I Stand All Amazed: Anne's email 11-9-14

Bom Dia!

Oh yeah! I am trilingual. I tell you why in a minute. So we had
transfer calls last week right? So on the call I didn't mention that
the assistant told me who my new companion was. He is said your new
companion is Sister Sakamoto! And I was like..........Elder you aren't
supposed to tell me until I go get her from the mission home....... He
then said in japanese.….間違えた！I was wrong! And I just was thinking to
myself, yeah right dude. Anyway we continued on with our week and
sister Howe went to go say goodbye to people in the ward.

We went over to Odagiri Shimai's house for dinner on Tuesday night and
we were walking to her apartment when we saw this girl in a laundromat
who looked pretty scared and Sister Howe and I were a little
worried. We went to go knock on some doors before our appointment
started and the girl came out of the laundromat and started walking
behind us, I was thinking in my head, "What in the world is this sista
friend doing?" Then I called out to her and asked her if she was okay
and she said no, she said a man was following her down the street and
she was really really scared, we walked her to her apartment and made
sure she got in safe and she was so grateful. We talked to her for a
little bit she asked who we were and we told her we are church
volunteers and we invited her to church and our english class. She
said she would try to come! We set up an appointment for Saturday
night with her.

On Wednesday we had our english class and while we were playing a game
at the end a girl came in and started to watch us. After we finished I
walked up to the girl and asked her what her name was and she said
Haruka and that she is an english teacher for a high school and wanted
to practice her english more and wanted to see what our class was
like. I got talking to her a little bit more and I asked her if she
had ever to been to church before and she said once in europe, she
said she was very curious about religions. I asked her if she had ever
heard of the LDS or Mormon church and she said yes. She said she was
scared of it because she heard that the crime rate in Utah is really
high and that we are dangerous. And I just looked at her and said, "Oh
honey we need to have a good talk." I opened the door to chapel and
showed her inside and she was so surprised how nice everything is and
the nice feeling she had here. I gave her a Book of Mormon and invited
her to read the introduction and set up an appointment to meet her on
Saturday. She was a little hesitant but I told her it was going to
change her life and she smiled and said, "Okay cool." MIRACLE.

On Thursday Sister Howe and I woke up at the crack of dawn (4:45) to
go to the mission home for the trainers meeting....oh my gash why
soooo early!?!? And no nap time. MANNNNN. I held on to SIster Howe the
whole way there. I"M ATTACHED TO HER OKAY! I was so sad to be
separated from her, but she came with me to the trainers meeting and
President Budge and the assistants gave us trainings on how to be
better trainers, I learned a lot and I definitely am grateful for this
opportunity to train again, now that I am feeling so much better!
President Budge talked about a sister named Sister Sakamoto who is
from Brazil who got baptized three years ago and then came on a
mission and is amazing!!! I was like. Oh yeah the Brazilian is sooo
mine.

We went into the same room as the trainees and I didnt know which one
was her but I just felt like it was one of the sisters that kept of
peeking back to look at me. I gave her a smile and she smiled back.
President Budge called me up and told me to talk about the area and
how many miracles we are going to see, I felt so much like I was in
Sister Vail's place at that time and I was so cooool! I was so excited
when President Budge called Sister Sakamoto up as my companion, I was
just squealilng "OOOOOOOHHHHH BRAZZZZZZILLLL!!!" We hugged each other
and it has been so fun with her! She is soooo good! She wants to be
obedient so bad and has such a strong testimony and an amazing
conversion story to share with everyone we meet. On the way home on
the train she was talking to everyone with me and we handed out tons
of fliers and a Book of Mormon and family proclamation to the world
pamphlets and it felt so good! She is so bold and I love her! Her
great-grandpa is from Japan so that is why she has a japanese last
name. She did a home stay with a family in Morgan, Utah when she was
16 years old and they brought her to church for the whole year she was
with them and she got baptized! She is sooo amazing and is such a
strength to me. She is 19 and it sooo ready to share the gospel!

On Saturday we had a couple of appointments with some new
investigators and Haruka! We met Haruka at a train station near our
apartment and got some ice cream. Sister Sakamoto and I just told her
everything the gospel has to offer her and how wonderful it is and
Haruka said she wants to learn! She said she has lots of interest and
will try and come to church next week. We love her she is soooo cool!

Later that night we went and met with Tsugumi who was the girl that
was scared on the street on tuesday night and her french boyfriend was
going to come to, but he never showed up. She was soooo sad, because
she wanted him to meet us and talk but not only that IT WAS HER
BIRTHDAY. She anyway we tried to make it the best birthday ever by
teaching her about the Book of Mormon and how awesome church is!! It
was soooo fun! She said she is going to read it and come to church
next week!

We went to church on Sunday and a member brought a friend to church
and we got to teach her all about how awesome the church is and she
was sooo excited about the Book of Mormon we gave her, she was really
curious about it! I love member missionaries!! That night we had
diiner with the Sasayama family and the Fukawa family. They are all
such strong families and shared so many cool pictures of their
missions. I love them so much! THEIR KIDS ARE DARLING!!!! DAHHH!! We
had tacoyaki (octopus....in a fried pancake ball thing?) and
okonomiyaki. Yeah. Just yeah.

We are meeting with Rika tonight to talk about the gospel of jesus
christ and teaching her more about how she can develop faith in Jesus
Christ and come to a knowledge that he is her Savior. We are excited
and please pray that she will have the faith to follow through with
her committment to be baptized in a couple weeks.

I am so crazy about the Book of Mormon lately, literally it keeps me
up at night. Haha. Because Sister Sakamoto got baptized a couple years
ago, she doesn't know the Book of Mormon very well. So every night
before we go to bed we have Book of Mormon study together and I teach
her about all the important stories in the Book of Mormon and how it
applies to us and she just loves it! I LOVE IT TOO!! I get soooo fired
up and it takes me a bit to fall asleep because I am so excited about
the next night and the stories that I can tell her then. Its soooo
good! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, I know that
it can bring peace to the heart and heal the wounded soul. I know that
it has done this for me and I want everyone to experience it too. I
love this gospel and the opportunity I have to share it! I have
realized on my mission that in the beginning I wanted to give back to
the Lord so bad and I was so frustrated and I didnt feel like I was
giving enough back to Him. Then I realized recently that He loves me
so much He has just given me even more blessings. I just think it is
so kind of Him. Christ is soo good. He just keeps on giving and I wish
that I would of been more grateful to him for it, but I guess I can
start now. I am so grateful for the atoning sacrifice that Christ
performed for me, I know that it is real. I know for a fact that pain
and sadness can be forgotten and we can be enveloped in Christ's
perfect love. The previous couple of months were some of the hardest I
have ever had, but what is so wonderful is that I don't remember the
pain at all anymore. It is gone and I only see light now. God is so so
good. I love you all and know that you can experience it for yourself.
God is always pouring his blessings down on us, we just need to let
down our umbrella and let God's love pour down on us. I am so grateful
for President Uchtdorf's talk. I know that our leaders are inspired of
God and that this is Christ's true church restored upon the earth
today. I know it with all my heart. I love you all and hope you have a
wonderful week!

Love, ステイ姉妹

Haruka!