Week 28 - Goals & Faith

Hey everyone!!

So this week has been good! I am so so grateful to be here in the Shenandoah ward! I don't remember what I shared about last week either but we had Zone conference and as a Zone we sent a goal for 12 baptisms in the month of September! That is going to all happen due to faith! There is no doubt in my mind about that! Sorry I don't know what to share and the majority of my time is spent replying to people individually, so if you have things you want to know about just email me! 

So sorry this week's email is so lame..But! I know that this church is true. And I now that we can have so much happiness in our lives as we follow the example of the Savior! And as we live the gospel we are making a difference in others lives!

I love you all!

I will talk to you later :)

Sister Nakata

Companion Toe Art

Baby, Susie, Billy, Ma & Pa

Little note to Family moving in the Ward

 Birthday Present Goodies from FRANCE!

Week 27 - 20th Birthday!

Hey Everyone!!

Okay so I have less time than I am used to for emailing so this will be pretty short!

So! My birthday was this past week! 

Woohoo! Lots of fun! 

This family in the ward, the Feldes fed us dinner and made birthday cake! 

And this sweet old couple, the Lewis' made me a birthday cake too! 

They are adorable. We ate the cake the Lewis' gave us in 2 days... :) haha. 

When we got home we saw our door also got attacked with sticky notes and balloons and party stuff! 

So fun!

We had zone conference! It was incredible!

We also went to a Baltimore Oreoles game!! So awesome! Got home at 12:30!

Love you!

Sister Nakata

Week 26 - Transfers

Hey everyone!!

Okay! So I really didn't get to share much with you last week! Man! Okay, so Sister Bindrup left us :( but! We got Sister Nish! She is pretty awesome! And she knows a lot about me already...Her past three companions have been my first trainer, my mtc Companion and Sister Asplund from my mtc district. She's great. I am so pumped for this new companionship! Its going to rock!

Also there are 9 missionaries in our ward. Yes 9 missionaries assigned to the Shenandoah Valley ward! Its probably because Bishop Knecht is awesome. There are 3 Spanish sisters over the stake (our ward is a magnet ward for the spanish since there isnt a branch yet), 3 english sisters (us) and 3 english elders! The elders in our ward are the Zone leaders and they are also training! So our district has 13 missionaries in it. Have you ever heard of a ward with 9 missionaries? I haven't! The Lord must have mighty things in store for this area.

The work is going well. We have many people who are potential investigators and one investigator, Jesyka. She is really cool, and she reads all the material and does the "additional studies" in the back of the pamphlets. I am excited for her.

Ginny and Sonja had a tiff about one of their home-teachers but this past week we were able to have another lesson with him and they thought it was good!

Miracle! We street contacted this woman Beth. She told us all about how she works at Costco with a Mormon and asks him all sorts of questions. And then later that day we decided to go by a members home. They were members we hadn't met before and we shared a message. Got started talking and they said they work at Costco! Hmmm So we asked if they know Beth! And sure enough they do :) She may not know it but she is being prepared. She said she wasn't really interested at the time but considering all the questions she seems to ask she will find the truth soon. :)

I know the Lord blesses us each and every day and He is also hastening his work and its going to take everyone to share this good news with the world :) Thank you everyone for your prayers and support!

Sister Nakata

So I dont know if I said this yet but it was Sister Christiansen's birthday so we went her this card. 

I think its a good spoof :)

Here is is my district from Transfer #4! With Winchester and Shenandoah gang signs! 

Oh and two mini missionaries that we had for a week! (The two elders on the very end)

And here is a sign I found! I am fond of it :)

Week 25 - ER Visit

Hey everyone!

So this week was a unique one!!

So one of the Hermana's, who live in the apartment building next to us, had to have an emergency gall bladder removal! Wednesday night we get a call at 10:28 from the three Hermanas saying "Hey uh can we use your mini van to bring Hna Alvarado to the ER so she can lie down and be comfortable" And so Hna Coberly and Hna Orton take her to the ER and stay up with her ALL night as she is just in tons and tons of pain! And we go at 6:30 to be with Hna A so her companions could go home and get some sleep! So we sit with her from 6:30 to 9:00. And Hna A is awake but just drugged up a little and in pain and exausted. And Bishop and Sister Knecht come to be there with her too. And Sister Christiansen is on her way from maryland. And around 9:00 the doctors come to take her off to surgery and we don't know whats going on or see her again until 1:30ish! and that whole time we just waited having amazing conversations with Bishop, Sister Knecht, and Sister Christiansen! It was amazing. Then she comes back from surgery and her companions come back to be with her for the evening.

When Hna A got release she needed to come to our apartment because its ground level. So she stayed and had a sleep over with us! Then the next day the Hermanas were so exausted they got permission to just have a day off basically and they all slept in our closet room :) look how cute they all are!

Well I could tell ya so much more but its time to get off! I love you all so much

And the Lord loves us all! I know it! The Lord cares and definitely wanted there to be 6 Sister missionaries here in the Shenandoah Valley ward at this time. He is so smart. I love him!

Love you all!

Sister Nakata

Week 24 - Wedding Bells and a Change of Heart

Hello loved ones!! :D

So my week! Oh this was a good week :) It was time for our 6 month temple trip!! Wednesday we were able to go to the DC temple. It was so so good. Here we live 2 hours from the temple. I don't think I could do that! I am going to have to live closer than that to a temple. It was such a blessing to be able to go. It was so peaceful there.

Next week will be transfer week. I am always excited to find out what will happen! We will know this coming Sunday!

This week there was a wedding! That was a lot of fun! The majority of the decorations have been a big thanks to us sister missionaries. It was so much fun pulling everything together!

And this past Sunday was a really good one. It was a little crazy too. We found out in Sacrament meeting that Bishop Knecht changed all of the Presidencies in the ward! Everything has been switched up. And I am really excited for the ward. 

Our Relief Society class afterward was just so real too. The lesson was on not pretending to be perfect and someone you aren't. Be who you are and be proud of it. We are daughters of God! Now the new RS president just got released from YW president. She is a young mother and there had previously been hard feelings between the Sister missionaries and her. I had only heard a few things like "Oh she doesn't like the sisters because of yada yada yada and because sister so-and-so did this" But before sacrament she came up to us sisters and apologized for anything she had done, and asked for a clean slate. We were like "of course!" and then we found out that she was the new RS president! And then at the end of RS she got up and bore her testimony. And this was one of the most humbling and sincere testimonies I feel I have ever heard. She drew on the board a big heart and said "this is what has been in my heart lately" and with tears in her eyes she wrote the words "hate, mean, anger." She shared how that had been her but that is not who she is. She then erased those words and wrote in the heart "happy, kind, faithful, strong." She shared that those are what she wants in her heart. And those are her expectations for herself as she starts this calling. I am very excited for the amazing things this ward is going to do. These people here are wonderful. And Bishop Knecht and his wife are wonderful too!

Love you all

Sister Nakata

Also I sent the picture of the cupcakes cuz i designed that :)