March 9th

Hey y'all guys,
We are getting so busy. It's fun and exhausting. But I think I like
this better than normal people life, because I'm exhausting myself for
a greater purpose. For God and for His children. Rather than
exhausting myself in my own personal pursuits. I like to not have to
worry about myself. No worries about rent, school, work, money, etc.
It's a special opportunity to be a missionary for the Lord. Don't know
what I'm gonna do when I have to worry about my own problems again!

 
SHARKS! with the eikaiwa kids 

This last week we worked really hard to get our area organized, going
through the area book, making phone calls, contacting potential
investigators, etc.. We went out and talked with everyone and got
wayyy closer to our goals for invitations and total lessons. Our
mission as a whole received a lot of inspiration from the conference
with Elder Ballard and we are just so excited about doing more and
doing better. Becoming better teachers, knowing and treasuring the
doctrine in our study, and teaching everyone we meet! It has helped us
see that we really can do more. My confidence has increased as I have
put his counsel to the test!
 
Happy Shark...doo, doo, doo, doo doo doo 

We had a wonderful visit with a less active sister, Kojima Shimai. We
used the plan of salvation as a way to talk about her family and her
role as a mother and her goals for her family. She shared her
conversion story and talked about how her dad was the first to convert
and the change in him was huge!! It made such a difference in their
home. We encouraged her to do the simple things in her home, like
praying and reading scriptures, so her children can also learn the
gospel and feel the influence of the spirit. She explained that
scripture study was a big challenge but she was willing to try. We are
looking forward to continuing a study of the gospel with her each
week.
Another really wonderful new student, Noriko, came to english class
this last week. She is a mother of two boys and her english is very
good! She and her family came to class. She learned English when she
studied in Salt Lake for a study abroad. She stayed with a mormon
family and went to church each week. She loved the environment at
church. Even though she didn't understand much english, they were like
a family to her. She has a member friend in Japan as well. She met
missionaries last year passing out English class fliers at the train
station. That missionary was from Utah and she thought it was no
coincidence that they met! She seems busy and hesitant about meeting
with us but agreed that it was fate that brought her to the church
again.
 
I was able to participate in MLC again this week! It's always amazing.
As Elder Ballard encouraged us to become the best teachers, we are
working as a mission to master our teaching skills. We spent a lot of
time practicing the skill, "listen". Going into it, I thought I was a
pretty good listener. But I'm really not! Listening requires
forgetting yourself, focusing all your attention on the person you are
speaking with, not planning how you will answer or what you will say
next, not worrying about the time or the agenda of the lesson, not
stressing about your Japanese or what principle of the gospel they
really need to hear, but just listening. And asking questions and
showing you understand and showing that you care. We did a few big
practices on how to resolve concerns. We won't resolve their concern
in one meeting, and we won't do it by ourselves, but our investigators
will trust us with their true feelings and concerns if they feel we
are motivated by love for them rather than a responsibility to our
"job". It's scary to let go of the lesson plan and not organize a
grammatically correct sentence in your head, but the Spirit guides and
I know that to be true!
We met with another less active sister, Hama Shimai. She is a returning
member and she is coming back strong. She has committed herself to
re-reading the Book of Mormon and she is completely serious about it.
We had a lesson with her about missionary work and she opened up about
her less active sisters who need the strength of the gospel. Hama
Shimai loves the Internet and has a lot of online friends. We
challenged her to join us in posting our favorite scriptures on
Facebook and coming with us to the social media fair this Saturday,
where we will be trained on how to use facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and mormon.org in order to share the gospel! Sister Hotu and I have been
asked to go early and be there to help members create their own
accounts! We have been doing a lot of work with members recently and
encouraging them to share their faith through the various types of
technology we have today. It's a sign of God hastening his work and
these tools can be used for so much good!
 
Sister Hotu and Me

 We taught lots of lessons this week with other members and were able
to focus our practice on the doctrines we have a harder time
explaining/teaching simply. This week we practiced repentance, the law
of chastity, and teaching the pattern of priesthood dispensations and
apostasy. So difficult, but the members help us so much and we are
becoming more confident teachers.

We got really close to our goal of 15 lessons and 70 invitations to
church/lessons! Our faith in our own efforts and in this work is
increasing. God is with us to help us every step of the way. The four
sisters in our apartment have all been a little sick these days, but
we are taking advantage of opportunities to share the gospel and
learning that there is joy to be found in this life!

Our current investigators are having a hard time meeting with us
lately, but in the mean time we have some new potential investigators
we are really excited about. We have a lessons set up with two of them
for this week. Please keep Rie San and Kurokawa San in your prayers.
We pray that they may feel the Spirit as they meet with us in the
church and learn about their Heavenly Father.

Today we focused our personal and companion study on the nature of God
and coming to know Him. One of my favorite scriptures from my study is
Alma 13: 28 -29 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord,
and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may
not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the
Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love
and all long-suffering;
29 Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive
eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye
may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest.

As we humble ourselves before God and pray always, we are blessed with
His Spirit and feelings of love. He gives us hope and He strengthens
our faith. I have a personal relationship with God. He is my Father. I
know He loves me because when I pray to Him or follow the words He
taught, I feel peace of conscience and I know that the path I'm
traveling will lead me to greater peace and joy. When I follow Him, I
realize that even my trials have purpose. I realize that I am special
to Him and that He wants me to go through pain so I can become strong
and change and become worthy to live with Him again. I have never seen
God, but I believe. He has given me experiences to test my belief and
experiences to strengthen it. But I know He is there and I know He
lives.

I love each of you SO SO SO much(:

Love,
Sister Reeves