Dear Family and Friends,
The work continues here in the most exciting city in the world. Here’s an update of how we’re doing.
Meeting with Elder Cook
Last week Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spent the week in Japan. He was accompanied by Presiding Bishop Causse and Elder Palmer of the Presidency of the Seventy.
Elder Cook and Elder Palmer and their wives spent a day with our mission, and it was a wonderful experience. They personally greeted and shook hands with every missionary, then carefully taught us what they felt we needed to learn in order to be effective here in Japan. So cool.
Then later in the week we attended a nationwide devotional for members with all the general authorities and their wives.
What did we learn? Apostles work hard. Elder and Sister Cook were booked solid every minute of every day they were here. They definitely put in more hours than an average full-time missionary. And Elder Cook is 84. Just watching him go and do was exhausting.
Also, there’s no doubt that apostles are inspired. He knew exactly what the situation in our mission was, and knew how to address our needs. He was familiar with the intricacies of Japanese language and culture, and he instructed us on how they considered the people of Japan when writing Preach My Gospel.
More Meals
We continue to cook for our Young Single Adults. We love them more every day. Cooking for them has become so fun. We love to see their faces light up when the food comes out.
This past Sunday we had some visiting youth from out of town, so we had a big meal to cook. Since there was extra budget money, we decided to spend a little more and buy some roast beef, which is expensive in Japan.
With that, we made 140 Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. It was a huge hit. Nobody here in Japan knows what a cheesesteak is, and they all loved it. Elder Low likes to think it was an excellent example of building cross cultural understanding – using beef.
We had a lot of help, including President and Sister Murakami, our branch president (who we love dearly). They went shopping at Costco with us. We also had a lot of help from youth leaders from the stake. It was so fun to work with them on this meal.
The week before we cooked a “pasta bar” for the branch. That involved cooking four kinds of pasta and two kinds of sauce and then serving up all different kinds of combinations. With lots of cheese. The kids loved that one as well. We served about 80 meals for that one, then used the leftovers for family home evening the next night, which was also snarfed up.
We’ve learned that the pathway to a young single adult’s heart goes through the stomach. But it doesn’t stop there. The food must be followed with teaching, testimony, and promised blessings. And a lot of hugs. We try to do that every day.
Ward Prayer
Another item we started doing is “ward prayer,” just like the YSA wards back home do. Sister Low came up with the idea back in January and President Murakami quickly supported it. We gather for prayer on Sunday afternoons at the meetinghouse, since a lot of kids stay after church and socialize. We also stream the prayer online for those who can’t be in the building.
There are a few specific things that we pray for. First, we pray for the missionaries serving from our branch as well as those serving in our branch – by name. That includes us, which is always heartwarming to hear. Secondly, we pray for friends who are learning the gospel from the missionaries – by name. Then we pray that the members of our branch will be successful in their efforts to gain an education and build a career. And lastly, we pray that the members of our branch will be able to find a spouse and be sealed in the temple.
We pray for those items every week as a branch. Last week, Elder Low was chatting with President Murakami about ward prayer and President Murakami noted that ward prayer works. This year we’ve had more baptisms than ever before. We have more temple sealings than we’ve ever had. President Murakami is right. The Lord is hearing our prayers and answering them.
Driver’s Licenses
Yes, we do drive here in Tokyo. The mission needs us to drive mission vehicles for multiple errands. Sometimes we need to transport missionaries and luggage. Other times we need to help fill the van full of groceries.
Up until now, we’ve been driving using the International Driving Permit we secured in the US before leaving on our mission. But that permit is only good for one year. It’s now expired. So, we strolled into the Tokyo Driver’s License Office one day to apply for a Japanese Foreign Resident License.
They laughed us out of the building. Apparently, the demand for foreign driver’s licenses has exploded this year. It’s so big that the line to apply for a foreign driver’s license usually starts at 1am. Then within a few minutes of opening, the Driver’s License Office has taken all the applications they can handle for the day and closes the application desk.
What? Are you kidding? That’s crazy! That meant a new adventure came our way. It’s called the Sleeping on the Streets of Downtown Tokyo with Five Dozen Chinese Truck Drivers Adventure.
We got up at 2am and ordered a cab that took us to the Driver’s License Office. There are no trains or busses running at that hour. It was a strange feeling to drive through the middle of the biggest city in the world and be the only car on the road. It felt like the apocalypse had happened. Ghost town. The streets and buildings were empty.
“Surely, nobody will be in line,” thought Elder Low. But sure enough, by the time we got there at 2:30, there were already 8 people camped outside the gate of the building. We were numbers 9 and 10.
By the time the security guard unlocked the gate at 5:30, there were about 40 people in line. When they started letting people in the building at 8:15, Elder Low counted 70 people.
Before we got our turn at the application desk, a handful of people who were in front of us in line were sent away because they didn’t bring all the required documentation. That was heartbreaking to watch. We ended up being applications 6 and 7 for the day. By the time number 20 went to the desk, a police officer walked out and said, “That’s it for today. We’re not taking any more applications.” It was 8:35am. We watched as dozens of very tired people sadly left empty handed. Next time, they’ll have to wake up earlier. See Doctrine & Covenants 88:124.
After the paperwork, interview, eye exam, written exam, and fee payment, they scheduled us for a driving test. . . on December 3. We walked out of the office at 11:30. We’ll be taking more cab rides for a while.
The list of interesting things you can do here in Tokyo is endless. But a night sleeping on the street outside the DMV is a unique one that we’ll talk about for a long time. Now we hope and pray we pass the driving test in December.
But every day is an adventure. We are still amazed at the kind of experiences we get to have. We are so grateful to be here and we are so blessed. We’re hope our family is blessed as well.
And there’s more to come, so stay tuned.
Dear Grandkids – don’t forget to pray for your missionary grandparents. We need your prayers.
Love,
Elder & Sister Low
Elder & Sister Low 