Busy Week

May is almost here!! I can't believe it. Where did April go? Haha this
week went really well and we had a lot of fun. Nagaoka is great. There
seems to be mountains all around us, but from a distance. Let me tell
you a little about nagaoka. They are famous for their rice. It is so
delicious. It is giving me rice checks.... Haha! Nagaoka is also
famous for its firework shows I think. Every august they have a big
firework show. I have seen pictures and it looks amazing!! Hopefully I
will be here for august.... Haha! We had two investigators from our
area at church even when it was one hour away.

This Week we had interviews with President Budge. They went really

well. It is sometimes nice to just have to time to talk to him and
receive guidance from him for what I need to do better as a
missionary. The day of interviews, we saw a kiseki too. After
interviews, brown Shimai and I went it did some smile Dendou. While we
were dousing that, a man walks up to us and asks, if we were
Mormons.... We said yes. Then he said... You teach Eikaiwa right....
And again we said yes. (This is all in Japanese). His name is Ken ( I
think he is Chinese) and he went to Eikaiwa about six years ago. His
English isn't the best though... Haha. Well we invited him to come to
Eikaiwa and he wants to come. Then we invited him to come to church
and he said he wanted to come. So... We had to explain to him that
church was going to be in Niigata (about a one hour drive) and he said
he would come, but he juepst needed to know how to to there. So we
exchanged numbers so we could send him the address. About thirty mins.
later while we were emailing him the address. Other sisters who were
at the church being interviewed (sister Halversen) haha calls and says
there is a man walking around the church holding an Eikaiwa chirashi.
They talked to him and he said he wants to go to church on Sunday. It
so happened to be Ken. Haha right after talking with us, he followed
the map on the flyer so he could see the church. I guess he told the
sisters that he was planning in taking us to church on Sunday in his
car... So, we sent him the address for Niigata church, then he calls
us and says he is waiting at the church. We hurry and make our way
over there and call the elders to meet us there too so we can
introduce them and refer Ken over to them. We all meet up and Ken just
kept saying in English. "I'm happy, this makes me happy." It was so
cool. He was excited to meet the elders, and they made plans to go to
Niigata together.

Church was in Niigata because they are getting a new district
president for the Niigata district, so pres. Budge was there too. Ken
was able to meet pres budge which was way cool. Akane also came with
us. Us three drove with th Nozaki couple from the ward (Dendou shunin
and his wife). Akanes had a lot of fun meeting all the missionaries
plus budge kaicho shimai. We even stayed after for a YSA activity.
Akane has so much fun. When we returned back to the church in nagaoka,
we answered questions about what happened during the meeting and gave
her a Book of Mormon and introduced it to her. Akane has so much
potential. I am so glad we have such a great relationship with her.

Anyway... That is a bad explanation of what happened his week. We also
did some finding near the ocean that is in our area. I also forget
that we are on an island. Haha

It sounds like Karina is doing well with track. You go girl. Run hard
this weekend and have fun. Mom dad, keep enjoying your self before
things get crazy in May. It is fun that you all saw some pics of
grandma. If you could, you should try and send me some or one. I would
love to see. Thank you for all you do. I love you. Have a great week
and stay safe. I will send pics.

 Ha

Love ,
Sister Ivory

 P.s. What is the name of the town between fountain green and fairview?