Tokens from Tokyo: Week 43

Getting to you early Monday morning today! We have a lot of changes going on in our mission right now, and one of them is that P-days will now be on Mondays, except for Transfer Days and Temple Days (and then they'll still be on Tuesday during that week). Crazy.

So this past week has been a crazy one, last Tuesday, it really was a typhoon that came through. It lasted for a couple days, so we got to mix things up and ride in the rain. Unfortunately though I ended up getting my first flat tire about 1 hour away from where we live. Luckily we found some nice people at a close by Honda who gave us shelter from the storm and also helped fix it.

We also had a conference where we got some training about the computers we'll be getting TOMORROW (at another full days worth of training) and have been preparing for a baptism that is this Saturday!

So yeah, one of our investigators Ethal is getting baptized! She and her son! I'm so excited and happy for her. She was at church yesterday just completely glowing from head to foot, and the transformation that has come over her and her three sons is miraculous! I am consistently stunned by the power of conversion that comes over people as they listen to the gospel and then change their lives accordingly. Ethals dealt with a lot throughout her life, and you can just see that weight being lifted from her shoulders as shes learned knew things and felt God's love and Spirit! So thats this Saturday!

So yes it's finally happening that we're getting computers here in the Japan Tokyo Mission! We've had a few computers in some of the areas already, but they've never had too many of the resources to get it fully swinging with those. You asked a few questions about the computers before so I'll try to answer them. Yes, we will have Skype, so on Christmas, I can Skype you. The main purpose for the computers is to see if it will help in teaching. People are insanely busy here. If they work they usually head into work before we wake up as missionaries and come home after we're asleep, so through Skype we'll be able to email/Skype them during lunch or some other break they have and follow-up or teach lessons to them (of course first priority will be to have those lessons in person). All our area books will now be electronic which will help keep things organized and will allow the bishop and ward mission leader to have access to see the progress of our investigators any time they want. Anyway the list goes on and on about what we'll be able to do. But yes, like you said it is on the dangerous side. They've taken a lot of precautions, building custom computers with security cautions, but in the end they're trusting us. President Albrecht has really stuck his head out on the line in trusting us actually. The First Presidency, Mission Council and others are watching us really closely. So if one person screws up, then they're gone. And we'll be filling out things that will create stats to see if the computers are actually helping more people to come unto Christ. If not then there's no point in having them either.

So those are some exciting things for the week!

Hope you're all having a great day!

Love you

Sister Erin Benne

Here are some pictures!