Sunday, November 11, 2012

Week 10 - Blessings Come Through Trials - Ganbarimasho!

Aisuru Kazoku -

Hello!!! I don't have too much time to write today, so I will try to get everything I want to say in as fast as I can!

First off, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BIRTHDAY PACKAGE!! It had been sitting at the honbu - I guess they can only forward packages if they are sent through regular mail so in the future that would be the fastest way - but I was able to get it when the Evans came to Obihiro for the zone conference last week - it was wonderful!! I love the cardigan, and I wear the socks everyday during personal study, and you know i love the Almond chocolate - really everything was perfect! You are so thoughtful, thank you so much!
I don't know why but for some reason recently the amount of food that we have been receiving from people has increased dramatically - from packages, from various presents at zone conference (for being a bean-chan, having a birthday, the cleaning check, halloween - it was really quite fruitful! :) ), and then from the fruits basket, investigators - even yesterday and today from our neighbors and the cleaning lady at the apartment! The cleaning lady, Kitayama san is amazingly nice - we spent about 4 hours with her today, learning how to make harumaki (spring rolls), and a few other things. She just gave us all the materials and then all the spring rolls at the end too - she wouldn't accept any kind of payment at all! They were delicious by the way - shiso, chicken and umeboshi and the wrap, thats it - they are SO good. Anyway. We are trying to figure out what to do with all the food - we didn't have to do any shopping today at all, it was great!

The most surprising thing this week was that we got to do another Sister's exchange! I got to work with Arashiyama shimai from Osaka, who is on her last transfer. She is an amazing missionary - you can just feel her power and her testimony when she talks and you know that she knows why she is here. I'm so sad that she is going home next transfer, I would have loved to become her companion someday! The way things worked out we only got to dendo together for about 5 hours in Obihiro, but in those five hours we were able to make 5 appointments! It was amazing! It really was so neat, as soon as we got to the area that we had decided to dendo in, I just had such a good feeling about it, like that was really where the Lord wanted us to be at that time. If I have learned anything on my mission it is to never make a decision by yourself. We pray before everything we do, and more than ever before in my life I have truly been able to feel and recognize the Holy Ghost giving us answers and guiding us. It is such a fun feeling, and so rewarding when we follow it! The sisters exchange was a really good experience, despite the 10-11 hours total I spent on the trains going to and from and to and from Sapporo - its amazing how much you can learn from someone in just one day!

We are kind of in an interesting spot right now, where we don't have too many investigators that are progressing as much as we'd like, but there are a ton of people that we are just starting with that have a lot of potential, so we are working hard now on making appointments. We are still meeting Eiko san, but recently her family has started to become more opposed to her getting baptized - we are hoping to be able to meet with her family as well to help them have a better understanding of the church. Hopefully everything will work out soon - keep her in your prayers!

There is never a dull moment as a missionary! You truly have to be ready for anything - which is impossible to do by yourself, but with the Lord all things are possible! Which reminds me Mom, thank you so much for sending me your talk! It really touched my heart, and you said a lot of things I really needed to hear. I'm not surprised at all that they ask you to speak all the time! Dad, I am excited to look for "lovingkindness" in the Book of Mormon - I'll let you know when I find it :)

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and your support! Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Budge

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