6 months!

Pizza!

Taco Rice

6 months done and 1 year to go! 

Konnichiwa everyone! 

I'm glad you all are having a fun summer! So you know it's humid when you walk outside and it feels like you're drowning... The heat is starting to really arrive now. Last week it was actually still pretty cool but the past few days have been death. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't humid. I'm actually enjoying the heat because I have a feeling I'm going to go to Niigata in the winter where you never see the sun so I'm going to try and enjoy the sunshine haha. So tomorrow I will have officially been on my mission for 6 months! Crazy! I'm almost to my halfway mark and I still can't speak Japanese! Haha, this is definitely a hard language. It's really hard to understand people and follow the conversation in large groups. I don't think I'll ever understand church in Japanese. I'm getting more comfortable on one and one conversations though. And Japanese people are very patient and kind. When they realize I have no idea what they're saying they use simple Japanese to make things easier for me haha.

This week has been really good! We met with one of our investigators from the Philippians. She had a baptismal date for the 19th of July but isn't ready yet. Earlier that morning we had district meeting and focused on inspired questions and following the spirit. In the lesson with her we had another member come and she was able to share her conversion story. She told us she doesn't want to give up coffee. I asked her if she wanted to follow Gods commandments and she said yes. I then told her that the word of wisdom is a commandment from God. She was a little surprised but said she believed that was true. She agreed to try praying for the help to stop drinking coffee. She still said she's not ready for baptism but she still wants to learn and progress. I have a lot of faith and hope in her. She has a lot of faith and I know once she gets the desire to stop drinking coffee, she will progress even faster. 

So I'm friends with a Japanese model. This 22 year old came to eikaiwa and we instantly became friends. She wants to marry a gaijin (foreigner). She saw the elders passing out eikaiwa fliers and took one and then came. I don't think she was miss Japan but she was Miss something. She's so nice and friendly though and loves the idea of eternal marriage. I was showing her family pictures and she saw clay and said "kekkon shitai!" (I want to marry) I pointed out to her that that was his wedding photo and then she was like, oh okay.. How about your other brother?? I was like, um he's 12.. Haha it was so funny! 

Oh and one more funny story. Sister Parker and I were in Kasukabe with sister Kirkham and we were giving this random lady on the street a tour of the church. She had so much interest and I was baring my testimony of the Book of Mormon and then she was silent and just staring at me. I was thinking, "oh man she's feeling something. She's gonna get baptized." And then she said, "you're eyes are beautiful! Your eyelashes are so long! They're like cat eyes!" ..... Wasn't exactly what I was expecting but she still took the Book of Mormon and is excited to continue meeting with the Kasukabe sisters. 

Well, I love you all so much. Thank you for everything! This week I'm going to experience my first Japanese festival! I'm so excited! Aishitemasu!

Love, Sister Lacey