Natsu Matsuri!

Ohayo gozaimasu!

Thank you all for the emails! I can't believe I'll see you in a few
weeks.. Crazy.

I had interviews with President and Sister Nagano this week. They are
so amazing! It blows my mind how in tune with the spirit they are and
how they know exactly what I need to hear. This was my second to last
interview with them and the "after mission life" talk has begun. It
was definitely weird talking about that stuff but I received so much
guidance and revelation for my life. President told me just to focus
on the temple when I get home and he told me not to date! (If you'd
like more to that story feel free to ask me haha).

Anyways, we were not able to meet with Sumiko San this past week
because she has been busy but we called her several times and taught
her over the phone. She has been reading and praying! She is so
diligent and willing to learn. We have an appointment with her this
coming week!

We were able to Skype our Chinese investigator Elsa! We got to know
her religious background. She came to church yesterday and we
introduced the Book of Mormon more thoroughly. She goes back to China
soon for a business trip but will coming back to japan again.

A couple of members invited us to their neighborhood matsuri and it
was so fun! The festival was so fun! One of the members brought us to
her house and put yukatas on us. (They are summer kimonos) I felt a
little awkward at first because no adults were wearing yukatas, only
children. And we already stick out because we're not Japanese but then
when we wear yukatas too haha. But it was really fun and it got a lot
of people to talk to us! We met a lot of new people and finally met
Nakamura sans husband! He is way awesome and cool! He said he's heard
a lot about us and was very friendly to us. I'm going to invite
Nakamura san to my last Sunday to hear me speak and I'm hoping she'll
feel the spirit strongly in sacrament and want to learn more!

After church we went on splits with two members in the ward. Sasaki
Shimai is so awesome and after we did some housing and got rejected a
lot she said how she wants to invite more firmed so to hear our
message so we don't have to do this all day haha.

It's sad that this is my last week in Mito. The goodbyes have started
and it's a lot harder to say goodbye to people than I thought but I'm
glad I made these strong relationships and found eternal friends. I've
been blessed enough to be hear for 7 months. It's funny sometimes when
because I've been here so long people recognize me but I know we need
to stop and talk to everyone and sometimes it's people I've already
stopped several times. But I'm like oh well, they still need the
gospel! When they say "you've already talked to me" I should start
saying "I know, now this is your second chance!" Haha I just love it
so much and I'm focusing on showing everyone love even if they reject
the message.

Thank you for everything you've all done for me! I love you all so
much! Have a great and safe week!

Love, Sister Lacey


Sent from my iPad

Seafood🍤🍱🍣🐟

愛する家族へ

Hello everyone! Thank you for the emails!

This week has been busy but good! It finally hit me that I have two
weeks left in Mito (I'll be in Tokyo my last week) and I realized I
should probably start packing and organizing my things so I can send
off my luggage to the airport haha. (We send our luggage to the
airport in advance and it waits there until our flight).

Now for a funny story. I hit my exact 18 month mark last week and it's
pretty crazy. I'm excited for these last couple weeks though, they're
busy but busy is good! A member took us out to eat that night and
guess what it was.... It was a very very fancy Japanese restaurant
with a TON of RAW seafood. She had ordered the food in advance and
when they set the food in front of me I almost had a heart attack. I
have survived 18 months without eating a plateful of raw seafood and
on my 18 month mark my nightmare came true. I prayed so so hard I
wouldn't gag. And guess what... It actually wasn't that bad... The
fact that it was several different kinds of raw fish, octopus, shrimp,
and who knows what else, made me feel sick but the actual taste and
everything wasn't bad. I did it! I survived! I have a picture of it.
Now I really think I can eat anything haha.

We had exchanges this week and I learned a lot from Sister Wootan. She
gave me some good advice for areabook. We have A LOT of member records
and I don't know who more than half the names are. None of them are
marked as less active's either. She said since I've been in Mito for
so long I'm in the perfect position to know who's active and who's
not. She's so right! So I've been going through that and finding
people to try and work with and I'm hoping the members will help out!
It's so crazy because seriously if all the less active's were active
again, this would be Mito stake, not Mito ward. I really hope I can
help strengthen Mito my last couple of weeks here.

To end I'd like to share a two special experiences I had about prayer.
We were waiting for a member at a train station but she was running
late so we went into a shop to get something for Kodomo Eikaiwa while
we waited. Well in one isle an American lady walked by and I just saw
her out of the corner of my eye. I didn't say anything and then when
she left I felt really guilty for that. I went to go see her but she
disappeared. I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father that if I was
supposed to talk to her, I would see her again. Well, we walked down
stairs a little later and I saw her! (This was a big mall). I knew I
couldn't leave without saying anything because this was an answer to
my prayer. I walked over to her and we had a nice conversation. She
recognized that we were missionaries and we chatted for a bit. I'm
really glad we talked to her so she would have a good impression of
missionaries. (By the way, it's way hard talking to people in English
and explaining what I do haha I don't know how to do it!)

The second experience I was on a train. We had a really long train
ride and across from me I saw this very beautiful Japanese woman. She
didn't have any fancy clothes on and she had no makeup on. Her hair
was in a bit of a messy bun but she was seriously one of the most
beautiful people I've ever seen. She just had a constant soft smile on
her face even when she was sleeping. I decided to say a prayer again.
I prayed and asked if I should talk to her we'd get off at the same
station. I would have went over and talked to her but she was sleeping
and I've had experiences when people get mad if you try to talk to
them when they try to sleep haha. Anyways, about a half an hour later,
we get off at the same station!! I knew I couldn't avoid talking to
her or else Heavenly Father might not answer my next prayers. I went
up to her and we chatted a bit and said who we were and I said how
beautiful she was and she seemed so happy and surprised I said that
haha. It was a really short conversation because she had to catch a
train but I know prayer works and I hope I helped her feel Gods love.

I know this gospel is true and Jesus Christ is our Savior.  I love you
all so much! I hope you have a great and safe week! Aishiteimasu!

Love, Sister Lacey

Sent from my iPad

Temple!

Hello Family and Friends!

This week was great and the miracles just keep on coming! I was able
to go to the temple today for the last time on my mission and it was
such an amazing experience. While I was sitting in there I just had an
overwhelming feeling that I would be back someday.

We had an eikaiwa party for the Fourth of July and Sister Parker and I
were in charge of making the food. We had a lot to do but then we
remembered on of our less active's is a really good cook so we asked
her if she'd like to help us and she was more than willing to! We had
a good time bonding with her and she said she would come to church
again soon. She is awesome! It just helped me realize that we really
need to help others use their talents because people get so much
happier when they help others with by using their talents.

We met with Sumiko twice this week and she is doing great! She has
such strong desires and we used the new pamphlets to set better
expectations. She has some word of wisdoms problems but I think it
will be okay. We set a baptismal date for the 28th of August because
she can't go to church this month because her grandmother recently
passed and she is busy with that. We originally set a date for the
31st of this month but since she can't come to church we pushed it to
August. But I'm so excited for her progression!

Also, on the way home one day we stopped this Chinese lady named Elsa.
She is so cute and friendly and said she'd come to church if she had
time. Guess what? She actually came!! So many people say "I'll come if
I have time" but they never do but Elsa came! She loved it and said
she wanted to come next week. We are going to see her tomorrow too and
she said she wants to learn from us!

I'll be honest, I can definitely feel myself getting a little burnt
out and I feel like I'm getting weaker and weaker each day. My body
wants to be done but my brain and heart are like "NOOO. No rest for
the weary! Keep going theses last few weeks!" All I can say is I know
the Lord is helping by giving me strength to finish each day.
Yesterday, I was reading in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and I came across
a scripture that really helped me. It says,

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for
when I am weak, then am I strong."

That scripture really helped me realize that I need to be grateful for
my weaknesses and I understood that instead of wishing my weaknesses
of trials were gone I need to be grateful for them because Christ's
mercy is real and He will help me no matter what. "For when I am weak,
then am I strong." Strength from the atonement of Jesus Christ is the
most powerful strength we can obtain and I know it is real if we trust
in the Savior. I love you all so much! Have a great and safe week!

Love, Reishī Shimai

Sent from my iPad

バプテスマ!!

Hello everyone!

Thank you for the emails! We had a great week! I'm so glad I have been
able to serve her in mito for so long. We are seeing a lot of tender
mercies of the Lord.

The Lord has definitely been preparing people here in Mito! Do you
remember Sumiko that we found last week visiting a member? Well we had
an appointment with her this week and it was amazing! We met with her
by the Takahagi eki and taught about the restoration and the Book of
Mormon. She thought it was all very interesting and liked it. She also
shared some very serious trials she's experienced in her life and how
the knowledge of Christ has helped her. We testified a lot to her and
said how much happier she could be by following the Savior. We talked
about baptism and extended a baptismal invitation and she excepted!!
We met with her yesterday after church and we taught the plan of
salvation. It went really well and we set a baptismal date for the
31st! We might have to push it back a few weeks depending on how she
can get to church. She lives about an hour away by train and is
looking for a job right now so it's difficult to come to church but I
know that the Lord will provide a way!

Yesterday, I bore my testimony in sacrament and it was my last fast
Sunday in Japan. The members didn't realize I was leaving so soon and
let's just say staying in an area for almost half your mission has its
perks. Everyone is inviting us over for dinner and just want to talk.

Today we went as a district and some members to Daigo and saw some
waterfalls. There wasn't a whole lot of water right now because it's
been so hot but it was still gorgeous! I'll send pictures!

I love you all so much! Thank you for everything! I hope you have a
great and safe week!

Love, Sister Lacey