What is the scariest place in Japan? Kiryu!

You can blame SIster Shim's previous dendoushuunin (Ward Mission Leader) for that terrible joke. (Kiryu almost sounds like "Kill you"). She was telling me all sorts of jokes today. She is so funny <3 (Kiryu is the Stake where I started my mission in Oizumi).

Our picture to tell people that we still have
Mission School even though it is Golden Week

This week was filled with so so so many miracles! It was crazy!

It all started with Tuesday. We were supposed to have exchanges with the Tsukuba Sisters so we had set several appointments, but then on Monday they had to cancel. No fears though, we took a look at the two schedules and figured that we could still manage to do everything even though there was only 1 companionship instead of two. This led to an insane amount of fast biking, but lots of miracles.

Tuesday Miracles:

We had a mogi with Nishikawa Shimai who is from a part-member family. She has done a ton of family history and has inspired me to do a lot more after my mission. Anyways, she has been talking to her neighbor/friend about the gospel and this friend asked for a Book of Mormon. She and her husband read a few pages of it, but found it too hard to understand. They asked a lot of questions though and she and Nishikawa Shimai had a great gospel discussion. Well, on Sunday, the Relief Society handed out invitations to Ward Conference in June and assigned everyone a few less actives to visit. To Nishikawa Shimai's surprise, her less active was the neighbor that she had been sharing the gospel with! Isn't that crazy? She asked us for some help and we were able to spark her confidence to invite her friend to church. Yay!

Misoguchi family made CTR shields

We had another mogi with another part-member family that same day. Wada Shimai was so cute! We taught her the Restoration and she had many amazing questions and we really followed the Spirit to teach to her needs and answer all of her questions. It was one of the most spiritual lessons I have taught on my mission. I really felt the Holy Ghost guiding both of us to say exactly what we needed to say to help her feel the Spirit. After our mogi, she was so excited to help with missionary work, she wants to mogi with us again and help our investigators!

This is probably the biggest miracle of all!!!!!

On Monday we invited one of our Mission School students, who has a lot of potential to become an investigator, to come take a church tour. She showed us her college last week, so we wanted to show her our church and what we do here. On Tuesday, she didn't come to Mission School, so we thought that the church tour was cancelled. We had a new Mission School student named Setsuko-san though, so we were happy. As soon as we finished sharing the spiritual message, in walks July (the one we were going to give the church tour to) and Setsuko-san actually knows her. They start talking and we ask the Elders if they can set the church up for a church tour.

Mission School

Well, both Setsuko-san and July ended up wanting to do the church tour, so we started from the gym and worked our way to the chapel then the baptismal font. The Spirit was so strong during the church tour. We were bearing our testimonies especially about how the gospel has brought us so much happiness in our lives.

They both asked really amazing questions and July even told us that she isn't happy. She just feel normal, but she wants to be happy. At the end of the tour, they both wanted to take the lessons. We were able to see two amazing investigators come from Mission School and it was such a blessing from Heavenly Father.

From there we just saw more and more miracles throughout the week. We went to MLC (Mission Leadership Council) and really got inspired to work even more with the members. After Tuesday and our mogis with 2 members, I have a stronger testimony of this. We were able to see two miracles with them and as we continue to strive to work with members we will see even more miracles. Over 10 members came to Mission School this week and they all loved it and want to come back! We have another 4 Sisters planning on coming this week to help fellowship our students and investigators too!

Caterpillar races

Then on Saturday we had an Undokai (Sports Day) with the ward, and it was the greatest thing ever! We had a bunch of Mission Students come and there were lots of games. My favorite was the caterpillar race. The Elders Quorum made loops out of cardboard boxes (mostly from when Sister Shim and I moved apartments) and the person would get in, and when they said go, you crawl as fast as possible to the finish line. It was the most hilarious thing! I loved it so much! Everyone had so much fun! :)

Yesterday both Sister Shim and I went to Ushiku. Sister Shim is so funny. Before we got to Ushiku I told her how they say Jesus Christ in Portuguese. After the meeting she told me that the only thing she understood was the words Jesus Christ. She is so cute.

I spent the meeting translating from Portuguese to Japanese. There were 2 Japanese members there who missed their own ward, so they just came to take the sacrament. It was my first time translating anything, but it went pretty well. I mean as well as it can go when you are translating from 1 language you learned on your mission to another language you learned on your mission ^^

It was a great meeting though. The Ushiku Elders have an investigator named Rebecca who is getting baptized soon and she shared the most amazing testimony! I've had the chance to talk to her a few times, and I am so excited for her and her decision to be baptized. She was literally glowing with pure joy as she bore her testimony. I love having the chance to work in Ushiku!

Korean Barbeque

Those were the adventures from this week! Time flies way too fast. I can't believe it. Today I tried yakiniku (Korean BBQ) for the first time and it was delicious. I meant to try it back when I was in Urayasu...but all of a sudden I blinked and 6 months passed and I still hadn't tried it. I would highly recommend it though.

Time continues to go by faster and faster. This week one of my former companions, Sister Bede, went home due to medical issues. She was an amazing missionary. She served with all her might, mind, and strength every day and I was so blessed to be her companion. She is reminder to me that we need to make the most of each day that we have. We never know when something will change, whether it's an investigator changing their mind, a transfer, going home, or any of the other changes that could happen. Even back in the real world, things are constantly changing. I'm trying to live every day to its fullest to make sure that I can truly give this time to the Lord, to allow him to shape me into the person that he needs me to be.

Dinner with the Sorensons

I am so grateful to be here in Matsudo right now. Big things are happening and it is amazing to see.

I hope you all have an amazing Mother's Day this week! I am grateful every day for the love and example my mom has given me. She continues to strengthen me every day and I am so so grateful for her.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Black Shimai
ブラック姉妹

Elder Banks wrote this at District Meeting on May 5th, it says Shinkou de Mayo (faith of mayonnaise in Japanese) because it was Cinco de Mayo.