Week Seven.

Ohayo gozaimasu mina san!

Mom, I'm glad to hear that Kay Grandma and Jesse Grandpa got all moved. I'm sure that was busy work! I'm also glad you got to celebrate your anniversary with dad even if it was a few days late. Congrats on the calling at church! You will do a good job. You are a good teacher in all aspects of your life! I'm sure you will like your calling. By the way, I love getting updates from you about my family even if it isn't the most interesting news. I feel like my life is really boring too. I just like to hear from you!

I sometimes write Julie but I haven't ever written Mark. What is his email again? Is it just mark.robertson@myldsmail.net? I am not sure.

Thanks for writing me! 

Okay so this last week was very good and also very interesting! I learned a lot.

So last Tuesday there was rumor that a general authority was going to come for the devotional and guess what, one did! We had the opportunity to listen to Elder Neil L. Anderson of the 12 apostles. He gave a good talk on missionary work and how sometimes it is hard but that we can do it. Also he talked about not thinking about ourselves so much and just loving those around us. Orr Shimai came up with this cute little saying to go along with that message. It is "turn 'I' into 'ai.'" For those of you that don't know, ai is Japanese for love. I thought it was so clever! I wrote it down in my small plates ha ha. I went and say "The Character of Christ" again by Elder Bednar on Sunday evening and at the beginning of his talk he said that we need to keep our own personal small plates of what the spirit says to us. As we know, the large plates are mostly just records of the people, but the small plates have all the good stuff on them. How often do we really go back and read what it was that a speaker talked about? Never... but if we write down all the things the spirit says to us, chances are we will remember it and ponder back on it as well. That is what is important!

After the devotional last Tuesday there was a HUGE rainstorm so MTC Security made us stay in the Marriott Center until it was safe to walk back to the MTC... while we waited we sang more hymns and Elder Anderson came around and shook some of the missionaries hands. I didn't get to shake his hand unfortunately but it was cool to watch him do that! Finally it was okay for us to go outside but it was still raining pretty bad. I got so soaked. I don't like getting so soaked. After I got out of the rain I had to still go to Devotional Review with my district where we just talk about what we learned, so I couldn't even go take a shower or change! I was so sticky and I didn't like it! But I guess it is good prep for Japan.

Listening to Elder Anderson was a great start to my week (at the MTC it is like our weeks start on Tuesday/Wednesday because that's when we arrived ha ha.) From that point on I had a super week! Orr Shimai and I gave the best lesson ever. It was to Kimura san and we taught him about the Law of Chastity! It's funny how you can still have the spirit even when you are teaching an awkward lesson! Orr Shimai started by talking about the Plan of Salvation and how on earth we have the opportunity to learn and grow and receive bodies. Then I talked about how important our bodies are and how we need to respect them etc. etc. Kimura san said that he would live the Law of Chastity and also that he really wants to repent from his past mistakes because after teaching him he realized that he hadn't been keeping the Law of Chastity. I admire how much he wants to change and repent! I love teaching him! After that lesson I just felt so good. I could really see Kimura san come closer to Christ. And then it hit me. THIS is why people love their missions so much! Because the opportunity to see just ONE person come closer to Christ and change their life is worth 1,000 terrible days. I would take every bad day ever just to see another soul get closer to Jesus Christ and use his Atonement. It was the most amazing feeling and I really actually LOVED my mission! It was from that point on that I realized, "what am I doing complaining all the time! Yes this is hard, but the path has already been prepared! The hard work has been done! The Atonement has already been performed! All that is asked of me is to keep the commandments. I can do that! I have tools to help me along this journey. I have the Book of Mormon. I have prayer. I have leaders and a district that love me. I have a brain that works. Everything I could ever need is right there in front of me. THIS IS POSSIBLE!" It was a superb revelation! 

Because of that I am now very excited to serve. Yeah it will be difficult. Yeah I won't be able to speak at first. But hey, at least I know how to say "I know Jesus Christ loves me and that he lives" in Japanese. Sometimes that's all you need to know! And I'm sure there must be someone in Japan that needs to hear just that. Why else would Heavenly Father make that stick in my brain rather than other sentences and words? There is a reason for everything! God is so good you guys!

So the first part of the week was so good, and the second part got so crazy. Well, actually, it was only last night that was so wild. So our zone is lucky enough to get a Nihonjin district every once in awhile and we were supposed to get one today. Since Orr Shimai and I are the sister training leaders, we have an obligation to make sure all the Nihonjin sisters are taken care of and to give them an orientation and a tour of the campus (yes, in all Japanese of course). Well, last night Orr Shimai and I were planning for our next lesson for our new investigator Yoshida san and we got called to the front desk. We go there and see 7 new Japanese sisters with all their suitcases! We were very unprepared but I guess they came a day early or we misunderstood when we were supposed to get them. It was crazy. So right then and there we had to go find their room and well.. take them with us to the rest of class! We still had 2 more hours left of class! So we picked them up, took them to their room, and kinda figured out what was going on. Then we went to our class and surprised our district with 7 new sisters ha ha because we didn't know what else to do! Our sensei Saito Sensei was really flustered because he didn't know where to put all these sisters. We have very small classrooms and not enough room for even one more person in there and we had 7 ha ha. We ended up kinda dropping all our plans and just having a get to know you/testimony meeting with them. It was fun to get to know them and hear their Japanese! After that, Orr Shimai and I left class early with them to give them an orientation and then a tour. She did most of the talking because I don't know any words outside of religious words. Finally it was time for them to go back to their room but when we got back there they told us that they were told that once they got to the MTC they were allowed to call their familes and email them to let them know they arrived safely so then we had to go BACK to the front desk and try and figure that out... we also called President Mack our Branch President to figure out what we were even supposed to be doing ha ha because up until this point everything was just improv. Anyways, it turns out they couldn't call at that time but that they were allowed to email. So we took them to the computer lab so they could email but lots of them didn't have LDS accounts made so we had to try to figure out how to explain to them to make an account and such... there was one sister who had an account but couldn't remember her password and the computer wouldn't let us reset it or make a new one. I ended up just letting her email on my account. It was quite the crazy experience! So while the sisters were emailing, Orr Shimai and I hurried back to our room because one of the sister's luggage got lost on the flight over so we went to grab her a towel, shampoo, soap, clothes, and garments for her to use. All of the sisters in our zone were so willing to help out and offer some clothes or bathroom supplies for her to use! Then we went back and got the sisters from the lab and took them back to their room and got them settled. We tried to explain what their schedule was for the next day because the MTC people gave them their schedule in English for some reason... I am not a very good translator though ha ha. Thank goodness for Orr Shimai and also that Japanese people often study English in school! I spoke some pretty good Japenglish though! Ha ha. 

It was a really stressful night of running around and confusion but I think we got them taken care of. And today we went to make sure they were in their class and we saw them all there so I think they are doing okay. Woo what a fun experience!

Before I go, I have a request to make. I was wondering if those who read this email and feel up to it, would send me some quotes or good sayings or something like it so I can have a big stash of uplifting or helpful quotes to share with the other sisters or people I come in contact with if they need it. Also it would help me too! Don't feel obligated too but if you are bored and heard something that helped you lately, feel free to share! You can send a Dear Elder or a written letter or an email if you'd like. Just remember that I can only check my email on Tuesdays though. Thank you!

I have one more thing. Mom and Dad, I don't know if you already told Brother Bown my mission scripture, but if you haven't, I want to change it to 2 Ne. 33:6. I wrote Jake Bown a letter this week and told him the same thing to tell his brother ha ha. If the plaque is already in the making, that is okay. I like the other scripture I gave you as well! But I have decided that 2 Ne. 33:6 is my new favorite scripture.

To all those that haven't heard from me in awhile, don't worry! I just sent like 9 letters yesterday! Grandma Flash, Paige, Rachel Worthington, Kim Archibald, Abby Odell, Abby my sister, Jake Bown, Nicasio, and Heather Hill.. expect a letter in the mail soon! 

I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts! God has been listening and has blessed me so much. Make sure to thank him for that! 

Be good! Remember Christ every day!

Love, Sister Miranda Robertson