September 2nd

Hello!
Shout out to my big sister who just had the cutest baby boy! Happy
birthday and welcome to the world, River Chatterton :) I'm so excited
to be your aunt! Send more pictures :)
Also, happy birthday this week to my super hip grandmother, MOMA D and
my way cool brother in law, Darian! Eat lots of cake and ice cream :)
I'm glad y'all were born, too!
So many great things happened this week.
We had family home evening with the bishop's family and our friends,
fumiyo and kana. It was so much fun! The bishop has a daughter the
same age as Kana! We did a super fun object lesson about commandments
and dinner was way delicious.
Had breakfast at the mission home with some of my favorite sisters to
see a missionary off. We all got to participate in her final testimony
meeting. It's always sad to see the best missionaries go, but so
exciting to see them off into a future full of many more miracles. And
once you take the name tag off, you can surely still be a missionary!
God has so much work for us all to do! Join the party :)
We crashed another zone's zone meeting cause we missed ours and we
learned lots. We studied and practiced teaching the law of tithing.
Does anyone have an experience they can share with me of their
testimony of tithing and maybe temporal or spiritual blessings they
have received from obedience to this law? Please and thank you :)
A sister in our ward had an idea to surprise sister eyring for her
birthday. We got to help her plan and keep it secret. It was so cute
and she was so surprised! We love Asada Shimai!
We were privileged to be able to attend the temple with our friend,
Erina! She was baptized 2 years ago, but had never been to the temple.
We went with another member, Kakiki Shimai, and participated in
baptisms and confirmations for the dead. It was such a wonderful
experience to teach her about the temple and set a goal to be there
and to be able to be there for her first time! And Kakiki Shimai was
the best! I love the spirit that I can feel in the temple and I'm so
grateful for the covenants that I made at baptism to always remember
my Savior and try to follow his example. Temple work is such a great
way to be a missionary, helping those investigators in the spirit
world have the option to accept the baptismal commitment and come unto
Christ!
Patrick: he is reading the Book of Mormon and feeling like he is
receiving the knowledge that it is truly God's word. He knows that
thinking about baptism is the next step. His family is pretty against
religion and especially Christianity, but he knows that God will
provide away for him if he puts God first in his life. He is full of
faith and we are excited to invite and help him to accept this perfect
gospel. I know this gospel has the answers to all of our questions in
this life. The atonement has the power to help us through any
challenge and it is the power that makes everything that seems unfair
in life be made right.
On Saturday we went to Oikawa shimai's baptism! It was the HAPPIEST
thing ever to see a dear friend and investigator receive baptism. The
gospel has brought so much light into her life. I couldn't stop
smiling at the service. It was so exciting also that we were able to
go with our friends from Hibarigaoka, Regine and Terumi. The spirit
was so strong! When sister Feist and I were teaching Oikawa Shimai,
she mentioned a song she really loved. It's about friends from the pre
existence who find each other on earth. It's called "I'll find you, my
friend". We told her then that we would sing it at her baptism. There
were tons of missionaries in attendance and we were all able to sing
to her.... The spirit was so strong. I'm so blessed to be in Japan and
finding my friends here! President Wada baptized her... It was so
special. He was present in so many of her lessons and played a big
part in helping her to understand the atonement and make the decision
to be baptized. They have such a great relationship. It was fun to see
members and friends from kichijoji and be able to participate in such
a spiritual experience. Our friend, Moeka, was there and she commented
on how happy she was to have been invited.. She explained that it's
not something many people in Japan get to see and she felt that it was
very special.
A member in our ward, Lilibeth, came with us to the baptism and really
fellow shipped Regine. They spoke in Tagalog and became real friends
so quickly! We are grateful for such wonderful members who have a
genuine desire to serve and love. We are grateful to have the
opportunity to work with her and Regine and study the gospel of Jesus
Christ together.
Saturday night was the summer festival at the church. So many people
came and many non members and people who had never been to a church
before. There was lots of fun traditional Japanese food, a story
teller, musical performances, and a play. There was a fishing pond for
little kids to play with and something called nagashi somen. It's this
long tube (a water slide for noodles) there is a hose at the top and
everyone stands in a line on either side of the tube and someone sends
noodles and veggies from the top and those on the side try to grab the
slippery noodles with their chopsticks, get them in their bowl and eat
them! The kids had so much fun and ate so much!!
Today was temple preparation day! Twice in a week! Beyond blessed.
I love my family! Miss you.
Love,
Sister Kinz

Purikura with Moeka and Juri

Asada Shimai. She is so cool ;)

Lilibeth Shimai, Regine, and Terumi at Oikawa Shimai's baptism

Sister Feist, Oikawa Shimai, Sister Merstrand, Sister Handy

Elder Berube, Franky, Sister Feist, Sister Merstrand, Sister Handy

Sister Feist, Sister Winkler, Sister Merstrand

Okuno Shimai, Elder Carlini, Big Toe, Elder Brown, Michiko?, 

Matsunaga San, Sister Merstrand, HERO

Moeka at the Summer Festival

Our House

Anpan man hard boiled eggs with Terumi