The Story of Us: April 2015

Apr 27, 2015

Week 11 - How about some Mexican for Dinner and Lunch?

Hello everyone!!

This past week has been lots of fun! I do not know that I will have too much to say as I spent most of my emailing time this week responding to emails!

Thank you everyone for all the support you give me, it means so much :)

This past week Sister Jeppson and I street contacted 141 people! That is crazy for me! Haha I think the only reason we got that done was through the lord! Our goal was 140 because our president wants us talking to 20 people a day, and I think just because we had the faith to do it, it happened! One of those contacts was the man in an ice cream truck! haha it was very fun talking to him!

I had the chance to go on Exchanges this week with my Sister Training leaders! I heard that this whole Sister Training thing is new to the mission program in general and that before Sisters didnt go on exchanges! Such a bummer! exchanges are so so fun! I was with Sister Parkin and she is just AMAZING! I love her, She is so real with the people we talk to and it seems like she is the person's best friend after 2 minutes of talking! Street contacting is what she is made for! I learned a lot from her!

Oh so Tuesday and Wednesday the funniest thing with our meals happened! So! Tuesday for lunch, we ate Chipotle! Then for dinner a member made us bean borritos....and then said "watch y'all probably had Chipotle for lunch didnt you?" haha it was great! Then the next day Sister Parkin and I went to taco bell for a fast lunch and then the member fed us tacos that night...haha lots of giggles with that one!

Okay! I am out of time! Love you all! The church is so so true! I am such a better person and follower of Christ because of this mission already and its only been 2 months! Read your scriptures! Study them! they are awesome! Pray! Heavenly father, I think, really asks us to pray so much just to remember who he is, that he loves us, and it is because of him that we have all that we have!

Have a great week! Sister Nakata

Sister Justine Happily holding her new Mini Scriptures

and Custom Blue Case - made by Sarah with cardboard, duck tape and washi tape!

She got them this week!
This will lighten up her handbag! :)

Apr 26, 2015

Week 10 We carry on...

Hello loved ones!!

This past week has been fun. I mean all of my mission so far has been fun, so that isnt too different. I am enjoying this time I have to be a missionary for sure though!

This past week Sister Jeppson and I managed to talk to 117 people through street contacting. Normally we have like 70 or less so that was really incredible for us! I do not know how the Lord made that happen.

It hit me this week that it doesn't matter how many investigators you have (because I was super excited to have 9 investigators in one week) if they aren't investigators who are actually trying to investigate. Half of them I don't think they even think of themselves as investigating the church. We went down to 4 investigators this week and EVERYONE canceled on us haha. I feel like that is just such a common thing, having one canceled appointment after another, but the amazing part is that Heavenly father always makes it work out. A lot of the time it is when that happen that the miracles happen!

I am so excited for my investigator now and hope that this coming week we can really help them progress in the gospel! Thats our goal! We will see what happens! Hopefully their appointments will at least stick!

Love you all so much!

Sister Nakata

Drenched & Silly Faces

Week 9 - Still going up those Hills!

Hey Everyone!!

This past week has been great! I am loving my mission so much! I am not loving all this biking...but! its really only terrible when we are going up huge hills. Plus the weather has been so so nice the past few days! I am loving the spring so much!!

My new companion, Sister Jeppson is super awesome! I love her! Its so cool being around other missionaries and being surrounded by those who you know have the same standards as you and are striving to always be great missionaries! I love it!

So Sister J and I had an awesome Church tour with our investigator Renea and her less active husband Dave! Dave entered into a sacrament room for the first time in 25 years! It was really cool. It was a little crazy for a church tour because the other ward was wrapping up a Relief Society activity when we were there. But Dave was able to meet the bishop. I think he is well on his way of being an active member again!

And on Saturday while we were waiting for an investigator who was late we decided to walk around and talk to these people we spotted. I wasn't very hopeful as when we started to walk up the woman kinda scattered and ran into the house but the man stayed. We said hi and he totally recognized us as missionaries and were talking to us like he knew who we were. Turns out he is a convert from 2008 and has been going to a non-denomination church with his wife! He was so cool and wants us to come over sometime and have a chill discussion with him and his wife!

One last story! We had a lesson with our investigators Bill and Angie, They brought their friend who has some brain damage from a fall a year ago and Angie was so drunk. They had just come from a casino! It was a crazy lesson. She read 2 Nephi 29:9-10 and had some CRAZY emphases. Sister Jeppson was trying so hard not to laugh! It was weird! Bill is the only one who is really investigating so we are handing him off as an investigator to the Elders! Much more appropriate!

Love you all!

Sister Nakata!

Apr 19, 2015

Mercer Park Ballade

Little Sunday afternoon walk with our friends to Mercer Botanical Park.

Included in the photos the dreaded Texan Fire Ants!!!!

I despise them!

Never find yourself standing by one of their ant hills!

Apr 8, 2015

Temple Service

Today was a special day!

Amelie was able to do a couple of baptism for her french ancestors at the Houston Temple.

I hope she learns to love entering this special place as much as I do.

There is so much peace felt there.

Eternity

is put into perspective

Time

Stands Still

Apr 6, 2015

Week 8 - Easter Egg Hunt & Leaving Her Trainer

Hello Friends and Family!

So this week I found out that they are taking away my Trainer and sending her to West Virginia! I am going to get a new trainer Wednesday and staying in the Odenton ward! Her name is Sister Jeppson but I have no clue who she is! Its crazy that I am being left in this place that I do not know all the way and where all the people know Sister Moore and not me. But I know the Lord is smart and has a reason! I am excited to have the experience of being with someone else! I am also excited to no longer be a "greenie" and not know what I am doing!

This past weekend was pretty cool! I loved conference! My favorite talks were definitely in the Sunday sessions! (aside from Eyring in Woman's conference and the one Saturday that talked about the steps to the dance and hearing the music).

I loved the parodical son talk. And Uchtdorf. When he tells us that we obey His commandments because we love the Lord. And I have a bunch of other things that I loved too.

Everyone should study the Gospel "Everyday, everyday, everyday"

Easter Sunday was great too! We went over to a great young couple's house! They had set up an easter egg hunt in their living room and it was the best! I hope to do that for missionaries one day! We ate awesome breakfast burritos too! I had lunch at the church building with a potluck with 2 or 3 families so that was awesome too. My easter dinner was a bunch of random things in a pour missionaries apartment! haha.

Okay so quick fun story. We went to a less actives house, asked for referrals. she gave us two neighbors. We went to one and a young father answered shirtless and had a cool conversation with us (but he thinks religion is silly) We asked that man for a referral and he told us to go to his other neighbor and said the police were over there and they need god. So we go and on the way try to talk to a woman who was on the street, it went no where. We knock on the police door and found out that he literally meant "the police were just there!" Super awkward! haha Then we got to the second house the Less active gave us and it was the lady we tried to talk to on the street! So awkward! We left that area just laughing at how weird the whole thing was. It was great.

My whole transfer Sister Moore and I hadn't gotten any new investigators (there actually might have been one) and then this past week we got 7! It was pretty cool. The first two are an awesome couple who are in their 50's! Another is a single African american mother to 4 kids. Another is the wife of a man who has been inactive for 20+ years and they reached out to the church asking for missionaries to teach them! They fed us dinner and that was really awesome! The 3 others are all in one house hold but only one really lives there. Since we do not go "house to house" knocking we inspired knocked on this man's house. His name is Bill and he is really great and has a big heart and loves reading. He was reading, as he calls it, an even handed book on the Mormon people. And we left him with the best book to read, the Book of Mormon! His friend, Angie is always over so we are counting her as an investigator too. His son's friend, Tyler was over and had a lot of questions but he won't be at the next appt but Tyler's Girlfriend, Brittany said she would be! She is 19 and sweet!

I hope all of these guys are able to really soak in the gospel and I always say this "just get baptized!" but I know its harder than just that!

Thats all for this week!

Sister nakata!

Oh and I jumped on a trampoline today, I will try to send pictures later! my thing is being funny right now!

Love you all!