Selfies while dinner is on the stove

                                  Modeling after cleaning the church

                                             Dinner with the Talmage girls. Linn, May, & Ann

                                                                        Sister Sasaki

Sister McAllister from the North Mission (and my freshman BYU ward)

May 26th

This week was really defining for me and my companion. We had an
incredible companionship inventory. We decided that we want to give
ourselves more completely to the work. We want to stop any
conversations that aren't focused on the people we serve here or on
our purpose as missionaries. We want to be exhausted each day and use
each moment effectively so we can have no regrets! I want to be more
selfless and leave behind my worldly cares to serve The Lord and
follow the guidance of the Spirit. We finished the inventory with
goals that seemed beyond our ability. But that are totally possible
with The Lord! We were ready to hit the streets and find joy in each
moment of the work! As we work to strengthen ourselves spiritually and
shine a light in our countenances we find that we can't stop smiling.
The message we share is one of happiness. Our smiles show others that
we have the truth. As I have decided to be happy and forget myself...
I have found that I enjoy the work more and I find excitement in
thinking about and serving others. I feel like a missionary! I love
it.
On Tuesday, President Wada joined us with Oikawa Shimai for a lesson.
He shared many scriptures, expressed his love and God's love for her,
and really tried to help her understand the atonement of Christ. He
was bold in asking her to work with the missionaries, the angels God
had sent for her, to prepare for baptism and choose a date to work
toward. We were able to set a baptismal date for October. She is
nervous but excited. We will work with her and start from the
beginning and teach all the lessons again and help her to feel peace
surrounding this decision to start on the path toward her own eternal
progression. We are so happy for her!
We had exchanges on Friday and I spent the day with Sister Wells. We
had some great experiences together... During our morning run she got
pooped on by a bird and later in the evening I tried to model walk out
of a bathroom and completely tripped. We wanted to made our finding
activities fun. We spent the morning trying to talk to everyone but no
one would respond or look at us or they would just run away. Later in
the afternoon we had more success having meaningful conversations...
But they were all way awkward too. We have to count our contacts, but
as we counted each one we would say "just 50 more to go!" It really
kept us motivated to talk to and invite everyone and enjoy each moment
even when we were completely rejected. We also had two really good
lessons with members. We found out in our district meeting that two
wards joined together three years ago to become the kichijoji ward and
all the cliques from the old wards stayed the same and essentially
everyone feels like a visitor in their own ward and like they are on
the outside. So... Our goal is definitely to strengthen the ward and
serve the members so the ward can be united and welcoming to our
friends who attend church.
Saturday was the two mission conference. We prepared all through the
week to be ready to hear from an apostle of The Lord. We deep cleaned
our apartment. It looks AMAZING! We seriously can feel the Spirit so
much better here now. Elder Cook didn't end up coming to see our
apartment but we feel so good knowing that we can be ready for The
Lord's representative to stop by! The conference was amazing! There
were 400 + missionaries. God knows us individually. I could feel his
love for me as I received answers to prayers. Elder Cook and Elder
Maynes and the area president Elder Whiting and his wife spoke as
well. One liner summaries:
Sister Whiting: watch our conversations and talk of Christ
Elder Whiting: this is a marvelous work and a wonder. Have eyes and
ears to recognize and find joy in the wonder of the work!
Sister Maynes: obedience, work ethic, and knowledge of the Savior are
the credentials for the work.
Elder Maynes: being connected to our purpose in every moment!
Sister Cook: music testifies as well as teaches. Our smiles show
others we have the truth and they will want to know why we are so
happy.
Elder Cook: we are the message (our worthiness, spirituality,
obedience, etc affects everything we do). We are assigned to our
mission president and to the people of Japan for a reason. Something
in the future may require these experiences for God's purposes. We are
the ward builders... Not the marketing arm of the church. Missionary
work is: baptism, re-activation, example to young people, helping
others prepare for the temple, etc.
he suggested connecting with people we meet through sharing about
families and the plan of salvation. Teach less actives that Joseph
Smith was the foreordained prophet of this dispensation. The atonement
isn't just a miracle... It's essential.
On Sunday night Elder Cook and Elder Maynes returned to give a
devotional. The church was packed! The chapel, the gym, and the
classrooms on all three floors of the building were full and many
people had to stand! 1400 in attendance. A less active sister we are
working with and our investigator, Pinko and her son, were able to
come!
Sister Maynes: don't let the pollution in! It's my choice to feel the
spirit or not feel he spirit in my life.
Elder Maynes: the greatest gifts from God are his son, Jesus Christ
and his Spirit, the gift of the Holy Ghost. We keep the Lord's
commandments because we always remember him and we remember him
because we have taken his name upon ourselves.
Sister Cook: treasure the best things: membership in the church,
scriptures, testimony, knowledge that God loves us, power of prayer,
role as parents and spouses, covenants
Elder Cook: exercise religious observance in our homes. Be an example
to our communities: be a light... Not camouflage.
Don't underestimate the blessings of the temple. Not just attending,
but serving and connecting our families through family history work.
Favorite quote from personal study: "it may seem a little difficult at
first, but when a person begins to catch a vision of the true work,
when he begins to see something of eternity in its true perspective,
the blessings begin to far outweigh the cost of leaving 'the world'
behind." -President Spencer W. Kimball
Love you!

May 18th

This transfer is so great! Hathaway Shimai is such a good missionary
and has such a great attitude and love for the work. I'm so happy for
this opportunity to be working with her. She is so funny and we laugh
together all the time. We are seeing so many miracles together. We
want to work to be more obedient and have the faith to find new
investigators through making our meaningful contacts more meaningful.
We were able to make contact with Aya San this week through Facebook
and we are so excited! We will hopefully be able to meet with her
sometime this week! It sounds like she may want to go out and get
pancakes with us. That would be a miracle! 

 
Kyo Shimai's baptism in Hibarigaoka: Elder Nishidome, Kyo, Sister Hathaway, Sister Barnes, Sister Wilde, ME 

 We talked a bit about baptism in our lesson with Pinko San this week.
She has been an investigator off and on for about 10 years... The
missionaries change often and they have all asked her to be baptized.
She says she doesn't feel a lot of love as she sees that same pattern
with each set of missionaries. She really wants to learn about the
gospel and to understand the Book of Mormon and to ultimately feel
more of God's love. We know that as we continue to study with her she
will feel more of that love, understand the scriptures, and understand
the need to be baptized. Kyo Bien Shimai, a recent convert from the
Kunitachi ward who speaks Chinese will be the member present from here
forward. They go together to Bible class at eikaiwa each week as well.
We have been working more closely with a few less actives and it's
been pretty effective. Yesterday, one sister, Sakaguchi Shimai was
able to attend sacrament meeting! 

 
Look at this sushi I ate while on exchanges with Sister Maloy. (raw tuna, raw egg)

 We met some new friends at eikaiwa and will hopefully be meeting them
soon to share more about church. Sports night was way successful. Lots
of defining moments for our friends. We have gotten to know Natsumi
and her nephew, Sou a lot better this week. They are opening up a lot
and becoming more comfortable with the missionaries and everyone at
the activities. They don't have time to come to church, but we are
hoping to be able to meet with them one on one. We went out to eat
with them the other night. Sou kun is such a little gentleman.. He
really wanted to fill our water cups every time they were getting low.
We told him about how big the food is in America and I showed him a
picture of me and a 1 lb hamburger I got in Idaho and we got some
great pictures of his face when he saw it! I'll send them on in
another email! 

HAHAHA
 
On Friday I got to kokan with my MTC companion, Sister Maloy!!! It was
so fun! I absolutely love her. She is so unique. We were able to meet
tons of people and teach kids English together.

              A typical Japanese parking lot

After church yesterday we went on splits with some of the members to
try and visit less actives. No one we visited was home or even lived
there anymore... But it was a really good experience to work side by
side with the members and help the ward reach out to those who haven't
been to church in a while. 

 
 
 Taiyaki with the sisters! It's like a fish shaped waffle filled with....
Mine had purple sweet potato the others had custard cream and chestnuts/sweet bean paste

 This coming weekend is a 2 mission conference. Tokyo and Tokyo south!
And... Best part... Elder Cook of the quorum of the 12 apostles is
coming to the conference! And he will be giving a devotional on Sunday
night. Some of our investigators were way excited when we invited them
and explained that a prophet of God was coming to speak to us! Also...
Apparently Elder Cook might be checking some of the apartments in our
mission... For what.. I don't know. But talk about an intimidating
cleaning check! Our apartment is pretty ghetto. Welcome to our humble
abode...
I've been studying Jacob 5 the past couple days in my personal study
and I absolutely love it! The Lord has called more servants to assist
him in his vineyard as he labors his last time to help God's children
overcome sin, bring forth righteousness, and enjoy the blessings of
the atonement. He promises us joy as we work with all our might. The
Lord labors with us. He does as according to his will. As we labor in
all diligence by keeping his commandments we shall have joy with him.
We are all called to participate in this work as we strengthen our
families, magnify our church callings, and serve our fellow men. We
know of the truthfulness of the gospel. The happiest message there is:
we have a loving Heavenly Father. He sent his son to sacrifice for us
that we might live in Gods presence again. We all chose this plan. We
can choose it again and help remind our friends of the path to eternal happiness! 
"Wherefore, let us go to and labor with out might!" Let me know of the 
missionary experience/experiences you have laboring in the Lord's vineyard!

I love you all. Thanks for being the best, most loyal friends.

May 12th

{I'm so sorry that I'm so late in posting! I had a crazy busy week! I'll do better!}

Dearest family and friends,
Yo, what's up?!

Today is such a happy p day cause I got to talk to my best friends!
Mom, Dad, and Craig! I love y'all and miss y'all a bunch. Happy
Mothers Day!

This week was fun. On Tuesday night I got to dendou with Sister
Merstrand for a bit. It was fun cause we are both fairly new
missionaries but we were able to meet lots of new people and invite
them to church and other activities!

 
Zone P day with Moeka's friend 

 Wednesday we got to run with the new sister missionaries and split up
and dendou with them in the afternoon. We had some interesting
experiences. First person I talked to was a young child who I guess
thought I was way scary so he ran behind his mom and cried. Later we
talked to this old couple. The man was British and the wife was from
Taiwan. He talked our ear off for forever and tried to explain to us
why Christianity was wrong or whatever... And his wife just sat there
and laughed the whole time. We finally mentioned we had an appointment
to get to and made our escape.

 
Moeka and me at Zone P day 

 Thursday was transfer day so I dropped sister Feist off at the mission
home to meet her new trainee and I waited with other missionaries at
the train station for our new companions. My new companion, Sister
Hathaway, is the greatest! We have so much fun together and laugh all
the time! Our friend, Pinko, showed up to institute on Thursday night!
The class really welcomed us and asked us to keep bringing our friends
each week. It was a wonderful experience for pinko. She really wants
to study the scriptures and learn all she can about the gospel. She
has such great faith!


 
       Goodbye to the AP elder Crandall who went
                             home this week.

 On Friday we met with Yamamoto Shimai, a less active sister we had
never met before. She met us at the station and we took a taxi to her
house. The weather was so strange that day. Half the sky was sunny
and half the sky was full of dark gloomy clouds. We get to her house
which is actually way nice and she has this adorable garden full of
bright flowers and a white picket fence. We make it into her cute
house and it starts pouring like crazy outside. We felt like we were
in a little fairy tale. Even her outfit matched her house. She was so
sweet and has a really good knowledge of the scriptures. She feels
lonely and doesn't have anyone to talk about church things with
because all her friends and family are really opposed to Christianity.
By the time we left it had stopped raining... We made it to the train
when it started raining again and made it home without feeling a drop.
It was the craziest miracle.

 
Saying hello and goodbye on transfer day. Indian curry with Sister Merstrand, Sister Jolley, Sister Feist, 2 of the other sister's PIs, Sister Wells, and Sister Hathaway

 On Sunday Moeka came to church and we were so excited! We went to
youth Sunday school and young women's with her. The girls were so nice
and welcoming. We would love it if Moeka was able to go to girl's camp
with them! After church we rode our bikes to Hibarigaoka for a
baptism. The sister being baptized was so cute and has such a powerful
testimony. She is Chinese but was able to meet the missionaries here!
Sister Hathaway and I were so starving since it had been hours since
breakfast and we have also started getting a little sick this
weekend... But we still had the long bike ride back to our area and it
was so hot and we were feeling weak but... We made it! Just looking
for the little miracles each day. :)

 
SELFIE: Sister Hathaway, Sister Wells, Sister Merstrand 

 I'm really excited for this transfer. Sister Hathaway and I are ready
to be the most obedient missionaries so we can see all the miracles!
She is the oldest sister missionary (transfer wise) in the mission but
she is definitely pushing me to take on the area leader role because
she is brand new to kichijoji... So we gotta show each other the
ropes! Because I have tons to learn from her! Recently we have been
unable to contact our investigators who are preparing for baptism and
it's been really hard to schedule appointments with other
investigators. It's really discouraging and sad. But we have had so
much more time to go out in faith that we can meet God's daughters who
are prepared to receive the message, since we are not busy with
lessons. I have to recognize that hard times like this are really
normal and trust that God has a perfect plan. He loves all his
children individually and perfectly and is continually watching over
them. He really works in mysterious ways but it is such a comfort to
me that he has the perfect love and knowledge and will always allows
us our freedom to choose. We have just got to go forward in faith and
trust his will and his power.


Salsa and Guac for Cinco de Mayo/Sister Hathaway's birthday



 
Kid's Eikaiwa: Sister Talmage, Natsumi,  Lyn, Sister Wells, May, Sister Hathaway, Ann, Sister Merstrand, Soh kun

 I love you all!

May 5th

Hello everyone!

Today we woke up to... An earthquake! It was at like 5 in the morning
and lasted a surprising amount of time. Apparently it was news worthy.
I have no access to the news but let me know!

We also got.... Transfer calls today! I'm staying in kichijoji and
getting another companion. Sister Hathaway! She is the sister training
leader for our zone. She is so fun and her Japanese is incredible. She
has just two transfers left of her mission so she will probably finish
it up in kichijoji! Sister Feist is opening up a new area and training
a brand new missionary. We are both pretty excited. The other two
sisters in our apartment are staying the same!


 
me being awesome at dodgeball. photo cred: the one and only president wada

 This week is something fancy called.. Golden week. So basically it
means that almost everyone has work off and they return to their
hometowns for the week or go on vacation. So... Almost no one wanted
to meet with us this week. But... There were tons of people out so we
got to have 150 new meaningful contacts this week. And a few new
potential investigators. We had some great dendou experiences this
week. Lots of rejection and lots of success. Yesterday the zoo was
free so we went there to meet lots of cute families!




 This weekend I did an exchange in Hibarigaoka. It was my first time
doing missionary work in a different area so it was really exciting to
see things from a new perspective and work with different people.
Hibarigaoka is way less city-like. The people there were really
friendly. We met lots of cool people in the park, taught a lesson to
one of their investigators, cleaned the church, and got our study time
in. Also... Their apartment is worlds nicer than the kichijoji
apartment. Haha we think we are dying from carbon monoxide and mold in
our apartment. During the exchange, I worked with another transfer 2
missionary (like me!) and a transfer 1 missionary. It was really fun
to gain experience in lots of aspects of missionary work with other
younger missionaries and see that we really can do it! I realized that
if I have to I really can speak some Japanese. It's awkward and way
simple Japanese but it communicates :) our lesson with their
investigator went way well. It was sort of scary because I had just
met her and I extended a baptismal date commitment to her. She was way
surprised, but certainly not offended. She had always said that one
day.... She would be baptized but had never considered having a
specific goal to work towards and never thought that it could be soon.
We focused the lesson on the atonement and her feelings about Jesus
Christ. It was way powerful. She didn't accept the commitment to
baptized on a specific date but she definitely wants to work towards
baptism and pray about when she should receive it.


Me ready for the exchange... with Sister Merstrand's fancy hiking backpack


Sister Feist and I did a transfer review for our companionship
inventory and called it the Tenkin jubilation! Haha we saw lots of
miracles together this transfer. We made this area organized and busy.
We met the prepared. We are working with lots of new people and
helping some of the eternal investigators to progress. We've focused
on using the PMG and worked lots more with members. We have gotten
lots of teaching experience. We have learned a lot about understanding
others and being better communicators. I love everything that I am
learning as a missionary. These experiences are so special and such
unique opportunities.

 
stopping for some flower picking! 

 I'm so grateful for the atonement of the Savior. Because of him, we
can change. We can make progress each day to reach more of our divine
potential and to become more like him. We can be strengthened through
the atonement as we repent. We can receive the strength to endure
trials and strength to do good works. His love and understanding is
perfect and eternal. I know he lives. Favorite scripture this week
comes from 2 Nephi 26:24 "He doeth not anything save it be for the
benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth
down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore he
commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation." His
love and mercy are available to all. His love and the message of the
restored gospel apply to all of Gods children. So happy to be sharing
this message here in Japan.

 
we tried to make sushi... haha 

 I love you all. Happy Children's Day! Happy Cinco de Mayo! (We are
gonna make quesadillas for lunch tomorrow with tortillas we got from
the import store!)

Also, Happy Mothers Day next week! To all the wonderful moms I know :)

Sister Reeves

April 29th

Hello beautiful people,
Sorry to be a day late. Today is zone temple p day! Yay yay
I have learned so much this transfer. Being a missionary is such a
humbling experience. It's only with the help of The Lord that I am
enough. But I've really learned a lot about his expectations for me.
He doesn't expect me to be the perfect missionary but he will help me
improve and he will guide me and show me what to do next. Sister Feist
and I really wanted to work on becoming better PMG missionaries this
transfer and it has been so inspiring to study the PMG with her and
learn from inspired leaders. I am so very blessed to have this
opportunity to be a witness of God's work. I stand in awe at his
goodness and love and knowledge. I am really grateful for his mercy
and for my Savior who makes it possible for me to change.
 

 

                   Random friends on the train

  
So I found out why we kept being stopped by police... Apparently Obama
was coming in town and so they felt like they needed to make sure that
all the foreigners were there legally or something?

 

 
                             Random girls at the park

We have been able to work more closely with members and less active
members recently and it has been such a blessing as we are all edified
together. Sister Feist and I have been studying the PMG sections about
working with members to strengthen them and also work with them as a
finding tool... We have been really blessed to be doing half English
half gospel lessons with an active member, sister itou . She is such a
good friend and a fantastic member missionary! She has pretty bad
cancer but she has outstanding faith and trust in her covenants. We
feel it has been inspired for us to have the opportunity to get to
know her and serve her.

 
FANCY lunch at the cute bread place to celebrate our awesome transfer 

 In zone meeting, we learned that the half gospel/half English program
is just six weeks and this knowledge changes so many things for our
investigators. A few of our long time investigators have little to
zero interest in the gospel but have continued to meet with us because
we teach them free English! It hasn't really been fulfilling our
purpose and it has made it hard to set expectations. We are excited to
implement the six week program with them and offer the program more
often while streeting as we receive training on how to use it more
effectively as a Missionary tool.

 
waiting for lunch at "Colonial Garden"

 We are seeing several miracles with our investigators! Sayaka Suwa San
has a new baptismal date. She doesn't "own" the new date because she
is unsure about the social aspect of not drinking tea but she says
that recently when she buys tea she feels like its a sin! She is
really strengthening her faith through daily scripture study and
prayer. She is such a deep thinker and so strong. We are so excited
for her!

 
                                    Peanut Butter Happiness

 We haven't made contact with Aya San, but we are not giving up hope.
God certainly has a plan for her. We know she really felt the Spirit
and feels the love of God as she reads the Book of Mormon. She has
sincere desires to follow the Savior.
We have made progress with our teaching with Pinko, who has apparently
been an investigator for like 10 years but doesn't understand
anything. We are slowly discovering the best ways to help her
understand the gospel clearly and simply... Despite quite a few
language barriers. She has a sincere desire to be a true Christian.
She says loving God is number one! She really wants to understand the
message of the gospel. She wants to understand the Spirit and receive
confirmation that she really does need to receive baptism by someone
who holds the priesthood authority of God.

 
Sister Maloy and me at the temple

 We have a new investigator named Sakemi Mie San who is incredibly
prepared. The elders met her while handing out free English class
fliers at the station. They introduced us to her before English class
on Wednesday. She felt the Spirit so strongly as we visited in the
chapel during a church tour. She suddenly realized she had been to a
Mormon church before... When she was 20 years old and not really
interested in religion. But she remembers feeling so welcome and
loved. She is really interested in understanding everything! She has
lots of questions. She has been to several different Christian
churches and really wants to know which one is true. She says she sort
of feels like a prophet because she feels like she is being lead and
she really wants to find the truth. We explained that she can receive
personal revelation and we are so excited to share the message of the
restoration with her!

 

 A favorite verse from this week. It was shared in a talk this Sunday.
I am so grateful for the covenants I made at baptism to be a follower
and witness of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I have taken his name upon me
to become a Christian and a witness for him. As we remember him and
share the light of his gospel with others we will receive more of that
light in our lives.
 
"Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall
work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the
covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another." (D&C 90:24)
It's amazing the see the little miracles each day. God really is
guiding and directing me. I have so much to be grateful for.
Sister Reeves