White Christmas!

We are finally getting snow here. Well it is more like hail. It comes down in these small white balls and sometimes they can be pretty big. I am glad that we wear helmets! It definitely slows us down on the bikes, but we are going to ride until we can't anymore. Apparently it is much much worse here in February! That is after the next transfer, so I don't know if I will still be here then, but at least for the next 3 weeks I will be bundling up good!

I got a great thing that doesn't have an equivalent in the US, as far as I know. It is a Coat Skirt. It is thick like a coat, but shaped like a skirt and you wear it over your skirt to keep you warm while biking! It is great! 

I sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" at church last Sunday. It was special. I did not do as good as I have in the past, I am really out of practice, but an Elder on the violin made it sound good!

All 9 missionaries serving in Niigata branch spent Christmas Eve with the Oseki family along with some friends of theirs. They are so good to us! 

Oseki family with friends and missionaries

Merry Christmas!

We just watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional yesterday! So good. I loved it. 

The members here are treating us so kind. They are the best!

The members filled a big box for each set of missionaries.
Tortilla chips and salsa from Costco and all kinds of wonderful things!

We had a special event at the church with music. It was nice. 

The branch members and missionaries sang at a nursing home.

Something great that President Budge introduced to us is a consecration box. It can help us put away things that we don't need on the mission. I started it on paper, but I kind of want to make one physically so I can put things down on paper and in the box and not see them again. Really give up my distractions. It is a great way to think about repentance. It could be adapted to many different circumstances, not just missions.

I love my mission. I cant say I love every minute of it, but I love being a missionary. I was born for this. I love this tag I get to wear over my heart! 

A special happy birthday to my dear sister Chloe on the 19th!

Gambatte imasu!

Orton Shimai

Kamito tomoni ne!

Satoh sensei

I experienced 2 distinct miracles this week. 

One of them is Satoh sensei. 

She was my brother's elementary school teacher for 2 years when we lived in Yokohama. She was a close family friend. We had a special relationship with her. She investigated the church while we lived there, receiving lessons from Sister Missionaries in our home. She did not get baptized though. We moved back to the States and lost contact. Fast forward 8 years and I got my call to the Japan Tokyo Mission. We as a family started to think about and pray about those people that we still knew in that area that maybe would be ready to learn more about the gospel. Satoh sensei came to mind. I went to the MTC and left it early because I already spoke Japanese. That put me on a plane to Japan with Sister Miyagi. At the same time Satoh sensei found out that a janitor at the school she teaches at is a member of the church. She talked to her about it and asked her to invite her to something because she wanted to attend and participate. Satoh sensei attended the Tokyo 2nd ward Christmas party. She talked about this family she knew, loved and missed called the Ortons. Sister Miyagi was the missionary to hear this and remembered my name. I received a wonderful phone call that evening. Satoh sensei wants to take lessons from the missionaries. I plan on emailing her tomorrow, reestablishing contact and testifying of the truthfulness of this Gospel. I love her so much. I can not put it in words. I came to the Japan Tokyo Mission thinking that I might get the chance to finish the work my father started. Now I get to finish work my mother started by being a special friend to Satoh sensei. 

What a marvelous work and a wonder. 

How humbled, honored and privileged I feel to be called to participate in so great a cause!

心から感謝し、頑張っています！

Dinner with the Oseki family. Yum!

Thanksgiving!

Crane shimai and Orton shimai outside the church building
the writing says "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

We received a package from Crane shimais mom that had packets to make lots of food. It basically had everything but the turkey. We had karaage (like chicken nuggets) instead. haha. We got to eat mashed potatoes with stuffing and gravy. There were cans for green bean casserole and pumpkin. 

I was so proud to have been able to make a pie crust with margarine, flower, salt and water. I had to roll out the dough on the table with a bottle that we had in the apartment. Quite difficult and makeshift, but it was a decent pumpkin pie! So delicious. We made 2 small ones (we had pie tins in the apartment!) so we shared with the Elders. It was a Thanksgiving miracle. 

We made all our prayers that day only in thanks.  That was a special way to celebrate the holiday. We told everyone we knew that it was a day of thanks in America so we wanted to express our thanks to them. Everyone was interested to hear about America and it felt good to focus on thanking and praising people all day. 

An investigator taught us that kanshashite imasu (thank you) means a lot more than arigatou gozaimasu (thank you). Like I appreciate you or I am thankful for you verses thanks or even thank you. We taught the investigator that she can show her love to God by giving grateful prayers and by offering her heart to him.

Trust God

We had a 2 mission conferences last week. We all traveled to the Tokyo South Mission where we met with Elder Evans of the Quorum of the Seventy. It was awesome. I'll have time to write about that later.

I ran into President and Sister Welch. He was my Stake President when I was in grade school living in Yokohama.

Me with Sister and President Welch

Here are a couple of things I have learned/been thinking about lately:

When you don't give up,
you just stubbornly go on in the cause of right,
no matter what you come up against,
God can refine you and mold you into what he knows you can be.
We can trust God because He has the end in mind. He knows how we need to be prepared for what is ahead.

Its about what is ahead of you not about what is going on right now. 

Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are easy to trust.
They have the power to change hearts, if only the owner will give it up to them.

Crane Shimai and Orton Shimai

Training

Here is a picture of me with my trainee, Sister Crane.

She is from Vernal, Utah and is 19.

She was in the first District I was part of for about a week at the MTC, so I already know her a little. 

I had no idea back then that I would be her trainer when she arrived in Japan!

Before my trainer, Sister Jensen transferred, she gave me a haircut (she has been to beauty school). You can see our apartment in the background.

I have some great pictures and stories of the people we are teaching, however, I am reluctant to post them because they may not want photos and things about their lives on the internet. I will ask for permission and hopefully in the future I will be able to share some inspirational stories with you from the lives of those we are teaching.

We have found many people who what to learn about the gospel. Many are referrals from members of the Niigata Branch. We feel so honored when members bring their precious friends to us so we can teach them about this most wonderful gift that is available to them! The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives for the better!

1st Transfer Call

I have super big news. This week is transfer week and we got the nerve-racking transfer call this morning! Because it was my first one I didn't really get too nervous. I just figured what will happen will happen. But my 2 comps were really doki doki (nervous). 

The call came right in the middle of us reciting the mission theme scripture at 9:00 this morning. My trainer (Sister Jensen) picked up and it was the Assistants! (That means someone is transferring. If you are all staying then you get a call from the Zone Leaders.) So she puts it on speaker phone and the camera recorders are rolling :) He commends her for all the work she has done in Niigata and tells her she is transferring to Saitama.  So exciting, yet so sad for me :( 

Then he asks for Sister Hubner. She is also transferring to Saitama! And she will have a Nihonjin (Japanese) companion! She is worried that her Japanese is too bad for that, but we assured her it is good enough and that she will get so pera pera (fluent)! :) 

Then he asks for me. I figure at this point I am going to be the area sempai (the longest one in the area). So he also commends me for my work and my Japanese. Then he tells me about my new companion. 

She is straight from the MTC!!! I AM TRAINING!!!! THIS IS MY 1st TRANSFER! I CANT BELIEVE THIS!!! Also, I know a lot of these sisters! This is my first MTC district that is coming to the Hombu (mission home) tomorrow. I am so excited about this it is nuts. I am super worried though that I don't know enough to train... That I don't know the area enough and about being a missionary. I don't know if I can wake up in the morning without my trainer babying me!! haha. No, I will. This is just a ton of responsibility. I can do it. I am so excited to love and teach my new trainee. Cant wait to meet her!

 Oh, the Ward Mission Leader and his wife went to Tokyo last week to the temple and Costco and brought us back rolls! And muffins!! Even though we were just in Tokyo ourselves, those were things we couldn't get.  I love them so much (the people, not the food...well I do love the food as well : ) 

We had a Halloween party at the church that was pretty fun. I forgot how organized Japanese people are. It has to all go so perfectly. Maybe thats where my perfectionist side came from (that and Dad :) A mom and her 13 year old daughter who are investigating the church attended. It was good.

My comps are so sad to leave the area and all the investigators. And our investigators are sad to see them leave as well. I am so happy to be able to keep working with all of them! I love them all so much. 

Oh, and I love the rice here!

Orton Shimai