Kenzie Says "Kon'nichiwa": September 8th

Hello! Today we had transfer calls....
And I will be staying in Hibarigaoka for a third transfer! Yay!
And like all transfers before... I'm getting a new companion. But the
trick this time is I have no idea who she is yet! She is in the MTC
right now and I will meet her on Thursday morning. Yep, training! Sort
of an overwhelming assignment but I'm excited. Maybe she'll be
Japanese. You'll find out next week!
This week was good! We were able to meet with Misako again after quite
awhile. We always enjoy our time with her so much! We met for a lesson
and then watched the restoration video together and ate treats! She is
super busy with work so we may not see her very often until her
temporary job ends in January!! She expressed that she wants to
continue learning about the church and studying and feeling the peace
she feels at church but she doesn't have the time. We gave her a cute
handout with a pack of gum and told her to read until the flavor is
gone! She admitted she probably has time for that :) as we put the
important things first, there will be time for the rest!
We visit a sister in the ward almost every week who was converted
about 4 years ago. This week she introduced us to her friend who lives
near by. She is a sweet older lady who is well-traveled. She has the
cutest house with trinkets and statues and dolls from all over the
world. She showed us her pictures from her tour around Europe.
We had dinner with the cutest couple from our ward and a recent
convert was able to come with us. The lesson was about fasting and it
was perfect timing because fast Sunday was in just a few days. She had
never fasted before and didn't understand much about it so she was
grateful to learn from the experiences of the members and feel the
spirit in their home.
We visited a less active for her birthday. We had visited a couple
weeks earlier during the typhoon for her daughter's birthday. She is a
funny lady and not interested in coming to church or meeting us again,
but we always enjoy our conversations on the door step. This time we
asked if we could come back to visit and she basically said she
wouldn't mind if we kept stopping by with candy! So... We will :)
A single adult in the ward who was just in town for the summer and
going back to BYU Idaho later this week had us over for lunch and
invited her friend to join. They have been good friends for many years
but she didn't know exactly how to bring up the gospel with her so she
thought it would be great if she was able to meet missionaries. We
made lunch together and shared a message about loving and serving
others and making a difference in even just one person's life because
each soul is great in the sight of God.
Saturday night, all the Hibarigaoka ward missionaries were invited to
a big get-together with 4 of the families from the ward. One sister's
inactive and non member children and grandchildren were present and
she was so excited for us to meet and talk with her family. She loves
her family so much and has such a desire for an eternal family and a
happy family in the gospel. She wants her non member grandchildren to
hear the message and have the opportunity to make the choice for
themselves. It was a fun activity and it meant so much to this sister
to have us there and interacting with her family.
Regine came to church on Sunday and we were able to teach her about
the restoration of the gospel during the Sunday school hour. She
wanted to know what happens to those people who don't have an
opportunity to be baptized. We asked her if she would be baptized if
she knew this church was true. She explained that she didn't know now,
but it also may be hard because her whole family is catholic and in
the Philippines what your parents do is just how it goes. It's a
respect thing. She explained though that she would let us know if she
received an answer, but she would want her husband baptized with her
if that's what she decided. She is so sweet and has such strong faith
in God and in Christ. We learned about qualities of Christ in relief
society and I learned from her and her comments. She shared that
Christ was the perfect example of patience because even though we make
so many mistakes, his love never ends.
Anyway, just some highlights. I hope you all are happy! I love you so
much! This church is true! Christ's love can heal any wounds and lift
any burdens. This gospel can bring peace and strength to anyone's life
and bring them to power to endure or overcome any challenge. I know
this is true and sharing this message is so important to me that it is
worth any rejection or trial I endure as a servant of God. Our God is
so good and we are so blessed. Don't ever forget his perfect love for
each of you.
Love,
Kinz