February 8th

Hello everyone (:
This week seriously flew by so fast!! I don't know how the time
escaped so fast. I've really been thinking a lot lately about time...
And how precious the time is that God grants us each day. My time in
Japan is short... A simple year and a half that sometimes feels like
it will never end but it has been full of opportunities for growth and
lessons of a lifetime. I don't want to waste a moment or regret any of
my time here. I want to focus my attention on others and leave knowing
that I had served the Lord with everything I had. It's kind of like
long distance running and I was never really good at the sprint to the
finish, but as long as I leave it all on the course I can be satisfied
with my race! I remember I would always pray before my race... Of
course I had goals and certain competitors I wanted to beat but I
always prayed that no matter what happened I could be happy with how
it turned out. I know that all our experiences are for our good and
God didn't send us here to fail. This is our race! I want to return to
my Heavenly Father and be able to say I gave it all I had. I look
forward to the day when He can say, Welcome Home!

Shimizu and Saori (:

I hope your week was full of miracles! I would love to hear about some
of the miracles you experienced (: I'll share with you some of mine!

Last Monday night we had plans to visit 4 less active members and do
some heart attacking and share messages. The first two, we couldn't
find... The third one took forever to find and we finally found her
home. We met her husband who is not a member and he informed us that
she had passed away last May. We left so confused about why we had
felt good about our plan. Then we searched for the last member and it
was getting late. On the way I received a phone call from an
investigator in Kichijoji! Moeka!! She wanted to call and let me know
that her parents gave her permission to be baptized and she will be
baptized this Saturday and wanted me to be there! She is a miracle and
I am so happy to have been a small part in helping her come to know
her Savior. We never found the last less active before it was time to
head home but we have since been thinking about the husband of the
other less active and have arranged to return with a member this week
and hopefully be able to share with him the message of God's plan and
forever families.

Zone Blitz with Sister Yamaguchi, Sister Foutz, and Sister Blake 

I went on exchanges with Sister Hotu this week and we had a great
opportunity to meet with a less active member, Shimizu Shimai. This
time we visited with a member, Saori, who had been her friend back
when they were young women. It was perfect! Shimizu Shimai really
wants to obey the commandments. The sisters are helping her to
remember to pray and read the Book of Mormon daily and help her
overcome her problems with the word of wisdom. She is amazing and I
learned a lot on our exchange about how important we are to our
Heavenly Father and how blessed we are when we obey His commandments.
Obedience sets us free. It allows us to strengthen our relationship
with a divine being and allows His spirit to be with us always. When
we follow God's law of health we are promised that we will "find wisdom
and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures"
D&C 89:19
The greatest treasure is of eternal nature... It's coming to know God
and to know God we need to know ourselves.

Zone Blitz SELFIE 

On Wednesday night after English class I spent some time talking with
one of the students, Watanabe San. He is a nice older man who attends
the advanced class and is really good at English. We talked about many
things: Texas, Baseball, sports, education, psychology, family,
Japanese culture, language, and then eventually the subject shifted to
talking about God. He said he has been to the church a couple times
and liked it a lot but he said that he is not able to believe in God.
I asked him why he thought that and he wanted to know why I can
believe in God. I shared with him my simple experiences of finding
answers to prayer, receiving help and guidance and gifts from God. I
explained that maybe it is different for me because I've been taught
about God from a young age and was taught what I needed to do to have
faith in Him. I've had many experiences that have testified to me of
His reality. He said that hearing my experiences really helped him. He
said he wanted to hear more experiences from more members. I invited
him to join us at church where we share our experiences and help each
other and discuss our relationship with God. I testified that it's not
too late for him to find out for himself, and he can know through
experience and a test of faith. You can know too! God is there. Ask
Him. He will show you.


  This week I attended MLC! It was the best of course! The theme was
accountability but the lesson that I learned was preparation. When we
do our best to prepare well for everything we do, we first show our
love to God by showing that we care about the responsibilities with
which we have been entrusted. When we prepare we show those we serve

Dinner with Kosuge Shimai 

(Sister Yamaguchi, Sister Hotu, Sister Reeves, Sister Kosuge)

that we also care about them and love them! This life is the time to
prepare to meet God! Our whole purpose is preparation. Show your love
and appreciation to God and those around you by taking some time to
prepare. I can take extra thought to prepare a lesson tailor-made for
an investigator, rather than giving them the same-old generic lesson.
I can prepare for my meetings and call the other leaders in advance so
we can be ready to discuss. I can prepare my proselyting by using my
study time to treasure the doctrines. I can prepare for each new day
by counseling and accounting to my Father each night. Prayer really
can be a counsel/interview with the Lord.

Friday was such a weird day. But I learned that sometimes God has
something different in mind. We planned a lesson for Mizuki and then
went to visit her. On the way we were stopped by a man who ended up
talking for forever! We invited him to church and he wrote down the
time and place and committed to be there. He told me that I invited
one person but my influence will travel further than that because he
would invite another! And he did! And they came to church and loved it
and said they would be back again! When we got to Mizuki's it turned
out she had time! Perfect! But she wanted to go to the church so we
walked 30 minutes back to the church with her and her energetic 3 year
old son. We did a quick tour and then gave him paper and markers so we
could talk with Mizuki. We tried to get to know her better and set
expectations but it was so distracting with her little boy! We ended
up studying a little bit from Alma and then ended with prayer. But the
miracle came when we walked out of the church. Sister Yagi who is the
primary teacher for the 3 year olds showed up! She was way sweet to Mizuki and
Koki and showed so much interest in them! It meant a lot to me that
she would love our investigator! She has offered to help her get a
ride to church on Sunday!

Zone Blitz

We had a two zone combined family history blitz on Saturday afternoon.
For three hours we focused our proselyting efforts on the family and
inviting others to research their families and join us at church. We
switched companions and proselyting methods each hour. We all went out
there and gave it our all for an exhausting three hours and saw
miracles! It was so much fun! There was power in number and faith as
we all went out in the same area and spoke with everyone! We met a
lady who immediately said, "I'm buddhist" but we began talking about
the importance of family and she stopped and talked to us longer and
was so grateful to have met us! We met a lady who was on her way to
visit her grandma and was way excited to talk to her grandma about
their family history after talking with us! We met a man who said, "I
just met an American man just like you an hour ago!" We talked with
him awhile and to him it was such a miracle that we had both met him
that day. He said he takes the road by the church often and he is
interested in coming some time!

Sunday was tiring as always but we had a wonderful day. A lady that
the elders met came to church and was fellowshipped by so many
members. Her ex-husband is a member and they lived in salt lake while
they were married. She has studied many religions and was so touched
by the service on Sunday. She isn't sure if she will be able to come
again but I know God loves her and lead her to be there to feel his
love.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's
true church. I know it was restored by God through a prophet, Joseph
Smith. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. The gospel is
true and it's happy!!!

I love you so much!

Shout out to my super awesome Dad who is turning... Who is having a
birthday this week! Thanks for choosing to follow the Savior and come
to earth! Thanks for your example!

Love,
Sister McKenzie Reeves