Hello Family,
HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!! I hope you have a wonderful time in San Diego as you celebrate your 30 years together. You are the best parents ever and I am so glad that you are mine!! :) I am happy for Brittany and tell her congrats for me!! Her wedding sounded like it was really fun and I am sure that she looked beautiful! Charlie sounds like the sweetest and best dog ever. Always playing wiht him and taking him on play dates with other dogs. Wow!! We weren't able to do that with our other dogs. He just sounds soooo cute!!! I want to play with him and cuddle him. I miss having a dog around. Cuddle and play with him for me please!! I can't wait to meet him. How is Jackson liking pre-school? Does he like it or does he hate going? How are you likning him going to school Jen? Does your days not seem as hectic?haha :) I miss my two little boys.
So today marks the first day of my second transfer. I made it through my first!! halleluijah. And I will be honest and say that I will remember my first transfer as the transfer through hell. I had a good time I love being here it was just very very hard. Losing yourself can be like that. And then there of course was the language ability and getting used to a new companion, a new lifestyle. But I was finally able to find me. "O there you are Peter!" And ever since then I have found so much more joy and excitement for the work. Don't get me wrong it can still be hard but is easy now too. If that makes any sense. And like I said last week I was able to get through and become this way through the atonement. I have learned a lot and I think I have grown a lot as well. So even though it was hard and I seriously questioned sometimes how I was going to make it through, I am very grateful for it. I learned to lean even more on my Savior and become close to Him and use the atonement. I now know to be the person who the Lord called before I started my mission. It is that person He needs and He is shapig and refining her to be the best tool He can use. That is the greatest blessing I can recieve. Just like how it says in Alma 26:3. I am so happy to be here in Japan and to be going through these frustrations and hardships. Through them I am learning and growing and it makes me excited to see who you will meet when I come home. :)
This last week we went to the Temple and I loved it. I have really missed going and the Celestrial Room in the Tokyo Temple was very very pretty. I feel so at home in the Temple and I feel so much peace there. It is a place where I can leave my troubles and concerns at the door. Everyone should go to the Temple as often as they can. It is so important!! It is missionary work for the dead. And it is place where we can visit the Lord because it is His house. Who wouldn't want to visit the Lord? And living in Salt Lake I don't think people fully realize the blessing they have of having so many temples around them that they can go to. So go!! If you don't you are missing out on wonderful blessings from Heaven. Make time to go. The Lord blesses those who make time. That is my advice for the week. :) Go to the Temple!!
After we went to the Temple we had companion exchanges. Sister Lundy went to Machida where she was companions with Sister Wylie for a day and Sister Takei came with me to Oyama. I had so much fun. I really loved the exchange. And now after being with Sister Takei, who is Japanese, I really hope and pray that my next companion is Japanese. It is so much easier to talk to them in Japanese and is easier to learn from them. I also like ti because when you visit japanese people you cna have a real conversation with people and really get to know them. We went over to a less active families house for dinner that night and just shared a short message. It was a blast!! I think I will like exchanges during my mission. :)
When we switched back the next day I put Sister Lundy and myself on the wrong train and we went to who knows where and it took several trains to get back to Oyama. I felt so bad because we were late for Eikaiwa and spent more money on train fare. I need to work on my train map reading skills apparently.
On Saturday we saw Narumi again. She invisted us over to her house and her mom made us Lunch and Narumi taught us Calligraphy. Her mom is so sweet and she was really excited to meet us. Took a picture with us and everything. :) That is gaijin (foreigner) power for you. Calligraphy was so much fun. The first time I did it was bad but I was able to slowly improve. The picture of me and Narumi is a calligraphy she did that means eien tomodachi (eternal friends). Then the picture with just the paper is Dolan in Kanji. Our name means Bold, Majectic flower. (ran is a type of flower here in Japan). After we did calligraphy we were able to teach her a little more about the church. I really enjoyed it because it was done in a natural setting and the spirit was felt strongly. We talked about many different things - the BoM, Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ - and so on. I love Narumi and am so happy I met her. I really want to see her progress and I really hope she does what we asked and reads the Book of Mormon. She is going to switzerland on Thursday and will be gone for 3 weeks so it will be awhile till we see her again but when she gets back we are going hiking. :)
Yesterday there a baptism for the Elders investigator. It was a beautiful service and both Narumi and Prit came. I was so happy that they did, especially Priti. Last week he e-mailed us saying that he has been thinking a lot about baptism but still has some curiousity about some things and wants to look both ways before he enters. I really hope that seeing the baptism has helped him and will help him have that desire.
We also got 2 new investigators this week which made us excited. We are becoming really really busy with so many people to think about and try to set up times with. It is insane but the Lord is really blessing us and we are really optimistic about seeing hour investigators enter into the waters of baptism. They are ready, we just need to help them see that.
There is a couple in the ward, Adachi, who are the coolest people ever and are such amazing missionaries. We had a lesson with Sister Adachi as our joint this week and she was awesome. There are a lot of words that we use in the church that the Japanese people have never heard before and so she was able to explain very clearly. I feel so blessed to know her and her husband. They are so kind and they visit Utah a lot apparently. They are like my parents here in Oyama. They always make me feel so loved and welcoming and they are amazing examples of how to be a member missionary. And Sister Adachi makes amazing Lasanga. ;)
That is all for this week. I love everyone so much and I miss you. Thank you for your love and your support and I shall talk to you next week!!
Love,
Kenzie
