Ueda Shimai's baptism!! - October 27, 2014

Ueda Shimai was baptized. The service was wonderful. Everyone
mentioned how much change there was in her after she got baptized. It
was like she was a completely different person. The power of the
atonement is so real. 
This is the Horie family. The parents are the same age as ueda shimai
and have been the worlds best fellowshippers for her from the
beginning to the end. I love that family so much. Horie kyoudai
preformed the baptism and I will never for get how jyouzu he performed
it. One of our investigators, Tashiro Hiroko san, was able to come to
church and the baptismal service and she loved it. She has a date to
get baptized next month and is so excited. I will have to get you a
picture of Tashiro san next week. :)

 

 

This morning we went with Nakajima shimai to her friends that live
close to us. She had given them a Book of Mormon and wanted us to talk
with them. When we got to their house (Kimura family) and saw the man,
he said, I am not going to enter into any church. Did that stop
Nakajima shimai? No way!! She kept talking and making small talk with
the man and talked about how traditional Japanese think, there is only
one god, not many. And there is only one right religion. By the end,
the man said he would continue to read the Book of Mormon that she had
given him. Nakajima shimai is probably the best missionary there is in
the whole world. We told the man that we lived pretty close to him and
he asked us if we were the ones that were always running close to his
house and doing "taiso" we told him yes. He thought it was funny and
way cool that we exercise. This morning we actually went to ueda
Shimai's to remind her about having FHE at Nakajima Shimai's house
tonight. Sister cortes rode her bike and I ran. It's about a 8 minute
run to her house. Way nice. And there was more fog than I have ever
seen in my life. Did you know when it is foggy, you can see spider
webs super easily. It looked super halloweeny.


After we were done there, we were headed back to our apartment and I
saw is lady with a way cute puppy. She is three months old. Soooo
adorable, right?! We were able to give her a Book of Mormon and invite
her to free English class. Hopefully we see her walking around our
apartment again.

Here she is. I think you receive a picture of sister Nakajima
literally every week from me. Boy do I love her so much. She is quite
the lady.

We played the mummy game where you wrap one person in toilet paper.
Our team one second. Woot!  The mummy is Komichi ke's daughter. She brought two friends with her.
What a cute, good missionary.

The Ayabe family wanted to come to the baptismal service,but they had
something going on, so they couldn't. They have such a wonderful
funiki (um, in English that would be like their air/The feeling they
put off...kana). They came to the ward Halloween party and all the
members just loved the family. They will be a great addition to the
ward. We really hope they continue to progress and are especially
praying that they will be baptized before Christmas. This is two of the children.

This is Airi chan. She is the one that me and Sister Day met on splits
the day before this Halloween party! We invited both her a her friend,
but Airi chan ended up coming...alone. What a trooper!! She lives
close to the church. Love her so much. Ward activities are the best
tools in the world for missionaries. I take every ward activity very
seriously because it's such an awesome opportunity for our
investigators. We really invited as many people as we could to come to
the activity. Pretty much every person that wasn't a member that came
was one of our investigators. I tried to count. We ended up having
around 15 people come. We had to get all the other 6 missionaries who
are in our area to help us so that all our investigators had friends
to talk to. It was such an amazing sight. If a ward wants a successful
missionary program as far as activities goes, a ward ought to have a
big activity for everyone to come to at least once a month with flyers
that the missionaries can give out to everyone.

Companion exchanges with Sister Day‏

We have been teaching a lady named Joyce. She is for the Phillipeans.
I think I told you about finding her in last weeks email. We went
shopping on pray and I saw this lady I felt like I really needed to
talk to. Within this week, we have been able to teach her a could of
times, commit her to a baptismal date, and also she voluntarily took
us over to her friends house (2 referrals)! Wy have been able to teach
that family a couple times too! They live pretty close to the church
and believe in God. What a miracle!

This is Japan for you. A premade peanut butter and honey sandwich without crust.

Time flies! Went into Daiso today (Japan version of dollar store, only Daiso is
better than the dollar store). Crazy to walk in and see Christmas
stuff. Yikes! Halloween hasnt even happened yet!

Thais and Hannah chan. This dog is the cutest. The kids play around with it so much that it is pretty much like playing with a doll and you pick it up like a person. I think I forgot to tell you this story, but about a month ago, we went into their house and then we go to leave and I put my shoes on and notice the straps of my shoes are missing. The dog had ate them off. I ended up getting them fixed but my shoes are quite hammered.

Ueda Shimai's baptism!! - October 27, 2014

Ueda Shimai was baptized. The service was wonderful. Everyone
mentioned how much change there was in her after she got baptized. It
was like she was a completely different person. The power of the
atonement is so real. 
This is the Horie family. The parents are the same age as ueda shimai
and have been the worlds best fellowshippers for her from the
beginning to the end. I love that family so much. Horie kyoudai
preformed the baptism and I will never for get how jyouzu he performed
it. One of our investigators, Tashiro Hiroko san, was able to come to
church and the baptismal service and she loved it. She has a date to
get baptized next month and is so excited. I will have to get you a
picture of Tashiro san next week. :)

 

 

This morning we went with Nakajima shimai to her friends that live
close to us. She had given them a Book of Mormon and wanted us to talk
with them. When we got to their house (Kimura family) and saw the man,
he said, I am not going to enter into any church. Did that stop
Nakajima shimai? No way!! She kept talking and making small talk with
the man and talked about how traditional Japanese think, there is only
one god, not many. And there is only one right religion. By the end,
the man said he would continue to read the Book of Mormon that she had
given him. Nakajima shimai is probably the best missionary there is in
the whole world. We told the man that we lived pretty close to him and
he asked us if we were the ones that were always running close to his
house and doing "taiso" we told him yes. He thought it was funny and
way cool that we exercise. This morning we actually went to ueda
Shimai's to remind her about having FHE at Nakajima Shimai's house
tonight. Sister cortes rode her bike and I ran. It's about a 8 minute
run to her house. Way nice. And there was more fog than I have ever
seen in my life. Did you know when it is foggy, you can see spider
webs super easily. It looked super halloweeny.


After we were done there, we were headed back to our apartment and I
saw is lady with a way cute puppy. She is three months old. Soooo
adorable, right?! We were able to give her a Book of Mormon and invite
her to free English class. Hopefully we see her walking around our
apartment again.

Here she is. I think you receive a picture of sister Nakajima
literally every week from me. Boy do I love her so much. She is quite
the lady.

We played the mummy game where you wrap one person in toilet paper.
Our team one second. Woot!  The mummy is Komichi ke's daughter. She brought two friends with her.
What a cute, good missionary.

The Ayabe family wanted to come to the baptismal service,but they had
something going on, so they couldn't. They have such a wonderful
funiki (um, in English that would be like their air/The feeling they
put off...kana). They came to the ward Halloween party and all the
members just loved the family. They will be a great addition to the
ward. We really hope they continue to progress and are especially
praying that they will be baptized before Christmas. This is two of the children.

This is Airi chan. She is the one that me and Sister Day met on splits
the day before this Halloween party! We invited both her a her friend,
but Airi chan ended up coming...alone. What a trooper!! She lives
close to the church. Love her so much. Ward activities are the best
tools in the world for missionaries. I take every ward activity very
seriously because it's such an awesome opportunity for our
investigators. We really invited as many people as we could to come to
the activity. Pretty much every person that wasn't a member that came
was one of our investigators. I tried to count. We ended up having
around 15 people come. We had to get all the other 6 missionaries who
are in our area to help us so that all our investigators had friends
to talk to. It was such an amazing sight. If a ward wants a successful
missionary program as far as activities goes, a ward ought to have a
big activity for everyone to come to at least once a month with flyers
that the missionaries can give out to everyone.

Companion exchanges with Sister Day‏

We have been teaching a lady named Joyce. She is for the Phillipeans.
I think I told you about finding her in last weeks email. We went
shopping on pray and I saw this lady I felt like I really needed to
talk to. Within this week, we have been able to teach her a could of
times, commit her to a baptismal date, and also she voluntarily took
us over to her friends house (2 referrals)! Wy have been able to teach
that family a couple times too! They live pretty close to the church
and believe in God. What a miracle!

This is Japan for you. A premade peanut butter and honey sandwich without crust.

Time flies! Went into Daiso today (Japan version of dollar store, only Daiso is
better than the dollar store). Crazy to walk in and see Christmas
stuff. Yikes! Halloween hasnt even happened yet!

Thais and Hannah chan. This dog is the cutest. The kids play around with it so much that it is pretty much like playing with a doll and you pick it up like a person. I think I forgot to tell you this story, but about a month ago, we went into their house and then we go to leave and I put my shoes on and notice the straps of my shoes are missing. The dog had ate them off. I ended up getting them fixed but my shoes are quite hammered.

My desire! - October 20, 2014

Today we went to the temple. Oh how I love the temple. I have to
listen in Japanese. I understand it so much better. I seriously do
have a hard time listening in English any more. In fact, one of the
new investigators that we met today is a Fillipino and he was telling
us stuff and I just could not understand what he was saying in
English. Luckily he speaks Japanese and Spanish too, so we could talk
to him pretty good. Turns out he has read the Book of Mormon and
studied about our church before. He is 60 years old now, but he
studied when he was 23 years old in the Filipinos. How cool it is that
we meet him in Japan and get to teach him. Oh, he's the dad of the
family of 14 that I have been telling you about. We literally go over
there to teach them and get a new investigators every time because
someone different always answers the door. ;) 
Anyway, back to the temple. I love it so much. So much inspiration and
power it's incredible. I saw Kitahara Kyoudai and Marutani Shimai in
the temple from Kasukabe ward. Man, I love and miss them so much! I
love the temple!!

This week we had companion exchanges with the other Koga Sisters(
Sistee Miyaki and Sister Requilman). It was so fun to be companions
with Sister Miyaki again...it's been a long time. I love this sister
so much. We have always made quite the team. Sister Miyaki and her 

companion have been having a really difficult time for some reason.
It's really hard when you have a companion that doesn't want to do
missionary work. Sister Miyaki is such a great missionary and I know
how hard it must be for her. Luckily, from past experiences with
companions, I understood that. I now know why the Lord wanted me to
have those experiences...because He needed me to comfort Sister Miyaki
at this time in her mission. 
Anyway, that day we literally set Koga on fire with missionary work.
With found tons of new investigators and taught tons of lessons. It's
a great way to get them off for the coming weeks. I am so thankful
that The Lord blesses us so much. I have taken particular notice to
how much he blesses us leaders. It is incredible. He really
consecrates our time.

So when I first came to Koga and was going back to the apartment, I
remember seeing the Statue of Liberty and wondering what in the world
it was doing in such a awkward place. So, today on pday on our way
home from the temple, I had to get a picture with it. Enjoy ;) 
Then we went grocery shopping and I saw this lady from a distance and
I just thought I had to talk to her. We ended up talking for about 30
minutes. She lives really close to our church, doesn't have a job,
doesn't live with family, and likes talking about church things.
SWEEEETTTT!! So excited to work with her. Her name is Joyce.

My companion caught a cold for about a week, but she has been a
champion and still does missionary work with me. There is no time to

waste. Our investigators and members have been so sweet to her. This is a scarf 

and a hat she got from Nakajima shimai. She is better now. Me and her come from
totally different climates. She is always used to way hot climates, so
just a little bit of cool weather and she is freezing. Me on the other
hand, Japan is almost always hot/warm. :)

Shabu shabu with the nakamura family‏

Ever since I have come to Koga, we have been trying to work with a
less active family. The mom is the only active one and then the
husband and children are less active. They are sooooo cute. I still
remember when we first met each of them and they seemed super skeptical
and kind of hesitant to talk. I did all I could to be their best
friend every time I saw of talked to them. It has been amazing to see
the transformation in their family. They invited us over for shabu
shabu this last Sunday night. It is one of my favorite meals.
Basically tons of steamed vegis and then you shabu shabu the meat. I
don't really know how to explain it in English. You use chopsticks,
pick up a please of meat, and kind of weave it around in the boiling
water and it cooks within about 10 seconds. So yummy. They are coming
together as a family to church this next week and also to Ueda
Shimai's baptism! So excited for that!

I love to ride my bicycle! It really is a joy ride. Here in Koga, we
get to ride our bikes a lot and get lots of thinking time. It is such
a great time to receive revelation for our area. Missionary work is
soooooo fun. Work is sooooo fun!

What a wonderful week we have had in Koga. This is truly the land of miracles. 
Ueda Shimai is all set for baptism this coming week! Thanks for all
your prayers everyone. One wards baptism is our whole church's
baptism! So congratulations to you all! She will be confirmed the
following week in sacrament meeting. Because she doesn't have a cell
phone, we have plans to meet with her every day of the week just for a
little bit. The ward is super excited to welcome her in. She really
already acts and seems like she is a member. I love is woman so much.
She has had a lot of hard things in her life, but she has changed
completely. Seeing that change and the atonement's power is unlike any
other experience I have ever had. 
She isn't all to big into pictures, so getting one with her was a
little tricky. But I wanted to show you who she is so you can put a
face to the name you are praying for.

 

This is my awesome Mission President. He is the best. So funny and yet
so serious when it comes to missionary work, which I love. On Monday,
I got to have a personal interview with him. We have interviews with
him every other transfer as well as one at the beginning of our
mission and one at the end of our mission. I always prepare
spiritually so that I can receive revelation. President Budge is a
super successful man. Not only in being a mission president, but in
almost every phase of his life. One of the questions I really wanted
to ask him was... 
How have you found success? 
I told him I left It really broad on purpose. 
His answer was very inspiring and something I wanted to share will all of you. 
He said he never set out to be famous or well off or anything like
most people in this world do. He said keeping the commandments is
pretty much it. If you keep there commandments, you will find success.
What a simple, yet so profound a statement. Something I will always
remember. All you have to do is keep the commandments and the rest
will fall into place. He also said, Don't be two faced...live the
gospel...all the time. I love that. Then he said, Follow the spirit?
Lately, he told me about how in the world, there is an infinite
addiction for more, more, more in order to be happy. You must
continually seek to understand if you have enough, but don't think you
need more. Find a good balance. I love President and Sister Budge and
sustain them with all my heart!

 THE LOVE OF GOD - Hey everyone, so I've been thinking a lot about the love of God

lately. Outside of my apartment, there is this little bush that has
cute heart-shaped leaves. Then me and my companion started talking
about the tree of life and I was thinking about how the tree of life
is the love of god. What a great little thought! If we really love
God, we will do what it takes to return to his presence.THE 

Here are a few other thoughts from the week that I don't have pictures
to go with. 
Kenson came to church this week again!! We teach him along with his
sisters, but we haven't been able to get the sisters to come to church
yet. He really enjoyed it and I can see him changing so much. He loves
the words of god and so do his sisters. Although he works a lot, his
sisters don't, which makes it nice because we can meet with them
during the week. We have been trying to talk to him about baptism and
the importance of it. Hopefully, we will be able to set a date with him
this week. His sisters will then see that example and want to follow. 
The Ayabe family is doing so wonderful. They are one of my favoritest
families ever. We are doing the family eikaiwa program with them. (30
minutes English and 30 minutes of them listening to our message). They
listen to the gospel lessons so intently. The kids were taught from
the time they were young to pray to their ancestors, but as of last
week, they have been praying every day to Heavenly Father and have
really grown to love the fact that they have a Heavenly Father. The
mom has been reading the Book of Mormon and this next week will be
applying Moroni's promise. Pray for her to be able to feel the Holy
Spirit. 
We we're housing about a month ago and ran across a lady named Itou
san. She is pretty much the cutest mother of two I have ever seen in
my life. We have been visiting her on and off and this week she has
just sky rocketed! She loves the plan of salvation and when we gave
her the Book of Mormon and told her why it is so important to us, she
was so humble when she took it and so excited. Way excited to continue
working with her. Pray for her that she can come to the Halloween
party this coming Saturday at our church and also to church and Ueda
Shimai's baptism service! 
There are so many wonderful miracles and people to tell you about, but
I'll save you the time and stop there because if I were to keep going
I don't think I'd ever end. 
I am so excited for another week...as always. When I think of my
desires as a missionary, I think of John. In 3 Nephi we read: Behold,
I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my
beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up
by the Jews, desired of me...for ye have desired that ye might bring
the souls of men unto me, while the world shall stand. And for this
cause ye shall have fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the
kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father
hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am
even as the Father; and the Father and I are one. 
Love you all!! 
Peace out from Japan! 
Until next week ️ 
山内姉妹

My desire! - October 20, 2014

Today we went to the temple. Oh how I love the temple. I have to
listen in Japanese. I understand it so much better. I seriously do
have a hard time listening in English any more. In fact, one of the
new investigators that we met today is a Fillipino and he was telling
us stuff and I just could not understand what he was saying in
English. Luckily he speaks Japanese and Spanish too, so we could talk
to him pretty good. Turns out he has read the Book of Mormon and
studied about our church before. He is 60 years old now, but he
studied when he was 23 years old in the Filipinos. How cool it is that
we meet him in Japan and get to teach him. Oh, he's the dad of the
family of 14 that I have been telling you about. We literally go over
there to teach them and get a new investigators every time because
someone different always answers the door. ;) 
Anyway, back to the temple. I love it so much. So much inspiration and
power it's incredible. I saw Kitahara Kyoudai and Marutani Shimai in
the temple from Kasukabe ward. Man, I love and miss them so much! I
love the temple!!

This week we had companion exchanges with the other Koga Sisters(
Sistee Miyaki and Sister Requilman). It was so fun to be companions
with Sister Miyaki again...it's been a long time. I love this sister
so much. We have always made quite the team. Sister Miyaki and her 

companion have been having a really difficult time for some reason.
It's really hard when you have a companion that doesn't want to do
missionary work. Sister Miyaki is such a great missionary and I know
how hard it must be for her. Luckily, from past experiences with
companions, I understood that. I now know why the Lord wanted me to
have those experiences...because He needed me to comfort Sister Miyaki
at this time in her mission. 
Anyway, that day we literally set Koga on fire with missionary work.
With found tons of new investigators and taught tons of lessons. It's
a great way to get them off for the coming weeks. I am so thankful
that The Lord blesses us so much. I have taken particular notice to
how much he blesses us leaders. It is incredible. He really
consecrates our time.

So when I first came to Koga and was going back to the apartment, I
remember seeing the Statue of Liberty and wondering what in the world
it was doing in such a awkward place. So, today on pday on our way
home from the temple, I had to get a picture with it. Enjoy ;) 
Then we went grocery shopping and I saw this lady from a distance and
I just thought I had to talk to her. We ended up talking for about 30
minutes. She lives really close to our church, doesn't have a job,
doesn't live with family, and likes talking about church things.
SWEEEETTTT!! So excited to work with her. Her name is Joyce.

My companion caught a cold for about a week, but she has been a
champion and still does missionary work with me. There is no time to

waste. Our investigators and members have been so sweet to her. This is a scarf 

and a hat she got from Nakajima shimai. She is better now. Me and her come from
totally different climates. She is always used to way hot climates, so
just a little bit of cool weather and she is freezing. Me on the other
hand, Japan is almost always hot/warm. :)

Shabu shabu with the nakamura family‏

Ever since I have come to Koga, we have been trying to work with a
less active family. The mom is the only active one and then the
husband and children are less active. They are sooooo cute. I still
remember when we first met each of them and they seemed super skeptical
and kind of hesitant to talk. I did all I could to be their best
friend every time I saw of talked to them. It has been amazing to see
the transformation in their family. They invited us over for shabu
shabu this last Sunday night. It is one of my favorite meals.
Basically tons of steamed vegis and then you shabu shabu the meat. I
don't really know how to explain it in English. You use chopsticks,
pick up a please of meat, and kind of weave it around in the boiling
water and it cooks within about 10 seconds. So yummy. They are coming
together as a family to church this next week and also to Ueda
Shimai's baptism! So excited for that!

I love to ride my bicycle! It really is a joy ride. Here in Koga, we
get to ride our bikes a lot and get lots of thinking time. It is such
a great time to receive revelation for our area. Missionary work is
soooooo fun. Work is sooooo fun!

What a wonderful week we have had in Koga. This is truly the land of miracles. 
Ueda Shimai is all set for baptism this coming week! Thanks for all
your prayers everyone. One wards baptism is our whole church's
baptism! So congratulations to you all! She will be confirmed the
following week in sacrament meeting. Because she doesn't have a cell
phone, we have plans to meet with her every day of the week just for a
little bit. The ward is super excited to welcome her in. She really
already acts and seems like she is a member. I love is woman so much.
She has had a lot of hard things in her life, but she has changed
completely. Seeing that change and the atonement's power is unlike any
other experience I have ever had. 
She isn't all to big into pictures, so getting one with her was a
little tricky. But I wanted to show you who she is so you can put a
face to the name you are praying for.

 

This is my awesome Mission President. He is the best. So funny and yet
so serious when it comes to missionary work, which I love. On Monday,
I got to have a personal interview with him. We have interviews with
him every other transfer as well as one at the beginning of our
mission and one at the end of our mission. I always prepare
spiritually so that I can receive revelation. President Budge is a
super successful man. Not only in being a mission president, but in
almost every phase of his life. One of the questions I really wanted
to ask him was... 
How have you found success? 
I told him I left It really broad on purpose. 
His answer was very inspiring and something I wanted to share will all of you. 
He said he never set out to be famous or well off or anything like
most people in this world do. He said keeping the commandments is
pretty much it. If you keep there commandments, you will find success.
What a simple, yet so profound a statement. Something I will always
remember. All you have to do is keep the commandments and the rest
will fall into place. He also said, Don't be two faced...live the
gospel...all the time. I love that. Then he said, Follow the spirit?
Lately, he told me about how in the world, there is an infinite
addiction for more, more, more in order to be happy. You must
continually seek to understand if you have enough, but don't think you
need more. Find a good balance. I love President and Sister Budge and
sustain them with all my heart!

 THE LOVE OF GOD - Hey everyone, so I've been thinking a lot about the love of God

lately. Outside of my apartment, there is this little bush that has
cute heart-shaped leaves. Then me and my companion started talking
about the tree of life and I was thinking about how the tree of life
is the love of god. What a great little thought! If we really love
God, we will do what it takes to return to his presence.THE 

Here are a few other thoughts from the week that I don't have pictures
to go with. 
Kenson came to church this week again!! We teach him along with his
sisters, but we haven't been able to get the sisters to come to church
yet. He really enjoyed it and I can see him changing so much. He loves
the words of god and so do his sisters. Although he works a lot, his
sisters don't, which makes it nice because we can meet with them
during the week. We have been trying to talk to him about baptism and
the importance of it. Hopefully, we will be able to set a date with him
this week. His sisters will then see that example and want to follow. 
The Ayabe family is doing so wonderful. They are one of my favoritest
families ever. We are doing the family eikaiwa program with them. (30
minutes English and 30 minutes of them listening to our message). They
listen to the gospel lessons so intently. The kids were taught from
the time they were young to pray to their ancestors, but as of last
week, they have been praying every day to Heavenly Father and have
really grown to love the fact that they have a Heavenly Father. The
mom has been reading the Book of Mormon and this next week will be
applying Moroni's promise. Pray for her to be able to feel the Holy
Spirit. 
We we're housing about a month ago and ran across a lady named Itou
san. She is pretty much the cutest mother of two I have ever seen in
my life. We have been visiting her on and off and this week she has
just sky rocketed! She loves the plan of salvation and when we gave
her the Book of Mormon and told her why it is so important to us, she
was so humble when she took it and so excited. Way excited to continue
working with her. Pray for her that she can come to the Halloween
party this coming Saturday at our church and also to church and Ueda
Shimai's baptism service! 
There are so many wonderful miracles and people to tell you about, but
I'll save you the time and stop there because if I were to keep going
I don't think I'd ever end. 
I am so excited for another week...as always. When I think of my
desires as a missionary, I think of John. In 3 Nephi we read: Behold,
I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my
beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up
by the Jews, desired of me...for ye have desired that ye might bring
the souls of men unto me, while the world shall stand. And for this
cause ye shall have fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the
kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father
hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am
even as the Father; and the Father and I are one. 
Love you all!! 
Peace out from Japan! 
Until next week ️ 
山内姉妹