Kenzie Says "Kon'nichiwa": December 23rd

Merry Christmas:) 🎅🎁🎄

“Sometimes the most precious and sacred things are right in front of
us, in plain sight, but we cannot or will not see them… .
“I promise that if we unclutter our lives a little bit and in
sincerity and humility seek the pure and gentle Christ with our
hearts, we will see Him, we will find Him--on Christmas and throughout
the year.”
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss
suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft
answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep
a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to
understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone
else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude.
Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the
beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it
again.”
President Howard W. Hunter

I am very excited to SEE you and talk to you on Christmas! Grateful
for modern technology :) and iPads. It's interesting the way God
hastens his work. I know that our happiness is God's work. He loves
us. He really loves us. All that he does is for our good and is in
favor of our eternal joy. He has given us all many gifts. Our lives,
bodies, families, talents and abilities, opportunities for growth,
prophets, the gospel, commandments, many temporal and spiritual
blessings, and the greatest: a Savior, Christ, the Lord. We can
celebrate Christmas each day of our lives as we remember the Savior
and the many gifts God continues to bless us with. We can give a gift
to Him of love and kindness to others, obedience to His commandments,
gratitude for His mercy, and doing those things each day that bring us
closer to Him and help us become more like Him. And when we do that,
we just keep getting more gifts! In the Old Testament we can read,
"Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open
you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it."
Malachi 3:10
When we obey God with faith, we receive his promised blessings. So
many that there's not enough room to receive them! Make room for the
blessings of God. Invite his influence into your life and share the
gifts you have received with those around you. Christ is the most
important Christmas gift you have ever received. Because of Christ,
and with Christ, anything is possible.

“What will you and I give for Christmas this year? Let us in our
lives give to our Lord and Savior the gift of gratitude by living His
teachings and following in His footsteps. It was said of Him that He
‘went about doing good’ (Acts 10:38). As we do likewise, the Christmas
spirit will be ours.”
President Thomas S. Monson

We have enjoyed sharing our testimony of the Savior and sharing the
joy of Christmas this past week.

Today was Temple PDay! We had a wonderful day and met lots of great
people on the way and came back to lots of prep for Christmas parties
and things and met with Seki Shimai to knit scarves! :)

We have spent most of our week Caroling to members and friends! We
love sharing the spirit of Christmas and inviting everyone to think
about the gift they will give to the Savior this Christmas.

We had Zone meeting this week and it was awesome! The zone leaders had
assigned several missionaries in the zone short trainings and
testimonies. It was fun to learn from other missionaries and it was an
awesome opportunity for younger missionaries to accept a
responsibility and lead. I got to do a training on teaching the
message of the restoration simply as an overview. We practiced
teaching the entire lesson and extending commitments to read the Book
of Mormon, pray, come to church, and be baptized in under 5 minutes.
It wasn't rushed and the message made sense. A lot of times we
complicate the message by giving too many details and confusing our
investigators! But the message of the restoration of the gospel is so
important. God loves us and he speaks to us still through a living
prophet. We can know that this is true by reading the Book of Mormon
and receiving an answer through prayer. It's so simple and so powerful
and can change lives.

We visited a cute old lady member in the hospital this week. She was
soooo grateful for the visit. She invited us back to the hospital to
attend the hospital's Christmas concert with her. We ran into other
members and a potential investigator there. It was fun to listen to
Christmas songs and feel sort of Christmasy! The doctors at the
hospital had a choir, jazz band, hand Bells, and japanese sign
language group.

The ward Christmas party was cute! There were lots of Eikaiwa students
and their families and other friends and non members. The bishops
family did a cute skit about family home evening. Another family did a
puppet show of the Christmas story from the bible. There were a couple
musical numbers and lots of delicious food! Japanese Christmas is way
different from American Christmas mostly cause they have no idea how
to do it but it's fun :) I'm excited!!!

Miracle: Sunday night we were walking to a members home to carol and
share a message. On the way we saw this cute girl in Mickey Mouse pjs
and orange crocs walk out of a convenience store. She was totally our
kind of girl. Most japanese women will never leave the house unless
they are way perfectly put together! Anyway, brown Shimai complimented
her crocs haha and we got talking. We talked about the real meaning of
Christmas, taught and bore testimony of the Savior and showed her the
He is the Gift Christmas video right there on the street. Afterwards I
said that I felt peace when we watched the video. She said she felt
warm. I told her she could give a gift to Christ by learning about Him
and following his teachings. I asked her if she would meet us and
study with us in order to learn about Christ. She said, "where?!" We
exchanged numbers and are so excited to meet with her!

President Wada visited Hachioji and did a fireside for the
missionaries and our people! He showed a portion of the movie: It's a
wonderful life!! Best Christmas present ever :) people were in tears
and we all realized that each of us is important and the good we do is
significant. I love the note the angel Clarence writes in the book he
gives to George: "No man is a failure who has friends." I'm so
grateful for the friends I've had in every phase of my life. I feel
success on my mission because God has blessed me such wonderful
relationships here who have blessed my life. I'm glad I didn't miss
watching our traditional Christmas Eve movie this year :) now... If I
could have traditional Christmas brunch... ;)

Have y'all seen the church's Christmas video for this year? If you
haven't, watch it and share it with your friends!

Happy Christmas!!

Love,
Sister McKenzie Reeves