My Slice of Heaven

こんにちは!

This week was pretty awesome. Last Monday was the Nakatsuka's last FHE. We took Yuki San and as we were waiting to go inside a car pulls up and out jumps my KUDOU KAZOKU!!!!!(The family I was teaching in Shinoro) never been so happy in my life. I ran over to them so fast- hahah. They had come just to see me because they knew I'd be there. I love them so much.

FHE (Family Home Evening) was so awesome, there was a point we were sitting there listening to a musical number and I looked over and saw Yuki, my Kudou fam, all my missionary buds, and a bunch of members and investigators from my past areas. That's what my heaven is going to look like. It was probably my favorite moment of my life.

Also got to talk to an investigator from Shinkotoni and he is getting baptized in 2 weeks! And Yuki went through the temple this week and did baptisms for her grandma!! YAY!!

This week we met so many cool people and had a lot of fun experiences. One day we were walking down the street and there were some people outside having a BBQ and we walked by and they were like "come join us!" So we got to hang out and eat some BBQ- hahah. Another day we met a guy from India that's fluent in English so we got to teach him the whole first lesson in English!! It was awesome! We also met this sweet old lady that told us to come visit her so we did and she sang us traditional Japanese songs and fed us veggies from her garden. My comp looked at me and was like "isn't it so weird that our lives basically consist of going into strangers houses and becoming friends with them" hahah being a missionary is the best!

I love Japan so much.

愛してる

Rigs

I Met Henry!

おはようございます!

This week Elder Dallin H Oaks came to visit our mission! He came with the entire Area Presidency! It was pretty cool. They walked in and we got to shake all their hands!

Sister Oaks got up to talk to us and told us we were a very warm, happy mission and that that was a rare thing. She said she thinks it's because our mission is so hard. She said "There are some days we spend the entire day in the temple and I've noticed the happiest workers are always the six a.m. session. It's the hardest session considering how early they have to get up to be there, yet they are the happiest. I think it's the same here. You are the six a.m.session. You are the frozen chosen." hahaha- I love my mission.

Something Elder Oaks said that I loved was "Remember to love, teach and testify. Love, the most important emotion on earth, is a matter of feeling, not science." If our investigators can feel our love for them they will better be able to understand Gods love for them and our message. Whenever we visit people we always ask if we can give them a hug before we leave, the smile they get on their face is my favorite thing ever! Nakatsuka kaicho always asks us to be "messengers of love" because our message really is a message of love.

It was a really great conference! Learned lots. Plus since it was Mission Conference I got to see the whole mission aka all my favorite people!!! It was the best ever and made me really happy.

Lay 姉妹 and I are working really hard and seeing lots of miracles! It's been raining like crazy which has pretty much destroyed everything we own... but it's been fun! I can't decide which is more fun: biking through typhoons all day or walking through blizzards all day. There seems to be no in between here.  Wouldn't want to be anywhere else :)

愛してる

whit rig

Besties

I Found My Friend!

Baptism, 10 month mark and got to FaceTime my family all in the same weekend??? Best weekend ever!!!

SATURDAY YUKI SAN GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! It was the most perfect,beautiful-est day ever. She was sooo happy. At the baptism Frank 姉妹 and I sang "I'll find you my friend" Yuki kept saying she came to Ebetsu to find us so she could learn the gospel and I know I came to Ebetsu to find her. The day I transferred to Ebetsu was the day we got Yuki's number. I'm so grateful I got to be with her from the beginning and see her baptism! Definitely a miracle. She's literally our best friend. We went and got ice cream and bought matching outfits after that we wore to church the next day because we're just that cute. One year from Saturday we'll be going through the temple together! I love her so much!!!

Last Wednesday was temple pday. Frank 姉妹 and I decided to bike to the temple and back. let's just say it wasn't the best weather and we've spent every day since (except the baptism) in our apartment dead- haha... but the temple was beautiful so it was worth it!

Since today is MOTHERS DAY! Here is a shoutout to my mom. The best mom in the world. The real MVP. You all wish you had a mom like mine. She's beautiful, kind and can solve any problem in the world. People always ask what my mom is like and I always say, "キリストのような" which means "like Christ" because that's the best way to describe her! I love you mom!!!! 母の日おめでとうございます! 愛しています！

リグビ姉妹

All that's missing from this picture is a jar of peanut butter.

🌺🌷🌸🌹

おはようございます🌞

This week has been packed with goodness. 

Monday frank 姉妹 and I rode another 26 miles, this time to Shinoro, to buy a ukulele so we can sing at Yuki Sans baptism this Saturday!! We came back and went straight to a lesson with Yuki San. We met with her almost every day this week and were able to finish the lessons! We took her to the temple Saturday. When she saw it for the first time she got sooo excited. She jumped out of the car and was skipping she was so happy. She tells us everyday how grateful she is for the joy the gospel has brought to her life in such a short amount of time. The gospel is such a blessing!! 

It's finally looking like spring here!!! The Sakura (cherry blossoms) bloomed and there's tulips lining every sidewalk!! I love it. 

We've started doing morning exercise at the park with like 15 grandmas and grandpas. They meet every morning to do this awesome work out routine to some awesome music haha apparently this is a regular thing in Japan. It's so much fun I love it hahaha

 Every week our elders go to Iwamizawa to teach eikaiwa since the Elders there are Japanese, this week our Elders got stuck in a lesson so they asked us to go for them. We jumped on a train and became the first Sisters to dendo in Iwamizawa.😎 We taught them about leprechauns and groundhogs day. They now think Americans are crazy. On our way to the eki we stopped at a conveni and discovered the most delicious coconut milk. We went back and bought like 6 bottles. We went back to Ebetsu and the next day we searched every conveni in Ebetsu and couldn't find coconut milk anywhere. We were so upset. Then yesterday we stopped at a conveni by our house and I headed towards the drinks and frank Shimai said "it's not gonna be there" and I told her I had to look. Lo and behold there was our precious coconut milk!!!!! We have a slight addiction. It may be a problem... but we're HAPPY :)) if you're in Japan do yourself a favor and find some coconut milk!!!! 

China or Japan?

你好!

So apparently I've been transferred to China. 90% of the people we are teaching right now are Chinese!! It's been crazy. I was talking to President Nakatsuka about it and he said Chinese people are more open to accepting the gospel. I asked him why that was and he said because even though they don't realize it, Christianity is in their background. KANJI LESSON TIMEEEEE. 船<-- this is the kanji for ship. If you look closely you'll see three kanji within that kanji: 舟 (boat), 八 (8) and 口(mouth) so yes the kanji for ship is literally 8 mouths on a boat. How many people were on Noah's ark????? Are you amazed yet?????? すごいね！

Anyways Yuki San is still doing great and is so excited for her baptism next week!!

Saturday Frank 姉妹 and I biked 26 miles out to the country side and back. It was AWESOMEEEEE!!! We were literally in the middle of nowhere, covered in bugs and dirt. I loved it. And I met and taught a Japanese cowboy.

We spent 4 days up in Asahikawa going on splits and going to Zone Conference. One day Michaels 姉妹 and I were out dendoing and there were 5 helicopters and 100 cop cars, ambulances and fire trucks surrounding a blocked off street so naturally I wanted to see what was going on so we walked down and I talked to a police officer and he told me the building had just exploded!!! It was pretty

exciting. I think everyone was okay...

Also I'm working on my Chinese and Shuwa (Japanese sign language) so by the time I come home I just might be quad lingual🤞🏼

愛してるよ！

リグビ姉妹

Morning run to Chinatown

Wait. 金人 are real???

おはようございます🌞

Everyone remember our perfect Chinese investigator we found last week?? Well turns out she's a real

life 金人 (golden person) this week we set a baptismal date with her for May 13!!! She's soooo

excited and so are we! I've never met someone so prepared to receive the gospel.  Every time we teach her something she says "I believe this! I've always believed this! People in Japan and China don't believe this. I didn't know other people believed this too!" And then she'll share an

experience related to our message. She basically teaches herself. Her name is Yuki San and she's 22

and she's teaching me Chinese and I love her. I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!

Saturday my comp and I woke up and ran to a park for exercise and it started snowing so we sang Christmas songs and that same day WE GOT OUR BIKES BACK so it really was Christmas🎄🚴🏼‍♀️ I LOVE MY BIKE

Other than that we headed up to Asahikawa for a few days for ZTM and Zone Activity and it was a party so here's a bunch of videos that sum it up...

1. Disney movie reenactment (filmed in China town)
2. Southern Utah love song
3. Takamasa & Bateman
4. Catching pigeons
5. Favorite scripture reenactment