Koga, koga, koga!! - September 29, 2014

We were able to do a lesson with Satoko san and (daughter) Nanako
chan. I sure do love the more than anything and my hope is that they
will come to church soon!
 
I made chaohan for everyone. I absolutely love cooking. It's kind of
become a hobby for me. They brought these cute panda candies. They are
like sixlets.

 

Cute Tiny Juice -

This is so Japan. Everything super small. Opposite of America that's for sure.

We had a fun family night a couple weeks ago with the theme of unity.
It is so important that we be united in everything we do. If we are
not one, we are not His. To demonstrate unity, we did the human knot!
This is soooo Nakajima shimai to be twisted up like she is!

Baptism in Koga!

I love my planner. Before my mission, I really didn't use one. But now
I can't live without one.

Hello one and all!

 Today was transfer calls. Me and Sister Cortes weren't really too
 worried, and we were spot on. We aren't moving at all. Everything is
 still the same as last transfer. Also, our zone leaders are the same
 too. That will be nice. I feel like we work together well. Yeah! There
 are some new changes in Koga, however. Elder Burt is leaving. He is
 going to Chiba. We will miss him. Elder Myers is our new district
 leader and he will also be training a missionary fresh from the
 states! Also, it won't just be me and Sister Cortes is the apartment
 now. Sister Miyaki and Sister Requilman will be coming here too. I am
 soooooooo excited to have Sister Miyaki in the apartment again. I will
 miss having just two people in her apartment. We have so much going on
 that here recently that they really had no choice but to put more
 sisters here to keep up with the work! The same thing happened to me
 in Kasukabe. Koga's on fire!!

 Please keep Megumi chan in your prayers. She needs all the help she
 can get. Her and her father have also been a little sick, so we were
 able to go to their house this past Sunday and give them both
 priesthood blessings. The father was the first one to receive the
 blessing. After the blessing, Megumi touched her heart and said, oh, I
 feel so warm. How thankful I am for the spirit. It is real!!

 One night we were planning and we wanted to do some finding, but I
 just didn't feel like our finding methods that we were used to doing
 were working. Mainly because there just isn't really people anywhere
 here. So I suggested doing shopping dendou. There's a first time for
 everything. We spent just a little time in the parking lot of a
 grocery store and found a P.I. and a new investigator! The new
 investigator lives close to the church too! I know that as we do all
 we can to put ourselves in places where lots of prepared people are
 just waiting to meet us.

 Ueda Shimai is doing wonderful and we have been able to get almost all
 of the ward members to be her friend and know her by name and face.
 This Sunday we had church, a baptismal service, and a ward dinner
 right in a row. She stayed for all of it and had a blast. Her
 baptismal date is set for October 26. It's still not often easy when
 we have no way to contact her unless we are face to face. Often times
 she is not home so we leave passages of PMG lessons in her post for
 her to read when she does get home and then the next time we see her
 we talk about it and commit her to whatever it is that she needs. I
 think she is really starting to desire to do what is right in the
 sight of god. She is wonderful at keeping her promises. I love her so
 much. When I am around her, I am reminded of how easy it is to share
 our love with others. It doesn't take anything big. You just have to
 do the small things right. I remember in my letter home last week, I
 asked everyone to keep her in your prayers. I have really felt the
 power of those prayers, so thank you so much. Please continue to pray
 for her. We can do this together!! After all, we're all in this
 together!!

 Let me share some of the things that I have learned/have been thinking
 about this week.

 1. I've been thinking a lot about football lately, especially as a
 leader. Some leaders have the tendency to think that they are the
 quarterback. But that's not true. All leaders are actually receivers.
 For most of you that know missionary work, you get calls from the
 district leader every night to check and make sure you are safe and
 follow up on your day. We have now made a change in the mission. Now
 the missionaries call the district leaders. Let me give you an example
 of how you could probably improve in your positions in the church
 right now. How many of you get calls from your home teaching
 coordinator or visiting teaching coordinator every month asking if you
 have done your visits. I bet almost every one of you. This is totally
 wrong. They are responsibly to RECEIVE an accounting from you. So,
 please be proactive and account for yourself. That's what it's all
 about right. We go through our day to day cycle and at the end of
 every day, we go back home and report to The Lord.

 2. When you know it's not your work, but the Lord's, you always use
 your time wisely because it's not even your time.

 3. The only way to say "no" is to have a more powerful "yes."

 4. We had our mission leadership council this past week and I had one
 of the coolest experiences. We have been talking as a council a lot
 about our Christmas miracle. Or goal last year was to see one baptism
 in every single area from October to December. Where got together, we
 discussed how we felt it is just the same goal we had last year and
 we've got to get better. The definition of insanity is doing the same
 things over and over again and expecting the same results. We felt
 that the number 100 was perfect and that in our mission between
 October and Christmas, we could see 100 baptisms. This is a very high
 goal, but something we really thought about. Whenever we make a big
 decision, we always consult The Lord first. So, we got down on our
 knees as a leadership council and petitioned with our Heavenly Father.
 It was a sincere prayer and we all put our hearts into it. It was such
 a humbling experience to look up after the prayer ended and see every
 leader in our mission on knees, thinking hard. Something that will
 forever be painted in my memory. We know that The Lord is behind us on
 this and we can see this HUGE miracle. On October 1 at 8 a.m. Japan
 time, the plan is that all of the missionaries in our mission will be
 on our knees pleading for us to see this miracle. Also, have you
 bought our origami paper to make your cranes family? We are going to
 have to do lots of folding is Christmas season for our Savior!!

 5. I am a disciple of Christ. I fear no man. Preaching the gospel is
 all I desire to do.

 Keep doing missionary work everyone. I testify that it makes you so
 happy and so good!!

 I love this area! I love the people. I love the work. I love The Lord.
 That never changes. Ever!! Can't wait for this week. I am looking
 forward to going on a blitz with the sisters in our zone to Oyama to
 help them find more investigators. Their area is struggling a little
 bit. Also looking forward to zone meeting this week.

 Hugs and loves,
 Sister Yamauchi