NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Dear Family and Friends

It has been a busy week (as usual) and time is flying by so fast. Can you believe I only have ONE YEAR LEFT? Absolutely blows my mind. I got the package of sonha de valsas (?) and I opened it and I swear Sister Silva screamed as if a little child on Christmas. It was so amazing. She just kept saying how much she loves you and NEEDS to meet you. She loves our family! All of us also watched the mission call opening for Kristy, of course I was balling because I am so proud of her. She TOTALLY spazzed out, couldn`t stop laughing. Glad to see my Kristy is still the same.  Everyone looks SO good/different and it was the most bizarre thing. I haven`t yet gotten the 2nd package you sent.... However, if you send things to the honbu they MUST be sent through the US post (otherwise they can`t forward them to me and it takes weeks for me to receive them). I am not really sure what is going to happen next transfer, I hope and pray that I am staying in Kariya. So if I end up staying I will send you the address for packages pronto. Otherwise, there is not much point. Sister Silva has two transfers left in her mission, so she will probably go to another area. However, we don`t know what is going to happen! I will most likely become area sempai and then Sister Silva will go to a new area... 

This week has been AWESOME and we have found so many new people to teach with an interest for the gospel. I invited Danila and Thiago to hear more about the church and they were so excited to learn more about eternal families! Our investigators are progressing so much and words honestly can`t express how much I love these people. So much is happening! 

I think I told you about the Brazilian lady who hadn`t been to church in a lonnnnng time where God had impeccable timing and answered her prayers by us showing up at her door? Well, since she has come into contact with us she has seen so many miracles. Things are working out for her life and she knows that it is because God is blessing her by her faith. You honestly wouldn`t believe the 360 degree change that has happened in this woman`s heart. She has so much faith, and she is so happy! She gave us 10 dollars and said to go buy some bananas. We were like NO WAYYYYY. That is way too much, we can`t take this. She is so sassy and was like "no you take it and say thank you. This is nothing in comparison to the miracles that you have brought to my life." I love her so much.  She is coming back to church! It is amazing how much the Lord has blessed her since she has started to meet with us. There is also another Japanese woman who we have been meeting with who is recognizing the need for God in her life and is returning to church now. These ladies are INCREDIBLE. 

Crazy experience of last week, so we had this insanely busy day planned to visit so many people. So we were pretty far away from our house and Silva Shimai said "okay, we can go back a bit and take the train, this road might long and hilly. What do you think?" So I said "no it is cool, we can do it!" Hahaha... So we start going down this highway on our bikes and it is totally downhill. So I am thinking "yeahhh, this is cool, aren`t we so glad that we did that?" Next thing we know, everything is uphill, super steep and we are both screaming bloody murder because of the pain in our legs. Hahaha I was like, Sister Silva- you can just go ahead and punch me. So in that day, we ended up biking over 30 miles with half of it being uphill. We were so dead. All of the members couldn`t believe how far we went, they said "you are not sister missionaries! Sister missionaries don`t do that. ELDERS don`t even come out this far." Hehehe we could have kept going, but we were out from 8 am until 9*30 at night. So it is super busy. I also got in my first legit bike accident last week, me and Silva Shimai are both totally bruised and sore from it... Hahaha whoops. 

As far as what I need for Christmas... I am not sure I have need of much. It would probably just be easier to send me some money so I can buy a couple new things to replace! All the sisters say it is going to be freezing and I will want boots... So I don`t know really what to do about that. I don`t really have any that would work from home that you could send me. My pea coat might not be warm enough either. I guess I can just put tons of layers on. It will work out! I am not too worried about it! 

Well, I love you all so much! This experience is soooo humbling, but I have never been happier. I really can`t do this without the help of my Heavenly Father. THE CHURCH IS TRUE.