Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Final Area

Hey family! Would you like to hear about the family that will be
sending me back to America?

Here are the missionaries I'm serving with in my final area.
Remember, I'm over two wards so there's ten of us now. Buckle in.

Sister C.
She's from Winnipeg Canada and speaks really good French! She's
teaching me some. I'm working so I can come home and say I have the
First Vision memorized in five languages. But French is hard! And
French people here aren't super nice so I don't have a ton of
motivation to learn. We mainly use French for teaching members and
investigators from the Congo. Isn't that so crazy? Sister C.
studied French at BYU, was probably pretty disappointed to get a call
to Japan and now she teaches Africans in French. She's much more than
her French ability however, she brings the strongest spirit I've ever
felt with her quiet nature. She's like a river. This river will always
flow, Sister C. will always be genuine. Every reaction, every
facial expression, every word out of her mouth is true to her
character. She never ever fakes it. When we went to church for the
first time together in the Japanese Ward, everyone adored her, ate her
up. At the first glance, a recent convert exclaimed: "You're glowing!"
All these people approached me and whispered glowing remarks about her
to me. My favorite was: "You just look at her face, and know
immediately that she's a good person." I think  that sums up Sister
C: Integrity so powerful it glows from her face.

Sister P.
She's a bishop's daughter back home in Sandy, Utah. Apparently that
aspect shows through her personality because people ask her all the
time if she's the bishop's daughter. I don't know what that means, and
was thoroughly confused as to how members could tell that her dad is a
bishop and my dad is not. It still puzzles me to this day. She's the
type who calls her father "daddy" and her mother by her first name.
She gasps like she's dying when she receives revelation during study and laughs until the walls
shake the rest of the day. I've never seen her cry, only a small fit
over cheese crust when we were ordering pizza once. It is so
incredibly endearing how she never takes herself seriously and can
laugh through any mistake, awkward moment, or silence. Sister P.
is Sister P. and if someone were to look her in the eye and say "I
don't like you" she would shrug and continue on, laughing and dancing
down the road, whereas that would crush me. She has defied gravity,
sleighed every obstacle, rejected all negativity and stands today as
an immovable missionary.

Elder F.
Good news family we had a missionary devotional where all the
missionaries went around and introduced themselves, so now I know a
lot about the elders in a completely kosher way. Elder F. is a
pilot! Yeah already. He's from Georgia so he says "y'all" but other
than that he has no accent at all, I thought he was a Utah boy. He's
very very sweet, always putting himself last. He brings snacks to
meetings, too which is a first. He's hasn't been serving here very
long, but he's baptized two people and I believe it was because he
loved them into the gospel.

Elder B.
He is only shy if you have bad hearing. He mutters the snarkiest
comments under his breath, calls everyone out, and makes jokes
constantly. And he does it all with a smile, always smiling. Smiles
through story telling, through rejections and testimony telling and
hymn singing. He can make a pretty good impression of a chimpanzee and
Dobie from Harry Potter but refuses to make such obnoxious noises
around us sisters. He must have a talented voice because he sings
really well and if he can make impressions too I think it's a gift.

Elder C.
Elder C. was with me in the MTC. He's from Taiwan. At the beginning,
his English wasn't great, but everyone could feel the love he had for
them. He is super affectionate, always got his arm around his
companion or leaning on another elder. He's always the elder to greet
us sisters and give each one of us a handshake. Since the MTC his
English has improved a ton. Too much. As we ate dessert together once,
he told me I ate too much. We're still friends, but I am aware of how
brutally honest he is, and I tread carefully now.

Elder R.
Elder R. is actually from this Ward. Tokyo 1st is his home Ward.
He's half Japanese, but to me all-American. He was one of those boys
that it took a whole village to raise so it's really cool that he gets
to give back to the village who raised him. He teaches old friends
from high school. He already knows his way around. He's not that old
of a missionary, but because he's so familiar with everything, he has
the swagger of a sixteen transfer missionary.

Elder M.
He is so tall. He was talking to some male models on the street once
and he was just as tall as they were! He's an Idaho boy. We report all
of our days to him and he's so great he shrieks into the phone when we
tell him cool miracles. He genuinely cheers us on.

Elder M,
He was always with me at the MTC. I've written about him already, he
still helps with my Japanese, he still is a monster at every sport he
plays, he's still the greatest.

Elder L.
I got to know him better. He's hilarious. He is always making a face.
Even when he's not thinking of anything in particular, he's making a
face. He can express himself way well, never lets anything go unsaid,
but says it all under his breath so it's easy to breeze by and never
really truly know him. But I'm lucky cause I hear him and just laugh
all day long.

Elder S.
Reminds me of Billy so much. He is really into all things Disney, he
is more willing to talk to strangers, unlike Billy, but I think that's
because he's a missionary more than his personality. He's so so so
happy all the time. The thought that he could have offended the
smallest being is enough to make him beg for forgiveness. When he
removes his glasses, he reverts to a baby face.

THESE ARE THE GREAT MISSIONARIES OF SHIBUYA AND TOKYO. They are
perfectly trying. It's a great group to finish on. They encourage me
to push on and continue on, and forget about how much time I have left
but give it my all.

"Let the seed be sown, even though the sower be straightway called to
other fields or other duties; in the gladsome harvest he shall find
his recompense."

Love you all! See you soon,

Sister Goldsberry

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This is a video at the Buddhist Temple, but it can only be watched from the computer, not a mobile device.




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