Monday, April 4, 2016

Week 51 Japan Tokyo Mission ~ New Transfer


New companion Sister Simpson

Friends from Matsudo



Shizuko San :)










Watanabe's




The watanabe's are a family in Matsudo ward. They are awesome!




This is an exchange student named Maddie who dendoued with us all the time. Going to miss everyone!


Watanabe's Shimai :)

Our apartment in Matsudo (right behind the church)

The Church we meet in.







Dear Family,

It sounds like General Conference was way good! I'm excited to watch
it this next week. :) I'm assuming they didn't say anything about
Sister Missionaries being able to extend to 2 years or anything,
otherwise you would have told me about it, haha. 残念です。Being a
missionary is the best!

It's been a week full of new changes and challenges, but I know I am
in the right place. To answer a few questions, I am in two wards here
in Tokyo. One is Japanese speaking (Senzokuike ward) and the other is
English (Tokyo 2nd Ward). They are both amazing wards! I had the
opportunity to attend church for 6 hours yesterday and was able to
meet many of the members from both of the wards. I didn't think it
would be a hard change jumping right back into an English ward, but it
was difficult for me to process everything. I think I have become a
nihongin, haha. I struggled to bare my testimony in English, stumbling
through different words people usually don't use, and it made me
realize that maybe I am meant to serve in an English ward so that I am
not completely lost when I go home, haha.
As far as tracting and things go, when we are working with Gaijin
(foreigners) the mission boundaries are our boundaries because there
are only two English wards in the mission and they are both in Tokyo.
It's pretty neat. We talk to all people now, he try and teach all
different kinds of people. Yes, I'm pretty sure this will be my last
area, but you never know. My last companion had 7 areas. I guess we'll
see!

I'll tell you a little bit about my new companion. Her name is Sister
Simpson and she is from Oregon. She is a young missionary, and is
still trying to get the hang of Japanese, but is really excited about
the work. She comes from a family of 9 and has an older brother
serving in the Kobe Japan mission. She always teases me about my
Canadian accent, (I didn't know that was a thing) and always laughs
and pokes fun, haha. She's great. We talked to a lot of people this
week! Our teaching pool right now is a little bit 少ない and so we have
been doing a lot of finding and looking for new investigators. Finding
people to teach is one of my favorite things to do as a missionary.
It's really neat to have the Spirit prompting you what to say to
people. Today, on our way to the post office, I felt particularly
drawn to this one woman who was sitting on her bike looking at her
phone. There were probably around 20 other people in the 10 square
feet within our vicinity, but I felt like we should speak wit her. We
began asking her about God and asked her if she had any religious
beliefs. She said her Father made a living off of being a Shinto
priest, but that she had a lot of interest in Christianity. She told
us she would like to come to church and learn more about the gospel
and Jesus Christ. It was a huge miracle!

On the way here from Matsudo, I met a Kinjin on the train! Her name
was Atsuka and she was 22 years old. I was beside her for most of the
ride to Ebisu, and so was able to teach her and set up really good
expectations. She was so excited to receive a Book of Mormon and told
me that she had read the whole bible before. So cool! She said she
wanted to take the missionary lessons and learn more about Jesus
Christ. I didn't have a phone on me, but she gave me her number and
asked me to call her. Hopefully we can meet her soon! She is so
awesome. God really is preparing His people and His elect. We are so
lucky as missionaries to be able to see His hand in the work everyday.
We found another person this week named Momoko Chan. She expressed
immediate interest and asked us where the church building was. It
turns out she lives just a few blocks from the church and so that was
really neat! We also met her father and he expressed interest in
coming to church too. They said they couldn't come this week, but they
said they could come next week! :) So many miracles!

So, one of the things which come from being in an English ward means
that when we are out on the street and we see someone from a different
country, we approach them in English. I have to get myself all psyched
up to talk in English. It's funny, because it used to be the same way
with Japanese. I've had such a hard time approaching people in English
lately. It sounds weird, but it is so hard for me sometimes, haha. We
met two blonde girls from Russia who were in downtown Tokyo this last
week and they were both over six feet tall and looked so intimidating.
I'm quickly beginning to notice that whenever I have a hesitation to
talk to someone that my thoughts are coming from the Adversary and
that I had better follow through with what I originally intended to
do. This was my thought with these two girls. I opened my mouth and
tried to say something smart..."We're missionaries from the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints." ... They they turned to me and
sister Simpson, looked us up and down and swished their hair back as
they continued to walk down the road without a word. I was a little
bit surprised by their responses to us, and so I approached them again
and asked them if they believed in God? Still, no response. By this
time, I was laughing inside myself thinking about how much nicer
Japanese people are and how ridiculous it was that I had been called
to serve in an English ward, haha. Sister Simpson asked these two what
they were doing in Japan, and they turned to her and said, "we're
models" and they kept walking down the street. It was an interesting
experience. It looks like I will have lots of practice with talking to
people in English from here on out. I'm excited for the challenge, and
it certainly is a challenge! Bring it on! :)
I'm excited!

We have a woman from Bolivia who we are working with named Jimena. She
came to church yesterday and had a great time! She bonds well with the
members and always kisses us on our cheeks when saying hello and
goodbye. So cute! We love her. She has great desires and we are so
excited about her progression in the gospel.

Well, I'm sorry this is a little bit short, but it's been a great week
all in all. This church is true. I know Jesus Christ lives and loves
us. I'm so excited to watch conference next week! I encourage you all
to make a plan to apply the things you have felt impressed to change
and do better in your lives after watching conference. We are so
blessed to be able to hear from the prophets and apostles every six
months. I know they speak the words of Christ. I love you all so much!
Have a great week.
Love always,

Sister Hubbard

No comments:

Post a Comment