Less Active Week

Wow... for a minute I was pretty surprised that you actually bought a dog for Karina. haha It made me laugh when I found out it was Jaylie's.

So you said you missed hearing from me last week. Did my email not send? I am SO sorry if it didn't. I also forgot to tell you that it was temple pday this week, so pday is on Tuesday.ごめんね！ Next week is transfer calls and Zone Pday, so I will be emailing at night hear. I wonder what is going to be happening in Takasaki.

Temple Pday was fun. The Suzuki's ended up driving us there this morning. It was nice not having to take the train. They are the BEST! It was fun seeing my MTC district. Everyone seems to be working hard. Kasumi wanted to try and meet after the temple, but then her kids got sick. I will let her know when the next one is. Maybe she will be able to make it. With it being temple Pday, we enjoyed our time in Shibuya. It was fun and we had しゃぶしゃぶ（Shabushabu） (google it).

As for this week, it was a pretty good week. We visited quite a few less actives and reached our goal. There were three sisters we visited that I think it really made a difference in their lives. It started off by visiting a sister named Sato shimai. She has been very busy with work and hasn't been able to come to church for a while. Before we left, we asked if there was anything we could do to help her. She said she has been to busy to visit some friends that are having a really hard time in there life, so she asked if we could visit them. One is Ubukata Terumi San (shimai), a former investigator from 2011, who attempted to commit suicide in 2012 by burning herself. She is pretty badly burned and is missing a hand and a couple of fingers. When we visited, she was excited to talk to us again. She is such a beautiful woman despite what she has gone through. We shared with her a message about how the Lord doesn't look on the outward appearence, but He looks on the heart. Terumi Shimai has such a big heart and is so sweet. We invited her to church, but she is afraid of what people will think of her. We plan to meet with her again this week to talk to her some more. She is such a wonderful person .

The next person Sato Shimai asked us to visit is a less active that has really bad depression. She has been in a hospital to treat it for a while. We visited her with Sister Suzuki. Her name is Yamagata Shimai and she is so smart. When we visited her, she wanted to talk in english instead. (she has very good english) We talked about how she is doing and also about church. The most amazing thing about her is, she is in such a hard time in her life with depression (really bad depression), stuck in a hospital, not being able to do anything. But, the whole time we were talking to her, she asked how other people are doing. She asked how the ward is, how Terumi Shimai (her friend) is doing, how Suzuki Shimai's family is doing. She was so unselfish and cared so much for others. That was such a great example to me.

It was so hard to see people in such a sad state like that. It made me feel good to help them and let them know that some really does care about them. It was a great experience visiting all these sisters and making a difference in there lives. I am glad we were able to help put a smile on there faces.

This week, we also had Zone Meeting and a blitz in Takasaki. It was fun to have other missionaries come to the area. No one has been to Takasaki except a few sisters game for axchanges. Halversen Shimai and I even made curry for all 30 of them in like 20 minutes. (we prepared a little the night before it was pretty ninja though...) The Blitz was also great and we recieved a couple of referrals from elders in the Zone.

The Electric Dictionary really does help a lot. 本当にありがとうございます！ It helps me study words better. たとえばI decided I learn words better and faster when I know the kanji. It helps me remember.

So, I want to update you on an investigator. His name is 福田さん(Fukuda San) He has learned a lot from past missionaries and knows a lot about the gospel, but doesn't have a tesitmony. He likes tobacco alot and would rather read the bible only and not the Book of Mormon. He doesn't like to pray either. He also says he doesn't feel clean enough to get baptized. We have been working with him for a while now and still no desire for baptism. But, this week, we had a great lesson with him. When we arrived to our lesson with him, we found him reading the true to the faith book we gave him as a gift. He was reading about prayer at the time and really liked what he learned. That lead into a great lesson about prayer and he really seemed to learn a lot. Coming out of lessons like that, where an investigator really learned something and has a desire to act on what they learn really makes me happy. Things like that help me know that I am making a difference.

It is great to hear that the missionaries in the 7th ward are teaching part member families. I am glad that things are going well in the ward. I pray that the 7th ward will continue to grow. Dad, I am sorry you have been sick for a while now. I hope you get well soon. Just so you know, the missionaries really do appreciate all the hard work you do to help them.

It was a great week and I am just realizing that transfers are coming up. I can't believe that the transfer is almost over already! Time really does fly when you are on a mission. I really am curious what is going to happen this coming transfer. I am ready for some change, but if it doesn't come, then I guess I will see what the Lord has planned for me.

Well everyone, have a great week and HAVE FUN! Love you all! :)

愛していますよ！

アイボリー姉妹

Sister Ivory

we helped suzuki shimai with some deep cleaning

The Zone (the big thing is a rice cooker.  BIG HUH!)

 Temple Pday (thank you grandma for the sweater and scarf!)