october 15 aroha

Dear family---

I'm just noticing a trend with all the pics we take. It's always with food! How embarrassing.  You probably are thinking you sent me off to Nihon on a gourmet tour and all I am doing is eating!!! There is a lot of that going on, but we really are trying our best to spread the gospel to anyone who will listen ;)

So I am loving our town Nakano. It really made a big turn around. We are meeting lots of friends everyday. We had such a miracle this week. Tokyo is giant and there is this special family we met at a train station a few weeks ago.  The kids just moved from Nepal.  The older son was the spokesperson for the family. He's about 11 and the younger sister is Kristina.  She is about 8. They were with their mom and were so nice and so cute and wanted to meet with us again, but when we tried to email them to set up a time, we were devastated when their email address failed and we thought we had lost contact with this special family forever. So we prayed that somehow we would be able to find them again. Then randomly a few days ago we were biking to a members house and vwalah!! There they were walking on the street toward us! We had dinner with them this week and are meeting with them again Wednesday. I know God really is a god of miracles and knows each one of us individualy and all things are possible with his help. Even finding a needle in a haystack of a city!

Also this week was our good friend Elder Hansen's birthday. The elders are always complaning about how they are losing weight, which does NOT seem to be a problem for the sisters, so we made him a sumo wrestling cake and left it on his door. Sister Stevenson also had a brilliant idea to pie him in the face at 6:30 AM, but of course, I was given the job of pieing, and I missed! I could not forgive myself all day. Oh well, pieing people is an art I've come to find. Need more practice.

We had lunch with our new friend Aki chan this week. We taught her about prophets and that they can help with the challenges we face today. By the way I loved the talk by Elder Uchdorf about living in the moment and how to not live a life full of regret. I especially loved the part where he said "life is not a race. Its a journey. Enjoy the moment.. when we listen to music do we listen only to anticipate the end? No we listen and connect to the rhythm and harmony."

I am challenging myself to truly live more in the moment and find something to cherish everyday. Being here we do the same thing everyday, we have such a routine, but really every day is special, unique and delicious.

I miss all of you so much. I think that's been one of the biggest challenges for me on my mission --- just being away from those that I love so much. But as I envision teaching or just talking with one of you, my love grows for the people here instantly. The people in Japan are so easy to love. They are the kind of people that pack their bags full of gifts just so they have something to give, if by chance they meet someone who needs lifting. I want to be more like them!

I've been blessed with so much. But if there is one thing that I could give to anyone it would be a knowledge of who they really are. Knowing who we are, God's child, gives us confidence and helps us relax knowing that if we do our best, he will make everything else work for our good.  If it doesnt seem that way yet, just be patient, because he's not finished blessing your life yet.

Love you all. It's getting colder here.  Busted out my down floor-length parka last night :) I love being a missionary.

love love love

marni lynn

Pictures from Week 3

Week 3 in Nihon, Japan

Aloha family!

This week has been awesome so far!

So this is such a surprise, but one of our investigators Sachi-son. She has this heart condition, she's probably in her late 60ies, and even though we don't speak the same language I can't help but feel close to her.  Japanese people love to give gifts, they are always bringing gifts and making you feel special.  Well after our lesson this week, Sachi-son  brought us some coffee candies, and  my sweet companion, of course, says "we actually can't have those!" and I thought "oh no!" Now she won't want to hear what we have to say!"  But we ended up teaching her unexpectedly about the Word of Wisdom --- and surprise --- she loved it!  She loved the Word of Wisdom. Because of her heart condition, her doctor told her that coffee. alcohol, all the same things we avoid, she has been avoiding too on  account of her heart.  She said, but in Japanese, "I like this church, and I feel we are the same kind of people".  It was such a wonderful thing!  Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways!  What I thought would be a disaster actually helped Sachi-son grow closer to the gospel.

For P-day today we climbed Mt Takao.  It was so beautiful and very misty at the top! I felt like I was in Hawaii or the rain forest in Washington.  The whole time I kept hoping I would come across a monkey.  On the map they said there were monkeys somewhere lurking around.  But we saw all these very old Japanese temples and little Buddhas wearing red bibs.  I loved being in nature again. It was so calming and fun.  The elders are hilarious too.  I love my zone, they feel like a family always wanting to do things together.

On the way down we took this cable car, there was no bar to secure you in!  I keptaccidentally imagining what I would do in case I fell off.  My life, I felt, was dangling by a thread, and of course the elders behind us were thinking it was hilarious to bounce. 

This week was kind of bitter sweet, our mission president, President  Albrecht, and his wife left.  I have only known him for a few weeks but love him already.  He is such a hard worker and always says, "how ever goes your day, goes your week, and so goes your life"...

This week was Kai Shimai's birthday.  I feel so lucky to have her as a companion.  This sweet couple, the Inagakis, took us and the two elders in our ward out for dinner.  It was this really chic Japanese place, where their specialty was bread, so throughout the entire meal they just kept bringing different varieties of bread, loved it!

I'm finding that faith is like an allowance.  But we only run out or exhaust it when we quit using it.  It's really interesting.  Like putting money in a coin machine, we have to let go of our coin, or dollar to see the snack pop out the other side.  Only of course with life, things come out of the machine that we never imagined for ourselves. 

This week a typhoon passed through here, it wasn't so bad but very windy and rainy.  The great thing about typhoons is, the morning after the storm passes, the sky is sooo beautiful and clear.  Like Noah's ark I'm sure.  I was thinking that with any hard day, you can just bet that tomorrow, will have to be better.  It always is. 

People here are very generous and kind.  I am learning so much and I really know that when we put our faith in Heavenly Father and just trust him, he will make everything work out.

I love you all and am grateful for you.

Marni