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