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

iPadから送信

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