Week Thirty-six.

Dear mommy and daddy!
It sounds like you had a fun spring break. In Akita the weather is warming up. I hardly wear my big winter coat anymore and I think I went without tights one day last week! There is no snow anymore and I can tell it is starting to warm up here which I am so excited about! In about a month I will be able to see all the cherry blossoms!
I am serving in a branch right now of about 40 people including the missionaries. Akita has some really nice members and they even kind of have a youth program! But usually the youth grow up and move to Tokyo once they graduate from high school so they always disappear. We just had a recent convert move away and he was way strong. We need young people to stay in Akita so we have a branch still in 20 years!
The people here in Akita are really nice. There are A LOT of young people in Akita because of the Akita University and there is also an Akita International University too so we see quite a few foreigners here and there. Our branch is half Tongans and Americans so my translating skills are getting better! But the young kids we see on the street like to hello out hello to us! But their hellos sound more like heh-ro! One time I was riding by and some young punk yelled out Hello baby I love you! I just waved at him and smiled ha ha. So yeah they are way nice!
Everyone pretty much sleeps on futons here. The futons we have right now are really really thin and old so it feels like I am camping and sleeping on mats. But I have 2 stacked on each other. But yeah, they don't really have beds here. You always sleep on the ground on a futon!
About the helmet and sheets... I couldnt take them with me when I transferred and I dont need either of them. I guess you have to wear a specific helmet as a missionary so I just had my bike helmet sitting in my suitcase. All the missionaries wear the same white helmets which is actually kinda nice because when we meet people we can say, oh we are the people with the white helmets! So yeah.
This is the big news of the week.....! Last P day was so fun! We had a party for an Akita member named Brother Ishida who just moved to Tokyo. He is a recent convert and really strong. He always helped the missionaries with joints and things like that. We became pretty good friends so it is sad that he is moving but probably for the better because he likes blonde Americans a little TOO much sometimes ha... last P day we also did Family Home Evening at the branch presidents house with two American members in the branch. They are 2 return missionaries from Utah that are studying at Akita International University. It is nice to speak English to them!
This week we had a goal to teach 2 lessons and we kind of reached it? We taught a lesson to an investigator named Yurie chan and she came to church yesterday which was awesome and wants to come back again. Yurie chan is an old investigator from before Christmas that Sister Tuttle taught once with an old companion. Yurie came to a church activity and Sis Tuttle asked her if she wanted to study the BOM with us again and she said yes! So we set up an appointment and taught her. She isnt so much interested in changing her life right now though. She is really interested in history and likes to study different countries and religions so thats kinda her motive for meeting with us right now but we invited her to church and she came yesterday! She liked it enough that she asked US if she could come back next week! And we also taught Miho san again! We taught Miho san about the Book of Mormon and I was using the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormon to introduce the Book of Mormon. There is one picture that is of the baptisms at the waters of Mormon. When I got to that picture I said, This is a picture of baptism. Baptism is an ordinance. Have you ever heard the word ordinance before? And she said Oh yeah I already got baptized when I was little. I wore a white dress and I think I was around 8 years old... That was a big shocker to us. Apparently our strong investigator isnt an investigator at all! Shes a Less Active!! So yes, we taught 2 lessons, but one was to an LA actually... not an investigator. Bummer. I wanted to see her baptized! Ha ha thats okay.. we are helping her come closer to Christ no matter what her status is.
We also had the opportunity to go to an area of Akita called Tsuchizaki and hunt down some Less Actives. We found one through the miracle of asking a stranger for directions who just happened to know who we were looking for. I believe in directions dendo! The Less Active we met said he hadnt had missionaries visit him in 3 years. We talked about a variety of things like taxes, church, break dancing... you know.. the good stuff that normal people talk about in Japan. He was way nice and he even helped us find the train station when it was time for us to leave. He said he is okay talking to us but he isnt going to change and doesnt want to come to church again. Heh heh heh or so he thinks! We will keep working with him and hopefully through our service and kindness he will feel the love of God and the spirit and want to come back.
We tried visiting Tanaka Shimai but she didnt answer her door. We will go back again this week.
Justin is still hanging out with the missionaries and coming to church! Those elders better get on starting the lessons quick!! I know they want to but havent had a good opportunity to set up an appointment yet I guess.
So this last week was pretty long and hectic but we had the highest numbers yet. 3 less active lessons and 1 lesson to investigators! In one week! WOWEEE! That is a miracle!
Thanks for your prayers! I love you all!
Love Sister Robertson
Pictures

sometimes　missions make you go crazy. 

thats me!

i love my companion! we love basketball!

we played basketball this week!

The Akita District with Ryu kun (Ishida Kyodai) before he moved to Tokyo! 

the gangs all here.

Week Thirty-five.

Mom,
That is an AMAZING experience! I also know that God answers prayers. I am so happy that you had that incredible missionary experience and I am so proud of you for being bold and for opening your mouth about the gospel. You are such a good missionary! Can you feel the joy you receive from sharing the gospel? It is amazing, isnt it! Wow I will definitely pray for Aimee the dental hygienist.
Thank you for praying for Miho and Justin this last week. We werent able to meet with Miho and her daughter because she was sick this last week I guess. Thats what she told us but we are hoping to have a lesson this week. Justin has been helping the missionaries so much. He comes to Eikaiwa and also to our activities and helps set up and clean up all the time. He loves to serve and he loves church. He didnt come yesterday because he was busy but he asked US if he could come every week! Usually we have to beg people to come but he actually WANTS to come! We ordered a Tagolog Book of Mormon and gave it to the elders so they can start teaching Justin. I think they have plans to start lessons this week with him. That is so exciting! I think that once he hears the message of the restoration, he will definitely want to get baptized. He is so ready.
We didnt find any new investigators this week but we were able to set up an appointment with an old investigator so thats good! We are supposed to have a lesson on Wednesday. Our goal this week is to teach 2 lessons! I hope we can do it!! Pray for us to find someone to listen to our message!
We had a cool experience this last week. We visited a Less Active that we had never met before and when we rang her doorbell she invited us into her genkan (entryway where you take your shoes off) because it was cold outside. We did some self introductions and talked a little bit about her and her life and usually when you meet someone for the first time you just kinda take it easy so you dont scare them or anything and just say hello then schedule a next appointment but I felt like sharing a message so I asked her if it was okay if I shared a short 3 min message and she said yes! So we prayed and I shared a short message about the restoration and was able to recite Joseph Smiths first vision to her and when I looked at her in the eyes it looked like she was about to cry. Everyone felt the spirit! We asked her after the lesson if we could continue to visit her and she said yes! She also said "because tomorrow is Sunday, will you pray for my neices son who is very sick in the hospital right now?" I was so amazed at her faith. Maybe she hasnt been to church in a long time, but just the fact that she has faith that through our prayers her neices son can be healed or helped is amazing. Her name is Tanaka Shimai. Please pray that Tanaka Shimai`s heart will be changed and that she will come to church and start reading the scriptures again.
Today is a busy P Day. We dont really have much of  P Day actually... after I email I have to make cookies for a member in the branch. His name is Ryu and he a Recent Convert! He is 18 and is moving to Tokyo tomorrow for a new job that he got. He has helped the missionaries so much with joints and other things like that so we are going to throw him a party. We are going bowling and eating lunch and taking a purikura (like a photobooth picture). Then right after that me and Sister Tuttle have an appointment with the branch presidents family and 2 Americans in our branch to do family home evening. Busy busy! We dont even have time to do our study today! Maybe one of these days I will be able to take a nap on P Day...
Well I know this church is true and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I know through this church we can find real happiness and that we can live with God again ONLY if we follow the commandments and receive those sacred ordinances like baptism from someone who has the priesthood. I want everyone to have real happiness so I will have to work a little harder to talk to EVERYONE out here! Thank you for your prayers and love!
Love Sister Robertson

PICTURES. 

We had a St. Patricks Day Party this last week. We ate Okonomiyaki and Tacoyaki.

You will have to look those up on the internet if you dont know what they are. DELICIOUS!

At the park

Me and a member, Ryu kun! He is a recent convert. He is moving to Tokyo tomorrow :( Thats too bad because he helped the missionaries so much and he is so strong!

We went to a park yesterday to look for people to talk to and we took pictures too!

This is Akita

Week Thirty-four.

Happy St. Patricks Day!
Today I surely did wear green! On Friday we are having a St. Patricks Day party! It should be really fun.
Wow I cant believe all the changes back home. People from high school are getting married and having babies and becoming mothers and fathers and adults! Ahhh everything is changing! It is so crazy.
This last week was so amazing. So much happened that I dont even know where to begin.
Last Wednesday we found a NEW INVESTIGATOR! Her name is Miho san. She is a mother in her 30s with a 3 year old daughter. They want to move to New Zealand where it is safer I guess so we are teaching them English but also sharing our church message with them. I guess when Miho san was really really little she went to Primary sometimes but she never got baptized. She is so amazing and I feel like she has real potential and that she will get baptized someday! Hopefully while I am in Akita...
We also had Zone Training Meeting and it was like I was in a whole different mission. The missionaries were all so different than my last zone. It was fun meeting new missionaries and making new friends. Plus, I got to see my mother, Morita Shimai! She was my trainer! We received training on how to invite people to be baptized. Hopefully we can put what we learned to use soon!
On our way home from Zone Training Meeting we had to take a bus to a train and then from that train we take another train until we are back in Akita (because Zone Meeting is in Morioka) but our first train kept breaking so eventually the announcers told us all the get off the train because we had to switch to a different one, but they just let us take the shinkansen instead! You will have to do some research on a shinkansen but they are really fast, and we got to ride it for free! We were only on it for like 5 minutes though. After all our traveling we made it home safely.
This last week we decided to do some basketball dendo. We went to the gym and invited as many youth in the branch as we could and any potential investigators or investigators that were of youth age to come play with us. A boy named Kai came that Tuttle Shimai had only met once for like 5 minutes clear back in November, but we had a way fun time with him! At the gym we also met a boy from the Philippians named Justin. Justin is 17 and he has been living in Japan for as long as I have-8 months (today actually!) He told us that he doesnt have any friends and that only once a week on Sundays he comes to the gym  by himself to play basketball but that for some reason he decided to go on Saturday. Well I know why! It was so we could meet him! We ended up playing basketball together then going out to dinner afterwards. A girl in our branch invited him to church and he came the next day! He was there for Sunday School and Sacrament meeting. He even participated in Sunday School a little bit! I gave a talk in church on the Atonement and he said that he really enjoyed my talk and that I did a really good job. He is Catholic so he understands a bit more than what your regular Nihonjin would ha. But after church the elders and one of the young women helped him with Japanese and kanji for 2 hours after church and he said that he loved church and wants to come back again. Today we had a party for Sister Morgan (a missionary I live with) because it is her birthday and Justin came! So we have been hanging out with him a lot! We hope to start teaching him the lessons soon. He seems so ready. The branch is so amazing and so kind to him and they are all such good fellowshippers. I think he feels really happy at church because he went from having no friends to having a whole ward family that already loves him. Its amazing.
We were also able on Sunday to go visit some Less Active members. We had to take a train to get to the area we wanted to work in and on the train I just happened to sit next to a woman that spoke fluent English! She was really nice and I was able to introduce myself as a missionary and ask her a little about if she knew about our church. Before we got off the train Sister Tuttle gave her an Im a Mormon card with our phone number. She was so nice! When we started looking for some members houses we kinda got lost once and a lady was walking her dog kinda next to us. The dog started barking at us so we just said to her, Oh cute dog! How old is your dog! Do you like dogs?... our conversation about dogs led her to ask us why we were in Japan and we told her that we were missionaries and that we were visiting some friends from church. She asked us if we knew where we were going and we told her we werent exactly sure. But then I took a wild shot and asked her if she knew the person we were trying to visit, and to my surprise she said yes! She said that her sister actually lives with the person we were trying to visit and she walked with us to the house! It was such a miracle! We werent able to meet any of the Less Actives but we met two nice ladies who didnt turn us down or make excuses when we introduced ourselves as missionaries! I call the success!
Today was a great day. Like I said we had a big party for Morgan Shimais birthday. I love Morgan Shimai! She is SO funny. We took a picture all together than went out to eat. After that we played ping pong and I made cupcakes that everyone decorated. It was such a fun time! After the party the 4 sisters went to a giant shrine for fun and took pictures. It was a really busy, but fun day. Now it is 8 o clock and I am so tired! Ive got to get home in about an hour.
Sorry, I would have attatched pictures, but I forgot my camera cord. I will send pictures next week.
I really love Akita so much and I am so pumped up about missionary work! I want to just talk to everyone and find someone so bad! I hope you can all do the same! Use your talents to serve others and find others for the missionaries to teach!
I love you all lots. Thanks for your support.
Love Sister Robertson

Week Thirty-three.

Dear Mom,
I am so happy! Akita is great. When I first got here it was pretty cold... just as Aizu was getting warmer I got transferred to more winter. Thats okay because Akita really feels a lot like home to me. The town looks a lot like Idaho Falls to me and the weather is an exact replica. It was a breath of fresh air when I got off the train! I loved Aizu so much but there are so many bad feeling connected with it that it feels good to just be somewhere new and I really feel like something is going to happen here in Akita! I want to find someone! The girl who became Tui Shimais companion is Matsumoto Shimai. She is Japanese.
Tuttle Shimai is amazing! I loved her from the moment we became companions! We are the same age and have similar personalities. She loves healthy things and running too, yeah! She is so sweet and she loves her mission and has always wanted to serve. That is so inspiring to me. I am so blessed I get to work with her. I can tell that this is the beginning of an eternal friendship. I know that we will continue to be friends after our mission.
I cant see the sea from where I dendo but I guess some members have taken missionaries to the Aquarium and things which is right by the sea so I am sure I will get to see it at some point.
So since the sisters rent their bikes, when they transfer they just leave their bike for the next sister to inherit and I got the old bike of Tuttle Shimais previous companion. We just have to take our helmets with us when we transfer.
The traveling can be different for all areas but mostly you just take buses to get to your new place. It was a 3.5 hour bus right from Sendai to Akita. But it is pretty common to take a train or bus just to get around in your area if you need to go somewhere kinda far especially if the weather is bad.
We have a few investigators but they arent really progressing. They dont have a sincere interest to change their lives, but they think the missionaries are nice so sometimes they will let us meet with them but not really consistently. We had one progressing investigator named Hitoshi san and we actually taught him a lesson the other day. He has a sincere desire to learn about our message and our church but since he is a boy, we had to pass him over to the Elders. I dont know what happened exactly but after we told him that the elders could teach him he told us all these excuses like gas is too expensive and the roads are too dangerous and he has a research paper due at the end of the month he has to do so he cant meet anymore. He was actually progressing and had a real desire is what Tuttle Shimai told me from their other lessons! It is so sad. When he texted us and told us he cant meet anymore, we both got so sad. I already love him even though I dont know him that well. But we really want to find a new investigator that is just so ready to actually listen and hear our message! It would be nice to teach a lesson for once and have them ACTUALLY be interested in it.
The members are great here. Before I got transferred everyone said that Akita is the best area because there are a lot of gaijins(foreigners) and the members are awesome. There are a few tongan families in our branch because the dads play for the Akita Rugby team! One of the members is named Lita and if she hasnt contacted you already mom, she probably will. She is all about the missionary moms stuff and likes to keep moms updated and send pictures about their kids. The other day for Litas birthday she took all the missionaries out to all you can eat food. How nice! It was really fun.
I cant believe you got free tickets to see Hunter Hays in concert! I am SO JEALOUS! Sister Tuttle and I were just singing his songs the other day and then I opened this email and saw you were going to see him! Aw man. Have fun.
I am doing way good and I am really happy to be on my mission right now. I am healthy too, but because of the humidity I am having a few itchy swollen feet problems. Nothing serious though, dont worry.
皆さんを愛しています！イエスキリストわは私たちの救い主です。キリストを覚えて下さい。
I love everyone! Jesus Christ is our savior. Please always remember him.
Love, Sister Robertson

pictures 

A potential investigator named Tom drew this picture of me. Pretty good huh!

Me and little Reon Kun!

This was a LOT of food. Before I transferred I went out to lunch with some members.

In Aizu the day before I transferred we had a music talent show. I was forced into playing and singing a song on the guitar. I was so nervous because I cant really play the guitar! But everyone said I did really good afterwards.

We went out to an all you can eat place for Lita Shimais birthday and there were all these young squirly girls there that came up to me wanting to know where I was from and my name and other things like that. It was so adorable. I asked them if they wanted to take a picture together and they were more than happy too. It was like my own little fan club!

At dinner! The boys sat at a different table.

Me and Tuttle Shimai!

Week Thirty-two.

I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW!! Congratulations to Bailey and Chad!!!!!!!! He is so cute and I cant wait to meet him in a year!!!

That is such wonderful news! Welcome to the world little Oliver!

So you are probably all wondering how my interview with Elder Aoyagi went. It went really good! It was pretty short and it was half in Japanese and half in English. We can understand both languages okay so we just kinda spoke in both without really thinking about it! He asked me simple questions about like where I was serving and how my mission was going and stuff like that. He was really really nice and he told me that I was a wonderful missionary and that he loved me! When I came out of my interview, Pres Rasmussen was standing right there and I gave a recap of what Elder Aoyagi said to me and President R started crying. He is a real softy but he just gets so happy when he sees his missionaries happy! There was another time during Zone Conference when I participated in a discussion in Japanese and after I spoke Japanese I guess Rasmussen Kaicho gave a fist pump behind the podium. Tui Shimai said she saw it and she said it was like he was a proud father. I dont know why he likes me so much but it makes me way happy that he does!

Zone Conference was really really good though. Elder Aoyagi gave training on why the spirit is important, how to get it, and why we sometimes dont have it. It was exactly what I needed. In my interview with him I asked him why more often than not I feel darkness and temptation moreso than the Holy Ghost and light even when I am trying to do good. So he gave a way good training on the Holy Ghost. Pretty much everyone just needs to repent everyday all the time, not just at the end of the day. He said that if you recognized you have sinned while you are walking down the street or something, repent right there, and repent when you are eating, and repent when you are studying. We need often and daily repentance if we want the spirit. He also gave a good training on finding and how to find effectively and different ways you can find. Sister Aoyagi committed us to practice our smiles with our companions every morning and every night because a smile can make a difference in finding!

On our way home from Zone Conference we had to take two buses. The first bus was from Yamagata to Sendai and we accidentally got off on the wrong stop so we had to take the subway way fast and run to catch our other bus. When we got on the other bus about half way through the trip I realized I didnt have our cell phone and thought that I must have left it on the other bus with the rush of things. I searched all my bags and stuff and pockets and my seat but I couldnt find it anywhere. I got really stressed out because this isnt the first time I have lost a phone on a bus before! I prayed so so so hard that Heavenly Father would allow a miracle to happen and that we could get our phone back somehow. Well just as we were getting off the bus in Aizu I lifted up my bag and the phone was underneath the bag! When I searched my bags and seat I swear I didnt see the phone anywhere but then it was just there! I am not kidding it was a true miracle. You know how in the scriptures people get transported away by the spirit into mountains and stuff? I think that happened to our cell phone! Ha ha I dont know for sure but I do know that is the biggest MIRACLE I have ever seen! God answers prayers!

I suppose you are also all wondering about transfers. Well my time in Aizuwakamatsu is coming to an end! I am being transferred to Akita in the Morioka Zone and my new companion will be Tuttle Shimai. I have heard wonderful things about Akita and everyone keeps saying I am really lucky. I am sad to leave Aizu but since this is my first transfer it is kinda excited I think! I have a lot to pack and I am realizing that because I had to buy so many winter clothes and shoes and coats, I do not have enough room in my luggage. And I dont have like a carry on to pack clothes in while my other clothes are being transferred and stuff. So I am going to have to buy a suitcase today. Sorry that I am spending so much money!

Oh I want to report on the funeral I went to last week. It was the strangest/coolest culture experience ever. When we entered the funeral place the lady from our ward was wearing a traditional black kimono and all the guests were wearing full black, no exceptions. At the front of the room was a big giant gold memorial shrine thing with the deceased mothers picture in the middle and there were various trinkets and offerings surrounding the picture. When the family of the deceased mother walked in the first thing they did was bow to the audience and we all bowed back then eventually this monk looking guy of some sort came in in royal purple robes and such. He was pretty fat too. He went up to the memorial and sat down and began grunting and making weird noises then eventually his grunts turned into chanting and humming. I think he was saying maybe some prayers of some sort? But while he was doing this he was also waving sticks and other things in the air and then setting them down, i think. I couldnt really see because I was in the back. But after that went on for like 20 minutes or so the guests were allowed to go to the shrine and pay their respects. I go up there and in front of me there are 2 trays. One tray had like tiny rocks like sand in it and the other tray had the DECEASED MOTHERS BONES. I had to bow and pick up some sand and put it on top of the bones a few times then bow a few times then sit down. It was so weird. Then the purple guy chanted some more and then we watched a picture slide show then it was over. It was quite strange.

Here is another story. I told one of our english students that I was probably going to be transferred and that I wouldnt see him at eikaiwa the next wednesday so in order to see me again he came to church on sunday and he brought me a present! He is an artist and so he drew me! And it looks just like me! it is so awesome! The guys name is Tom. He is Japanese but I guess spent some time in France painting and doing various artist things. He is such a free thinker and he looks like a greaser from the movie Grease. Hes so cool. Ill have to show you the picture when I get home. Its framed and everything!

Thats it for this week. Thanks for your updates and letters and love everyone!

Love Sister Robertson

(this is the letter from mindy to dad)

I forgot to write about our investigators! Scottie has been sick and not up for visitors lately but we want to visit her again before I get transferred. I transfer on Thursday. We havent heard from or seen Harumi the grandma in 2 weeks. It is hard to visit with her because we have to go through a family in our branch and they are really busy.

I thought fasting was two consecutive meals? Oops.

I have done a few 24 hour fasts before. It surely does feel good to show that you can conquer the natural man and our natural appetites.

I love you dad!

Love Miranda