I'm off to serve an LDS mission in Kobe, Japan from June 2015 to December 2016. My mom will be keeping this blog updated with my latest letters, photos, adventures, etc.! Also I would LOVE to hear from everyone - katya.wagstaff@myldsmail.net

Monday, November 14, 2016

Mon. Nov. 14, 2016

This week I regretted leaving my rain boots in my last area- they were getting sad and I thought the rain was mostly done...zannen but it's okay work moves on! 

Last Monday night we did a lot of finding, found a bunch of college and high school students- not quite new investigators but it's always nice to start of the week really busy teaching like that. 
Tuesday was a rainy day and Stoneman Shimai still isn't 100% but okay to dendo so we decided to take trains and walk so that we could use umbrellas instead of riding in the rain. We were going after less actives- got some not-so-happy-to-see-us people but then of course also nicer people, plus had fun trying to find this girl baptized a few years ago but went less active and a few weeks ago some members saw her working at Sushiro so we tried to meet her there plus get some good food! 

Wednesday normal new member lessons and every week we read the BOM with this less active and this time another member and new member joined and we talked about the Atonement with 1 Ne 19- cute Yamanaka Shimai, new member may get distracted and tell funny stories but she also has a testimony centered on Christ and overall it was just a really spiritual lesson- I love those powerful reminders that Jesus Christ is our Savior and there are so many blessings in store for us! That night at Eikaiwa a mom and her daughter came and she's pretty determined to start a kid's class here- nothing makes me more exhausted but at the same time it's so much fun, plus she's going to bring friends which means hello new investigators! 

Thursday met Yamanaka Shimai again talked about the Atonement, becoming more Christ-like and she continues to amaze me with what she understands- there's so much she doesn't really understand and can't say baptism but she gets the important stuff-shows how simple the gospel is. In the evening, brought an investigator, Naho Chan over for dinner and lesson with YW pres, turned out really well plus thenmember asked what we wanted to eat and I told her I just want completely Japanese food, what they normally eat, so she had tofu and an octopus salad and a miso soup and fish and along with a lot of other ways I've changed, this food is DELICIOUS, like if I could I would eat that stuff all the time and those are all things I pretty much hated before! 
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Friday before District Meeting took the train over and taught people along the way like usual and Stoneman Shimai talked to this lady who legitimately has interest AND lives close to the church- answer to prays, pretty excited about her plus her family, lots of hope for them! Had a good District Meeting, Chinese for lunch and headed back to an appt with a member, along the way found some another girl with potential, plus this member was amazing. She's very in tune with the Spirit- doing a great job planting seeds everywhere, sharing the gospel plus then at the end I swear it had no connection to what we were talking about earlier but she started talking about another sister years earlier and gave advice that was perfect for me- I don't know if she knew it or not but she was for sure an instrument in Heavenly Father's hands. Evening was Game Night plus joint lesson with the elders for a recent convert who's super quiet but the time between asking a question and him answering was a lot shorter than usual! Progress! Then end of the nging after planning, our cute next door neighbor rang out doorbell and just wanted to talk (long story with her but she's adorable and NEEDS the gospel)- we were able to share a scripture from BOM that we had found earlier that day in companion study that we thought would be nice to share with her sometime- God is looking out for His children and we've been especially trying to be in tune with the Spirit to know how we can help her.
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(ps 11/11 Pocky Day)

Saturday the Ward had a big church clean-up then a barbeque! We organized the library and it was so nice to throw away all the papers and junk that have been building up for waaay too long and now the church just looks and smells and feels so much nicer! Plus the BBQ was so good and we had really good weather and fun people! Later Tai San cancelled her lesson :( but was really grateful sorry and were trying to reschedule now. Evening had dinner with a member family- daughter is less active but still nice and talks to us- made the lesson a little awkward but the Spirit came and she has to choose for herself and has zero interest now but hopefully someday soon. 
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Sunday was the Primary Program with 2 girls- they were so impressive! The Primary program is always amazing and normally I remember all the funny things that happen but these girls were pretty normal which just probably helped us all focus more on their message. Something that amazed me was that very simply and powerfully they essentially taught all of the missionary lessons- Primary kids can be missionaries and it was the coolest experience. Then during a Sunday School, an investigator (Naho Chan) unexpectedly showed up and said she wanted to talk to us...so we're freaking out thinking she'll drop us and then she says- I talked to my boss and now I can come to church all month. Djfnoecmdm whaaa?? So that was cool, YW are super welcoming- all one of them and 2 leaders :) After church had a Christmas Party planning meeting- this is going to be so good! In the evening we visited the Kiyotani family- parents and daughters youngest is our age and not very active so we had everyone write down favorite scripture then we mixed them up, read them and guessed who's it was then the person had to explain why they liked it- coolest thing was that Megumi did it along with everyone and can't explain how happy her parents seemed, her mom exclaimed "See!! You do have a testimony!" and that was just really really cool.  

Today is rainy and we're going to some really old shrine (Nanzenji )that members recommended and holy cow like the fall colors here are definitely comparable with New England- promise it's all real- way pretty place! Transfers this week. Way too fast. Million different thoughts I could share but one scripture that sticks out has been Sther 6:8 that the winds never cease to blow towards the promised land. The winds of trial are always there and yet God is in charge and when we're doing our best, He's leading us in the right direction. 
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Love you all! 

Wagstaff 姉妹

On to lighter things- I still hate heights and the giant shrine thing we climbed into today was so scary, granted pictures might have been worth it, but this was when we were coming down...
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Here was our barbecue, look how warm it looks and it's November- weathers been crazy. 

Sent from my iPad

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