Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Our temple session was in Japanese.

The temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fukuoka Japan

Saying goodbye to Sister Oi :(  She has completed her mission.

My new companion….Sister Williams

Housing with Sister Oi

Visiting shrines in Nagasaki

More Shrines

More Shrines

皆さん久留米からこにちは！

Hello everyone!  

This week was crazy, busy, long and FULL of miracles.  Our preparation day (a day missionaries use to grocery shop, do laundry, cleaning and sight see) was last Saturday which in missionary terms means a LONG time ago.  Our typical preparation day is on Monday, but because we had an opportunity to go to the Fukuoka, Japan, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple we switched our preparation day to Saturday.  We absolutely loved the temple.  It was a huge adventure because the four sisters that attended the temple were all American!  We had to take lots of trains, leaps of faith, and wrong roads to make it to Fukuoka.  But it was an absolute blast and well worth it.  In the train station 7 people (we counted!) asked to take our picture. :)  So search Japanese blog websites and Facebook!  We have got to be out there somewhere!  The temple was beautiful.  I haven't been able to go for over a year.  The last time I went was in Provo, halfway through the my time at the Missionary Training Center before it closed for cleaning.  Last Saturday was also a long time ago because that meant we had to buy groceries two weeks ago and hope they lasted until today.  I'll just cut to the chase by telling you that they didn't last, so we called this past week the week of the famine.  I typically eat weird things in Japan, but not as weird as the things we ate this past week as we literally cleared out our cupboards.  Luckily we had members come through for us and miraculously yesterday (when we had NO food) we went out and worked and got a lot of onions, potatoes and a random scary looking bag of dried fish heads.  Those things have never tasted so good.  

This week was wonderful!  I wish I could tell you about it ALL, but I'll tell you about Fukumi Chan!  She is a cute 22 year old nursing student who Oi Shimai (Sister Oi) and I met our first week in Kurume last transfer.  We got her number and a couple weeks later we were able to get a hold of her and set up an appointment.  Because of how busy she has been, how busy transfer week was and getting a new companion we hadn't been able meet with her.  But we, through a set of miraculous events, were able to meet with her Friday and taught her about the Plan of Salvation.  It really had a big impact on her because she loves her family and also as a nurse she works a lot with human frailties and death.  We talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and asked Fukumi Chan if she had any questions and she said she had no questions, but instead gave us a summary of the Atonement, applied it to her own life and bore her testimony to us!  She is incredible.  She came to church this Sunday and stayed all three hours and during Relief Society (a class for the women in the church) shared comments and insights!  Williams Shimai (Sister Williams) and I just sat back in awe.  Quite speechless!  She said after church that she loved it, that she felt at peace and was grateful she had the opportunity to learn about Jesus.  It was incredible!  It has been a huge privilege to see the city of Kurume really grow in church membership.  We started just a few weeks ago with no investigators, the ones we did have dropped us.  But I have really come to understand the power of prayer and the blessings that come from enthusiastic, diligent, hard work. 

On a side note.  I love Williams Shimai (Sister Williams).  We are having a blast!  Getting lost daily, learning kanji, speaking Nepalese, etc.  Pray for us :)  

Love you guys!  Have a wonderful week!

ホーキンス姉妹より

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