Kacylia: July is coming to a rapid end. YIKES‏

This week FLEW by. I feel like I just emailed you yesterday. But nope.... It has been a whole week! This week was way busy but great. We had interviews with President Budge this week. One thing we talked about was how I have only five months left of my mission. What?! Just have to keep working hard. So I was wondering.... Is Landon home? I remember his farewell! Derek will be home too! Ok, enough of this kind of talk now. We also had zone meeting this week, so that was way good. During all the train trips to Nakano we met some way nice people and some potential investigators. It was great. I met people from finaland, Poland, and a very nice old man (he is Japanese, but he knew a little English and has lived in Germany) it was way fun talking to him on the train. It was in Japanese too, so I still youse my Japanese.

So I have learned so much from my experience in the English ward. Working with so many people of different religions is really hard and really tests my testimony and faith. We met with Efaniel, a Seventh Day Adventist, and she really tore us apart on our beliefs. After talking with sister Ipson after that lesson, we came to an interesting realization. During the whole lesson, she did all she could to prove us wrong about why worshiping on Sundays and not Saturdays is wrong. We discussed passages from the bible, but she would never hear our take on modern day revelation. One thing Ipson Shimai and I realized was that not once did we tell her that she was wrong about anything she was saying, but we patiently listened and learned from her. It encouraged me to continue to read from the bible and Book of Mormon more and pray to Heavenly Father for the truth. You know, my testimony is still weak and it is growing everyday. After that lesson, I felt a little confused and also a little dumb. I don't know a lot from the bible and I don't know everything to answer her questions in the way she wants to hear. But, during my personal study the next day, I prayed for guidance and help in strengthening my testimony. Then as I was reading from the Book of Mormon I found a scripture found in 2 Nephi. It is 2 Nephi 8:7 which says, "fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings." After reading that, I felt like Heavenly Father was comforting me and encouraging me to be strong and not worry about the knowledge I don't have, but just testify with power with the knowledge that I do have. My testimony continues to grow each day as I study more and more about the gospel. I may not have the answer to every question investigators ask me, but I know that the church is true.

We also met with a lot of our phillipino investigators this week. Cris, 78, just returned from the rehabilitation hospital this week. He had a stroke a few months ago. He has baptism date and is still progressing really well. Rona and her daughter mei chan (8) are doing pretty good. Mei chan is more receptive than Rona. She is very smart and willing to learn. We are working with them on getting to church as well as Maria. Maria is still busy with her new shop. We have been helping her with that as well. She is such a hard working.

This weekend we went to a Japanese class we haven't been to before. We went because we were told that they were having a lunch. That is a perfect time to meet people. We met this nice girl from Nepal. We spent a lot of time with her at the lunch. She is about 16 and came here with her family. We look forward to meeting her again. It is so fun to meet people from all over the world!

I didn't Skype for irita's baptism

but that is ok.... I saw a picture of her, and she was very happy. I am so happy for her!!

I am glad you have been enjoying your summer traveling an stuff. I am also glad you have taveled safely. Thank for all the pictures. Everyone is looking pretty tan. Haha That is cool that they had a booth for family history at international days. I talked to Yohei, a recent convert about grandma and my family history, and he thought that was the coolest thing ever. Yohei is awesome. He really enjoyed looking at the pictures I have. If you have more, please send me some. It got him way excited to do family history. This Sunday, we got everything figured out for him to recieve the priesthood and a temple recommend. He is doing awesome!

Also, dad I thought you might think this is cool. So today, we had lunch with a less active member. She is from Columbia and kind of Porto Rico she speaks decent English and Japanese, but she prefers Spanish. She would speak some Spanish and it reminded me of you dad. So I thought that was cool. I need to start learning Spanish.... Haha. Also, sorry I haven't replied to past emails, but thank you for the updates. I am glad that missionary work is going well in the ward. I look forward to when I return and can be apart of it.

Ok, This is information for you mom and dad. So, Ipson Shimai had a dentist appointment because she had two cavities she wanted to get fixed. Yohei, a recent convert took us. She had to go back to finish the cleaning on a different day. Since we went back.... I ended up getting my teeth clean because it was going to be only ¥2700 ($27). Then, they found I had a crack, so they filled it. Altogether, ¥3500 ($35). I know you said I didn't need to go while on my mission, but I have heard that dentistry is much cheaper in Japan, so I did it. I even got to watch them do it. That was cool. My teeth are shiney clean! They also said I have really good teeth and good shape. That made me feel good. No cavities!! 😬

Anyway, I better get going. Thanks for everything ! I love you all! 愛しています！

アイボリー姉妹