I have disgraced the Okinawan name...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rebekah Bradley <rebekah.bradley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 10:03 AM
Subject: Re: I have disgraced the Okinawan name...
To: rebekahbyui.missionary@blogger.com

On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 9:58 AM, Rebekah Bradley <rebekah.bradley@myldsmail.net> wrote:

YAY!!!! After 2 weeks it's FINALLY P-day.

Folks, never before have I never had such a strong testimony of P-day until now...naps...are essential to my well-being..just saying haha

Anyhoo, oh my goodness Hawaii has just been crazy!! And the Visitor's Center is NOTHING like what they train you for at the MTC. For instance, the La'ie Temple Visitors' Center is the ONLY Visitors' Center that does tram tours. So, on the days we have shift on tram we give over 300 people tours about La'ie, BYU-H and the temple. So there's a million different facts and symbols and meanings I need to memorize for the tram. That, and all the information in the visitors' center that I need to learn and memorize! It's insane but fun. There's one thing the MTC was definitely right about. We literally have like 2-15 minutes to try and teach people some of the most important doctrine and principles of Christ, AND have them fell and recognize the spirit, AND be comfortable enough with us to share their feelings and contact information with us.....VC sisters are just...special....and awesome....and the hardest workers...just saying haha. 

It's seriously so cool going around with all sorts of people and teaching them the same things, but differently and to their needs. The spirit is just incredible, you seriously have no idea what you're doing and then all of the sudden you have all the answers! It's like in 1 Nephi 4:6 where he seriously has no idea WHY he's doing what he's doing, he just knows he's following the spirit. that's what it's like. You say things and you get these ideas to do something or saying something or show a specific video to someone, and it isn't until later when the person says, "How did you know? That was just what I needed!" that you're just like, oh my goodness, the Holy ghost ROCKS!!! hahaha 

Now granted, it's very hard because a lot of the time we as VC sisters DON'T get to see the end result, we just know we sparked something in someone and we send them off just HOPING that they really do have missionaries stop by or they read the Book of Mormon we gave them. Right now we're really trying to work on contacting the missionaries that we transition people to so we can actually find out how all these people are doing! Some of the COOLEST most ELECT people walk in the VC! You can just TELL Heavenly Father has prepared them and they get so excited when they hear the gospel, the thing they've been looking for forever! UGH! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

Ok, so as to the reason for my title......y'all.........I can't speak Japanese....*hangs head* and it sucks......:( there's like a BILLION Japanese living here and Japanese tourists!! BUT I CAN'T SPEAK JAPANESE!!!! :( I feel like a failure as an Okinawan!! But I can't learn it because I've been assigned English so I need to focus on that "/ lame.....I have never regretted not knowing Japanese more...than I do right now...*hangs head* AND I don't know what it is, but I keep attracting Japanese people on my tours!!! But I can't give them a tour because I don't speak Japanese!!!!!!!! Fail.....anyhoo

Oh my goodness, do you know what else I attract? Bashers....holy cow....I didn't think so many people who didn't like Mormons would come to a Mormon temple....you know what I mean? But the good 'ol power of the Holy Ghost is VERY handy and it's KEY to me keeping calm and not blowing up at them hahahaha 

OH! And you know how I said that La'ie is EXACTLY like Okinawa? Yeah, I just keep finding more and more similarities. 1.) We live near a base so this morning I caught the Bugle and National Anthem. 2.) I see planes and helicopters flying in and out of the base ALL the time. 3.) There's a million Japanese people living here 4.) Their national flower is the hibiscus, the flower that is EVERYWHERE in Okinawa. 4.) I can't leave my zone (La'ie) just like I couldn't leave the base. There's no Walmart in my zone, and quite frankly no where near me so I can't go, so it's like there isn't one here...just like Okinawa... 4.) I saw Pres. Jones at the Visitor's Center a few days ago :) (he was my stake president in Okinawa) hahaha 

Anyhoo, I really do just love it here and it's not QUITE as humid as Oki so my hair stays straight! Yay! However, is rains ALL the time JUST like Oki so that tends to NOT be so good for my hair, BUT luckily I'm usually inside when it does! So YAY!!! And my Companion is just Awesome! (Sis. Christensen), we're so much alike and yet SO different! She's so patient with me as I freak out everytime I do something new! Like the other day we were in the referral center and I had people call asking to order Book of Mormons buuuut I've never done the process of ordering a Book of Mormon before AND everyone was from the South and so it'd been awhile since I was around a thick southern accent so I had NO idea what they were saying and had to have them repeat everything like a million times. BUT Sis. C kept me calm and walked me through it and it was great! I was able to get some of them to agree to see the missionaries! Oh my goodness y'all the Church IS the only true church of Jesus Christ! The Book of Mormon IS the outline that we need to get back to live with our families and Heavenly Father again. And if you ask, in faith believing, you WILL receive! I love you all! Work hard! Pray always!

Ofa atu,

Sis. Bradley

P.S. Sis. Otte, I need your address, I totally just found sticky pics of me and your boys from over a year ago that I want to send you :) LOVE YOU!!