Week 19 Beautiful Country & "Model" Ward

Heyo! I learned how to spell "Shenandoah" Correctly! 

Let me tell you, Virginia is BEAUTIFUL! There are parts of our area called "Old Winchester" and it has these super cute old style houses and a walking mall and I feel like I am in a different world! Similar to downtown Annapolis. I love the east coast :) And then there are parts of our area with land so spread out. We drive on the country roads and see rows and rows of apple trees, peach trees, and all sorts of things. It is beautiful. There are house out here that are just on acres and acres of land. 

It is so awesome. I love it.

Her Appartements

My companions are great! It is fun being with two companions! We have triple the fun :) Oh and Sister Bindrup is from Layton and Sister Johnson is from Salt Lake City! Sister B has been out since January and Sister J out since last July! And Guess what. 5 out of 5 companions ALL FROM UTAH haha its great. And Sister Jeppson (my old companion) and Sister Bagley (my old Sister Training Leader) are my new Sister Training Leaders!! Yay!

This ward is awesome! Apparently its the Mission's "model ward." Which is cool. And Bishop Knect is awesome too. Its why the ward is so great, no doubt. He is going to be an apostle one day! We sit down to talk about our investigators and leave feeling plowed by the Spirit. 

Also there are 8 missionaries in our ward..8. Haha there are the 3 of us, the 3 Hermana's and 2 Elders. I was told that there were 8 before I came here and I didn't really believe them. But sure enough 8! I inherited some GREAT investigators! Ginny and Sonja are getting baptized this coming weekend and I am so excited for it!

Things are going to be good here :) 

Love you

Sister Nakata

Also, I want to send pictures buuuut Apparently it doesnt work here.

Week 18 Baptism, Temple & Cutie

Hey Everyone!!

After an amazing 4 1/2 months here in Odenton Maryland I get the opportunity to go to Virginia to the Shannondoah Valley! I am so excited to see a different part of the mission! My new companions are Sister Johnson and Sister Bindrup! I am going to be in a trio! So that will be exciting!

My last week here in Odenton has been fairly eventful. STEPHANIE GOT BAPTIZED! It was so incredible to see and to see her bare her testimony was so beautiful! Also the night before she asked for a blessing to help her health wise. She was even a little worried she wouldn't be able to make it to her baptism. 

Also the night before that Theresa received a blessing. Both blessings were amazing experiences, the spirit was so strong. And on friday I got to go to the temple visitors center again with Sister Bailey (a less active member) and her grand daughter who is ADORABLE. 

And to top off the full week, Sister Ward and I helped serve lunch at a funeral being held at the church for a woman who died unexpectedly. It has been a crazy yet full week. 

I love being a missionary and I am so excited for the experiences yet to come! Thank you everyone for all the ways you support the missionaries :)

Love ya

Sister Nakata

Week 17 - The Dog Ate My Tennis Shoes!

Hellooooo Everyone :D

This week has been awesome!! We went to the temple visitors center with Stephanie! It was an awesome trip! I was technically sick for it...but I was not about to let that stop me from going! The temple is beautiful!

I didn't email Monday because I went to my first zone conference!! It was so amazing. President and Sister Richards are the best! I love them. They are amazing examples to me of Christ. I did not know you could love as much as I have witnessed them love! They have taught me to always try to be the best i can and to always be striving to improve. I am so grateful for them!

Oh! So a few weeks ago I forgot to share this fun fact. (or maybe I did..but I will share anyways) Sister Jeppson and I left our shoes at a members house because we did service and were on bikes and thought that we would just get them later. Well Sister Dorman calls and tells us that Pepper (her dog) ate my shoe!! It was hilarious. I am also really glad that Pepper ate my shoe and not Sister Jeppson's because hers were expensive and I was already looking at getting myself a new pair. So Sister Dorman was able to help me get a new pair of tennis shoes and I love them!

Also! It was super cold this past week! Sister Ward And I both decided to wear tights one day! It was rainy and cold and it is JUNE?? crazy! Love ya!

Anyway, I love you all! have a great week!

Sister Nakata

Week 16 - Curb Appeal & Marriage Proposal?

Hey just wanted y'all to know I love you :) 

Also this past week I totally ruined part of the new 2015 chevy cruze by running over a curb. It was a curb that was like almost a foot off the ground. Kind of feel like a failure and just plain dumb. The mission told us to take it in for an estimate and its going to cost like 1200 to fix. 600 of it being deemed "labor costs" Its just all around dumb. I feel so bad. Its hard to really even tell though. I took pictures to show the office so I will show you guys too. 

okay, a foot might be exaggerating  the height of the curb, but it was unusually large!

So sister ward used to be companions with Sister Tripple who was in my MTC district so its fun to hear about Sister Tripple through her. And between all off us how I really feel about my mission is that I am just having a really really fantastic time and I am so glad I am out here doing what the Lord would have me do :) 

I got a sweet picture from Kaisha of Malia, Ben, and her going to the YSA ward. I love it so much!

Oh also we had a lesson with this guy Bill who we started teaching like 2 months ago, but it was hard being he was a guy so we gave him to the elders and then they just dropped him like a week or so later. But I KNOW that Bill just needs to let himself believe that the gospel is true so Sister ward and I went back to his house and picked him back up as an investigator. We had a return appointment and he told us (and I am paraphrasing, but this is practically an exact quote) "I don't see myself converting, now if Sister Nakata were to marry me it would be a different story" And he would convert for that.....AWKWARD. This man has children older than me. He's like late 40's. Needless to say we told the Elders to take him again! And this time just meet with him when his always drunk friend Angie isn't around. I thought I would share that with you all instead of with EVERYONE. Very interesting experience for me!

Love you all!

Sister Nakata

week 16 - The Lord has an Amazing Plan for Each of us

Hello my dear friends and family!!

This week has been pretty great!! So Sunday the 24th of my Sister Ward and I watched the Testaments with our investigator Stephanie and she LOVED it. Visuals speak to her so well. We asked her to pray about being baptized on the 20th of June, she said she would! Then! We had a lesson on Wednesday and she told us she wants to be BAPTIZED! and the 20th is perfect!! It was SO amazing. This is the first time ever in my life that I am really getting to watch someone's conversion. Stephanie is so amazing and I am so happy for her! This saturday we plan to take a temple trip to the visitors center! It will be my first time going to the DC temple and I am really excited.

Hmm What else happened this week? Oh! I got to go to a child's baptism Saturday! We were able to bring Theresa and 3 of her kids. It was a really good experience for her! She knows she wants to be baptized it is just a matter of when and making the changes in her life that she needs to make. Ha she even said that I am not allowed to leave this area before she gets baptized!

Anyways, things are doing pretty well here in Odenton :) I am so happy to be here! The Lord has an amazing plan for each of us!

Love you

Sister Nakata

With some of her MTC Distirct