He Knows...

Jordan has always been strong.  She was strong in her work ethic when it came to working out for swimming and improving every season.  She was strong when she had some pretty tough hurdles to overcome in high school.  She was strong when she made her decision about the role the church would play in her life as she entered college and she has been unwavering in her commitment to work hard on her mission since she made the decision to go.  This week and what she went through will make her stronger, even if it's not a good thing to have to live through.  I'd say to enjoy reading her email but this isn't the kind of email that's very enjoyable.  Thanks for reading.

こんにちは、
I'm going to just cut right to the chase; this week was probably the worst week of my mission. It seemed as if I literally fell from cloud 9. While missions are the best thing ever and there are so many happy times, there are also some really heart breaking times. This week was full of those heart breaking times.

When I was on Cloud 9:
On Tuesday, we went to dinner with Ryoko, a member and another investigator and it couldn't have gone any better!! They all became bffs and made plans to hang out again! Fast forward to Thursday and Ryoko passed her baptismal interview with "flying colors" according to our district leader. We planned the baptism with her after the interview and she was so excited. She filled out the baptismal form right then and there! Fast forward to Saturday and Ryoko comes to the ward Halloween party. She had so much fun with all of the members and fit right in. What could go wrong?

Falling:
Fast forward to Sunday. Sister Morelock and I get to church a few minutes before missionary coordination meeting is going to start, and we open our tablets to the most heart breaking message we've ever received. It was from Ryoko, saying, she can't be baptized today. She said she feels the need to follow her parents because she loves them a lot, so she needs to be Buddhist. She told us that she loves Jesus Christ and heavenly father, but she needs to follow her ancestors. She needs to be Buddhist. We were completely shocked. We've talked about her family before and she's never had a desire to be Buddhist.

From there on out everything became so much harder. We went out and smiled and greeted all the members. We had to tell everyone the baptism was canceled. We had to be nice when someone asked us that day, "how is the work? Do you see any baptisms? How many baptisms have you seen?" We had to report on the baptisms and confirmations that took place in our zone. Everything just hurt a little more. 

I can't put into words how hard this was. I can't put into words how I felt.  However, through all of this hard there is good because we have the gospel. I'm grateful for the things that I learned and am still learning through this experience. I'm grateful for the simple truths the gospel has such as, Jesus Christ knows exactly what I'm going through; He knows. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love Ryoko. I don't know what's going to happen with Ryoko within the next week, but I have complete faith that someday, maybe not this week, or next week, but someday she will get baptized.

Sorry for my somberness and not-too-happy of an email today. Now you have a glimpse into what every missionary feels at some point: heartbreak. And let me tell you, this heartbreak is the worse kind!

"Jesus, who suffered the most, has the most compassion for all of us who suffer so much less," Elder Bednar. He knows. 

愛しています、
Wunderli 姉妹

Today I'm grateful for Yagi kyodai, zone p-day, my district leader's personal goal pray for Ryoko all the time, cream puffs, and avocado socks. 

Pics:

1. Zone pday @ harajuku 

2. This ice cream doesn't melt! Even in hot chocolate!!

3. Puri kura land 

4. Harajuku 

5. This is normal in Japan 

6. Halloween party

7. The look of satisfaction after they won the mummy wrapping contest

8. Missionaries aren't allowed to dress up in costumes so we switched name tags and became each other 

9. I love Japan 

10. Puri kura with my favorites

After this week, Jordan can use the support of your positive thoughts, prayers, emails and snail mail more than ever.  Thanks for reading.  Hopefully next week will have happier news including some good progress with other investigators.