Beloved Sanjo

2nd to last email.  8 days.  Jordan doesn't have a p-day next week because she'll be in the mission home the day before she flies out.  This is a great email with lots of good details.  Next week will be a nice re-cap of her mission.  As you can imagine - I'm VERY excited for her to come home.  I'm also very proud of what she has done in Japan - her effort, her perseverance, and the love she has shown.

As always, thanks for your emails, snail mails and prayers on her behalf - we all appreciate it more than you know.  Make it a great week.  Thanks for reading.

こんにちは、

As the transfer comes closer to the end, I've been reflecting back on this short 5 weeks I've been in Sanjo. My bean and I got to Sanjo and we had no idea where we were going or who anyone was, where anything was (even our apartment), and we had to try to not get too lost because the trains only come maybe once every hour. Whitewashing, reopening an area, and training was way harder than I thought it would be. We did know one thing though and that was our purpose: to invite others to come unto Christ. We hit the ground running and got right to work.

There were moments, even days, maybe even weeks where it was so hard to see the miracles that were right in front of us. There were days where we would go from house to house for hours talking with everyone telling us the word missionaries never want to here, "No." There were days where it has been so cold that people will say no, but then tell us how sorry they are for us. There were moments where I felt so alone because my bean is a brand new missionary and I had to talk to more people, translate more, do more. There were so many days where I was just absolutely exhausted at the end, so excited to get some sleep. However, reflecting back on the five weeks we've had here, it's now that I really see how much the Lord has blessed us. We have been blessed to find about 2 investigators every single week since we got here (some have stuck, some have not). We have been blessed to work with some of the best members I've ever met. We have been blessed with so many learning experiences wrapped up in a short 5 weeks. The Lord has blessed us so abundantly in so many ways!! 

Our investigators:

•Yui: 22. She is a member of a part member family (her husband isn't a member, but his family is). She has the cutest baby ever (Masato), who has the chubbiest cheeks I've ever seen. She came to church yesterday!!

•‎Kobayashi: She has been an investigator for quite awhile, but is just now starting to progress. We had a lesson on repentance and she wants to repent. She told us that completely stopping the bad thing is the hardest step for her, but she committed to praying to God and asking for his help with it. We also taught her how to do a kneeling prayer and she loves it, we ended the lesson with a kneeling prayer and she said she felt sooo much peace.

•‎Saki: She is part of a different Christian church and according to the members is super devout to her own beliefs, but she recently stopped going to her church. She still hasn't come to ours, but the members are elated.

•‎Sui: The mom of a member and wow she is the most genki (happy/energetic) 89 year old I've ever met. She listens to the book of Mormon every single day and prays every single day.

•‎Honoka: We met her while housing this last week and shared the light the world video and she told us she wants to learn more about Jesus Christ. She also gave us some apples :)

•‎Fukuyo: We met her while housing on one of our first weeks and she was so excited to see us! She speaks really good English and wants to learn more about our church. Her mother died a few years a go and she told us that she regrets not having a good relationship with her.

•‎Yoshiko: We also met her while housing and she loves Christians! She wants to come to church sooo bad. She is going to come to the Christmas party this week.

I love Sanjo and the people in it. I've learned so much over this transfer and have met so many a amazing people. Sanjo definitely holds a special place in my heart. Also, fun fact about the Sanjo branch, there is only one family in the whole branch (about 25 people) that isn't a part-member family. The missionaries have work to do!

Find joy in the moment peeps.
愛しています、
Wunderli 姉妹

Pics: 

1. Okonomiyaki 

2. Masato 

3. I love chino shimai 

4. Sanjoooo 

5. I met this lady on the train this week and complimented her frog gloves and then she gave them to me!! She was such a sweetheart

6. Spaghetti party with the okuzawa family 

7. Hoshino shimai and her mom (sui) 

I hope you enjoyed the email.  Thanks for your support throughout Jordan's mission.  Don't forget that there's one final email next week.  Her homecoming is December 24th at 9:00 at our ward building:  7075 S. 2245 E., Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121.