Ok, I know what you're thinking. I can hardly believe the subject line, either! Where did the last year of my life go? It's been the best year ever! The fact that I'm so old in the mission is really weird to me. Time is flying so fast; I'll seriously be home before you know it!
All of my friends in the mission that are older than me are really starting to go home. M Shimai just went home this week, and it was so sad to say good-bye to her. I think I've said this before, but I don't like transfers or missionaries going home!
This week has been pretty good, though. Since we usually just do lessons with M, we decided to just do a fun activity with her so she could see our "normal people" side. We really bonded because we hung out with her. It was so fun! Her parents are still a little uneasy about her joining the church, but when we hung out with her, we gave her a For The Strength of Youth pamphlet to show her parents and hopefully calm their concerns a little bit. It seemed to work a little bit, because on Saturday, the Ward had a Halloween Party on the Military Base, and both M and her mom came! We got to talk to her mom for a long time about various things, including church. I think that experience softened her heart towards the church a bit. A couple of days before the Halloween Party, we tried to set a baptismal date with her for November 15, and at that point, she still wasn't sure; however, I hope that experience helped. M is so great! I consider her my Japanese little sister.
Another exciting thing that happened this week is we got a new companion! Her name is Sister C. She's from California, but her parents are from Tonga, so she's my second Polynesian companion. It's been fun training in a trio!
We also met with the Ks this week. There was a long period of time when we weren't able to meet with them because they went on vacation and then they just didn't get back to us, so that desire that they had to be baptized is no longer there. It's so sad! They still have a lot of potential, though, so I hope they will get baptized in the future! They're a great family.
That's about all for this week. I love you all so much! Thank you so much for all the support. The Church is true! Have a good week!
Lexie
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Transfer 8!
What a fast,
amazing transfer it's been! So many great things are happening in Yokosuka.
Also, personally, I feel like, with the help of the Lord, I'm reaching my
potential to be a great missionary.
Obviously, I still have many flaws and nowhere near perfect, but it's really cool to be seeing and feeling this change in myself. I'm doing and saying things I thought I never would have the guts to do. It's really cool! Here's to hoping that I can get better and better over the next 4 transfers.
Okay, you all are probably wondering what's going on with transfers. So, President Wada is still really impressed with how well H. Shimai and I are doing together, so...we are staying together in Yokosuka again! BUT we are becoming a three-some, and we are training together! It's so exciting! I'm so excited to have a trainee. Also, that means I'll get to stay in Yokosuka for 4 transfers! That's 6 months! And H. Shimai and I will be companions for 3 transfers, which is extremely rare. I'll let you know how our training experience is next week!
This week was really a great week! We were able to meet with some of our investigators. M is still doing great. She wants to get baptized still, we just have to meet her parents. We also taught another lady named C who is an older lady whose husband died, and we committed her to be baptized! She said she would want to be baptized in the future, so that's way exciting, too! We haven't been able to meet the Ks or F in a while because they've been busy, but hopefully soon!
We had a couple of really cool events happen this last week. First of all, I got to go on splits with M Shimai (Who goes home this week) because we were invited to go to a Facebook Meeting that we had at the mission home. I didn't hear much about the meeting beforehand, so when we got there, you could say we were both a bit surprised to see just us, the Assistants, J, President Wada, the Tokyo Mission President and some of his missionaries, the Area Presidency, some other church men from Salt Lake, and a camera man at the meeting, too!! Turns out this meeting that we had will be broadcast to other missions in Japan, Korea, and various places. My face is going to be all over missions in Asia! I was way honored and humbled to be invited to that meeting. It was a pretty big deal, but it was a great training. We talked about good experiences that we've had and how members can use Facebook better. It was inspiring! They said when you post spiritual things over social media, look for nonmembers/less actives who are responsive (liking, sharing, commenting, etc.) to that post. That's how we will gather those who are prepared over social media. It's a way great tool to use! In the scriptures it says that the Gospel will be preached from the rooftops. Well, we all have satellites on our roofs, so that's how we connect to the Internet. Via the satellites. We are sharing the Gospel from the rooftops! This is a really exciting time to be sharing and preaching this true Gospel.
The other event we had this week was a Music Night. What a great night that was! We had both English members and Japanese people sing, play guitar, violin, piano and the ukulele. It was so fun! Yokosuka missionaries performed, too. It was so fun. The Spirit was way strong. 45 people showed up, too! The embers who showed up kept saying how great of an event it was. We were able to make some appointments to teach our friends/English class students who came, and we gave out a Book of Mormon. It was a great night!
That's about all for this week. For P-Day today, we went to China Town in Yokohama, which was way fun!
Obviously, I still have many flaws and nowhere near perfect, but it's really cool to be seeing and feeling this change in myself. I'm doing and saying things I thought I never would have the guts to do. It's really cool! Here's to hoping that I can get better and better over the next 4 transfers.
Okay, you all are probably wondering what's going on with transfers. So, President Wada is still really impressed with how well H. Shimai and I are doing together, so...we are staying together in Yokosuka again! BUT we are becoming a three-some, and we are training together! It's so exciting! I'm so excited to have a trainee. Also, that means I'll get to stay in Yokosuka for 4 transfers! That's 6 months! And H. Shimai and I will be companions for 3 transfers, which is extremely rare. I'll let you know how our training experience is next week!
This week was really a great week! We were able to meet with some of our investigators. M is still doing great. She wants to get baptized still, we just have to meet her parents. We also taught another lady named C who is an older lady whose husband died, and we committed her to be baptized! She said she would want to be baptized in the future, so that's way exciting, too! We haven't been able to meet the Ks or F in a while because they've been busy, but hopefully soon!
We had a couple of really cool events happen this last week. First of all, I got to go on splits with M Shimai (Who goes home this week) because we were invited to go to a Facebook Meeting that we had at the mission home. I didn't hear much about the meeting beforehand, so when we got there, you could say we were both a bit surprised to see just us, the Assistants, J, President Wada, the Tokyo Mission President and some of his missionaries, the Area Presidency, some other church men from Salt Lake, and a camera man at the meeting, too!! Turns out this meeting that we had will be broadcast to other missions in Japan, Korea, and various places. My face is going to be all over missions in Asia! I was way honored and humbled to be invited to that meeting. It was a pretty big deal, but it was a great training. We talked about good experiences that we've had and how members can use Facebook better. It was inspiring! They said when you post spiritual things over social media, look for nonmembers/less actives who are responsive (liking, sharing, commenting, etc.) to that post. That's how we will gather those who are prepared over social media. It's a way great tool to use! In the scriptures it says that the Gospel will be preached from the rooftops. Well, we all have satellites on our roofs, so that's how we connect to the Internet. Via the satellites. We are sharing the Gospel from the rooftops! This is a really exciting time to be sharing and preaching this true Gospel.
The other event we had this week was a Music Night. What a great night that was! We had both English members and Japanese people sing, play guitar, violin, piano and the ukulele. It was so fun! Yokosuka missionaries performed, too. It was so fun. The Spirit was way strong. 45 people showed up, too! The embers who showed up kept saying how great of an event it was. We were able to make some appointments to teach our friends/English class students who came, and we gave out a Book of Mormon. It was a great night!
That's about all for this week. For P-Day today, we went to China Town in Yokohama, which was way fun!
I love you all so much! This Gospel is true! Have a good week! Talk to you
soon! Love you!
Lexie
Lexie
Monday, October 13, 2014
General Conference
Hi, everyone!
I'm typing this as it is raining outside. The great news is that the typhoon has died down, so we are just expecting heavy rain and a lot of wind tonight. Sister Wada has told us to stay inside after 6pm, so no worries! I'll be safe. We actually found out last week that we will be moving to a new apartment this Thursday because Yokosuka will soon become 4 sisters. We will probably be packing up our apartment while we are inside tonight!
We are a bit sad to be moving because we have made a lot of friends in our apartment building. It an effort to say good-bye to all of our new friends, we have been busy making cakes and cookies, as well as delivering Book of Mormons. We've given out 6 Book of Mormons in the past couple of days! It's been so fun! We hope that at least one of our friends will read it and it will change their life someday. We've done a lot of planting recently!
We also got to watch General Conference this weekend! It was AMAZING! I love how topics aren't assigned, but everyone pretty much talks about the same thing. I think a few of the themes were teaching the Gospel in the home, following the prophet, and staying on the path towards exaltation. I also loved Elder Bednar's talk!! I wish all nonmembers would read it! He described perfectly why we do missionary work. I also loved how some of the speakers were able to speak in their native language! That was funky! Overall, I felt very spiritually uplifted, and I re-realized what I need to in order to return to live with our Heavenly Father. I love Conference!! It truly is God's word.
We taught quite a few lessons this week, too! We've been very blessed recently to find people who are actually interested in learning the Gospel! We are officially teaching three new people, which is a record for new investigators in one week! I loved meeting with them for the first time and watching their face after we prayed. It was their first time hearing a prayer that's more of a conversation rather than memorized, and they all had little smiles on their face afterwards. I hope it works out with the three of them (or even just 1). It's a truly an amazing experience getting to teach people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary in Japan! The church is true!
Transfer calls are next week! They always come so fast. I hope I get to stay in Yokosuka for longer! I'll let you know how it goes next week! I love you all and miss you! Have a great week! Love you!
Sister Dansie
I'm typing this as it is raining outside. The great news is that the typhoon has died down, so we are just expecting heavy rain and a lot of wind tonight. Sister Wada has told us to stay inside after 6pm, so no worries! I'll be safe. We actually found out last week that we will be moving to a new apartment this Thursday because Yokosuka will soon become 4 sisters. We will probably be packing up our apartment while we are inside tonight!
We are a bit sad to be moving because we have made a lot of friends in our apartment building. It an effort to say good-bye to all of our new friends, we have been busy making cakes and cookies, as well as delivering Book of Mormons. We've given out 6 Book of Mormons in the past couple of days! It's been so fun! We hope that at least one of our friends will read it and it will change their life someday. We've done a lot of planting recently!
We also got to watch General Conference this weekend! It was AMAZING! I love how topics aren't assigned, but everyone pretty much talks about the same thing. I think a few of the themes were teaching the Gospel in the home, following the prophet, and staying on the path towards exaltation. I also loved Elder Bednar's talk!! I wish all nonmembers would read it! He described perfectly why we do missionary work. I also loved how some of the speakers were able to speak in their native language! That was funky! Overall, I felt very spiritually uplifted, and I re-realized what I need to in order to return to live with our Heavenly Father. I love Conference!! It truly is God's word.
We taught quite a few lessons this week, too! We've been very blessed recently to find people who are actually interested in learning the Gospel! We are officially teaching three new people, which is a record for new investigators in one week! I loved meeting with them for the first time and watching their face after we prayed. It was their first time hearing a prayer that's more of a conversation rather than memorized, and they all had little smiles on their face afterwards. I hope it works out with the three of them (or even just 1). It's a truly an amazing experience getting to teach people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary in Japan! The church is true!
Transfer calls are next week! They always come so fast. I hope I get to stay in Yokosuka for longer! I'll let you know how it goes next week! I love you all and miss you! Have a great week! Love you!
Sister Dansie
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
The Book of Mormon
Hello!
So, I'm sure you all heard about the typhoon. It's pretty normal here in Japan, so we weren't worried about it. However, Saturday night we were told that the Military Base would be closed all day Sunday, so English church was cancelled. That's not normal, so we got a bit worried. Sunday we woke up to a downpour outside. Only a few people came to the Japanese branch, so we only had sacrament. After church was over, we were pretty much told to stay inside because of the typhoon. So we spent the rest of the day inside the church. It was so exciting! Since we had a bunch of time, H Shimai and I learned how to play the piano! Y'all are going to say, "I told you so," but I really wish I would've kept at the piano. I want to play it so badly now! But after all that time practicing, I can play the right hand of the simplified "I Am a Child of God." Yay! Just a little bit more practice and I'll be a professional.
This week has been a way good week for finding! We've given a lot of Book of Mormons out and have been able to set return appointments to study together. It's way exciting! Even if the people I give BoMs to don't want to study together, I know that because they have the Book of Mormon, their life will be changed someday. It's an amazing book! Recently, President Wada has challenged us to be more bold in our inviting, and because of that, we've seen a lot of miracles so far! There are a lot of baptisms happening around the mission, too, so things are really picking up here in Japan!
I was also invited to go to Mission Leadership Council for the first time this week. Only Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, future Zone Leaders and future Sister Training Leaders are invited to go, so I was a bit shocked (it's a bit different from the last meeting I went to.) It was an inspiring meeting, though! The Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in this mission are amazing, and I really learn a lot from them. I saw Jake and M Shimai there, so I was way happy!
Our investigators are still doing well, too! The Temple was amazing today, too! I just love being inside the temple. It's my favorite place.
I get to watch Conference this weekend, too, so I'm way stoked! I love you all and miss you so much! Have a good week! Talk to you soon! Love you!
Sister Dansie
ダンジー姉妹
So, I'm sure you all heard about the typhoon. It's pretty normal here in Japan, so we weren't worried about it. However, Saturday night we were told that the Military Base would be closed all day Sunday, so English church was cancelled. That's not normal, so we got a bit worried. Sunday we woke up to a downpour outside. Only a few people came to the Japanese branch, so we only had sacrament. After church was over, we were pretty much told to stay inside because of the typhoon. So we spent the rest of the day inside the church. It was so exciting! Since we had a bunch of time, H Shimai and I learned how to play the piano! Y'all are going to say, "I told you so," but I really wish I would've kept at the piano. I want to play it so badly now! But after all that time practicing, I can play the right hand of the simplified "I Am a Child of God." Yay! Just a little bit more practice and I'll be a professional.
This week has been a way good week for finding! We've given a lot of Book of Mormons out and have been able to set return appointments to study together. It's way exciting! Even if the people I give BoMs to don't want to study together, I know that because they have the Book of Mormon, their life will be changed someday. It's an amazing book! Recently, President Wada has challenged us to be more bold in our inviting, and because of that, we've seen a lot of miracles so far! There are a lot of baptisms happening around the mission, too, so things are really picking up here in Japan!
I was also invited to go to Mission Leadership Council for the first time this week. Only Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, future Zone Leaders and future Sister Training Leaders are invited to go, so I was a bit shocked (it's a bit different from the last meeting I went to.) It was an inspiring meeting, though! The Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in this mission are amazing, and I really learn a lot from them. I saw Jake and M Shimai there, so I was way happy!
Our investigators are still doing well, too! The Temple was amazing today, too! I just love being inside the temple. It's my favorite place.
I get to watch Conference this weekend, too, so I'm way stoked! I love you all and miss you so much! Have a good week! Talk to you soon! Love you!
Sister Dansie
ダンジー姉妹
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