Goodbye to the BEST Year and a Half Ever! - December 15, 2014

K’wwse

Where in the world has the last year and half gone. I feel like I have

been living a dream. A dream that, in one way or another, has to come

to an end. I sure don't feel like I am at the end of anything,

I always tell my investigators that testing out our message is like

testing about a favorite food. If you don't try it, you'll never know

if you like it. I have always wanted to go on a mission and knew it

would be something I would love, but I never knew how much I would

love it until I actually did it. Boy, am I ever grateful that I did.

Up to this point in my life, there has been no other thing I have done

better.

Let me give you a little run down of my week. It won't be super long

because I have tons of things to do today.

This week I went to my last Zone Meeting. It was so sad. I translated as

always (hopefully not for my last time...I love translating). Got to

train on my experience I had at Meji shrine. As I did the training, my

heart just burst with a love for the Japanese culture. I have always

loved it. It is what I am made of.

Met with Louie Agui san. She is sooooo great, although she has a lot

in life to get cleaned up. She has one of the best hearts ever. We

were able to set a baptismal date with her. Looking forward to hearing

about her progression. Also looking forward to hearing about Hasegawa

sans progression towards baptism. That lady is one of the most

interesting, sweet things ever.

My recent converts here in Koga are doing so well. You know, there are

so many things that happen on a mission and there is no way that I am

going to be able to remember everything, but one thing is for sure, I

will never forget those who I helped lead to the waters of baptism.

Who got closer to God.

On that note, right before I go home, I will be staying at the mission

home for about a couple days and not everyone has time, but I was able

to set up time to meet with Urrichkie and Ryuuya kun before before I

go home. I am waaaayyyyy pumped to see them. I also get to meet with

some investigators and less actives. There are 28 missionaries leaving

my mission this week!! Yikes! I think there are 21 new missionaries

coming in.

Ah, it is so painful to leave the thing that I love most. I am really

having a hard time. Leaving home was only for a year and a half and I

knew that I would come back soon, so it wasn't hard. However, when I

leave Japan, I don't know when I will come back and many of the people

that are so dear to my heart I will not likely see again in this life.

Nakajima Shimai is sooooo sad. I am going to have the hardest time

ever leaving her I think. I promised to write her often. She will me

to. She told me she will come to America for General Conference and we

can talk again then. She tells me over the phone all the time that she

is saving money and has already checked into a visa. What a cutie. She

is literally my family member. There has got to be some way that we

are related blood wise.

The hardest thing ever will be to take off my name tag. Oh, how I dread

that day. It makes me tear up thinking about it.

I love my mission. I know that God lives and loves me personally. But

not just that. He loves everyone personally. Jesus is the Savior of

everyone I meet. Through His saving grace, I will have the chance to

meet again with those that I so dearly love. I know that the Book of

Mormon is true. I know that if we do not have charity, we really are

nothing. I have learned more about charity than anything else. It is

one of my most prized possessions. I love this work. It isn't over, not

for me. I am forever Sister Yamauchi. Forever a representative of my

Savior, Jesus Christ. For Christmas this year, I would love more than

anything else to give him yet another year and half of my life. No,

make that my entire life. For through Him, I am living. And through

Him, I will yet live again for all eternity.

See you all soon!

Much Love (no wait)...Much Charity,

山内姉妹

Goodbye to the BEST Year and a Half Ever! - December 15, 2014

Where in the world has the last year and half gone. I feel like I have
been living a dream. A dream that, in one way or another, has to come
to an end. I sure don't feel like I am at the end of anything,
I always tell my investigators that testing out our message is like
testing about a favorite food. If you don't try it, you'll never know
if you like it. I have always wanted to go on a mission and knew it
would be something I would love, but I never knew how much I would
love it until I actually did it. Boy, am I ever grateful that I did.
Up to this point in my life, there has been no other thing I have done
better.
Let me give you a little run down of my week. It won't be super long
because I have tons of things to do today.
This week I went to my last Zone Meeting. It was so sad. I translated as
always (hopefully not for my last time...I love translating). Got to
train on my experience I had at Meji shrine. As I did the training, my
heart just burst with a love for the Japanese culture. I have always
loved it. It is what I am made of.
Met with Louie Agui san. She is sooooo great, although she has a lot
in life to get cleaned up. She has one of the best hearts ever. We
were able to set a baptismal date with her. Looking forward to hearing
about her progression. Also looking forward to hearing about Hasegawa
sans progression towards baptism. That lady is one of the most
interesting, sweet things ever.
My recent converts here in Koga are doing so well. You know, there are
so many things that happen on a mission and there is no way that I am
going to be able to remember everything, but one thing is for sure, I
will never forget those who I helped lead to the waters of baptism.
Who got closer to God.
On that note, right before I go home, I will be staying at the mission
home for about a couple days and not everyone has time, but I was able
to set up time to meet with Urrichkie and Ryuuya kun before before I
go home. I am waaaayyyyy pumped to see them. I also get to meet with
some investigators and less actives. There are 28 missionaries leaving
my mission this week!! Yikes! I think there are 21 new missionaries
coming in.
Ah, it is so painful to leave the thing that I love most. I am really
having a hard time. Leaving home was only for a year and a half and I
knew that I would come back soon, so it wasn't hard. However, when I
leave Japan, I don't know when I will come back and many of the people
that are so dear to my heart I will not likely see again in this life.
Nakajima Shimai is sooooo sad. I am going to have the hardest time
ever leaving her I think. I promised to write her often. She will me
to. She told me she will come to America for General Conference and we
can talk again then. She tells me over the phone all the time that she
is saving money and has already checked into a visa. What a cutie. She
is literally my family member. There has got to be some way that we
are related blood wise.
The hardest thing ever will be to take off my name tag. Oh, how I dread
that day. It makes me tear up thinking about it.
I love my mission. I know that God lives and loves me personally. But
not just that. He loves everyone personally. Jesus is the Savior of
everyone I meet. Through His saving grace, I will have the chance to
meet again with those that I so dearly love. I know that the Book of
Mormon is true. I know that if we do not have charity, we really are
nothing. I have learned more about charity than anything else. It is
one of my most prized possessions. I love this work. It isn't over, not
for me. I am forever Sister Yamauchi. Forever a representative of my
Savior, Jesus Christ. For Christmas this year, I would love more than
anything else to give him yet another year and half of my life. No,
make that my entire life. For through Him, I am living. And through
Him, I will yet live again for all eternity.
See you all soon!
Much Love (no wait)...Much Charity,
山内姉妹️

It matters how you finish! - December 8, 2014

Tuesday
We got another referral from Nakajma Shimai. She is such a trooper. My
cute mother!!
Wednesday
My last district meeting. Lasts are just not fun. But I am so thankful
for my district. It is so important to be united with our district. 
We had lunch together with Ueda shimai and Nakajima shimai. Ueda
shimai needs lots of support still. Pray for her hard this week. 
Mari san. Told her about the word of wisdom this week. She smokes. She
really wants to stop, though. 
One of our big goals for this next week is to get tons of people to
come to church. I won't tell you the goal by number, but it is going
to be big. Pray hard for that for us please! 
Thursday 
My last MLC was today. Oh, it is so sad to me. I love mission
leadership council that we hold every single month. It always gives me
so much spiritual stamina. I included what I could in an email our
mission song. Every time I sing it, I get goosebumps like crazy. I
love my mission. I have the best mission ever...hands down. We learned
a ton of I just wanted to share two things that I learned with you
that really hit me.
Joy is contagious. It is so important that we share our joys with
everyone. I love joy. We have so much to be joyful for. 
At the end, President Budge had everyone stand up that this would be
their last MLC. I did not want to stand at all. But...I did. He said
to everyone. Never doubt that this is the lord's work. Never doubt
that The Lord is with you. It's a privilege to be a part of this. You
that are leaving, I hate to say this, but you will miss it so much.
Enjoy every last minute you have with the call. Because it will go
away soon and won't come again. Talk about a complete heartbreaker.
But I am so thankful for the spirit I felt when he said that. I know it
is Gods work! 
Then we started exchanges this night. I go to Utsunomiya! Utsunomiya
is famous for gyoza. I love gyoza. :) second time going here. First
time was on exchanges with Yasui shimai a couple transfers ago. 
Friday 
Inoue shimai is a new convert eh they have in their ward who is
struggling. When we first asked her if she would come to church, she
said that she wouldn't because she doesn't have the yaruki (I forgot
what this is in English) to do it. But then we talked about Christmas
and how Christ gave us the most important gift ever. We must give our
gift to Christ as well. Showed her the talk in this months liahona about
going to church and giving that to Christ for Christmas. Her heart was
changed over the lesson and we once again asked if she would come and
she said she would. Sometimes we mistakenly think that if we are
rejected once, that's it. But it's not true. You just gotta keep
trying. Think about all your friends you have tried but they kind of
rejected you. Well, you ought to try again. That's what I would
recommend. 
Ikuine san is probably one of the most charitable persons I have ever
met. She just wanted to do everything she could for us. If she could
do anything for us it would be to just listen to our message. 
So we were leaving Ikuine sans and I see this lady riding a bike. Keep
in mind that we are at the bottom of a hill. So she is coming pretty
fast and I just call out, hey to her and she stopped. Her name is
Alexia and she has been in Japan for just about 6 months and feels
pretty lonely. She was on her way to the hospital due to internal
problems and she had been praying that God would help her. She started
crying and said, I knew that God would answer my prayer. He sent you!
It was incredible!! God is hastening his work for sure. She will
hopefully be coming to church and we also have lots of contact info
for her and she has lds library and everything. Woot! 
I went on my last exchange with Sister Nelson. She is such a sweet
missionary. We dendoued in Utsunomiya. We saw some incredible
miracles. She is also probably the most humble missionary I have ever
met. She seeks always for feedback on how she can do better. If we use
the saying, feedback is the breakfast of champions, then she is the
champion. I am so thankful for what I learn from my Sisters. Love them
like crazy. 
Remember the Nakamura family that I have talked to you about before.
Well, on our way back to splits we norikaied at Oyama eki and all of a
sudden I see Ayumi chan. I am so thankful for Gods plan. There are
just no accidents in his plan. Her testimony was strengthened as well.


Mayumi chan is someone that I met on the train last week and she met
with us and ate dinner with us. She is going to come to church on
December 14 I think. Oh, since my last Sunday on December 14, I am
giving a talk that day. I'm really excited. We are going to bring
sooooooo many friends to church this next week. Pray for that for me
please. Thanks. 


Okada Hisako shimai. I keep asking her when she is going to marry
Kakuhata kyoudai and that she has to do it before I go home. She is so
hazukashii about it. I love her so much. She calls me her daughter.
Well, I pretty much call everyone my mother, so most people call me
their daughter. I guess that means that I can just stay in Japan,
right?! I do have a family here. :)



 

Saturday
Hasegawa sans lesson today was incredible. She is usually a goof and
tries to laugh as much as possible. But we really talked about the
things in her heart. We told her we were going to help her, but she
had to do what we say and trust us. She broke down in tears and said
thank you so much to us. I teared up too. I told her one of the
reasons I came to Japan was to meet her. 
Ayabe family. They are doing good. Another lesson on missionary work
(lesson 5). I have such a strong testimony of missionary work! 
Meet with Mari and Nakajima shimai tonight in preparation for tomorrow.
We ate going to do a stop smoking workshop for her tomorrow. For that,
we went and bought a ton of yummy, healthy foods for her. So excited
for tomorrow.



 

I am starting on my Christmas presents for all my friends here in
Japan. You ought to see my room...it is covered in Christmas gifts I
am preparing. Oh, I love Christmas. It's best spent in the service of
others.

I kind of cheated and gave Okada hisako shimai her
gift earlier because it is a journal and I wanted her to write in it
because today they went to the temple for the first time. Her and
kakuhata kyoudai and Nakajima shimai. Soooooo pumped. And Nakajima
shimai got to be baptized for her husband. Man, when you baptize one,
you baptism tons of people!! 
Sunday 
This was probably one of the most incredible days ever. So first off,
I stayed at the church from 8:50 in the morning until 6:30 at night.
Yes, that is true. 
Tsukahara san is doing well. I am amazed at those who have obstacles in
life and how well they face their challenges. Last Sunday we were
teaching him about the resurrection and he is sooooo excited for that
day to come. Until then, however, he knows he needs to follow Christ.
He has been coming to church every week faithfully this past month.


This is Yamagishi shimai. She is a funny lady. Doesn't
really want to join the church, but really likes it. She has only come
a couple of times. Tried to get her to come next week, but she said
she probably wouldn't, so we took a picture together. Selfy!! 
Nakajima shimai got up and bore her testimony of missionary work,
wanting to do the Lords work, and also about how I am a great
misisonary. She is too sweet. 
Mari san came to church as well. Her mom was going to, but I guess
they got in a fight before and just Mari came. We called Hasegawa san
that we really needed her to be at the tabacco presentation we were
going to give because we needed family to be there. She did come. It
was a super long lesson. The two almost couldn't stand to be in the
same room as each other. They started fighting again and even went
into separate rooms for a little while. It took a lot of patience and
encouraging both of them, but we did it. It is a hard core one week
program that she is going to do. Please pray for her to be able to
stay away from tabacco all this week. We know she can do it. Also pray
for her and her mother to have a better relationship. That will really
help. 
We went to Nakamura ke that night for dinner. That was fun. Love that
family so much. I will miss them. 






Monday
Helped Okada Youko shimai clean. She will be moving to a place nearer to
where she is now. She just needed a little help with a few things. 
Nakajima Shimai definitely needed our support tonight. If there is one
thing that I learned today, it is that God only commanded us that we do
two things to everyone, regardless of who they are...love and forgive. 
Remember earlier how I told you that we are going to bring lots of
people to church next week. Well, we were shopping and I felt really
inspired to say hi to a lady. Her name is Maria. She and her family
all want to come to our church this next week. What the?! I love
miracles!! It is sooooo normal to see miracles as a missionary. To

God, a miracle is nothing but normal! :) 
For those of you who don't know, I just wanted to explain a little bit
of English and Japanese. In English we do subject, verb, object right.
Well, in Japanese, it's reverse. The subject comes first, then the
object, and then the verb. I love this because I know that it's not
how we start things that counts in the end. It matters how you finish,
how you act, that makes the sentence good. I always think about what
kind of a legacy will I leave. I will finish strong for sure!! 
Everyone keep doing fabulous. Take the thoughts of finishing step by
step. First, finish this year out strong. Next, finish out next year
strong by thinking what kind of goals you will make for next year.
Then think about finishing phases of your life out strong. And then we
get to finishing our lives strong. Live it like it is your last day.
It changes a lot. I love my life and I want to live with my beloved
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ forever. It does matter how you
finish. 
Love you!
山内姉妹

It matters how you finish! - December 8, 2014

Tuesday
We got another referral from Nakajma Shimai. She is such a trooper. My
cute mother!!
Wednesday
My last district meeting. Lasts are just not fun. But I am so thankful
for my district. It is so important to be united with our district. 
We had lunch together with Ueda shimai and Nakajima shimai. Ueda
shimai needs lots of support still. Pray for her hard this week. 
Mari san. Told her about the word of wisdom this week. She smokes. She
really wants to stop, though. 
One of our big goals for this next week is to get tons of people to
come to church. I won't tell you the goal by number, but it is going
to be big. Pray hard for that for us please! 
Thursday 
My last MLC was today. Oh, it is so sad to me. I love mission
leadership council that we hold every single month. It always gives me
so much spiritual stamina. I included what I could in an email our
mission song. Every time I sing it, I get goosebumps like crazy. I
love my mission. I have the best mission ever...hands down. We learned
a ton of I just wanted to share two things that I learned with you
that really hit me.
Joy is contagious. It is so important that we share our joys with
everyone. I love joy. We have so much to be joyful for. 
At the end, President Budge had everyone stand up that this would be
their last MLC. I did not want to stand at all. But...I did. He said
to everyone. Never doubt that this is the lord's work. Never doubt
that The Lord is with you. It's a privilege to be a part of this. You
that are leaving, I hate to say this, but you will miss it so much.
Enjoy every last minute you have with the call. Because it will go
away soon and won't come again. Talk about a complete heartbreaker.
But I am so thankful for the spirit I felt when he said that. I know it
is Gods work! 
Then we started exchanges this night. I go to Utsunomiya! Utsunomiya
is famous for gyoza. I love gyoza. :) second time going here. First
time was on exchanges with Yasui shimai a couple transfers ago. 
Friday 
Inoue shimai is a new convert eh they have in their ward who is
struggling. When we first asked her if she would come to church, she
said that she wouldn't because she doesn't have the yaruki (I forgot
what this is in English) to do it. But then we talked about Christmas
and how Christ gave us the most important gift ever. We must give our
gift to Christ as well. Showed her the talk in this months liahona about
going to church and giving that to Christ for Christmas. Her heart was
changed over the lesson and we once again asked if she would come and
she said she would. Sometimes we mistakenly think that if we are
rejected once, that's it. But it's not true. You just gotta keep
trying. Think about all your friends you have tried but they kind of
rejected you. Well, you ought to try again. That's what I would
recommend. 
Ikuine san is probably one of the most charitable persons I have ever
met. She just wanted to do everything she could for us. If she could
do anything for us it would be to just listen to our message. 
So we were leaving Ikuine sans and I see this lady riding a bike. Keep
in mind that we are at the bottom of a hill. So she is coming pretty
fast and I just call out, hey to her and she stopped. Her name is
Alexia and she has been in Japan for just about 6 months and feels
pretty lonely. She was on her way to the hospital due to internal
problems and she had been praying that God would help her. She started
crying and said, I knew that God would answer my prayer. He sent you!
It was incredible!! God is hastening his work for sure. She will
hopefully be coming to church and we also have lots of contact info
for her and she has lds library and everything. Woot! 
I went on my last exchange with Sister Nelson. She is such a sweet
missionary. We dendoued in Utsunomiya. We saw some incredible
miracles. She is also probably the most humble missionary I have ever
met. She seeks always for feedback on how she can do better. If we use
the saying, feedback is the breakfast of champions, then she is the
champion. I am so thankful for what I learn from my Sisters. Love them
like crazy. 
Remember the Nakamura family that I have talked to you about before.
Well, on our way back to splits we norikaied at Oyama eki and all of a
sudden I see Ayumi chan. I am so thankful for Gods plan. There are
just no accidents in his plan. Her testimony was strengthened as well.


Mayumi chan is someone that I met on the train last week and she met
with us and ate dinner with us. She is going to come to church on
December 14 I think. Oh, since my last Sunday on December 14, I am
giving a talk that day. I'm really excited. We are going to bring
sooooooo many friends to church this next week. Pray for that for me
please. Thanks. 


Okada Hisako shimai. I keep asking her when she is going to marry
Kakuhata kyoudai and that she has to do it before I go home. She is so
hazukashii about it. I love her so much. She calls me her daughter.
Well, I pretty much call everyone my mother, so most people call me
their daughter. I guess that means that I can just stay in Japan,
right?! I do have a family here. :)



 

Saturday
Hasegawa sans lesson today was incredible. She is usually a goof and
tries to laugh as much as possible. But we really talked about the
things in her heart. We told her we were going to help her, but she
had to do what we say and trust us. She broke down in tears and said
thank you so much to us. I teared up too. I told her one of the
reasons I came to Japan was to meet her. 
Ayabe family. They are doing good. Another lesson on missionary work
(lesson 5). I have such a strong testimony of missionary work! 
Meet with Mari and Nakajima shimai tonight in preparation for tomorrow.
We ate going to do a stop smoking workshop for her tomorrow. For that,
we went and bought a ton of yummy, healthy foods for her. So excited
for tomorrow.



 

I am starting on my Christmas presents for all my friends here in
Japan. You ought to see my room...it is covered in Christmas gifts I
am preparing. Oh, I love Christmas. It's best spent in the service of
others.

I kind of cheated and gave Okada hisako shimai her
gift earlier because it is a journal and I wanted her to write in it
because today they went to the temple for the first time. Her and
kakuhata kyoudai and Nakajima shimai. Soooooo pumped. And Nakajima
shimai got to be baptized for her husband. Man, when you baptize one,
you baptism tons of people!! 
Sunday 
This was probably one of the most incredible days ever. So first off,
I stayed at the church from 8:50 in the morning until 6:30 at night.
Yes, that is true. 
Tsukahara san is doing well. I am amazed at those who have obstacles in
life and how well they face their challenges. Last Sunday we were
teaching him about the resurrection and he is sooooo excited for that
day to come. Until then, however, he knows he needs to follow Christ.
He has been coming to church every week faithfully this past month.


This is Yamagishi shimai. She is a funny lady. Doesn't
really want to join the church, but really likes it. She has only come
a couple of times. Tried to get her to come next week, but she said
she probably wouldn't, so we took a picture together. Selfy!! 
Nakajima shimai got up and bore her testimony of missionary work,
wanting to do the Lords work, and also about how I am a great
misisonary. She is too sweet. 
Mari san came to church as well. Her mom was going to, but I guess
they got in a fight before and just Mari came. We called Hasegawa san
that we really needed her to be at the tabacco presentation we were
going to give because we needed family to be there. She did come. It
was a super long lesson. The two almost couldn't stand to be in the
same room as each other. They started fighting again and even went
into separate rooms for a little while. It took a lot of patience and
encouraging both of them, but we did it. It is a hard core one week
program that she is going to do. Please pray for her to be able to
stay away from tabacco all this week. We know she can do it. Also pray
for her and her mother to have a better relationship. That will really
help. 
We went to Nakamura ke that night for dinner. That was fun. Love that
family so much. I will miss them. 






Monday
Helped Okada Youko shimai clean. She will be moving to a place nearer to
where she is now. She just needed a little help with a few things. 
Nakajima Shimai definitely needed our support tonight. If there is one
thing that I learned today, it is that God only commanded us that we do
two things to everyone, regardless of who they are...love and forgive. 
Remember earlier how I told you that we are going to bring lots of
people to church next week. Well, we were shopping and I felt really
inspired to say hi to a lady. Her name is Maria. She and her family
all want to come to our church this next week. What the?! I love
miracles!! It is sooooo normal to see miracles as a missionary. To

God, a miracle is nothing but normal! :) 
For those of you who don't know, I just wanted to explain a little bit
of English and Japanese. In English we do subject, verb, object right.
Well, in Japanese, it's reverse. The subject comes first, then the
object, and then the verb. I love this because I know that it's not
how we start things that counts in the end. It matters how you finish,
how you act, that makes the sentence good. I always think about what
kind of a legacy will I leave. I will finish strong for sure!! 
Everyone keep doing fabulous. Take the thoughts of finishing step by
step. First, finish this year out strong. Next, finish out next year
strong by thinking what kind of goals you will make for next year.
Then think about finishing phases of your life out strong. And then we
get to finishing our lives strong. Live it like it is your last day.
It changes a lot. I love my life and I want to live with my beloved
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ forever. It does matter how you
finish. 
Love you!
山内姉妹