January 30th

Hello Again.

GUESS WHAT?! I'm going to JAPAN in like 12 days. WOOHOO. Only one more P-day. Starting February 10th.... send mail to the following address and don't use dear elder anymore :) 

Sister McKenzie Reeves 

Japan Tokyo South Mission

1-7-7 Kichijoji, Higashi-Cho

Musashino-shi, Tokyo 180-0002 JAPAN

I have absolutely loved the MTC. And this is gonna sound weird... but I think I might miss it just a tiny bit. But... Japan and real life missionary work is gonna be WAY more cool!! 

Oh... so before coming to the MTC, we were thinking that I wasn't going to be able to read the scriptures in Japanese. And I don't know where we heard that, but I actually can! I'm just pretty slow at reading, but practice makes perfect, right? The prophets have said that anyone who reads the Book of Mormon in a foreign language will become fluent in that language... and that would be pretty rad.

Sister Foutz and I on P-day, trying to escape the MTC! 

My Japanese is coming along okay... I'm able to grasp the grammar concepts and put it together and my pronunciation is good! My teacher told me that for these next few days he wants me to work on imitating the rhythm of native Japanese speakers.. so I listen to phrases on the computer and repeat them over and over and try to sound like them and speak at the same tempo. It's pretty fun... if I only understood what I was saying. My goal for the MTC has been to understand grammar principles and not really focus on vocabulary at all. If I know the sentence structure... I can make sense of the words I do know. We did skype again last night with a sister in Japan. She was awesome... I'm understanding more each time, but seriously, they talk so fast. And we probably sound like 3 year olds with our 7 weeks Japanese experience. 

Sarah Katherine and me! 

Peri (:

Twinning with my companion :) I made her match me.

The other day, the fitness center was super crowded so Foutz Shimai and I headed to the big gym to run on the track. I know I broke my rule of recovering from my injury before running again, but it was SO awesome to be able to run. It was just a short 3 miles, don't worry :)

Heart-attacking the new sisters! 

We visited again with Toshi the other day. There are so many fundamentals that my companion and I wanted to work on... teaching people not lessons, setting expectations, understanding our missionary purpose, etc. We said SO many prayers, preparing for this particular "lesson". We decided to go in to it without an "agenda"... without any doctrines that we wanted to teach, without anything in particular that we wanted to cover... just to show up, listen, be a friend, and wait for the Spirit to guide our thoughts. Our lesson went SO much better. We were able to talk like friends.. it felt so much more comfortable, we were able to help him pray, and we shared with him why we were there: We were called by a prophet of God and sent to Toshi! We love Toshi so much and we want him to be happy. He said he meets with us because the missionaries are really friendly and seem like really happy people. I asked him why he thinks the missionaries are so happy. He wasn't really sure, but he expressed that everyone wants to be happy. We shared with him that that is exactly why we are missionaries, we have a knowledge of Christ's gospel and when we live according to its teachings, we are SO happy! I shared my favorite scripture, Mosiah 2:41 (consider the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments...). The lesson wasn't perfect, but it felt so much better!

Got my tag! 

Ogura is doing really well. He is consistent with scripture reading, prayer, and church attendance. We set a date for his baptism... February 8th! SO soon... we are just meeting with him 3 more times until then. He asked a wonderful question awhile ago. He was wondering how he could receive personal revelation through the Book of Mormon. We came back the next visit and had "scripture study". We read where he had just finished reading in the Book of Mormon. 1 Nephi 16- where Nephi's family is lead into the more fertile parts of the wilderness by the Liahona. The Liahona is like the Holy Ghost, it guides us according to our faith and will continue to guide us as we following it's promptings. Another part of this chapter shares the story of Nephi's broken bow. His family was murmuring because now they wouldn't be able to eat... but Nephi put in the work, made a new bow and then asked where he would be able to find food for his family. Revelation works the same way. If we have a question, we first need to seek and study and put in the work, and then ask in prayer, and be sure to listen and act on the answer we receive. The guidance on the Liahona changed from time to time. Just like the way the Holy Spirit teaches us... we can read the scriptures a million times and always receive something new from our study! Ogura is really prepared. So amazing.

Temple walk... with Solomon and an Elder from his district. 

Elders Young, Stokes, and Carlini.

We got to host new missionaries again this week! 4 new sisters came to the MTC from JAPAN. They are headed back to Japan for their missions and will actually be leaving the same day I am! The sisters in my district got to host these new shimaitachi. It was fun to try to speak Japanese and they were so sweet and cute!

Sister Foutz, Sister Taufaga, Sister Maloy

Sister Foutz, President Johnson

 
All the sisters... or lots of them and our zone leaders (Elder Young and Elder Bates)

On Tuesday night, my district ushered for the devotional. I guess when you're here for so long... they give you more responsibilities! haha it's always the missionaries going to Asia helping out :) Elder Martino of the seventy came to speak to us. It was so amazing... he talked about working with the members to get referrals, but also about bringing members to our lessons. He shared the story of Alma and Amulek. Alma was the great missionary, but Amulek was the member who astonished the people! As he was sharing this story, he also talked about how Alma was really discouraged because none of the people were accepting the message of the gospel. An angel appeared to him and told him to rejoice. He had been obedient! He was committed and diligent and obeyed the Lord with exactness. The angel came to lift him up and encourage him. Angels also prepare people to hear the message. This part of the story about angels stood out to me because I have been discouraged as well... but the same day as the devotional, I got a letter from Mom! She shared with me that the presence of angels in our lives is just as real as the presence of the Savior and of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Angels are watching over us daily. They can be with me to cheer me on and to encourage me and also help our investigators receive the gospel. And then yesterday... our teacher shared Moroni chapter 7 with us! And he said... that the missionaries can be these angels, who call people to repentance and help them to receive such amazing joy in living the gospel. I went back and read this chapter again. It has such a great message. We can't have hope without faith. There are so many people who are looking for happiness... looking for something to hope for. The gospel brings me so much hope and peace and comfort. Fear is the opposite of faith. Charity casts out fear and charity never fails. If we strive to follow Christ's example and love as he did, we can strengthen our faith and have hope in the Savior and his sacrifice and find happiness in following him through this mortal journey.

Ready for the gym!

Service time! 

Anyway, I love y'all SO MUCH! Be happy and obey ;)