Kenzie Says "Kon'nichiwa": December 14th

Hello!

How is everyone doing?! I miss you all especially with Christmas coming up so soon! I was thinking this week that I've never felt so far from Christmas before and I wondered why because I'm testifying of Jesus Christ everyday! And I decided that it's because the Christmas Spirit isn't a part of Japanese culture and only a small population spend this season rejoicing in the Savior. And that's why I'm here! To bring a little Christmas spirit into a few of their lives! I know Jesus lives and he is the reason we celebrate!

Miracles have not ceased in the Tokyo South Mission! I'll share just a few with you from this week :)

Tuesday:

We met with Furui Shimai for a mogi (role play) lesson. We shared the following quote from Elder Ballard's talk, "put your trust in the Lord":

"Brothers and sisters, fear will be replaced with faith and confidence when members and the full-time missionaries kneel in prayer and ask the Lord to bless them with missionary opportunities. Then, we must demonstrate our faith and watch for opportunities to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ to our Heavenly Father’s children, and surely those opportunities will come. These opportunities will never require a forced or a contrived response. They will flow as a natural result of our love for our brothers and sisters. Just be positive, and those whom you speak with will feel your love. They will never forget that feeling, though the timing may not be right for them to embrace the gospel. That too may change in the future when their circumstances change.

It is impossible for us to fail when we do our best when we are on the Lord’s errand. While the outcome is a result of the exercise of one’s agency, sharing the gospel is our responsibility."

We bore testimony of God's great work and she opened up about who she wants to share the gospel with. She is the only member in her family. She began talking about how she would like to introduce us to her husband. We talked a lot about him and prayed for him and didn't even have time for our "lesson"!

We met Thuy Shimai in the evening. We made Christmas advent calendars with her and then shared a message about God's unconditional love for us. She opened up a lot about her feelings as a recent convert and her testimony. We were able to help her with some of her concerns and discuss Christ's perfect gospel. She is so strong and has great faith!

Wednesday:

We planned the most amazing lesson for our investigators, the Suzuki couple. The plan was dinner in their home and time to share our lesson. Mr. Suzuki made us udon noodles. He learned how to make them when he was 10 years old and he loves to make them. It takes 3 days!! And he made them for us! They were absolutely delicious. So a cool thing happened. We didn't get to share our lesson but... We met their daughter in law, Keiko, and her 7 year old boy, Shouta, who live upstairs. They came downstairs and we chatted and got to know them and built a good relationship. Keiko was so happy to meet us and Shouta was so fun! We practiced writing in English and Japanese and drew pictures with him.

Thursday:

Sister Clark and I traveled together to Mission leadership council (MLC). MLC is the best. I love receiving training and spending time with the Wada's. Learned lots about success and being guided by the spirit, and leading and loving like Christ. I also got to bear my testimony at the meeting! Sister Clark and I talked with everyone in the train on the way there and back. I introduced myself and didn't ask if they wanted to hear our message... We just started teaching! We split back and Sister Brown talked about all the miracles she had seen that day. They met a less active who welcomed them back anytime, found a potential investigator, and had similar experiences teaching those they met on the street.

Friday:

We had a really cool lesson with an active member who helps us all the time! We shared President Uchtdorf's testimony from the talk, "living the gospel joyful". We each had an opportunity to share experiences and bear testimony of God's love. Each of us had tears in ours eyes at one point in the lesson. The member was so grateful and said it was exactly what she needed to hear that day. I know God trusts his missionaries and gives us inspiration and guides us in the work we do. Teaching lessons with members is such a good opportunity for building trust and for letting them see that God trusts us as his servants and messengers of truth.

Saturday:

In the morning, Sister Clark and I traveled to the stake center for SPM, with the stake presidency. The Machida stake is very awesome. President Wada told the stake president here that my dad was also a stake president. So, President Reeves, President Tokuzawa says hello!

Way cool day!!! We have tried to go out in faith that God will help us reach goals we have prayerfully set. And we've gotten sooo close! We went out with people in mind to visit and messages we wanted to share. We came home having taught lessons to 2 less active members and extending 12 SOS invitations. Short of our goal by 1 lesson and 4 invitations but we felt so happy and my faith was definitely strengthened. I know we are seeing miracles and success.

We stopped by the Suzuki home with a thank you card and met.... Their son! The only member of the household we hadn't met! We learned from him that their family had taken lessons from sister missionaries several years earlier and he had been to church before and has interest in returning. He asked us to please visit again. Brown Shimai and I have started working with a family!! They have a lot of interest in family history and their family relationships are very important to them. We are excited to teach them about how the gospel can bless their family and how they can be an eternal family.

We visited Maruyama Shimai and shared a message about Christmas with her. We asked her what she would do this Christmas to discover the gift of Christ. She isn't ready to return to church but she said she would pray! She always welcomes messages from the missionaries so we are excited to help her remember her testimony and strengthen her faith.

We visited with Thuy Shimai at a bakery and had a lesson. It was perfect timing. She shared with us a lot of her experiences and shared her love for her family and desire to have her own happy family. She shared a lot about her background and the things that shaped her to be who she is today. She was so grateful that we are there to listen.

Sunday:

Always the craziest day of the week! I was asked to play the piano for relief society, speak last minute in sacrament meeting, and join a musical number for this weekend's Christmas party. It's hard to be in a new ward and get to know names and faces again but I'm excited for all that I will learn from serving in his ward.

We went to the stake center with Watanabe Shimai and a potential investigator, Haruka chan, for the Christmas devotional. It was so wonderful! I read along in English as we listened in japanese. I loved the messages about family history and emulating Christ's family, and about feeling and recognizing the Spirit.

Love youuuu very much.

Love,

Sister Reeves