Hello family and friends,
The weather has turned warm, headed towards hot, and we’re in the middle of the rainy season. That means some days are beautiful and balmy, while others feel like we’re walking in a sauna. And two days this week it poured buckets of rain from morning to night. There’s no water shortage in Japan right now.
The work continues here in Shibuya and things certainly haven’t slowed down. It’s a blast. We love it. In addition to our normal work week, we were at little busier this week as we were asked to help at two additional temple shifts and we also helped with an office relocation. More on that later.
The Third Sunday
Last Sunday was our monthly third Sunday gathering. We invite YSA members who attend other wards to visit our YSA branch on the third Sunday of every month. Attendance at that sacrament meeting doubles and we serve a lunch after the block of meetings.
Over the months, we’ve seen a constant increase in attendance on the third Sunday. That makes preparing the lunch a little challenging. We try our best to secure enough groceries and stay within budget, yet still be able to feed the entire burgeoning crowd. Last Saturday we made another Costco run on the train with our suitcases and came home loaded with great supplies.
This time we had between 110 and 120 YSA come. Probably our biggest third Sunday ever. And everybody got fed plenty of beef stew with enough for seconds. That means there was still nothing left at the end. Many had to eat standing up in the hallway because we ran out of tables and chairs.
We have to say that we love the third Sundays. It’s the best day of the month for us. It’s so fun to see all the kids come together, socialize, eat, laugh and get along. We get to know more people every month and they become very close to us. They are always so grateful to us, and we continue to make friends with young people all over the city.
A Day in the Life
Some of you have asked what our everyday is like, so we’ll explain. Let’s take this last Thursday as a good example:
After our morning preparations, our day started at 9am, with zoom meetings with young missionaries. We met with a different missionary every thirty minutes and helped them with their Japanese studies. We covered everything from vocabulary memorization tips to conjugating verbs in passive voice, to practicing Preach My Gospel Lesson 3 in Japanese. Each missionary is at a different level and has a unique need. These study sessions are a lot of mental work for us, and we’ve learned we really have to focus when we meet with the missionaries. That went to 1pm.
We had a one-hour break at 1 and we used that time to walk over to Shibuya station and catch a train to Kichijoji. At Kichijoji station we stopped at McDonalds and picked up some takeout food and ran to the church to get on zoom with another missionary for a study session that started at 2. After that we wolfed down our cold McDonalds and went next door to the mission home and borrowed some car keys from President Node. Then Elder Low drove to Musashino City Hall while Sister Low filled out some required forms in the car.
Once at city hall, Sister Low applied for a replacement health insurance card for a missionary who had mistakenly thrown his away. Without the card, he can’t get any health services in Japan. Then we drove back to the mission home, returned the car, ran to the station, and took the train back to Shibuya.
Back at home, we took one hour to prepare our Japanese conversation lesson for the week and quickly review our Institute lesson for that evening. At 5pm we dashed off to Shibuya station again, this time taking the train to Takadanobaba and then walking to the Teaching Center from the Baba station. There we taught our Japanese conversation class. This week, three new friends from Vietnam and one new friend from China attended. We taught three different ways to construct a sentence with a “but” or a “however.” They all seemed to love the class. We gave them all a Book of Mormon in their native language. We hope they come again next week.
As soon as that class was over, we dashed from the Teaching Center to the Baba train station, then trained back to Shibuya, arriving at our apartment 15 minutes before our online Institute class was scheduled to start at 8:15pm. We taught “Remaining Faithful amid Opposition and Affliction” to students in three different countries.
It turned out to be a really great lesson and many of our students spoke up and bore testimony who we hadn’t heard from before. The spirit was wonderful.
Institute class ended at 9:30pm and that gave us a few minutes to eat a late-night snack before crashing into bed. Sister Low started planning for the next day, but Elder Low had to lift the iPad off her face and put it away for her. She was done for the day.
That’s a pretty typical day for us. It ended up being a moderate day as far as exercise goes. Elder Low’s watch says he stood for 13 hours of the day, walked 4.5 miles, and climbed 12 flights of stairs. Not terrible. We’ve become more efficient in navigating the city, using the right escalators, and timing shortcuts.
Office Move
The big event this past week for us was the office move. Our mission office officially relocated from the old mission home in Kichijoji to the new annex building next to the Temple downtown in Azabu. This is a move that has been planned for a long time and it was a lot of work. We packed and unpacked hundreds of boxes of books, pamphlets, office supplies, computers and everything else you can think of. We had one big box that was nothing but different kinds of tape. Then there was the setting up of new office phones, new computers, furniture. It’s been a crazy few days but we’re finally settled in.
Highly Favored
In institute class on Friday night, we talked about being “highly favored” as explained in Alma 9. Our institute students truly are “highly favored.” They are so great, so strong, and so smart. They choose to spend their Friday nights in an institute class while other kids their age are having all kinds of fun at the craziest playground in Japan right across the street. We talked about the wonderful blessings we have, the incredible situation we live in, our knowledge of the gospel, and covenants we’ve made. All in all, a wonderful night with wonderful people.
Saying Goodbye
This next week will be a very difficult one for us. We’re saying goodbye to our mission president and his companion, President and Sister Node. We can’t put in words how incredible these two people are. We admire them so much. We love them. They are true disciples and emanate love in all they do. They are the kindest, most loving people we’ve ever met, and they have worked so hard to take care of us. Someday, we’d like to be like them, but it’s doubtful we ever will. We will miss them so much, but we hope they can finally take a long, long nap.
This past Tuesday, we attended a temple session with President and Sister Node and about half of the missionaries in our mission – about 75 missionaries. It was their final moment with their mission president and his wife. They filled the endowment room and Elder Low helped get them all through the veil. When Elder Low was done and all the missionaries had gone through, he walked into the Celestial Room and was completely overwhelmed at the site. There stood all those amazing young missionaries, crowded together, standing silently, facing President and Sister Node, looking directly at them, and smiling. We were reduce to tears at the sight. Then each of them had an opportunity to get a final hug and handshake from their mission leaders. It was one of those moments that stay with you for the rest of your life.
And that’s it for now. But we want to say that we consider ourselves to be highly favored. We are so blessed and grateful for this experience. We miss you all and love you very much. We pray for your health and safety every day.
Love,
Elder and Sister Low
Elder & Sister Low 