Kenzie Says "Kon'nichiwa": April 20th

Hey y'all guys! How's it going?

I feel so blessed. God is pouring out the miracles like crazy! We feel so guided and it's just amazing and astonishing to participate in the work here in Tokyo South. Sister Wilson and I have set a goal to never second guess a prompting. So we follow anything that comes to our mind that seems like it might be from the Spirit. And it takes us weird places and down paths we never would have planned to walk. We meet people God wants us to meet! He puts us in all the right places at all the right times so we can tell his children that he loves them. And some people think it's so weird. But it's true! And we are his messengers. :)

Here's my new theme scripture: psalms 118:24

24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

It's the best! God made this day for you as a gift. He gave you breath and allowed you to live this day as a preparation to meet him. Time is a gift. It's precious. Be happy and joyful TODAY(:

So here's what happened this week:

Monday: Rie san's lesson was way good last week. We started out by reading 3 Nephi 14:8 and talked about seeking truth. We taught about how God knows our desires and is waiting to give us gifts and is waiting for us to ask! She said she wants to know things rather than learn. She said the difference between learning and knowing is that learning is knowledge and knowing is experience. We each shared experiences and testified of the Book of Mormon as a tool from God to know truth. All truth is from God and all truth leads to him. Hama shimai introduced the promise in Moroni 10. We promised that as she reads and experiences the Book of Mormon she will feel the Spirit and she will know. We taught about the Spirit and read from Galations. She desires peace and happiness. Tonight we will read from Alma 32 together and help her to understand the Spirit and how to discern truth. We want to emphasize humility, that God can only teach those who are prepared to hear the word. Those with inquiring minds, seeking truth.

Tuesday:

We visited a referral, a previous investigator who is the neighbor of a member in our Ward. They had zero interest in talking with us. :( So we visited this way cute member in the area, Hizawa shimai. She was so happy we came by and let us in right away. We read from Luke 15 about the lost sheep and invited her to share her testimony and find the lost sheep. When Elder Ballard came to Japan he extended a challenge to the members to fast and find one. Either a less active or non member, and introduce them to or invite them to church. Recently our Ward has been doing a fasting relay for missionary work and it's been awesome. Our Ward has 7 people with baptismal dates and we have been finding new people like crazy. So our Ward mission leader emphasized that we must be humble like so many times in our meeting on Sunday. We have like some of the best missionaries in our Ward. It's really intimidating and really hard to not compare when you are constantly hearing their stats or being compared to them. Anyway, we are working hard. Sister Wilson and I want to come home absolutely exhausted every night.

Wednesday:

We visited ishii shimai at the sushi place where she works. We hadn't seen her in weeks!! When her mom got sick she kind of fell off the map and stopped meeting with us and coming to church. But we kept in touch by phone a few times a week. Anyway, she was so happy to see us! We visited a couple less actives in the area and they weren't home but everyone we met along the way had some weird connection with the church. They always say it takes 7-8 times meeting the missionaries before one decides to hear the message. We think everyone should just have a number over their head so we can know who to talk to among the crowd. We also met these way nice Jehovah's witnesses who were out proselyting. They listened as we taught about Joseph smith and the first vision. They liked the picture we showed because they also believe that God and Christ are separate beings. And they shared with us some of the things they believe. And then they got super excited when I asked where their church is! We also keep meeting the best people on the trains. They say they really want to hear our message or come to church but they almost never live in our area. We have been sharing more of our message on the streets, inviting them to take lessons and giving them a Book of Mormon. We also meet a lot of men when we go housing... So we send the elders over there! That's what's nice about 10 missionaries... We can all juggle the work together.

Thursday:

We had interviews with President Wada in Kichijoji. I love the Wada's. It's gonna be a really sad day when I have to say goodbye to them.

We had a member present lesson set up with out 85 year old friend, Kurokawa San. When she didn't show up we walked out to the station to see if she was lost. We couldn't find her so we headed back to the church and on the way I noticed another old lady we had met a few weeks earlier. She said she really wanted to take a lesson and asked where the church was. We said, "we're heading there right now! Come with us!" So we walked to the church and she met the member we had waiting for us. She kept saying how it was fate and destiny that we had met! And surely it was. She comes to a doctors appointment once a week very close to the church so we are hoping we'll be able to meet again this week!

Then we headed out to teach Goto San at her apartment. The lesson went way well! We read the Book of Mormon with her and reviewed the restoration. She struggles with reading and understanding but we broke it down really simply and we think she is understanding and retaining a little more each time. She has accepted the commitment to be baptized so we are praying about a date to help her work towards baptism.

Friday: Really cool miracle: We met this girl from Vietnam, Huong, who was interested in the family English program. We called up the less active, Thuy shimai to see if she could meet us and teach together. She is always super busy and doesn't always answer calls and we rarely see her but she said she had time and came! Turns out the girls knew each other from language school and were friends. The lesson was amazing and Thuy bore powerful testimony of her Heavenly Father and the power of prayer in our lives. Thuy ran into a few members while we were at the church and said she was so happy to see them she wanted to cry. She misses church but just has such a hard time getting up early in the morning to come. She says she's just so busy and allows that to be a justification for not coming to church. We also found out that another less active, Mien shimai has moved into her apartment. Thuy has a testimony and she is a wonderful missionary. We are praying that she may continue to meet with us and work with us. Huong doesn't have faith in God but she trusted as we told her that he was our father. She said he was like a friend. She has never prayed to him but thinks she could pray morning and night because he can understand things she could never share with anyone else. So true. I'm grateful to be able to pray.

Saturday: We visited our investigator, Mineko, and were able to set an appointment with her for this week! We decided to proselyte around her area and just followed the spirit! We ended up at a really old apartment building. We met a lady who said she wasn't interested but she directed us to a sushi place down the street. She said the people there are Christian. We went with it and "housed" a restaurant. Turns out the owner is catholic and she said she would talk more if she wasn't just about to open for business. She pointed us down the street further where there was a Methodist church. Sometimes when you follow the Spirit, you get referrals! In the evening we visited a lady I had felt impressed to visit. Sister Hotu and I had gone housing a couple transfers ago on an exchange and met a lady named Tsujimura San. I kept thinking about her so we went back. When we came she said, "Oh! I saw you two the other morning running early in the morning! And you said hello!" We stood on her doorstep talking, mostly listening, for forever. Sister Wilson told her that we came because I had a feeling we should. And God had sent us to her so we could tell her He loves her. She kept saying, "No, no. It's coincidence." So we said it again. "God loves you." It was an exhausting conversation. But I know it was no coincidence we were sent to her home.

Sunday:

Cool miracle happened when we got a phone call from a lady named Yamauchi San. Hotu shimai and I had met her on the street the previous transfer. She had lots of interest but was nervous of giving us her number because she just met us. So we gave her ours. Anyway, she was thinking she wanted to come to church so she called! We have an appointment to meet her this Friday and she is planning on coming to Stake conference on Sunday!

We went out and did lots of proselyting. It's fun to work with Sister Wilson! Invited tons of people, gave out a Book of Mormon and found a new potential for the elders!

Then we had a dinner appointment with the Bishop's family and his wife's parents. Always the most fun! :)

Today we went shopping(:

I love y'all so much. Talk to you soon!

Love,

Sister Kinz