Elder Ballard

Mom and Dad
 
Hey!
How is everyone doing..
Gee thanks for the count down haha.. Three more emails left. Talk
about crazy... It's like almost 20 days left.. Gag me.
I made my companion promise me that she wouldn't talk to me about it
unless I bring it up haha. I am way excited... But I love Japan..... I
love everything here and everyone here. Sooo yeah... It's awkward but
oh well.
So this week was way cool!!
So many awesome things are happening here in Urawa. I feel so blessed
to be serving here right now.
 
So Keiko. She is amazing. She is from a part member family. She is
from the Fukuoka area. And she moved to Urawa like 2 years ago and
then a couple weeks ago she started coming to eikaiwa and started
meeting with us and what not. She went to church all the time when she
was little but never got baptized. And like a year ago her older
sister got baptized and her younger brother is baptized. And back at
her parents house her mom is the only member but like the missionaries
are always over there. And  like yokushiteruyo. So last week she came
to FHE and then we had a lesson at her house on Saturday and then she
came to church as well and we have a lesson with her tonight. Like it
is just amazing. I truly have such a testimony that things come when
the lords time is right! Please pray for Keiko that she will
understand the need for baptism and understand why it's importsnt and
be able to gain her own personal testimony.
 
So we have this "investigator" she is kind of out there.... And yeah
she like had us over for a lesson and made us this curry and what not
and then we tried to give her a Book of Mormon and she got all awkward
and would take it but she said when she comes to the church on
Sunday's she will use it and read it but only at church and that she
can't have it at her house. It was way strange. So then like a couple
days later she called us and sister Sticht answered the phone and I
feel so bad... Like she just started chewing her out saying I had you
over for lunch and was being all nice and then you try to give me like
this free book about God and was just saying all these crazy
irrational things. She like literally just chewed her out for over 20
minutes. I thought by the time the call was over sister Sticht was
going to cry.
 
Yesterday we were so lucky to hear elder Ballard speak. That was very
neat. We talked lots about the importance of prayer. And how our
investigators need to do person prayer or else we are basically
wasting our time.. I never really thought about it that way. But when
I look at it. The investigators that are progressing towards baptism
are all the ones who are do the basics by their selves, like reading
the praying. So that's was very eye opening. It was so fun being able
to a have an apostle come speak to us at our mission. And I feel even
more blessed because In like 2 weeks elder Nelson is going to be
coming and speaking to us as well.
 
Oh but I do have this way super awkward story that happened this week.
So we have this investigator, her name is Ai. Well turns out like one
day she met this guy from the ward and they became like good friends.
The guy from the ward is way cool and has a super cute family and just
rocks.  Anyways he liked invited ai over for dinner so
then she told us about it so we called him and he invited us over as
well. So we go over and like turns out his wife isn't home and she is
working haha...but like his kids are all home. So we go in and like ai
is all awkward haha like it was funny she speaks English and said to
us, this is way weird haha. The guy from the ward is like cooking all
this food and then we sit down and eat and he like dims the lights and
turns on some piano music and like put some essential oils in the air
haha like I was just thinking what the flip is about to happen haha.
But all in all it turned out way good! And Ai is progressing and
what not. Haha I think maybe we should take all of our investigators
over to his house and then they will all start progressing
 
Things are fun and great here. It's been raining lots lately but it's
mostly just been raining miracles here!!
 
XOXO

Joy and Sadness

Mom and Dad
 
This week... Oh this week, it was filled with some much joy but also
so much sadness. Okay I will start off with the good.
We have baptismal dates here in Urawa. Our investigators are doing so well.
I am so grateful to be a part of the work here. Sister Sticht is so
great. Like she is awesome. I love her so much, she loves missionary
work and the utes. So what more could you want in a companion.
Anyway...... Where should I start with this week. We had lots of
miracles but also lots of really sad hard things happen too!! For
example this week we found 3 new investigators. Talk about awesome and
we also taught lots of lessons. Something really cool that happened
was,
On Saturday we were on the train. And we started taking to this girl
and she was so cute and nice. Well long story short, we talked and
talked and talked. She has some interest in God but hasn't really
thought about him to much. She insists that she is another religion.
Well we asked her if we could exchange numbers and she said yes! So
then she like only took  picture of our email address. It was like
realy awkward. And then she said she would email us. Usually when that
happens, you never hear from them again..l but we tried to keep the
faith. And guess what the next night she emailed us and said thanks
for meeting me it was so great and thanks so much for praying for me,
I really appreciate it. She is so golden!! We are way excited about
her.
So that was an awesome part of the week. We were lucky enough to have
many things like that happen this week!
So, I never really realized the power of Friday the 13th until I
became a missionary... Because let's just say it was one to remember.
I now believe that Friday the 13th is truly an unlucky day! Haha  So
first off really sad news happened in the ward here, one of the young
members a boy about 14 years old, tragically and unexpectedly passed
away on Friday. He went to the doctors for a cold he thought he had...
But then it turned into like a tumor on his heart and he got it
removed and then was in a coma for a few days and the he woke up and
was like doing perfect and then a day later his heart just stopped. So
this past weekend was funeral things. It was so hard. Me and sister
Sticht literally stood on the corner of a street for 2 hours holding
up a sign and telling people where to go so they could go to the
viewing for this little boy. Talk about the worst Valentine's Day
ever. Also another things that came clear out of the blue on Friday
was.... Sonpon and her husband Yu (the Matsuhashi family) dropped us.
Yeah... Talk about ouch. That was very unexpected.  But I don't know... I
think that the Matsuhashi family will be back. They will realize the
way church, and God, and Jesus Christ have changed their life.

This week I have thought lots and lots and lots about this gospel. So often
I find myself questioning the very things I am here teaching. The
trials people are faced in this life, why people aren't born into the
church, why bad things happen to good people, why won't everyone
accept this message of goodness. And I don't know. I think that the
answer that I just keep coming up with over and over again is I don't
know why these things happen. I don't know the answer to any of those
questions, but what I do know is that God loves every single one of us
so much. And that he wants the very best for all of us in this life.
 
But things are great. I love Japan. I love being a missionary. I love
this gospel and I love my savior Jesus Christ!
 
Have a great week!
XOXO
E
 
 
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New Companion

This week has been a week of fun.
 

Sister Sticht is way cool and way fun. We have tons of fun together
and we are already seeing lots and lots of miracles together.
I am glad she is my companion.
 

She has so much desire to work hard and see miracles and baptisms.
This week we set a baptismal date!!  So excited!
It is for Eri. It is for April 5. So about two months away which is
the perfect amount of time. She is way nervous but way excited so
please pray for her so that she can get baptized on that date! It was
weird saying goodbye to sister combs, but like normal at the same time
because like I feel like I will see her again so it is all good.
For transfers marina Dorff drove us to the mission home so that we
didn't have to ride the train. It was fun talking with her. She has so
many funny mission stories. I can't wait tell I get to tell you all
about mine haha.
 

This week we went with our Chinese investigators Han to a really good
Chinese place. Like it was so Chinese. The people there like all spoke
Chinese and everything was just Chinese even all the customers. At
this place you could order blood soup. Gross. Or you could order
roasted butterfly cocoons. Don't worry I didn't eat any of that.  Cool
news, this transfer we found out that two apostles will be coming to
our mission and doing a conference. Elder Ballard in February and
Elder Nelson in March. I am way excited for that.
 

On Sunday we went to visit a less active member. And like normally we
just meet her at like a food place or something. But this time we went
to her house and just knocked on the door and guess what! She was home
and she even invited us in. It was so cool. I was like oh my gosh this
never happens! Like so surprised ha. So we went in snd had this way
huge lesson with her about so many good church thing. But it like
makes me so sad because she told us basically when it came down to
getting married it was like either choose to marry someone not mormon
and be kind of judged by all the members or just don't get married. I
guess there weren't many options for her to choose from. Options being
men... So she chose to marry someone not mormon and that just kind of
started the ball rolling. It was crazy though. She told us all bout
her favorite parts of the Book of Mormon and everything. Like she
remembers so much.. But it like breaks my heart because she knows of
the truthfulness of the gospel and the joy it brings in life and she
just doesn't have it now and now she has a daughter and just like is
holding her back from the knowledge. Like she hasn't taught her
daughter any of it or anything, so I just have to say thank you mom
and dad. Thank you for raising me in a house where the gospel is.
Thank you for giving me a chance to learn and grow and gain my own
testimony. I am so grateful for it. It is something I will hold and
cherish forever.
 

Japan is great and the people here are great as well. I love being a
missionary so much!
 
Have a good week!
XOXO

Last Transfer

Mom and Dad
 
Transfer calls were today! I am so happy. My new companion is sister
stitch. She should be lots of fun. She is coming from nagaoka. I am
way excited.
 
This last week has been hard but way good so yeah. This week we have
had lots of appointments and lessons so that was way cool! But
probably the coolest thing that happened was on Wednesday. We have a
mission tour and a general authority came. Elder Aoyagi. He came and
it was so great. It is really awesome being a missionary because you
get so many amazing opportunities to have a general authority come and
speak to you!! We talked about how we much be not only authors of
faith but also finishers of faith so that was something I really
thought about. How we started this work and and now we need to make
sure that we can end it as well, if that makes sense. I learned many
things from him. But my favorite thing I learned was about obedience.
That whatever calling we receive in this life we need to fulfill it
with full obedience. As missionaries, and church members, and parents,
as Sunday school teachers, and calling you receive, it doesn't matter.
And the blessings that come from doing that will be uncountable. So
that was a good day on Wednesday. This week we also met with this lady
angle. She is from a China and is so funny!! She speaks like perfect
English and Japanese and Chinese. She is moving back to China in march
so that is sad. We had such a great lesson with her. We talked about
prayer. And she asked us, "do you really think that prayer works" so
we had an awesome lesson about prayer. Then we talked about God. And
she asked, "how do you believe in God, if you believe in science?" It
was so amazing, she just kept asking the perfect questions. She told
us she wants to keep meeting Until she goes to China and then when she
gets to China she will meet with the missionaries in China and go to
church there. It was just really cool lesson with her. This week we
had lots of cool lessons. Also this week it snowed! Like it actually
snowed. On Friday morning we woke up and the snow was just coming down
and it came down probably tell about noon. But it was so great like,
it actually stayed on the ground for a while and everything. I
secretly miss the snow.
 
Something that I have been thinking about lately is this, being a
missionary and a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, I often forget that bad things can happen in life. We are
blessed with a special knowledge, and the promise of many special
blessings. The words of our church promise that if we follow Jesus's
example and keep the commandments that we will be blessed. So it's
that thinking that I forget bad things can happen to us as human
beings. I know that everyone receives their own set of challenges in
life. And I know that God doesn't leave us alone with those
challenges. He will also be there for us. I think that is something we
more often forget in life. I know that God loves each and everyone of
us. I know often we think why me, this isn't fair. But that is when we
need to remember the special knowledge we have and the promised
blessings that are waiting for us!
 
Sounds like things are good back home. Sorry dad that mom keeps having
all this fun... Not cool haha mom keep having lots of fun. It is crazy
the weather has been so nice haha. It's cold her but it could be a lot
colder so no complaining the thing that makes it most cold is the
wind. Ha
 
Things here In Japan are great!!!
XOXO
Sister Brown