Email Home: 28 July 2014

A woman we have been teaching really wants to get baptized. She went with the Temple on Monday with us and although she does not like reading, she just kept on reading in the waiting room. This week lesson she told us she was up to 2am reading the Book of Mormon and as requested, we showed her how to order the Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl of Great Price and the Bible from the church’s distribution center.

She went to a Baptism service on Friday with us. After which, she really wanted to be Baptized. We explained that the warm felling she was feeling was the Holy Ghost.

On Sunday she told members she wanted to Baptized.

Photo

Notice: Sister Breksa's ever-present water bottle, the brownies made from the mix sent to her (see 22 July 2014 post) and the cups with Hello Kitty characters (27 May 2014 post). As a side note, the package mailed to Sister Breksa that contained the brownie mix…the cardboard was used  to post on the sisters' window for safety during the typhoon (see 14 July 2014 post).

Honoring Ancestors

Sister Breksa's great-grandmother's was born on 25 July 1902. She passed away in 1980.  To honor Mary Ann Atkin Hansen, Sister Breksa's mother was inspired to invite Mary's posterity to visit any of the 143 temples on the 25th of July this year. Invitations were mailed to 35 of her descendants --representing children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Missionaries are not able to schedule their visits to the temple and it is not a regular opportunity.  An unexpected blessing was needed and it was given, her mission attended the Fukuoka Temple that preceding Monday. 

On the 25th, her parents and two of her three siblings visited the Boston Massachusetts Temple.

“There really can be a bond and a sense of belonging that ties together generations. ... This bond gives us a sense of identity and purpose. Our ties with the eternal world suddenly become very real, sharpening our life’s focus and lifting our expectations. ... We can discover within ourselves a reservoir of patience and endurance that we never will find without the deep commitment that grows from a sense of real belonging. Exerting such immovable loyalty to another person teaches us how to love – indeed, how to be more like the Savior. Our sense of belonging to one another...foreshadows our belonging in the eternal family of God. Our willingness to discipline our individual desires enough to honor [our] loved ones prepares us to belong to Him who is our Father.” Bruce C. Hafen, Liahona, June 1998, 16

Open Letter to Sister Breksa From Her Mother

Photo taken by Sister Breksa, Hawaii 2012

Dear Sister Breksa,

We love you.  We know that serving a mission is a challenge and a blessing and an opportunity.  We are proud of you for serving and we know you are doing your best.  We pray for you.  We hope that you will see some fruits of your labor, but understand you may never know the impact your kindness; attitude, testimony, teaching, and example will have on generations.  We trust that you will be blessed for your work.  We know that Heavenly Father is aware of you and you are in His care and under His protection.

Love,

Mom

Useful Quote

"You do not need to see the Savior, as the Apostles did, to experience the same transformation. Your testimony of Christ, born of the Holy Ghost, can help you look past the disappointing endings in mortality and see the bright future that the Redeemer of the world has prepared."

 —Dieter F. Uchtdorf

image: http://cauldronsandcupcakes.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/bright-future.jpg

Cheering Section

Tokyo Subway!

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The Tokyo Subway system has been color coded to make it easier to follow.  To see what means what, check out the official Tokyo subway line web page: 
http://www.tokyometro.jp  


 For how to buy tickets and board the subway, use this web page:
http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ride/metro/index.html.

> It is a fact; passengers during rush hours are packed into the trains – actually shoved in by subway employees.  

Other facts:

> There are pink cars…females only, this is due to inappropriate and unwanted behavior of male passengers towords female passengers.

> Passengers are very quiet…very…maybe because they are either sleeping, using their electronic devises, or reading newspapers.

> Passengers who do sleep, do so until it is their stop and then they wake up and disembark, like they were paying close attention to the route…it is amazing!

> The cars’ seats are benches that face each other, they are not in rows. 

> The subway stations, bathrooms, and cars are clean.

> The ticket agents wear uniforms.

> There are special courtesies and etiquette while traveling on Tokyo subways.

Such as  

“It is important to pay special attention to the health and well-being of expectant mothers and their children even during the initial stages of pregnancy when fetal development is less noticeable. We offer a "Maternity Mark" keychain to expectant or nursing mothers at the offices of each Tokyo Metro station. If you see a mother wearing this mark within the station or on a train, we sincerely ask for your consideration.”