水戸！

Greenie Package

Hello everyone! Thank you for the amazing emails as always! I love you
all! This week was pretty eventful so I'll fill you in on my favorite
experiences!

We have a few Eikaiwa students in high school. Naoki invited us to his
school festival and we decided to go so we could show our faces around
the students and parents and they could see we are harmless
everything. Let's just say I wish I went to a Japanese high school.
I've never been inside one yet and it was so nice! It was seriously
the best high school festival I've ever been to. There were all sorts
of games and mazes and activities. We totally stuck out like a sore
thumb but everyone was so nice trying to speak to us in their school
English but then they were surprised when I could actually understand
some of what they said. we had a great time and maybe the students
will open up to us some more when we stop and talk with them on the
streets!

We had a great time with the party last night. The Menzawa family's
son just got back from his mission so we had a big gathering with a
lot of less active's and part member families and they YSA in the
ward. After church we went to their house and cooked all day! It was a
lot of work but so much fun! It was all a success! One family who
came, the Furuichis, are very special to me. A few months ago I met
with Furuichi Shimai and her daughter Rumi but haven't seen them in
awhile. Furuichi Shimai is a member but her daughters are not. She
hasn't been very active in the church for a long time but my
companions and I call her every once in awhile and share spiritual
messages with her. Well, she has been to church three times in a row
now!! It's seriously so huge because she hasn't been in years. Well,
she brought her daughters to the party and I was able to talk to Rumi
for awhile. I was getting to know her more and she is super shy but we
bonded well and I told her I was glad we could be friends. Then she
told me how she's never had a friend before because she is so shy so
she was so happy to know that we were friends. It was such a tender
moment and we are planning on surprising her today for her 19th
birthday!

Also, huge news!! My good friend Junichi is getting baptized this
Saturday!! I haven't said much about him because technically he's the
elders investigator but, not trying to take all the credit, but I kept
telling the elders to start working with him because I knew he was
ready. He's been an Eikaiwa student on and off for a few years so I
think that's why the elders weren't focusing on him, because he hadn't
shown too much interest in the past. Well, a couple months ago Sister
Solomon and I were talking to him and he said he drank coffee but we
kinda taught him the word of wisdom and I told him I'd make banana
bread for him if he didn't drink coffee for a week (which he committed
to do! He said he really liked the banana bread:)). And then we
invited him to YSA activities and kept telling the elders to work with
him (in our mission we are encouraged to only teach members of our
same gender) and now, long story short, he's getting baptized this
Saturday! Last night I talked with him at the party and he opened up a
lot to me and told me some nerves and concerns he was having about the
baptism coming up so I helped give him advice which was mainly just to
pray because Heavenly Father knows what is best for him rather than
anyone else. I've been asked to speak at his baptism and I'm so
excited! He's such a good person and says he wants to be baptized
because he know it'll help change his life and help him be a better
person.

I finished the Book of Mormon this week and I just love it so much. I
was kind of postponing finishing it because I didn't want it to end
because it is literally my favorite book but then I had to remind
myself that I can just read it again haha. I know it is true. I love
you  all so much and I am so blessed to be able to be serving the
people here in Japan. Until next week!

愛するレイシー姉妹より