Loving Japan!

Hey Everyone!
Shout out from Fukuoka Japan!

So, not too much happened this week.  We had a super fun dinner appointment last night with some members, a sort of Less-Active and the Mission leader and his family.  SO fun!  These people here are really the best.  And we ate..."taco rice" and I ate chili!  That's the first time I have eaten chili since I got to Japan.  It was great!  But seriously, I LOVE the people here!  They are amazing.  So it was super fun. 

My light got stolen off my bike last night, so I'll have to buy a new one today.  I guess whoever took it needs it more than I do!

So this week we just did a lot of finding.  We had a cool miracle meeting with a less-active sister.  We've been trying to meet with her for a long time, so we went to see her on her birthday, and she was outside!  So we got to talk with her!  She's really nice.  Hopefully we can get her to come back to church!

Also, I wore a kimono yesterday.  Not comfortable...but kind of cool!  It was a late 20th birthday.  A couple of ladies in the ward wrapped us all up!  haha!

Next week is transfers...I will be emailing on Tuesday.  We'll let you know what happens next week!

Love you all tons!

Baptism

Birthday celebration!

In my kimono!

All of us in kimonos

Typical Lacee!  Goofball!

Birthday, Easter and BAPTISM!!!!

Well, this week was my birthday!  Woot!  I am no longer a teenager!  It was a good birthday.  I made Red Velvet cake (thanks Mom!).  We don't have an oven.  Just a crazy kind of microwave thing, but guess what???!  I crushed it! The cake was way delicious!  We pretty much demolished it!  The Elders called and sang Happy Birthday.  And the other sisters were on junkai in Chikushino, so I got a Happy Birthday from Kuchar Shimai and Nelson Shimai too!  So that was super good.  The rest of the day was just normal.  We went and dendo-ed (worked).  Yesterday the Bishop invited us over though.  We had dinner and they made me a birthday cake and sang to me and stuff, so that was way fun!  (And thank you everyone for the birthday wishes...you are the best!)

But the best part of this week was....BABA SAN GOT BAPTIZED!!! Yay!  After 6 months with her, I got to see her get baptized!  What a blessing!  And a miracle!  It was super good.  Willis Choro came from Maebaru and he did the baptism.  Baba san was kind of nervous, but everything went really well  Everyone did a really good job.  The talks were good.  I didn't pass out doing her introduction, the baptism was good, and she was super happy afterwards.  So it was way great!  Seeing someone get baptized is the best feeling ever.  They are opening the doors to the Celestial Kingdom through baptism.  So awesome!  And we got to be there to see it!  Then Sunday was her confirmation, and that was super good too!  It's just all pretty great!  Everything is awesome.  I'm just ready to do it all over again!  :)

Also, Happy Easter!  We have been really focusing on the Atonement lately in the mission, and just me personally.  I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for the sacrifice our Savior made for us.  That He was willing to suffer and die for all our sins, pains, and sufferings, and that He overcame death and rose again on the third day.  He lives!  I know that without a doubt!

I am just so grateful for this Gospel and this Church!  I love being able to share it with all these people in Japan!

Love you all!  Have a great week!

Birthday and Baptism!

Hey all!!!

Well, I will officially not be a teenager after this week!  And I will have another baptism!!!! Yay!!!

Baba san will be getting baptized on April 19th!  It's all coming together.  She has her interview with Willis Choro (Elder Willis) tomorrow, and then the bishop wants to talk to her, too.  But she is getting baptized on Saturday!  Woohoo!!!  Exciting stuff!  I seriously am SO excited!

We also had interviews on Tuesday.  We got to talk to Kaicho (President), and we got training from the APs (assistants to the president).  It was super good!  We had a fun mogi (game or activity) about being persistent, and I ended up being volunteered by the AP, but I ended up getting the candy we were supposed to find.  It's hard to explain what we did, but basically, I won!  Yay!

Talking to Kaicho (President) is always great!  That man is the best!  Seriously, I love him.  It was good.  We talked about the Atonement because of Easter coming up.  We shared some scriptures and stuff.  Overall it was just way good.  He is so cool.  Best. Mission. President. EVER.

Anyways, then this week we also had junkai (meeting) with the STLs (Sister Training Leaders).  Not too exciting since we live with them.  But I got to go work with Nigh Shimai, and it was a BLAST!!!  I adore her!  I learned a lot, and it was just so much fun.  It was also the first time in a really long time (like 6 months) that I have actually dendo-ed (worked) with a "white" person...haha!  So it was kind of different, but super great!

Then we had some more lessons with Baba san that were just really good.  She is doing super well with obeying the Word of Wisdom.  She just completely stopped drinking tea and coffee.  I still haven't had Oreos, so we are both doing good with our commitment!!!  :)

Conference was AMAZING!!  I LOVE it!  I learned SO much!  I can't wait to get the Liahona so I can read all the talks again!  I am so grateful to have the guidance of living prophets and apostles!  What a blessing!

So, it was pretty much the best week ever!  And this week will be even better!!! Missions are the best!  I love you all!

Fun Week

So this was another good one!  We had 3 lessons with Baba san!  She is the coolest!  We taught her about some more of the commandments.  She has a small Word of Wisdom problem.  Not surprising.  Most Japanese people do.  The tea thing is tough here.  But she also drinks coffee.  So we taught the lesson, and she was surprised that we had all these "rules" but she was totally OK with it.  She said it was going to be hard, but she's really going to try.  So I will not be eating Oreos until after she is baptized.  She thought that was funny.  We told her since she was giving up coffee, (which she says she really, really likes) we would give up something too...So bye-bye Oreos!  :)  Totally worth it!  We told her other things she could drink instead of the bad teas and coffee.  It went well actually.  And then 20 minutes after the lesson, we get a call from her.  She was at Sunny (the Japanese Walmart) and couldn't find any chamomile tea!  Ha ha!  So she wanted to know where else she could get it.  Bless her heart!  She must have stopped on the way home.  So on Sunday we took her a bunch of herbal teas that are ok.  She was excited to tell us that yesterday morning she drank hot chocolate and some mugicha instead of coffee.  She is SO awesome!  I LOVE HER!!!

Then we taught her about tithing and fast offerings and other commandments too.  She's cool with all of them.  She was a little worried about fasting.  She said she had never done it before, but she said next fast Sunday she's going to give it a go!  She called this morning because she was reading a pamphlet about fast offerings and had a question.  After I answered her questions I asked about the coffee and tea.  She hasn't had any since we asked her to stop!  She's drinking the herbal tea we gave her! :)  She also followed up on me to make sure I hadn't had any Oreos!  :)  Which I haven't!

Other than Baba san being awesome, it was a pretty typical week.  We had Zone Training meeting.  Our zone was split.  I was huge before and now it's tiny!  It's good though.  However, I really miss seeing all my friends!

We talked to some super awesome people this week.  There are so many great people in Japan!!  I love it!!

We had Family Home Evening (FHE) with a member family last night.  SO FUN!  We dyed Easter eggs, and had dinner and shared a message and stuff.  They are the coolest family!

Love you all!  Hope you have enjoyed Conference!  We get to see it next weekend!

P.S. I ate fish eyes and fish cheek!  And the Shiki Kyoudai (FHE Family) keeps bees and gave us honey!   Yum!

Dying Easter eggs!  Family Home Evening

Fish eyes and fish cheeks

Bee hive and HONEY!