Hey family! I hope you had a great week! How is school going? I bet you're all so excited to be going back! :) well! This week was a good week! Let me tell you about the miracle we saw! We found a new investigator! That's a picture of her! She's so cute! Her name is Mari, she's 22 years old and is super nice! Anyways. We met her on Tuesday after district meeting! We knocked on her door and it was kind of really awkward at first haha. But then we started talking and it was way fun... But then her mom came out of the house and we were like dang it! She's gonna tell us to go away. But then her mom knew that we were Mormon missionaries and was like hey! You teach Eikaiwa right?! Apparently she knew missionaries like way a long time ago and went to eikaiwa. So that was cool! Anyways so after we talked for a while we made a return appointment and had a lesson with her on Thursday! We talked about Christ and it was such a good lesson! At the end of the lesson she was like if I join your church I can't drink alcohol right? And I have to pay money right? So we talked about the word of wisdom and tithing a little bit haha. But she was way open to it and it was good! We are going back on Wednesday! I'm way excited! She's so Cool! We also had junkai this week! I got to be companions with chapman shimai. Her and I came to Japan together so that was fun! Anyways. This week was way fun! Sorry this email is short! But I love you guys! Have a great week!
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Hi everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you have a great school year! I can't believe summer is already over! It's way too fast! I don't know what's happening but time is flying by. I can't believe the transfer is half over... Gosh. Scary how fast it's going! I can't believe we are already into September. Insane! Anyways. This week was pretty good! Kinda crazy, but way good! On Tuesday I was sick with some kinda stomach bug... It was awful. But we had a lesson at 5:30 with our new investigator tanaka! We had to go! So I rested all day and we went to the lesson. But when we were about to leave I felt so sick. Like the worst I felt all day, but we had to go to the lesson so I pushed through and we walked to her house. Luckily she lives close! Well we get to her apartment and she wasn't home. I almost cried haha. But then! Her kids come running up the stairs! They had just got home from school! She let us in the house and we had a lesson! We talked about the plan of salvation. Her kids were crazy and fighting and screaming but she was so interested that she was asking us questions over her screaming kids! I felt like our lesson was way crazy but she still got it! She was piecing things together by herself and really understanding. It was so cool! We have another appointment with her on Wednesday. She asked us to come back when her kids are in school haha. I'm way excited! After the lesson we went to eikaiwa. And there was another miracle! This lady that me and Butikoffer shimai talked to the Sunday before came! So that was way cool!
On Wednesday we had a meeting with our dendo shunin. We biked out to his house because I thought I was feeling better.... But then we had to bike up this huge hill and I thought I was gonna die. So we got to his house and I looked awful so he let me take a nap on his couch while the other missionaries had the meeting haha. Then his wife made me some soup haha. So nice! Our dendo shunin... Ward mission leader... Is the best! Him and his wife do so much for us! But he just got called as second counselor in the bishopric so we will probably be getting a new dendo shunin soon. So sad! Thursday, elder choi from the seventy came to our mission and spoke to us! It was way cool! And I got to see some old friends! Clements shimai, who I knew in the mtc and lived with for 3 transfers when I was a bean! That was a happy reunion! And then I saw carvalho shimai and so shimai! My second and third companions! And they are currently companions right now haha. It was fun! Anyways. Elder choi was way cool! He talked to us about changing our hearts and elevating our thinking and expecting miracles. He was way fun. He talked a lot about obedience and his catch phrase was "if you don't like it, like it" haha. It was a really cool conference and I learned a lot! Friday we had a lesson with Nikkie! She's so cool. She made us Apple pie and it was delicious hAha. She's so gonna get baptized one day. Not any day soon, but one day! I told her that and she laughed and just said we will see! But don't get your hopes up too high... She's totally gonna get baptized! She's just stubborn. But I've seen how much she's changed and how much more she cares about what we are teaching her. It's only a matter of time! We also had a lesson with Tsuzuki! It was so good! She told us that Heavenly Father doesn't seem like some strange far away American God anymore haha. She told us that she finally is starting to feel like He loves her and cares about her so that's way cool! Saturday we went to this all you can eat yakiniku restaurant with our dendo shunin, the elders, and this less active member. Holy cow. I think that's the fullest I've ever been in my life!... The bike ride home afterwards was pretty painful though haha. Then yesterday was church! It was good. I love the ward here! They are the best! We also talked to some really great people when we were housing! It was a great day! This week was so fun! We saw so many miracles! I'm way grateful to be a missionary. It's the best! Well, I love you all! Hope you have a great week! Hey family! How are you? Ready to go back to school?! This week was a pretty busy week! On Monday we had dinner and a Mogi lesson... Like a pretend lesson... With a member. He gave us some feedback and it was way good! Then we had to bike so fast to get home on time haha. It was scary. And geez we live up three mountains so it's the worst when we have to book it home. But we made it! Tuesday was our typhoon day. A crazy typhoon came through Kyushu so we had to stay inside all day... It was a long day haha. Wednesday we had district meeting! The first one of the transfer! It was way good.... But man, I feel way old. Our district leader is only transfer 5! He's half my age! Haha. But he's way awesome. We talked all about desires and miracles and he committed us to plan a specific miracle we want to see every night at planning. I've gotten that commitment before but I never really did it because I felt like it was silly... I'm prideful, I know haha. But me and Butikoffer shimai decided to give it a try and oh man... It was crazy! So on Wednesday night the miracle we planned for the next day was to be able to make a return appointment with someone. Then the next day we had another Mogi lesson scheduled with a recent convert but we had a lot of trouble getting there so basically our whole afternoon was us going to the lesson and coming home and getting bike problems fixed and I swear we walked like around the world! It was so much walking! We came home for dinner and we were feeling kinda lame because we felt like we wasted our day. But after dinner we went out and housed. We went to these apartment buildings called danchis.... There usually 5 stories tall with no elevator and there's two apartments on each floor. We were so tired from walking all day but we made ourselves climb up a million stairs anyways. We did a couple of these apartments with no luck. But then! We knocked on the tanaka family's door and our miracle happened! We knocked on the door and this little boy answers and then runs and gets his mom. His mom talks to us for a while and because she's a mom with 3 of the most adorable kids ever! We talked about eternal families. Turns out her mom died recently and she had been thinking a lot about what happens to us when we die. Seriously so perfect! Then we asked her if we could come back and she said okay! So we made an appointment to go back at 5:30 on Tuesday! I am so excited! Gosh! It was our miracle! Lately it has been way hard for us to make return appointments and we were feeling way discouraged. But we saw the miracle that we planned for and it was way awesome! This week I learned that miracles really happen. And it's not just of we are lucky. We can be in charge of the miracles we see. It takes work and faith, but if we are willing to put in our best efforts, God will bless us with those miracles. I am so grateful to be a missionary. It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it's definitely the best thing I've ever done. I'm so grateful to be in Japan! It's such a special place with so many special people just waiting to hear the gospel. Anyways! I love you guys and hope you have a great week!
Hello! How was your week?! I hope it was awesome! It's way weird that you all met elder Henrie! What a weird miracle! Anyways My week was pretty crazy! The first week of the transfer always is. It went by so fast! I seriously can't even believe that I'm transfer 10. I still feel like I just got here sometimes and now...I'm old! I realized that especially on Thursday at our zone training meeting. I'm the oldest shimai in our whole zone. In fact our zone leader is younger than me... I'm talking transfers, not actual age haha. Although, I think I am the oldest shimai age wise too haha. Anyways. I guess I really fall into the "experienced missionary" category now because at zone training they kept asking me about my past experiences haha. Really though. Most of our zone is transfer 4 or 5 and there are a lot of first transfers too... Everyone is so young. The mission goes by way too fast. I'm seriously in shock. This week was kind of a wake up call for me. I feel like there is still so much more I want to do and want to accomplish before my time is up! I mean of course I still have a lot of time, but I realized just how fast the clock is ticking. Anyways. My new companion, Sister Butikoffer, is way great. She's transfer 4. And it's weird because she thinks I'm like super experienced and she thinks I'm way good at Japanese haha so she always asks me questions about Japanese and I try my best to answer them haha. It's really cool because Yahata is only her second area! So there are still a lot of firsts that she is experiencing with me! And it's way fun. She is so awesome and so up for the adventures. And she liked to bike before her missions so the mountains that we bike up aren't a problem for her at all! Haha. Sister Butikoffer is limited in her Japanese but she studies so hard! When we talk to people or teach lessons she always shares her testimony in simple Japanese, but it is always so powerful! It's always a million times better than anything I say. I learned that gaijin power is real! Haha and people can feel the spirit when we talk to them even if our language isn't perfect or sophisticated. I was really reminded this week that it's not about what we say, it's about the spirit we have when we say it. Alma 37:6 says "that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..." And that's really how I felt this week! We didn't see any huge miracles this week, we didn't find any new investigators but we were able to talk to a lot of really great people that I felt God needed us to talk to. I really felt like me and Butikoffer shimai are really small and simple, but we are bringing to pass great things and I know the Lord is gonna bless us with huge miracles as we keep doing this work! And I'm so grateful! I really spent a lot of time in the past two transfers feeling inadequate and that I just wasn't enough, but sister Butikoffer reminded me that we are enough! As long as we are giving our all to God, We are enough. She's so awesome! And she doesn't even know it yet! Haha. I'm so excited to have this transfer to work with her! And I can't believe the first week is already over! It's crazy fast! Well, I hope you all have a great week! I love you always! This is a picture of almost all of my zone!
Hey family! Hope you all had a good week! Well, I am now transfer 10.... That's crazy! It went way too fast! I'm still in yahata! But I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Butikoffer. She is transfer 4. Way young! But she's way awesome! So far we get along way well and it's been fun! She's from Idaho and just turned 20! But anyways. Finding her on transfer day was quite the stressful adventure. She was supposed to get to the train station at 2:30.... She didn't come until 6:30.... I thought she was lost forever! And it's scary because she didn't have a phone so it's not like we had anyway to contact her. But it all worked out and after a long and stressful travel for her, she made it to kurosaki! This week was crazy with transfers. It was not a normal week at all. Monday was Packard shimais birthday, so we celebrated by eating cheesecake and giant snow cones. Tuesday was transfer calls and pday! Wednesday was spent packing and saying goodbye to people. Then Thursday Packard shimai transferred and Butikoffer shimai came in! Friday we had to weekly plan and I had to teach her about the area. Which was kinda stressful. I haven't been area Senpai since my 4th transfer. But it was good! Then this weekend we visited some people so she could meet some of our investigators and members and we did some finding. It's been really good. She has only been in Japan for 4 months so she is really limited in her Japanese so it's a new challenge for me. I've never had such a young companion! But it's really fun! And it's pushing me to learn more Japanese. It's really good for me. I seriously cannot believe how old I am. I had a huge realization of how little time I have left! And it's definitely making me want to work harder and use all of my time in the best way I can! I love being a missionary! It's really hard sometimes, but it's always worth it!
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good week! Mine was kind of crazy! But way good. And today is transfer call day! I can't believe that I'm about to be on transfer 10! It goes so fast! I think I will probably stay in this area but get a new companion.... But! You will have to wait until next week to know I guess! Haha. Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to email but here are some pictures from the week!
Hey family! This week was so crazy. But it was really fun. We had junkais with the sister training leaders and we went to the temple and we went to the beach and had a bbq with our eikaiwa! It was such a fun week.... But it was probably one of the hardest weeks I've ever had on
my mission and probably in life haha. I'm just really grateful that next week is transfers. I don't think I've ever been so exhausted in my life. I don't even know how to explain what happened to me this week... And I honestly don't really want to remember it. So here are some pictures. |