Kenzie Says "Kon'nichiwa": July 22nd

Hello. Being a missionary is fantastic!
We are doing exactly what president Wada told us to do to open a new
area: enjoy it!
When we enjoy the work, we see success. And when we see success and
know that our efforts are making a difference, we experience even more
joy. I know this work is God's work. Not mine at all. God is magnifying
my abilities and helping me to accomplish what he wants me to do.
We love our investigators! I genuinely care about them. Sister Bryson
and I feel like real missionaries because our thoughts are directed by
the spirit and focused on Christ and our investigators. It's so fun to
forget myself and exhaust myself for other people. 8 hours of sleep
and a nap on p day feels so well deserved lately.
Update on investigators:
Misako came to church today and made so so so many friends. She loved
it. She feels the spirit strongly when she is at the church. She loves
prayer and she is reading the Book of Mormon. She is full of love and
excitement kind of like a little child. She has a really young heart
but also a teachable heart. Willing to accept truth and able to
recognize good when she feels it. Kutsuuchi Shimai was confirmed today
and she really reached out to Misako. We are excited to teach Misako
this week about baptism and help her to understand its necessity and
work towards her own baptism!
Tomoe Suga: she came to church today, too! Her motivation was mostly
to hear us speak but she is making progress as an investigator. This
week, we had a recent convert, Erina, douseki for Tomoe's lesson. We
did a church tour and taught about baptism. Erina was the perfect
douseki. Tomoe was surprised about baptism but wasn't completely
opposed. She said at the school where she wants to work she wouldn't
be allowed to be Christian or religious but she also mentioned that
she still wants to study with us. We explained that she doesn't need
to know now, but when she does know she will want to be baptized. She
said this is her chance to learn about Jesus.
Patrick has lots of interest. He is reading the Book of Mormon and
praying to know if it's true and praying to know if Joseph smith was a
prophet. He feels like God is guiding him and telling him this is a
good path to take. He feels like our meeting was lead by God. He asked
us if he was a candidate for joining our church. He said it sounds
like there are a lot of commandments to follow and a lot of changes he
would have to make, but he understands that as he comes to know that
the church is true, his desires will also change. He truly recognizes
us as representatives of Christ. He can recognize our power as
missionaries. We extended the commitment to baptism and he wants to
understand why he needs to be baptized in our church.
We had a sisters conference this week for all the sisters in the
mission! We heard from the area 70's wife, Sister Aoyagi. She is
amazing! She told us there were three things to do! Smile, use the
Book of Mormon, and work diligently. We have started carrying the Book
of Mormon outside our bag rather than inside it when we are out and
about, we've seen our smiles make a big difference, and when we work
hard we can never be disappointed in ourselves!
We went to Natsumatsuri on Friday night. Sooo amazing! It's Japan's
summer festival and they were having one at the park right next to our
house. So many people wore kimonos and there was traditional dancing.
We joined the dancing and were able to meet some really great people!
Including these two 8 year old little girls... We ran into them again
the next day and it's totally fate that we met them. They are full of
light and of course need the gospel! We also saw our next door
neighbor there. We started talking to her and then she bought us food
and shared her umbrella with us on the walk home. We were able to talk
lots about church and the Book of Mormon and really got to know her
too. She is 23 years old, close to our age and very cute. We think she
might be battling cancer... We see her every morning when we run. One
of these days will be the right day to invite her to learn more about
God's perfect plan!
On Saturday one of our investigators showed up at the church saying
his wife was having his baby so he came to the church to pray and
wanted us to visit! Whattt?! We were not sure what to do but we got on
our bikes to go visit. Luckily a member of the bishopric and his
family were at the church. They followed us and his wife came into the
home with us. Turns out... The baby will be born in 4 months! Haha
Saturday night we had dinner with a cute American family. They are
also living in Japan as missionaries. It was super interesting to try
to share our beliefs with people who seem to already have all the
truth. They are interested in having us back to share about the
restoration and what makes our church different. We left feeling so
grateful for Christ's restored gospel. That evening gave us a taste of
what missionary work is like in America! Way interesting.
Sunday we gave talks in church and the missionaries sang the musical
number. Bryson Shimai and I had 3 investigators at church, too so we
were way busy but it was so much fun. We LOVE this ward :)
Miracles have not ceased! We are busy busy busy.
I love you all. Don't ever forget it ;)
Love,
Sister Reeves