Wildflower Thoughts : 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
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