Saturday, April 26, 2014

happy easter!!!!!! 4/21/14

Konnichiwa!!!!!!!!!

My heavens this was a week i will never forget! Greatest ups and some
of the lowest lows... but so grateful for every second of it!!!!

ok so last tuesday sister Kubota was still our temporary companion! i
love that girl so much!!! japanese people are the most wonderful
people in the world!! they are so funny though because they are an
extremely polite people. So when they are around other japanese people
they are kind of quiet, and very modest, and polite. But when they are
around foreigners..... they are hilarious!!!!!!!! Seriously every
single japanese person is that way! at least all that ive met so far
:) Sister Kubota was just cracking us up at every second! its nice to
laugh! feels good!
tuesday afternoon we met with the areas former investigator. Usami
san. she met missionaries through eikaiwa and really gained interest
in learning about the church. with constant changing missionaries i
think she fell through the cracks. but we found her, called and had
lunch together! she has so many great desires! we talked about finding
out for yourself through personal experience. she is really looking
for the truth but doesnt want people to just tell her what to believe.
Well how grateful i am for the power of the Book of Mormon combined
with prayer! we are guaranteed an answer from our loving Heavenly
Father. we have an appointment to meet her again on wednesday!!!!!!
miracle!!!!!

riding our bikes to the church, we said hi to a man walking on the
street. didnt think anything of it. we say hi to people all the time.
But a few minutes after arriving at the church, that man showed up and
thanked us for saying hi! he said he has been to church and would like
to come again!! he gave us his number and address!!!! holy smokes!!!!
miracles and more miracles! and another referral for the elders...
hahaha!

For english class i made my students the cupcakes mom sent me for
easter!!! they loved it!!! japanese sweets are not sweet whatsoever so
they were all blown away!! hahaha!!! no one could eat more than one!
hahahah! so cute! but they took plenty home for family!!!

thursday we set out to go visit a member but when we arrived only the
son was home. he is a less active member so it was nice meeting him!!
we told him we were housing in his area and asked if he would pray for
us to find people to teach! he was a little nervous but did amazing! i
felt the spirit so strongly! Heavenly Father loves this young man! no
one is lost to our savior! not one! it was a miracle!!!!

thursday night we had an appointment with a chinese woman interested
in english. she wants her daughter to learn. we explained that we can
teach personal english to her daughter and after we would like to
share little messages about the church with her. she agreed without
any hesitation! woooooowwww!!!! can you say miracle?!?!?!?!?!?

and the miracles just keep building from there!!! saturday at eikaiwa
we had a new student. she said she got a flyer from us at the train
station and so she came all by her self. after class we talked with
her and set up an appointment with her to help her with english. after
she looks at me and goes "do you also talk about church?"
hahahahahah!!!! do we??!?!?!?!? oh my heavens i died!!!! she has been
to christian churches before and is interested in the mormon church!!!
she is so prepared!!!!!! Heavenly Father is just too good to us!!!! i
have a very happy heart!!! we told her about easter bring the next day
and she said she wanted to come!!!! miracles miracles miracles!!!!!
woooohoo! we told her we would meet at the train station before the
meeting. Sister Requilman and i were ecstatic!!!!!!!!!! we right away
called the bishop to let him know we were having our first
investigator at church! called the ward missionary leader, and called
a member about her same age to fellowship her!!! that night i prayed
sooo very hard that everything would work out. that the spirit would
be strong and she would want to keep coming!!!

well like i said the mission has great big ups and some deep deep downs...
that morning we waited for akiho at the train station to eager to
stand still. the minutes felt like hours.. members passed us and asked
what we were doing. everyone was excited to meet our new friend.
but...... she never showed. i was heart broken. i couldnt help but
sob. I know Heavenly Father has a plan and timing for each of his
children but i just couldnt understand why. we walked with our heads a
little low back to the church. this was not the easter i was hoping
for.

i was devastated. couldnt help but think what did i do wrong. not the
funnest day. after church we got on our ipads and checked our emails.
probably something we should have done in the first place... akiho had
emailed us explaining that she wouldnt be able to make it and had sent
that message hours before church started.... boy did we feel dumb!!!!
hahahahah!!! but on the bright side shes not ditching us!!! we still
have our appointment for tuesday!!!! miracles!!!!!!!!!!

Easter Sunday got more brighter and brighter (even though the clouds
and rain got darker and heavier) we visited two less actives and gave
them some Easter eggs!!! japan doesnt celebrate easter so neither one
of them had ever received a easter present before! they were
thrilled!! warmed my heart!!!!

but really the best miracle happened about an hour ago!!!!! its
raining like cats and dogs so we were not super thrilled to go out and
work but we got moving anyways. we went to visit a member but she
wasnt home.. bummer. no plans. so we did some housing. no one wanted
to talk to us. and we were getting soaked. houses werent too fun to
house. so we went to an apartment complex. but again not much luck. We
were doing our best not to feel down. I rang a door bell and told
Heavenly Father that i would continue on with great faith. i knew we
could find someone! and we did!!!!!!!!!!! i told the woman on the ping
pong that we teach about families and how we can strengthen our family
relationships through the teachings of Jesus Christ. she let me keep
going. so i told her we can also live with our families forever! i
asked if we could share a little message with her and she said
yes!!!!!! she came out to the door and invited us
in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
whhhhaaaaaaattttt???????? like when does that ever happen??? i dont
know... but im pretty pumped about it!!!!!!! oh and she speaks
english!!! (score!!!) she is so cute!!!! her name is emi and her 10
month old little girl is ema! how cute!!!!! she told us that she had
lots of interest in christianity!!! she lived in New Zealand for a few
years and went to church there. she always felt good and was impressed
by the the christian way of service! we basically taught like all four
of the lessons! hahah! gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she
would read as much as she can as soon as she can!!! she wants to come
to church, and basically be best friends!!!!!!!!
MIRACLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my heart just wants to burst!!!!! i have so much gratitude in my
heart! Heavenly Father saw us two little missionaries out there in the
rain. struggling. we let us struggle for a little only to test our
faith! and then he rewarded us greatly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we have a
new best friend!!!!! we have a new investigator!!!!!!! I love my
Heavenly Father so very much!!!! he hears our prayers! our silent
pleas for help, and our hearts desires! how grateful i am for this
opportunity to see such great miracles each and every single day!!!! i
am a changed person. i can never go back! the gospel of Jesus Christ
changes peoples lives and brings a happiness that is too good for
words!!! i am so thankful! because i have been given much!

love you alll!!! take care!
sister christensen


Sent from my iPad

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