July 22nd

Hello. Being a missionary is fantastic!
We are doing exactly what president Wada told us to do to open a new
area: enjoy it!
When we enjoy the work, we see success. And when we see success and
know that our efforts are making a difference, we experience even more
joy. I know this work is God's work. Not mine at all. God is magnifying
my abilities and helping me to accomplish what he wants me to do.
We love our investigators! I genuinely care about them. Sister Bryson
and I feel like real missionaries because our thoughts are directed by
the spirit and focused on Christ and our investigators. It's so fun to
forget myself and exhaust myself for other people. 8 hours of sleep
and a nap on p day feels so well deserved lately.
Update on investigators:
Misako came to church today and made so so so many friends. She loved
it. She feels the spirit strongly when she is at the church. She loves
prayer and she is reading the Book of Mormon. She is full of love and
excitement kind of like a little child. She has a really young heart
but also a teachable heart. Willing to accept truth and able to
recognize good when she feels it. Kutsuuchi Shimai was confirmed today
and she really reached out to Misako. We are excited to teach Misako
this week about baptism and help her to understand its necessity and
work towards her own baptism!
Tomoe Suga: she came to church today, too! Her motivation was mostly
to hear us speak but she is making progress as an investigator. This
week, we had a recent convert, Erina, douseki for Tomoe's lesson. We
did a church tour and taught about baptism. Erina was the perfect
douseki. Tomoe was surprised about baptism but wasn't completely
opposed. She said at the school where she wants to work she wouldn't
be allowed to be Christian or religious but she also mentioned that
she still wants to study with us. We explained that she doesn't need
to know now, but when she does know she will want to be baptized. She
said this is her chance to learn about Jesus.
Patrick has lots of interest. He is reading the Book of Mormon and
praying to know if it's true and praying to know if Joseph smith was a
prophet. He feels like God is guiding him and telling him this is a
good path to take. He feels like our meeting was lead by God. He asked
us if he was a candidate for joining our church. He said it sounds
like there are a lot of commandments to follow and a lot of changes he
would have to make, but he understands that as he comes to know that
the church is true, his desires will also change. He truly recognizes
us as representatives of Christ. He can recognize our power as
missionaries. We extended the commitment to baptism and he wants to
understand why he needs to be baptized in our church.
We had a sisters conference this week for all the sisters in the
mission! We heard from the area 70's wife, Sister Aoyagi. She is
amazing! She told us there were three things to do! Smile, use the
Book of Mormon, and work diligently. We have started carrying the Book
of Mormon outside our bag rather than inside it when we are out and
about, we've seen our smiles make a big difference, and when we work
hard we can never be disappointed in ourselves!
We went to Natsumatsuri on Friday night. Sooo amazing! It's Japan's
summer festival and they were having one at the park right next to our
house. So many people wore kimonos and there was traditional dancing.
We joined the dancing and were able to meet some really great people!
Including these two 8 year old little girls... We ran into them again
the next day and it's totally fate that we met them. They are full of
light and of course need the gospel! We also saw our next door
neighbor there. We started talking to her and then she bought us food
and shared her umbrella with us on the walk home. We were able to talk
lots about church and the Book of Mormon and really got to know her
too. She is 23 years old, close to our age and very cute. We think she
might be battling cancer... We see her every morning when we run. One
of these days will be the right day to invite her to learn more about
God's perfect plan!
On Saturday one of our investigators showed up at the church saying
his wife was having his baby so he came to the church to pray and
wanted us to visit! Whattt?! We were not sure what to do but we got on
our bikes to go visit. Luckily a member of the bishopric and his
family were at the church. They followed us and his wife came into the
home with us. Turns out... The baby will be born in 4 months! Haha
Saturday night we had dinner with a cute American family. They are
also living in Japan as missionaries. It was super interesting to try
to share our beliefs with people who seem to already have all the
truth. They are interested in having us back to share about the
restoration and what makes our church different. We left feeling so
grateful for Christ's restored gospel. That evening gave us a taste of
what missionary work is like in America! Way interesting.
Sunday we gave talks in church and the missionaries sang the musical
number. Bryson Shimai and I had 3 investigators at church, too so we
were way busy but it was so much fun. We LOVE this ward :)
Miracles have not ceased! We are busy busy busy.
I love you all. Don't ever forget it ;)
Love,
Sister Reeves

 Green & Yellow Lunch

Yellow Watermelon!

 Temple

 Sister Hathaway's Past Companions

 Eikawa: Erina, Sister Bryson, Sister Reeves, Terumi

 Sisters Conference

July 15th

Hey y'all! Best week ever. We are exhausted. There is a reason we have
these days for preparation. We tried to skip it and we couldn't do it.
Haha we are realizing that the work is more fun when we really work.
You know it's been a good day when you feel like you deserve 8 hours
of good rest.
Tuesday: we had zone conference in kichijoji. It was awesome... The
best part was practicing teaching the first lesson as a whole group!
Learned more Japanese and learned how to explain complicated churchy
things to people who don't even have an idea of who God is. That
evening we met a potential investigator. We had met a family from
America. The wife is Japanese and the husband is American and they are
in town for a few months staying with her mother because she is having
a baby soon. We were able to share a bit of the message of the
restoration and give a Book of Mormon. It turns out the wife isn't
interested in coming to church or meeting with us, but her husband
wants to meet and learn more about our faith. So we've had to find an
English speaking sister in the ward to come teach with us. She is
actually married to an American, too and they have two really cute
young girls.
Wednesday: we met with our friend, Misako. She took us out to sushi
and invited us in her home for an English lesson. We introduced the
half English and gospel lesson program and she was so excited. She is
open to learning whatever we can teach her. She also wants to come see
our church. She says she doesn't necessarily believe in God, but she
has a bible and thinks she will probably believe in God if we teach
her about him. New investigator!
Thursday: we taught Tomoe about faith. We shared Alma 32 and talked
about how we can do an experiment to see if God is real and to "grow"
our faith. We compared our faith to a seed and explained how if she
wants the flower to grow she will need to water it, give it sunlight
and nutrients, etc. our faith will grow if we pray, read God's word,
and attend church. We gave her cute handouts about sunflowers and a
pack of sunflower seeds. Just as the sunflower follows the sun... We
too must follow Gods Son, Jesus Christ. She was excited and felt love
from us. We are building a good friendship. She is a violinist and has
interest in playing for church. This week she wants me to play piano
with her! We also visited Takahata Shimai for lunch and a mogi. We
made sushi with her and it was delicious but we ate SO much. It hurt
to do anything afterwards. Haha we practiced teaching about baptism
and she shared her ideas with us. And.. Gave us a referral! Is this
real life? Afterwards we visited a member to deliver a birthday card.
She wasn't home and her husband had forgotten it was her birthday haha
but when we saw them again on Sunday they kept thanking us for
stopping by. As we left their apartment we met a nice lady who used to
live in Salt Lake and has visited temple square a few times. We showed
her pictures of the temple in Tokyo and invited her to come to church
with us!
Friday: one of our eikaiwa students invited us to Japanese class. He
singled out sister Bryson and I cause we are young missionaries and
need the most help haha but it was a kind gesture. And we went! Killed
two birds with one stone... Language study and made lots of new
friends. They were so nice... Just moms who volunteer their time to
help foreigners learn Japanese. The lady who taught me told me about
all the fun places to go in the area and all the good food I could
cook at home. Later we went to visit a less active for her birthday.
Turns out the address got deleted from our map app and so it just led
us to the general area but not her house. We were trying to find her
home when we saw a cute green French style house. I decided to ring
the door bell. In Japan they talk to you through an intercom instead
of coming to the door. They just say, "hai" and wait for you to talk
and often they can see you with a camera. Anyway the general
translation of what I said was "hi, we are American. You have a very
nice house." She answered, "hold on a minute" and came to the door. We
met her husband too. We explained that we were looking for our friends
house and saw hers and really liked it. She was so nice... She walked
around with us to try to find it and when we couldn't, invited us into
our house, gave us cold drinks and looked at a map with her daughter
who was visiting. Her daughter and her little boy walked with us to
find Goto shimai's house. The daughter is visiting from America. She
is married to an American but she wanted her son to meet his
grandparents. As we walked we were able to learn about her religious
background and interests. We invited her to church and she said we
could come back to visit their home anytime. When we got back on our
bikes it started pouring rain. Of course we didn't bring our rain
suits cause we thought the typhoon had come the night before. Anyway,
we were just going home for weekly planning so we biked through it...
And got soaked and got laughed at by so many people. It was hilarious
and sort of fun.
Saturday: we helped clean the church in the morning and practiced
teaching with the elders. We visited our "new investigators", Genki
and Regine. We brought them treats and brought a note translated into
Tagalog for Regine. We were able to meet Genki's mom and invite her to
church. We asked if they read the bible. His mother says she doesn't
really have time, but Regine pulled out her Tagalog bible and was
excited to show us! We introduced the Book of Mormon and gave our
Japanese one to Genki. He opened it up and started reading... In
Isaiah. Haha.... He kept reading for a long time and finally stopped
and said "I understood". We were thinking, "really? Cause we
definitely didn't!" Haha they asked us to come back the next evening.
After our lesson with them we rode our bikes to try and visit the
referral from Takahata Shimai but we hit the big highway that is
supposedly the boundary between us and the north mission. So... They
live in the other mission... President Wada texted back and gave us
the go ahead to visit but we had already decided to be obedient and
turn around. As we rode our bikes home we saw a friend we had met a
week or so before. She was so excited to see us. We stopped and talked
to her and she asked if we were hungry and then invited us into her
Yakitori shop. She introduced us to everyone at the restaurant as her
friends who volunteer at the church around the corner... We are called
sisters but we aren't real sisters. It's because God is our father so
we are all brothers and sisters. Way to go lady! Doing our job for us!
The food was yummy and we were able to talk with everyone there and
tell them about the activities at church and invite them to join us.
As we left, we met a lady right outside the restaurant. We said good
evening and she started talking to us, explaining that when she saw us
she thought that her son would want to meet us. He knows English and
uses it for work but would love to talk to natives and get practice.
She asked us if we go to the Yakitori shop every Saturday so she could
run into us again. We said it was actually our first time but we
recommend it. She walked us to her home which was actually pretty
close by. We met her cute dog and her husband and they invited us in.
We introduced the family English program and exchanged contact
information and she told us to please come back again, making sure we
knew how to get to her house again!
Sunday: the other sisters' investigator got baptized! It was amazing!
She was sooo prepared. Sister Hathaway came because she was someone
she had worked closely with for most of the teaching process. We are
forming good relationships with the members and so many of them are
excited to help us and invite us into their homes. We visited Genki
and Regine again and this time met their nephew? Cousin? Anyway, we
gave Regine a Book of Mormon in Tagalog and she read along with us. We
used the scriptures to teach about baptism. Regine spoke a little
English and said she prays every night and she wants to follow Jesus.
We really want to get in touch with the Filipino member in our ward so
we can work with Regine. We think she is touched by our efforts to try
to communicate with her.
Monday: we went to hirata shimai's for lunch. She is soooo cute. I
love her so much. She is the only member in her family and never
married. She has health problems and gets her blood cleaned and goes
to the hospital like every other day. She knows a tiny bit of English
and likes to use some of it. She doesn't like cooking at all but woke
up at 4 in the morning to cook for us. She was so surprised when we
said her food was good. Haha I felt so much love from her. She doesn't
have a lot of gospel knowledge. We shared a scripture about the
atonement and she was so surprised we knew what it was talking about.
We sang hymns together at her request. She wants to learn more of the
hymns. She has this weird piano thing that you can play if you blow
into a flute thingy at the same time. It was really hard especially
because I was trying hard not to laugh and then couldn't breathe. I
will send a video! Monday evening we met an investigator from
kichijoji and her friend who lives in hibari area for dinner. We ate
Indian curry together and shared a message about blessings from God.
They are such cute girls. Their conversion is more of a social
conversion, but missionaries and friends at church showing love will
help them cultivate interest and desire to learn more.
Anyway it was a fantastic week. 3 new investigators and lots more
teaching opportunities. Thanks for your prayers. Remember to thank God
for all the miracles he is performing in your life! I love you all.

 It's hot here, but there is water everywhere!

sushi at Takahata Shimai's house

"when Jesus shows His smiling face... there is sunshine in the soul!"

 Hirata shimai's "cat"

Playing Hirata Shimai's Pianica

July 6th

{I'm so so very sorry that I've been so neglectful of this blog! I know you all are dying to read more and see more pictures!}

After 10 week training in Tokorozawa

At Shakuji Koen

Mariya and me at the Relief Society thing. 

Hey y'all,

Things are going well! It's interesting being a brand new area....
Just starting from scratch. I imagined that we would be spending all
our time finding finding finding and having nothing else to do but
find. But... We have actually been way busy with so many other things
that finding is something we do "on the way". And It's actually way
more natural that way! We have some fun potential investigators we
should be meeting up with this week and we have one investigator who
is progressing and two brand new investigators. It's way exciting to
witness God's miracles each day. We are so incredibly blessed. Every
night, sister Bryson and I write down the miracles we have seen that
day in our journals. It's incredible to look for His hand and
acknowledge him. This is a habit I want to keep up through out my
life! All that is good is a gift from God!

This week my testimony of the Spirit was really strengthened. For a
couple days, we were feeling a little off. And I was having a hard
time feeling "inspired". We didn't know what we should do or where we
should go to find investigators and we weren't feeling super
effective although we were working hard. I realized that if we don't
have the spirit with us and we aren't listening intently for his
whisperings, we can't be lead. It's such a testimony to me that this
work is not our own. Nothing good that I've been able to accomplish
here is because of me. It's because of God. I literally can't do this
without him. It's incredible to me that God puts his trust in me,.. A
young, 21 year old girl, who is hardly fluent in Japanese. He trusts
me and gives me the power I need to serve Him and accomplish his work.
I'm grateful for the spirit in my life. Without it, I would not have
the peace and comfort that I feel. I would not understand Gods will
for my life and I would not know which direction to turn.

We rode our bikes so so so much this week! We joke saying we are
training for the Tour de France. But seriously. We were able to visit
one LA in particular and invite her to come with us to the stake
relief society meeting in Kichijoji and she came! And we went out to
dinner together afterwards. She is way fun... Close in age to us too.
She lives on her own in a dorm and goes to acting school. She recently
attended a single adult conference and started thinking about going on
a mission. Maybe she will come out and work with us! We also tried
visiting another family who's address is impossible to find. Basically
we got really lost and it was dark and raining but we made it home
alive! Also... We are the northernmost area in our mission. I didn't
actually know the mission boundaries but I checked out the map when we
got home that night.... Uhh... We think we may have biked into the
north mission.

We had a few way good mogi lessons with members this week. We are
improving our teaching and really feeling the spirit as we teach. We
met with a member yesterday after church and she was SO sweet. She
just gushed over how great of missionaries we were. She was shocked
that we are young missionaries. She said not only was our Japanese
good, but we taught and testified like missionaries who would be going
home tomorrow. We know we aren't perfect... At all, but the ego boost
really helped us gain some confidence so we can invite our friends to
take lessons and know that we are qualified teachers. That's something
I've really relied on recently. I may not be fluent in Japanese or be
the best teacher but God has called me to be a missionary for him. I
have the calling and duty to preach his word. He knows i can do it and
he is strengthening me to be able to do it. We have a power that just
any old member who can speak Japanese way better than we can doesn't
have. I may have no idea what my investigators are saying to me but I
am blessed with gifts and talents and a calling as a representative of
Christ to do and be and say what he would. I am so humbled and so
grateful.

We are so busy and having lots of fun! Please pray for us to have more
teaching opportunities. The mission goal is 15 lessons per week per
companionship. This can include lessons with investigators, members,
LA, youth, other Companionships, etc. But with opening a new area this
goal is quite the challenge! We know as we are obedient and meet this
expectations, we will be blessed in our finding and other efforts.

Thank you for your prayers and love.

I don't know tons about this tradition because it was explained to me
in Japanese by people who didn't really want to talk to me but... It's
really cool. Everyone writes their wishes/requests on paper and ties
it to the trees. We were able to start really amazing conversations
with people by asking them what they had requested... Happiness, love,
peace, etc.

 

We always eat fun and interesting things for lunch! 

Looking cool in our rain suits! 

Elder Crandall and Elder Menzawa 

"DO THE SHEREM"

Typhoon Letter

To the parents of Sister Reeves,

As you may have heard, there is a typhoon approaching our mission. It is supposed to hit on Thursday or Friday of this week. We are closely watching the weather forecast. It is hard to tell how severe the storm will be at this point, but if the weather is especially bad and it appears to be unsafe, we may have the missionaries stay inside. Thank you so much for sending your wonderful missionary to us. We love Sister Reeves very much and are grateful for the opportunity to serve with her. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Wada

June 30th

Hey y'all!

It's been a happy week! We have really been enjoying the dendou and we are seeing miracles! Bryson Shimai and I are getting along really well. President Wada told me there are no tricks or secrets to
opening a new area... Just enjoy it! And we are doing that! And being so blessed as we choose to be obedient. My new companion is awesome. She is 19, from Bountiful, Utah.. Went to BYU, loves dancing. She is a good example of talking to everyone, always smiling, and speaking the language as much as she can and as often as she can. We feel very humbled to be such young missionaries working together but there is so much joy in trusting God and watching him strengthen you and being able to witness his miracles.

My New Companion, Sister Bryson!

Dinner with the Aoki family! 

 We have tried hard this week to work with members and less actives. The members in Hibarigaoka ward are amazing! And the bishop has already met with all the missionaries to share the ward vision. We are excited to work closely with them. The bishop will be giving us lists of less active members he would like us to work with. I'm really grateful! When I was set apart as a missionary, my blessing shared with me that a lot of my efforts as a missionary would be among less active members... Re-activation rather than seeing tons of baptisms.

On Wednesday we had lunch with Sister Shibata and did a mogi lesson with her. She is so nice and we really felt loved and encouraged! We were able to have a good discussion about Japanese views of religion and how she can be a missionary and example to her friends.

                                       Thanks for the cheesecake! We made it the day I got it :)

On Thursday, I exchanged with Sister Barnes. She is the sister training leader for our zone and lives in our apartment. She is a really dedicated missionary and way serious about obedience. It was fun to work with her and talk with her. We went to "ping pong night". Soooo Japanese. Haha it was fun. One of the LA in the ward was there... I actually knew her before because she often goes to the Kichijoji sports night... It was so fun to see her! She was so excited that I moved into her ward!

Friday was such a fun day! We went a couple train stations away to an area called Kiyose and we visited a LA. She wasn't home but we were able to meet so many amazing people near her home and were for sure lead by the spirit. The time just flew by as we talked to everyone we saw and shared smiles and testimony. We had set our goals high that day and actually surpassed them and didn't even want to come home for dinner. We decided... Expectations determine outcomes.

Saying goodbye to Yoko at baby eikaiwa 

Saturday was rainy so our plans changed a little bit... We just spoke to people on our way to and from the church to submit our stats. But... It actually took forever both ways because we got into so many
meaningful conversations! We made a few new friends, too! Misako! And Yoshimi and her daughter. :) we are excited to meet with them soon! Pray that we can find people to teach :)

Sunday was great! Our ward is seriously amazing! The bishop comes to the missionary coordination meeting and is super involved with the missionaries. All the members received a paper with all the missionaries pictures and empty name boxes underneath the pictures so they could meet us, greet us with a handshake, learn our names, write them down, and memorize them. Amazing! The bishop taught the third hour of church and spoke about the ward vision and what it means for the ward to have 10 missionaries and what God sees in this area... We are all involved in the hastening of the work of salvation... Members and full time missionaries alike. We had so many members talking to us and inviting us for dinner or offering to do role play lessons with us. We made a sign up sheet to share with the relief society... So we can all work together... Visiting LA together, role play lessons, introduction lessons with their friends, message shared with their family, etc. The bishop met with us after church to explain his vision. Right now the ward membership is about 330-340. Close to 140 attend weekly and 200ish come every once in awhile. With 10 missionaries, we can split up and work with those who come every once in awhile and strengthen the active 140. He told us to always wear our best smile... 10 smiles in the town will make a difference.. They will want to know why we are so happy. He also wants missionary Companionships switching off standing at the front of the church on week days at all times greeting and inviting for church tours or whatever.... Showing the community that we are always open for anyone and showing them what goes on in our church. There is a grocery store right across the street and so many people see our church but see closed doors except for church on Sunday. But as we open the doors we can show the community that they are always welcome! Sunday evening we went to dinner at the Aoki family home. He is in the bishopric. Their family is awesome.. And have such good senses of humor.. We had so much fun. They are so real. I'm so excited to be in this ward. :)

Our rain jackets from 7/11

In the PMG it says, "nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach." It's sort of a scary phrase as a missionary opening an area.... Sometimes we can wonder, is nothing we are doing right now missionary work?! But I love the truthfulness of the phrase... I didn't come here to just talk to people on the street. I came here because God has a purpose for me and for my talents here in Japan. There are friends here who he wants me to meet and help and show the way to live a happy life. I have to trust that I will find these people who he has prepared!

We have a half English/gospel investigator right now.. Transferred to us from the other sisters. And we have met some promising potentials! It's amazing to see these miracles every single day. I am not a perfect missionary, but God understands that and certainly appreciates my willingness and my efforts. I am seeing him magnify my talents and abilities and help me become equal to my assignment. He is guiding us and giving us comfort. I know he is real and I can't deny his love and presence in my life.

bought corn from a random farmer

I love being here and serving as a missionary. This is an incredible opportunity and the time is short and runs out quickly. I hope I can fill this time with effective proselyting and know that I have accomplished what God wants me to accomplish for him. He will provide a way if I am obedient.

Thanks for EVERYTHING!

Sister Reeves