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