Teaching By the Spirit

Hey Family,

I can't believe how fast that week went by. I feel like I just e-mailed you. Crazy how fast the time is flying by. I am glad that everyone had a good week and thank you mom for e-mailing some of the blog. Ashtyn is so strong and such an wonderful example to me. Reading that e-mail before personal study really helped me and I made some new goals. Tell her thank you for me for her wonderful example. Her and Suzanne. Their faith and courage is truly inspiring and is helping me. :D Also thank you for my package. I got it this morning just as we started companionship study. I had the goofiest grin on my face when I saw eeor and I held him all through out companionship study. Sister Vail thought it was funny. I will send a picture with me holding it. It was wonderful!

This week was a fun week but I don't have time to talk about everything. I don't even really know where to start. Maybe I will just talk about yesterday because it was a good day.

So first, we taught a lesson to Brother Yamazaki and it was a really good lesson and really fun. We realized that we needed to make it more entertaining for him and more understandable and that is what we did. We taught about the blessings of the gospel and he seemed to understand more. The spirit was strong.

Second, Brother Usa was confirmed today a member and what made the experience even sweeter was that after sacrament when we were talking to him he asked us when he could go to the Temple. That is the best thing a missionary could here. Hearing the person wanting to take the next step which is really what baptism leads to.

Third,

Last week we had a new student come to Eikawa. He went 8 years ago and when he showed up he was surprised to see sisters. Anyway, we invited him to church and he came!!!! And he stayed for the whole 3 hours and a few after. And we were able to teach him short lesson. We wants to learn more about the atonement and said that he will do his best in learning about Christ's path (faith, repentace, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and endure to the end). He is such a prepared person and I am so excited to teach him more. We have another appointment with him this week before eikaiwa starts. Yay!!!

I love working in Utsunomiya. I have really learned how to teach by the spirit and to trust it. And I feel like I am becoming a really good teacher. One who can understand people and make it easier for them to understand. It is amazing. I love being a partner with the spirit!!! :D

I love you all!!! So much!!!!!

Kenzie

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Soba, Hayfever, & Baptism O My!

This last week was pretty fun and pretty full of miracles. So first some background on one our investigators. Brother Usa has been and investigator since last fall and last month before this transfer started (when I was till with the other sisters) he had a baptism date and had all the lessons. He just needed the interview and to come to church again but because of things that came up he wasn't baptized and so we have still just continued meeting with him. Anyway, Usa, e-mailed us last Tuesday telling us that he finished reading First Nephi and that when he finished it he teared up and it made him want to do better at reading and will do his best to finish it. We were really happy and e-mailed how happy we were for him. We also asked him if he has prayed about when he should be baptized. That was a committment for the week before because at that point he said maybe August or Septemeber when work slows down. But when we e-mailed him asking him if he has prayed he said that he has and feels like he should be baptized this month or next month but still didn't know what day. We were so excited. We immediatly asked him if we could meet with him during the week. He said he would check his schedule and let us know. He then told us later that he was free on Thursday night. We called a member to be a joint with us and we had a lesson with him. We went over the baptism questions and he passed. So we asked him again about a baptism date. He told us that he would like to be baptized sooner rather then later then said that he could do it the next sunday which was yesterday and in 3 days from that time. Sister Vail and I were in shock. We called the Bishop and Ward mission leader to check it off with them then called the District Leader to check to see if he had time on Saturday night to do the interview. And by a sweet tender mercy from the Lord he did so he was able to come and do the interview. There was one more concern that we had and that was his mother. Since he is 19 he needed permission from his mother and we needed her signiture. The ward mission learder and his wife planed to take him home on Saturday night and then talk to his mom and get her permission but she wasn't home when he got dropped off but Usa said that he would talk to her. And he ended up e-mailing the ward mission leader saying that she signed. Saturday was really such a wonderful tender mercy from the Lord becasue we were able to plan the WHOLE baptism that day (on Friday we had Presdent Interviews  and district meeting two hours away by train). And then on Sunday after church ended I was finally able to see Brother Usa be baptized and start his journey home. The spirit that was there was such a wonderful spirit. i started crying thinking of this brother of mine come closer to Christ and I could see the future for him. Going on a mission, going to the Temple, be sealed there. The blessings just opened up in my mind and made me really see once again what I am doing here. Brother Usa had such a wonderful smile on his face (which is something because he usually never smiles). You can feel the change in him. He has more confidence and feels more peace. He is such a wonderful young man and I feel so very blessed to have witnessed his baptism and take apart in his life. What an AMAZING miracle that I witnessed.

We also met and became friends with some really funny grandmothers that almost act like teenagers. Wednesday we met with two of them to teach them English (they are very good at English) and then one of them invited us to her house on Thursday to learn how to make homemade Soba (hence the pic of the towel on my head). It was soooo much fun.And I absalutly adore these ladies. They are soo cute and very active. They do arobics together and volunteet and have a wide range of activities. It was really fun. Especially when they were talking about their latin class and how much they love latin dancing and their latin teacher (who I guess is a very interesting person ;) very fit). It was a blast.

My interview with the President went well. I love President Budge. He is so funny and so very wise. He helped me to see my circle of influence and not to focus on my circle of concern. He also helped me understand more about being humble. I suffer from extreme pride. What kind of pride, down pride. Meaning instead of being happy when I see my weaknesses and challenges and becoming humble and relying on the Lord I become depressed and feel inadaquette which means pride, because my pride is being injured. I have kinda been learning about this during my mission but during the interview it all clicked. President Budge also told me that being humble is the stress buster. Pride means stress. I have been feeling very stressed and depressed lately realizing all the things that i need to change and work on. I want to become humble. I want to remember more where I come from and what kind of Father is watching over me. I don't want to rely on myself because I know that I can't do things alone. And doing things by myself is very lonely. So that is my goal for the rest of my mission and really for the rest of eternity. 

1. To Remember where I come from 

2. Remember the Father and the Savior 

3. always be humble I shall do my best.

That is all of the fun news for this week. I will say that I love my bike. It is great besides being extemely squeaky when I brake but I am not going to complain. It was a wonderful tender mercy. I LOVE this area and the people we are teaching and the members we are working with. I don't want to be bias but I think I will say very quietly that Utusunomiya is my favorite area I have worked in. I LOVE it here!! I hope praying that I can stay here for anther transfer. After this transfer we have 12 sisters coming in and only 18 senior missionaries. So a lot of us will be training. And if not this transfer then next for sure. I am praying that I will still be here and that I can still be with Sister Vail. Because she is awesome.

I love you family and I am so grateful for you!

An Apostle

Well the exciting news that I have for everyone that I couldn't tell you before is that this last Friday we had a special mission conference and Elder Russel M. Nelson came and spoke to us and we all had the opportunity to shake his hand and introduce ourselves to him. What an amazing conference and what a privilege it was to hear from him and his beautiful wife, Sister Nelson. They gave wonderful inspired talks. And Elder Nelson told us specifically, “Thank you.” He said thank you for being who you are and for serving. And after he said he told us very clearly to make sure we thank our families for him. “Thank you for the parents and the brothers and sisters who have made it possible for you to be here.” So you have just been thanked by an apostle of the Lord. Elder Nelson spoke about many wonderful things that were truly inspiring and I felt so honored to have sat at his feet and to have heard from him directly. I will just list really quickly some of the things that he said that really stuck out:

1. He wants every missionary to go home being trilingual. Japanese, English and the spirit of the Lord. And he told us to make sure to perfect our English. He said that he thinks it is pathetic when a missionary goes home and has forgotten his own language. Guess I should work on that one. Haha
2. (He and Sister Nelson talked about this one a lot) Everything that we do is preparing us for marriage. They have places President and Sister Budge in front of us to show us how true equal disciples of Christ treat each other. He also told President Budge that they wouldn't know if they have been successful until our grandchildren go on missions and go through the Temple.
3. He left us a special blessing from and apostle of the Lord: Safety, we will be exactly obedient, return and still be missionaries, a love for the Lord and for His word, and a love for the people, language, and culture.

And when Sister Nelson stood to speak to us she told us that Elder Nelson leaned toward her before hand and told her that though they have been to over 70 countries and spoken to the missionaries there he said, “Never seen or experienced better missionaries than these.” High praise right. And President Budge said that after the conference when they went out to lunch Sister Nelson said that as she looked out she could see future mission presidents and Elder Nelson said that he could see future members of the seventy and even members of the 12 and told President and Sister Budge to watch and follow these missionaries. I feel proud to be a part of one of the best missions and to be surrounded by outstanding missionaries. The missionaries here really are wonderful. You never hear about bad or disobedient missionaries. Yay for the Japan Tokyo Mission. :D Anyway I really did love that conference!!!!

This week was wonderful. We contacted a referral and taught 12 lessons and found 3 new investigators. Our Referral is from Taiwan and that is where the referral came from. We met her and gave her the Book of Mormon and invited her to learn more and she said yes. She told us that she would come to Eikaiwa the next day and would come to church that Sunday. She is so cute and she did come to Eikaiwa and to Church. She became close with one of the ward members and she said that she would come a little before Eikaiwa this next week to learn more. I am excited to see her again and to see her progress. Her name is Rin.

Our other new investigator is Japanese and I found her last transfer with my other companions. We met her again this week and taught her a lesson and shared with her passages from the Book of Mormon and she seems really interested. We set up another time this week to meet with her and she just absorbed everything that we said. It was so much fun to teach her. Her name is Asami and she is so cute. Just so full of life and she already believes that there is something more to this life and for after we die. She is a very prepared person.

Then Yesterday after church we decided to go streeting for a bit before a lesson that we had at 3. We literally walked out of the church, took 20 steps and found this cute family. The wife is from the Philippians and is Catholic and speaks fluent English. We ended up sitting down with her and taught her the first lesson. We showed her some pictures during the lesson portraying Christ and she asked if that is our image of Christ so we started talking about that for awhile. I told her how Joseph Smith described Christ with white hair and with fire in his eyes and after I said that she looked at me in the eyes and said, “Maybe like your eyes. I think your eyes are like his.” I am still thinking about what that means but I thought it was interesting that she said that. She and her husband told us that we are welcome to come back. I am excited. And it is great that they live so close to the church. It is a nice bonus. :D

Well a lot of other wonderful things happened this week but if I took the time to tell them all I would be here for a long time. :D It is getting a lot warmer here. Spring is starting and I am excited because that just means a few more weeks and I can see the Cherry blossoms!!! I am so excited for that. And I am excited for it to get warmer. The weather right now reminds of softball season. It makes me miss it. Well I love you all. Have a wonderful week and I shall talk to you next week. :D

Stolen...

 This week was a really hard one. Mostly just the last part of it. We did a lot of good work this week and we invited two people to be baptized and they said that they would. We were able to introduce a less active to a member and now she has a friend. And were able to find some new people to teach. It was a fun week and I was able to improve in some things but the last few days have been very stressful and hard. I guess because I have been going through out my mission trying to push myself to work hard, thinking that I wasn't working hard enough. But during this transfer I am coming to find out that I am working almost too hard and not being as productive when I do it. It is hard because to accept that I need to slow down a little and even change my tactics. But the Lord has given me ideas of what I can do better so I plan on doing them. But it has been very very stressful. And to add to the stress and anxiety that I have been feeling, on Friday (a day I basically woke up crying) morning when we left the apartment to meet a potential investigator I come to find out that my bike is missing. It has been stolen. I just stared in shock. I just thought of all the days it was today. Very ironic. But strangely after seeing it gone I was able to feel better. I was even laughing at the fact that it happened to me. But then the stress came back yesterday about what I was going to do about a bike. I found out that the mission home doesn't have one and I have no money to buy another one. I was stressed out of my mind and I was exhausted. I cried very very hard yesterday and I even felt like not praying because I had the quick thought that I am alone and the Lord isn't with me. But after the thought came I knew I had to pray more then ever. 

So after getting down on my knees I just prayed that my heart will be filled with peace and that things would work out. I was then able to sleep and this morning when I woke up I felt better and when I did personal study I felt great. I read President Eyring's talk “where is the pavilion?” and it really hit me hard. I learned what I needed to change. How I could be more productive. I think during this transfer I am learning how to balance and prioritize and to recognize where my efforts are needed. Right now we have a lot of p.i.'s and investigators. But many of them are not ready at this point. Yes they are all very special and important but I need to be and do the things where I am needed, where my testimony will be most beneficial. And if I am more bold and upfront about the reason why I am here that will cause less stress and will hasten the work even more. I have learned a lot the last few days of which I am grateful. These are skills that can help me in the future. And the Lord is watching out for me and providing a way. Today we got a call from a member telling me that she has a bike I can have for the rest of my mission. Sister Vail told her about my problem at church yesterday. The Lord really is there and is watching out for me. And like President Eyring said, we are the ones that cast up the pavilion but the Lord is always watching over us and always always helping us. Some lessons were learned the hard way but they are learned and I have the opportunity to change and become better. What a wonderful gift.

In other news I am sure everyone saw that there is a new mission in Japan. The Japan Tokyo south mission. The change will happen at the beginning of July of this year and the new mission president I know actually. He is the bishop of the English ward in my last area. He is a very nice man and will be great. Sine they are splitting the mission that does mean there will be changes. They are realigning the mission boundaries and that means that some of the missionaries in this mission will be moved into the Tokyo south mission. We still don't know who will go but it will be starting probably in July. I guess we will wait and see.

I love Utsunomiya, I LOVE the ward members, I love our investigators, I love Japan and the food and I am hooked on herbal tea right now. But most of all I love the Savior and the challenges He gives to me because through them I am learning more to lean on Him and I am changing for the better. This work is so important and I love being a part of it and I am honored to be apart of it. Again sorry that I didn't tell about the people we met with this last week. I will for sure next week. And you should all look forward to next week's e-mail because it will be exciting. I will be able to tell you something. :D And just so everyone knows. I have decided to change my major and my career path. I will be majoring in English.

Well that is all for this week. I really love you all and miss you with all my heart!!! Have a wonderful week!!!

Farewells and Hellos

I said goodbye to my two wonderful companions yesterday and what an interesting week last week was. Watching them as they said goodbye to everyone and pack everything for returning home. It was a weird feeling. Even more weird now as I think about them being home now and being on their way home. Just totally crazy. Anyway I LOVE my new companion. Guess who it is? Sister Vail!! I don't know if you remember me talking about her when I was in the MTC or not but she was in the MTC with me and left for Japan about a month before I came to Japan. She is an Angel and I love being with her already. It is interesting to go to just one companion after being with two for the last 6 weeks but I am looking forward to being with her and the work we will do together. And I am also excited to learn from her. :D

So this last week, like I said has just been interesting as we visited people so the others could say their goodbyes so we weren't able to teach a whole lot but we were able to teach the Yamazaki family on Saturday night and Sunday. Yamazaki kyoudai has really progressed during the last 6 weeks. He is praying a lot more and is blazing through the Book of Mormon. On Saturday night we went to their house for dinner and after dinner we watched The Testaments (which I love it in Japanese!!). After the movie we talked about it and had a great discussion. The spirit was felt so strongly and both Yamazaki kyoudai and shimai were able to relate to Jacob and they were honest with their feelings. Yamazaki kyoudai said that he doesn't really know if there is a God but because of the members in the ward he knows that Christ came to earth and set an example. He probably just doesn't understand his relationship with the Savior right now. We asked him he would pray whether to know if Christ lives and if there is a God and he said that he would. After the lesson when we returned to the apartment and were going over the lesson we all realized that we had feelings during the lesson that we should invite him to be baptized but none of us did. We were planning on doing that on Sunday. We all felt terrible and we decided that on Sunday we prayed and fasted for an opportunity to invite him again and that his heart would be softened and will have the desire to be baptized. I also realized that is something that I want to work on. Sometimes I hold back saying something or extending a commitment because I fear what my companion would do, say or think. I need to stop that and rely more on the spirit and trust in its guidance.

Anyway, on Sunday we met with the Yamazakis during Sunday school and taught about the plan of Salvation and focused on repentance and baptism. And the craziest thing happened that had us all in shock during sacrament meeting. Sister Edostrom was talking about baptism and was getting to the point that she would invite him to set a date and the spirit was strong in the room when a brother walked in and told us that sacrament meeting was starting (those two were going to be speaking for a few minutes) we said ok and he closed the door and we tried to wrap up but didn't really know how after being interrupted. But then the same brother opened the door and this time to remind that I was the one to say the opening prayer which was to be soon. So we all grabbed our stuff and rushed down the stairs only to find out that the prayer was already said and the sacrament hymn was being sung. Like I said before we all just sat down in shock. I had emotions that I can't clearly identify and which made me cry. I still don't know what feelings I had. It was just so bizarre. After Sacrament meeting we grabbed them and went to try and finish the lesson and tried to get that same spirit back. We asked Yamazaki kyoudai what he thought about baptism and he said it is hard because the word of wisdom is hard but that he will try his best to follow it. When we asked him if we could make a date as a goal to work towards he said no because he would feel too much pressure. It was such a let down. I feel like if we extended the commitment to him the night before at his house we would have accepted. This family is so cute and wonderful and I desperately want him to be baptized. Even President Budge knows them and loves them is always asking about them and wanting to see him baptized. Please say just a little prayer for this family. They have become very special to me and I love them so much. And I am praying that Vail shimai and I will have success together in getting a date for him. I am so glad to be here and serving the Lord in Japan. I feel so blessed and lucky and I am doing my best to live everyday in the moment and to find joy in every footstep. This time is short and before I know it I will be home. I love you all with all my heart but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I know that the Lord has His watchful eye over every single one of you and I feel so much peace from that.

A Busy Week

This past week I have learned many lessons that have greatly benefited me. Among a few of the them was learning about God's grace and what it means to submit to his will and also about faith. I will try to explain and if it doens't make sense I am sorry.

Before I always had this mind set that when you submitted to God's will it meant that you had to be easy. You couldn't have the feelings or desires that you had anymore. So anytime I didn't want to do something that I should I would feel an overwhelming sense of guilt and feel like I was letting down my Heavenly Father and Christ. But this week I learned differently. I was asked to do something unexpectedly that I didn't necessarily want to do but knew that I should because I knew my companion was inspired and it was for our investigator. So I said I would do it but I still had almost resentful angry feelings that I didn't want to have. I went into the other room and started praying. Asking Heavenly Father to forgive me for the feelings that I had and for not being more willing and ready to do things. Then I remembered a story I read recently how that woman prayed and how she was completely honest in her prayer. How she explained that she didn't want to do what was expected of her but would because she knew the blessings that would follow. I did the same thing. I was honest and told the Father that I didn't want to necessarily do what was asked of me (even though it was a small thing) but I knew that He wanted me to and that it would help my companions and the investigator. As soon as I ended that prayer I felt so much peace and joy and that day I was able to be happy and was able to strengthen and help my companions. I felt in my heart that Heavenly Father was pleased with my willingness to do his bidding even though it was hard. I know know. We learn about this in primary but I just never truly understood it before. And so I have wasted much much time in dwelling in my guilt and emotions even when I have done His will because I have never truly understood things before. I don't know if this made sense to anyone but it was a huge help to me and is still a huge help to me.

Another one I am learning more and need to improve more is faith. Today at District Meeting I did a training from Elder Nelson's 2011 april talk that is about faith. So during personal study I was thinking a lot about it and how I can improve on it. What is faith? Faith is a power given from Heaven. When you faith you trust in God's promises and trust in the atonement. When you have faith you don't have fear. So it says in the wonderful book titled, “Preach my Gospel.” I have realized of late that I have too much fear. So by having so much fear it makes it harder for my faith to show. So now my new goal is to gain more faith and displacing all the fear that I have. I will do by always remembering that I am a child of God and am the Lord's missionary. What reason do I have to fear? I have angels round about me all day long and I have the power of the Savior's atonement at my disposal. What could go wrong?

That is what I have learned a lot about this last week and then some.

A Happy Working Song

Hi everyone! I hope you are all staying safe and healthy and surviving the cold. This month has been surprisingly warm. The big surprise is that the church and the houses are colder then outside. They don't have heating like the states do and so they usually just have one little heater that they plug into the wall or it is just in one room. Interesting right? Anyway, please tell JD congratualations for me. That is so awesome about his mission call to New Jersery and that President Jeppson will be his mission president. That is just so perfecct. Tell my lil bro that I am proud of him and will be praying for him. :D The time will go by so quick. I mean I can't believe that I half way don with my mission this coming Saturday. It honestly makes me scared. I am becoming so used to the life of a missionary, the ups and the downs, that I don't know what I will do when I get home. And yes I have thought about it some since both of my companions will be leaving the 2nd week in February and they have talked about it. I am going to use all the time that I have being a missionary and not waste it (not that I have been wasting it before). 

Now onto this week. Last Monday during Pday we went shopping and as we were walking into the mall I held the door open for my companions and also for some high school girls who came after them. They said thank you to me and replied back your welcome. They giggled and started walking ahead of us when I yelled out to them "Have fun." They kept looking back at us until finally they stopped and turned to me and Sister Edstrom and I and asked where we were from. From there we started having a conversation and in the end we got of one their (there was 4 of them) phone numbers and made an appointment for today to go and eat gyouza (japanese pot stickers; Utsunomiya is famous for them). Just from opening the door we were able to find 4 P.I's. Isn't that crazy. We are really hoping that tonight when we meet with them that they will all become investigators and would like to know more about the church.

 

Tuesday: We had a lesson with Usa kyoudai and we taught him about tithing and the blessings that come from it. We had a great lesson and we were also able to talk to him about asking his mom for permission to be baptzied since he is 19 years old. And yesterday, Sunday, when he called us on the phone we asked him if he talked to his mom and he said that he did and that she gave permission and was fine with it. It was a great miracle because I guess before she was hontai and said he could be baptized only if he moved out on his own. But her heart was softened and now he just needs to go to church one more time and then he will be good to get baptized next week. :D

 

Wednesday: Our apartment was a mess and Sister Budge has asked all the missionaries to use January as the deep cleaning month. So that is what we started on Wednesday is cleaing though by the end of the night it didn't look like we cleaned at all. haha Such is the case when you are deep cleaing. And of course later that night we had Eikaiwa and guess what!? We had a new student come!! She is this really cute 19 year old girl . We were so happy because lately we haven't had many students come so we were so happy that she came.

 

Friday: We had an appointment with this woman named Chiyaki who is in her 30's about and has this really cute little girl about 1 and 4 months or so. We went to her house and had a great time with her and in the end had a great lesson with her. She asked if she could come and see the church and we said of course so we have an appointment with her this Thursday to do a church tour and we also watched two videos. One is called Finding happiness (from the Japanese perspective) and the other was the Restoration. We talked about her relationship with Heavenly Father and how the gospel can help her and her family have a happier life. She said that she wanted to learn more but not at the same time but she still wants to hear our message and she was really grateful when we gave her a Book of Mormon. So that day she became a investigator.

 

Saturday: Went with the Yamazaki family to a place called sweets paradise. It is a place that is an all you can eat but they mostly have sweets (cookies, cakes, ice cream, etc). We all felt pretty sick afterward but Sister Nishihara was feeling the worst so we came back to the apartment and she slep while Sister Edstrom and I did more cleaning and now the apartment is sooo pretty. A lot better then when I first came here.

 

Sunday: We had another lesson with Brother Yamazaki and we watched this great video about the Book of Mormon. He and his wife this last week have been reading the BOok of Mormon together which is sooo wonderful and a huge improvement. And yesterday at the end of the lesson when he prayed he said thank you for a new feeling he had and he also asked for something for his first time. Usually when he has prayed he only says thank you. But this time he asked for help to continue learning about the Gospel. He has been improving so much and I am excited for him. I feel like he is getting closer to baptism. :D

Also on Sunday we had an interesting experience that taught me a great lesson. In the past the sisters have gone to this huge pot luck party that is held by the community and there they have found a lot of p.i.s. At this pot luck party they don't allow religious activity but they have still let the SIsters in before. Anyway, yesterday when we went they asked if we could take off our name tags and then we would be allowed in. When I first heard that I felt like someone punched me in the heart. The immediat answer that came to mind was NO!!!! My name tag is very important not just to me but to my purpose as a missionary. It is what distinguishes me as the Lord's  representative during this time. I can't even describe the feeling that came over me when I first heard that. It was the first time something like has happend to me on my mission. It was a great lesson to learn and now I treasure my tag even more.