Dear Family And Friends,
I want to start of by an experience that was behind most of this week. Well, it all began.. Well, to be honest, it began last transfer, but that's a different part of the story. Well, now that we are eight missionaries, we had a district meeting. Beginning of a new transfer. It's always a great experience to see what you can learn from the other sisters, and elders, in your area. It was announced on Tuesday that this next week would be temple Pday (sorry for not letting you know, I was surprised a bit myself!) and so, as the next couple of days went on, I realized that we needed to reserve our bus tickets to go to Shinjuku! In other parts of the mission, it's easiest to go by train, but from Kofu, the cheapest ticket to Shinjuku is 2000¥ ($20) one way. And that's at least a forty dollar trip! But if you go by bus to Shinjuku and back, it's only 3000¥ ($30) roundtrip, so we go by bus. We usually take the 5:30 bus, but that bus fills up fast. I knew we were running out of time to buy the tickets. But it was already Thursday, and we were heading to the Takao Sisters' apartment that night, so we could make it to Machida church by 9:00 the next morning, for a special conference (I'll include some details about that later in the email!). So, we couldn't buy the tickets until Friday night! Well, we get back from the conference, and somehow, the bus ticket place is still open, so we went in to change the tickets for November 4th, 5:30 bus, for the Elders and us. After being connected to an English speaker over Skype (which was pretty interesting. We would tell him what we wanted in half Japanese, half English, and then he would explain it in perfect Japanese to the man at the desk, who would then answer to the man on the iPad, and then we would turn the iPad around so he could talk to us in perfect English), we ordered the tickets, to find out at only 6 missionaries would fit on the 5:30 bus. The next bus would come at 6:30, but I knew that if we tried to take that bus, we would be late. But, there was no other way to do it, so we reserved six seats in the 5:30 bus, and two in the 6:30 bus with the understanding that Sister Clark and I would come on the later bus, so the Elders could ride the earlier one. Ok, now fast forward to the day of-- today. Well, let's start from last night at nine o'clock. We get a call from the District leader asking, "Hey, do you have the tickets?" We totally forgot to hand them over! So, now we needed to be at the station at 5:20 to give them the tickets! Well, that was fun. My companion and I contemplated what that meant for us... Now back to today. She set the alarm for 4 o'clock, and that's what time we were up this morning. :) we made it to the bus station in time, where only four elders were there.. Uh oh. But, they were on their way-- running (I think they ran anyhow) from their apartment to the station. We saw them dashing down the stairs to the bus stop. But they made it! We gave them their tickets, and off they went. So my companion and I ran home (bike rode home- it was super duper cold this morning! My hands were freezing holding the handlebars), ate breakfast, brushed our teeth, and took off again to the train station, where our bus was waiting. As we got on the bus, the bus driver told us, "the bus is going to run late today, is that ok?" "How late?" I asked. "About an hour, I think." I thought about it.. The temple session was at 10 o'clock. If the bus was an hour late, we would arrive at the Shinjuku station at 9:40, and from there have to ride trains from Shinjuku (the largest train station in the world-literally. We could get so lost there for days, and still not have seen all of the station) to Ebisa, and then from Ebisa to Hiroo station, from which we could run to the temple and... I was starting to be a little stressed. "No way! We can't make it! Noooo!" <---my thoughts at the time. But I told him it was ok, and he stamped our tickets, and we got on the bus. :) I prayed so hard on that bus. I prayed, acknowledging that I should have tried to buy the tickets sooner, that maybe there was something I could have done better, to make this not happen, but pleading that if there was some way, knowing that all things are indeed possible to God, that if there was some way we could make it to the 10 o'clock session at the temple, that He may provide the way. My companion was a bit more hopeful than I was, and she strengthened my faith, and I also was reminded in my mind of an experience I had earlier on my mission, where the situation seemed hopeless, but at the last minute, God answered our prayers. So I decided that if it was right, that God would provide a way, but if He decided to use this opportunity to teach me to be a better planner, well, I would accept that too. We arrived in Shinjuku at I don't know exactly what time- but we were late. Terribly late, but we ran from the bus into the giant station, and somehow quickly found our way there to the right train, just as the doors were about to close. We breathlessly awaited for when we would arrive in Ebisa, where we would dash from that train, up and up stairs, and onto another train. When we got off in Ebisa, my companion said, "it's only 40!" Meaning it was only nine forty. Only nine forty, but we were laughing a little about it, you know, attempting what seemed impossible, but we kept our hope. On the 3-minute train from Ebisa to Hiroo, I almost gave up hope. You know, I would be fine doing [the other sessions at the temple]." But then I added, "But that doesn't mean we're not going to try our hardest!" She agreed, and we got off the train, ran up stairs, and into the city of Hiroo, a mix of dashing and speed walking. We were both breathing heavily when we walked into the temple, but we explained to the desk workers our situation, sure that there was no way to make it in to the session, but that wonderful, kind, Christlike man who saw that we were so desperate to make it into that session, called the workers upstairs, told them we were coming, and asked them to wait. We didn't know what to say, I still don't know what to say. God put that wonderful man there and put wonderful people, in our path on the way to the temple, so that we could make it on time. We made it to the session. God knew I needed a lesson on time management, but instead of teaching me the hard way, He decided to shower me with more blessings than I am worthy of. I learned a lesson. But I know that God's way of teaching is perfect. He taught me with love, and not punishment, and for that, I am eternally grateful. I hope that as a leader, as a parent, a mother, as a companion, that I can lead others to improve by love. As promised, from here on I will also explain the special conference we had this week, on Friday. Elder Ringwood, a special dear man of the presidency of the Seventy, who is over the Asia North Area, and his wife, the daughter of Russell M. Nelson, came to hold a training for us. Out of all the training we received, I learned one really important thing. It is found in the Book of Mormon, and in the book of Alma, chapter 56, verse 17. "And they were determined to conquer in this place or die." Well, I kind of took that to heart. What did it mean to conquer in this place, which for me would mean Kofu, or die? Elder Ringwood also quoted what Gary E. Stevenson said when President Boyd K. Packer asked this question to him randomly, "what are you going to do if everything goes wrong?" Then Mission President Stevenson responded honestly, "President Packer, I don't know, but I won't go home." So I thought about that, over and over. Even as I was about to go to sleep, I pondered what the words means, to "conquer in this place or die." So I prayed that I might understand it. As I went through the next couple of days, I began to learn that I needed that kind of determination. The next two days were really really hard. I don't even know why, but they were difficult. I prayed to know why they were hard, and then I remembered the words, and knew I was being given a chance to learn them by experience. I would not go home. So, after the conference, we got to talk to Wada Kaichou a little, and he told me how Sister Imano was doing. She went home last week, after she had an accident and injured herself. But he got a text from her that day, saying that e doctor told her that she would be in pain for another week, but Wada Kaichou said she was well. That made me feel a lot better. There's a lot I learned this week. I still know that God exists, that He answers prayers. He answered my prayer yesterday, when no one was on the road, except for a girl that had ridden past us on her bike, who I said hello to, who was now stopped on the side of the road talking on her phone. I prayed a prayer that I could somehow talk to her, and immediately, she got off her phone, and we were able to talk with her! We walked with her all the way to the station! She is awesome! Thank you for your prayers! I love you all! Trust in God! Sincerely, SISTER BLAKE Comments are closed.
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January 2019
Sister Blake
"You are hereby called to serve in the Japan Tokyo South Mission." Categories |