Coming Home

Hey Family,

Hope you all had a good week this week. Amanda's wedding shower looked like fun, especially since I was there. Haha the cut out looks great. It is weird to see a life size photo of me. Also thank you for sending JD's e-mail to me. He is doing wonderful and I am so proud of him and the person he is becoming and the wonderful success he is having. It made me glad to hear.

So for the first big news I know my return date now. It is October 8^th. That is coming up so fast I can't believe it. It was an interesting weekend with that though. The Assistants called me and told me that President wants people to extend so have me go home on November 22^nd. The way he made it sound was like I didn't have choice because he asked if I had any family issues that would prevent me from going home then. Obviously I don't and said that November was fine. After we hung up though and thinking about with school in mind I wondered if it would be ok. I ended up calling President Wada and talking to him about my concerns. He actually told me that I had a choice to go home then or earlier. And actually he would need permission from Salt Lake to have me stay at that long. He left the decision to me and told me he would do anything he could to help me out with school or anything. So I had to think of what to do. It weighed on my mind a lot. But after much thought and prayer I realized that November just didn't feel right. I knew that if I did it it would just be to say that I extended and I would probably end up regretting it. But having those choices was a blessing. It made me realize just how much time I have left and how much I absolutely LOVE my mission. I started crying a lot just thinking about leaving. Peoples faces and experience came to my mind and how much I have learned and grown. Serving a mission has really changed my life. I would not be the person I am not if I did not serve the Lord in this capacity. I thank Him everyday for trusting me enough to give me this responsibility and this “once in an eternity” experience. It is truly humbling. And the nice thing about going home in October is that there are some members who will be coming to Salt Lake at the end of that month. I am excited to see them and introduce you to them. They are the best!!

The other news it that I don't know about transfers yet. They have changed the way they do transfers. We get the calls on Tuesdays now and if you are transfering you do it on Thursday. So tomorrow morning I find out what is happening. Sister Tada and I both feel that we won't be companions. But whether that means one of us gets transferred or two sisters come here and they split the area I don't know. And speaking of my companion, this week has been good. We have had a lot of fun together. Since our talk last week the walls have come down and there is more love and trust. Still some culture differences of course but it has been good.

Sadly the work has still been slow. We were able to meet with Dakko last week and teach her a lesson. She had questions about prayer and so we read from the Book of Mormon together and explained the importance of prayer and reading the book of Momron. I was able to give my testimony and an experience with the Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong. There really is no spirit like the one you have while you are teaching someone and baring a powerful testimony through the spirit. It is the best experience EVER!! I am hoping that with this next transfer they will split the Sisters. Having two areas and two wards to cover is hard because of the areas is far and just riding the bike to get there takes up a lot of time. For the members and the peoples sake I am praying for a split. I feel like the sister missionaries will be able to focus more and have more success not having to split the focus. I guess I will see what happens tomorrow.

Last week we had interviews with President Wada. I can not say how much I love him. He is so great and that was the best interview that I have had during my mission. He helped me out so much and gave me wonderful love filled advice. It is sad that I only have short time with him but I plan to keep in contact with him and with Sister Wada. They really are the best ever. I love them soo much.

Today there was a BBQ for the Kanagawa and they also had a talent show and Narissa with her sister came. I really love her and I want to start teaching her so bad. She gave her presentation for her thesis last Saturday and we met last Thursday and helped her with it since it was in English. Now she has to wait for feedback on if they accept it or not and then she will start writing her thesis. So right now she has time and that is why she was able to come today. She and her sister are so cute. I pray for a miracle with them. :D

Well that is pretty much it for this last. I don't have my journal or planner on me so I can't remember a lot of details or experiences worth writing except for a lot of streeting. The work is slow but my heart is full of joy!! :D

I love you all so much and pray for you everyday.

Love,

Kenzie