos with some crazy facial hair.
#noshame We didn't really know what to say, but I guess it didn't
matter because he just glared at us and shut the door.

Good times.

I also learned the meaning of "consecrated time." When Sister Sticht
and I reflected on the past week, we realized we had two days of
"normal missionary work," and the rest was spent running to meetings,
planning meetings, and exchanges. (I'm not asking for pity--I know
there are busier people and I actually enjoy meetings in a strange
sort of way, but it was all such a miracle to us).  But somehow, we
found more people interested in learning about the church this week
than we did the entire transfer. People who've wondered about the
purpose of life, who God is where do you find true peace, etc. just
being prominently place inour path. It was like magic. Only way
better.

We were headed home from a meeting at the mission home in Tokyo and
were trying to cram in our weekly planning session on the train
(future note: packed like sardines between thousands of Japanese
businessmen, so inefficient for planning). We were so engrossed in our
weekly planning that we missed our stop and had to backtrack which was
kind of ... really annoying. But we hopped on another train and just
sort of collapsed out of tiredness on two empty seats. This girl
sitting in front of us looks at us kind of weird, so we naturally
start talking to her, and she gives us her phone number and says she
would like to meet again and learn about the gospel. We felt like it
was Heavenly Father saying, "Hey you two silly grumbly sister
missionaries, stop your grumbling and get to work." We felt very
humbled.

Anyways. Hitomi got confirmed in sacrament meeting yesterday. Also,
one of our very dear friends came home from China this week and told
us she taught her parents back home how to pray. Miracles of miracles,
they gave her permission to join the church if she felt like it was
what she needed in her life. Being a missionary is one big, crazy,
beautiful adventure, and every day I marvel at how incredible it is to
be part of a work that is a little bit bigger than all of us.

It was a week of miracles.
But I guess that is every week.
Stay tuned for more next week.
I know you can't wait.

Thanks also for all the emails. I felt so loved when I saw the email
count in my inbox. I suppose this has nothing to do with the fact that
school is back in session, haha. LOVE YOU ALL. And don't forget to
pray.

Love, Sister Margaret Willden

"Though we live in a failing world, have not been sent here to fail."
-Elder Neal A. Maxwell

(Monday, September 8)


Pic 1: Sister Teruya and Murdock spreading the love via bike helmets.
Pic 2: Missionary work at its finest.

Week 65

Hi dear friends and family.

Happy September First. We welcomed in fall with a nice round of muddy
dodgeball this morning with the zone. We panicked when we arrived and
found 50 old people at the park next door playing croquet together,
but we figured they would get tired soon so we just waited it out and
they left pretty quick. I guess 20 foreigners standing around is kind
of scary. And then I ate some tofu and avocado. It was delicious.

Anyway. That was this morning.

In other news ...

Let's start with yesterday. Oh yeah, there was a baptism! Hitomi is
our longtime friend who overcame all sorts of hurdles to make it, BUT
SHE MADE IT. It was a great baptismal service, and the ward was
already handing her her new visiting teaching and home teaching
assignments before sacrament meeting even started. I was proud of our
barbershop quartet-esque musical number.

Post-baptism, Sister Sticht and I were sitting there feeling TERRIBLE,
like we had been hit by a train we were so tired. One of our lessons
fell through and we didn't know where we should go, so we said a
little prayer to know where to go (and a little energy boost) and got
out the door. We started pedaling to a referral's house, when all of a
sudden we spot one of our Filipina friends on the street talking to
her friend. "HEYYYYY SISTERRRRRS! Come over here and meet my friend!"
Turns out her friend is the sweetest lady in the world (and happens to
think the same about us, haha) and volunteered to come to church
without us hardly even asking. We felt like it was Heavenly Father's
little answer to two grumbling sister missionaries who needed a little
help.

We were also about to give up on another investigator (it had been two
months since anyone had heard from her ... ) when we showed up on her
doorstep one last time. She's home, opens the door, and asks us to
come in and feeds us some vegetable juice and talks to us about
prayer. It was one of those "I feel like a real missionary out of a
movie or something" moments because it just felt too miraculous to be
true. But it is.

Missionary work is great. But it's only great because the gospel is
true. This old man stopped us the other day and says, "Why do you do
this? You talking to people is not going to change anyone's mind."
With all the sweetness we could muster (which I am sometimes lacking),
we invited him to church and asked him to try it out for himself.
Haters gonna hate, as we sometimes say, but it's not any less true.

You Mormon Message junkies (that's me) may be familiar with this, but
if not, click below for a little boost of inspiration. And then watch
it again. It's strangely artistic for being a Mormon Message.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng

Sometimes the answers are right in front of us. We just don't want /
try / accept it.
I will get off my soapbox and let you think about it now.

Loves, Sister Margaret Willden

(Monday, September 1)

Week 64

Hello family and friends.

I hope you had a great week. I did. 

We ran around frantically to send Sister Yasui off to Utsunomiya (famous for gyoza), tried furiously to take apart her bicycle (we resorted to duct-taping the bike bag with half the bicycle hanging out), and gulping down sushi rolls that the members brought us because they knew of the transfer chaos. 

I have a new companion. My 12th companion in 10 transfers (that's a lot). Maybe people just get tired of me really fast or something. Anyhow. Sister Sticht is her name. She may be a Ute but neither of us has an overwhelming sense of school pride so we can still be friends. We enjoy all the same restaurants in Salt Lake (The Pie, Bruges, etc. etc.). Her hobbies are sarcasm and baking. And also being a missionary. Best friends for life.

Sometimes I have days where I think, "Missionary work is the strangest thing in the world." And then some days I think, "This is the most beautiful thing in the world and I should do this the rest of my life." Thankfully, this week was mostly full of the latter. 

Just a series of mini and macro miracles. 

We were biking down the street the other day and ran into a lady on the street. Something told us we should talk to her, and it turns out she is the friend of a member and has attended our eikaiwa before. 

We visited a member who wasn't actually home, but he walks up to us at church the next day and says his daughter is bringing ten friends to the matsuri (festival) at the church this week so "Please befriend them." Done and done.

Yesterday we had a miraculous meeting with one of our friends who we have been trying to meet for months. We hear she's been having a really rough time at it so we sat in a park, talked about the Atonement and read the Book of Mormon. "Can you send me scriptures you like from the Book of Mormon?" she says. We made plans to eat cake together (sometimes people lose weight when they are stressed) sometime. Sitting in that random park, even though we were amidst the old men awkwardly staring and little boys squirting water guns, we sang "Where can I turn for peace?" and I couldn't just help feel that God knew us, and that God cared, and it was glorious.

It's one of my favorites. So here's the lyrics if you so desire. 

1.	Where can I turn for peace?
	Where is my solace
	When other sources cease to make me whole?
	When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
	I draw myself apart,
	Searching my soul?
2.	Where, when my aching grows,
	Where, when I languish,
	Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
	Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
	Who, who can understand?
	He, only One.
3.	He answers privately,
	Reaches my reaching
	In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
	Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
	Constant he is and kind,
	Love without end.

It makes me cry every time. Something about missionary work makes you really emotional all the time. A nice quote I read this morning. There's always a lot of good ahead. 

• "You do not need to see the Savior, as the Apostles did, to experience the same transformation. Your testimony of Christ, born of the Holy Ghost, can help you look past the disappointing endings in mortality and see the bright future that the Redeemer of the world has prepared." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

Well, I'm out. Thanks for all your letters and emails. A shoutout to the lovely person who sent me a postcard with a Chinese man with a crazy moustache. It made my week. 

Love, Sister Margaret 

(Monday, August 25)

Pic 1:  Here are two of our friends and their nice fluffy dog.
Pic 2: Here's a really great hamburger I 

ate last week. I never thought I'd miss Kraft singles till now. 

Pic 3: Post-church with all the crazy kids running around the parking lot. Happy Sabbath.
Pic 4: It was P-day, so I baked a cake in the microwave. Bananas, chocolate chunks, and a whole lot of brown sugar. It was glorious. 

Pic 5: I think this nicely sums up our companionship. Crazy ballet buns, cluttered desks, and a Dunder Mifflin shirt. 

Week 63 No Transfer

Dearest family and friends,

Happy Monday.
This email is going to be short.

I picked up the phone this morning thinking it was one of our
investigators who always calls from a pay phone, only to be surprised
by President Budge's voice on the other end to tell me that I am
staying in Togane. Hallelujah!

I attended a funeral for the elderly mother of a member in the ward.
Sister Tan (who I live with) and I were recruited for an emergency
musical number and we rummaged through all our vacuum-bagged winter
clothes for a solid black outfit. It was sad. But it would be a whole
lot sadder if we didn't have the plan of salvation. (For reference, I
like Alma 34 and 40).

There were so many tender little mercies this week. A mission
president that lets me use all of his Kleenex during interviews. Haha.
Scriptures that I've read over and over that suddenly strike me with
new meaning. A hamburger made on an American-style grill.
Investigators that just contact us out of nowhere when we were just
about to give up. Many of our friends coming to church for Sister
Yasui's last week in Togane. There's a lot more.

What tender mercies did you see this week? I'll bet there's a lot.

Love, Sister Margaret

(Monday, August 18)

Pic 1: This reminded me of something that Van Gogh would paint, or something.

Sister Willden's Travel Itinerary!

On 2014/08/13, at 9:59, MainOffice Tokyomission <japantokyomission@ldsmail.net> wrote:

Revised travel.  Please let me know if this is approved. 

Thanks, 

Sister Evans

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Japan Tokyo Mission <2017806@ldschurch.org>
Date: Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 9:58 AM
Subject: FW: REVISED PROPOSED RETURN Travel Itinerary For WILLDEN/MARGARET MIZUKI - 19 Dec
To: "japantokyomission@ldsmail.net" <japantokyomission@ldsmail.net>

 

 

_____________________________________________
From: Don Love
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 9:07 AM
To: Japan Tokyo Mission; TAKAKO.WILLDEN@GMAIL.COM; Hiroaki Mizuno
Subject: REVISED PROPOSED RETURN Travel Itinerary For WILLDEN/MARGARET MIZUKI - 19 Dec

 

 

 

CHURCH TRAVEL CWT                          DATE 12AUGUST14

50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST                    AGENT VH/D9 BOOKING REF X4QLUT

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111                    WILLDEN/MARGARET MIZUKI 354601-R

FAX      : 801-240-5115

 

  MISSIONARY TRAVEL

  JAPAN TOKYO MISSION

 

SERVICE               DATE  FROM           TO             DEPART  ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

DELTA AIR LINES       19DEC TOKYO          MINNEAPOLIS MN 450P    1254P

DL 585               FRIDAY NARITA INTL    ST PAUL INTL

U ECONOMY                   TERMINAL 1     TERMINAL 1

           NON SMOKING      DINNER                        NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         11:04 DURATION

                  AIRCRAFT: BOEING 777-200/300

 

                            SEAT 41D NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

 

DELTA AIR LINES       19DEC MINNEAPOLIS MN MILWAUKEE WI   320P    436P

DL 2232              FRIDAY ST PAUL INTL   GEN MITCHELL    

U ECONOMY                   TERMINAL 1

           NON SMOKING                                    NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         1:16 DURATION

                  AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737-800 (WINGLETS)

 

                            SEAT 20D NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

 

RESERVATION NUMBER(S)  DL/GVSHWP

 

**IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, FLIGHT CHANGES ENROUTE OR SIGNIFICANT DELAYS, IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE

CHURCH TRAVEL (801-240-5111 OR 1-800-537-3537)

.

CHURCH TRAVEL IS AVAILABLE 24/7

.

DON LOVE - EXT 25167

JAPAN TOKYO MISSION

MISSION PRESIDENT TODD BUDGE

PH 011 81 3/ 3952-6802 OFFICE 3952-5701 HOME

LOCAL CALLS DO NOT DIAL 011 81

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

       **NOTICE** ARRIVE AT THE AIRPORT 1 HOUR PRIOR TO DOMESTIC

       FLIGHTS AND 2 HOURS PRIOR TO INT*L FLIGHTS WITH REQUIRED    

          STATE OR FEDERAL PHOTO ID AND TRAVEL DOCUMENTATION

     IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, FLIGHT CHANGES ENROUTE, OR SIGNIFICANT

                     DELAYS, IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE

 

           MISSIONARY TRAVEL (800)537-3537 OR (801)240-5111

 

 

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