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

https://countingdownto.com

Kiseki!!

A little view of heaven!

愛する家族へ

Hello everyone! I'm glad you're all having a nice summer! This is
going to be the best transfer ever!! I just know it. I love Sister
Parker! She is from Utah and we are just having a great time. Sister
Parker and I are working so well together. Our personalities match
well and we are making dendou so fun and exciting and enjoying every
minute and we are seeing the tender mercies of the Lord everywhere!
(Even housing apartments with thousands of spiders everywhere!)

A few days ago after district meeting, we were leaving the church to
go catch a train to go visit a member who lives an hour away. Well,
right when we turn the corner there was a woman walking her dog and we
decided to stop her. Let's just say we ended up talking for 45
minutes! She lives in Tokyo but was here visiting her mom for a few
days. She is half Japanese and half Italian/American and spoke fluent
English. She heard about our church before and was asking us a lot of
questions and we were able to bear testimony and share experiences
we've had. She really likes history and we talked to her about the
Book of Mormon. She asked us a lot of questions about how we feel gods
love and she shared lots of personal trials she's had but how her mom
and husband have helped her. I simply said sometimes God shows His
love though other people and God has blessed her with a wonderful
family. She just looked at us and said "Ooo I got goosebumps! Look!"
We talked about the spirit and how the spirit testifies of truth. It
was such a wonderful conversation and we received her email and I hope
to contact her soon and try to refer her to missionaries in Tokyo.

A miracle right after that was we didn't miss our train! The eki is a
bout a 15-20minute bike ride from the church and we had 10 minutes
until our train left. We didn't hit one red light! Heavenly Father is
very kind. I know we were supposed to talk to Leila and Heavenly
Father provided a way for us to make our train on time.

That same day we found a new investigator out in Takahagi! Right when
we got to there, we went to the bathroom and a lady was walking out
and she said "hello" to us. We said hi back but she left the bathroom.
We went and saw the member and then dendoued around for a few hours.
Then we were heading back to the eki to go him and the last lady we
talked to was the one in the bathroom! Her name is Sumiko and we
talked for a little bit and she's been to church before and was
interested in hearing our message. But she said her main priority
right now is to find a job. We testified how our message could help
her and she agreed to meet next week! AND we didn't miss our train
again! We barely made it! I know the Lord is truly guiding this work.

The other night we decided to go house some apartments and one was
literally a nesting ground for spiders. We almost didn't house it
because of the fortress of spiders all along the railing and ceilings
but we didn't want to be weak and fearful. We survived and met one
family but they didn't have too much interest but it was definitely a
good seed planted! The next apartment we went to we met a Chinese man
who asked us a lot of questions. We talked for awhile about our
beliefs and he doesn't have a religion right now but he likes learning
about religion. He said if he has interest he would come by the
church. We might go drop off a Chinese Book of Mormon for him sometime
this week so he has materials in his native language.

As a mission we have started doing a Book of Mormon project and I am
learning so much about the character of Christ. It has been really
neat to find attributes of Christ in the Book of Mormon and see how I
can apply them in my life. I love you all so much! Have a great and
safe week!

Love,

Sister Lacey

Transfer 12! I live in MIto!

Exchanges with Sister Tausinga, she's awesome!

Hey everyone!

This will be a shorter email but I wanted to let you know how
transfers went. So.. Very shocking news. Sister Batchelor is leaving
and I'm staying! I'm practically just a Mito member now though haha.
She is actually going to Okegawa where I was last summer. My new
companion is another Sister Parker. I will be followup training her. I
think she's on her 3rd transfer or something. At first I was pretty
shocked and a little bummed that I'm still here and I won't be able to
see more of Japan but after I said a prayer I just got so excited and
just like I rule Mito now and this is my place and I'm just so excited
for this next transfer!

This past week we had a new missionary followup training down at the
mission home and it was so good to see president and sister Nagano. I
was able to talk with them for awhile and it is amazing how much love
they have. I hardly see them but they still care and love me so much.
They gave me a lot of good advice for my last transfer. President also
told me to sprint to the end so I'm determined to do that!

I love you all so much! Sorry this is so short, I'll have a better
email next week! Have a great week!!

Love, Sister Lacey

子どもたち

Junichi kyoudais baptism!

Some high school girls they met :-)

Hello everyone!

The rainy season has officially begun... And it's all nice and humid
again and the cherry on top is the mosquitos are back and still love
my blood. It's a wonderful life as a missionary! Haha no but it is
really fun. I like wearing my rain pants!

But anyways, this will be a little short but this week was good! I
just love the children here. We went to go visit a member who lives in
a big apartment complex but the weren't home. But a little girl was
coming home from school and started asking us questions. We told her
who we were and where we were from and she told us she wanted us to
meet her mom. We walked with her to her house but her mom was asleep
so she begged us to please come back another time. I had just found a
four leaf clover a few minutes before that so I gave it to her and
said we'd come back and visit. Then as we were getting back on our
bikes, two more girls came out and started talking to us and wanted us
to play. We said we had to go but we'd come back another time. One of
them kept saying how she had seen us before but she couldn't remember
where. It was such a neat experience seeing how pure little children
are.

A few days later, we went housing met this mom and little girl but she
wasn't interested. We walked down stairs and the little girl, Mari (7
years old) came out after us and started asking us questions. She told
us she wanted us to meet her friend who live a few doors down. She ran
to the door and calls after Ayumi and she was so surprised to see us.
Ayumi is 12 and she has interest in everything we had to say! She's
been to church before and loves learning about Christ. We asked if we
could come back again and she said of course anytime and we set an
appointment for last night but sadly she wasn't home but we will try
again this week! Mari was also telling us to come back and see her
again.

I definitely have come to understand the scripture, "For the natural
man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will
be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy
Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through
the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive,
meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things
which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth
submit to his father." Children are so pure and innocent and are
humble. We need to be as they are and follow as the scripture says and
we will be so blessed.

I love you all so much! Thank you for everything!

Love, レイシー姉妹

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