Merry Christmas from Tokyo!

So, I was transferred to Tokyo!
I am serving in the Tokyo 2nd (English speaking) Ward.
Crazy!
This is where I grew up (it was called Tokyo 3rd ward then).
I was baptized here when I was 8 years old!

I didn't dream I would be assigned to this area and was a little concerned about switching over to English, but when I walked in this building and realized that this is where my testimony began, I realized that this is where God wants me at this time.
It has been so wonderful seeing so many dear friends of my family from many years ago.
The members here are having a hard time calling me Sister Orton because they still remember me as a 13 year old girl named Emily.
I spoke in Sacrament meeting and there happened to be a man visiting from Saipan (where my little brother is serving his mission). I won't see my brother for 3 years because of our missions overlapping, but it was great to see someone he knows and get news of him.
My new companion, Sister Gates, is great! We are already hard at work with some really wonderful people.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is such a blessing! It is such a beautiful thing to see how it can change lives for the better. And it is an even better thing to be able to play a small part in helping others find and learn the gospel!
I couldn't ask for anything more!
Merry Christmas!

A Miracle to be Thankful for!

I had the most wonderful experience of witnessing a miracle-

Kamimura kyodai is a member of the ward here. A couple of weeks after I was transferred here, he had a sudden heart attack. He was in a comma for about 3 days.

The doctors and family watched him closely and the wife was even asked if she wanted to pull the plug.

We didn't know any of this until about 5 days after when She asked the missionaries to come to the hospital. 

We went and we were prepared to give her a special gift. 

We sisters had been making 1000 cranes. 

We hurried and finished the 1000 cranes in the 3 hours before we had to go to the hospital. 

It was a symbol of our love and prayers for him and for the whole Kamimura family. 

1,000 cranes on a train

Sister Kamimura cried when she saw them.

When we got there she asked the Elders to give him a blessing of healing. 

Elder Meza blessed him and pronounced that he would get better and better with time! 

Over these 2 months or so the blessing has come to pass. Every week I talk with Sister Kamimura and she cries as she tells me all the details. She also said that this turned into a good experience for

the rest of the family because they have all been able to feel God's love through this. 

Today we went to visit him in the hospital. This is his last day there.

We TALKED with him! 

It was a very special experience for me to be able to see this miracle with my own eyes and

to shake hands with Kamimura kyodai. God had truly healed him. Of course, the doctors were very surprised.

Alma 26:37 

God is mindful of us all. He had healed him, had blessed each of his family members, and have given me the opportunity to see Him work His miracles. His mercy is upon all people!

Tsukuba

I am loving serving here in Tsukuba with Reyes shimai. She is great!

We get to stay here and serve together for another transfer so it is going to be awesome!

On recent p-days we have been able to see some beautiful parts of Tsukuba with some wonderful people.

A peaceful waterfall on a mountain we hiked up with a friend

Tsukuba Botanical Gardents

I found Chocolate!

Besides loving nature and plants, I also really love the Savior and the Book of Mormon.

Today I love Mormon 7. 

I love that he talks about Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of the world. 

Then invites us to do our part. 

He invites to be baptized and promises us blessings of Eternal Life. 

It is short sweet and beautiful!

If you know me, you know I LOVE nature and plants!

Halloween and P-day!

So Halloween is always a fun time for missionaries to bring some childhood fun to Japan!

We put on a big event with food, games, costumes and friends!

Orton shimai and Reyes shimai

a cute little Totoro

We had a Zone P-day today. It was transfer calls so we got together to have pancakes and hear our transfer calls together. 

Reyes shimai and I are staying where we are. I am so happy!! We work really well together and get along great and we are happy to stay here together for another 6 weeks!

The Nato (fermented soybeans) challenge at Zone P-day
Reyes shimai is only smiling because she hasn't tasted the Nato yet!

Here is a thought: If you haven't ever put Moroni's challenge to the test (or it has been a while), try it!

In the Book of Mormon read Moroni 10:3-5 (page 529) and put it to the test!

Good things are to come!

Love,

Orton shimai

オートン姉妹

Cloudy with a chance of Marshmallows!

This is actually how they bail their hay. 

It made me hungry for marshmallows!

 Mount Tsukuba is in the background.

That was lots of fun, but I must tell you about the rest of the week...

We didn't have a lot of scheduled appointments so we went out Finding. We should probably call it adventuring though, it was really fun. We streeted and housed and my companion got to know the area. We took some really cool pictures, had ice cream from the vending machine, and there were sooooooooo many dragonflies! 

Anyway there were a couple days where there weren't many people out and only about three men home. There was also one girl. We ping ponged her door, no answer. We left an eikaiwa (English class) flier there and moved to the next door of this run down building. Well, the girl comes up in her bike and goes to the door. Awkward. The shy Chinese college girl looks at us and asks us if we are Christian. It turns out her mom is Christian and she used to go to church with her. We invite her to church, to meet with us and even to eikaiwa and we leave our phone number with her. 

A week later as a mission we did a Daigaku Blitz, where everyone focused on finding College students. Then right before we were going to the church for our Ping Pong activity we get a call from an unknown number. It's a girl. She said that she just got out of class and knew that we were not doing English class right now, but was wondering if we were doing anything at church. Of course! Come on over! So we get to the meeting place and it's her! She comes in and we can all tell that she is interested in more than just English and games.

We took her on a totally impromptu tour of the church building and gave an intro lesson. We found out so much about her. She believes in God! She loves Jesus Christ! She basically taught us about Him! She says things like, His love is so huge, and that she feels it when she prays. She prays when she is discouraged and she feels His support. She said she had been looking for a church since moving to Japan, but didn't know where to look. And she felt like she had been getting far away from Him. She said that she was so glad that we found her and showed her the right church. She was worried that it would be scary or strange. But instead she found friends and love and light. She said that she was so grateful that God had led us to each other. 

One really special thing is that the English name she has chosen for herself is "Cynthia" (my Mom's name)!
Miracles happen!

I love to see the temple!

We went to the Temple today. Beautiful as ever. I loved it. 

Reyes shimai and Orton shimai in front of the Tokyo temple

It was our mission's Sister Temple day so basically all the sisters from our mission were there. I loved seeing all my old companions and friends!

Sisters serving in the Japan Tokyo Mission

Last Saturday and Sunday we experienced General Conference (one week late due to the time different issues).

We were watching it at a church building (beautiful, big church building pictured below) and a sister from another Ward asked me in the bathroom, "Are you a missionary?" 

Yes, but my hair was hiding my tag. 

She said "You were hiding it." 

After I sat back down I thought about that and realized two things:

- She could tell I was a missionary without my badge.

- I let personal things get in the way of Jesus Christ name showing through.

Thought provoking.

Reyes shimai and Orton shimai

Chuukese!

If someone asked me a few weeks ago what Chuukese was, I wouldn't have known.
Now I know!
It is a language and a people from the islands of Chuuk in Micronesia (where my brother is serving his mission).
He is serving on the island of Saipan, being trained by a Chuukese companion...and guess what...
I just got a new companion to train...and she is Chuukese!
Reyes shimai is from Hawaii, but she is mostly Chuukese!

Reyes shimai and Orton shimai

We had the opportunity to attend a Young Single Adult dinner with an investigator. It was held at the home of the Tobe family. This is a really great family that is dear friends with my family. I stayed with their family for 6 weeks during the summer of 11th grade. I was able to be reunited with old friends, including some of the girls that I attended Young Women's Camp with that year. It was a wonderful reunion.

Following up!

So this week I went on splits to Mito which is an area my Dad served in during his mission.
I got to teach an investigator of his! It was amazing!

We met up with a member who remembered my dad and showed me pictures.

I got to see my dad on his mission here! 

My dad is the non-Japanese Elder in these photos (1986)

Then we went to the address of Muto-san. My dad had taught her on his mission and I had met her while I was young. We rang the bell and I explained that I was a missionary for the church. 

She came out and I said that my father had been here too...

She said "What? Orton?" Yes! "Emily?" Yes that's me!

It was so wonderful! 

She was so happy to let us in. Super super surprised! 

We went through the pictures from home that I brought on my mission and 

she remembered my father really well. 

Then in the back of the book was 

a picture of her and I when my 

Dad took us to see her when I was 

little (1 1/2). 

Muto-san and Emi-chan
Then we took another photo together (20 years later)!

Muto-san and Orton shimai

This was such a miracle. She explained that if we had been just one week off she

would have been on vacation. I am so glad we got to see each other again!

The gospel makes the world very small.

Matsuri!

I went to Matsuri (festival)!! 

We got to see Omikoshi.

The Japanese (Shinto) version of the Ark of the Covenant. 

They think of it as a portable God's house. 

They carry it around on their shoulders and only certain men can carry it. Interesting.

Omikoshi

Every religion has truth and good. 

It is wonderful to get to experience Japanese culture and religion. It really helps me see the connection.

Last week we got to visit the Big Buddha

Orton shimai on right

Ushiku Daibutsu

Trivia-

This is apparently the tallest statue in the world. It is 330 feet from its pedestal and lotus platform (which add another 66 feet to its height). It is made of bronze and weighs 4,000 tons. 

Inside is a room full of small gold Buddhas. If you donate a lot of money you can get one with your name on it....the great thing is that they will put your family history in it!!!

Combs shimai, Kinghorn shimai and Orton shimai

Transfers

Goodbye Shibuya.
I will miss all my dear friends so much. There are so many wonderful friends I have met here.
Time to move on to.....
Ibaraki-ken no Tsukuba!
(Tsukuba city in the prefecture of Ibaraki)

As you can see. The area is a little different than downtown Tokyo. 
I am loving it here already.
My new companion is Kinghorn shimai. She is great!

Sato sensei!

So many miracles this week! But I will tell you the biggest one.

I got to go to church with Sato Sensei who was my brother's elementary

school teacher when we loved in Japan before! I wrote about her a little in my blog around Christmas time last year.

In the last few weeks I kept finding myself thinking about her and

feeling like I needed to contact her again. 

Well, the Senzokuike sisters called during the week and said that she had come to church

out of the blue! We set an appointment for the sisters to call me with

Sato Sensei when she comes to church again on Sunday. I was able to

talk to her before church and it was amazing! She had gone to church with Nagayasu shimai. 

It was so kind of Nagayasu shimai to go to church with her. The member had since been

transferred to a different school so they are not even working

together anymore. How nice of her to go the extra mile.

The most surprising part of this whole experience was that after that

phone call my companion and I went down to participate in Relief

Society (our ward does RS, SS, then sacrament). I said the closing

prayer and looked up and Sato Sensei was sitting there! Crazy! What

was she doing here? Nagayasu shimai had taken it even a step farther!

She invited Sato Sensei to slip out of church in Senzokuike and they

got on a train headed to Shibuya. They had a arrived and sneaked

into the back of the RS room! What? It was amazing to see her. She had

not changed at all. You know that friend that you can just pick up

where you left off? That was what it was like. We were hugging and

crying and telling the members around us our story! She bore testimony

that she had been guided by the Spirit and that what we had was an

eternal friendship! 

She stayed for the rest of church and then we got to go to the church

potluck. It was such an amazing experience. We got to talk about

everything that happened in both of our lives since we had moved back

to America. She told me that the next step for her was to come to

church every week. She's worried about her parents who are against her

joining a religion, but she knows that when the time comes she will be

baptized. We both felt like we will see each other again and that one

day she will be baptized!

We owe so much to Nagayasu shimai, the member who stayed true

to her covenants and kept the word of wisdom. I know that she was used

by God to bring about this great and marvelous work!

Orton shimai, Nagayasu shimari, Sato sensei, Palmer shimai

Tokyo!

Since our new place is so spacious, 

it is now housing 6 Sister Missionaries. 

It is a great group!

For P-day we all went to Yoyogi Park (Tokyo) and found these really cool murals. 

They are like graffiti, but I am pretty sure they are supposed to be there. We took some fun photos. 

Shibuya Sisters

Here is one of just 4 of us, in Shibuya-ku Tokyo Japan!

We are having the time of our lives serving here. 

I am so grateful for the opportunity!

Shoes

I was in a little bike accident.
I am fine (just bruised a little), but my favorite pair of shoes were totalled.

I learned what road rash is. 

So what happened was.....

We were on the road like a car.

The light was turning as my companion went so I tried to make it too. 

But my foot got caught on the road under my pedal (I pointed my toe or something when I pedaled

down) and I was moving so fast.... 

The skin on my feet and my shoes were scraped along the road. 

I almost fell into traffic as I tried to slow down fast. But I didn't. 

Actually the worst part was that because my brakes screech all the time and I frequently don't make lights that my companion does (I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I don't have the best bike in the mission), she didn't even notice. 

I was so full of adrenaline and embarrassment that I immediately felt sick to my stomach. 

We made it to the temple annex (church building beside the Tokyo Temple) where my companion bought me a juice from the vending machine and made me 'walk it off'.

It's sad but my very convenient flats are trash. 

But, angels protected me, so I am not complaining!

Life is good and I am so grateful to be on a mission (not to mention, alive) at this time!

Being a missionary!

Sacrifice brings forth blessings! 

The Lord blesses me with what I need and even what I want.

On P-day we were in the middle of shopping and we got a text from a mysterious phone number. Someone had received a pamphlet with our phone number on it and the name of two sister missionaries who used to serve here. The girl was in Shibuya and wanted to meet up. So we, with only a little bit of a reluctance to stop what we were doing, crossed the street (as you can tell from the previous picture, that is no small task) and tried to find her in a cute little bakery. She had attended Protestant schools and had received a pamphlet about the Restoration of the Gospel (in English) from a Pastor of another church. We have no idea how he got it or why he passed it along to her (good missionary work on his part). Anyway, she felt compelled to read it and was studying it with her English to Japanese dictionary! She also was reading the Bible when we got to her table! We talked with her about all of this and about the restoration and about how our church is different and true. It turns out the closest church building to her is in Matsudo, which is where both of the sisters listed on the pamphlet have served. One served earlier and one is serving there now! She had gotten the pamphlet in February and The Lord had put the missionaries where they needed to be to wait for her. Wow! And now is her time! And he used us to help her find her way to the church! What a miracle we were blessed to be a part of!

This is the best time of my life. 

I am actually doing what is most important. 

I am feeling the joy of the work! 

I am feeling charity and a desire to build eternal relationships. 

I am strengthening my testimony of the Book of Mormon. 

This is Gods work and His glory and our job is to participate! 

What an incredible blessing!

Technology!

We now have all kinds of technology available to us to help reach out and share the gospel with others.

Teaching a lesson over Skype

Last week I updated my facebook and am now using that regularly. Most of my posts will be in Japanese because we are using it mainly to connect with people in our current area, but everyone is welcome to visit my wall.
SisterEmily Orton
We are having lots of great experiences here in Shibuya. Lots of great people to teach and lots of great people to work with! I love it here in the city!
Here is my current companion-

Palmer shimai and Orton shimai

The big move!

Saturday we moved into a new place. It is a proper house and is apparently the most expensive missionary living quarters in the world (still in Shibuya). It really is a palace. A far cry from the small, old apartment we just moved out of.

So Saturday we had no time to dendo (missionary work) because of the move. But we did have to go out to eat. The office elders were over taking care of our refrigerators (swapping the old one out and getting new one, yay) and setting up the security system, so we were told to go eat. Probably to get us out of the way and also because they did not want grouchy and hungry sisters on their hands. So we went to Denny's. We ordered our food and my companion, true to sister Palmer form, joked a little and got everyone laughing...including the waiter. He was learning English. Getting him to laugh was actually a feat. (If you work in customer service in Japan you are expected to act like a robot - no personable conversations). So after the ice was broken he asked us if we were Christian! We said of course and then he lowered his voice and said he was too!! I was so proud of him for standing up for Jesus Christ! That just doesn't happen. So we called him back because we needed to give him a flier at least, but we pretended that we just wanted dessert. Well, he started bussing our table and we were all concerned because he didn't have a free hand to take the flyer. No need to worry though, Sister Haderlie had committed to give it to him and so she did... she reached over and slipped it into his shirt pocket. So funny. He didn't know quite what to do. But later we saw him put it in his bag. We were so happy!

Hope he comes to church!

I love being able to serve here in Japan. 

I love sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone I meet here.

I love the Book of Mormon! It carries a special message tailored for each of God's children!

Sister Orton

オートン姉妹

Chicken Pox and baptisms!

Poor Sister Combs has had the Chicken Pox. It is really bad. Because of that we have been functioning as a 4 person companionship which has actually been great.
Some wonderful friends brought us dinner!

President and Sister Welch (my former Stake President)

Hadderly shimai, me and Liana Otsuji (a friend from when my family lived in Yokohama)

We had a double baptism of a mother and daughter that Sister Hadderly and Sister Combs had been teaching. It was just beautiful.

There is nothing better than seeing people accept the gospel in their lives.

Conferences

Our mission and the Tokyo South Mission met for a 2 Mission Conference with Elder Quinton L. Cook and his wife, along with some other visiting authorities. It was great. Inspiring and uplifting!
I had the opportunity to sing in the missionary choir along with Sister Molinari. It was great to be temporary companions again. I got to see all my former companions which is always fun.
Stake Conference the next day was also wonderful.
I love being a missionary. I love this place and especially these people!

I found out that my little brother received his mission call to serve the in the Micronesia, Guam Mission beginning in September! How cool is that! 

earthquakes and other crazy things!

We have had 2 fairly strong earthquakes in the past week. Our whole mission is working on Emergency Preparedness. D&C 38:30

During the 2nd earthquake I was in the temple. That was an interesting experience. I wasn't scared at all, I felt very protected, but I half expected to find buildings crumbled when I exited the temple. Thankfully, there was no visible damage.

I just found out (after living here for several weeks) that our apartment has an oven! Who knew?! We have made scones and cookies. A pie is in the works! It is so fun to share our talents (especially when they produce yummy treats) with others to help them feel our love and the love of the Savior!

I have run in to several old friends on the streets of Tokyo! It is so fun to see old and dear friends that knew me when I was growing up! Little did we all know that I would be back as a full time sister missionary! It is always such a wonderful surprise when I see one of them (and sometimes I get a big hug)!

I got a fish pedicure! I have wanted one since seeing a video of my BYU roommate Marina getting one in Thailand. It tickled!

We are busily teaching people who want to learn about Jesus Christ and how the gospel can bless their lives. It is so wonderful to see lives change for the better and see our brothers and sisters become happier as they receive the light of the gospel in their lives.

Missions are the best!!!

オートン姉妹

Serving in the city

Serving in Shibuya is great! My companion is awesome! Our apartment is not the greatest, but we have air conditioning...and gokiburi (cockroaches)!

Ikeguchi shimai and Orton shimai

So, our apartment is small and 2 sets of sisters live here. It is a great group though, so it is fine. It it nice to live very near the eki (train station) and church building.

We were told that this is the most expensive sister missionary apartment in the world. 

I smote a gokiburi (cockroach) with my Preach My Gospel book during personal study the other day. I don't think a day goes by that I don't kill at least 5 and that isn't counting those that the other sisters get! I don't really enjoy sharing my living quarters with those creatures, but I guess that is part of living in the concrete jungle.

It is really a blessing for me to be serving as a full time missionary right here where I have fond childhood memories!

Happy Spring!

オートン姉妹

So many people!

It is reported that over 1 Million people cross this intersection daily... over 2,000 at a time!

They call this the Shibuya scramble!

The only problem is...how to stop these people long enough to share a message!

Here is a photo of my companion and I along with the other set of sisters in our apartment and a member doing the Shibuya scramble. Fun day!

Shibuya...here I come!

I am transferring!! 

To Shibuya!! 

Downtown Tokyo! 

Very excited.

Like I said in an earlier post, I have been to Shibuya many times....with my family when I was younger.

This is going to be great.

Sad to say goodbye to dear members and investigators in Oyumino, and Molinari shimai.

Molinari shimai and Orton shimai riding bikes

General conference was also great. We had an investigator come and she was going to slip out after and hour, but she stayed the whole session. She loved it! We went by her house to follow up later that day and to clarify about Jesus Christ's resurrection and I bore witness of Him. I do not have to have met Him in person to know that He lives!

Love is the essence of the gospel. Love can change the world!

Sister Orton 

オートン姉妹

Sakura!

Look where I get to walk every day. Gorgeous!

Sakura in Oyumino

I took this photo at a ward Hanami (Sakura viewing party) 

This week my testimony that Heavenly Father loves me (and each of us) is even stronger. I was struggling with something and praying about it last week and the answer to my problem was taught to me in church on Sunday during one of the lessons. Heavenly Father answers our prayers!

Temple again

We had a Temple P-day again. It was great to see so many sisters and friends. Hisashiburi! I loved being in the temple. Here is a photo of my companion and I in front of the temple again and this time it is Sakura season!

Orton shimai and Molinari shimai

We were able to watch the General Women's Conference from lds.org and love it so much! They were so good at explaining our divine nature and potential. I want to share this knowledge with our investigators so they too can understand who they are!

Technology

Speaking of Hastening the work, I will finally tell you about my iPad. 

We use it for studying and teaching.

The gospel library app is amazing. I can study anything! 

Also I can get it in any language! Super helpful. We love using videos too, sometimes. 

We also have this area book app that is a new place to put our teaching records and stuff.

We actually don't report stats anymore because the app calculates it and sends it for us! It's pretty cool. 

We can take pictures and videos. We email.

We are going to be teaching in Portuguese today! We are taking Roselly, our Peruvian sister with us and we are teaching straight out of the Introduction in the Book of Mormon. It will have to be the spirit that carries the message into their hearts since we don't actually know Portuguese! 

Crazy right? Well, here we go!

Animals and Food

Last week we had our second and third kids Eikaiwa (English) classes. It was awesome! 

We taught about ANIMALS. We asked them all to introduce themselves and tell us their favorite animals. I was surprised when I asked, "what is your favorite animal", and one boy said, in English, "no". Turns out two boys were too cool for that and so they didn't have favorites. 

We also taught FOOD. Really fun. We sang "popcorn popping" and made our own place mats for both Japanese food and American food. Again I was surprised by how unoppinionated Japanese people are. It took some kids way too long to tell us what their favorite food was.

Actually there was this little boy who has been coming with his older brothers and mother who is so cute! (About 3). He is just a bouncy little boy who loves to come up to the board and run around the room. I made the mistake of saying that we were done and class was over and he bursted into tears!! He didn't want to go home. So real quick we started a game of tick-tack-toe (they thought the name was so funny. It is called circles and Xes in Japanese) So he calmed right down and started to play. After that we let him erase the board and he was good to go!

We decided to house (knock on doors) today after trying to visit an investigator. She wasn't home, so we just walked and walked down the road. It was weird, but we ended up finding the best little neighborhood. It was the best because the people there would come to the door when we rang. Most people just use their little intercom to say kekko (no thank you). That why missionaries call it the kekko box. So we made a great impression on 4 people. And then the last door of the day was a totally prepared mother of 5 who has recently been feeling like she needed to learn about Christianity!!! We have an appointment with her for tomorrow at 4:00! 

Things are moving forward and I am so thankful to be a part of it!

I love you. I love this work. I love.

Oyumino...6 more weeks!

So, transfer calls came and.....Sister Molinari and I get to stay in Oyumino for another 6 weeks! We are very happy to serve another transfer together! This will be a great transfer and we just know we will be very productive.
The other sisters that were in our apartment were transfered, so the apartment seems bigger now.
The TV commercial is working. We had a LOT of people at Eikaiwa (English class) this week. Lots of people brought their children so we were able to have a kids class also. FUN!
We now have a lot of people to teach. Our favorites are the little Obachans (grandmas) that we meet in the park.
Here is a photo of Shibuya. It isn't our area. It is a downtown area in Tokyo that we visited during our last temple P-day. I remember being there many times with my family when I was younger.

SHIBUYA

Once for a Stake Youth Activity we all spent the evening street contacting in Shibuya. It was exciting missionary work! 

How grateful I am that I was called back to this great land of Japan to share the gospel with whoever will listen to me! 

I love this church. 

The gospel is true!

Temple and TV

This week was awesome! We had a Temple P-day (preparation day). Nearly everyone in the mission gets to attend the temple together with President and Sister Budge. It was great. I loved seeing everyone! We went to the park across from the temple as well. 

Tokyo Temple

Molinari shimai and Orton shimai at Tokyo Temple entrance

This week was very busy. We did a lot of traveling and a lot of teaching. 

Oh, and we are on TV!

They are running a commercial for Eikaiwa (English class) and my companion and I are the poster children. 

Our Bishop gave a talk at a baptism this week. He talked about how just because you are baptized, that doesn't mean you won't have problems ever again. It means that you now have brothers and sisters within the church to help and support you as well as the gospel to help and support you. That is very true.

Sisters

This week has been exhausting. I fell asleep during lunch one day.

There are 4 sisters in our apartment. My awesome companion and I were originally assigned here and another companionship ended up here unexpectedly.
The other companionship is comprised of 2 sisters from my first district at the MTC! It is great to be with them again.
Here is a photo of me giving one of them a trim:

Orton shimai trimming the hair of Requiem shimai

Oh, exciting news: I am sending my emails this week on my new iPad! Just in time for my birthday! Happy Birthday to me...next week! I'll have to write later about how this new tool helps us in our missionary work.

Finding

So far we have no one to teach in this area, but here is a story of one finding experience we had this week:

Once upon a time we were walking toward the train station. We were headed to one of the numerous apartment complexes and we decided to clime the stairs as we "Ping Pong"ed (rang the door bell) at each home. About half didn't answer. The other half listened to the name of our church and said "Kekkodesu" (no thank you). We were on the 3rd floor with about 7 more to go. We did the same thing as all the others, but at this special door the woman on the other side of the intercom box said "Oh just a moment"!! (in Japanese, of course). We were so excited to share a message. She must be a prepared soul. She opens the door and explains that she is a member of the Oyumino ward!!! What a surprise!! We had not met this family yet, but what a way to greet them. We talked with her a little and she invited us in. Their 2 little children where playing. We talked with them for a little and then they asked if we wanted to return in about an hour and have dinner with them. It was wonderful. We got to share a message about how Jesus Christ blesses the children in 3rd Nephi. I got to feel the Holy Ghost bare witness of the simple truth of our relationship with God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that we are Children of God and we need to be like little Children. They are given to us as examples.

I love this work. I love the special spirit I feel when I enter the home of a member. I want to work to have my home be a heaven on earth.
We will be working on our finding skills this week and hopefully we will find some people who want to hear our message!

Goodbye Niigata, Hello Chiba!

So, transfer calls came....and I am sad to be leaving Niigata. It is such a wonderful place with such wonderful people. But I am excited that I am going to Chiba, Oyumino! 

I am training a new missionary again! And we are opening the area for sisters! (There are 3 Elders there right now.) Which means we get a new apartment and everything. I am going to get really good at finding because we wont be starting with anyone to teach! I am so excited!! 

I love this whole transfer experience. It is awesome. 

Orton shimai with Molinari shimai and Budge shimai (Mission President's wife)

My new missionary, Sister Molinari, is amazing! She is from Upstate New York. 

We have a lot in common.

We are in Chiba near Disney Land and Disney Sea.

This place is chocked full of families with cute little kids! We are going to love it here!

Mexican Food!

I have a very exciting story! We found some Mexican food! 

Actually, a cute investigator from Eikaiwa (english class) told us about a Mexican restaurant near the Eki (train station). We went ... and it was awesome! 

They had refried beans!! The cheese was definitely lacking, but it was a delicious CHICKEN ENCHILADA! So happy! 

Another yummy dinner with the Oseki family (curry rice - my favorite)

We just had a Zone Conference and part of the training from our great leaders was about:

Moroni 10:3-5

Here are steps to follow to find out truth (perhaps explained a little differently than you may have thought of before):

1. Prepare spiritually

2. Read and Ponder

3. You will feel that this is right and true (or feel uncomfortable, if it isn't)

4. Ask for a conformation of "these things" (which are the feelings that you received)

5. When you get that answer to your heart and mind then you can act on the answer.

If you want to feel the Spirit more, look for it in your life and then ask if what you are feeling is the Spirit. Of course it helps to be in holy places, read or listen to holy things, and be grateful for the blessings you receive in your life.

Happy New Year!

2014

(the year of the HORSE)

New Year's Eve day was spent deep cleaning our apartment! I loved it! It was great to not have to wear a skirt all day! A wonderful family had all the missionaries in Niigata over for dinner and it really felt like New Year's Eve! We were going to play games, but we ran out of time.

New Year's Day was Book of Mormon day in our mission. We stayed inside the whole day and did nothing but read! I loved it!! I wish I could do that to begin each new year! ... Maybe I can!

I decided my goal this year is to have a prayer in my heart, or in other words, to do everything prayerfully. 

Another goal is to write in my journal everyday. I have been good at that so far. : )

Orton shimai and Sister shimai teaching a lesson

I have been thinking about obedience lately. I am not perfect, but I see that if there is some small thing that I can change in my behavior in order to come closer to God, or to please God, then I will gladly give it up to Him. At least that is the attitude I want to always have. Obedience is so important!