Week 11 in Tokyo

 Okinomiyaki sister Hubbard and sister Trent style ;) Pancake Japanese style with cupi on top (Mayonaise)

 District Picture

 Sister Hubbard and Sister Trent at Tokyo Temple

Dear Family,

I forgot to mention last week that I received Jare and Lys's engagement photo/invitation! It is so beautiful! I can't get over how wonderful they look and are together. I'm so happy for them! :) 

Well, it's sister Trent's last week! We have a lot of big plans for it and we are excited to see how everything will turn out to be! We are trying to make a special effort to always follow the Spirit and to help us many people as we can. I'm excited to work especially hard this week with all of our investigators. :) 

Our investigators are doing really great! We picked up a few new investigators this week too. They were able to come to church and I think they really felt the spirit and we are meeting with them again tonight after emails. I'm excited to see them again! They are best friends and we were able to meet them at Eikaiwa! They are our age! :D We think our lesson tonight with them will be really great. We are hoping to teach them the restoration and give them book of Mormons tonight. :) We will see how it all goes! 

One of our member friends gave us a referral and this Sunday she was able to come to church too! I think she really liked it. :) We had four investigators at church this week. Our family wasn't able to make it, but we will be talking to them later this week about another baptismal date. We are so excited for them! Our last investigator who came to church is an older lady who is about Jameson and Jarom's height. She is the sweetest this ever and is also a referral from a member. She enjoys coming to church too. :) 

This week, I had the opportunity to teach this lady (her name is Hatano San) with Sister Reeder while we were on exchanges. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and it was really amazing. I'll see if I can get pictures for you next week. She is the sweetest lady ever! Sister Trent and I love her so much. 

In Tokyo it's been really hot and humid lately and Sister Trent says it will only get hotter! I have a really nice missionary tan going on and I have a lot of freckles now, haha. It's been a really hot week! Sister Trent says the rainy season is going to bolt down pretty fast, but it's hard to believe her because it has been so hot and beautiful all week! We will see what next weeks weather is like, haha. Also, there have been a few big earthquakes this past week that were kinda fun! One of them happened really early in the morning while sister Trent and I were still sleeping. When it happened, I thought sister Trent was trying to shake me awake because I felt like I was swaying back and forth so much. I woke up and she said it was just an earthquake, haha. Usually the earthquakes here are just a little vibration, and I would compare the feeling of them to standing on one of those shaker exercise machines when the vibration is on low. There are usually 3-4 of them throughout the day that I can recognize and feel, but this week, I was able to feel a few bigger ones too! It was really neat! Haha. 

It really has been a new experience for me to feel earthquakes while being here in Japan. I know everything happens for a reason, and so I got thinking about why God allows the people in Japan to feel these earthquakes. Why doesn't the whole world feel them like Japan does? I don't think there is a lot of wisdom in what I thought next, but I what thought about helped me to love the people I'm serving in Japan here even more. It helped me realize just how aware God is of them and how much he loves them. 

"3 And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him."

(Helaman 12:3) 

Everything in the earth, every living thing, plant, animal, everything is a manifestation that there is a God and a creator. I think earthquakes are another way the lord helps us to remember Him. God truly does use nature and everything in it to help us understand his true nature and loving kindness. I think earthquakes are anther manifestation. Sometimes we all need something to 'shake us up' a little bit in order to turn our hearts back to God. It is through our hard times and trials that we learn how to really trust in the Lord. In the moment, it is really difficult to understand our trials and hard times, but they really are a blessing. They keep us humble and allow us to know that we are truly in the hands of God and that He is watching over us. This reminds me of another scripture in Jacob. 

(Jacob 4:6-7) 

6 Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.

7 Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.

With faith in Jesus Christ, we really can do all things, but the Lord allows us to struggle in order to help us learn to become like God. He will never give us something we can't handle, but will always give us something we can learn from. All through our troubles, He will be close by ready to help us. As we turn to Him, we really can do anything that is expedient in Him, even through our trials. :) 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your emails and prayers. :) 

Keep praying for missionary opportunities! They will come as you exercise faith. :) 

Love always, 

Sister Hubbard xoxo