Week 60 - Transfer to Annapolis & Prayers for Peace

Hey Friends and family!

Soooo this week has been crazy! After 3 weeks of having no investigator lessons (everyone BAILS on you in baltimore! haha) we were able to pick up and investigator! A muslim man named Bassim! And! Sister Noa and I are both leaving and there will be no more sisters here in the BYSA! So fortunately Bassim is a man and would have been passed to the elders anyways! :) 

I am so glad to have served here! I had a tiny district this transfer! It was just Elder Clark (District Leader) Elder Neilson Sister Noa and I! Heres a picture for ya!

Wednesday we had Aleeta by us Pizza at Pizza Johns and then for dinner two sweet sisters bought our dinner at Qdobas! Sheri (in the wheelchair) bought mine and Chelsee (the other Polyneasian) bought sister Noa's! This ward has been a blast!

I am so excited for my new adventure in Annapolis! I am so grateful the Lord knows what he's doing!!

Also tonight I am going to join in an interfaith prayer for peace in the city of Baltimore in a catholic church! I am very excited!

Love you lots!

Sister Nakata

A member Justine had lunch with texted us - Dad & Mom - this photo today! :)

Week 59 - President Interview

Hello Friends!!

Highlights from my week!

Interviews with President were an Wednesday! He spoke to me about how Father in Heaven is and Anxious father. He doesn't just check up on us every once in a while or come in and out at His pleasure. But an ANXIOUS father. He is always right there. Always ready to hear our prayers. Always ready to bless us as we obey His will. (this next part are my thoughts, not what we talked about) He is so great to give us commandments to give us a guide. If we didn't have commandments it would be like we a father sending us through a dangerous obstacle course and not telling us and warning us of the obstacles! The commandments and the prophets are here to guide us. And God is anxious to tell us where to go!

This week we again went to a lesson with someone we believed to be a potential investigator and then found out that they are already a member. Haha its been quite an interesting few weeks! 

Definitely a shorter email! I love you all! I need to send pictures I know! We went on a hike today with the Hermanas! That was fun!

have a wonderful week!

Sister Nakata

I found this picture of Justine with a previous Companion, on the mission Blog. 

Not sure I've posted tit yet - so here it is.

Week 58 - "Stand up and be the man or woman God wants you to be"

Hey everyone! Hope you all have had a great week!

This week a cool miracle happened! We met this man named Will Pointer outside a train station! He and 5 other retired CPA's created this website www.grandmasn.com and he said something about it just being a website thats meant to be like an internet guide for kids, teens, adults, and seniors! Its got a bunch of good wholesome websites to go to and check out! Also the bad websites you should probably block! they made it because of all the junk that is on the internet and how easy it is to accidentally get there! The idea came up to put mormon.org on there! We saw him on Tuesday and he said by Friday our church website would be up! So go and see if he meant it because I cant go check it out! He told us how they were thinking of putting a church up there soon but hadn't yet. He said we just answered his prayers because in a few months they would have had to choose a church to promote anyways! He said he really likes the way the church does things! So yeah! we just aided in putting the churches website onto a place that gets like 400,000 viewers a week or something!

We had a great district meeting this week on using the Book of Mormon in street contacting and had some great opportunities to put that into action!

This week we got to meet with a good amount of members. More than we normally have so that was great!

I got a letter from my mom this week talking about patience! I loved it. I am grateful for the patiences my Father in Heaven and all my loved ones on earth use on my behalf :) One thing that struck me in my mom's letter was at the end she said "don't do it alone!" And I really loved that! So often you hear "Christ knows, Christ is there for you, He understands." But the "don't do it alone" implies that universal truth that we need to do something about it. Christ made it possible for everyone who has ever lived to not go through it alone. Our choice is wether or not to accept his help. We could do it alone but we dont have to. So my friends, "dont do it alone" there are always people there for you. <3

Sunday was stake conference for the Baltimore stake! We had some GREAT Speakers! President and Sister Christiansen (my mission president and his wife) spoke! The stake presidency spoke! our Bishop's brother became the new skate Patriarch and! Linda Reeves of the General Relief Society Presidency spoke! Her daughter and grandkids are in one of the Baltimore wards and she was visiting them! Some thoughts from conference I'd like to share:

"Why do we say we are children of God, yet act as orphans?" 

"Do I believe God can do anything? And do I believe He will do it for me?"

"Flirting with temptation is like picking up a snake and telling ourselves it wont bite us"

"Courage is important, but you must remain steadfast and firm"

"Sharing the gospel is a life long calling giving to every child of Adam and Eve"

"the Book of Mormon heals starving souls" Seriously everyone, read it. it brings answers to questions and comfort to the soul

Sister Linda Reeves said "Minister, as our Savior did, to the refugees"

"Stand up and be the man or woman God wants you to be"

I love you all! Be Christ's hands and lift where you stand :)

Have a great week!

Sister Nakata

Week 57 - Crab Deliciousness & Gun Shots in Baltimore!

Hello family and loved ones!!

So I am pretty sorry, I dont have a ton of time today. But this week has been quite eventful!
One of the elders in my ward had his bum grabbed by an 80 year old gay artist! He was taken significantly aback by that! haha

On Thursday Sister Noa and I finished street contacting in north baltimore area around 4, decided to leave. After we got in the car and started driving away we heard tons of gun shots! We didnt see anything except 3 people run inside from my rearview mirror. But it must have happened just a few streets away from where we were. We had just spent almost an hour walking around the streets over there! Wow does the Lord protect us!

Friday and Saturday night the Hermanas all of a sudden felt really uncomfortable staying in their appartement and stayed with us those two nights! They dont know what was off but they just didn't feel right. They are good now, but it was an interesting weekend that is for sure.

I got to watch conference! If you havent watched it please do! It is so good! The work is coming along here! There are a few potential that we have and also old investigators we are trying to see! The work is hard as always but I know what I am doing it and I am happy to be on the Lords errand.

I realized last night how much special power I hold as a missionary and that I will only have that power for 5 more months. I am so excited for all I am going to be able to do with the Lords help! After that shooting Sister Noa had been a bit shaken up and the two of us received priesthood blessings and in mine I was told as I read, study, and doubt not the Lord will show me miracles and promised that I would be able to leave this area feeling successful! I am so grateful for how mindful the Lord truly is of each and every one of us. This week I learned that again.

I also bought a 1.5lb of frozen crab legs from Aldi's and ate them this week. In one sitting..... :) after I reheated the first pound I thought I had had to eat the rest too.

I also helped Hermana Dahle's while Sister Noa Slept

Love you all! Share your testimony with someone this week :)

Sister Nakata