Anne 8-11-14

PEOPLE!!! Hows it going back in MURICA? Just so you know JAPAN ROCKS!!!!!! I love this place so much! This week was so crazy busy! We jumped on the train to tokyo and went to the temple and it was really fun! Mom just so you know all the sisters in the mission go together on the same day. Then the Elders go the next week. THEN we jumped on the train to go back to okegawa and we had a lesson with Yoshimi and we had a member come and she talked to her a lot about buddhist traditions and which ones are okay to keep. We have no idea so its so nice to have members clear it all up for us. We taught her about the temple afterwards and if we go there we can become eternal families. On wednesday we had interviews with President Budge! He came to okegawa and we all woke up early wednesday morning to help one of the members clean up the church garden area. It is jam packed with weeds. And little 85 year old Nina Shimai is hand cutting every single weed. It was unnecessary people. So I told her to put her scissors down and follow me to the shed. I pulled the good old weed wacker and she was squeeling in Japanese. "SUGOI!!! WOW!!!" and I let it rip and took down the whole garden in 15 minutes. She was so giddy the whole time. It was so fun for me. Good old times at the "Hill" with the weed wacker when I was 15. Of course my whole body was dead sore afterwards. Plus I got heat exhaustion afterwards so I was looking rough for the interview with the President. It's alllll goood. The president and I had a good talk about the area and what we could do for it, I am nervous he is going to transfer me soon, I dont want him to!!!!!! I LOVE OKEGAWA!!!! We went to Mission Leadership Council all day thursday and it was really awesome! I always learn so much from them, on the way home I was completely exhausted and felt very faint. Sister Brumley had me lay down for the rest of the night and the next morning I was really ill. I got a little bit of a cold plus heat exhaustion. It is the most awkward combination ever! I was soooooo hot but I kept on getting goose bumps. I could hardly get out of my futon for most of the day on friday so all of the sisters in the apartment took turns sitting in with me while they went and worked. IT WAS YOSHIMI'S birthday!! I didnt want to get hiroto sick so I stayed home while sister brumley and sister palmer when and gave her a birthday card and cake. She got tear eyed as she read our letters. They taught her about the commandments afterwards, she was really interested about it. She gasped one time when they started teaching her about the word of wisdom she said, "AH DANGIT I GAVE YOU JUICE!!!! I Am SO SORRRYYYYY!!!" It was funny, we cleared that one up. We had a summer festival at our church on sunday and over 65 non members came to it and it was soooooo much fun! Lots of our investigators came and they got to bond with the ward a whole bunch. I was still feeling really rough but I really wanted to see all of our investigators really bad so I just rolled out of my futon and put on skirt and went to it. So some pictures of me on facebook are not so cute. But enjoy! A typhoon came on Sunday so it was too dangerous for most of our investigators to come to church. SIster Brumley and Sister Palmer went down to Kisarazu for a baptism (Its the very bottom penninsula of our mission) and SIster Smith and I took care of okegawa. We are both kinda sick still but the members are taking such good care of us. It was too crazy for people to leave there houses so Sister Smith had fun riding our bikes around in the wind and rain to go visit investigators and teach them lessons. We stopped by yoshimi's apartment for a moment and her husband was there again. He is so nice. we pulled out a scripture for yoshimi to read and we started to hand a Book of Mormon to her but he said that he would love to read it and took it from us to read. It was cool because he is completely open to everything and wants to learn. We want to visit them more when he is home so he can learn too. Today we had a lesson with Ryu. We talked about how we can receive answers through prayer and the Book of Mormon. I shared a story I like about how alma was telling his son about how guilty he had felt for his sins but then he thought of Christ and could remember them no more but only could remember the joy of Christ. I loved it. She said that her and her brother haven't talked in 10 years and wants more than anything to reunite their family. We promised her that she would be able to find a solution in the Book of Mormon and God would also reveal it to her through prayer. She offered the prayer at the end and became very emotional as she begged The Lord for the opportunity to be reunited with her brother once again. It was one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard. She was smiling so big afterwards and we all just held each other. I know she will get the answer she needs. She told us that she hasn't investigated the church in 10 years but she is beginning to feel God's hand in her life once again. I love this work and the little moments that happen everyday that I get to see. I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven. I know that Christ lives and that the Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on the earth. I love you all and have a wonderful week! Love, Sister Staples!