June 9th

Hey y'all it's rainy season! Rain every day for the next month :) it's
nice and humid... Just like home!

Review of the week...
Tuesday: We got to go to the temple! Happy day :) and then we went to
dinner at the Matsushima family home. Remember them from my first
transfer? Don't worry I took a picture if the table this time! Soooo
much food and Sister Matsushima is just the cutest ever. She must have
cooked all day and just kept bringing more and more dishes to the
table and kept telling us to keep eating!! Good thing it was delicious!


 Wednesday: Sister Tachibana came to Kichijoji on exchanges! She is so
adorable. She is really nice and spoke really easy Japanese to me all
day. We had a busy day together. I basically had to teach baby English
class all by myself. It was really hard cause the kids are kinda crazy
and the moms don't really do anything about it. Also the cd we use for
singing and dancing was missing so I had to sing and dance all by
myself. Definitely ended class a little early. We taught two lessons
together to Pinko and then Amy! We are making some exciting progress
with those two investigators. We are encouraging Pinko to read the
Book of Mormon at home in Chinese so she can understand it better even
though she says it's different from the Japanese one and really wants
to read in Japanese. I definitely believe everyone should be able to
receive the gospel in their native language. Amy asked why the
missionaries are always so happy. We haven't really taught her many
lessons but we are hoping that some doctrine will spark more of her
interest and she will be able to find out how the gospel of Christ can
bring more happiness into her life. Then... We were in charge of
English class!

 
Thursday: Sister Merstrand and I spent the day together while our
companions were at mission leadership council. We had so much fun out
finding together. We talked to tons of people and it started raining
And we didn't have umbrellas but we didn't give up! But we were pretty
wet when we got back. Then we had sports night... And I for real made
like so many baskets... I'm getting really good ;) haha

 
Photo booth pics

 Friday: And another exchange.... With Sister Clark. It was pouring
rain and even with umbrellas we were literally soaked all day. We met
this cute lady from Colombia while we were handing out fliers at the
station. She uses a cane and asked us to pray for her so she can salsa
dance again. Too bad I literally forgot all the Spanish I ever learned
in high school. But.. We got her number and hopefully can get to know
her better and I can relearn Spanish and share the gospel with her!

 
Croissant Taiyaki is always our reward for handwork! 

Saturday: We taught kids English and there were a few new students..
It went really well! And then... Last minute exchange because Sister
Wells wasn't feeling well. So I went to teach two lessons with Sister
Merstrand. We taught about the restoration and the Book of Mormon to
Akiko San and then taught English to Sister Inagaki's friend, Yuko. It
was way fun! And then it was the ward party.... It was a cook off and
karaoke night. Our friend Moeka came! The karaoke was so cute! And the
primary children's curry was the winning dish:)

 
Me and a wall... cool, huh? 

 Sunday: We showed up to the church for ward mission council on Sunday
and there was a lady standing outside. She was holding a small
notepad, and a Book of Mormon. We weren't sure if she was a member or
not or what her story was. We tried to talk to her and she didn't
respond to anything we said. She was writing on her notepad so we
assumed she was deaf. We took her into the chapel and taught a lesson
in the church. We typed on our iPads and she wrote back to us about
half of the time. She had prayed once before with the missionaries and
was really moved. She had also read the Book of Mormon in Moroni. She
wanted to know where else she should read. She wanted to know if there
was any free housing provided by the church. We read with her about
how God can help her. She believes in God and believes that he can
help her. She asked us to pray with her. She teared up. Half way
through the lesson we realized that she is not deaf so we could
actually speak to her. She randomly got up and left the church after I
asked her to write something again because I couldn't read it... Turns
out she is a former investigator in our area. She isn't mute... She is
schizophrenic and just sometimes doesn't talk. She had a baptismal
date at one point but then sort of fell off the face of the earth. It
was such an interesting experience but definitely really spiritual. I
could really feel Gods love for her.
 

SO many selfies with Sister Merstrand at the ward party 

 Moeka and Pinko came to church and stayed for the pot luck afterwards.
They are building such great friendships with ward members. It's so
happy :)
We went out finding afterwards and had a goal to invite 35 people and
we invited exactly 35 people! Little miracles every day!
 
Soup from Mori Shimai! 

Favorite scripture of the week:
Mosiah 2:20-22
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the
thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that
God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has
caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in
peace one with another--

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from
the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you
breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will,
and even supporting you from one moment to another--I say, if ye
should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be
unprofitable servants.

22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his
commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his
commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary
from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his
commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

God has literally given us everything we have and everything we are.
He just expects us to serve him by being obedient. We are eternally
indebted to him as he continues to show love and mercy and bless us as
we exercise faith in him. I owe my Lord everything. My heart, my
might, mind and strength. I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve
him.

I love you all! Have a happy week :)



Can you tell we are soaked?! 

Rainy day Dendo at the park!