Megumi Chan - September 1, 2014

Megumi Chan‏

This Sunday at church we had two investigators receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost (Okada shimai and Yamazaki kyoudai), I gave a talk in
sacrament, and we had the baptism of Megumi chan as well. I will never
forget that day. So full of so many good feelings. The Spirit is the
best! 
The baptismal service was absolutely incredible. The young women sang
a song for Megumi. I like to look for rainbows and it was so soooo
beautiful. My favorite part of any baptismal service is hearing the
converts testimony after the baptism. It was so wonderful to hear
Megumi testify of how she was feeling and then glance over at her
parents faces who were sitting beside me, and feel their hearts
soften. 
Remember Kitahara shimai and Usui shimai from the Kasukabe ward. Well,
I now pretty well know their whole family. Those twos parents are the
nishi family. And the nish family has two other daughters, who are now
young women, who I now know. I love, love, love the young women. Get
so pumped every single time I see them. They love hugs and my I love
you sign. Oh, and Nakajima shimai decided she better be in the young
women's picture. That's just Nakajima shimai for you. She is the
greatest! Hehe 

 

 Let me start by telling you about Megumi chan. At the start of this

week, we really didn't know what to do with her. She wanted to get
baptized but it was hard for her to make time to take the lessons.
Through lots of faith and prayer, we were able to do lessons with her
every day this week. It was so incredible to see her change this week.
She has a very strong testimony of this church. From the time she was
a little girl, she attended several different churches, but she said
she felt something different. when she came to our church. Her
testimony is so incredibly strong. This has also been an incredible
opportunity to strengthen our relationship with the young men and
young women. I love each of them so much and just look forward to
seeing their faces all the time. We are now focusing a ton on her
parents to help them feel the joy that comes from the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Megumi chan really wants her parents to join her! We will work
super hard to help them become a forever family!

Itsumi Shimai. This is Usui Shimai's sister. We love each other
soooooo much. She has been a great support for Megumi.

This is Nakashima Shimai. She is absolutely incredible. I love her so
much. She is definitely my very own Grandma in Japan. She has an
incredibly strong testimony of the truth of the gospel. She lives
alone and loves missionaries. Fairly recent convert too.

Bus dendou is awesome. I met these two cute girls this past week.
Really excited to talk to them again this week!

Nananananananananananananananana BATMAN!‏

We had a crazy rain storm this week. We got pounded on, but still
needed to ride our bikes for an appointment for 2 hours. It was super
fun. I love the rain! Not like it hasn't happened before, but again,
my bag and everything in it were absolutely soaking wet. This is my
White Handbook. I opened it up and found that the rain had made me a
batman symbol! Cool, right?! Heavenly Fathers reminder to me that the
real heroes in life are His missionaries. My poor little white
handbook is still trying to recover to this day.

This is Okada Shimai and Kakuhata kyoudai. Kakuhata kyoudai is
amazing. He is a recent convert from the start of this year. Kakuhata
kyoudai referred Okada shimai and we taught her. He is such an
incredible member missionary. 

This was one of our lessons we had with her this week. This is Komichi
Hanna chan. She is adorable and such a great friend. I am soaking wet
in this picture. But, it's all good. 

 I don't think I've ever told you this before, but in Japan we do

tithing and fast offerings different than anywhere else. The bishop
gives each member their own booklet and you fill it out and then take
it to the bank in order to pay. Kind of an interesting fact I thought
I might share with you.

Here is a picture of the three missionaries the three missionaries
leaving That left e ootaku ku area last week. Woot woot for
graduation!
 
When I first got to the Koga train station with Sister Cortes, the
Elders were actually there about ready to transfer and I got to greet
all of them. Also, one of their investigators was there. His name is
Yamazaki Shinji kyoudai. He's the one I told you got baptized last
week. Well Shinji kyoudai comes up to me super excited and said that
he had heard all about me. Heaven knows where from. He heard that I am
a strict teacher and he said he is way excited for me to be in Koga
and he likes strict teaches. P.S. I'm not strict.