There is no winter in California

The stuffed animal Sister Lacey gave to a new friend

The friend's reply to Sister Lacey

A family Heart Attacked the sisters and gave
Sister Lacey a present for her birthday

Sister Lacey says she's in Paradise!

Feeding squirrels

皆さんこんにちは！

SO! This transfer I am staying in Sanjo but Sister Yonaha is going to Nakano where the Mission Home is. She is taking Sister Teruya's place. I'm sad she's leaving because we bonded a lot this week but I will see her soon. I'm staying as Sister Training Leader and so is she so I'll see her in Tokyo. My new companion is Sister Kubota! She was a group ahead of me in the MTC. She is half Japanese and from Hawaii. I don't think she knew Japanese before her mission though. I'm way excited! She is super loud and outgoing so maybe it'll help me be more confident to talk to everyone!

Anyways, this week was cold. The day of my birthday might have been the coldest day of my mission and it just keeps getting colder! I'm not sure which will be worse, riding my bike in this weather where the wind pierces your soul or walking in the snow for forever when we can't ride our bikes anymore... Either way, I am actually excited! I know if I can survive a winter in Niigata ken I can survive anything!

My birthday was great! Thank you for all the love and presents everyone! For the first time I actually do feel older and different. But mom and dad, how do you two feel now that you have 3 children in their 20s?? ;)The average age people usually think I am is 23 so now I'm finally starting to get closer to the age I look! Haha. We went to the park with Shinobu Shimai and the Makise fuufu (couple) and had a great time! As I'm sure you saw from the picture, we feed squirrels! They have like a squirrel petting zoo thing and it was way fun! We also visited the Maeda fuufu and long story short, they BOTH came to church yesterday!! It was awesome! I'm so happy we have been gaining a good relationship with them and helping them come back to church. すこしづつ！

Also, I realized I am forgetting English. We have started a benkyoukai which is like English class but more one on one and I corrected a few essays and it was a bit difficult. It was fun though! I hope my Japanese is improving. But I definitely know that the gift of tongues is real. There's no way on earth from studying Japanese for only 10
months that I know how to say as much as I do, read, write, understand, and oh my recognize some kanji! Craziness! But somehow I manage to survive. I know that it is only through the Spirit that I am able to do so much. I love you all so much! I hope you have a great thanksgiving break! I'll miss the turkey and gravely.. We are having a thanksgiving potluck party but I'm sure there won't be quite like thanksgiving in America! I love you! 愛してるよ！

愛する
レイシー姉妹