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Hi, everyone!

This week has been extremely busy. We had the opportunity to be visited by another prophet of the Lord this past week, Elder Nelson. We had Elder Ballard come three weeks ago and Elder Nelson just came. That's so rare! This has been the best transfer ever! Elder Nelson came to talk about "Missionary Work in the Digital Age". They are now opening up all of Japan to iPad usage and online missionary work for missionaries. Up until now, us and the North Mission have been test missions, but the test is over, so we are going to actually start it in all of Japan. It's an exciting time! However, because of that we will be receiving new iPads on Wednesday and Facebook will be taken away for a transfer or so. They're giving missionaries access to apps in waves, so that's why we will be taking a little break from Facebook for a while. That probably means that I won't use Facebook for the rest of my mission. Elder Nelson spent a lot of time talking about how this time period when we are not using Facebook is a good time to "restart". We can repent of anything we need to repent of and recommit ourselves to following all of God's commandments, as well as the Missionary Handbook. In using Facebook, they want us to learn how to best use technology and how to control ourselves on social media for the rest of our lives. Anyways, it's a pretty cool time for missionaries here in Japan!

We had one really cool miracle happen this week! On Thursday we got a call from the Elders saying that a woman received a free English flyer, the word "Mormon" on it, remembered she had studied with the missionaries before and called them wanting to learn more. This woman's name is M. We met with her on Saturday and talked with her about Heavenly Father, the Book of Mormon and prayer. Then she pretty much invited herself to church before we got the chance to invite her. So on Sunday, she came to church and loved it! She said she felt pure after taking the sacrament. Then she called later that evening asking to meet again the following day, so we met again on Monday! We taught her about the Restoration, and she took everything in way well. M San was pretty much teaching us the lesson!  We also had a girl from the ward who wants to go on a mission come and help us, and she had a great experience! She said it was her first time helping the missionaries, but she loved it! Afterwards, we invited M San to pray, and in her prayer, she said she believes the Book of Mormon is true and that what we have been talking to her about is true. She has so much faith! We took her to go see the baptismal font in the church and asked her to be baptized in April, and she said yes! It's truly a miracle! We haven't even known her for a week and she's getting baptized! Heavenly Father is truly preparing his children! We have another lesson on Thursday, so we are excited. Keep praying for her that she will continue to have the faith to get baptized.

We've seen a lot of cool miracles this week. I love being a missionary, especially in Tama! I realized that I have less than two months left, but I plan on making the most of it. I love you all! I won't see you on Facebook anymore, but I'll continue to write weekly. Love you!

Sister Lexie Dansie

Social Media Fair 2015

As you probably saw on Facebook, we had a big Social Media Fair at the church by our mission home, which was the first of its kind in Japan. Members came from all around the mission to learn about how to spread the Gospel online. They had little breakout sessions including a Facebook session, Twitter, Mormon.org, and how to work with missionaries, which is where I came into play. About two months ago, the first counselor of our mission presidency asked me to do a presentation about how missionaries and members can work together on Facebook. I was so nervous! But I was able to prepare for a while, and then I had my presentation at the fair. It went really well. It was funny because I had to give three presentations, and the first one President Wada and the first counselor, President Stevenson, attended. After the presentation was over, they went up to each other and were like, "Nice choice! She did great." It was really funny. I felt honored to do the presentation, though. I really learned a lot about how members and missionaries can truly work to spread this wonderful a Gospel together in simple ways using the technology we have. We live in an amazing era. I feel really blessed because I feel like technology and Facebook usage has been a huge part of my mission experience. I've really learned a lot about it. All in all, even though I was way scared to present because it was in 100% Japanese, it went really well and I'm grateful for the opportunity that I had. Also, D Shimai and I took a picture in front of the room where I was presenting with the poster I used, so that's my new profile picture on Facebook!

Other things that happened this week: I gave my "good bye" testimony at Zone Conference. Normally I don't really cry when I bare my testimony, but I was crying from the get-go when I gave my good bye testimony. I didn't really know what I was going to say when I went up, but I figure I would talk about the things that I've learned and am still learning as a missionary. So I spoke on the Book of Mormon, our divine nature as God's children, the Atonement of Jesus Christ our Savior, and praying with faith. Obviously I've learned a lot more, but those are the things that I've really grown to know and apply in my life. The Spirit took the rest!

As far as investigators go, literally we didn't meet with anyone this week because they were all busy or sick, which stinks. We did do a lot of finding, though, so that was good. It's been a pretty big, good week overall! Being a missionary is hard, but I love it here! The church is true! I love you all and I'll talk to you next week!

Sister Lexie Dansie

Two by Two

Hi!

So I apologize now for the shortness of my email. My companion that I'm training, D S., did not receive an iPad and won't until mid-next week. We have to share until then, which includes sharing email time; therefore, I don't have a lot of time, so I'm really sorry!

As far as this week went, it was really good! We are back to two sisters again! R S. got emergency transferred to Kamiooka because another sister had to go home due to injuries. It's way sad, but being in two has been fun. It's really built mine and D S's relationship. We are actually a lot alike! She reminds me of when I was a new missionary. It's kind of cool! I'm trying to help her transition to missionary life be as smooth as possible because it's certainly not an easy process. She's a real champ, though.

We had our dinner and appointment with Y, our new investigator, and we were able to teach her the Restoration. She said she doesn't really believe in God, but when we finished teaching the restoration, she said that she felt like it was a message from God and that it was important to learn. She said she would start taking lessons. Miracle! We met with her again on Saturday and had another great lesson. She started asking us a bunch of questions about prayer and the Book of Mormon. In Japanese, the Book of Mormon is way hard to read, so we went with depth with what it meant and read some scriptures together. Afterwards, she said she would be able to read it, and we prayed together. She said an amazing prayer! She's way willing to learn! It's amazing! Then she came to church on Sunday! It was Ward Conference, so there were a ton of people there. I think it overwhelmed her a bit, but she said she enjoyed it. Hopefully we continue to meet with her this week! We are way happy about Y!

The rest of this week was good. Our recent convert, J S, went to the temple for baptisms on Saturday and said she loved it. Great things are happening around Tama! We have Zone Conference tomorrow, the last one before I leave. I'll be giving my goodbye testimony at it, which is so weird. I'll let you know how it goes next week! I love you all! Talk to you next week! The church is true! Love you!

Sister Lexie Dansie

Surprise!

Hey! So, before I start my somewhat spiritual, surprising email, I just want to let you know that I became an adult today! As a District, we went to Costco today because there is one close to us, and I bought a Costco card that will work in America, too! It was way fun to go to Costco! We bought a whole bunch of American food, so it was great! We have food for the rest of the transfer!

Okay, onto the surprise. So, on Tuesday night, after P-Day was over, I got a call from the mission home saying that R Shimai, and I will be training a new missionary this transfer. SURPRISE! I was way shocked, but I was excited. I spent Wednesday pretty much preparing the apartment for it because Tama had never seen three sisters. It's way cool!

Saying good-bye to W Shimai was way hard because we had a lot of fun together. But I met up with R Shimai S (transfer 7) and then we went to the mission home to get our new missionary D Shimai. We are having fun together so far! It's been great getting to know them. Also, being in a three-some again is fun. The Ward was way shocked to see three sisters walk in.

I don't have a ton of time today to write emails, I'm sorry. We had too much fun shopping at Costco and pretending that we were in America; however, we were able to meet with one of our potential investigators this week and went to Sports Night in Machida with her. We have another lesson with her today! We are way excited! We hope it goes well!

Sorry for the short email! We actually didn't do much besides that this week. I love you all so much and hope you have a good week!

Sister Lexie Dansie