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!