Big. Huge. Miracles.

Dear Family and Friends,

Here’s an update from Tokyo.

Edogawa Fireworks Festival

Last Saturday we had a branch activity where we went to the Edogawa Fireworks Festival. Sisters in the Relief Society met at church early and changed into traditional Japanese yukata, which is the appropriate way to be dressed when going to a summer festival. Then we all got on the subway and headed to the festival spot on the banks of the Edo river.

The Edogawa Fireworks Festival is the largest fireworks display in the world. Over 100,000 fireworks shells were fired over 75 minutes. 1.3 million people attended. We have never seen that many people sitting together before. The crowd went for miles along the banks of the river. The fireworks were amazing, unlike anything we have ever seen or can describe.

It was so fun to be with our small band of church members and friends and enjoy this together. Two nonmember friends also came.

 

Big Transfer

We welcomed 14 new missionaries to our mission this week. An airplane from the Philippines arrived at Haneda airport at the same time as a plane from the US, and all the missionaries from both countries went through immigration and customs together and arrived at the mission home together.

This week we prepared their phones, their legal documents, and health insurance paperwork. We also spent most of the day Friday training them as part of their orientation. We love doing this. All 14 of these elders and sisters are wonderful, and they are now paired with equally wonderful companions. We love to watch when the new missionary meets his or her companion for the first time. It’s a magical moment and you can see that the pairing is inspired.

We also said goodbye to three missionaries who completed their mission and one who got her visa to the US.

We met with over a dozen missionaries this week to study Japanese with them. To be honest, this is hard work. It’s probably the hardest work we do on our mission. But we can attest that the Gift of Tongues is real, because we’ve seen it in these young missionaries. Some are speaking in ways that can’t be explained.

Huge Lunch

We once again cooked lunch for our monthly extended YSA branch luncheon this past week. We prepared a sandwich bar and soup for about 100 beautiful young people. We had 7 different kinds of sandwiches for them to choose from, using 35 loaves of bread. Of course, anything that was left over was quickly and quietly wrapped in plastic wrap and taken home for their lunch the next day.

Temple Tsunami

of both people and water

On Wednesday this week we once again worked our shift in the temple. It was a joy this week to once again help members take part in those ordinances.

We continue to invite YSA members to “YSA Temple Night” every Wednesday evening and last week we saw 9 attend. Hey, this YSA Temple Night thing now has traction! We are so thrilled when they show up and we pass out lots of hugs when they come in.

At the beginning of the shift, Elder Low was stationed at the recommend desk. He heard it start to rain outside. Then it started to pour. Then the heavens opened up. Then it got worse. He looked out the window but couldn’t see anything. The rain was coming down so hard and so fast that visibility was only about ten yards, like liquid fog. It was an amazing, freaky thing to watch; much worse than the “once every 100 years storm” he’d seen back home.

Soon, sirens began blaring from the light poles outside. In Japan, we have a public emergency PA system in our cities and towns. Along with the siren, a voice came over the speakers telling everyone to “evacuate to higher ground.” It’s the same recording that is played during a tsunami.

And then the water started creeping in through the front door of the temple. Within a few minutes, the lobby was about 2 inches deep in water. Members came in from outside, gasping and drenched. Umbrellas were useless. The plaza outside the building was over six inches deep in water and people were wading through it to get to the temple. The downpour continued for 45 minutes.

The amazing part of this story is that nobody really panicked. Once inside, we gave them towels to dry themselves, and then they went right to their business in the temple and completed their ordinances. Temple workers never ran or raised their voice, and the temple president remained as calm and soft spoken as he always is. By the end of our shift, facilities staff had magically cleaned up the mess and everything was back to normal. Why panic? Everything will be fine. The work goes forward.

Special Needs FSY

About two months ago a staff member from the Area Presidency office asked to meet with Elder Low and came with a request. They were planning the For Strength of Youth Conferences in Japan coming up this summer. This year, they added an FSY session for youth with special needs. The area office asked if we could figure out some kind of activity that we could do with the missionaries and the special needs youth.

We put our heads together for a bit and came up with the idea of an arts and crafts activity, where we would make cards and write our testimonies on them and give them to missionaries. The missionaries could then insert the card into a Book of Mormon when they hand one out.

Well that activity finally happened last week. Our entire district of missionaries was excited to come to FSY and be with the youth. Every one of the kids had a unique and challenging disability. The missionaries jumped in, sat with each of them, and worked together on making cards.

Elder Low was touched by one young missionary who has only been in the country for one month. Because of that, his language skill is very limited. This sweet, humble missionary wound up sitting with a young man who also was very limited in his ability to speak. The young missionary used his simple Japanese to teach about the Book or Mormon and testify of its truthfulness as the two of them drew their cards. The young man understood him perfectly. They were a perfect match and ended up having a wonderful time together.

Some of the youth couldn’t write, so they drew pictures. They were beautiful.

Senior Meeting

As senior missionaries, this week we had a meeting with Elder McCune of the Seventy, who is the area president of the Asia North Area. He went over the status of our area with us. To be brief – it was an amazing meeting and it reminded us that we are a part of an amazing, miraculous work now taking place. We walked out feeling so grateful to be here.

We’re now thinking harder about ways we can do better, help more, and accomplish more in the time we have left. There is more we can do. There is more all of us can do.

Miracle in the Visitor Center

The temple annex building where our mission office is located also contains a visitor center. One morning this week we headed to the office to do some work and got there early, before anyone else. When we walked in, Elder Low noticed a young man wandering alone in the visitor center.

A few minutes later a facility staff member came to us and asked if some missionaries were available to talk to the young man. “He looks like he really needs some help,” he said.

Since no one else was there, we dropped off our bags and went down to the visitor center.

“Can I help you with anything?” Elder Low asked.

“Well . . . I kinda . . . need some help . . . with what I should do with my life . . .”

We could instantly tell he was suffering.

After talking with him for a minute, we learned he is a member of the church from Nagoya. He’s struggling with a lot of issues and is really hurting. He woke up early that morning and the thought hit him: “I think I need to figure out what the temple is all about.”

So he got on the bullet train at 6am and took the 300 mile train ride straight to the temple. He’s never had a recommend, and really didn’t know what it took to get one. He also was unfamiliar with what the temple is for and how it blesses our lives.

Sister Low took her time and guided him through a tour of the entire visitor center. She showed him pictures of the inside of the temple, explained what the rooms are used for, and taught him the importance of the ordinances that take place.

“When you participate in those ordinances, you will feel the power of God in your life.” (See Doctrine & Covenants 84:20-21)

Then she taught him what he needs to do in order to get a recommend.

Then we had a long talk. He had a lot of questions. We could tell he is really struggling in life. At one point, Sister Low took him to see a painting of the Savior healing a blind man. The painting is by Walter Rane.

“You can see here that Jesus anointed his eyes. After that, he instructed the man to go and wash his eyes. When he did that, he was healed. You know, the same is true for you. When you have faith in Him and follow Him, and do what He says, you can be healed too.”

Elder Low was watching this and thought, “Oh my. She’s a true representative of Him. She’s doing the same thing He did. She’s essentially anointing his eyes and teaching him how to be healed.”

We had a long talk. We promised blessings that will come. He began to cry. We all cried. Elder Low had to go find some tissue.

Later, we contacted his bishop in Nagoya and told him this young man is prepared for a temple recommend interview.

There have been a handful of experiences we’ve had on this mission that, when it was over, we said to each other: “That may be the one reason why we came here.” This was one of those experiences. We were reminded that our primary duty as missionaries is to Teach the Gospel. We were honored to have the opportunity to do that.

This is a great work. We are honored to be part of it. We are so thankful for the support of our family – our kids and grandkids – that allows us to serve. We are blessed. We know you will be blessed.

And that’s about it from Tokyo this week. But there’s more to come, so stay tuned.

Love,

Elder & Sister Low