Happening

Hey family,

 

Glad everyone is doing well. :D

 

So I probably won't have time to cover the whole week. But their are 2 things I want to cover the most.

 

First, last Wednesday we had a 2 zone conference with President and Sister Wada there and it was amazing. They are truly inspired from God and I really feel their love for us. At this conference I gave my last testimony. It was so hard and so unreal that it was happening I couldn't believe it. It was a great day filled with the spirit.

 

Now let me tell you about the opposite side. Friday night was the scarriest night of my life and which is why I am actually doing another emergency transfer and going to a new area tomorrow with an american companion. So I have actually been sugar coating my relationship with my companion. It has been hard. There has been no love or the Spirit and I have felt like I have been walking on a mine field the last few weeks. Well on Friday I found a mine and it blew up but I didn't even say anything. I will skip over a lot of the details and the before events but basically on Friday night after we all went to bed I heard my companion in the other room crying and then screaming. Not just screaming like a normal person would if they were mad but it almost seemed like a mental outburst. And that is when she came into the room I was sleeping in by throwing open the door and screaming and yelling at me and Sister Hathaway and then falling to the ground and screaming and pounding the floow. I am not exagerating when I say that I seriously thought that she was going to kill us. Sister Hathaway thought so as well. When it was obvious she couldn't be calmed down by us we called the President and told him what was going and he ended up talking to her and then to me. But while he was talking to her I was shaking like I never have before and even started hyperventalating a bit. No words can descibe how scary it was. It was like horror movie. I coundn't sleep at all that night and felt sick to my stomach and it didn't help that after she did calm down and was talking to us normally she told us that she actually had the thought of killing us and thought she would. When the President talked to me that night he asked if I could stay with her for another 2 weeks (transfer days are really next week) and I told him that I could but Saturday morning when I woke up I was still terrified and didn't want to be alone with her. I called the President to tell him about my feelings and he invited me to the mission home to stay for the weekend with another sister who needed rest any way because she isn't feeling well. So I have been staying at the mission home since Saturday and I just got back to my area today to pack and be ready to transfer tomorrow.

 

I knew that I was missing having the spirit and love around but I didn't know how much until I went to the mission home and just got overpowered by it. Words can not describe my love for President and Sister Wada and how grateful I am for their love and concern. They really do feel like parents and how grateful I am for them because being with them made it easier to go through what I did. Yesterday after dinner I had a interview with the President to expalin again what happend and my feelings and that is when he told me I would be split from her but the details would have to wait till the morning which I got today. But last night he did ask again if I would be willing to stay until November. I prayed hard about it and talked to Sister Wada a lot about it and I still felt like I need to go home in October so that is when I will be home. But I am being transfered to another area called Yamato which has a japanese branch but also a military branch. My companion is american and on her 3rd transfer so it will be fun and I am really hoping I can have the spirit and love back for my last few weeks on the mission. I want to end strong. But it was nice staying at home because I was able to get a lot of much needed sleep and rest. I loved it there. It made me excited to come home to you guys and have that feeling again.

 

And I hope my companion can become better and get the help that she needs. She has been through A LOT in her life. Things you wouldn't even believe and even though I am scared and would prefer not to see her again I still want her to let go of those past feelings and really accept the Savior's Atonement. I pray that she will be watched over.

 

Well that was bacially the eventful stuff from this week. and now I have to get ready to transfer. I am excited and nervous but it will be good. I feel that the Lord is watching out for me.

 

I love you all,

Know that I am ok but still stay a prayer for me.

 

Love,

Kenzie

Buddah, Atonement, HOT WEATHER and more

Hey Family,

First off I want to say that I LOVE you sooo much. My heart and my mind were with you this last weekend-I will be honest I was a little trunky. CONGRATUALTIONS JUSTIN AND AMANDA!!!!! Just I can't believe you are actually married and that I missed it. I seem to miss the big things in your life like when you came home from your mission and your wedding. But know that I still love you the same as ever. And Amanda welcome offically to the family. I have thought about you as a sister for a long time but now it is offical. You carry the Dolan name. Wear it proudly. haha Also Megs I heard that you did a great job on your talk as I knew you would. Now you need to prep yourself for giving the same amazing talks but in spanish. Because it will happen. My ward asked me suddenly to speak and share my testimony when someone couldn't make it. But you will be fine, much better than me I am sure. I also heard about the awesome party reception. I would think of anything less for Justin and Amanda. I am so happy that everything turned out well, everyone was happy and had a good time. I was praying for you all. I am soo happy you had so much fun. :D Now the next step to work towards is the Temple Wedding. Make sure you make that the first priority because if you do I know that great blessings will follow. :D

Ok so onto my week that had many things happen.

Well first off I went to Kamakura last week whichi is where I bought Dad his swords. Which speaking of whichi I cannot believe that they got there so fast. They told me it would get there in a week maybe. That is great. I am glad that you like them Dad. And they are real replicas of a Samuri sword. Last year a Samuri movie came out (which I plan to buy before coming home) and the swords are like the ones in the movie. Glad they got to you safe. In Kamakura there is a giant buddah which I sent a picture of. I love seeing places like this becuase it really reminds me that I am actually in Japan. If I come back with any of you that is a place we for sure need to go to. Because also in Kamakura is a big shrine and you are able to see Mt. Fugi from the beach. Unfortunatly we didn't have time to go to the beach and so I didn't see Mt. Fugi. Next time. :D It was really fun because we went with both the Kanagawa Elders and the Kohoku Elders. It was a blast!!!

Tuesday was an interesting day. I was feeling frustrated and stressed about different things and the relationships in the apartment wasn't the strongest and basically just felt like nothing was going right. But the Lord showed me how much He loves me because we visted a member and she has her own business whichi is aroma therapy massage. She mixed up some aromas that was supposed to be soothing and relaxing and it worked. It started relaxing me and I felt a lot better. She also gave me a nice hand massgae. I just felt like that was such a huge tender mercy from the Lord. I never knew how much I would like aroma therapy. haha And He even showed me that day a little bit that what I am doing here is good thing. He has actually been showing me that for the whole week. Right now we literally have no one to teach. We don't have any investigators or any potential investigators. But despite that I feel very strongly about helping the members and strengthening them and getting them into doing missionary work. I have received many answers about it but there is still always the thought of what other missionaries will think and then the numbers always come out 0 so even though I know in my heart that what I am doing is what the Lord wants sometimes little doubts creep up that I am messing up and not being a good missionary. I know I know that isn't true. and I am working on it. Believe me I am working on it.

Wednesday we had the best zone meeting I have ever had on my mission. So before I explain why I don't think I have explained what the Japan Tokyo South Mission theme is. It's: Obedience is the price, Faith is the power, love is the motive, the Spirit is the key, CHRIST IS THE REASON. So in the meeting we talked about how Christ is the reason why we are here on missions. You may have heard of this activity (because I have before) but it was my first time experienceing it. The zone leaders asked one Elder to do 10 push ups for each person so that they can have an ice cream. Elder Hill went around the room very slowly and asked specifically for each person if the elder would do 10 push ups so that they can have ice cream, it was like, "Elder Schumaucher, will you do 10 push ups so that Sister Dolan can have a coolish?"There were about 16-18 missionaries. I think in total it was about 160 push ups. And guess who was the very last one. It was me. So when it got to me the Elder was of course very tired and his arms hurt a lot. He was huffing really loud and doing them very slow. I was crying so hard because I imagined Christ doing that for me. After He suffered so much pain for everyone else He suffered even more for me so that I can be cleansed, be made strong and returen to His the the Fathers prescence. You can not imagine the spirit that was in there. The zone leaders than talked about how that is why we are here. To share this message. Christ already suffered for the people here. And whether they reject or not it will never change the act that He performed. We need to share with people what was done for them. That is our responsiblity and that is our Reason. I think the same is true for all members. I shared that in my talk on Sunday. I told the members that it is our responsibility as Christ disciples to share the message to everyone. We cannot take the choice away from them. It was a very powerful meeting and I can't fully explain my feelings from it. But know it was amazing.

From Wednesday through the weekend we were busy visting members. After the training we visisted 2 members and do practice lesson using the new training that we received. Thursday we met with our Ward mission leader for a practice lesson and Friday we had 3 appointments with members. It is amazing the change that is starting to take place in the ward. They are allowing the missionaries to come to their homes and share with them messages. Which is exaclty what I want and makes me happy. And this week we have a lot of meal appointments set up with members. I am excited. And speaking of meal appointments, we had one on Sunday night with a family from Bolivia. They are the cutest family ever and just so you know Megs when I told the father about your mission he said the Uruguay is the best place in South America. :D But this family is very cute and have many kids. And that is the funny story I want to share with you. We were asking about their children and their ages and their ages go 10, 8, 4, 2, 1 and 5 months but the mother is 2 months pregnant. Shocked? Ya so were we when we heard. And that is when the brother said that he tries for self control but there is nothing you can do about it. Haha we were dying of laughter when he said that. Us and the Elders couldn't believe that he said that. Funniest thing ever.

As you can notice from the title of the e-mail is that it is becoming very HOT!!!! This weekend has been between 38 and 40 C which is about 100-105 degrees in F. But with the humidity it feels hotter. So right now I don't look pretty at all because I am sweating from every pore and there is really no helping it. I will send a picture to show you what I mean. And if you zoom up on my face you can seen the sweat. Just make sure that this picture doesn't end up on facebook.

This week I was also able to learn more about companion which shed some more light on why she thinks the way she does and do things that she does. I don't want to share what she has been through in an e-mail but she has been through A LOT in her life. It is my first time meeting someone who has been through so much. I have really learned from her to be humble and also have learned the power of the Atonement and how it can change a persons life. Ever since I have learned more about it things between us have been better - at least better understanding. Sometimes it can still be hard but now I am able to understand and have more patience for her and for myself.

This week has been really amazing with the Lord showing me how much He loves me and how much of value I have to the mission. I can't even explain it. And the strongest I felt was when I was in the Celestial Room in the Temple today. My chest was literally burning and I felt so much of His love. It was truly amazing. I can't believe that I only have 1 more time to be going to the Tokyo Temple but how blessed I feel that it is in my mission and I have been able to go and it has helped me have the desire to go every week when I am home.

I love you all and you have no idea how much I miss you!!! Until next week,

Love,

Kenzie

  

Summer Festival

Hey Family,

Wow, I can't believe Justin and Amanda are getting married this week! That is so crazy, where has the time gone. And then Megan will leave and then I will be home. So many things happening in the Dolan home. :D Mom I liked the video of Charlie jumping over the fence. Well,,,at least the fence looks pretty right. haha I hope everyone will enjoy this week with family and take joy in this special occasion. Don't let stress and the hecticness get in the way of this special moment. I have learned that on my mission. Take the joyful moments when you can and always look for the joy in anything. I know it is a lot of work with the farewell and wedding so close to each other and also a lot of family but how often do we get to have all the family together. Not often. And I am very jealous that I will be missing everyone. So please just enjoy this week. Don't get stressed or angry or frustrated (I say this because I know the Dolan's) This is a special moment, enjoy the ride.

Well this last week nothing much really happend. My companion became sick and for three days had to take it easy. I was able to do splits with our roomates though and went with the other Japanese sister and did some streeting and such. That was really fun. It has been a while since I have done that kind of streeting. It was still nerve racking but I enjoyed it. I was feeling the joy of just inviting. But we have been able to visit a lot of members last week and we have a lot of appointments with them for this next week. Yesterday I felt the spirit really strong and it helped me to see the little bit of success we have been having. The atomosphere at church now is lot different then when I first came. We still don't receive referrals from the members or anything so there is still a lot of improvement but I am feeling more of the members love and they are allowing us to come over to their house more. I can feel a change start taking place. And while I was sitting in Sacrament meeting and praying about how we can do better to find investigators I looked around at all the members and could the investigators that they have for us. Many of them are part members and if every member just brought one to two friends to church each week the membership would double and we would see wonderful success. I could feel the spirit of the Lord pushing me to work with the members. Get them fired up with missionary work and so be bold and straight with them. I felt the Lord's promise that if I do my part He will do His. I really want to help this ward. My love for them are growing more and more. They are so sweet!!

This last week waas summer festival and that was a lot of fun. On Thursday we ended Eikaiwa early to go and watch the fireworks. They were in another city but we could see them from close to the church. They were really good but it was kind of sad because it was really cloudy and so some fireworks went high into them and would explode but we couldn't see them. But it was still fun to see. Our eikaiwa students were really excited to watch them. haha And then on Saturday we went to a part of our area with the Elders to do a kubari kai but there was a summer festival down by the river and so we watched and then the Elders and I actually went down and tried dancing. It was so much fun and a lot of people were amazed to see 3 foreigners trying to dance. My companion was filming the whole thing and said that many people were telling thei kids to dance so that they could teach us how. haha I have a video of us dancing but it is too long to send so you will just have to wait. But it was really fun to take part in the Japanese culture. And today we are going with the Elders to Kamakura which has a lot of shrines and ninja shops. It should be really fun. I am excited.

Well that is all for this week. I love you all and enjoy the weekend. I will be thinking of you.

Oh and next Tuesday will be temple pday so that is when I will do e-mails.

I love you,

Kenzie

Dendo Kit

Hey Family,

Hope you all had an awesome week! Staying safe in the heat. It is getting hotter here but it has also been raining a lot. But it is still hot and humid. I am looking forward to the cool Utah October weather. Great time to return home. :D

Sister Tada and I have been working on building relationships with the ward members since before it was kind of hard. So we were able to visit many members and do mogi lessons and talk about missionary work. One member we visited showed us her very own dendo kit (missionary kit) that she takes with her everywhere. She carries flyers, pass along cards and the missionaries phone number's. After visiting her I started thinking a lot about her dendo kit and I came up with the idea that when we visit memebers we should give them their onw dendo kit. A lot of members want to do missionary work but don't know how and don't have the tools to use. I am really excited about this and think it will really help the members. My goal before I leave is to have every member have a dendo kit and to have more fire for the work than when I first came here. Right now I feel like that is my purpose here. We have no investigators which has been hard and we of course will continue looking for new investigators but I really feel like the Lord wants us to strengthen this part of Zion and has given us this oppurtunity to focus on the members. I am exicted and feel very strongly about this. We gave our first one to a family on Saturday. The wife was baptized 2008 and the husband 09 so we talked about their conversion and talked about the power that they have. Really this work is members work. The missionaries are a resource, someone to help. Many people think the members job is to help the missionaries but is the other way around. I have learned that so strongly on my mission. I am determined to be a great member missionary when I go home. The family accepted the kit and said they would do their best to use it. It should be good. Funny story while visiting that family. They are a 3 year old son and when we walked into the house he had on no pants or diaper or anything. That was a funny site to see. His parents kept putting his pants on but he would keep pulling them off and then while we were sitting down talking to them he would come up behind me and climb on my back. It was really funny.

Besides the awesome revelation we received about how to help the members that is basically it. Not much really happend this week. Accept for the hills continually trying to kill me. I've mentioned the hills right? They are big and long and everywhere. My body will be in a good biking shape when I get home and will look good that is for sure. haha

Well I love you all. I can't believe it is the end of July, next week Justin and Amanda are getting married and in a month Megs leaves to start her adventure. How fast time goes which makes it even more important to hold on to and enjoy the moments that we have. Because too soon they just become memories. Enjoy every moment of this week!!

Love,

Kenzie

Amazing Miracle

Hey Family,

 Well the first bit of news is an amazing miracle that took place in our area. Last week was transfers and no I didn`t get transfered but there was a change. So before me and my companion were working in two areas, two wards. Well they split the area and so now me and my companion are just working in the Kouhoku ward and two new sisters came and are working in the Kanagawa ward. How amazing is that!!!? So our apartment has become a 4 man and if you think that our apartment is that big I can tell you no. We have been sleeping shoulder to shoulder and my companion has been working at the kitchen table. It is a very tiny apartment but with the amazing miracle that it is I will take it. How amazing it is that I am allowed to witness the Lord hastening His work. He really knows this people and he really knows me. I was getting pretty stressed covering two areas. Now I feel I can give a hundred percent to Kouhoku and see wonderful things happen. I am really excited!!!! It is a wonderful blessing from the Lord. Because of transfers and with 4 people moving in we had to get the apartment ready so that is what we did last Tuesday and Wednesday. And Thursday the new Sisters came and we did weekly planning and then had Eikaiwa that night.

Friday was really fun because we went to a new part of our area with the Elders and did some housing and streeting there. We were able to talk to one mother who seemed to have interest but then she was pulled away by her children. She said that she would call us and I hope she does. On the way home from that area we stopped by Ikea and had some delicious fries and hot dogs. haha That night was children english class and it was great because a lady that elder Johnson and I talked to a few weeks ago about the class came with her son and she brought her friend who has three daughters. They said they had a lot of fun and will come back again. When they do we want to invite them to church and to hear the message. I was so excited about it. :D

On Friday night there was an interesting instance where 6 missionaries were talking to 10 or police men. We met the elders at one of the train stations because we were going to go together to the stake presidents house for a meal. On our way there the elder that was leading the group had a bike accident. There was a family standing near the side of the road on the sidewalk and the children were playing. The 7 year old girl pushed her 3 year old brother and that put in the path of the bike (which was going slow and he did notice them playing a litte rough). Anyway the boy started crying and his wrist seemed a bit swollen  but I didn`t think it was broken or anything. But the ambulance was called (that is the thing about Japan over the smallest things they go to the hospital like for a pimple or the sniffles) Anyway the ambulance came then two cops on motorcycles a cop car and a cop truck. Probably about 10 all together but they arrived at different times and kept asking for the same story and same explanation over and over again. They even drew circles on the sidwalk that made no sense but apparantly it was to map out what happend. It was pretty interesting. My first taste of Japanese law. They talked to us for about an hour.  My companion was pretty shaken up about it and yesterday was still not happy for a lot of different reasons. The boy ended up being ok just a bruise and the elder who hit him went to the hospital yesterday with Sister Wada to apologize and talk. The parents were nice about it and the father admitted that he wasn`t watching his son closly enough. So I am pretty sure everything has worked out fine and my companion is feeling better about things. I was able to help out the little girl who was crying and freakin out. Who knew that my psychology classes would come in handy. I knew she was freakin out because everyone else was so I just talked to her calmly and asked about what things she likes and everytime she was talking to me and looking at me she too was completly calm. It was only when she looked at her brother and everyone else that she would freak out. I was glad that I was able to help out in some small way. But it will be a memory I won:t forget probably. The Japanese have interesting ways of doing things.

I love you all so much. You are the greatest family ever. Oh and just to give you a heads up. There may be times that I will need to get on the computer early to do e-mails. Right now all 4 of us are at the church e-mailing but just in case I get on earlier I wanted to let you know. I love you all and unti next week.

Love always and forever from across the ocean

Kenzie

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

  

A Week of Growth

Hey Family,

I am glad to hear that you all had a good 4th of July and had a good week in general. On the 4th we had Eikaiwa (free english class) and we kind of celebrated it. That was the day that we ended up having a party so there were balloons and food and games. It was fun. The Elders popped the balloons after the part with their pens so it was our version of fireworks. It was pretty funny. I will say serving a mission and coming to another country has helped me appreciate my own country even more, especially since that country is America. Don't misunderstand I love Japan. I love the people, the food, the culture but I am true to my counry. I am for sure more patriotic now.

So this last week we had a zone conference where we met President and Sister Wada but the interviews will be tomorrow. But he also came to one of our wards yesterday to speak so i was able to see him then. I LOVE President Wada. He is amazing. I am actuallly kind of sad that I have him for such a short time but he has come at a perfect time during my mission. He is just so full of love and is real about things and has a great love for the gospel and for each missionary individually. It makes me so happy. Sometimes President Budge had a business feel to how he ran things. He to is a great President but I think I connect better with Presidnet Wada already. :D So they talked about the return a little bit last week in the conference and the zone leaders talked about it with him as well in the leader training counsel that was held last week. What it sounds like is that President Wada wants to the missionaries who came together to go home together (and for sisters go home with the scheduled elders that was before) and what is sounds like the earlier date rather than the later. I will find out more tomorrow when I ask him personally but for now it sounds like I will be coming home at the beginning of October sometime. I will let you know more next week but that is the rumor mill.

So this last week I have learned many things. One thing that stuck out was how much I love my mission. Last week I had a dream in which we were at a zone meeting and instead of the usual transfer call we had transfer letters and we took turns reading the letters out loud. When I opened my I read in big black letters YOU WILL BE GOING HOME! TONIGHT! I was so surprised and stammered over my words saying why?why?why? I am not ready to go home yet all while I was bawling really hard.  When I woke up and thought about the dream it made me realize how much I really do love my mission ever though recently it has been hard with not much success and companionship problems. What I am learning, gaining and the people I am meeting are all worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Even knowing all of the tears and hardships I would face. Knowing how tired my body would be. I would do this again, I wouldn't even think about it. It has been a huge blessing in my life. And from thinking that I have thought a lot about where I am at right now in my mission and how I want to finish. I want to be sure to finsh strong. Not holding anything back. That also means taking better care of my body. The Lord has taught many different lessons this last week. Everyday I have learned something. How grateful I am for that. Even if it was a struggle. When I think about who I am now and who I was before I left I am different. I have changed. For that I will forever be grateful. I wish I could explain better the things that I have learned the things that I have felt. It was good, hard week for personal lessons.

This much I can tell you. I know that this church is true. I know that the Savior lives and helps us through trials. And I know that the Book of Mormon is a word of God. My testimony is solid on that. Through reading the book of Mormon we can have the spirit more in our lives. I know it, I have experienced it. What a great blessing and strength. Remember to be reading it EVERYDAY.

I love you all so very much.

I pray that this week is good for you.

Love always

Kenzie 

  

Saying Goodbye and Saying Hello

Hey Family,

Megs you looked absolutely beautiful in your pictures. Thank you for sending them to me. I must say though that you look much cuter than me and way more fashionable then I did or do. So unfair haha

With the weather being so hot be careful and drink a lot of water (Mom, lay off the D.P a bit. :D) Recently it has been cool here but I imagine the heat will come in a few weeks about the same time that I first came to Japan. Can you believe that is in two weeks. Crazy!! O and Mom I did get the package. I got it last week on Friday I believe. They really came on Thursday but I wasn't home so it came on Friday instead. Thank you for sending that. The mesh garments are great and I really like my pens and japan mickey pin. You are the best!! :D

Tokyo South Mission has officially begun. Saturday night President Wada arrived and tomorrow we meet with him in a conference then next week is interviews. In two weeks is transfers once again. The south mission will be receiving missionaries slowly so only 7 new missionaries will be coming in then. I still have the feeling though that I will be transferring. I guess we will see. We also offically said goodbye to President and Sister Budge last week. How interesting that I met them a year ago in the MTC thinking that they would be with me till the end of my mission and there we were saying goodbye already. How things change. But how exciting to be a part of this historic change and to say that I served in two missions. :D What a great opportunity.

This last week was spent A LOT on the bike. For two days straight we were on our bikes for a straight 4 hours and one of those days it was down pouring. Very wet. My butt became very sore. And in case I haven't mentioned how many hill there are in our area, well there is a lot!! More than San Fran. I think. So my body is spent. I now know why Sister Missionaries only serve for 18 months. I am starting to feel it right now. I don't want to go home but everyday I am looking forward to time to sleep. I am actually worried about the condition my body will be in when I get home. That is why I am kind of hoping to end in October instead of November. I don't think my body can make it that long. Please don't judge me. :D

This go around at training has been a little harder with my companion being Japanese. Just with the culture differences and she almost gets angry about learning English. We have had just a few tiffs. It is very interesting doing it in Japanese. And I have learned things from them. We had one this morning for example and I discovered that I am a very prideful person and when pride gets hurt I am not a nice person. It has been a hard lesson.

What has also been hard is that we haven't been having much success lately. We only really have 1 investigator who will probably be moving slowly and not much else. We have been getting out but we also need to talk to more people. I am hoping we will be able to do that this week. Sometimes I just feel like I am not where I should be on my mission. It stresses me out a lot. But I just try to remember what I have done and what I have seen and I feel better. I have seen many miracles on my mission and met many wonderful people. I have changed and grown a lot and I know that the mission is shaping me to be the person that I will be for the rest of my life. Of that I am grateful. I love Japan and the people here and I feel very blessed to have come here. It is the best thing I could be doing with my life right now.

I love you all and pray for you every night.

Love,
Kenzie

Dear Sister Dolan, you are hear by called to serve in the Japan Tokyo South Mission

Hey Y'all,

 

It is official. I am now in the south mission. This is the very last week of being apart of the Tokyo Mission then next week President Wada comes and I will be apart of the Tokyo South Mission. And here I thought that I would have one mission President for my whole mission. haha how wrong is that. I look forward to serving under President Wada. I know him from when I worked in Shibuya and he is very nice. It will be fun and I feel very honored to be right in the middle of the Lord hastening His work. It is exciting to think about.

So since I am in the south mission this next next transfer is only going to be 3 weeks long because then new missionaries who have been called to the south mission come. I am guessing then I will be transfered and will be transfering. There is one Sister just above me in transfers but next to her I am the oldest Sister missionary. That is weird. They saying in this mission is that missions are not acutally hard but what is hard is the saying Goodbye part. How true that is. Even just to other missionaries. But how grateful I am to be here and working with amazing missionaries. In my mission now there are only about 78 missionaries. It has become so small it is wierd. But it will get to 250 before long I imagine. But whether I see that nor not I am not sure. Wierd to think that I could only have 15 weeks left if I do end up returning in October. Making each of those days count for sure.

 

So onto this week. Well I have been able to get out of the apartment which has been nice. Last Wednesday we wanted to visit a less active whose birthday it was that day so we got on our bikes and rode. Getting to her house ended up taking 2 hours and the way home was an 1 hour. When we got closer to her house there became less to none hills but on the way home (which I was pretty tired for being on the bike for two hours) we went up many many hills and I was spent. It has been along time since my body has been that tired. My companion has been very nice and gave me a massage. That wil be on one of the first things that I will do when I get home. It felt great.

Friday we met with one of our invesigators whose nickname is Dakko. We met her a few weeks ago. She met the Elders and she came to church and that is where we met her. Anyway we met her and asked her how the Book of Mormon was going (We talked the last time we met with her about the Book of Mormon. She is Christian (likes the King James Bible) but was confused as to why there was a need for the Book of Mormon) She read the assignement we gave her but she still had some questions so I opened up the Book of Mormon to 2nd Nephi 29 where it talks about the Bible. After she read it she said that she understood. Which was great. She then opened up more about her life and what was going on. She is going through A LOT of hard things right now. I had no idea how I could help her so with the power of the spirit burning very hot and bright indise of me I invited her to speak to our Bishop and promised that he would be able to help even if it was just to listen. She agreed and came to church on Sunday and after church she spoke to the Bishop. The Bishop was great. He was very kind and patient and gave her great counsel. Encouraged her to continue listening to our message and to come and speak to him at anytime. When she walked out she looked much better. Like she was free, the burden was taken away.  There is certainly a power given to the Bishop and it was great seeing that. And it was great working with him. Him helping her with her life problems and then we helped her with the gospel questions. I love her. She told me that she sees me as a daughter. Isn't that sweet. :D

 

Last Tuesday was the very last PDAY temple day as the Tokyo Mission. They told us that even though we will be in a different mission we will still be able to go to the temple but last week was the last time we could say goodbye to people because we didn't know who would go to the south or the north. It was fun and a differnt feeling behind it. I will really miss those temple trips. They will be different as well because everyone would go at different times during the transfer. Many wonderful memories. I really am so grateful to have a temple in my mission and to have had the chance to have gone so many times during my mission. What a huge blessing.

 

Well that is basically it for the week. Not too much has happend. My companion is nice but I have forgotton what it is like to be with a native. Different cultures and mindsets. And she doesn't know ANY english so that has been kinda hard trying to explain my feelings in limited Japaense. My head has hurt this last week I won't lie. haha The last few days have been very difficult for me but I got an answer this morning which has greatly helped me and so I have made a turn around. The Lord knows us personally and knows what we are going through. He will give us answers even if it is not for a very long time and it seems that the Heavens are silent. He hears them.

 

Well, I love you family.

Be safe and drink a lot of water, July is coming.

Love you,

Kenzie

 

  

 

Emergency Transfer

Happy Fathers Day Dad!!!!!! Hope you had a great day today! :D

 

And Hello to the rest of you!

 

Well this last week was very interesting. And this e-mail may be short because of it.

 

First off, we stayed in the apartment once again for most of the week. If we had an appointment or a meeting we would leave but if we didn't we wouldn't. Like last Wednesday Sister Harding was not doing so well so she slept the whole day and just studied or even did a little cleaning. My brain is starting to hurt a little bit from all of the studying. haha But anyway, Sister Budge called on Thursday to tell her that there were no results from the C.T scan that she did and the next thing they would be doing would be calling her parents and seeing what they would like to do. They called them that night and then they called on Friday morning and talked to Sister Harding and everyone decided that the best thing to do would be for her to go home and have some more tests done. A few hours later Presdient Budge called and said that they were trying to get her on a flight for...TOMORROW (meaning Saturday, this was Friday). Talk about sudden notice. They also wanted us to have her see a doctor and make sure she was ok to fly and wanted us to stay at the honbu tonight. We also had a 3rd companion because we were doing exchanges so we had to meet up with her companions, then go see the doctor and then go to the honbu after an hour in half of crazy fast packing that we had to do.

It was insane.

Staying at the honbu was a weird experience. We arrived and President and Sister Budge were not there so we hung out with the office couple, Elder and Sister Harrison. I adore them!! They are the cutest couple ever and Sister Harrison is the happiest person I have ever met. So it was fun to spend time with them. Satruday I spent most of the day at the honbu. Sister Hardings flight wasn't leaving until 1 am and the Harrisons were going to take her to the airport. They walked me over at about 5 to catch my train to go and meet my new companion who is....Sister Tada.

Sister Tada is very cute and I love her. She is Japanese and was a convert when she was 19 (now she is 26). Her conversion story is amazing and she had been through soooo much. I will have to tell you another day. She is still on her first transfer (this being the last week). And my guess actually is that we will only be together for 4 weeks. President Budge told us that this will be our transfer most likely which means I am in the South Mission which means we have another transfer in 4 weeks. At that time I am assuming a lot of Sisters will be coming in and both of us will be training. But I guess we will see. But I am really looking forward to working with her and actually getting out and talking to people. During study I got a lot of fire for the work and now the desire to work hard and do my best till the end is really strong within me and I want to work hard, talking to people at every moment right up until I am at the airport in Salt Lake. I want to share this fire with everyone that I see. What a great feeling it is. I am ready to get out!!! :D

 

Despite always staying inside and not being able to dendo I am grateful for this transfer because I have learned a lot of things, especialy the kind of person and member I want to be when I get home. I read a lot from Daughters of My Kingdom (the relief soceity book) and D&C and they both spoke a lot to me. I made goals and plans for what I want to do and who I want to be when I am home. Now that isn't me being trunky (though I will admit having hours to myself has made me get just a little bit) but it was a good time to plan and a lot of what I learned could be applied to what I was going through and also what I could be going through for the rest of my mission. It was a great learning experience. Just like all of my transfers. It is interesting though because Sister Tada makes my 8th companion in the field. Crazy right?

 

Oh and want to know something interesting. Sister Stubbs-my mtc companion- may be in the Tokyo mission. The area I think that she is in right now will be in that mission. Funny huh. Here I will be leaving that mission and she will be going into. haha She wrote me a letter saying that her parents are very seriously considering moving to Utah. That would be fun to see her. :D

 

Well that is the exciting and interesting news from my week. I had an emergency transfer.

 

I love you all and everyday I look forward to being reunited. My family has become the most important thing to me (besides the gospel) and my love for everyone just grows stronger.

 

Love you,

Kenzie

Think! Think! Think!

Hey Everyone,

 

Hope you all had a good week and are all in good health. Can you believe that this week makes it the middle of June. Crazy. July will be here before you know it. Months have turned into days now and days into seconds. Such a wierd feeling.

 

Well on for this week. Well the most exciting that happend this last week was we had a 3 zone conference on Wednesday in which Elder Ringwood of the seventy and the North Asia Area President came and spoke to us. It was a really good conference. He had us study Moroni 7 a lot before the conference and then we had an open discussion about it. It was really good. I notice a lot of things from the chapter that I didn't notice before. I encourage you all to study Moroni 7 and see what new insights you get into it. We also had Q&A in which the mission split was brought up. So we still find out which mission we will be in on transfer call day (22nd) but it was also said that the Tokyo south missionaries transfers will be getting off set so there is a possibility of going home earlier or later from your expected release date. So if that is true and I stay in the south mission I could be home in early October or a few weeks later in November. Thought that was interesting information. I can't believe it will be next Saturday that I find out. So wierd. I kind of feel though that I will be staying the south mission's area. I guess I will know for sure next week. Anyway the conference was good. I really enjoyed listening to Elder Ringwood. He gave wonderful talks and the spirit was very strong. I came out feeling rejuventated and having a stronger desire to do better. :D

 

So this last week we weren't able to get out pretty much at all unless we already had an appointment set up. Sister Harding became too sick to go out. Towards the beginning of the week I was getting a little frustrated wondering what I was supposed to and how I should continue fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. I talked to the Lord A LOT. Asking for His counsel. I was finally told that my purpose during this transfer is to serve my companion and help her and to also take advantage of the time to study more. So that is what I have done. Last Thursday it was hard because we stayed inside all day up before Eikaiwa at 7. When she woke up I asked her if she was ok and that I was worried about her. She started crying and said that she wasn't sure. We had a talk about it in which she felt like she needed to go home and get better. She didn't like not going out. We called President Budge that night and told him about what was going on and he told her that he didn't want to give up yet. So we went to a doctor on Friday and he told her that he wanted to do a C.A.T scan and that is what we did early today. Went to the Red Cross Hospital. We won't know the results for a few days but we are hoping and praying that the doctors will be able to figure out what is wrong and help her so that she won't have to go home. This has been a very different transfer and I am learning a lot.

 

With the extra time to study I have been thinking a lot about where I am right now in my mission and where I want to be when get home. It has been interesting having so much time to think and exam myself even more. There have been many ups and many downs that has come with that but it has been good. I am very grateful to have this time to refocus, to see the growth I have gone through and to determine the growth I still want to go through. And we do have a few investigators that we have started teaching one of them being a referral that the Elders gave to us and who came to church yesterday. We have an appointment with her tomorrow and it should be good. She is christian and seems to pretty open in learning more. I am excited to teach her. It is the best to teach. :D

 

Oh there is one interesting story. I was reminded about how some BYU people are. Right now there are about 13 or so students from BYU doing a study abroad and staying with some of the members for about 2 weeks. They came to church yesterday and we talked to a few of them. They are all in there 2 year of Japanese I think at the Y so they know some but not too much. Anyway we were talking to two of these girls and one of them was telling us how much she admires us and how great our Japanese is and how she hopes to be able to speak like us. Her friend then turned to her and said that their level of Japanese was actually the same level as returned missionaries from Japan. Her excuse was that it is because a lot of missionaries don't know kanji (the chinese characters) but they do. K, I know I am a missionary but that made me really annoyed that she said that. Comparing a 2nd year college class to missionaries who have lived in the country from 18 months to 2 years. But then this same girl proceeded to teach me about the train system so it would be less confusing when she has been here for 4 weeks or so and I have been living here for almost a year. She annoyed me. And I really did forget what some BYU people were like. WOW. I have been out a long time. Scary to go back. haha

 

Well family I love you and hope you have a great week!! The time is becoming shorter and shorter till I see you and I look forward to that day but I am happy to be here and learning the things that I am.

 

Love you all,

Kenzie

  

BANANAS

Hey Family,

This week was a good week. On Tuesday we had a hilarious district meeting in which we learned that Jim Carry died. Is that true? The Elders in my District are really funny and I feel pretty close to them. We have done something has a district every p-day so far. But what was great about Tuesday is that we were out of the apartment meeting and teaching people. The first person we met was one of our investigators names Miyaka. She has been an investigator for awhile now and is reading through the Book of Mormon for her second time. She says that she believes in it and would like to be baptized except for a few commandments that we are trying to work with her on and also she can get very lonely and sad sometimes which can result to her not wanting to meet with us. Which almost happened this last week but we told her we wanted to celebrate her birthday (whichi was on Tuesday). She agreed and we were able to meet her and enjoyed ice cream together. We shared with her about the Atonement because we wanted her to apply it more in her life so that way she can start making the change and feel more joy in her life. She said that she understood the Atonement and believes in Jesus Christ so we asked her to pray about it and apply it more in her life. I want her to fully realized what the Atonement actually is. If she truly accepts it into her heart and starts making that change I know that she will become a different person. A more confident and happier person.

After we met with her we took the train back and met with Manami. She is a student from our English class who I talked to after class. She also played softball and her position was also 3^rd base so we hit it off really well. That night when we met we were actually supposed to be playing softball with her and another friend but her friend couldn't do it because she was really busy so we weren't able to play softball. I was really disappointed because I have been wanting to play softball for the longest time ever. During my mission I have missed it even more. Anyway, we still made plans to just go out to eat so that is what we did and after we ate we did a lesson with her. We asked what/who she thought God was and she said that she has never really thought about it before. We talked about how He is her Father in Heaven and loves her so much. We then talked a little bit about the Atonement and then the Book of Mormon. I was able to bare a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon has come to mean so much to me and Manami was able to see that. We gave her the book and asked her to read it. She said that she would try because it looked hard. We told her that it is well worth it and invited her to hear more. She said that she would. She is so cute and I would love the oppurtunity to teach her more. The difficult thing though maybe me having her make time to see us. That is the hardest and most frustrating thing about working in this mission. A lot of people have interest in learning but are too busy to meet. It can be frustrating. But I am praying that we can meet with her more often.

On Wednesday was the New missionary training conference. I will say this, one thing I am really looking forward to when coming home is not dealing with the trains anymore. The trains here are so confusing and we had an adventure getting to the mission home. By the time we got there (which was just a little bit before 9 am) I said to my companion that it was time for bed. Haha But it proved to be a good conference and it was fun to see a lot of the other sisters. I also learned that day that I have an allergy. Can you guess what it is? Go on guess..I have an allergy to Bananas. Yep. I finally figured it out on Wednesday. The last few times that I have eaten a banana it was weird. My throat would start to have an itchy feeling and then I would get really nauseated and felt sick. I wondered if maybe I did but I pushed it out my mind thinking it was all in my head but on Wednesday I age two little pieces and started feeling really sick. So yep no more bananas for me which is really sad. It isn't life or death or anything so maybe I will slip one in occasionally. :D

Friday was rough because Sister Harding became sick again and we stayed in the apartment most of the day. There is only so much you can do in the apartment. And I have been feeling like we haven't gone out that much lately and I wanted to go out really bad that day. We only went out for an appointment that we had that night with a new investigator and that didn't even go that well. We didn't plan on what to share with her and my companion was still not feeling that well or something so I was the only one teaching basically and getting the conversation flowing was hard because it felt like no one wanted to talk. It was really hard. I prayed a lot that day seeking counsel on what to do and seeking for forgiveness for staying inside all day. Still don't know exactly what I needed to learn but towards the end I did start feeling grateful to have more personal study time with the scriptures and to have the time to strengthen my testimony and knowledge. So that is what I took away from it.

Saturday was really fun because we went to a sports day with the YSAs from the stake and it was sooo much fun. A great work out. My body was sore yesterday and a little bit today. We did that basically for the whole day. One of our investigators came to the first half of it and that was really fun to see her. She is so cute. :D

Having church twice on Sunday's can be fun and hard at the same time. Yesterday we had a meeting with the bishop and mission leader after the second session of church so we were at the church from 830 am to about 7 pm. Looong day. But it was good. I always get really excited when I talk to the Bishops and mission leaders about the mission plan and help them with missionary work. It gets really fun. :D

Training is starting to prove to be a little bit difficult but I am grateful for the challenge and the growth that will come from it. The hardest part is basically getting enough excitement and energy for two since my companion doesn't have that much. But when life gives you lemons make something with it. Haha

I am sorry that I don't have any other fun stories from this last week. Nothing really exciting happened. Hopefully next week's e-mail will have something better.

But I always love you and miss you all.

Love,

Kenzie

  

Killer Blessing

Hello Family,

I am glad to hear you are all doing well. Hope you have a great Memorial weekend. That is so weird. I forgot about that Holiday. Haha

So this week was good. We were able to find some new investigators which was really fun. Some from the street and some from the English class. English class really is the place to find new investigators. I have become pretty bold and open about talking to everyone and inviting them to church on Sunday. The saying here in the mission is that you are successful just when you invite and that is very very true.

I still would like to teach though. Nothing compares to teaching. It is the best feeling ever to teach AND testify by the spirit. I am hoping we will start having more opportunities here soon.

I really love my companion. She is so nice and we get along great. I kill her almost everyday she says. She tells me that I am really funny. That is true. I feel like I have “come out” more during my mission. It is fun. This transfer is proving to being a very fun transfer despite not having that many people to teach. We laugh everyday. It is a good feeling. I read an article from the ensign this last week that children laugh 400 times a day and adults only 15. It talked about the difference and how adults are too serious about things but that laughing is really the best medicine to anything. So ever since I read that article I have been trying to laugh 400 + times a day. I am slowly working my way up I think. :D

It also helps working with Elders. In Utsunomiya it was just a sisters area but in this area I am working with 4 elders and it is a lot of fun. We work with them a lot. It is weird if we go without seeing them for at least one day. I love the Elders. They are awesome.

2 of them actually are the zone leaders and I asked them yesterday after church to give me a blessing because my body has been more tired then usual and getting in the way of me working I thinking. So I asked them for a blessing. The Elder who pronounced the blessing, Elder Young (from New Zealand) gave me a beautiful blessing. Some of the things he mentioned were:

-the lord is please with the service and the sacrifice you have rendered. He loves you very much.

-Remember to always pray and be accountable to the Lord.

-MY FAVORITE: You have been so blessed in your life with family and friends. This is ONLY the beginning. The Lord has so much more blessings in store for you.

He also mentioned some other things but these were my favorite. Especially about my family and friends. Awesome blessing right? :D

Saturday we went to a BBQ for the Kouhoku ward. The Japanese BBQ is very different from American BBQ but still good and still a lot of meat. It was really fun because a lot of our investigators came and we had a lot of fun together. I make them laugh a lot. It's funny. One of our investigators likes the missionaries and has been to church once I think but she had a really bad experience with church in the past and is kind of scarred of it. We are taking things slow right now. I am hope though I will be able to help her progress more and see that this church is not scary but can bless her life.

I don't know if I have ever described my area before but it is a area of hills. The biggest hill is none other then the one that goes up to the church. I will take a pic and send it sometime but it is very steep. But I was finally able to make it up to the top of the hill on my bike (without getting off and walking) and I did it twice. Yay me!!! I am hoping this area helps me to lose more weight and become more slim. That would be wonderful.

I am sorry this e-mail is short. It is hard to tell you everything especially when nothing really happened besides getting on the totally wrong train and going the opposite way, meeting a panda and bear on the bridge as we were handing out free English fliers, kids English class, president interviews, district meeting then photos on the roof of the church where my skirt would not stay down in the wind. Nothing much right. :D haha

Well I love you all. Have a great week and I will see you next week. :D

Love,

Kenzie

     

Sa Waddee ka

Hello Fam!
Well I am slowly getting settled into my new area. Things are for sure a lot slower. We only have like 1 new investigator and we were able to make a baptism date for her but besides that we don't have many people to teach right now and last week was a really slow week. We weren't able to get out much and do things because we had a lot of things we needed to do in the apartment. Also one day (Saturday) Sister Harding got really sick and had to stay in bed for the whole day until about 6 which was ping pong night. That was harder then I thought it would be (I kind of expected some days to stay inside). It was hard because I was mostly doing area book dendo which didn't hold a lot of success and I grew bored and distracted. Did some random stuff. My desire to go outside and talk to people for sure increased that day which was good. I now know I have a lot more desire then I thought to go outside and talk to people. So I am hoping that I will be able to do that this week and be able to find a lot of people to teach. So if you could say and extra prayer for me this week that would be great.

So I think I mentioned it last week but I am covering two wards right now and so on Sundays I got to both (6 hours of church). And what is interesting that despite being at church the whole day it was actually one of the fastest Sundays on my mission. Before I knew it it was the very last hour of the 2^nd wards church time. Sooo fast. But we were able to see a cool miracle yesterday. It was during the first wards (Kanagawa)'s sacrament. I just sat down after speaking and one of the members came and grabbed us saying there was a woman who wasn't Japanese and wasn't a member who arrived. We went out to meet her and she is so cute. Her name is Narisa and she is from Thailand. We hit it off pretty fast because I told her about you Just and how you served in Thailand and love it. She was really excited to hear that. She is graduate student here in Japan and speaks fluent english (and that is actually what she is studying). She is working on her Thesis right now and should be graduating in September and so because of that she wanted to come to church to pray and feel the special feeling there. She met the missionaries a year ago and came with them a few times and so remembered where the church was. She was just so wonderful and I really felt that she is ready right now to hear the lessons. We were able to get her phone number and e-mail and she even said that when her sister comes next week from Thailand she will have us over for Thai food. I am excited. Oh and Just she taught me some Thai so here it goes. “Sa wadde ka. Sa bai dee mai ka? Kid tueng na ka!!” I hope that makes sense. I couldn't write it in actual Thai. But I am excited. She said that she will teach me more. I am praying with all my heart things will go well with her. She is so nice.

Yesterday after church as well we met with the Kohoku's bishop and ward mission leader to talk about the wards mission plan. The Bishop was just called 2 weeks ago and wants to know how the ward was doing with helping the missionaries and wanted to help them have more fire for the work. He is a WONDERFUL Bishop and we had a great meeting. The spirit was really strong and I really felt that this was the beginning of something great. That he would really help the ward start having the fire and we would see some great tings happen. We were able to make plans and now we just need to start setting them in motion. Should be great.

This last week I felt Heavenly Father's presence A LOT. I was really sad to leave Utsunomiya. The members were great and we saw such great success. But everyday He reminded me that He was with me, that I have purpose here in my new area and that He will help me and be with me. I was filled with a lot of love this last week which made me happy.

I do like my new area. My companion is very nice (if a little quiet) but we get along great. And it is really fun to be working with the Elders again. I am working with 4. They are all a lot of fun. Today we did a kind of zone pday lunch and went to an all you can eat mexican place for one of the elders birthdays. It was SOOO much fun and one of the Elders actually got the Japanese workers to sing Happy Birthday to him. I don't think they usually do that. But it was funny. And after they sang to that Elder they ended up singing another person whose birthday it was. So look at the Americans spreading the Birthday tradition in Japan. It was pretty fun.

Well I love you all and pray that you will have a great week!!

Love you!!

Kenzie