Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Week 66 Japan Tokyo Mission


Way Scary spider!







Waiting for Marjorie and Koari face haha
Sapporo temple pic :)



















Sister Hubbard saying goodbyes :(

Dear family,

Thanks for all the letters! Sister Moffat and I have had a great week
too! I enjoyed hearing about the family reunion and all of the fun
activities you did around Magrath days. So fun!

As you probably guessed already, this week was temple p-day which is
why I am writing you today instead of yesterday. :) The temple was
especially beautiful today. I originally entered with some mixed
feelings in my heart, but those feelings soon changed. We are always
able to feel such peace inside the temple. The presence of the Lord
and of Angels was felt so strong today and that was a tender mercy for
me.
I think God sent a few extra Angels to the temple today so that He
could help me feel extra loved and appreciated. Our Heavenly Father
knows us so well and I am grateful for the multitude of His tender
mercies in my life. He is so loving and always knows how to show us He
truly is there and watching out for us in our lives.

The Koiwa sisters came to Senzokuike this past week for a part day
exchanges this past week and it was really fun! I was with Sister
Sargent for the day and we saw a lots of really cool miracles! I will
just share one of them.
As we were walking back to the train station from a part member
families home, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a young girl who
looked like she might have had tears in her eyes in the distances. As
we got closer, We noticed that she had a big cut on her leg and that
she was bleeding pretty bad. She was all by herself and must have
tripped on something. Just as we were approaching her, sister
Sargent's phone started ringing and she had to take the call. I
approached the young girl and ask her if she was okay? It was easy to
see that she was wearing a brave face, but after I asked she broke
into a hurting cry. I told her it would be okay as sister Sargent
passed me a first aid kit. She was the cutest little thing ever! She
told me that she was six years old and that she lived close by. After
patching her up nice and tight, we decided we would walk her home to
make sure she was okay. Approaching her house, we saw her mother and
began to tell her about what had happened. Of course, this interacting
led to a miracle!  She said we were welcome to come back and share our
message with her and her little family when we came back to the area
again. This experiences was definitely a good reminder to me that God
really does place opportunities in our path to help others. As we take
these opportunities and show love to God's children, He is able to
make miracles happen! :)

We've had lots of interaction with President Nagano this past week! He
decided to come to our District meeting this past Tuesday and that was
a big surprise to us all! We were more than happy to have him there.
He is so wise and is always so helpful when it comes to missionary
work. Both He and sister Nagano are incredible missionaries! Later in
the week, we had interviews with the Nagano's and that was of course
wonderful too. I think I will always feel a special familiarity and
closeness with both of them. They are such examples to me and I love
them so much. I have my final interview this week on Thursday with a
president Nagano, and so I am looking forward to visiting with him
again.

This week we have gone really hard! I'm am so exhausted and tired, but
am still able to somehow do everything I want to do. God's enabling
power is a real thing.
On Sunday, we had four people at church, and it was an amazing
experience for all of them! We are working with really prepared people
right now and I'm sure the future holds amazing things for our
Senzokuike area. It has changed drastically as God has been so
merciful and has been preparing so many people to receive the Gospel.
We are so lucky to be here!

I received a phone call from the 1st counselor in the Senzokuike
ward's Bishopric at 9:10 on Saturday night and found out that He
wanted me to speak for 10 minutes the following morning in Japanese.
Well, if there is anyone who knows a missionaries schedule at night,
they will know that there is not a ton of time to write a 10 minutes
talk. Let alone in Japanese! I felt a little bit overwhelmed, but of
course accepted the challenge to speak anyway. We have 9:00am church
in the morning, and so I used the tiny bit of time that I had in the
morning to prepare to speak. I felt so unorganized and so unprepared.
I prayed so hard that I would be able to say everything that the ward
needed to hear and that the things I did prepare would go well. After
the sacrament was finished, I proceeded to the front of the chapel
with a few notes and a set of Japanese scriptures. I was so nervous,
but as I opened my mouth, sure enough, it was filled and I was able to
speak for the ten minutes I was given to speak. God really does put
the words we should say in our mouths as we try and do our best. I
felt at peace the whole time, despite not having prepared very much. I
can't remember half of the things I said, but I remember feeling
guided and I never once felt like I didn't have the words to speak.
The words were there, the whole way through. :) Just another tender
mercy. God really does know us and love us personally.

So, remember the random piece of paper with the name and address that
we found a couple weeks ago? H..... has become one of our most
promising investigators and we are so excited about her! We had an
amazing lesson with her this past week and the spirit was so strong as
we testified about the restoration. As we were inviting her to be
baptized, she cut in and said, "If the Book of Mormon is true, of
course I will join your church!" It was a really neat experience. She
is a woman with so much faith and is now reading and praying about the
Book of Mormon. She is so excited about it all that she also brought
her husband with her to church on Sunday. During the Sunday school
class, they really loved the lesson and shared amazing insights and
experiences from their lives. I can't believe how prepared they are,
and they just fell into our hands! So amazing!

Yesterday, Sister Moffat and I met Marjorie and Kaori chan for lunch
in Gotanda area at a fancy buffet called the Prince Hotel. It was fun
to see them both! We had a nice lunch together and I was able to say
goodbye to both of them as they will be heading to the Philippines on
the 1st. I will send pictures! :) I will also send you the rest of the
ones I took with Megumi and Minami Chan last week.

Not sure if I have mentioned this before or not, but since I have come
to this area, we have put a huge focus on greeting everyone and
smiling SUPER BIG!! Near our house, there is a long road, (where I got
hit by the motorcycle) (we call it smile street) that we walk on it every
single day. It is a one way street and we have so many people on that
street who we say 'hello' to and 'goodnight' to. We've made many many
friends by just being happy, helpful and genki. There is a man who
owns a karage shop where he specializes in deep fried chicken with
other fancy meals. We see him everyday and are able to say hello as we
are walking by. He looks out the window 24/7 to make sure he never
misses us as we are coming by. There is another woman who owns a clay
shop and we have met many of her students and always say hello to her!
There is an old folks home near the end of the street where we have
been invited in to shake hands and entertain old people over and over
again. We always wave as we are walking past the window and all the
little old people wave with the biggest smiles on their faces. There
is a woman who owns a cute little clothes store who always greets us
as we come by. Not to mention, the cake shop man, the hoikuen (nursery
school) kids, the fish shop people, the Italian store people and all
the people who go to and from the station on their way to work and
returning back home. There are 8-7 people who work at the 7-11 near
our house who we know by name and are really good friends with. We use
the wifi at the 7-11 daily and so we greet them daily as well. These
are just a few of the many people who we see on a daily bases who God
has given us to love and take care of. I share this because I have
realized that missionary work is so much more than what we members of
the church think it is. It doesn't matter where we are, we have the
opportunity to bless other people's lives. We can serve and help those
around us and in so doing show the light of Christ. In the scriptures,
it says "by their fruits ye shall know them." As members of the
church, we are and should be always sharing the gospel. We are message
and as we strive to make our interactions with everyone around us
meaningful, I know we will be given eyes to see those who are prepared
to hear and learn more. I encourage you all to look at your daily
lives and evaluate how you interact with other people, whether it be
at work, school, wherever! I know God will bless you as you do so. :)

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how the Lord prepares each
phase of our lives long before we even know they are coming. As I look
back through my life, I see a pattern in so many different areas of
how I was being prepared to help someone here on my mission, or even
just know some bit of information that is now useful in some respect
to missionary work. I don't know if I am explaining this very well,
but I just want to testify of God's perfect knowledge of us as his
children. He has been preparing us since before the world began for
the things we face everyday of our lives now. He is aware of the
things we are learning and experiencing at this time and is preparing
it to be useful in the future in his perfect plan of happiness!
Everything happens for a reason, and God will continue to teach us
line upon line and precept upon precept. I know He loves us so much
and is watching out for each one of you. He is our a ultimate source
of peace and comfort. He is the best teacher. I've learned that I need
to be more humble and apply the correction I receive from Him daily.
We have so much to learn and do as human beings before we can become
like him, but He sees us for everything we can and have the potential
to become. He is so gracious and so merciful to us. I love Him so much
and am so grateful to be His missionary. This gospel is true. Jesus
Christ is our Savior. I know there is only true happiness in living
according to His perfect Gospel.
I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!
Love always,

Sister Hubbard

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