He provides a way!

Sister Wedekind was so nice!   She took us to get our toenails done on our Preparation Day, because we had helped her at her house!

Quote of the day :)
Me: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" 
Marshall (4 years old): "Wolverine!  And then I'm going to be Batman and look I've even got a cape..... but FIRST I'm going to be a missionary!"

Missionaries are on the same level as wolverine.  I love life :) 

Our Sister Training Leaders

Sister Coles from the Missionary Training Center

Sister Capener and I with the Williamses....I love them!

Sister Capener's "old" district

I was extremely overwhelmed and nervous when this transfer started.  I'm not fluent and I'm a young inexperienced missionary.  I didn't want my inability to teach or testify hurt our investigators or their testimonies.  However, I've really learned this transfer that Heavenly Father doesn't set us up to fail.  He really has a plan.  And this transfer His plan was to stick two blonds together in the middle of Okinawa and see what miracles happened despite our weaknesses.  Next week is transfers.  It will break my heart if I have to leave.  I have served these people with everything thing that I have and I've really grown to love them.

We had been trying all week to meet with an investigator, Takizawa San.  Except every time we knocked on her door no one was home.  We stopped by at least 3 times and she never answered.  I was getting worried and I didn't know how to help her if we couldn't meet with her.  Well, the other day we were biking up our hill to get home when we stopped at our cross walk and waited for the cars to pass to get to the other side.  We kept waiting and waiting.  I turned around and caught the eye of a lady.  I thought about going to talk to her, but I was starving and super sweaty and just wanted to go home (that sounds like me right :).  But Heavenly Father was really determined that I talk to her, I guess, because car after car prevented us from crossing the road.  So I turned around to Sister Capener and asked her if we could talk to the lady.  We biked over and I started talking to her.  She said no and not only did she say no she wasn't very nice about it.  So I pedaled back over to the cross walk defeated and then I looked up.  I saw Takizawa San's kids!  So I yelled across the street and they excitedly waved back at us.  We were able to cross and as I started talking with the kids their mom came over the hill too.  Our "mini miracle".  We were able to share a great message with her and make another appointment.  I know if I hadn't talked to that "not so nice" woman I would have missed that great opportunity.  Luckily Heavenly Father is patient with us!  

Sister Capener, Myself, Yuho, Sister Chinen, and Sister Kina

This week was just down right incredible!  Yuho's baptismal date is October 5th.  I was super nervous about asking her to be baptized and I wasn't going to do it.  I really wanted to wait until she had more exposure to members and had a stronger testimony and real desire.  I wasn't going to ask her to be baptized, but I shared a scripture with her and she opened up her own Book of Mormon to look at, as I read (really slowly) in Japanese and I noticed her Book of Mormon.  It was marked up like she had had it for 20 years, not a couple weeks.  I shared the scripture and then asked her about her Book of Mormon.  She said she really likes it.  She carries it with her everywhere.  I looked at it and she has lots of verses marked and even some questions written down by others.  We talked about the questions and I asked her if she believed the Book of Mormon was the word of God.  She said yes!  She shared a beautiful simple testimony of how when she reads it she feels peace.  And when she reads the Book of Mormon she is happier.  I was beaming!  I am so proud of her because she really wants to find the truth.  She wasn't convinced about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, but slowly by reading it and through prayer I think her testimony is growing.  She is such a great example to me!  After that conversation Sister Black and I (we were on "splits"-our usual companionship traded for a day to get exposure to other missionaries and other areas) invited her to be baptized.  She agreed!  She said she had been thinking a lot about it since our last lesson and she thought it was the right step.  She's getting baptized this Saturday!  I'm freaking out.  We're trying to meet with her everyday, but I'm so happy for her.  I can really see the difference the gospel has made in her life.  She loves coming to church, because she can feel the spirit.  

Ai Shite Imasu!

Hawkins Shimai