Food from the aoyagis
It was a long hot day, not the best picture, but these are the Aoyagis! :)
Close to where we live.
Senzokuike lake
We love Sheryl because she called us back!!! :D
Miki and Megumi! :) they are twins. Miki was just baptized in May.
After the temple. :)Dear family, We had transfer calls this morning and it looks like this next transfer will be one to remember! Sister Moffat and I will both be staying in Senzokuike, and I couldn't be be happier. We have some amazing goals for this next transfer and we are excited to see what the Lord has up His sleeve for Senzokuike in the next 6 weeks. Super exciting! It was neat for me to read about all of those experiences people had at the temple from our ward back home. Family History is amazing and powerful. The work is hastening on this side of the veil as well as on the other side of the veil. Super neat. I forgot to mention last week that we had our temple p-day! I wasn't able to write about everything that happened because there wasn't a whole lot of time last week for emails, but I think I will share a little bit with you in this letter. Last Tuesday, we caught the morning session in the temple and it was of course amazing and wonderful. It was Sister Moffat's first time in the Tokyo temple, and I could really tell she felt the Spirit and was able to have a good experience. We are so blessed to be able to go once every transfer, but guess what?! This past transfer we got to go twice! Last Tuesday evening, we had the opportunity to go and do baptisms with three of the recent converts from Koiwa! It was an amazing experience for me to be there and to see three of my best friends, enter the temple, and be baptized for the dead. My mind was naturally carried back to when they were first baptized in Koiwa last year, but seeing their spiritual growth and strong testimonies was so special for me. There really is no greater joy than in seeing those you love, live and enjoy the blessings of the gospel. It was a glorious reunion for us. It was also a wonderful reunion for me and sister Moffat as we were able to meet the temple president and his amazing wife- both our father's mission president and his wife! It was a really neat experience. It made me think about how wonderful it will be to be reunited with everyone after this life in heaven, and to rejoice together in the gospel. What an amazing day that will be! Also, after Eikaiwa a couple of weeks ago, Elder and Sister Aoyagi came to see us. Aoyagi Choro was also sister Moffat's dad's mission president, and so it was neat for us to make that connection. They gave us a ride home in their car and left us with a whole bunch of food. They are so kind. We have seen so many miracles this past week! We've met tons of prepared people and have had many opportunities to teach the gospel. Yesterday, as we were coming home from church, we were stopped by a young man who told us he would like to come to church. We were able to direct him to the church building and hook him up with the Elders. It was a neat miracle! We were on the train a few days ago, on the way home from an appointment. Before entering the train, I started a conversation with a woman who was waiting next to me. We had to get off at the next stop, otherwise we would have been late for our curfew. I was initially worried that we may not be able to get this woman's number, but as we pulled up to the Nagahara train station, she got off with us in order to get our number so that she could come to church and meet with us. Way cool miracle! We are excited to meet Shiho San again. :) We taught the Shields family again this past week. Two of their kids are going to be going to the FSY (like EFY but in Japan) and so we went to their house to help them prep for it all! We love teaching them and they are so prepared! We are excited to keep meeting with them and helping them come closer to Christ. Sometimes as missionaries, we meet the coolest people ever! We get their number, set an appointment with them, meet them, and then have the hardest time getting a hold of them again! Any returned missionary will understand how frustrating that can be sometimes, but this story is a possible one. :) During weekly planning this past week, Sister Moffat and I were going through our area book. We had already dropped a few of these people who weren't answering our phone calls, and came to woman named Sheryl. We met her about four weeks ago and were so sure she was kin! Anyway, we had reached the conclusion to drop her, but that we we try one more time to call her. We did so, and after receiving her answering machine, sister Moffat proceeded to drop her. Just as she had her finger over the "drop" button (using area book on iPads) guess who called us for the first time in 4 weeks?!! Yes! Sheryl had been really busy with work and wasn't taking phone calls from anyone, but she told us that she wanted to continue meeting and apologized for not getting back to us. Miracle? I WOULD SAY SO! We were able to continue teaching our Chinese friend, Ellie, this past week! She is so wonderful! In one of our lessons with her, the Spirit was so strong and she really felt it. We were able to set a baptismal date with her this past week and so we are super excited for that! :) We love Ellie. This letter is kind of all over the place (my apologies), but I am going to jump back to yesterday at church! We had a really special conference broadcasted to all of Japan from Salt Lake yesterday. It was a meeting specifically prepared for the saints here. Elder Bednar, Sister Burton, Elder Whiting, and Elder Maynes all spoke to us and it was a really neat experience. There are really big things happening in Japan and it makes me so excited to go out and talk to people everyday. God is really hastening his work. We had a walk in at church yesterday. A woman from the Philippines named, Monique, came to watch he conference. We didn't notice her at first, but with a little bit of help from the elders, we eventually ended up sitting with her and translating for her because she didn't speak Japanese. She is way awesome! She said she has tried to meet with us and learn more about the church. She is the sweetest person ever and we are so excited to teach her too. We are so blessed to be serving here. I love this gospel. I love to share it. Being a missionary is such a small sacrifice and I am so lucky to be here. Everyday is the best day ever and despite things being difficult sometimes, I know the God lives and that makes all the difference. He is always watching out for us and fighting our biggest battles for us. I know this gospel is true. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love always, Sister Hubbard
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