Family!
As always thanks for the e-mails and Mom thanks for the package. I got it on Saturday. I LOVE the crystal light and the IB has been heaven sent. Thank you!
So this last week has been an interesting one. I have decided that streeting is very hard and can be discouraging at times. Especially when I hear of stories from the Elders in my district having great success. The people here in Shibuya are so busy and don't want to stop and talk. If we can get someone to stop and talk to us for even a little while it can be considered a success. Even a smile is a success. Haha and it doesn't help that I have a fear of it. In Oyama we never streeted because there were no people on the streets. So I am still learning the ways and it is hard and I must say I hate having a fear of it. But it does have a wonderful good side to it. I am learning to rely more on the spirit and the Lord to help me feel peace and joy and not to focus on the fears that would otherwise hinder me. On Saturday I even had a great time with streeting but I will tell you about that later.
Monday and Tuesday that is what we did for the most part streeting. Monday we were able to teach 3 lessons but none on Tuesday. Wednesday I ended getting a cold with that famous cough of mine that had Sister Nishihara and my district leader (who called in the morning and could hear me coughing) worried so they ordered me back to bed where we slept for most of the day until we went to Eikaiwa. It was probably a good thing we didn't go out because it was raining pretty hard and I might have gotten worse. As it is I was completely fine by the next day.
Thursday we went out to Lunch with an investigator of ours, Sayaka, and we taught her another lesson after we ate. Lesson 1, the restoration. We then went back to the church and watched the restoration video but Satan was at work and right at the part when Joseph was going into the woods and saw Heavenly Father and Christ the video was skipping and would stop and pause and it was a mess. We ended up just putting in the English so she could at least see it. She said that she didn't mind. She is really awesome. During our time together she said to herself but we heard, “should I receive baptism” and then asked “can I become a mormon?” She is so ready. Next time we see her this week we are going to actually challenge her. She studies the Liahona and goes to institute with her friend and is really interested in eternal families. She is 21 and I love her!!!
Friday was a great day. Sister Budge held a Sisters Conference for all the Sisters in the Tokyo Mission. They served us breakfast and lunch, there were great talks given, we learned some more workouts that we can do that are fun and did some activities. It really was great. The sisters in this mission are just WONDERFUL. We all work hard and have such a fire. It is fun to be with them. I really enjoyed it too because they had the psychologist for the entire north Asia area (who actually lives in my area and we had dinner with him and his wife 2 weeks ago) speak and he spoke about perfectionism. And let me tell you I suffer from it so it was great to hear from him the healthy and non healthy sides of perfectionism and how to work on changing the unhealthy sides. It was what I needed to hear especially after this last week because it was really hard. It gave me more confidence and encouragement. Yay!!
Saturday was also a really fun day. We did a blitz in the Kichijoji area. And if you don't know what a blitz is (because I didn't before we did it) it is when they get a big group of full-time missionaries and also those who have either returned home from missions or who want and are planning on serving missions and we go on splits with them. Meaning that I got a new companion for a few hours and I showed her how to street. And like I said earlier, I have a fear of streeting so I was getting pretty nervous about taking a 19 year around with me showing her how to street when even myself was still learning. I prayed really hard for help and strength before we left and as soon as I said amen, well actually even before then I immediately felt the spirit and felt peace and even a little excitement. And during the blitz I had a lot of fun and didn't have any fear really. I was even able to teach 2 lessons. My companion was Ueno shimai (she is in the pic with me) and she is 19 and wants to go now that the age has been changed and so will go next summer. Her English is really good so that took some pressure off of me as well. When we were streeting I said hi to this older lady (70's) and told her I liked her scarf. She looked at me and grabbed my arm and just kept saying KAWAII meaning so cute. I don't know how many times she said I was cute. She then asked if she could buy us a drink or something. So we went to a nearby cafe and sat down and talked for 10-15 min. or so. She asked us what we were doing for the day and we told her who we are and what we did. I asked her if she believes in a God and she said no she hasn't really thought about it. I then told her that in our church we believe in a god and that He is our Father in Heaven and we are His children and so He loves and wants to help us in our lives so much. She told us that she doesn't really care about religion that much but wouldn't tell someone not to talk to her about it. We gave her an Eikaiwa flyer and told her about the english classes and she said she would go and take a look. I really hope she does and even though she said she doesn't really care about religion I have faith that if she goes to eikaiwa she will want to learn more. She and her whole family are sick and the gospel can for sure help them feel peace and happiness. And it is my opinion that when she said Kawaii it wasn't just because she thought I had a cute face or anything. I think she saw something different in my countenance, which is the light of Christ. So I think if she sees more of that she will come around. I won't ever know because she is in another area but I still pray for her.
After the blitz we went with the Elders to visit a PI who has been in the hospital for 2 months for pregnancy problems. We wanted to offer her a blessing. She is from Mexico and her husband is from California but his parents were born in Japan and so they came to Japan to be with them. She and her husband are so sweet and so full of faith. She, Sochiru, is already a christian and has deep faith in God and Christ. So we had a great discussion about families and the church and one of the Elders read from the Book of Mormon and we explained a little bit more about it and gave her husband and english copy (she already had one in Spanish). They seemed really interested in it. Sochiru knows a little bit about the church but not too much because her sister is a member living in Texas and she is the one who called the relief society here and asked them to help her so that is how the Sisters here ended up starting to visit her for the last 2 months or so. I am so glad I had the chance to meet her. I love her!! She will be in the hospital for another month or so. This week they are taking her IV out and are hoping that the baby will stay for another 3 or 4 weeks. So she could use some prayers.
Yesterday we went to the Hiro-o ward which is the english speaking ward and that was so nice. It has been a long time since I could understand everything that was being said haha. The members in that ward are truly amazing. Always willing to have the missionaries over for dinner and always ready to fellowship people. I am really excited to be working with them. I was also able to meet some people from the shibuya ward (japanese ward) and they are awesome as well. I feel very lucky to be working with two amazing wards.
Well that is it for this week. I love you all with all my heart. Till next week!!
Kenzie
p.s. i couldn't remember the words to the rest of the song.....
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