food she ate this week...she didn't say what it was...looks like some sort of pizza!
yummiest hamburger ever!!!!
sprouting avacado seeds
Hello hello! I forgot to tell you all last week that this weeks p-day would be on Tuesday because it was temple p-day today! :) I had an amazing experience in the temple today! It is such a blessing for me to be able to go once every transfer.
It sounds like everyone is having sun with soccer and getting ready for Jared and Lys' wedding! Congrats everyone on doing so well in your soccer games! Jameson, Jianna, and Jarom! You are all so good! I'm so proud of all off you! ...I'm sure Jared and Josh did a good job reffing too, haha. So fun. I've had the opportunity to play soccer a few times here, and it was so fun. :)
To answer a few questions->
Sister Trent is actually finishing her mission next month on the 12, which means I will be getting the transfer call on the 8th... Yikes! I can't believe how fast this transfer is going! I'm a little bit nervous for sister Trent to leave, but I believe everything will be okay and work out the way it is supposed to. I will probably be staying in Koiwa, Tokyo East since we are the only sisters in our area. It will be interesting to be the 'leader' in the area for my next companion. I'm a little bit nervous, but I know that God will help me with whatever come my way. I feel like I have learned this lesson over and over again this week. There have been so many times this week where I have had to completely trust in the Lord and pray for His help. It's been an adventure for sure! I want to share a crazy experience from Friday.
On Friday evening, our appointments cancelled and sister Trent and I were discussing what we would do for the rest of the evening. Just then, the phone rang. A young recent convert called us and told us that she needed to go to the hospital. As we were speaking with her, we could tell something was off. She wasn't understanding everything we were saying despite it being Japanese. She doesn't speak very good English, but she managed to say, "please help me." We told her we would, and we ran to the church to look up where the closest hospital was. At the church we quickly called the relief society president and told her about the situation. She told us she would come and help. While we were waiting for the relief society president, this young recent convert came to the church. We could tell she was really sick just by looking at her. Naturally we tried to talk to her and see if we could figure out what was wrong. This recent convert is the sweetest girl and she helps us a lot with dendo, but what happened next was a really scary experience for me. As we began talking to her, I felt sick. She wasn't responding to us, she didn't want to go into the church, and she was running away from us when we tried to have her go into the church. She was seeing things and acting really weird. She was saying really weird things too. Thankfully, the elders came along. They gave this recent convert a blessing, but for whatever the reason, she continued acting weird. Sister Trent and I chased after her for a few blocks (when she ran away) and saved her from the oncoming traffic a few times during the process. She was not well at all. After bringing her back to the church 3-4 times. We finally got her to sit in the chapel with us. The Elders played music and we sang hymns to try and settle her down. We were praying so hard at this moment that everything would be okay. It was really scary. At times, she would act calm and continue asking us for help, but then she would lash out and run away from us. Long story short, I think she may have had some sort of evil spirit in her. We felt such a darkness that night. It was really scary. She has been in the hospital for the last few days and is in stable condition, but she is still not all there. It was really hard for me to see this young women, who we talk to every week at church, be in such a scary situation. That night, after everything had happened, sister Trent and I biked back to our apartment. It was really hard for us to think about everything that had happened, but we knew we had done everything we could. We both still felt sick though. It was really hard. We prayed so hard that night. During the middle of the night too, we both woke up and said a prayer together because we couldn't sleep. After praying, we were able to go to sleep.
Kinda scary hey? I learned a lot from this experience though. One thing I know for sure is the adversary is real. We need to be so careful that we never let ourselves become under his control. I'm not saying anything against this recent convert, because she is the sweetest, strongest person ever and I don't think she would do anything to invite such a monster, but we need to be so careful...So so careful with everything we do. The gospel is such a protection for us. It really is. All of the command,nets keep us safe. The Standards for youth keep us safe. The prophets words keep us safe. The moment we willingly choose to disobey, we no longer have the spirit of the Lord with us. We really do need to be careful. In today's world, we need the Holy Ghost everyday to help us discern good from evil because Satan is always trying to mix the two. As we rely on God, keep his commandments, and try our best to choose the right, we are promised to have The Holy Ghost be with us. I'm so grateful for the peace the spirit brings and for the love we are able to feel from God everyday as we choose the right.
In my letter to president Budge this week, I talked a little bit about the day after all of this happened. I'll just share some of it...
"I can honestly say that I have never been so tired in my life! It's been a really busy week, and we've seen a lot of things good things happen. We've been really blessed. From this week, I think I have been able to understand more of the love God has for His missionaries. He asks so little of us, and then he blesses us so much! Friday was a pretty rough day for Sister Trent and I, but we tried our best to work hard and deal with the situations we were given. The next day, Saturday, we were both so tired and worn out from the previous day. Despite being really tired, I feel like we really tried our best and as a result, we saw so many miracles! We were able to meet amazing people on the train, connect with an investigator who we didn't think we could connect with, receive two referrals from one of our investigators and meet with them on the same day, and find a new investigator who gave us flowers, asked for our number, and if she could come to church. Pretty amazing! The Lord really does answer our prayers and everything happens for a reason."
I feel like my Japanese has really picked up this week! It's been a huge blessing! I feel like I can have real conversations with people now! Haha. It's really great. At this point, I think I can understand more than I can speak, but I'm slowly seeing improvement. :) last night, I spoke on the phone with our friend Chana for 15 minutes teaching a lesson while sister Trent was getting ready for bed. I definitely had the Lords help with that one! I'm not going to say it was a perfect conversation, but I was able to understand her and teach her simply. :)
Our investigators are great! Our family wasn't able to come to church this week or meet with us And so we have to pull their baptismal date back a little bit, but they are doing really well. :) we have all of the kids reading the Book of Mormon! They have fun signing it off on their charts everyday and when we see them, they are always so excited. :) We love them so much.
Kouno San is progressing week too! She has a bit of a seishinteki byouki problem, and so the Ward wants to make sure she is really committed to everything before she is baptized, but she really wants to be! In the last year, the ward has had a really hard time retaining newly baptized converts with seishinteki byouki problems, but we think Kouno will be just fine. She is just a little bit shy and needs some more friends at church. After all this happens, we are sure she can be baptized. :) we are excited for all of our investigators. I wish I could tell you about all of them!
There are so many people here in Koiwa who are so prepared. It is really a rich area and it is known in the mission to have one of the best 'dendo fired up' wards. I believe it. Everyone in our Ward is so good! We have many referrals to contact each week.
Anyway, I've had a great week! I'm so grateful to be here in Japan. Everyday is the best day ever and I love being a missionary. I really can't say that enough! It is the most amazing thing ever. I'm worried my mission is going to fast! It needs to slow down a little bit.. Haha.
I love you all so much.
Keep being the examples you are! Thank you for your emails. :) I love hearing from all of you so much.
Love always,
Sister Hubbard
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