Happy New Year!!!

Well, Christmas was SO GREAT!!!  Got to talk to the fam, go ice skating, saw the awesome lights at Hakata Eki (train station).  So fun!  Now we're heading to New Years!  Whaa???!!!  Tomorrow is the first day of 2014!  New Years is kind of a big deal here...Christmas not so much. But New Years is like the biggest holiday in Japan.  So yesterday we went to, get this, a mochitaikai!!  :)  SO MUCH FUN!!! I was dying.  It was a blast!  We helped make mochi!  So I got to use a giant wooden mallet/hammer thing and pound rice into mochi.  (Mochi is a glutinous rice mashed and the gooey paste is formed into rice balls with flavoring on the outside.)  We rolled up the balls and ate it!  So fun.  I will definitely send pictures.  We did it at the Shiki family's house.  Their house is cool.  It is an old firehouse.  The upstairs is their house and the downstairs is a giant shop...wood, tools, and stuff.  They also have bees, and get their own honey.

We are going to the Watanabe family's house tonight for a New Year's celebration.  They live out on the island.  I don't really know exactly what we are doing, but it should be fun!  :)

Things have been good lately.  Kitigawa san is doing pretty well.  We had two lessons with him last week.  He struggles with prayer, so we had a whole lesson about prayer with him.  We thought it went really well.  We shared our testimonies, scriptures and experiences, and he said he would try praying.  But when we followed up the next lesson, he said nothing had changed.  It is heart-breaking when an investigator doesn't keep a commitment.  But he's cool!  He always reads the Book of Mormon, and he said he is really going to try to get to church even if it's only for 30 minutes like last time.

Baba san is still sick.  We went and visited her, and we email her all the time, but she is really not doing well.  As least she remembered us!  We're just praying for her, and trying to keep in touch with her, but there's really not a lot we can do until she gets better!

We moved!  We moved in one day from our old apartment to our new apartment with the help of the APs (assistants to the president), ZLs (zone leaders), and the Honbu (mission office) elders.  They're the best!  Our new apartment is nice.  It's smaller, but it's closer to the church and we can't see our breath inside, and we don't get slivers from the tatami (floor coverings), so I'm sold!  :)

We had a mini junkai (meeting) with the other Fujisaki sisters.  I went with Wilson Shimai, the other gaijin (white girl).  We are not really fluent in Japanese, but it was good!  I learned that I can talk to people and teach them about the Gospel even without a senior companion or a Japanese companion.  I think just knowing that made me feel a little better about my abilities as a missionary.  I may not be really good at it, but I CAN do it!  It was a good experience!

I think that's about it for this one!  Talk to you again in a week!  Or actually a short one tonight to update you on transfers....

Love you all so much!  Thanks for all the cards for Christmas!

We finally got our transfer calls.  I am staying in Fujisaki for another transfer. The other companionship in our apartment will stay the same...Wilson Shimai and Nakamura Shimai are staying.   Kuroki Shimai will be leaving.  I am now the senior companion.  My new companion is Nihonjin (Japanese). She is 6 weeks behind me in time in the mission field.  We'll see how it goes.  To be honest, I'm scared to death!  I'm sure the Lord has a plan!  Love you!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Japan!

We got to talk to Lacee on our Christmas Eve...her Christmas morning!  It was so great to hear her voice!  She is doing super!  They are in a new apartment...yay!  They actually have central heat and air!  Probably just in time to transfer next week!  :)  Their investigators have been sick, so they haven't been able to do too much teaching and then they have also been moving.  They went ice skating on Christmas Day!  So much fun! 

Until next TUESDAY!



Ice Skating for Christmas
 

Snail Mail!

I have asked Lacee lots of questions about her area and she wrote a snail mail letter to answer some of them:

"We may be getting a new apartment...eventually.  I guess they're in the process of making that happen.  We always wear sweats, sweatshirts, fuzzy socks, etc.  If it's really cold, scarves, gloves, or even our coats.  I wear my UA thermal running leggings and a pair of tights, and socks always.  It's cold outside!!  Usually we sleep warm, though.  Yes, we wear sweats and snuggle in our blankets!

"On Sundays, we meet in an actual chapel.  This one even has carpet!  The chapels here are different...the same, but tiny and somewhat different.  There are probably like 40-ish active members in our ward if you include the kids.  That's actually pretty big here though.  In Nakatsu, they have 4 missionaries and 8 members in their branch!!  I know most of the members in our ward.  They are super nice!  We have been able to get them to join us for lessons...so that's good!

"OK, so the Sunny (a store I asked her about...it's kind of a Japanese Walmart - actually part of the Walmart International system).  The one we go to is near the Muromi Eki (bus station).  It's like about a 20 minute bike ride from the Fukuoka Tower.  It's just a block or so from the river.

"In our apartment, there are four of us.  One was in the MTC with me and her native companion.   They're funny!  We don't do a ton of stuff together, but we all get along really well & have a lot of fun!  My companion is from Ibariaki-ken.  It's up by Tokyo.

"I love it out here!  I really do.  It's so hard!  It's ridiculous, but I know why I'm here...I'm here for the Lord.  I'm here to share what has blessed my life and brought me so much joy!  I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  I finished reading the Book of Mormon last month.  I LOVE that book!  Let me tell you what...IT IS TRUE!!  I know with everything in me that The Book of Mormon is true.  I love it more and more every day.  It's strengthened me and my testimony and my relationship with my Savior and my Heavenly Father so much!!

"I think I am becoming a little bit better person every day.  Maybe by the time I come home, I'll be super awesome!  I sure hope so!  :)  I'm trying really hard to let my mission change me.  Now I know why people are so different when they come home after a mission.  I think it would be hard NOT to change.  The Lord is preparing people here to accept the gospel, but I think He is also preparing missionaries for life.  I feel like after a mission, everything else will be easy in comparison!  Bring it on, life, I learned Japanese!"

She finished her letter in Japanese, so I will have to wait for her to translate it! Maybe next Christmas!  :)  We will be talking with her on her Christmas Day...our Christmas Eve.  Then it will be New Year's Day when I update this again after I get her email!

Merry Christmas to you all!  We love and appreciate you!  Thanks for keeping Lacee in your thoughts and prayers!

Better Late than Never!!!

Ok...sorry about no email!  We went to the church to email, and when we got there...the computers were all moved and taken apart!!!  So we couldn't use them.  We had to wait to use the computers here in Fukuoka.  We came for District Meeting and we have an Open House here at the honbu (mission office/home) tonight, so that's why we're here.

But, anyways...the temple was super awesome.  Funny story...it was English day!  I was kind of disappointed actually because I wanted to go in Japanese, but still it was way good.  The temple is GORGEOUS!!!!  It's also really little.  But it was so great!  I'm so glad we got to go!

This week was super good.  It was kind of crazy because we had so much stuff going on, but it was way fun!  We went caroling in Chikushino and Fujisaki as our District.  It was fun!  Cool story...we were contacting in Chikushino, and we talked to this lady.  We taught her a little bit, and she said she was interested, but she said she didn't live in Chikushino.  We asked her where she lived, she told us Nishijin!  Which is in Fujisaki!!  Whaa??!! So awesome, right? (If you didn't catch that...it's Lacee's area!  :) )  She took our information and said she would call.  I hope she really does!  So far...nothing.  Hopefully one day!  Then on Saturday we got to go caroling at Tenjin! (a huge shopping & cultural area) Wow so fun!!  It's this giant eki (station...like for bus, subway, etc.) in the middle of Fukuoka.  It's so awesome.  I've only been underneath, but we were up on the street (where all the shops & restaurants are).  There are lights everywhere and we were up on a stage and did our whole program thing.  We talked to so many people.  It was way fun!  We also sang at the honbu for all these Stake Presidents, their wives, and some other people.  Everyone was crying.  It was really neat.



Caroling in Tenjin

 

Also...Kitagawa san has a baptismal date!!! For January!  Yay!  He's so awesome!  His work schedule is just super taihen (difficult)

...so he can never come to church.  But he said he was going to switch his schedule around so he could come to the Open House tonight, so he'll be there tonight!  Yay!

Baba san got sick.  :(  We haven't been able to meet with her in a week.  She got a cold or the flu or something, but she's been real sick.  So hopefully we can meet with her again soon.  We're doing a 12 days of Christmas thing with her and Kitagawa san.  We have daily contact with them, and then on Christmas we will give them the Joy to the World DVD.  It's been so fun.

Still no new investigators.  We're doing a ton of finding and talking to so many awesome people, but no one that we can teach yet.  I guess we're just planting lots of seeds, huh?  Anyways I'm super excited for Christmas!  It's not really a big deal here in Japan though.  There's going to be a Christmas party for the ward, but that's about it.  Oh well.  Caroling was way fun!

So, next P-day is moved to Christmas.  Then the P-day after that will be on Tuesday because it will be transfer week. (So Mom...don't panic! :) )

Love you all lots!  Merry Christmas!!!

No Email... :(

Hey Blog Followers!

For whatever reason, I didn't hear from Lacee today.  I promise as soon as I hear from her, I will update her blog!

Thanks for all your love, support, and prayers in her behalf!
We both love you all!
Lacee's Mom

Temple Trip

Hey Blog Followers!

We got a surprise email from Lacee Friday evening...they are going to the temple (her Saturday) and this will count as their P-day, so we won't hear from her again until December 15th (her 16th).  She is doing well and is thrilled to be going to the temple!

They have been working on getting a new apartment.  The honbu (mission office) has sent them to look at a couple of apartments.  So one was fine, so that was good.  The girls told honbu, but the next day the mission office called and said they can't have that apartment.  They had told them before that sometimes apartments won't let them live there because they're Mormons.  But do you know why they can't have this apartment?? Because they don't allow "gaijins".  Lacee and one other sister are American and "white", so they can't have that apartment!  They have a strict no foreigners policy!  Lacee says she about died!  So hilarious!  So they obviously won't be living in that apartment!

She also had another funny experience with a little boy on a playground.  He was just staring at Lacee.  She said, "They're like out at recess or something.  He's probably, like, I dunno, maybe 5.  He's little.  So he's across on the other side of the playground staring at me.  Then I look over and he's on our side of the playground.  Then I look over again and he moved a little closer.  Then a little more.  Then he is right next to me...fingers through the fence just staring.  Ha ha ha! I said "hi" but he just stared!  Funny stuff!"

She also shared a couple of other great experiences from this week:

"Baba san is going to get baptized either on the 21st or 28th!!  Woohoo!  She has changed so much!  It's a miracle.  It really is!  She also still hasn't been sick.  She's coming to church every week, keeping her commitments, making friends in the ward.  She says she's excited to be baptized!  She still has a couple of concerns, but we're working on them!  But I really think she'll get baptized this month!"
"Also, I heard from Mako and Akiho!!! :) (the young women who were baptized in Naha, Okinawa, just after she transferred to Fukuoka)  They are doing SO GOOD!!!  They are loving being members and they say their lives are just getting better because of it.  They are amazing.  I love them SO MUCH!! Anyways, it'll be a while until I email again.  This counts as my P-day, but the temple is definitely worth it!"
"A lady in the ward gave me two sweaters yesterday.  She thought I looked cold once.  She was afraid that I didn't have warm clothes because everyone thinks southern Japan doesn't get cold, but it actually does.  I was confused at first, but Kuroki Shimai explained.  I laughed a lot.  They are both these 'old lady' sweaters, but I'm totally going to wear one to church just to make her happy.  One is handmade...I think by her mom.  She thought I looked cold, so she got them for me.  Bless her heart!  See how great these people are!!!! :)"

People are so nice....

So this week we didn't have a lot happen.  Sorry...Just kind of the usual, but some funny things happened.  This elderly lady patted me on the cheek and told me how cute I was like three times after she said she didn't want to listen to our message!  A bunch of little boys mobbed me on the street.  They asked, "nani jin/" Like what am I.  I told them American, and they were freaking out even more.  Hilarious!  They started asking all kinds of stuff like if I had been to China or England, and why I was here.  Funny.  I was laughing so hard.  I don't know if I told you that I got chased a couple of weeks ago by little kids.

Another lady told us she wasn't interested but felt bad that we were out in the cold, so she gave us some hard candies.  Bless her heart!

Then when we were housing, this lady was talking to us and staring at me the whole time.  The she was like, "you're so cute!"  I told her thanks, you know whatever!  But then she asked if she could shake my hand.  Ha!  So I shook her hand.  I don't know.  It's just funny to me!

Other than that, Baba san really is probably going to be baptized this month!  She understands that she has a baptismal date, and she is totally planning on being ready by then.  She continues to keep all her commitments, and comes to church.  She even told us that since she's started coming to church and taking the lessons, she hasn't been sick.  She's physically being blessed.  She also says she doesn't think it's a coincidence that it has happened since she's been coming to church!  YAY!!! SO cool!  She still has a ways to go before she'll be ready for baptism, but her date is the 28th, and she can totally make it!  I'm so proud of her!  It's way exciting!!!

We've met some pretty awesome people, but they won't make an appointment because they say they're too busy.  We seriously met the cutest lady yesterday.  She was with her son when I stopped her.  She seemed really interested.  She said she was really busy so she wouldn't take The Book of Mormon or make an appointment to meet again, but her eyes lit up when we were talking.  It was a cool contact!  She said if she had time she would call us and maybe come to church.  I really hope she does!  She was super cute.  She believes in God, and she said she was interested.  I'm praying for her!!

Anyways, this week should be another awesome week!!
Love you all, and thanks for all the love and support!!

Sometimes lots of rain is great!!!  It means I get to wear pants (even if they're just rain pants)!

Ganbatte Kudasai (I'm doing OK...fine, good...take your pick! )

Weelllll...I didn't get transferred.  And neither did anyone in my whole district!  We all stayed exactly the same.  That's fun.  It's kinda boring, but I like 'em all so it's cool!  I'm excited knowing that I will be in Fukuoka for Christmas!  I hear it's pretty fun!  There were lots of people who did get transferred...Bush Shimai left for Nagasaki.  I'm sad. :(  My ZLs (zone leaders) both left!  They were great!  I hear the new Elders are good, so we'll see.  The STLs (sister training leaders) also got changed. They are both brand new!  Kuchar Shimai stayed in Chikushimo, though, so I will get to see her a couple of times this transfer.  I love her!  Mostly I don't really know who else changed.  We have Zone Training Meeting on Thursday, so we'll find out!

Sooo...let's see...what happened this week?...

We taught a continuing investigator again.  It went pretty well, I think.  I was on an exchange.  We taught about Joseph Smith again and The Book of Mormon.  She has a hard time learning.  At first, I was having a hard time loving her, but now I just really love her!  We have to take things really slow for her, but she keeps her commitments and we committed her to baptism!  She said she would work hard.  Sometimes we are not sure how much she really understands, but we hope to get her to really feel and recognize the Spirit.  She is progressing little by little.  It's going to take some time, but I think she will get there!  She's been to church about 4 times, and she is always on time to church and to lessons.  She's making friends in the ward, and she reads The Book of Mormon.  We usually re-read it with her to help her understand, but it's going pretty good, I think.

We also met a lady on the street.  She was a little rough around the edges....big metal things in her ears and crazy hair and stuff like that...all that means is that she especially needs the gospel!!!  We talked to her and invited her to come to church with us on Sunday, but she said she was busy.  We asked if she had time the next day to meet again.  She said she didn't know, but she might, so we gave her our phone number and she said she would call us.  People do that all the time, though, and then they don't call.  But the next day, she called!  Wow!  I was surprised.  So we met up with her and we went to the church together.  We gave her a tour of the church, and taught her part of the Kaifuku lesson (some of you who know Japanese might be able to help with this one...I think Kaifuku is "restoration" but I was unable to find an exact translation!).  She isn't from Fukuoka, and she's actually going home this week.  We told her how to find the missionaries and a church where she lives.  She didn't want to give us her phone number, so we couldn't forward contact information as a referral.  Hopefully she will look up the missionaries there!  So I didn't know a lot of what she was saying and I was kind of frustrated.  After the lesson, I talked to Kuroki Shimai (my companion) about that.  Kuroki Shimai told me she was using almost all slang and bad Japanese, and that she was glad I hadn't understood!  She said to not even try to remember what the lady was saying and that I shouldn't try to learn ANY of it!  Yikes, right?

What else...oh, we got invited to a member family's house for lunch on Saturday.  Cool thing...they live on an island!  So neat!  It's like a 10 minute ferry ride.  It was way pretty out there!  We had a barbeque with some people from the ward, and then we dendo-ed (tracted?) around the island with some of the kids that were there.  It was pretty good.

We also had a less active guy come to church Sunday!  Yay!  He's so nice.  He comes to Eikaiwa (English class) every week and finally came to church!  We're going to visit him this week, and see if we can get him to come again next week!

Oh, and I'm feeling much better.  Blood tests came back good.  I'm doing ok.  I love it, but it's tough to be a missionary!  I know The Church is true and I know the Lord loves me, and that's what gets me through every day!

Love you all!

Transfer Week...That's why I'm Late!!!

So this is the last week of Transfer 2...Wow!  This transfer definitely went by faster than last transfer.  Not hard to do I think since last transfer felt like it might never end!  :)  It is also starting to get cold here...ahh!!  Our apartment doesn't have central heating!!!  It's cold.  We also can't use both of our space heaters most of the time because our apartment is all on the same circuit thingy (or whatever it's called).  So we can't have most anything on or it trips the breaker.  So we wear our sweats and our hats and our gloves and stuff pretty much always!  It's an adventure!

Attempting to stay warm in our apartment!

We met a really cute girl the other day!  She was waiting at a bus stop, and we thought we had already talked to her before, so we started to walk by, but I stopped.  I started talking to her (luckily we hadn't talked to her before...it's kind of awkward when that happens! )  She was actually kind of interested!  Yay!  We switched contact information, but we couldn't make a solid appointment because she says she's really busy this month, but next month should be ok.  We also did a baptismal invite, and she said that she would like to be baptized if she finds out it is true.  It was pretty cool!  She's way cute!  If you can, please pray that we can meet her again!

Other than that, this week was kind of normal.  We did a lot of finding and housing.  Not a ton of luck.  But that's ok!  I figure the more people we talk to, the better chance we have of finding someone who is prepared!

We went to Dazaifu on Monday for P-Day.  SO COOL!!! It was a blast!

 

 

Today is transfer calls...word on the street (well, from our Zone Leader) is that there's gonna be lots of changes in the Fukuoka Zone again this transfer.  Both of the AP's (Assistant to the President) are going home.  Our ZL (zone leader) thinks he's leaving too.  Also our District Leader will probably go.  We'll see...but I think our apartment will probably stay the same.  I want to stay in Fukuoka for Christmas!  (Maybe just in a new apartment!  haha)

Things are good!  Love you all!

P.S. From Lacee's Mom:  Lacee says since she got the blessing from her Mission President she is feeling better, still tired but sleeping better, too!  That's a relief!  Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers on her behalf!

Sneaky Mom! :)

Since Lacee can't see this until she comes home, I thought I would show the rest of you what I've been doing this week as I get ready to mail her Christmas package...Sister Missionary stockings for her and her companion!  :)

Hey Blog Followers!

I have not yet heard from Lacee this week!  When I do, I will be sure to update this blog!

Love you all!
Lacee's Mom

Installment #2 for today!

From Lacee's email:

"Well, this week wasn't too exciting.  Although I did get flipped off this week...in Japan!  It was really weird.  People here DO NOT do stuff like that.  They are usually so polite and everything.  So, we don't know if it was cuz I'm gaijin or because we're Christian or maybe the guy was just a jerk!  Whatever it was, it was way weird.  We just ignored the guy and pretended that nothing happened.

Also, I don't know if I told you that everyone says "herro!" (hello with the Japanese accent) to me.  It is SO funny.  I usually don't even hear it, so Kuroki Shimai has to tell me.  I say "hi" back and they think it's great! The whole thing just kills me!  :)  So the other day these 4 girls, probably middle school, were saying "herro".  So I said it back and they all just squealed and said how cute I was.  It was hilarious.  Pretty much if you're not Japanese, you are just super cute here.  Funny stuff.

We had a funny experience housing.  This lady opened the door.  We explained who we were, and she just went a little crazy!  She was yelling at us! She just kind of goes on and on, but pretty much she was telling my companion she should be Buddhist because she's Nihonjin (Japanese).  It's OK that I'm Christian because I'm gaijin, but for my companion it is NOT OK.

We've struggled with lessons.  It's been frustrating.  Our investigators have been super busy so we haven't been able to meet with them.  We're trying to find new people to teach, but so far...no luck.

We continue to visit the less active members and former investigators (when we can find them).  We still haven't found anyone who is super interested.  We talk to a ton of people every week though.  We are starting to build some relationships with the members.  Can I just tell you that I LOVE this ward!!! There are so many incredible people.  Last night we were invited to a family's house for dinner (Yay!  There are actually families here!).  They have five adorable kids.  So cute!  They are SO nice.  And way awesome.  The mom is a convert, but both she and her husband served missions.  He served in Tokyo and she served here in Fukuoka.  It was so cool.  Her conversion story was neat.  There are also a couple of ladies who bring us food all the time.  It is delicious food!  We also know a lady who is super excited about missionary work.  We are meeting with her this week to talk about how we can help her do missionary work, and how she can help us.  It should be really good!

It doesn't seem like we are being super successful here, but you know, I am figuring out that it's OK.  We are working hard.  We are doing our job, and it is just hard enough without beating yourself up about things you can't control...like other people's choice of whether to listen to us or not.  Plus, who knows?  Maybe something will come out of what we're doing one day.  I just know that we will definitely leave this area much better than we found it, so we are doing our job!"

From Lacee's mom:  Lacee has been having some issues with her health.  So this week she had to use the Japanese Health Care system.  She was terrified!  Luckily, Kuroki Shimai was with her every step of the way!  Lacee said, "I'm SO grateful for Kuroki Shimai!  I literally could not have done it without her!!..."  Lacee said she has not been sleeping since she got to Japan (thus part of the problem...after 9 weeks of little to no sleep) and, after talking to her mission president and getting an AMAZING blessing from him, she finally had to give in and go to the doctor.  All the paperwork was in Kanji, so her companion also helped with all of that.  She should get the test results later today. We hope that it will just be something minor and that she will soon be on her feet!...Actually she has been on her feet...going with all the strength she had and a little beyond until she just absolutely couldn't go anymore!

Continuing with Lacee's email:

"We also talked to Kaicho (president).  So great!!  He and Gustafson Shimai (sister) are AMAZING!!!  I LOVE THEM!!!  They told us to come over to Honbu (mission home) to their house and they gave us snacks and they helped me figure out some stuff to help me sleep.  Then Kaicho gave me a blessing.  It was amazing!   The past two nights, I have slept  better...Awesome right?

Today we're going to a giant shrine and hang out with Kuchar Shimai in Chikashimo!!  :)  I love P-day!!

Love you all!"

Things I've Learned

I got a "snail" mail letter from Lacee this week and thought I would share with you some of the things she says she has learned as a missionary: (This will be one of two posts today since she will email later today...and I will update again)

1.  The Lord has been trying to teach me patience for 19 1/2 years and somehow I still haven't figured it out!

2. I needed to come to Japan so I could be humbled and have to TOTALLY rely on the Lord.  I rely on Him every single day, for everything!

3. This Church is true!!!  I could look anyone right in the eye and tell them that I know for myself without a shadow of a doubt that this is God's true church on the earth.  I know it!!

4.  I LOVE The Book of Mormon.  I wish I could even put it into words.  There is an answer for everything in this book.  I love the scriptures.  They're true and will bring so much peace and comfort if you read and apply them in your life.

5.  I am so blessed!  Being a missionary is the hardest thing I have ever done, by far, but I have grown so much already because of it.  I'm in JAPAN!  How awesome is that??!!  I have the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the best family and friends anyone could ask for, and just so much more!

6.  John 8:29 - "And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him."  I am not alone!  The Lord sent me here and He is with me!

AWESOMENESS!!!

I just have to start with the BEST NEWS EVER!!!  MAKO AND AKIHO GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!  Ahhh!!!  Yay!!!!

Oh my goodness!  I was SO excited!  I can't even tell you!  They got baptized on Friday.  They told our other companion in Okinawa they wanted to be baptized but they wanted to call me and my companion afterwards to surprise us!  So they called us afterwards...they both got baptized!  How awesome, right??!!!  I am still just SO HAPPY!  I'm so excited for them both!

Now the other exciting thing....the Red Sox are WS Champs!! Yatta!!  My bishop here in Fujisaki kept me kind of updated.  Bless his heart!  He thinks it is so funny that I love sports so much.  Especially baseball.  So he sent us an email to let me know when they won.  It was kind of fun.  Too bad I missed all of it!  But that's OK, I wouldn't trade being out here even for a Red Sox World Championship.  And that's sayin' somethin'.....

This last week was also Zone Taikai.  It was both the Fukuoka and Nagasaki Zones, so I got to see SO many people!  So fun!  Kuchar Shimai, Bush Shimai, Anderson Chourou, Merrill Chourou, and I were all there from our MTC district!  It was awesome to catch up with them, and see how everyone was doing.  Love them!  I had the best district, the best teachers, and the best Branch Presidency EVER at the MTC!!! I am so grateful for all of them!

Other than that, this week was kinda normal.  We had three lessons get cancelled.  That was not so great!  But we got to teach Kitagawa san again.  His schedule is tough, so we usually have no idea when we can teach him.  Last time we taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and I think it went really well.  He asks questions, and understands what we are teaching him, but I don't think he has really felt the spiritual side of it all yet.  We're trying!  And he seems to really want to know the truth.

We also had a couple of other lessons.  We taught Hamu and her friends.  She brought 2 friends, so it was us and three 16 year old girls.  It was a little crazy.  Apparently Hamu didn't tell her friends that we were missionaries.  They were a little confused as to why we were sharing the Gospel at first.  We explained who we are and what our purpose is.  Then we asked if they had any interest.  Hamu still does and she has already read some of The Book of Mormon!!  The other two were kind of interested also, so we will meet with them again.  We don't know when though because they have a big test coming up.  It may be a couple of weeks!

We continue to try to hunt down the less active members and the former investigators.  Not much luck.  We did talk to a less active who seems to be basically active, except she won't come to church.  She reads the scriptures and even watched conference.  Her health isn't good, so she doesn't come to church.  We're gonna work with her though and try to get her coming back.

Last week we went to the Fukuoka Tower!!! It was cool.  We also stopped by the Yahoo Dome to take some pictures.  This week we're off to the Fukuoka Zoo with the Fukuoka missionaries!  I'm pumped!!

Love you all lots!!!  You're in my prayers!

Whew! Hamu!

Ok, so I just have to start with Hamu.  This is so cool!  We were on junkai Tuesday (companion exchange).  I was with one of the STLs (sister training leader).  We were out streeting, and went up to this girl.  She's probably 15.  We started to talk to her, and she said, IN ENGLISH, "I'm Christian."  We were like, Great!  So are we!  And you speak English!  We talked to her (in a mix of English and Japanese) about how she learned English and what she believed.  She said she learned English from reading the Bible.  Whaaa????!! She learned some at school, but that was how she learned more.  She said her mom is also Christian and interested in religion.  So we explained some to her about the Church, and talked about The Book of Mormon.  We told her that she could have a copy of the Book of Mormon to read it she wanted.  She was really excited and said that she wanted it, but was it ok if she could have two so she could give one to her mom too?  We obviously told her yes!  So we talked a little more and asked her if she thought she wanted to learn more.  She didn't even hesitate.  She said, "Oh, yes, I want to learn more."  It was cool!  We set up an appointment.  She's kinda busy, so we can't meet until this Thursday, but we're meeting with her then!!  We traded phone numbers, and then we left.  Like 30 minutes later she emailed us asking if it was ok to bring her friend to the lesson on Thursday!!!  Stop it!!!  We were freaking out at this point.  We told her yes!  So, I am mostly just super pumped for Thursday!  We emailed her the other day to make sure it was still good, so I am hoping they come!  Yatta!!!  :)

Other than that, we have been hunting down all the addresses on the less-active/former investigator lists.  It's been an adventure, lemme tell ya!  So I already told you about the lady that had died.  Now we have dead, moved, and the building no longer exists!  Trying to find some addresses here is a joke.  Really, though...it is hard.  Even for the Japanese...and they made them up!  So we are updating the list.  (You're welcome future missionaries of the Fujisaki area!)  It's pretty neat.

Also, it's starting to get kinda cold.  I had to pullout my fleece lined tights and my cardigans and jackets.  It literally rained for three days straight last week.  But you just tough it out in the rain.  It's not so bad.

We are finally starting to get to know the members too.  The members here are seriously awesome.  I love them.  This is more a family ward.  Okinawa was not.  There are a few young married couples with babies and little kids.  So fun!  I love the kids.  They're hilarious!  I can't understand most of what they're saying, but they're adorable!

We also helped with the Halloween party.  That was so fun.  We got a potential investigator out of it too!

I love the Bishop and his family.  They are amazing!  They have two little girls (maybe 10 & 6).  The Bishop's dad is his first counselor.  They had us over for dinner last night.  So fun!  The Bishop is totally pera pera (fluent) in English but he speaks Japanese to me.  Thank goodness!  He loves sports and was talking to me about it.  I told him I love baseball, and he was dying.  He thought it was so cool.  He was talking a little about the post-season and was like, oh but you don't know!  But he's really amazing and very involved with missionary work too, which is so nice!

That's about it.  We're going to the Fukuoka Tower today.  Yay!!  I'm excited!  And tomorrow is Zone Taikai!  So I get to see my friends!

Love you lots!!!

Whitewashing

So we are whitewashing an area (For those who don't know what whitewashing is - it's when two new missionaries go into an area and completely start from scratch...finding people, touching base with any members in the area...and it IS tough!).  It's tough.  Especially considering the fact that we are only 2nd and 3rd transfer missionaries (6 & 12 weeks into their time in Japan). 

Last Thursday we had Zone Training Meeting.  We all met at the Fukuoka Chapel.  That's like a 30 minute bike ride for us, so it's not bad at all!  The training was SO FUN!!  There are 38 missionaries in the Fukuoka Zone!  Wow!  So big!  It was so good to see everyone! Kuchar Shimai, Bush Shimai, and Merrill Choro were all there. (from her MTC district)  It was super fun!  They are all doing awesome, of course!  I love them!  The training was really good, and we got to meet some new people.  The APs and the Zone Leaders are really cool.  I like them all a lot.  After the meeting, the Assistants told us a good place we could go get some Fukuoka ramen.  We went with the other Fujisaki sisters and Merrill Choro and his companion.  It was way good!

So a couple of stories from this week:
1.  We went to visit a less-active lady because it was her birthday.  So she lives 10 miles away, up an ENORMOUS hill.  We did it though!  We decided to visit a member family that lives up there too.  So we went to their house first to talk to them about one of our investigators.  Anyway, we asked them about the lady we were going to visit.  The record we had said she was like 40.  They said she had died!!!  She was actually over 70, and had passed away.  It was REALLY awkward!  So...sometimes you ride 10 miles up a gigantic hill to visit someone who is actually dead.  It's really kind of funny....OH! not that she died!...but it's a funny story!

2.  So a lady showed up to Eikaiwa (like an English class).  She had a chirashi (flyer) that I think was put in her mailbox or something.  She stayed for all of Eikaiwa, and she agreed to meet with us to talk about church!  So we made an appointment, and taught her a couple of days later.  She is really cool.  I don't know how interested she is in the Church, but she really wants to know the truth.  We had a good lesson with her.  We shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon and had a pamphlet out.  Before we could even ask if she would take them and read them....she asked if she could have them!  We told her yes, yes please take them and read them!  We asked her to read a few passages in the Book of Mormon and if she had time to keep going.  She said she would, and she has a Plan of Salvation pamphlet that I think she will read because she seemed really interested in that.  We teach her again tonight!  She asks lots of questions, and really seems to want to know the truth!  I really like her!

Unfortunately, there's not really a lot more to talk about.

Baseball is over here in Japan, so I can't go to a game in that beautiful stadium!  :)  There are no basketball hoops, so we run on this cool pathway by the river.  It even has markers to tell you how far you've gone.  We go about 2 miles every day, about...We are out of shape!

It's starting to cool down here.  It's like fall weather.  I like it!  I hear it gets pretty darn cold in the winter, though, so we'll see!!

Back to Fukuoka!

Well...I'm in Fujisaki this transfer!  I'm so excited!  It's right in Fukuoka and it is SO much different than Okinawa...in good and bad ways.  First things first...my companion...is still Kuroki Shimai!!!!! Stop it!!! We transferred together from one area to another.  Weird right?  No one has heard of that happening before.  Making history...no big deal...I was SO excited when they told me!  I love her dearly!  I don't know how excited she is because she has to break me in, but I think it's great!


Kuroki Shimai and Babcock Shimai in Fujisaki (Fukuoka)

We also found a new investigator the first day we were here!  She was the second person that we talked to.  Cool right?  We meet with her tomorrow.

There are 4 sisters in the ward and we are all crammed in a tiny apartment again.  Our apartment is like 50 years old and the tatami (carpet, mat) has holes and gives us splinters!  :)  We have to turn like 3 knobs and push a button by the shower to make it work and it's the only place in the apartment that has hot water.  There is only room for 3 at the kitchen table.  We are on the fourth floor, so our view is pretty neat! There were 3 sisters here before and only one stayed.  The area pretty much got whitewashed so it's pretty much like starting over here.

Fujisaki is the northeast-ish (I think) area of Fukuoka.  It is way cool though.  There are temples and shrines all over the place here.  There are SO many people, which is awesome, but people here aren't nice like in Okinawa.   It's easy to get contacts, but hard to get GOOD contacts.  The weather here right now is wonderful!  It's way less hot, and not even close to as humid as Okinawa.  I love it!  But is gets cold in the winter and we only have small heaters in the apartment.  I am excited though!

Guess what's in our area???  The Yahoo Dome!!!  So awesome!  I want to go SO bad!  I'll have to talk to someone about that!  :)  The Fukuoka Tower is also in our area and the river is pretty cool..  We are really close to the honbu (mission home) and the Fukuoka Chapel is where we have district meeting every week.  It is pretty here.  They have mountains!

Leaving Okinawa was so hard!  I don't think I realized how hard it really would be.  I LOVE the people there.  They were all so nice.  People brought us treats, and gifts, and we took tons of pictures.  People cried, and it was just rough.  I'm so grateful that I got to know them.  They are amazing people!

We finally got to watch conference!  It was SO good!!  I love it every time!  They had a little English room set up for me and Wilson Shimai, and anyone else who needed/wanted English.  So it was just us, except for one session an American guy and his Japanese wife from our ward sat in. 

The Church is true!  I know it is!  I'm so grateful for it, and the knowledge we have.  Love you all!  You're in my prayers!

Typhoons and Transfers????

I still don't know what's going on with the transfers, but I will find out today.  I am pretty sure I'm going to be transferring, and it sounds like I will be headed off the island.  I don't know that but that's kind of what it feels like.  I would LOVE to go somewhere cold for the winter.  That sounds strange, I know, but it's true!  So I will let you know in my letter next week where I am!  Now you get to wonder and guess for a week!  :)

I am so jealous that you have seen conference!  I have been looking forward to it for weeks!  We will see it next weekend, and I am PUMPED!

This week, we pretty much had to stay inside for two days.  Two typhoons hit.  One on Saturday, and then Sunday was fine, and the other one was on Monday.  So we were supposed to stay inside.  We did Area Book dendo (missionary planning book), and lots of studying!

We met some pretty cool people this week.  The other night, we were on our way to an appointment, and we stopped this lady to talk to her.  We talked to her, and she actually seemed pretty interested.  I was imagining her in the temple, and I thought, "Teach her about the temple." That seemed a little weird because we were just doing our regular stuff, and I have never taught anyone anything about the temple.  So pretty much it could very easily end in complete disaster.  I stood there for a second thinking about it, and then told my trainer we needed to teach her about the temple.  So I waited for a pause, said a prayer, and started talking.  Surprisingly it actually kind of made sense.  It wasn't really smooth or eloquent by any means, but I think she understood what I was saying.  I asked if she had heard of temples and showed her a picture of the Salt Lake Temple.  She said no, so I told her it was God's house, and it is a sacred place...that through the covenants we make with God there, we can live as eternal families.  We can do baptisms for the dead for family members that have died.  She was like, "oh cool".  It wasn't anything really awesome, but she said she liked it.  Both of her parents died, so eternal families would be cool.  Yay!  That was pretty neat.  She is going to meet with us again too!

We also met a lady who we asked to get baptized when we talked to her on the street.  I said, "When you know these things are true..." and she cut me off and said (in English...whaaa???) "Oh, I know they're true."  So I asked if she wanted to get baptized, and she said yes!  So her date is for October 28th.  Her daughter is in the Junior Olympics though, so she is really busy, but we have an appointment set up!

Did I tell you I ate natto (fermented soybean mash)?  If not, I did and it was gross!  I also ate goya (Japanese cucumber/squash...depending on where you look this word up online :)  ).  I actually kind of like it, in a weird way.  I would never crave it, but when I ate it, it was decent.

We met with the Tenuya family again.  I can't even explain to you how much I love them!  The parents are both less-active, but the two kids are both active.  They are both planning to serve missions next year.  The daughter is 23, and she is AMAZING!  I love her dearly.  Her little brother is 17, and he is so awesome too!  The parents are great parents!...They love the missionaries, though, and they have done an incredible job raising their kids!  I hope with both of their kids on missions, they will have the desire to come back!  I LOVE them!

I got a flat tire on my bike this week, so I took it to get fixed.  The guy fixed it, we went home for dinner, came back out, and my tire was flat again!  So the next morning, we took it and got it fixed...30 minutes later when we got to our appointment, my tire was flat again!!!!  So I looked at it and there was a big ol' staple thingy in it!  So I yanked it out, and we took it back one more time.  We told the guy what happened, and he fixed it one more time.  Luckily, now it is holding air!  Flats are called panku here.  So I got three in a day!  Good times!  Sometimes your tire just has to get flat!  We met a girl on the way to the bike shop though, so way to go tire!  The Lord works in mysterious ways! :)

Things are going well!  I'll probably be emailing you from somewhere different next week.  Take some guesses  Love you all so much!!  Thanks for all the love and support!

Shout out to Z-man!  Happy birthday!  I thought of you all day yesterday!

Basketball and Interviews

Oh hey. It's been another week here in the hot. Lovin it! On the bright side, I really am getting kind of tan. That's a miracle! Ok this week...hmmm...

 

Oh the best part of this week was that Kaicho (President) came to do interviews!!! It was SO subarashii (wonderful)!! Kaicho (President) is awesome. I have kind of a funny story though. So that was on Thursday. All of the chorotachi (Elders) from the whole zone (Ishigaki, Naze, Miyako too) came up for it. So I wanted to play basketball again since the last time was when the AP's were here for junkai (meeting). So  Kuroki Shimai (Sis. Kuroki) and I woke up and went and played basketball with all the chorotachi (Elders). Some of them went inside to play ping pong though, so it was probably like half of them playing ball. One of the AP's, his name is Eliason Choro (Elder Eliason), is pretty good at basketball. So we were playing and I'm talking trash...of course. Anyways after we were done, he was trying to dunk it. Oh and we were outside on one of those hoops you can like roll and adjust the height. It was only at 9.5 feet. It took him 3 tries before he got it and I was talking trash the whole time. I asked him if he wanted me to show him how it's done. Ha so he lowered the hoop, and went and got all of the elders to come watch. It was so embarrassing. I crushed it at 7.5 feet though! :) So that's the background. So I went into my interview with Kaicho (President), and Eliason Choro walked past, but Kaicho thought they were leaving, so he called him in really fast. So Eliason Choro comes in and tells Kaicho about their junkai (meeting) plans and stuff, but then he was like "Kaicho, you really have to talk to this girl about talking trash. She talks more trash than anyone I know." When he first walked in, I was going to give him a hard time about basketball, but I decided I better not. After he said that though, I said, "Oh that's funny. I was just about to tell you that anytime you wanted to get beat at basketball again to come on down." Eliason Choro laughed and said, "See what I mean?!" But then I realized I had just talked crap to an AP in front of my Mission President! The Mission President! And this is like his first impression of me because we didn't talk when we first got here. So I was a little concerned. I was thinking, "what have I done?" But I look over and Kaicho is laughing. He said "I like this girl!" And just laughed and whatever, but it turned out ok I guess. Funny right? Oops.

Anyways the rest of the interview was awesome. Gustafson Kaicho loves sports too! So we talked about sports a little, and then he asked me what the hardest thing for me was right now. I told him Japanese. We talked about it and stuff, but the general idea is that he said I need to be patient for two transfers, and then I'll be on my way. He said to stop worrying about it so much. He said I didn't just walk onto a varsity basketball team. I had to work. He said this is the team, and I'm the coach. And you have to earn your spot on the team. I LOVED that!! So awesome! He also told me that if I ran in the mornings I'll start sleeping at night. He gave me permission to go with Kuchar Shimai since no one else will go with me. So Kuchar Shimai and I have been doing that. And guess what...I've been sleeping much better! Yatta!

The bad news...Mako and Akiho didn't get baptized.  They have kind of dropped us, I think.  They still came to church with us but they don't really want to meet with us anymore.  It is depressing!  They don't know if they want to have to keep all the commandments for forever.  It is the saddest thing!

BUT...we found a new investigator!  Unfortunately he is a guy, so we'll have to pass him to the Elders.  It's kind of cool though.  We found him housing.  Kuroki Shimai was like, "How about this apartment complex?"  So we stopped and housed it.  It was late-ish so we didn't have much time before we had to go home.  We didn't have any luck on the top 3 floors.  You could see this really cool Japanese castle up on the hill, though.  I said I really wanted to see a big, Japanese castle.  So we knock on the last door, and no one answered, so we started walking away.  Then the door opened and this guy came out.  We talked to him, and he actually had interest! Funny thing...his name is Oshiro san.  It means "big castle"!!!  haha!  Funny!  We met with him again later in the week and we have another appointment for this week!  He also read the introduction to the Book of Mormon like we asked. YAY!!!!

I might get transferred.  It's not typical for a "bean" to transfer but I think it's gonna happen.  Kaicho (President) told me a little during my interview, so we'll see what happens.  There's not supposed to be threesomes and my trainer is an STL (sister training leader).  So they're going to put the STLs together.  Next transfer is her last.  I'll find out next Tuesday.

Oh, and next week P-day is on Tuesday!  (that's for Mom so she won't panic when she doesn't hear from me next Monday!  :) ...and for all you blog followers...Lacee's blog won't be updated until I hear from her on TUESDAY!  :) )

I'm getting really good at making pancakes!  Everything here is made with "hot cake" mix.  I don't know why it is so big here, but it is.  Lots of it is surprisingly good though!  :)

Just know I love you all lots!

First Baptism!

Yatta!  We had a baptism!!! So exciting!  Runa got baptized on Saturday.  It went so well!  It was awesome!  The only downer is that the ward had my companions and me sing during the in between part.  Not cool.  Seriously, that is discouraging missionaries to get baptisms if they have to sing at them!  :)  A few days before, Runa told the bishop she couldn't do it.  She said she couldn't get baptized.  He told her to pray really hard, and if she didn't feel anything she shouldn't get baptized.  So that's what she did.  A day or two before the baptism, she called the bishop and told him she knew she needed to get baptized.  So cool!!!  The bishop also told us that she told him something she would never have told us...She said if it hadn't been for the sister missionaries here she wouldn't have gotten baptized.  She said that even if it were different sisters she really doesn't think she would have gone through with it.  I thought that was kind of neat!  So that was obviously the highlight of my week!

We had a ward party thing at the beach today!  It was fun!  We ate delicious food and hung out.  Unfortunately I still don't really understand when people try to talk to me!

We have two more baptisms set for this coming Saturday, but I don't know what will happen.  We have taught them everything except for "Obeying and Honoring the Law" and "The Law of the Fast", which we are teaching tonight.  They aren't really sure they want to be baptized though.  Today Mako said she didn't really think she wants to.  I am so sad.  I am praying for a miracle!  They come to church, they are keeping all of their commitments.  Akiho is in Alma in her Book of Mormon reading.  But they still aren't SURE it's something they want to do.  It's breaking my heart!

I had another kind of cool experience.  We went to a member family's home to talk to them about our investigators....the Sakihara family.  Sakihara Kyodai speaks perfect English.  So he was telling us a little about where he learned English.  I asked how he heard about the Gospel.  He went to school in Indiana for 5 years, and when he came back to Japan he wanted someone to speak English with.  So he went to a phone and asked if there were any churches close by.  They told him five were.  So he went to the first 4 which were all closed.  The last one was our church!  It was open and the missionaries were out front.  He talked with them in English, they taught him the lessons, and he was baptized!  That was 40 years ago.  He is just the cutest!  Anyway he got all teary-eyed and said he knew the Church was true.  He said he had known that for over 40 years!  It was so cool.  As we were leaving, we shook hands and I said (in English...haha!) "I can't speak Japanese but I know this Church is true too."  We kind of had a moment.  He teared up again and just told me thank you.

I realized something the other day during a lesson.  This has been really hard and it's going to continue to be hard, but I think I know at least a little bit why it is.  I have had to completely rely on the Lord.  Totally and completely for the last 3 1/2 weeks.  But because of that, I have such an amazing relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior.  I LOVE reading the Book of Mormon.  I liked it before but now I just LOVE it!  I know without a shadow of a doubt that this Church is true.  I may not be able to speak Japanese but I can look anyone in the eye and tell them that this is the true Church, and it will bless their lives.  My testimony has already been strengthened so much.  I think I need it to be hard because I am so proud and stubborn.  I need to be humbled.  Anyways I think that's part of it.

Lacee is having some truly great learning experiences.  She is still adjusting to the cultural differences.  Because she and one of her companions are tall and blonde, she gets a lot of stares!  But the people tell them they are kawaii (cute) and kinei (pretty) a lot!   There are 5 sisters living in a 2-person apartment.  At night, their futons fill the room and even overlap a bit!  She is still a bit overwhelmed with the language, but I am sure it will come!  She has had a few moments of homesickness, but she is surviving.  She loves and appreciates all of you for your prayers, letters, love and encouragement!

Bikes and Baptisms!

My card came!!!  Yatta!!! I now have money!  And...a fancy new bike!  Abura Inazuma (oil lightning...I didn't know the word for grease! :) ) is no longer mine.  I love my new bike!  It shifts gears, it isn't greasy, I have a good basket...It's wonderful!

I saw my first butsudan (family shrine).  I'm a little surprised I didn't see one earlier actually.  I also have tried a bunch of different flavors of curry here.  Where has that stuff been all my life?  It's delicious!!  I have also tried all kinds of foods!  I had sashimi...I don't know how to spell that... sorry.  Raw fish!  It was actually not so bad.  The texture is a little weird.  I can't even tell you what I've eaten though.  Either I can't pronounce it or I really just don't know what it was that I ate.  Sometimes I think it's better that way.  But my chopstick skills are definitely improving!

Zone P-day was super fun!  We went bowling!  And guess what?  My lifelong goal of bowling over 100 happened!  I bowled like 112!  It only took coming to Japan I guess.  At the bowling alley they have shoe vending machines.  It's pretty neat.





















Mako and Akiho are keeping the Word of Wisdom!!  Yay!! We taught them about it, and they drink coffee, tea, and some alcohol.  So I told them I loved ice cream, and I would stop eating ice cream until they were totally done drinking all their stuff.  They seemed to like that, and ever since then, they haven't had any of it!  They only have water and juice.  And mugicha (it's like a wheat or barley drink that's ok...and actually pretty darn good). They both have a baptismal date for the 28th so hopefully they'll make it!  They also LOVE the temple.  We showed them a picture of the Salt Lake Temple and they were both so excited.  They kept saying that's where they wanted to get married.  Perfect!  Get baptized!  We'll help you get there! :)

We are having a baptism this Saturday!  Runa is getting baptized!  She's 16, and super cute.  She's way quiet, but I really like her.  Her grandma is an active member in our Naha Higashi (East) ward.  We also visited Higa Shimai again.  She got baptized not too long ago, but went inactive.  I LOVE her!  I want her to come back so badly!  She's cute, and I feel like she still knows it's true.

I have been doing something new this week.  Every single person we talk to, I imagine them in the temple.  It really is the coolest thing.  I imagine seeing them in the Celestial Room in the temple, and seeing how they are just so happy.  I thought I loved these people before, but when I do that, I really feel like it gives me just a tiny glimpse of how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ feel about every one of us.  I love doing it!

Things are good I think.  Hopefully my Japanese will come!
Love everyone lots!

Shout out to KARLI!  Happy birthday!  I thought about you all day Sunday!

First Bike Crash!

Lacee had her first bike crash!  She said it was embarrassing...riding in the city, she either almost hits a person or almost gets hit by a car multiple times a day!  From her email:

"I had never wrecked though (in spite of the traffic/pedestrian issue).  So the time I do, my skirt got stuck and my shoe fell off.  And I flew over the handlebars.  It was quite embarrassing!  I have some pretty sweet bruises.  The best one is in on my chin.  It got all scraped and swollen and bruised.  Cool.  Cool.  Stupid skirt!  Can I say that as a missionary?"

She has had some problems with her debit card and the bank is supposedly "rushing" her a new card but she is riding someone else's bike until she gets the card and can get her own bike.  She says, "I'm grateful I have a bike to use, but it is a dumb bike.  It's all greasy and gross, so it has ruined 2 skirts because the black greasy stuff won't come out.  Also there are some enormous hills here.  Everywhere.  And this bike won't shift gears...at least I'll be in pretty good shape I guess."

Bumps and bruises from her crash!

Another fun thing...we played basketball with all these little kids.  Our bishop set it up because Kuroki Shimai, Kuchar Shimai, and I all play basketball.  It was SO FUN!  These kids were adorable.  They all like charged us when we walked in.  We played some games with them.  Oh, their hoops are like 8' hoops and the kids were all like 4 foot nothing, so I was like a giant!  It was great!  :)  The best part though was between a couple of the games, these 3 or 4 little tiny boys who were probably like 6 came over with a ball and handed it to me.  And the one said, "Dunku shite".  Ahhhh!  It was so cute!!! He wanted me to dunk it!  I told him I couldn't but they kept telling me I could and asked me to do it.  They were so cute, so I tried, and I got pretty close, but didn't make it.  Anyways I told them all to try, so all these itty bitty kids were trying.  Adorable.

So this was my coolest spiritual experience so far:  We went to go visit a less active member.  She got baptized a while ago, but then went inactive really fast.  So we went over, and we couldn't go in (which happens a lot).  We just teach them at their genkan (where they leave their shoes).  Anyways we're just sharing a quick message, and I only understand like half of it, but my trainer said she was a daughter of God, and that God loves her.  Then she asked the lady, Higaitsuko Shimai, if she believed it.  She said she wanted to but it was hard to believe.  I asked her if I could share a scripture.  I shared Alma 32:27 (which says: "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.").  She read it, and I told her that she already had the desire.  She just stood there for a second and then told me that that scripture was perfect for her right now.  Yay!  Cool right?!!  I thought so.  I think that helped me feel like even though my Japanese is terrible I can still contribute a little.  So that was good.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the people here.  I can't even tell you.  I love them all so much!

Some things I've learned:
Riding a bike in a big city is scary.  In a skirt, it's even worse.  But biking shorts are awesome!
Sometimes you don't actually want to know what you're eating!
Without the Lord, all of this would be impossible.
Sometimes you ride your bike up the biggest hill of your life in the rain to visit someone, and then they aren't home.
You ride your bike until you literally can't ride any further...then you ride home. :)
Sometimes you just have to open your mouth, and have faith in the Lord.
If you don't fall, angels can't bear you up.
Miracles happen every day, you just have to look for them.
Japanese is HARD!
Sometimes you wreck your bike!

Love you all!!!

Excited/Frustrated! :)

Wow, ok!  This week was INSANE!  It was so good, but crazy!  First off we had the whole travel mix-up thing which put us back a day.  We were supposed to spend two nights at the honbu (mission home...which is under the Fukuoka Temple...awesome, right?!) but we only stayed for one night.  Kutcher Shimai and I were both heading here to Naha...yatta!! OK, so the thing is that they only let you take a carry-on and one checked bag to Okinawa.  And we had to leave to catch our plane at 6:30, so we had to rearrange all of our luggage.  We didn't even get to the honbu (mission home) until like 1:00, so we only got an hour of sleep that night too.  In more than 72 hours we got less than 10 hours of sleep.  It was ridiculous.  The Lord was definitely holding us up because there was no way we could have done it without His help!

Anyways, so hai (yes).  I am in the Naha East area.  It used to be just the Naha area until like a week ago maybe.  Then they split it.  So Kuchar Shimai (one of her MTC roommates) is in the Naha ward.  But we all live in this little 2 person apartment, but there are 5 of us!  It's not terrible, but there's not really any room.  It's all right though.  We sleep on futons...the mat things on the floor.  They are pretty great actually.  They just fold up out of the way so there's a little more room.

The sister from Utah has been out for a little more than a year, and by the end of this transfer will have been in Naha for 10 months.  That is forever!  My native companion is on her second transfer.  So she's a bean too.  I LOVE HER!  She is seriously the best.  She knows English because she went to BYUH for 3 years before her mission...yes, they are both 22, so I am way younger, but oh well!

The first day we tried to get my bike and stuff, but that didn't work out.  So we did some contacting.  The last few days have been pretty good.  Unfortunately, I have horrible Nihongo and I don't really understand anything that's going on.  We have a bunch of investigators, and we actually have 5 with baptismal dates.  I've already gone contacting, housing, helped teach a lesson, so much!!!

Church was kind of scary.  It was very overwhelming, and people would come talk to me and ask questions but I didn't know what they were saying or how to answer.  I am so scared I'm going to offend someone.  Everyone is super nice though.  I love them all so much!  Everyone...literally everyone...struggles with my name.  It's kind of funny.  One old gentleman before sacrament meeting asked who I was.  When I told him he said, "Baputesuma Shimai!" (Sister Baptism) and just started laughing.  It was pretty funny!  It could be worse!

The food here is weird.  Hopefully I will get used to it.  It's either super good or disgusting!  Either way you have to eat it and tell them how delicious it is.  And they make you eat SO MUCH!  Dinner appointments are going to be the death of me.  I know it!

Also, I don't know if I will ever be dry again!  It is SO ridiculously humid here!  You walk outside and you're drenched.  Hopefully that's also something I will get used to.  On the bright side, I now no longer need lotion!  :)

Shoutout to Cook Kyodai and Pehrson Kyodai!!  I miss you both!  Thanks for everything!

Look Out Okinawa...She's there!

OK...so Lacee made it to Japan.  They got into Fukuoka late Wednesday and had a quick orientation.  She is currently on Okinawa in the Naha East area. She says, "It's pretty cool."  She only had time to let us know she had made it safely and that she would write more on Monday.  She is in a threesome, one sister from Utah and one native Nihonjin (Japanese).  She loves them already! She has only gotten like 10 hours of sleep in the last 72 hours, so she's tired, but she's good!   Just thought you all might like to know where she is starting this adventure!

Small Miracles

We knew Lacee would be traveling today...Monday...and we also knew that most missionaries get to call home from the airport.  We knew she was leaving the MTC at 2:30 this morning and supposedly leaving SLC at 6:00.  So, I was fully expecting a call between 3:30-5:00 a.m.  When that call didn't come, I thought, "OK so maybe she'll call from Dallas."  Her arrival time was supposed to be 9:40 a.m. CDT and departure at 11:00.  When that call didn't come, I got on the computer to see if there was any information on the SLC airport site.  There was only one flight scheduled to leave at 6:00 a.m. going to Dallas and it was showing a delay until 12:30.  So, then I started wondering what was happening and how Church Travel was taking care of our missionaries!  About that time, the phone rang.  Of course, I grabbed it and was DELIGHTED to hear Lacee's voice!!!!! :)

She sounds GREAT!  She explained the situation...they were a little late getting out of the MTC and by the time they got checked in and through security, there wasn't much time for calling.  A few missionaries were able to call, but not all of them.  They got on the plane and were getting ready to leave but then the announcement came that the pressurization system was not functioning correctly and they were going to have to wait for the mechanic to come.  They ended up sitting on the plane for 2 hours!  Finally, they got them all off the plane and got their luggage off the plane and the flight was essentially cancelled.  The travel leaders knew they wouldn't make the connection in Dallas, so they started working with Church Travel.  Lacee wanted to know what was going on, so she went and talked to the people at the gate desk. (That's my girl!  (: )  There was a possibility that the missionaries would be sent back to the MTC until they could get this figured out, but then everything came together (small miracles).  There are 43 missionaries on this flight!  They are going to Dallas at around 5:00 this evening, staying in a hotel, then getting on a flight to Tokyo tomorrow morning at around 10:00.  About half of the missionaries will be staying in Tokyo, the other half will continue on to Fukuoka!  So, instead of arriving in Fukuoka at around 7:00 p.m. on TUESDAY...Lacee will be arriving at about the same time on WEDNESDAY!

She shared her testimony with us in Nihongo (Japanese).  Sounded good to me!  I was only able to pick out a couple of words - like Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ, and Heavenly Father.  But she sounded like she knew what she was saying!  Now, we just look forward to hearing about the rest of the trip and her first impressions of her first area! 

Blessed with so many small miracles!

Final Prep Day in the MTC

Lacee is SO nervous about going to Japan, but at the same time, she is SO excited! They had a 9 hour in-field orientation.  She said she thinks that's mostly for the English missionaries because their time in the MTC is so short and it seemed to be stuff they have been learning for the last 8 1/2 weeks in her Nihongo (Japanese) classes.

The Provo temple is open again and she has been able to go again.  She was at the temple last week and saw Sis. Harr!  She said, "Isn't that crazy?! I was so excited to see her!  I love her so much!  It was weird to see someone that I know though.  And even weirder to have someone call me Lacee.  I'm so used to Babcock Shimai now that Lacee is hen (odd)."

Also from her email:

Oh and GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?! I SAW BRITT!!! (her roommate from BYU) :)  It was pretty dramatic! haha We found out a time to meet today so I could say good-bye and take a picture before I leave.  It was so great to see her though!  She looks awesome and it was just fun to see her!

OK, so my cool experience with our kyudosha (investigator), Toshi.  First off, I love him dearly.  We have been teaching him since like our 3rd week here.  Our sensei (teacher), Cook Kyodai, is Toshi.  Anyways we went in for our last lesson, and we were talking and just kind of wanted to see where his faith was and how he was doing before we "got transferred" :).  So we were talking and he really thinks he's a bad person, so we were talking a little bit about repentance again.  While we were talking he was saying how he had apologized to God in his prayers but he still felt bad.  So I had this thought pop into my mind, "Ask him if he's ever asked God to forgive him."  It was the weirdest thing.  It literally just popped in my head.  And I was thinking, "That's weird.  He just said he had apologized in his prayers."  So I ignored it.  Oh, and this whole time my companion is talking.  So like 30 seconds later, it popped in my head again.  This time I really felt like I needed to say it.  So I waited for my companion to finish, and then in my hidoi Nihongo (awful Japanese) I asked, "Toshi san, have you ever asked God to forgive you?"  He just kind of looked at me and didn't say anything for a minute.  Then he said, "I don't think so."  And so I told him that God wants to forgive us, and He will.  Sometimes He just wants us to ask.  Then I even had a scripture that I thought worked, so I had him read D&C 88:63-64. (For those who don't have access to the D&C, it reads, "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you.")  He read it and again just kind of sat there quietly.  We let him think, and then I told him if he asked he would be forgiven.  He said he really loved the scripture.  Then in our closing prayer he prayed and apologized, but he also asked to be forgiven.  Afterwards he said that he felt a little better and like he really had been forgiven a little.  So that was pretty neat, and I was feeling really good about everything.  I felt like I had really been led by the Spirit.  Sugoi desho? (Isn't that great?) Keredomo (and yet), it gets better!  So when we went back to class later, Cook Kyodai was teaching.  He was talking about how we were teaching the fake kyodosha (investigators) but that they were still real people.  He was getting a little flustered and excited as he talked about how sometimes the sensei (teachers) got answers to their mondai (problems) from the senkyoshitachi (missionaries).  And then he was talking about how one time a missionary was talking about forgiveness, and just asking for it ... and that it was just what he needed to hear.  As he was explaining it, it sounded so familiar.  Then it hit me...it was my lesson!!  It was what I had said!  Then he apologized for being flustered because he said, "Sorry it's just that this experience happened today and I'm still just...ah."  I almost cried right there.  I was being led by the Spirit!!  Through the Spirit, I had helped him with something he was struggling with.  It was so awesome!  I think I needed this experience so I feel like I can make a difference, and that I am in tune with the Spirit.  It really was so neat though!

I honestly don't even know what to say.  I'm freaking out a little, and this week has been ridiculous, so I don't even know what to write.  I will eventually get some letters written, but probably not today!  I still have so much stuff to do!

Tell Jer I say hi!! I'm sad I missed seeing him and Dant!  :(

Travel Plans!

Well, Lacee is down to her last week at the MTC.  She has her travel plans in hand!  She leaves Monday, Aug. 26th, at 6:00 a.m. and arrives in Fukuoka on Tuesday, Aug. 27th, at about 7:00 p.m....whoosh!  Long flights!  Long layovers!  :)  But she will get to call from the airport!  Mom is DEFINITELY looking forward to that call! (even at the wee hours of the day!  :0)

From her email: 

Oh GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!? Elder Richard G. Scott spoke at our devotional on Tuesday.  It was so AMAZING!  I sang for an apostle!  Woot...go choir! His talk was about prayer, but something that was really cool (I thought) was that he left 2 apostolic blessings on the missionaries learning foreign languages.  He said that we would be blessed to learn the language and receive the gift of tongues according to our faith.  So awesome!  It really stuck out to me that it was according to our faith though.  It's not just going to be given to us.  We have to have faith and work as hard as we can.  So cool, right?  It was so amazing.  After he was done, as he was walking out, he turned around and yelled, "Be good!"  It was so cute!  It was just so amazing.  I'm so glad we got to hear an apostle speak. Kore wa honto ni tokubetsu deshita. It was really special!

The weeks are just kind of a blur now.  Everything is just all bunched together.  I can't believe that I've been out for almost 2 months!  It feels like I've been out forever, but at the same time, it's like I just barely got here.  This week is our last week of class.  I'm going to miss our senseitachi (teachers) so much!  I feel like after 8 weeks with them, we're all like best friends!

Not lots of time, but thanks to everyone who has been writing me!  I promise I will write back eventually, but we just have like zero time here!  I really do love and appreciate everyone!!!

That Ain't the Language They Taught Me in the MTC!

We had our Skype TRC.  It was interesting.  We talked to a man that was somewhere I had never heard of in the Nagoya Mission.  His name was Miyura.  He was this old man, and he was just so friendly and nice.  It should have been a wonderful experience, but I was so frustrated.  I couldn't understand anything he said.  It was ridiculous!...I wanted so badly to understand him and really talk to him, but I couldn't! This whole week it's been like I forgot everything I've learned!

However, on the "up" side:

We got our first official baptism date scheduled for a kyudosha (investigator/teacher),It's Wilkes Kyodai.  His name is Ryan and he is a 17 year old boy.  He has a rough life, but we invited him to prepare to be baptized the first lesson and then in the second lesson we felt like we should really invite him to commit to a date...and he did! Woo!  He is going to be baptized Aug. 24th.  Toshi is also making progress.  It's been neat to see them progress.

So let's see...the orientation for the new missionaries well pretty well I think,  They seem like a good group.  There are only 6 shimaitachi (sisters) total in both of the new districts.  So we lost 12 and got 6.  I saw Seth! (good friend from home going to her same mission just 6 weeks later)  He is not in my zone, but his classroom is just 2 doors down from mine. So that was fun! I have also seen Austin and Tyler (friends from her home stake).  Tyler's classroom is also just down the hall from me and Austin is on the next floor up from us.  I also have seen Harmony (high school friend) a couple of times.

I really don't even know what else happened this week.  Everything is just squished together in my mind.

As you can see, although Lacee is a little frustrated about not speaking Nihongo fluently (after just 6 weeks! :) ), she is doing well.  She's enjoying the MTC but is ready to move on!  Thanks to all of you for your love and support!

New Callings....New Challenges!

Well, Lacee's email this week informed us of her new calling as a Sister Training Leader for her zone.  She now has some added responsibilities along with learning the language and lessons!  She will be great! (She's worried, but I believe in her!)  She also has her first Skype lesson to a native Nihonjin speaker this week.  She's nervous but excited! 

So, from her email:

A member of my branch presidency gave a talk last Sunday.  He said the cutest things in his talk. He said if you're having a bad day, go outside and look up. It is so simple, but it reminds you that things are so much bigger than you. I think it puts you in perspective a little bit.

 

So at one of our devotionals H. Bryan Richards spoke. It was an amazing devotional, but he said that there are more than 73,000 missionaries out right now. He also said that we were the greatest generation of missionaries ever. So I was thinking about that. It's a neat thought, but I think we really need to live up to that. It's not enough to just wear the name of the Savior. We have to brand it in our hearts. In PMG, in the Gospel of Christ (Lesson 3) it talks about how faith leads to action. We need to not only learn about the Savior, we have to become like the Savior. We have to be obedient. Jujun wa shukufuku o motarasu demo chodo jujun ga miracles (can't remember that one) o motaraimasu. Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles. I want to be such a great missionary. I really do. Something else he said that I absolutely loved was "What you do in your 18 months or 2 years will echo through eternity." WOW!!! I definitely want good things then! I don't want to have any regrets. I want to come back and be able to say that I worked as hard as I could, and did as much as I could. I want amazing things to be echoing through eternity!

 

Anyways, I just want you all to know that I do have a testimony. Kono kyokai wa shinjitsu desu. Iesu Kirisuto ga watachitachi no Sukuinushi to Aganainushi da to shite imasu. Kamisama wa watashitachi no Ten no Otosama desu. Ten no Otosama ga watashitachi no inori o kotaeru to shite imasu. Ten no Otosama to Iesu Kirisuto ga mina san o ai suru to shite imasu. Kono Fukuin o ai shite imasu. Honto ni ai shite imasu.

This church is true. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. God is our Heavenly Father. I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love everyone. I love this Gospel. I really love it.

 

Watashi no kazoku wa ichiban desu. My family is the best!