Maryandra is having a pretty good time so far in Hibarigaoka, even though she misses Sister Horrocks!  She started her week by going on splits with her former companion, Sister Funakara, which she enjoyed, very much!

Tuesday:

Yay, splits! Funakura Shimai and I talked about lots of fun and
natsukashi things during companionship and language study! It was a
blast! I'm really looking forward to today! After taking my bike to
the repair shop, we plan to go and get lost while looking for the
home of a member couple we want to visit, and do Hasina, and park
dendo, etc.! It's gonna be such a fun day., I haven't done an all
finding day in a really long time!

Remind me to tell you later of something that happened
when we were going to the church yesterday, before I forget... Ah.

Okay, so when we were going to the church,  we saw the elders in front

of the gate or something, and elder Scott asked me why we weren't
riding bikes, with this oddly excited lol on his face, like he was
expecting a certain answer. I said that because my tires were flat, I
couldn't really ride it. He looked puzzled and said "but wait! I
filled up your tires for you!"
"No you didn't. How could you? It's been at our house the whole time."
"Oh. Wait what? Really? Shoot! I filled up some random person's tires
for nothing!"
It was pretty funny. I told him that it's the thought that counts and
said thank you anyway.

(Maryandra's brothers got a laugh out of that, when we read it to them

anyway!)

Alrighty, so with that over, it's time to tell you about how awesome
my day was! I looooooved it, even though I'm super tired! We went and
got my bike fixed, and then went to a park place and tried to visit a
less active that lives there. They weren't home, though, so we housed
a lot, and did some park dendo, housed some more, and got lost coming
home, but we made it safely in the end. Both of us just kept telling
each other how glad we were to work together again! It was just sooo
fun!  We listened to my ghibli cd while eating dinner, and then left
merrily on our way to go and visit another less active, who was
actually home! It was cool, because we weren't hoping she would be,
but then she was, and she actually came to us instead of making us
come to her. We were both surprised and thought she was a man at
first, because she looked and sounded like one, and she wore boyish
looking clothes. It was really weird. But she is really nice, and she
loves airplanes, and told us all of her cool hobbies, and how she used
to love in Africa, and all that. She's way nice! I was really glad to
meet her. After that, we just made our tired way home, as happy as you
please.
Friday:
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today was the most perspective changing
experience! First off, I had a great interview with president Wada,
(he says hi by the way!) and it totally helped me to change and to
help me to realized that the only times I have a hard time or suffer
on my mission are when I turn inward and become selfish. I need to
focus on other people, and on what I'm doing, not on what I want, or
on what I feel should happen. I just felt so happy when I came to that
realization! I felt so good, I can't even describe it! Of course, I
still have room to grow, but I think I made some progress today. I
felt good, I felt sooo good, I just can't stop saying how good it
felt! I just cant! Oh my goodness! I felt almost literally like I was
floating, it was so amazing! Hence from that experience, I was able to
start an amazing conversation with a lady on the way home, and even
though all I did was gently and lovingly invite her to come to church,
and give her a flier, yes she said no, but we are both smiling and
happy by the time we got off the bus, and she said "I'm glad you
talked to me! Thank you, it made me happy!" And with that, I know she
will one day be able to make an important decision based off of that
conversation! But it wasn't just the conversation itself that
mattered. What mattered was that I loved, genuinely cared for this
lady that I'd just met, and that was all it took for it to keep the
conversation natural, and kind, not just a statistical report.
I can't tell you how lucky I am to just..... Be here! I am one of the
luckiest things that have ever existed! That sounds weird, but you
know, we all are! We were created by a loving, caring, infinitely and
perfectly kind and compassionate Being, who has asked us to call Him
'Father' and to think that He supports and gives life to every one of
His children from the moment we first exist and on into eternity, just
because He loves us! Just think about it! Compared to everything else
He has created, we are nothing, but we are dearly beloved and
important to Him! It's so hard to even think about it and try to
comprehend it, but the little I can imagine is just too amazing! My
testimony just grew sooo much!
It all came in a moment when I was being interviewed, and the words of
president ringwood came again into my mind, where we realize that God
knew we would need takashi Wada as our mission president now, so He
put everything into motion for that to take place, and tprealozing
just how much president Wada has helped me, and realizing that my
mission has opportunities and blessings prescribed exactly for me,
just what I need, when I need it, in just the right amount, coming
from the right angle, just enough for me to stretch and grow without
breaking, and it's all worked just perfectly. I know I was supposed to
meet the lady I spoke to on the bus, and I know that, even if it isn't
now, that small conversation will have far reaching effects!
Oh my gosh. Why was I ever nervous or scared to serve a mission? I
can't believe what an idiot I was! I feel so happy right now! I just
wish I was un-imperfect enough to know I could stay this way for the
rest of my life! Well, let's see how long I can make it last his time!
I have a favor for you. If I ever get down, tell me I'm being selfish,
okay? Well, that's it for today. I love you all so much! See you
tomorrow!.....
 


That's probably enough for one week, just a snippet from her 

wonderful, long e-mail!  :-)

Maryandra was apparently surprised by all the goodies she got in her Halloween package from home!  She enjoyed her candy so much that she played a game with her candy corns!

Here's how her week went in her new area of Hibarigaoka:

Tuesday:

Oh my goodness me, I can't believe that October is almost over already! In literally just two weeks, I'll hit my 11 month mark! Yaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!! Wow! Time sure does fly! Well, we have a meeting in kichijouji this evening, which I'm excited about because it means I'll probably get my Halloween package, but the down side is that we're going to have to ride bikes... And mine hasn't come yet. I got all of my suitcases yesterday, so now I'm all moved in, but it's like my bike has just...disappeared. So, if it doesn't come today, I'm gonna have to borrow sister Eyring's bike, which doesn't have a basket. So, I'm understandably just a little bit upset that my bike hasn't come yet, especially since I don't know why it's not here yet. :s Well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see. At the very least, I can probably pick it up tomorrow when we go to kichijouji again, for the conference with elder Michael T. Ringwood, who will be touring the mission this week. That should be interesting. It's gonna last from ten till four, which is basically the same time as zone conference.  

Wednesday:

We were up and at 'em this morning and back to Kichijouji! It turned out to be exactly what I needed to hear! I loved loved loved it! It was amazing! And Elder Ringwood shook everyone's hands before the conference started, which was cool, and after that, he was very good at getting us to participate during his presentations. He even borrowed my iPad for a tiny bit. And guess what?! He remembered everyone's names! It was so cool, to hear him call is elder something, and when he called me sister miller, I was like "whoa!" And the messages he gave to us were all exactly what I needed! I'd been feeling down without realizing it,many it just helped me feel so much better! I loved it! And it was just...... Oh, it was so amazing! One thing he said really stuck out to me. It went something like this:

God knew that [you] would need takashi Wada as your mission president in 2014, so in 1979, He prompted Elder [?] to talk to a young Japanese boy who at that time was afraid of talking to Americans. He knew you would need takashi Wada, because He really does know the details of your lives, and He sees it all. I know that He loves you, and He knows just what you need, because He knows you better than you know yourselves.

I thought it was just so amazing, because yes I know it's true, but it just emphasized it so much when he said it like that! And that was a really spiritual moment for everyone else as well, I think. It opened up the doors to receiving revelation for the rest of the meeting! Oooooh, it was just so great!

Thursday:

I'm going to call sagawa today, and see if they can find my bike, because it's really frustrating not being able to go very far due to no bike. But oh well...

... Okay. Guess what just happened? So, do you remember when I told you about how we had a district blitz last transfer, and Horrocks Shimai and I gave hand warmers to a girl that was doing advertising for and animal humane society or something? Well, we just saw her today, and I recognized her, and she recognized me! I said hi and told her to ganbaru, and she got this big smile on her face! Yay! Apparently, she goes to all the eki's around this general area. It was cool to meet someone again who I'd helped in an entirely different area, never expecting to see her again! It was just a really cool thing for me to experience! Have you or dad ever had experiences like that? I just think it's so cool!

After that, we went and visited the bishop's house, and heart attacked their door. Then, we tried to do the same thing to the another family's door, but they heard us and opened the door while we were trying to tape on the hearts, and it scared the daylights out of me! But it was really funny, and they invited us over for Halloween night to trick or treat their house and come and eat some snacks and stuff with them and their friends and a few of their neighbors. I hope we go! The sisters here are great and hard workers, but they don't do things like go to game night, despite the elders, even the zone leaders, asking them to. Oh well. I hope that we can still go.  

Friday:

Happy Halloween! I would make a bigger deal out of it, but since nobody really actually celebrates it here, I don't really know what I could do. Eat some of my candy, I guess. I've still got quite a bit left!

Saturday:

Okay, I've had no time to write to you today, but I have a lot to say! Today was one of those fail days you just have as a missionary, or at least it was up until we got to where we needed to go and did what we needed to do. So, it rained all day today, and it still is raining, I'm pretty sure. We got my bike at last from Sagawa today, so we changed our original plan and after doing some contacting, went to go visit a member, who'd had a birthday last week but we weren't able to go then because I didn't have my bike yet. Well, it turned out to be a really hard ride up to her place, at least for me. I was wondering why it was so difficult, and why I couldn't keep up my speed even when we were going downhill, and it wasn't until I was going up a particularly steep hill that I heard the sound of my rear tire rubbing against the rim, and having had such an experience before my mission, I throught "oh shoot! NOOOOO!!! Not again!" It was indeed flat.

But then, because we had an appointment set up with a member at four, and it was 3:15 ish, Reeves Shimai determined, correctly, that we would never make it on time if we walked. Well, no duh. So I had to tough it out and suck it up, and ride my banged up bike with, it turns out, not one, but both tires flat, all the way back to the church, going uphill and downhill, and almost never on the sidewalk, with cars sometimes right alongside me, and me trying so hard not to fall, and to keep myself from bumping up against them. And to make it that much more interesting, my shoe flew off about five minutes into the ride, which made me even slower, trying to get it back on, and getting my foot wet on the process. Gah! But we booked it, me trying to keep up as best as I could, and failing pretty badly, and nearly killing myself. I was exhausted, and not feeling too well, but I felt pretty good about our timing. We ended up being only three minutes late. Woohoo!

Sunday:

We had an especially good time after dinner. We housed a huge apartment complex for like an hour and a half, and we extended a lot of invitations to church and stuff! We met another Christian lady, and met a family that apparently used to come to eikaiwa, before I came here. It was really cool! We felt so good! But while I was doing housing, and here's the funny thing, I started getting down again, and I started to think about how much I missed home and how fun it would be if I was there right now and such. But it was after we met the other Christian lady (not a very kind one. She basically said that she doesn't associate with Mormons, her beliefs are different, and that if they were the same, we might meet again in heaven, someday. But she didn't think so. Yeah, slightly irritating) that I started wondering just what my job is here. And wondering why I was here. And then it just came to me. I have something that not many people have. Something that can and will bring them peace, comfort, healing and joy if they will accept it. And right now, I'm trying to give it to other people. That's not a bad thing to do at all. So,ermines. We get so focused on doing what we have to do that we forget everything m even why we're doing these things. It's sooo important that we don't forget what our message is here, otherwise, we'll become robots, and we will lose track of our goals and what our purpose is, and we will get sad and upset, and think about things that will make us want to go home. It helps me feel so much better to finally realized what I'd been doing and how I could help myself to feel better! It was a really good boost/defining moment for me! Yay!  

This is the view from Maryandra's desk in their little house in Hibarigaoka!

Maryandra was sad to leave Fussa so soon!  She spent time with one fun family that is actually in an "I'm a Mormon" video, featuring the dad!  Maryandra encouraged us to watch it, so we did!  It was fun to learn about this family that Maryandra became attached to in such a short time!  Here are their kids, having fun with her iPad!

Maryandra enjoyed 2 Halloween parties last week, one in Fussa and 
one in Hibarigaoka!   Here is some of her last e-mail:

Wednesday:
Well, today, as always, was very bittersweet. We had our eikaiwa
Halloween party in the evening, as the final part of the day. It was
really fun. We did all kinds of games and activities, and it was fun
to just watch these people all break out of their shells a little bit. . .

So, before the eikaiwa party, we had kids eikaiwa with this awesome
family. They're featured in an "I'm a Mormon" video, by the way. You
should watch it! It's a great video, one of my favorites! Anyway, it
was really fun. We talked about time and seasons with them, like we'd
done with another family. It was really cute. And the last part
was a fun game of Duck, Duck, Goose. It was always soooooo cute to
hear little two-year-old as he tried in vain to say duck and
goose. It was really just him going around saying"guck" over and over
again, and when he wanted you to be the goose, he would tap you and
just yell it louder. It went something like this every time: "Guck,
guck, gook, guck, goo, gook, guck........ GUUUUUUUCK!!!!!" It was
sooooo cute! And when he cried because he couldn't play the other
English games as well as his siblings, I fished a peace of candy out
of my pocket that I'd bought earlier that day, and gave it to him.
After that, he was a happy camper, and he even offered me one of his
candy corns at the end, because I would give him one whenever he
asked. What a cutie! I'm gonna miss him! He was my favorite from the
start! Ooooooh, I loooooove this family!

Thursday:
Waking up at five in the morning is one of my least favorite things to
do. Not only that, but we had to get right to work. I had to finish
packing my blankets and pillow cases, and get ready. By seven, we
headed to the church to get my bike and bring it back to the
apartment, where it was disassembled, and put into its bike bag for
the third time. Anyway, I am sitting in the
church in kichijouji, because both my current and my soon-to-be
companions are in a training meeting, and so I am studying with other
sisters. What fun, huh? Well, anyway, I have nothing further to
report at the moment, so I will see you after we get through this
awkward halfway phase, and I am settled into my new HOUSE! I can't
wait to see what it's like to live in a HOUSE! Haha, well, see you
later!.. So far, so good. After stopping at the house
to get bikes to ride (I had to borrow someone's bike), we rode to the
home of a member for a dinner appointment.
She is a really sweet little old lady. She gave us all the leftovers,
including cake! Holy cow! She's got such an amazing story, and a
really strong testimony that's been strengthened by here trials. I was
so amazed at one of her stories. Her house burned down when she was
young, and she and her family lost everything, except the clothes on
their backs.... And the pages of her Book of Mormon. The cover had
been burned away, and the edges of the pages were all charred, but
inside, the words were still there! She showed it to us, kept safe in
a box. I have a picture or two of it that I want to send! I can't wait
to show you! Oh. She's such a great person! After that, we made our
way back home, did planning, and prepared for bed! Yay! So weird to
live in a house, and sleep in bunk beds. Yikes!...


This is the Book of Mormon that was in the fire!
Friday:
It's been fun teaching so many people. I've never taught so many
appointments in such a short period of time, and all the members are
so nice, as far as I can tell, anyway. I can see why my mtc companion
liked this area so much. Except for everything being crazy difficult
to find/get to, it seems like a great area, and would be a great place
to start a mission. I can see why she liked it so much.  It's
not bad here. I kind of like it already. Yay!      
Saturday:
By theway, one random note. Even though it's cool to live in a house, 
the house is, not surprisingly, 100% Japanese, which means the stairs 
are very scary to go up and down. I'll have to send you some pictures 
of the house soon. But the stairs are scary. And the house shakes a lot,
so I always think it's an earthquake or something, but it's not. The
house just shakes. Probably because we're not too far from the train
station, or a busy busy road. But it's interesting living in a three
floor building, having two bathrooms, bunk beds, my own closet all to
myself, and a small love seat SOFA on the second floor! Yikes, it's
all so different!
We met with a lady before the Halloween party, and she is an interesting person. 
Quiet, and reserved, but she listens. It's interesting. She's sweet. Anyway, the
Halloween party was actually kind of fun. There

was food, so I was able to eat dinner, and gain
a little more energy. I've been exhausted today, ever since about
three. All this walking back and forth is something I need to get used
to again, but it's good.
Sunday:

We housed part of this huge
apartment complex that's across the street from our house, and would
you know what? We found two people who said to come visit again, and
another lady that INVITED US INTO HER HOUSE!!!!! Oh my gosh! Oh my
gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!!!!! That's the first time that's ever
happened to me in my entire mission! This lady is Chinese, and she has
one three year old daughter. Her husband is abroad for work at the
moment, or at least I think that's what she said.

It was really cool! This lady is
really busy, so she can't do much with us, but she does have interest,
and we gave her the address to the church, and gave her a Book of
Mormon, and invited her to hear more! YES YES YES!!!
Monday:

Hey, we just experienced a split second
earthquake! It was normal strength, but it started and ended rather
suddenly, and now the elders out in the hall are talking about it and
trying to one up each other about the coolest earthquakes they've
ever been in, etc. haha, elders. Well, see ya!



Couldn't resist one more scary Halloween selfie Maryandra!  
We hope she will have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

 After only a few short weeks in Fussa, it looks like Maryandra is transferring again!  By the time anyone reads this blog, she will already be in her new area of Hibarigaoka! Here is what she thought about it before transferring:

I got some interesting news for ya. I'm transferring again. I'm going
to Hibarigaoka. It's in the exact same zone as the one I'm in now, and
it's my mtc companion's bean area. I will be companion's with my doki,
sister reeves. She will be sister training leader, and I guess I will
just tag along and be a co-senior or something. I'm not sure how I
feel. I wanted to stay with horrocks Shimai, but I guess that the
lord's plan for me really was to do a 3-2-1 transfer pattern for the
areas I go to. Interesting, because I've wondered what doing that
would be like ever since leaving Hachioji. After that, I'm not sure.
This should be interesting. I was really sad, then really... Okay with
it, then really mad, and now I'm okay with it again. The plus is that
I get to love in a HOUSE, not an apartment! And I get to live with
sister Eyring! Best yet, she will be companion's with FUNAKURA
SHIMAI!!!!! Aaaaaaah! That makes me happy. I hope I get along okay
with reeves Shimai, so I hope that things go well. I'm not going to
let myself get angry or sad about that. I have to say, I've wondered
off and on about what it would be like to be in hibarigaoka, and what
it would be like to co-senior, and I've wondered lately about what it
would be like to live with reeves Shimai, and I've been missing
Funakura Shimai, and who wouldn't want to love with president Eyring's
granddaughter? I can see that there are a lot of plus's. But I will
really miss np being companion's with horrocks Shimai. We've gotten
along so well. But I should have know it would be too good to last.
Sigh. Well, I sure hope that things go well there, and that I can make
hibarigaoka a home. That would be nice. I've heard it's a great area,
and a lot like Hachioji, apparently. Well, I'm really sad to leave my
weird, freakie girls here, but I'm sure I'll make some new freak
friends in hibarigaoka. Well, wish you all luck, congrats to dad on
MAKING IT TO ETL!!!! And I may actually need that mouthwash, now that
I won't have a chance to go on base any time soon. Love you all! Be
safe and careful, tell cousin Chris hello and to write me and send me
his weeklies, and to love it! I hope the whole,thing about Hyrum and
glasses worked out! Sorry about the questions I missed! I'll have to
answer those next time! Love y'all! Bye!...

That was completely unedited.  Pure Maryandra.  We hope she has a good week, and we'll find 

out more in her next e-mail!  Here are some more of her Halloween photos!!!

 Maryandra and her companion enjoyed a visit to the Tokyo Temple this week!

Otherwise, her week was full of General Conference, another typhoon and meeting some interesting people! Maryandra  also enjoyed taking and sending some very spooky, Halloween selfies to her family!                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!

Maryandra knows how to be scary!!!

And silly for Halloween!!!

Tuesday:
Well, we were invited over to a family's home. Or I guess I
should call them the senior family, because all of their
children go to fussa Ward as well and live close to their house and do
office work in their basement. Anyway, as I was saying, we went to
their house, had a delicious lunch, and talked a bit about family
history. That's what we're going to try to focus on for this last part
of the year, as a stake and as a Ward, like we did in the machida
stake. Funny how so many of the missionaries who used to be in machida
stake have now transferred over to musashino stake:) and that we just
happen to be starting the same thing. But anyway, I am really glad
that we went, because I liked that part of the area, they were really
nice, and it was just fun to get to know them. . . I traced

all the way back to Adam from grandma sandy's line while we were
looking at doing the family history stuff on the family history search
website! I was sooooo stoked! It took forever, but it was awesome, and
I saw sooo many cool names, especially among the Vikings, which gave
me ideas for cool names to use in my story when I get home! Haha, I'll
probably write my book while doing family history! That would be
funny!

Wednesday:

We are now at the church, and
sister Horrocks is doing more of her family history stuff. I think I might

just take a look as well! Yay!... So, I went all the way back to Adam
and Eve again, this time from a different person in grandma sandy's
line! It's fun going back to the old days where you don't know how
concrete the details are, but at least there is a vague line, if
nothing else. Okay. So we have eikaiwa (English conversation) today 

. . . Well, eikaiwa was pretty fun. We had our
regular class, but then at the end, instead of doing a game, we went
out and watched the lunar eclipse! It was so cool! Man, we enjoyed
looking at it for a really long time, before making our way home. Did
you know about the lunar eclipse? If you look it up, you will also see
that the moon was kind of red for a little bit, or like an orangish
color. Interesting, huh? So, look out for that scripture reference!

Friday:

It was really fun when we were coming
home on the train, because there was this huge group of elementary
school kids, on their way to a field trip. They kept staring at me,
and I would smile at them sometimes. Then, one of them timidly said
"harro?" (Hello) and I immediately said "Hello!" Back to him. He and
all of the other children were like "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!!!!!!" And
giggling and stuff. It was great! And then, others kept coming up to
me and asking if I knew the movie Frozen. I said yes, and that started
another round of oohs and aaahs. One asked me my favorite animal, and
I told him it was a horse. This little girl piped up and said "me
too!" And I gave her a high five. Then, she asked what my favorite
color was. I said blue and purple, and she was like, "oooh! That's the
same as him!" And pulled her friend over, and he was kind of looking
like he didn't know what the heck was going on. It was sooo funny! And
when we got off at higashi Fussa eki, I waved at all of them, and they
all waved back, and some of them said "bye bye!" And "see you!" It was
such a cute moment! Love those kids already!
Saturday:

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? 
NOOOOOOOOOOOO
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
It's my ten month
mark today! Ah shoot! How did the time go by so fast? No no no no no
no no no no no no no!!!! Aaaaaaahhhh!!! Well, anyway, aside from that,
we also get to go and finally watch general conference today, in
KICHIJOUJI!!! I'm soooooo excited! This is going to be the best
weekend EEEEEVEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Man, I can't wait!  We will do personal study,
then leave at nine thirty to hope on the 9:46 train headed for
Kichijouji! Yaaaaaaaay!.............. 
Oh my goodness, you guys!  General conference was
AMAAAAAAAAAAAZZZIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am also reeeeaaaallllllly glad that we were able to come to
kichijouji to see it, too! Wooow! Man, I looooved the atmosphere of
getting to watch it with almost all of the missionaries in our zone!
Oh goodness, it's awesome! In the first session, I was intrigued by
the new perspectives offered by the Cantonese speaker, and then I was
just BLOWN AWAY by president Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk! Worlds without
number, and the way he just put it into plain and simple,
understandable terms. And the topic! Oh my gosh, it was soooooo
amaaaaziiiiiing!

Anyway, the second session was my favorite one so
far, I think. I liked the one delivered in Spanish. I thought it was so sweet
in a lot of parts, especially when he talked about his wife! And of
course, who could ever not enjoy good old elder Holland? Fantastic as
always, and I can't wait to study that one again later! Oooooooh, it
was an amaaaaaaaziiiing day! I always love love love getting to go to
kichijouji! Goodness me, I'm just soooooo happy! Oooh man, I'm just
so.... Wait, I was just about to repeat what I'd just said. Haha,
silly me, but it deserves to be said twice. Anyway, loved today! So, I
will go for now, and I will see you tomorrow! By the way, have you
guys heard about the super typhoon that's supposed to be coming in
soon? And worse than the last one? Maybe? And to add to that, how red
the moon looked tonight as we were about to go to the church to do a
few things? It scared us a lot, and we talked about the second coming
on our way to the church. That's gotta be super super close! Yikes!
Haha! Well, anyway, sleep tight on that! Teehee!;) Love you!
Bye!.......
Sunday:
WOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!! TODAY WAS
AMAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGG!!!!!! 
I absolutely looooooved General conference,

especially as a missionary. I
don't know how many times I've said this even in just one email, but
general conference is somehow even better, in fact a lot better, out
in the mission field. There's just a magical quality to it. A special
feeling you can't ever get in any other setting, no matter how hard
you might try! Ooooh, it makes me so sad that I only have one more
conference left in the mission field, and it's going to be just two
months before I go home. Oh my gosh, that's just the saddest thought
ever! And in only two months, I'll be getting my death note, or six
month letter. Yikes! It's the scariest thought ever! But I'm so happy
for al, of the amazing opportunities I've had here! I just love it
soooo much! There's nothing like this kind of job! If I were allowed
to, I would probably want to do it for a really long time!
Monday:
Well, the only significant thing we've seen about today is a lot of
misty rain. The typhoon should be hitting our area in exactly one
minute. Or around there. It should last from about six pm to six am
tomorrow morning. Should be interesting. Well, I sure hope it doesn't
interfere with us being able to go to the temple or anything. That is
the one thing that would make me so mad right now, not being able to
go to the temple. Grrrrrrr.... Stay away rain!








... Wow. I got the news letter for timpview ninth Ward in my emails.
First off, I wonder why, and second off, I just gotta say, it gives me
a really special feeling when I look at the list of current full time
missionaries, and see my name on there, with a Japanese address
underneath, and I'm like "whoa!" I almost do a double take. And I just
look at it, and think about my job, and my calling. And my purpose.
And all that I've experienced so far. And all of the amazing things
that I've seen and done and felt and I just think "why was I scared to
do this? Why, how, could anybody, regardless of circumstances or
personal opinion, not choose t serve a mission? Oh, how glad I am that
I came!" I haven't done a thing, as far as amazing ness goes, but I've
done a lot of small things, like just happening to be in the right
place at the right time, to get a lot of people started. And I feel
like that's my purpose for coming here. I may not see a physical
baptism, but I have met with and introduced the gospel to so many
people now that I know are going to get baptized that I don't regret
one bit not being classified as what I've called a "reaper." I may not
be the one that takes the wheat out of the field, but I am the one who
puts a lot of it there, and who sometimes even gets to watch it grow
before I'm called to go to another part of the field. But that's okay.
I'm okay with it. I feel like this is what I've mainly been sent here
to do, and if this really is my main job, then I'm gonna do it with
all my might! It's one of the most humbling experiences to think that
I am one of the people who gets to expand the field for others to
reap, and open the doors for others to receive the opportunities that
bring so much joy to so many. So many friendships have been made, so
many lives touched, so many miracles witnessed, that I just can't
regret becoming a missionary, no matter how hard I sometimes try. From
the mtc till the last eight months in Japan, I've seen so many things
and changed so much  that I wouldn't trade this for any thing else!
Truly, a mission is the hing for me! It's just such an amazing
realization! I want others to be able to have this same life changing
experience! So boys, don't ever let any of the small, unimportant
things get in the way of the most life changing experience and biggest
blessing you will experience! It will shape the rest of your eternal
existence! Where you go, who you marry, and what you do are just a few
of the many amazing things and decisions that will be influenced by
your decision to serve a mission, and then following through with it!
I promise you that you won't regret it!

The lord will bless you with a thousand times
more than you will ever sacrifice to serve a mission! It's happened
for me, and I know it will for you too, if you just make the
commitment now, and prepare from now onward to serve the lord! I bear
you my testimony that this is true.

Maryandra had an interesting week, some parts boring, some parts almost too exciting!
In Maryandra's words:

Tuesday:

Well, as of today, I finally opened that box of mike and Ike's that you sent for me birthday! I did as you asked, and made them last all of September! Yay! So far, they are delicious!... Well, I had quite the scary experience today, but I will tell you that after a bit of explanation. I got to go on splits with sister Rowley today, which was really really fun! We spent a while at the church and made cards for the people we had planned to visit. The visiting part, however, was a whole different thing altogether. It took forever to look up the addresses on google maps, and then we realized just how long it would take to get there, but we decided to go to the closest house first. So, we went to the home of one family, and just dropped a card in their post box.

. . . We went back to hajjima and were waiting for the train for half an hour almost, and when it finally came, one of the personel told us that, sorry, this train will be out of service for 55 minutes, so we will have to go to line number two instead. 

Miffed but resolved, we went determinedly all the way over to line number two, but just after we got there, Rowley Shimai, who was looking behind me, told me that we needed to leave. She saw someone she'd met before, and he was a stalker and we needed to get away from him. So, as carefully and inconspicuously as possible, we made our way to the other end of the platform. But as we turned around to check, to our horror, we saw him weaving his way towards us! It was then that we both were just like, okay, we need to go, right now. Rowley Shimai led the way, and we went back, weaving in and out and around people and objects, getting faster and faster until we reached the escalators, and then we just both lost it for terror and started running, taking two steps at a time as we tried to reach the main platforms again, and once there, we raced straight for the nearest bathroom. Once inside, we cowered against the wall for a few minutes, panting. All the other women in the bathroom stared at us. One or two looked like they wanted to help, but couldn't speak English. We waited in there for a few more minutes and decided that we were too in shock to visit the other person today. After using the restroom to take up more time and look more normal, we were about to head out again when we got a call from the Fussa elders. They wanted to ask about something I didn't know about, but I told them we had to wait for a bit and explained why. They were like WHAT? And were about to come over and get us, but we told them that we were going to check, and finding that the man had gone, we told them it was okay. So, we made our way to the platform that would, instead, take us to Higashi-Fussa eki. 

While there, we talked to this cute little student, who was really sweet. She has actually met missionaries before and done some kind of activity with them. I'm not sure if she meant missionaries from our church or what, but we gave her a flier and our number. Unfortunately, she didn't end up giving us hers, so we can't contact her first. Shoot. But it helped is feel better from our harrowing experience.

Wednesday:

Wow! October sure got here pretty fast! Why is time speeding up? Does it seem as fast to you guys as it does to me?  

Well, nothing happened at all, as far as missionary work is concerned, because we ended up stuck at the church for a long time, I would say about three and a half hours, updating our iPads to the new update, which took forever to load and it was horrible!

Friday:

I am super super excited to go to the general women's broadcast tomorrow in kichijouji! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!..... So, I'll see you later! Bye bye...

Ah, well, the only thing that happened besides the lesson is that on the way there, I fell off my bike while trying to get onto the sidewalk. But I'm not hurt! Not really, anyway. I'll send you a picture of my hand. It has two tiny little hickie-like marks on it that don't hurt one little bit! And my shin rubbed the pavement a little, but I didn't notice it until just barely. Lucky I am! And my bike isn't even damaged! It's awesome!

Saturday:

Oh boy, was the general women's conference good! I loved it! I especially loved president Uchtdorf's talk. It had a lot of what I needed to hear. But it really made me excited for general conference next weekend!  

(The missionaries in Japan get to watch General Conference one week later than we do in the United States, in case anyone reading this blog didn't know that!)

I loved the women's conference! I really loved the song that those cute little Korean girls sang! It struck a chord with me, because that's not too far from where I am, and I've been privileged to meet a few people from Korea. They are so sweet! And I really REALLY loved that other video with the young women who bore their testimonies about the temple, especially the little JAPANESE girl! I could understand her! Yay! She looked a little familiar, too, but I'm pretty sure I haven't seen her before. Anyway, it was a really great opportunity!

Sunday:

It's been raining non stop today, because a typhoon is passing right through this area. Like, right through our mission. And, it's a super typhoon. With gale force winds. Good luck with not freaking out about that. We are cautioned not to go outside tomorrow unless we get an all-clear, so who knows when I'll get this sent off to you, but rest assured that I will!

And Typhoon Phanfone passed through Sunday and was gone by Monday afternoon.  Maryandra and all of the other missionaries there around Tokyo are safe!!! :-) Pocky sticks are one of Maryandra's favorites!

 Maryandra had a great week!

 Here is Mount Fuji, as seen from Maryandra's apartment balcony!

In case anyone was worried, the volcano that erupted on Saturday, Mount Ontake , was over 100 miles away from where Maryandra is serving right now, and they were just on ash warning for a night.  In her own words:

Oh yeah! You

may or may not have heard about the volcano erupting over in Nagano.
So, we have an ash warning, and are told not to turn on our air
conditioning or open our windows tonight. So, we will probably see a
very, VERY gray sky tomorrow. But, we will all be just fine, I want
you to know. But that definitely adds to those scripture prophecies,
doesn't it?

Here is some more about her week:

Wednesday:

Well, we have to take a mission-wide language assessment today. Yuck.
I just took the written part, and when my companion is done taking
the speaking part, I will attempt to do so. Yuuuuck! I can almost
always understand what a person is saying (unless they use new words)
but the speaking part is so much harder, especially if I'm around
someone who is better than I am, however kind or humble they may be. I
just get nervous, and I can't think straight, and sometimes I can't
think of words or what I even want to talk about. I often forget what
I just said. It's soooo embarrassing! But I'm enjoying listening to my
companion. She really is good! I'm glad I have her! She's the best!...
Well, that was interesting. I don't think I actually did too bad after
all, or at least, I did better than I thought I would. 

Eikaiwa (English conversation class) was awesome! I say it was

awesome because I

got to talking to this girl, whose come with her dad and
sometimes her brother(s) for just about five weeks. They're all really
awesome, and it's great to be with them every week. So, guess what I
did? I invited her to see inside the chapel! After my companion 
had finished doing something, we went in, and showed her
around. We explained a little about the sacrament, and the things we
do in the chapel, at church, and she liked it! We invited her to come
to church when she has time, and SHE MIGHT ACTUALLY COME!!!!!! I'm so
excited! I don't know if she'll come this week, but she has interest
in seeing what we explained about, and I invited her to learn more
when she has time, if she wanted to! That is also just an 'if'
situation, but I feel really good about it! OOOOOH, I can't wait., I
think the best of her! She's so cool, and so is her family! I can't
wait to see them at ping pong night tomorrow! Yaaaaaaay!!!!


 Here are some photos from an earlier English conversation class!





Friday:
Whoooooaaa, we had soooo much happen today! So, our plan for the day
after studying and district meeting was to go and see if we could
visit these two less actives who loved about a ten or fifteen minute
walk from the church. So, we went first to the apartment where the
one family lives. We found it, but decided to find the place of
the other person first, and see which one was better to do
first. But before that, we went looking for a garbage can to throw
away our leftovers from 7-11, and then came back. After that debate,
we decided to go with the first family. And it's a good thing
we did. They turned out to be home, which was awesome, and the mom
wants us to come over and do family home evening since everyone
in her family is too busy to come to church, and it was awesome to be
able to meet her! Apparently, it had been impossible to contact them
before, due to lack of phone number and good timing. Crazy cool, huh?
But the real miracle comes in just two or three minutes later, when we
went to the other person's appartment. When we got there, we realized it was
a scan lock-in. No way were we getting in. So, we decided to be happy
and put a card or something in her mail box. No sooner did we begin to
write the card than this woman comes out the door. I swear this was
all in slow motion. I'll tell it from my perspective. I had squatted
on the ground to rest for a moment (nobody else was around) and I see
this lady about to come out from the other side of the glass door. I
thought to myself "you know, I've had miracles like this in the past.
Wouldn't that be cool if this lady just happened to be our inactive sister? But
it couldn't be. Could it?" I rose slowly off the floor, it seemed, to
greet her in a more professional manner as she seemed to glide out of
the door and towards us. We smile. She stops dead in her tracks as we
prepare to speak, but then, seemingly as if in a dream, I hear her say
"are you missionaries?" I start to reel in my mind, and grin at the
same time, thinking "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?????? Could it actually be..."
And horrocks Shimai must have felt the same thing, because she asked
"are you sister Ito?" "Why yes!" Came the reply, and then I came back
to real time, about jumping for joy, as we proceeded to get acquainted
with her. The timing was sooooo crazy, I can't tell you
everything, but we got a good, almost 30-45 minute conversation with
her as we walked with her all the way to fussa eki, where we met none
other than the Yokota elders.  Whaaaaaaaat? So, she got
acquainted with them too! And then, we parted ways so she could go to
Tama and do her errands. We walked back to the apartment for
dinner,feeling as if we were floating or something. Can you believe
it? If we had tried her first, we would have missed her. If we hadn't
tried to look for a garbage can, or even hesitated as we went first to
the other family's then to her apartment and back, we would have missed her.
The crazy thing is, when she recognized us, she could have totally
chosen to not acknowledge us or anything, but she did, because she
still loves the church, her work schedule has just become really
brutal lately. Whoooooa, right?
Saturday:


The other three sisters are sick. Rowley Shimai has
a cold, and my companion and Christensen Shimai have stomach things,
but I'm still totally fine. It's great! I haven't gotten majorly sick
on my mission yet! Yay! Anyway, tell president Adams thank you for
wishing me protection and health when he set me apart. I can tell that
it's that thing that's helping me to stay safe and healthy. It's
protecting me, and so I really am thankful. Tell him that, if you get
a chance! Anyway, gotta go and get ready for bed! Well, see y'all
tomorrow! Love you!
Monday:

After study and shopping and stuff, we
will do our emails at sometime between three and five, and Ashley
wants to give us mani/pedis! I'm so excited! It's been such a long
time since someone's volunteered to do anything like paint my nails!
I'm so stoked!  I'm so excited! It's gonna be a great day, full of relaxing! I'm
so tired!.... So, we are here at the church, and waiting our turns for
mani-pedis from Ashley! I'm soooo excited! I'll probably type/send
more later, a long with a few talks I found interesting, but here's
where we are so far! Love you all! Japan is the best! Love the work
I'm doing! You're amazing!
Love,  Sister Miller