Hi Family,
Thank you for all of the Birthday wishes and for the amazing birthday/Easter package last week. I loved it!! My conviction that I have the number one best family grows stronger each and every day. :D
Megs that is very exciting that your papers are turned in. I can't believe it is that time all ready. I\ feel like you just told me about the decision to go on a mission. How quickly time passes by. I hope it will come next week but since mom feels like it will I will trust her instincts. She was right about mine after all. I request that someone takes a video and send the whole thing to me on a memory card or something so that I may see it. I am excited to learn where you will be going. I am pulling for Japan of course. ;D
And to answer your question Mom, no I don't know when we will know who will go to the south mission and who will stay. My guess is that we will find out sometime in June. And for the missionaries in the MTC I am guessing once again that they may receive another call saying that it has been changed. I have heard of that happening to missionaries in the MTC, their missions changing. So some may know already where they will go. For actual facts I really don't know.
Thanks for the videos and pictures. It blows my mind how big the boys are. It is crazy. I can't get over it. I love them and miss them so much!! Makes me excited to see who they will be when I get home.
So this last week has been pretty amazing seeing many wonderful miracles and meeting many wonderful people.
On Thursday we had an english/book of Mormon lesson with one investigator at a donut shop but she never ended up going. So Sister Vail and I decided just to buy and eat a donut quickly and then go out streeting but while we were in line we started talking to this girl and she remembered seeing us the last time we were there and remembered seeing our name tags. She said that she too was Christian and she is studying English right now. We asked her if we could help her at all with English and she said yes and immediately came over to sit down next to us. Her name is Ryu and she is from China and has been in Japan for 8 months. We had a great visit with her and in the end she actually asked us for our phone number and invited us to Nikko with her on Saturday. So on Saturday we went to Nikko with her and her friend, Takami. Takami is amazing. He is funny and so nice. He drove us to Nikki and payed for everything. He wouldn't let us pay. He even got an English book tour guide recording for Sister Vail and I so we could learn more about the shrines. He was so nice. And we had so much fun with the both of them. While we were there we asked Ryu if we could teach her more about Christ and this gospel and she said yes. She even came to church yesterday and we taught about the Restoration. She is so awesome. I feel like I have known her longer than just 4 days. I love her so much and I am so excited to teach her more!!!
We also taught Brother Yamazaki again yesterday and he has grown so much. So last Sunday we gave him the challenge of praying to know whether or not God is there. I taught him how it doesn't have to be a super long prayer. It can be a simple phrase, 'Father are you there?' I told him how you, Dad, wrote that to me in my letter and how I always say that. Anyway he said during this week while he was riding his bike he remembered what I said and asked that. He got an answer that yes God is there. What wonderful progress. We then started talking to him about baptism. He said he wants to be sure to be following all of the commandments and that Baptism is a big commitment. Right now the word of wisdom is hard for him. And he told us that honestly that he has never really thought about himself getting baptized. After discussing about baptism we asked him to think about baptism for this week and he said that he would. He has never agreed to do that before. It was amazing. He is changing so much recently. I love it. I love this family with all of my heart and I am praying that I can stay in Utsunomiya to continue teaching him and the others we have found.
The Lord has been pouring out his blessings so much recently. We have found some amazing people to teach and they are progressing really well. I love Utsunomiya with everything that I have. This is the last week of the transfer. This Saturday is transfer calls and there are 12 sisters coming in next week which means only 6 senior missionaries WON”T be training this transfer. I am nervous that I will be transferred to another area because so far that has been the status quote. After every 2 transfers I have been transferred. I will go and do what the Lord wants me to do but I desperately want to stay here. I would stay here for the rest of my mission if I could. Our investigators and the ward members have become my family. I love them so much. I guess we will see what the Lord has in store for me this weekend. But I am going to be enjoying this last week of mine with all that I have.
Lately I have found a lot more joy in the mission and I think it is because of the lessons I have been learning during this transfer. And I have learned a LOT!! I can't even put into words some of the things that I have learned. But they are lessons that I do need to learn. Lessons I know for a fact will help me for the rest of my life. It is amazing the changes I am going through. Sometimes I get the same lesson to learn and other times they are new but each time a new challenge a new lesson comes I am grateful for the lesson. It is a stronger testimony to me that the Lord loves me. And it has been a true blessing this last week to see His hand in this work. Meeting the people that we have been meeting, teaching the gospel. And each time my love has been growing stronger and stronger. This last weekend is the kind of weekend that makes all of the challenges worth it. A Sister missionary's brother told her that 85% of the mission is hard. He said you will be miserable and tired. But the other 15% makes up for it. Because in that 15% you see true miracle happen in people's lives. This statement is very true. My mission has been hard, there have been many many days of tears and doubts and fears. But the miracles that I have seen, with others and also within myself, makes me so grateful for the mission. Makes me so grateful for those hard times. They have made me enjoy the 15% even more and come closer to the Savior. What a wonderful blessing. You have a great experience to look forward to Megs. And I am excited to see where you go off to.
I love you everyone and I am loving you and appreciating you more day by day.
Until next week,
Kenzie
