JAPAN!!!

She found her next car!

After a long day, they came home to their
apartment - 95 degrees at 9:00pm

This is them melting in the heat of their apartment

JAPAN!!

I'm so in shock still that JASON IS COMING TO JAPAN!! What?! I am beyond excited! By the way it's pronounced Fu-Ku-O-Ka. YAY!!!

So this week. This week has been busy busy but it's been great! I love being busy. I'm so glad that I am staying in Okegawa. Sister Teruya and I are determined to work hard for a miracle. We want to focus on exact obedience and following the spirit. 

We met with Namatame San earlier this week and she has been very excited to come to church. Sadly she got sick this morning. Sister Teruya and I decided to go visit her before church to see if she was okay and try and see if she could still come. She didn't answer but her husband did and he said she was sleeping. That was the first time we met her husband and he seems like a really nice guy. We gave him some treats to give to her and hopefully she can come next week. 

A cool miracle happened! About a week ago I was going through area book and wrote down a name to contact her because she seemed really interested. I hadn't had time to do it but at eikaiwa Kayoko came! She met with the sisters a year ago and hasn't been back since. I'm not sure what happened but she's back now. I'm not sure how much interest she has but we are starting to get to know each other and maybe I can find her interest once again. 

On the way home from a less actives house we decided to do some finding. Sister Teruya decided to turn around and house somewhere. I definitely believe in trusting companions because the house we knocked we gave a away a Book of Mormon! Also on the way home we met someone from Peru and we had a Spanish pamphlet and gave it to her! We have definitely been seeing little miracles everywhere already. 

Yesterday bishop took us to go visit a lady who's husband was a member but recently passed away. She lives very far away so it was fun to get to know bishop and his wife more. He's a lot like you dad, he converted when he was 15 and is a bishop now! We had a really nice time. But when we got home our apartment was 95 degrees.... Yeah it's hot hear and especially with no air conditioning haha.

I'm grateful to be a missionary and especially in Japan. The people here are amazing. The language is crazy hard but it's coming. It's still really hard to understand people but Sister Teruya helped me realize that she's Japanese and I can understand her when she speaks. Thank you for all your love and support!! I love you!

Love, 

Sister Lacey

Transfers!

With Tomoko the model

Olga

Favorite (and only) English student

Festival

Cloud that 'saved their lives'

Hello everyone! 

Thanks for all your emails! I can't believe your summer is almost over! So I am now on my fourth transfer.... So..... I'm staying in Okegawa with Sister Teruya! Sister Parker is getting cast out to the faraway land of Niigata with her same companion from the MTC. Crazy! I'm happy I'm staying in Okegawa. I have really started to bond with the ward and our investigators. 

This week I went to my first Japanese Masturi! (Festival) It was a lot of fun and there were so many people. We went after eikaiwa and Tomoko and Michiko came with us. We all had a great time and I ate squid.. It wasn't terrible but the texture was gross. I only had one bite lol. 

This week we had zone meeting and it was so spiritual! The zone leaders and other missionaries who gave training did and amazing job and it was exactly what I needed. At the end the zone leaders had us close our eyes and remember how we felt and remember how strong our faith was when we first received our call to Japan. It brought back a lot of special memories and I realized I need to make sure I have that same excitement everyday and the same strong faith I had when I answered my call to serve in Japan. I am here now and it is going by fast so I need to make sure I try my best while I labor in this part of the Lords vineyard. 

On the way home from zone meeting I witnessed a huge miracle. It was probably the most spiritual and confirming experience I have had so far that I am here as a witness of God's love. I sat down to this one lady on the train. I started talking to her and getting to know her and she is so nice! I started sharing who I was and I asked her if she believed in God. She said she did and said how her husband just past away a year ago. I told her a little about eternal life and the plan of salvation. I gave her a chirashi and asked her to pick a question on there. She picked one about, "will I see loved ones who have passed away again?" I showed her the Book of Mormon. Just the day before I had marked it with all the answers to the questions from the chirashi. I told her she could have it and she was so grateful and excited. I got her number and I referred her to the kawagoe sisters. I was so blessed to be able to be apart of that miracle. I never feel more happy than when I am helping people come unto Christ. It's really a testimony builder with how much people trust the missionaries. That lady I met told me so much about her life and that same day another potential investigator was messaging me on facebook and told me some trials she has been going through and said she thinks God has a plan for her meeting the missionaries. 

I love this work! It is definitely hard and challenging at times but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I know I need to try harder and show more faith and follow the spirit more but I know as long as I try my best everything will be okay. Thank you so much for all your love and support! I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Lacey

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

Hello!

With new Mission President and his wife

Tokyo Temple

Tokyo Temple

Minasan Konnichiwa! 

I'm glad you all are having a great summer! I missed being in America for the 4th if July but we celebrated by going to McDonald's! I've almost had a heart attack this week... I have just about one year left of my mission!! This is crazy how fast it is going by! So I forgot to explain about sports day last week. We had stake sports day and it was so much fun! Our ward came in 3rd or 4th.. I can't remember but I think we one for team spirit! We had matching shirts and team flags and we cheered so much. It was so awesome! We went to this huge city gym. It was the biggest gym I have ever seen and we played all sorts of fun games and relays. Saitama Stake is awesome!

This week has been amazing! We have our new Mission President and Mission Mom! The Nagano's are seriously so amazing! I think I'm going to keep a quote book of the hilarious things they say. We had a short meet and greet with them and I already feel so close to them. I already learned a huge lesson from President Nagano. We were having a discussion and someone asked how can we give our mission everything and our whole soul and President said we need to "seek His will." He talked about how the only thing that is completely ours is our will and our desires. Everything else, Heavenly Father has given us. He said as we give up our will and desires and make our will the same as His, we will become better servants of the Lord. It was an amazing little conference! I can't wait to learn more from them.

So a huge miracle happened this week. We have an investigator who is so amazing! A few months ago elders went housing and she was outside smoking. One of the elders said, "No smoking!" And long story short she started meeting with the sister missionaries. She used to smoke 40 cigarettes a day and when I met her she was down to about 3. Last week she called us and said she had stopped smoking completely! We went and visited her the next day and she seemed so much happier. She looked like she was glowing. She said she felt so much healthier. I had really felt for that lesson we needed to teach her more about prayer. Before we would need to help her step by step through the prayer and she wanted to copy what we said. I told her that a prayer comes from the heart and she is literally talking to God. She said the prayer by herself at the end and it was beautiful! Thursday morning she called us and told us about a miracle! She woke up one morning and couldn't feel the left side of her body. She called the ambulance and they took her to the hospital and said she could be having a stroke. On the way to the next hospital she asked the nurses to pray for her but they didn't know how so she prayed. At the next hospital they did a lot of tests and eventually they said her brain was completely clean and she was fine! Huge miracle! When she was telling us all this on the phone she was crying and said how she knows we are disciples of Christ. Now we just need to help her come to church. 

We also had a lesson with one of our investigators from the Philippians. She loves learning learning about our church. We usually go out to eat with her and I've been noticing that we need to start to have more of a spiritual setting. Our plan was to talk about the law of chastity but then she was asking about temples and I asked her if she remembered the plan of salvation and she had no idea what I was talking about. I instantly changed gears and started talking about the plan of salvation. I'm not sure when she had that lesson but she didn't remember anything so I knew that's what she needed. I think I caught my companions a little off guard because the plan was to talk about the law of chastity but then I started teaching plan of salvation. It ended up going pretty well but there is a bit of a language barrier. She is good at English and Japanese but doesn't quite understand everything we teach. I know we need to have more of a spiritual setting with her so the spirit can teach her heart and the language barrier won't matter.

We had International night and it was a lot of fun! It was great to see some members from Urawa and it was nice to know that they miss me. I miss them too but Okegawa is awesome! I was able to see one of my old investigators and I miss teaching her but she seems to be doing good. President Nagano gave me some hope because he told me the plan is to open up Urawa sisters again. People keep telling me they think I'm going to open it back up and train someone. I think that there is no way that will happen but you never know! 

We saw a huge miracle yesterday! We went to go visit a less active but she wasn't home so on the way back to the station we met a lady from the Philippians and she asked us to come visit her and told us where she loves! We have an appointment with her this Saturday!

I have started a 40 day fast on bad habits I need to stop doing and things I should start doing. I know it will be difficult and I won't be perfect at it but I just need to constantly humble myself. This week a lot of people have been telling me that my Japanese is really good and then sometimes I get a little prideful but Heavenly Father is well aware and as soon as that happens I talk to some one who I can't understand at all! I bore my testimony in sacrament and it was really short but afterwards this one girl in the ward who served in Cali came up to me and said,   "Thank you so much for your testimony. You have such a strong spirit. I was translating sacrament into English for my friend but I couldn't translate what you said. I understood it but I couldn't put it into words. I just felt it so strong."  I bore a very simple testimony and made a lot of language mistakes. I know that it is the spirit that touches the hearts of those we teach and talk to. It is a great privilege to be an instrument in God's hands and to witness so many miracles but to also figure out my weaknesses. I know that this is God's work and I would not be able to do any of this if it was not for His help. I had a great time at the temple. It's so amazing! I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support. I miss you all! Aishitemasu!

Love, Sister Lacey

Hey Fam!

Hiking in Ogose - 6/29/15

Hiking in Ogose - 6/29/15

Hiking in Ogose - 6/29/15

Hiking in Ogose - 6/29/15

Hiking in Ogose - 6/29/15

Hiking in Ogose - 6/29/15

Hiking in Ogose - 6/29/15

Japanese toilet :-)

Hello everyone! 

Thank you for the emails! Sorry for the late email. We went hiking today as a zone in Ogose and had a lot of fun but I am dead right now. I'm glad you all are having a great summer vacation. Not gonna lie, I think I'm in the best place for the summer. I mean I'm in Japan! Sometimes I don't even realize I'm in Japan. I just feel like I fit in and I think I've adjusted to the culture shocks haha. 

So this week has been really good! It went by so fast! On Tuesday we went to the towns gym to play basketball. The elders have invited us a few weeks ago because they said a girl usually goes and could have interest. So we went but turns out the elders couldn't come so we felt super awkward. But everyone was super nice and sister Teruya and sister Parker wanted to play basketball. You know me, so I didn't want to play so they asked me to be the score keeper. It was really fun getting to know knew people. Quick funny story... I was on the stage with the score board but then it was time to go. The stage was really high so I didn't want to jump off in the fear of breaking an ankle so I went to find the stairs. Sister Teruya and Parker were waiting at the bottom of the stairs but I had to go behind some curtains to get to them. Well, one guy who had been sitting out because of a sore leg, saw I was confused on how to get down and he got up and followed me! I was screaming inside my head, "sight and sound sight and sound!" He was just being nice and showing me the way but it scared the living daylights out of me because I couldn't see my comps for a full 2 seconds and I was with a guy. I felt like I needed to repent afterwards... Scariest moment of my life haha. Anyways, so we had fun and made new friends that we invited to Eikaiwa. On the way home there was the biggest rain storm I've ever witnessed. There was lightning and thunder constantly and we rode home on our bikes. There was one road that was like a river and every time we peddled our feet were covered in water. It was awesome! We had a great time!

We had our last Zone Conference with President and Sister Budge this week. I seriously didn't think I would come to be so close with them. But Sister Budge said to us all, "be grateful that it is hard to say goodbye because that means you have developed a strong relationship." The conference was amazing and it was exactly what I needed to hear. President Budge talked a lot about humility. He talked about Ether 12:27 which says:

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

It suddenly all clicked for me! That is what I'm doing, I came on a mission and in that scripture it says, "if they come unto me" and I have definitely realized my weaknesses. He also said we don't need to repent for our weaknesses. We just need to recognize them, humble ourselves and have faith that we can change. The opposite of humility is pride and humiliation which is injured pride. Satan tries to lead us down the path of pride but if we recognize our weakness and try our very best to improve, they will be made strong. But one thing I really liked what President Budge said was, "sometimes the weaknesses aren't taken away. God likes us to be humble, it keeps us away from pride. But He will make us strong in our weakness." President Budge is such a brilliant man. I am going to miss him and sister Budge a lot but I am exited for President and Sister Nagano. 

I have realized this week that one of my strengths is pronunciation. But my weakness is speaking. I read over my setting apart blessing and it said that I will be blessed to master the language quickly but I will be tentative to speak, but if I do speak I will be able to help others so much. I know I need to keep improving my strengths and by doing that I might be able to improve my weaknesses. I also watched the Mormon Message The Will of God and one of my favorite lines is, "Thank you God, for loving me enough to hurt me." We need to always remember that Heavenly Father knows all. He knows our potential and He knows our weaknesses. He will be more than willing to help us overcome our weaknesses we just need to be humble enough to accept our weakness and go forward. We won't change overnight, but as we trust in the Lord, day by day, "[we] can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [us]. I love you all so much! I hope you have a great week! I miss you all! Aishitemasu!

Love, Sister Lacey

Summer Rain

Too bad missionaries can't have puppies :-(

They have a nice toaster

At Church in Okegawa

Lunch

Sisters on the road

Hello everyone! 

Thank you for all your emails! I hope you are all enjoying your summer! It's been raining so much and I love it! It's
still been pretty cool with the rain but everyone is saying that August feels like death... Bring it on. I seriously think we had more rain in an hour than Apple valley ever had in a year! It's insane!

This week was awesome!  I love my companions! We are having a great time and I LOVE finding. I feel like I'm coming out of my comfort zone more and I'm more willing to talk to people and I'm not as afraid to make
mistakes. It really helps my language improve. We decided to try and make housing and streeting fun. We said we wanted to talk to everyone wearing a striped shirt. We prayed and told Heavenly Father to put prepared people in our path because we would talk to everyone wearing striped shirts. So the next day we went out and we turned a corner and literally everyone was wearing striped shirts! It was crazy! We went from person to person, sharing short messages with them. Some people weren't interested and some listened. It was a huge testimony builder that God does hear and answer our prayers.

I went on exchanges with Sister Gates and I met with one of the investigators there and she is amazing! She loves President Monson so much! She almost started crying just talking about him. She really wants to go to the next general conference to see him. It was such a huge testimony builder to me.

This transfer we have decided to set a lot of specific goals. Sister Teruya told us, "I want to see a miracle." We are determined to do everything we can to see a miracle. We have been really trying to exercise more faith and it definitely makes a difference when we have the same goal in mind as our Father in Heaven.

I love you all so much! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD! I hope you have a safe week. Thank you for all that you do! I miss you all! Aishiteimasu!

Love,
Sister Lacey

Series of Unfortunate Events

Saying goodbye to their 7-Eleven friends in Urawa

Fire clouds

New companions - Sister Teruya and Sister Parker

Hello everyone! 

Thank you for all the emails! There have been so many ups and downs this week.. So... This week. Where do I begin?! I am now in Okegawa with Sister Parker and Sister Teruya. Transfer calls were Monday and transfer day
was Wednesday.  Sister Sticht and I were so busy cleaning our apartment, packing, and telling our investigators
that the elders were going to teach them now... It was a rough couple of days. But wait, it gets better. I went to the mission home and Sister Sticht became companions with another sister leaving and they were going to be together for the next few days. I was with this Japanese Sister while we waited for our new companions to arrive. We went out finding and had a really fun time. A few hours later President Budge told me some sad news that Sister Kawabata was most likely going home... I was so sad and I was sent to go with the Nakano sisters who
serve by the mission home until they figured out what to do with me. I think their apartment is the smallest in the mission! I stayed on the floor for four days because there was only two chairs haha. President Budge called me Friday morning and told me where my new area would be. He said he and President Dorff talked and thought it would be best for me to serve in Okegawa. It is still in Saitama Stake but I am in a different zone.

I couldn't meet up with my new companions until Saturday evening because of schedules but I was happy because I got to meet Sister Sticht's family! She called me and we met up with them at a train station. I was so happy to meet them and it was almost like seeing my own family because I know so much about them. They gave me gifts too! They were so nice and then I had to say goodbye to Sister Sticht. It was so hard because she's going home and it's not like I can see her again during the mission. I cried when we hugged goodbye and she gave me encouraging advice. It's hard to leave my trainer and be away from everything I have known. New area, new companions, but I LOVE Sister Teruya and Sister Parker. Sister Teruya is from Okinawa and is so loving and hilarious and Sister Parker came into the MTC a few weeks before I left and she is hilarious! We are going to have a great time! I am so excited to serve with them and to work hard here in Okegawa. The members here are so nice and a lot of people say I sound like a Japanese person when I speak. Thanks to Sister Sticht! She helped me a
lot to focus on pronunciation. My vocabulary is very limited but at least my pronunciation is good!  The ward has so much dendou Fire and they love the missionaries. I still get to see Urawa people because I'm in the same stake so I'm happy about that.

Sister Fox shared a really cool talk with me. One of my favorite quotes is, "The doctrines are His, brothers and sisters, not ours. The power is His to delegate, not ours to manipulate!" I think that's so true. This is Christ's church. We are to obey His commandments. We can't pick and choose. If we do that, we won't receive the many promised blessings the Lord is ready to bestow upon us.

I love you all so much! I'm sad that I won't be in Koshigaya but I know I will have a good time here in Okegawa. I miss Urawa already and it will always be my home here in Japan, but I'm ready to do all that I can to help the people here. Thank you for all your love and support!

Aishiteimasu!

Love,
Sister Lacey