Transfer 6

Hey everyone! How are you all? Today has been a lovely, clear day in Japan.

We got our transfer calls today! I can't believe I'm transfer 6 now. It truly blows my mind. On Wednesday, I hit my 9 month mark. You know what that means, "I'm halfway there. Woah, livin on a prayer!" It's so weird that half of my mission is behind me. I've learned a ton in my past 9 months, so here's to only becoming a better missionary in my last 9. Anyways, you're probably wondering what happened with the transfer call. Well, I'm staying in Yokosuka!! I've never become attached to an area as fast as I have here, so I'm very excited to stay and help strengthen the branch and ward. I hope I get to stay in Yokosuka for a little while! J Shimai is transferring to Machida! She's going where I just was! I've been telling her all about Machida today. My new companion's name is H Shimai, and she's now a transfer 3 missionary from Hawaii. She's pretty laid back, so I'm hoping we do well together!

This week has been pretty good! We've actually been pretty busy with meeting people. We weren't able to meet with the K's because they were busy this week, but they came to the Pioneer Day activity, so it was good to see them!

We met with our African friend, F., and she said she wants to start taking lessons! We are going to meet with her every Friday at a members house and have dinner as well as a lesson! I'm way excited to start teaching her because she already has a very strong relationship with God. I think she'll accept what we teach her pretty well!

Then we had the Pioneer Day activity on Base on Saturday. That was really, really fun. We were able to bring a lot of our Japanese friends on base, and they all had a fun time with the ward members. At the party, there was a lot of food, old pioneer games (like tug-of-war), singing of Pioneer hymns, and reading a little bit about Pioneer history. It was a great activity, and kind of a fun reminder because even though we are far away from America, we still feel that connection with our pioneer ancestors.

Nothing else exciting really happened this week. Just meeting with people and talking to people on the street. The usual! We have a busy week ahead of us, though, because transfer week is always crazy! I'll let you know how things are next week! I love you all and miss you so much! Have a good week. Love you!

Lexie
ダンジー姉妹

 

 

Gratitude

Hello, wonderful family! I'm glad to hear you're all doing well! I had a pretty good week this week, too! We were really busy doing things, but busy is good.

Like I said before, we were pretty busy this week, and we had to go to a lot of places early in the morning, so we got up earlier pretty much every day this week. It definitely took a toll on my body, because on Saturday I got sick. I'll explain more about that later.

On Wednesday and Thursday, nothing too exciting happened.

Friday was fun! As I'm sure you saw on FB, there was a picture tagged of all the sisters in the Tokyo South Mission. We had a special sisters conference in Kichijoji on Friday, so all 70 of us gathered
together to get some specialized training, and it was so fun! Such a fun reunion seeing everyone again! We had trainings on health, hair, cooking, clothes, companions, stress, and all those good things that come with missionary life! It was really super fun though. I got to see all my old companions, as well as T Shimai for the last time since she leaves in a week. The one bad thing about the conference, it takes an hour and a half to get from Yokosuka to Kichijoji by train, which is kind of a bummer; however, one of the train stations we stop at is in the North mission, and it's called Shibuya. That's one of the main cities in Tokyo. In Shibuya, it has the busiest cross walk in the entire world, and I got to see it! There were like 5 million people there! It's so nuts, but kind of fun! Anyways, that was just a little side note. One of the themes we talked about at the Sisters Conference was gratitude, because we all face trials both in life as well as being missionaries, but having gratitude is knowing that during those trials we will one day understand why we had them. I really like that theme of gratitude during hard times, because it's certainly not easy, but it can help us through it. After the long rain ride home to Yokosuka, I was feeling pretty tired because we stood up most of the time on the train.

I thought the weakness would be gone by Saturday, but when I woke up, I was still a little weak. We had a busy morning, though, so I decided to push through it. We went to a flower pressing activity with the Japanese Relief Society, which was super fun! One of the elder's investigators came, and I talked to her for a long time. She's super cute, and I saw a lot of potential in her! I hope she joins the church! Anyways, after flower pressing, we had kid's English class to go to, but I was getting weaker and weaker by the minute, and I had the chills, so pretty much J Shimai did all the teaching. After that finished, we went home to check my temperature, and turns out I had a fever of 101.1 degrees! So I slept the rest of the day to get rid of it. I think just getting up really early everyday affected my health a little bit. I'm doing better now!

Sunday was great, too! I didn't have a fever, so we went to church as normal. I had to give a talk in the English ward, which was nice! And the African lady that came to church last week came again this week, so I'm going to call her today and see if she wants to learn more! I really, really hope we can meet with her and teach her more.

That's about all for me today! We are just having a nice, relaxing P Day today, which I'm excited about. I love you and pray for you every day! I hope you have a good week! Love you!

Lexie
ダンジー姉妹

The Savior's Love for Everyone

I survived the typhoon! So here's the funny thing, it felt like the storm was really looming on Thursday night because it was raining, windy, and the clouds were just really mean looking, and people told us to get really prepared, so we were a little worried. We went to sleep on Thursday night, and woke up on Friday, and it was sunny. It was just like a normal day. The storm didn't hit us! It passed right by. I actually heard it did some damage in south Japan, but we were fine here in Tokyo South. Then Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30am to an earthquake, but I was so tired that as soon as the shaking stopped, I fell right back asleep. I wasn't even worried about it because I was so tired. It's definitely been an interesting week weather wise. Now it's starting to get really hot, really sunny, and really humid. Oh joy!

This week was really great! We were able to meet with a lot of friends and the people we are teaching. Last PDay we went to Kamakura, which is a big touristy area with a shrine, with our friend. I've been there before, but it was fun to go again.

As your probably saw from the pics on FB, we went to a Japanese class this week, too, which was super fun! It was good practice for my Japanese, and afterwards we had a huge pot luck. There was food from China, the Philippines, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, you name it! That's one of the things that I love about Japan, is how many people from around the world are here. It's so great to learn about different people and cultures!

On Friday we had a lot of time to proselyte, so we went for a little bit of an adventure to the most  farm-like area I've ever seen in our mission. We walked for 20 minutes with nothing but fields around us. It was a neat experience because we are always surrounded by buildings. We were able to find a really nice mother and daughter who speak a lot of English, so we invited them to an activity we have coming up. That was a definitely a day where we were led by the Spirit.

Saturday was a great day! We had a sushi lunch with two of our English class students, and we were able to talk a little bit about the Book of Mormon. After that, we went to visit the family we are teaching. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and asked them to be baptized. They said they would! We weren't able to set a date, but we invited them pray about it! The only bad thing is we can't meet with them for two weeks because they are busy, but I so hope they get baptized! I love this family to pieces, and they are really progressing well. There is the father and mother, a 6-year- old boy, a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old girl, with one more on the way! Whenever I talk to them, I feel the Savior's love for them so strongly. Afterwards, we stayed and ate dinner with them, then they invited us to go to a firework show with them. It was such a fun day with them. I'm praying so hard every night that they will have that desire to be baptized because it would be a dream come true to go to their sealing in the temple someday. They are a very prepared family.

Sunday was great, too! We taught two lessons. One lady in the ward brought her friend to church, and I was able to talk to her a little bit during church. She told me she wants to learn more! She's from Africa, so she's very religious. I hope we can meet with her again maybe this week! We also had dinner at a member's house Sunday night, and she invited a non-member to come eat, too. I love all the missionary examples that are here in the ward! I'm so thankful for all the families because they each have their struggles. The ward is the English military ward, and a lot of the husbands are gone a lot. They each have their struggles, but are still incredible examples of living the Gospel. I'm grateful to be here in Yokosuka!

We went to the temple today, so that's why I had email time today. I love going to the temple! It's always a great experience, and I love how strong the Spirit is there.

That's about all for me this week. I love you all and am praying for you everyday. I miss you, but I'm grateful to be doing the Lord's work. Have a good week! I love you!

Lexie
ダンジー姉妹

 

 

 

Everyday Miracles-Finding Those Who Will Accept Us

Happy 4th of July! I hope it was fun back in Utah! I actually got a little bit homesick on that day, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I didn't do anything special, but the base was a day-long party with music, food and fireworks at the end of the day. (I didn't go, I just saw and heard from my apartment). Although, on Sunday in the English ward, we all stood up to sing the Star-Spangled Banner. I felt a lot of American pride while singing it! The funny thing is, my Australian companion led the music during that song. Afterwards, she said she felt a little but American. Yeah America!

This week was actually really good! We worked really hard all week.

On Tuesday, we had our Yokohama Zone Conference, and because both M and M Shimai are in this zone, I got to see both of them! I'm so happy I get to see them both so often. We had a lot of great
trainings on that day. I always feel so motivated to share the gospel afterwards! After Zone Conference, I went on splits with a sister in Kamiooka, and we taught one of their amazing friends who wants to get baptized! I'm happy I got to meet her, and I hope I have the opportunity to go to her baptism in the near future! It was a great experience.

Then Sunday was the best day ever! We wake up every morning not knowing what kind of miracles we will see, but we always have faith in The Lord that He will guide us to where we need to go. Sunday was a miracle day! We were walking to church, when there was a lady outside holding her fat, white cat, so of course I stopped to talk to her! Turns out she is Protestant, and said we could come over again! Then we went to church, which was great as always. Since we have both a Japanese branch and English ward, I actually go to 5 hours of church every Sunday, with missionary meetings on top of that. It's so worth it though! This week we got to go to Young Women and teach a little bit about ordinances. After church, we went to teach the K family. We did a half hour of English class, then the other half was about to the Gospel. We've been teaching them for a while now, and I felt prompted to ask the mom if she believes the message of the restoration, and she said yes!! WAHOO! We are extending the baptismal commitment next time! (We couldn't yesterday because the dad wasn't there. I so wanted to though!) To get to their house, we have to take about a 30 minute bus ride, so it's a great time to talk to people. On the bus ride there, I complimented a lady's bracelet, and she ended up giving it to me! Japanese people are seriously way too nice! In return, because I didn't have a lot, I gave her a Restoration pamphlet. Usually Japanese people just say no to it, but she said she would read it! I got her email, so hopefully I'll be able to meet with her in the future! Then we also talked to a lady who was carrying a watermelon, and she gave some to us! (It was close to dinner time, so I justified eating it since yesterday was fast Sunday.) I'm going to be so nice to random strangers when I get back because so many Japanese people have been so nice to me! Those are just a few of the many miracles that happened yesterday. Best day ever! We were so blessed yesterday, and every day for that matter! I'm grateful for the people The Lord puts in our path and the kindness of their hearts.

That's about all for this week! I love you all so much! I love you all, and I'll talk to you soon! 愛しています

Lexie
ダンジー姉妹