Day by day in Koga - September 22, 2014

Wednesday
We had a wonderful relief society party making scarfs, socks, and neck
warmers. Eikaiwa and a few lesson with Fuyumi and Maria. Maria and her
family are really struggling right now. Please continue praying for
them. Pray for Megumi chan to be strong and continue enduring to the
end. She needs all the help she can get. It is so hard when her
parents are not going on the same path as her.

Thursday
I love weekly planning. I think it is one of the most underused
revelatory experiences as a missionary. It is a time to get lots of
direction from our boss, Heavenly Father.  

Friday
Today was splits with Sister Carrasco. She is so gentle and sweet. We
saw so many miracles! Kakuhata kyoudai and Okada Shimai graciously
drive us. We felt so bad that they were helping us and Kakuhata
kyoudai says, it's okay. We are family. It was so simple to say, but
it hit my heart so hard. We really, really are family. How cool is
that. I am so thankful for that simple truth. 
Saturday
This is Kokai shimai and her husband, Kazuhiro San. They are less
actives. He actually has mental disability. We had a little picnic
outside of our apartment and a lesson. During the lesson, we talked
about why we need the Holy Ghost. At the start of the lesson, he said
that he doesn't need the spirit in his life. As we talked about the
reasons why we need the spirit and shared tewtimony with each other,
it was incredible to see the change in him and her. They both went to
church this Sunday. What an incredible thing it is when the spirit
works on people.

Sunday
Ueda San came to church along with Fuyumi chan. Ueda San was a huge
miracle. I don't know if I've told you a lot about her. She lives
fairly close to our apartment. No home phone, no cell phone, sometimes
it is really hard to meet with her. I am so thankful to be a
missionary in these times when there are so many ways to share the
gospel. She loves going to church and feeling love from the members.
Pray that we will be able to meet with her often and she will progress
well towards baptism. 
We also met with Kenson San. He is quite the miracle. He called some
other missionaries phone asking for us and so those missionaries
called us and gave us his number. We called him. He is a southern
baptist, but currently has desired not to go to any church. He knows
that god is love and truth. He wants to find truth, but he's not sure
where it is. It was incredible some of the questions that he asked
during the lesson. He is so excited to read the Book of Mormon. He is
going to come to church sometime soon. 
Monday

Today we had our zone pday in Koga at the Suzukis house. Actually, the
Suzukis have two houses side by side and one of them they have allowed
the elders to live in, so we actually did it outside their house. We
did a BBQ. It was a ton of fun. We had an investigator and recent
convert with us, so it was awesome for them as well.

This is the elders house. The two inside are our zone leaders. The two
outside are the two other elders in our district. The one on the right
in the hat is our district leader. I love our district.

This is from my lovely companion today. 
The things that I love from Yamauchi shimai️
No matter what, she will work hard :)

She is incredibly good at Japanese, she reads kanji and she is always
ready to learn more.

If she has a goal, she will do it without doubts.

When she teaches she does it with boldness and it is always out of love.

I love language study because I always can hear her reading in Japanese
and learning, in order to teach our investigators.

She does something funny every day

She tells the people 'I love you' every time she talks with them

Once I started this I realize that my companion has a lot of awesome
attributes that makes her the powerful missionary she is. Thank you ^^
 
 
I love Sister Cortes. She had a pretty bad bike accident when she went
to Oyama on splits. She has been super sore and super tired, but she
still tries hard no matter what.
 
Also, to end today, we were able to meet with Ueda san!! Hurray. She
is now on officially on the road to baptism. Pray for her like crazy
this week. I'll pray for all of you like crazy too. 
 
Love you all tons and tons and tons!! Have a wonderful week 
 
Sister Yamauchi 

 I appreciate so much having Facebook because I am able to keep in
contact well with converts and investigators from my previous area.
Today I saw this on Facebook. My beloved Urri and William. Love and
miss them so much. Today is Williams birthday! Can't believe it. He
turned 11. One more year and then it's priesthood time!

I tried some really funky juice and cheese bread from Peru. 

Day by day in Koga - September 22, 2014

Wednesday
We had a wonderful relief society party making scarfs, socks, and neck
warmers. Eikaiwa and a few lesson with Fuyumi and Maria. Maria and her
family are really struggling right now. Please continue praying for
them. Pray for Megumi chan to be strong and continue enduring to the
end. She needs all the help she can get. It is so hard when her
parents are not going on the same path as her.

Thursday
I love weekly planning. I think it is one of the most underused
revelatory experiences as a missionary. It is a time to get lots of
direction from our boss, Heavenly Father.  

Friday
Today was splits with Sister Carrasco. She is so gentle and sweet. We
saw so many miracles! Kakuhata kyoudai and Okada Shimai graciously
drive us. We felt so bad that they were helping us and Kakuhata
kyoudai says, it's okay. We are family. It was so simple to say, but
it hit my heart so hard. We really, really are family. How cool is
that. I am so thankful for that simple truth. 
Saturday
This is Kokai shimai and her husband, Kazuhiro San. They are less
actives. He actually has mental disability. We had a little picnic
outside of our apartment and a lesson. During the lesson, we talked
about why we need the Holy Ghost. At the start of the lesson, he said
that he doesn't need the spirit in his life. As we talked about the
reasons why we need the spirit and shared tewtimony with each other,
it was incredible to see the change in him and her. They both went to
church this Sunday. What an incredible thing it is when the spirit
works on people.

Sunday
Ueda San came to church along with Fuyumi chan. Ueda San was a huge
miracle. I don't know if I've told you a lot about her. She lives
fairly close to our apartment. No home phone, no cell phone, sometimes
it is really hard to meet with her. I am so thankful to be a
missionary in these times when there are so many ways to share the
gospel. She loves going to church and feeling love from the members.
Pray that we will be able to meet with her often and she will progress
well towards baptism. 
We also met with Kenson San. He is quite the miracle. He called some
other missionaries phone asking for us and so those missionaries
called us and gave us his number. We called him. He is a southern
baptist, but currently has desired not to go to any church. He knows
that god is love and truth. He wants to find truth, but he's not sure
where it is. It was incredible some of the questions that he asked
during the lesson. He is so excited to read the Book of Mormon. He is
going to come to church sometime soon. 
Monday

Today we had our zone pday in Koga at the Suzukis house. Actually, the
Suzukis have two houses side by side and one of them they have allowed
the elders to live in, so we actually did it outside their house. We
did a BBQ. It was a ton of fun. We had an investigator and recent
convert with us, so it was awesome for them as well.

This is the elders house. The two inside are our zone leaders. The two
outside are the two other elders in our district. The one on the right
in the hat is our district leader. I love our district.

This is from my lovely companion today. 
The things that I love from Yamauchi shimai️
No matter what, she will work hard :)

She is incredibly good at Japanese, she reads kanji and she is always
ready to learn more.

If she has a goal, she will do it without doubts.

When she teaches she does it with boldness and it is always out of love.

I love language study because I always can hear her reading in Japanese
and learning, in order to teach our investigators.

She does something funny every day

She tells the people 'I love you' every time she talks with them

Once I started this I realize that my companion has a lot of awesome
attributes that makes her the powerful missionary she is. Thank you ^^
 
 
I love Sister Cortes. She had a pretty bad bike accident when she went
to Oyama on splits. She has been super sore and super tired, but she
still tries hard no matter what.
 
Also, to end today, we were able to meet with Ueda san!! Hurray. She
is now on officially on the road to baptism. Pray for her like crazy
this week. I'll pray for all of you like crazy too. 
 
Love you all tons and tons and tons!! Have a wonderful week 
 
Sister Yamauchi 

 I appreciate so much having Facebook because I am able to keep in
contact well with converts and investigators from my previous area.
Today I saw this on Facebook. My beloved Urri and William. Love and
miss them so much. Today is Williams birthday! Can't believe it. He
turned 11. One more year and then it's priesthood time!

I tried some really funky juice and cheese bread from Peru. 

The Japanese people are wonderful! -September 15, 2014

 


FUYUMI CHAN

This is my darling Fuyumi chan. I have sent you pictures of her
before. She is awesome and I love her tons. We taught her the word of
wisdom on Sunday and she found out that tea is bad for you, but you
can drink mugicha, so she had her mother go buy some at the store on
Monday morning. She also told her mother that she wants to eat more
fruits and vegetables. Her mother is so thankful that she is learning
what she is learning from us. Her dad seems okay, although we haven't
met him yet. He isn't a big religion fan, but we are praying that we
will be able to get her permission to be baptized. We think it is
definitely possible, but will appreciate your prayers in her families
behalf. Oh, man, I love this girl so much. What an incredible example
of pure desire to do what is right. Every time we have a lesson, she
says, I want to go to heaven, or I want to be happy, or I want to be
baptized. She even cried when she didn't get to go to church a couple
weeks ago.








The Horie family has a pretty big family. They pretty much have a
birthday party every single month. They invited us to go to this one
with their family and an investigator (ueda san).'we all had a good
time. The food is some of the finest food I have ever tasted. Also,
after the meal, we we're able to share a message. For those of you who
don't know, we keep track of what members fellowship our
investigators. We do this by using our area book in our iPad and when
we input the lesson, we input all the members too. I think it was the
biggest member present lesson I have ever had. We had about 20 members
and one investigator! 

Nakajima shimai had a rough day on Wednesday and when we went to visit
her. She talked to us about a few things that had happened over the
past couple of days and then just cried. We talked for a about 10
minutes. I then felt prompted to ask her, "Nakajima shimai, who is
god?" She answered that "he is Heavenly Father." I then asked her,
"who are you?" To which she said, "I am a child of god." After a few
silent moments for her to think about what she had just said, she
prayed. What an incredibly, tear jerking experience. How important it
is for us to remember our relationship with God. He loves us so much.
In those hard times when you don't feel like praying, that is when you
need to pray the most.

Brother and Sister Suzuki

Can I just tell you that our ward mission leader and his wife rock! I
love them both sooooo much. My trip to the temple today was a little
bit unusual. All in all, it ended up being an 11 hour deal. I woke up
at 3:45 and then the sweet mission leader and his wife (the suzukis)
picked us up to go to the temple at 4:30 a.m. It is a three hour trip
by car from our apartment to the temple.




Speaking of cars, I don't know what it is but ever since I've come to
Japan, I get carsick super easy. Now just even getting in a car makes
me woozy. I'm typing my letter to you on the way back to our apartment
from the temple. It's been a long time since I've ridden this long in
a car. In Tokyo, I don't even remember having to ride in a car once.
Everything is so close to everything that train and bike do the trick.
In Kasukabe I rode I members and investigators cars quite a bit. But
koga tops it all. I don't know if I've told you or not, but from the
nearest train station our church is 35 minutes away by car. Some
members drive about one hour just to get to church (one away). I am
just amazed at the dedication of the saints here. And it is all so
worth it too. 
This is a picture of the Tokyo Eki. I love it so much. I feel
like it has been forever since I lived here. I can't believe how  fast
I got used to the country. It's hard to believe that I lived in such a
big place. It never really bit me before. Actually, I went on splits
with Sister Yasui this past week in Utsunomiya. That is in Kiryu (not
even Tokyo), but it is still fairly large. Anyway, we were biking down
the streets and there was actually people walking on the streets. They
actually had streets! It blew my mind that we could street people. In
Koga there is fairly anyone on the streets...because their aren't any
streets.

This is where the emperor of Japan lives!

On splits we always see sooo many miracles. I thought I would share
some of them with you. 
Recap of this split with sister Yasui 
We were going from the Oyama church to the Oyama eki and met Natsumi
chan. She seemed a little sad, but was very willing to listen to us
and make friends. We were able to teach her about prayer. We were then
able to set up an appointment for the very next day before splits end
so that she can meet the Oyama sisters. She doesn't have a job. Seems
to have a little bit of a rough life. Wants to know how to be happy
and thought about joining our church already! 
Met Satou san on the train ride to Utsunomiya. She is very nice. Gave
her a Book of Mormon (recommended the introduction) and got her
contact information. She says she will read it. 
We went to visit 井上 shimai. She was doing good today and she actually
stopped going to church for a little while even though she is a new
convert. She said the closing prayer and in the middle of it, she said
that she knows she needs to work harder and get to church. 
Met Miho and her other two friends. Were able to set up another
appointment to learn about Joseph Smith (while eating gyoza). Also
talked about the Book of Mormon with them and invited them to read. 
We met keiko san (both of us for the first time). She was busy then,
but it was lucky that we even found where she lives and saw her face. 
Met kaeo san. She was very nice and we were able to set up a return
appointment. 
Went to seminary. Great way to build a relationship with the youth. We
learned about the sealing power of the priesthood. How thankful I am
that my family has been sealed in the temple! 


Check out this food that I ordered in Oyama at the end of our splits
with the Utsunomiya sisters. Oh, how I love Gyoza!

I love the word obedience. It is so important. I wants to share one of
my favorite scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants. 
20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the
foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to
that law upon which it is predicated. 
D&C 130:20-21 
I have a super strong testimony of the importance of obedience. I know
it is because of obedience that we see miracles. God helps those who
are obedient. I love being obedient!
Love, Sister Yamauchi

MY BEST FRIENDS!

The Japanese people are wonderful! -September 15, 2014

 
FUYUMI CHAN

This is my darling Fuyumi chan. I have sent you pictures of her
before. She is awesome and I love her tons. We taught her the word of
wisdom on Sunday and she found out that tea is bad for you, but you
can drink mugicha, so she had her mother go buy some at the store on
Monday morning. She also told her mother that she wants to eat more
fruits and vegetables. Her mother is so thankful that she is learning
what she is learning from us. Her dad seems okay, although we haven't
met him yet. He isn't a big religion fan, but we are praying that we
will be able to get her permission to be baptized. We think it is
definitely possible, but will appreciate your prayers in her families
behalf. Oh, man, I love this girl so much. What an incredible example
of pure desire to do what is right. Every time we have a lesson, she
says, I want to go to heaven, or I want to be happy, or I want to be
baptized. She even cried when she didn't get to go to church a couple
weeks ago.








The Horie family has a pretty big family. They pretty much have a
birthday party every single month. They invited us to go to this one
with their family and an investigator (ueda san).'we all had a good
time. The food is some of the finest food I have ever tasted. Also,
after the meal, we we're able to share a message. For those of you who
don't know, we keep track of what members fellowship our
investigators. We do this by using our area book in our iPad and when
we input the lesson, we input all the members too. I think it was the
biggest member present lesson I have ever had. We had about 20 members
and one investigator! 

Nakajima shimai had a rough day on Wednesday and when we went to visit
her. She talked to us about a few things that had happened over the
past couple of days and then just cried. We talked for a about 10
minutes. I then felt prompted to ask her, "Nakajima shimai, who is
god?" She answered that "he is Heavenly Father." I then asked her,
"who are you?" To which she said, "I am a child of god." After a few
silent moments for her to think about what she had just said, she
prayed. What an incredibly, tear jerking experience. How important it
is for us to remember our relationship with God. He loves us so much.
In those hard times when you don't feel like praying, that is when you
need to pray the most.

Brother and Sister Suzuki

Can I just tell you that our ward mission leader and his wife rock! I
love them both sooooo much. My trip to the temple today was a little
bit unusual. All in all, it ended up being an 11 hour deal. I woke up
at 3:45 and then the sweet mission leader and his wife (the suzukis)
picked us up to go to the temple at 4:30 a.m. It is a three hour trip
by car from our apartment to the temple.




Speaking of cars, I don't know what it is but ever since I've come to
Japan, I get carsick super easy. Now just even getting in a car makes
me woozy. I'm typing my letter to you on the way back to our apartment
from the temple. It's been a long time since I've ridden this long in
a car. In Tokyo, I don't even remember having to ride in a car once.
Everything is so close to everything that train and bike do the trick.
In Kasukabe I rode I members and investigators cars quite a bit. But
koga tops it all. I don't know if I've told you or not, but from the
nearest train station our church is 35 minutes away by car. Some
members drive about one hour just to get to church (one away). I am
just amazed at the dedication of the saints here. And it is all so
worth it too. 
This is a picture of the Tokyo Eki. I love it so much. I feel
like it has been forever since I lived here. I can't believe how  fast
I got used to the country. It's hard to believe that I lived in such a
big place. It never really bit me before. Actually, I went on splits
with Sister Yasui this past week in Utsunomiya. That is in Kiryu (not
even Tokyo), but it is still fairly large. Anyway, we were biking down
the streets and there was actually people walking on the streets. They
actually had streets! It blew my mind that we could street people. In
Koga there is fairly anyone on the streets...because their aren't any
streets.

This is where the emperor of Japan lives!

On splits we always see sooo many miracles. I thought I would share
some of them with you. 
Recap of this split with sister Yasui 
We were going from the Oyama church to the Oyama eki and met Natsumi
chan. She seemed a little sad, but was very willing to listen to us
and make friends. We were able to teach her about prayer. We were then
able to set up an appointment for the very next day before splits end
so that she can meet the Oyama sisters. She doesn't have a job. Seems
to have a little bit of a rough life. Wants to know how to be happy
and thought about joining our church already! 
Met Satou san on the train ride to Utsunomiya. She is very nice. Gave
her a Book of Mormon (recommended the introduction) and got her
contact information. She says she will read it. 
We went to visit 井上 shimai. She was doing good today and she actually
stopped going to church for a little while even though she is a new
convert. She said the closing prayer and in the middle of it, she said
that she knows she needs to work harder and get to church. 
Met Miho and her other two friends. Were able to set up another
appointment to learn about Joseph Smith (while eating gyoza). Also
talked about the Book of Mormon with them and invited them to read. 
We met keiko san (both of us for the first time). She was busy then,
but it was lucky that we even found where she lives and saw her face. 
Met kaeo san. She was very nice and we were able to set up a return
appointment. 
Went to seminary. Great way to build a relationship with the youth. We
learned about the sealing power of the priesthood. How thankful I am
that my family has been sealed in the temple! 
Check out this food that I ordered in Oyama at the end of our splits
with the Utsunomiya sisters. Oh, how I love Gyoza!

I love the word obedience. It is so important. I wants to share one of
my favorite scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants. 
20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the
foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to
that law upon which it is predicated. 
D&C 130:20-21 
I have a super strong testimony of the importance of obedience. I know
it is because of obedience that we see miracles. God helps those who
are obedient. I love being obedient!
Love, Sister Yamauchi

MY BEST FRIENDS!