Kenzie Says "Kon'nichiwa": June 1st

Hey y'all!

This is the week! Yamauchi Shimai is getting baptized this Saturday! Everything looks good. We are busy preparing but it's going to be wonderful! She really has converted to the gospel. Her desire is so strong and she has a love for the Book of Mormon. She wants to follow Jesus Christ for the rest of her life. I am so excited for her to make her first covenants with God and then prepare to make covenants and receive ordinances for herself and her family in the temple. We want to point her towards the temple and help her get there as soon as she can! My hope is that she'll be able to come with us to the temple for baptisms when y'all are here in Japan!

Other news of the week:

Last Pday was really fun! We went to Kichijoji and met Moeka there. We went shopping and ate dinner together. She is so amazing... Attends seminary every day and is a best friend to all the new converts and investigators in Kichijoji and surrounding areas. She will be in America for this next school year, in North Carolina! She is one of my life long friends from the mission(:

Our lesson at FHE went so well. We were really nervous to teach a big group but it was so fun! I got to meet the investigators of many other missionaries. Yamauchi Shimai was fellow shipped by several recent converts throughout the mission. She really connected with one mother and daughter and they even exchanged contact information and promised to meet again.

It's always a miracle to meet with Shimizu Shimai. Kitahara Shimai joined the lesson. It was perfect... We taught the restoration and focused on how the gospel blesses our families. Shimizu Shimai says she imagines herself taking her children with her to church when she has a family one day. At the end of the lesson, Shimizu Shimai bore her testimony of how she received an answer to her prayer about if the church was true. She then asked each of us to bear our testimony. The Spirit filled the room as we shared our love for the gospel. I am forever grateful for this church. It really is my family.

Tuesday night we went to visit Ai chan. She had stopped meeting with the sisters after a difficult lesson and no one was able to make contact with her. One member who often gave her a ride to and from church and activities gave us her address. When we went to visit, her parents opened the door and said she wasn't home from studying yet... As we were leaving, we heard her say, "wait!" And she ran up to us hugging and apologizing for not coming and not contacting us. We were able to pray with her right there and invite her to meet us again. She pinky promised and then joined us for the activity this weekend to hike Mt. Takao.

Our Ward is doing another fast for missionary work. On our day to fast we met with Yamauchi Shimai and taught the law of tithing and fast! Perfect. And she talked about food like the entire lesson... Haha. We always see great miracles when we fast. After kids eikaiwa we left to go grab some food and eat at the church before eikaiwa at 7. On the way back, we ran into Jun San, our former investigator. She actually stopped and talked with us! It was amazing. I get the feeling that she really wants to meet again, but she is afraid of what might happen if she does because her parents are very opposed to her meeting with missionaries.

We taught lots and lots of lessons this week. And met with lots of members. Our relationship with the Ward is really good right now. I feel like they really trust our companionship and so they've given us many assignments and things to do! It's gotten really busy, but I've loved being able to work so closely with the Ward and know that they are here to work side by side! They have been a huge blessing as we've been preparing Yamauchi Shimai for baptism.

President Wada joined our lesson with Yamauchi Shimai on Friday. So perfect!!! We taught about missionary work, and enduring to the end and focused on pointing her to the temple. President Wada was able to answer many of her concerns and help her to understand confusing doctrines. She has built a great relationship with President and Sister Wada. We went over the questions for her baptismal interview. We don't get to be there in her real interview obviously, but I always love this part of teaching investigators. It's the time when you get to really hear how they feel about Christ and the gospel. You get to see how they've changed as they've accepted the truth. It's so happy!

D&C20:37 And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism--All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.

After the lesson, as Yamauchi Shimai was walking to the station she lost her special necklace. It's really tiny and gold, with a tiny kitten. It's a reminder of her favorite cat, mii chan who passed away awhile back. She had even gotten matching necklaces for Sister Wilson and me as well- our friendship necklace! She returned to the church as soon as she noticed it was missing so she could look for it. We had already gone home so she called us really sad! We came to help and so we prayed together and began retracing her footsteps. She didn't really think we would find it in the dark and felt bad that we came back so she kept saying it was okay, she would come look the next day during the daylight hours. We didn't give up and said we would at least walk her back to the station. As we followed her path, we kept our eyes on the ground, and there it was! It was a wonderful lesson on faith and the power of prayer and a great defining moment for her.

Our hike at Mt. takao was really fun! There were 3 eikaiwa students, 2 investigators, and 1 potential investigator and 2 members. It was a great experience for everyone who came! Our friend, Shou San from China came and had fun! She said she had come before with some friends. But they gave up half way. This time, she didn't give up even though it was hard. And we made it to the top and ate a picnic and saw Mt. Fuji and took pictures of the beautiful view.

Twice this week we went to visit members after eating lunch and then were surprised to find out that not only did they make us lunch, but they made us a feast! Oh my gosh. It hurt so bad it was funny. All we can do is laugh that we are miserable and sluggish and over fed. Sister Wilson put some of the food in her pocket because she couldn't finish. Hahaha. Grateful for the members. They are too good. Sister Kosuge even gave me a recipe book of 100 "best" recipes chosen by the Japanese.

On Sunday at the end of sacrament meeting we received the announcement that Elder Perry had passed away. I don't know why it hit me so hard, but I wanted to cry... Until we started to sing the closing hymn, which was Praise to the Man. I felt the Spirit so strongly. I felt the power of the Comforter and gratitude for a living prophet and the restored gospel. I know our Heavenly Father does not leave us alone.

Life is good. Life is too short to worry about things that don't matter. My new motto is YOLO: you only live (in Japan) once. So... No time to let a moment pass me by! We are so busy we could cry, but we've decided to laugh instead! It's a fun transfer!

I love my mission and my area and my companions and my investigators and friends. I love the Ward. I love my Savior and my God. Their love is real and it's always available.

Love,

Sister Reeves