Week 64 Japan Tokyo Mission

The day we went dendouing in the rain with Marina Chan in Oimachi. So fun! :) she is the best.

Dear Family,

Well, the hot humid summer has struck its course here in Tokyo! Bring
on the heat waves! This week, I am grateful for an air conditioned
apartment and for my croc shoes which don't get too hot or wet with
all the humidity everywhere. :)
We've had some real breakthroughs this past week in Senzokuike!
On Tuesday evening, we took our investigator Ellie to the Boss couple's
house in our ward for dinner and a lesson. It was wonderful! Sister
Boss bore a really powerful testimony about the plan of salvation and
Ellie had a really great experience. She is diligently reading the
Book of Mormon and praying about it. She has shown a lot of faith and
as a result, God is blessing her so much! We are really excited about
her. :)

I would like to tell you about two of the families in our Senzokuike
ward who we have been focusing on. The first is the K.... Family.
K.... Shimai is the only member of her family, but she has two
daughters who are high school and college age girls. K... Shimai
started coming back to church close to two months ago and we have been
working with her very closely. Since the beginning of the transfer,
Sister Moffat and I have made it a goal to always ask her how her
daughters are doing and express our desire to meet them. Well, this
week, K.... Shimai told her oldest daughter Y... about us! After
showing Yuri Chan a picture she took of us at church, She asked if it
would be okay if we could call her and set up a time to meet. Complete
miracle!
We called K... Shimai's daughter Y... and she was super excited to
meet up with us! We met her this afternoon and invited her to come to
church with her mom! She said she would like to come. Such a big
miracle!

We are also working really close with the Kawamura family in the
Senzokuike ward.
At seminary on Wednesday mornings, we always make a special effort to
be good friends with Marina Chan (Kawamura's daughter who is a YW).
This past Wednesday, she told us that she wanted to invite her best
friend to Eikaiwa class and asked us to please share the gospel with
her. We made a plan together and her friend turned out to be a
complete kinjin! Marina Chan's friend will now be coming to church
next Sunday and she wants to take the lessons. Way awesome! We went
over to the Kawamura's house for dinner this past week and were able
to help her prepare a Book of Mormon for her friend by marking
scriptures and writing our testimonies in it together. Marina Chan is
15 years old, but all she ever talks about is missionary work! It is
amazing! She expressed that she wanted to come and do missionary work
with us sometime. We definitely took her up on that offer! On Saturday
afternoon, we ate lunch together (while studying preach my gospel) and
then dendoued together for 3 hours in the rain. Now, it wasn't just
raining, but it was pouring! We bravely went out into the rain with
our umbrellas and rain jackets and began talking with people. She
loved it! We gave five Book of Mormons away and talked to around 70
people together. It was a great success! She stopped people and
introduced us as missionaries to many of the people and bore really
powerful testimonies to everyone about how the gospel has changed her
and her family's life. After everything, she told us that she wants to
be a missionary someday, share the gospel with all her friends, and go
to BYU. :) We are really excited about her! We love the Kawamura
family. They are preparing to go to the temple to be sealed soon,
which is so amazing. They are a perfect example of how the gospel can
and does bless families. They are so great!

We met with another investigator this past week named M.... San. She is
a college student and was found just before I got to the area. We
haven't been able to meet her consistently because she is so busy with
work and school, but we should be able to meet her more consistently
starting in August. We set a Baptismal date with her for August 20th.
She told us that she would like to try living like a member of the
church and experience the same things that the members do. We think
she really enjoyed coming to church a few weeks ago and it has
inspired her to want to learn more and be baptized! :) God is
preparing His people!

Okay, another way WAY cool miracle!!
As I was cleaning through a bunch of papers in our apartment this past
week, I found a piece of paper with a name (Hana Nishizawa) and
address on it. We decided it looked like referral material and so we
decided to go and visit the 'mystery person' during the break between
the two wards church meetings this past Sunday.
After finding the apartment and praying, we proceeded to 'ping pong'
her door. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't
what we found!
A woman in a colorful dress with a high ponytail came skipping to the
door to greet us. She is from Kentucky, but is living in Japan as an
actress. She spoke perfect English. Just as we were about to introduce
ourselves, she said, "Wow! You actually came! Come in! COME IN! Thank
you for coming! ... I have to admit, after hearing all of that, I
began to wonder if she was just a less active who hadn't been to
church in over a few years or something...
She sat us down with banana pancakes and this special 'lemon detox
water' she had made herself! (It looked like water with sliced lemons
and cucumber in it-probably something I should keep drinking in the
future, haha). It turns out Hana had met the missionaries last year at
some point on the street and had told them they should come over
sometime! She must have handed them the piece of paper I found in the
apartment and they must have just forgotten about it or something?
Anyway, and we were able to teach her part of the restoration and said
she wanted to come to church sometime with us! It was a way awesome!
Also, she lives like 10 minutes away from the church! 奇跡!! Her
husband, is half Australian and half Japanese, and is a really famous
singer here in Japan. It was such a neat experience to meet her. We
are excited for the opportunity to know her and work with her now.

I'm so grateful for this gospel! I know it is true. I know God lives
and that He is directing our lives. Everything happens for a reason
and is all connected in God's grand plan. Nothing is random and
everything that ever happens in this life can be drawn back to the
sure knowledge that there is a God, that He loves us, and that we are
made to be so much more than everything we ever experience on this
earth. Jesus Christ really is our Savior and our advocate with the
Father. I know He prays for us and is our Older Brother. Keep trusting
in his glorious plan!
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love always,

Sister Hubbard