Week 77 - Final Letter

Heeey everyone!!

So this is my final letter on my mission!! O.o I can't believe it's coming to an end :( but I am excited to come and see my family!! I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve! Life changing! If you're thinking about it, do it :)

This week was great!

Tuesday we had a great Zone conference! All companionships were asked to prepare to teach the restoration in front of everyone. And then 3 companionships would be asked to role play. Well ours was chosen! We did pretty well! It turned out to be not too bad :)

Wednesday morning we had lunch at the mission home! They wanted to have all those in the Chinese program for a meeting. Since Sister Lau was in that she was invited! I also went to Bowie with Sister Barrus on Wednesday! To exchange we met up at Krispy Kreme! I literally watched the donuts be fried and glazed! So cool. Sister Barrus was great! This is her first transfer. She is great. We had time to go contacting. Before we ventured to contact we said a prayer in the car and set a goal to share a Book of Mormon scripture with 3 different people. Which was a stretch because Sister Barrus had previously gone contacting for 2 or 3 hours and the most she had shared was 2. We had one hour to find 3 people to share a thought with. I could make the story good and give you all the details and build suspense, but I dont remember the details well enough! Needless to say, we found the 3 :) it was a miracle wrought by faith and hard work!

Thursday we had a cool lesson with this guy named Roberto! He has recently moved to the are and was interested in learning more!

Friday we got our front tires replaced while we were waiting we talked to this guy Junius! We talked about what missionaries do and invited him to church! And! He showed up! :D

On Saturday I worked with Hermana Bateman in her area! Fun fact! For those of you who know the Leishman family in the Glen Loch Ward (Sister Leishman is a seminary teacher) Hermana Bateman is their niece! We had a great time together! The coolest experience was going to visit LaQuilla. She isnt Spanish speaking so she is going to be passed soon, but she is eager to learn! By eager I mean EAGER! She told us to give her a homework assignment so she could read and find the answers. Then when we come back we can quiz her like its a school class or something. She had other questions and we had suggestions of scriptures she could read and videos she could watch. She wrote down everything she needed to know to find them and was excited to start studying. It was incredible!

Sunday my companions and I gave talks on repentance! We had 3 days notice! Our investigator Felicia came! It was such a pleasure to serve the people of the Odenton Ward twice! I am having a very warm farewell from them :) they are amazing!

Today we had a fun zone activity, we played sports and had a BBQ!

Tuesday we have a specialized training all day for the new missionaries! sister Gehlen gets her iPad!

Wednesday is the departing missionary dinner!

Thursday I get home! :D

Okay, all in all. I have so many mixed feelings! I cant actually believe that its going to happen. I am actually coming home! It is sad to go but exciting to see you all again!!

I have been saying this my whole mission, but because I became a full-time missionary, the Lord made me a much better missionary and disciple that I would have ever been with out the mission. I know who I am, I know whose I am, I know where I am going and who I am going with, my family!

I love you all! Thank you for your love and support!

Sister Nakata

Week 23 The gospel is amazing. Find it, apply it, and hold onto it!

Hey Friends!

This week has been different thats for sure! Sister Bindrup was sick for the majority of the week :( Poor sister had the flu and a really bad ear infection. While Sister Johnson went to Zone training with some other sisters I stayed home with Sister Bindrup and basically vacuumed the whole time. I just cleaned and cleaned! She kept telling everyone afterwards that she would wake up and here the vacuum going, she would go to sleep and the vacuum was still going. She would wake up again, same thing. She got a hoot. Our vacuum was out of commission for the past like month so I was able to really get the place clean. I loved it!

This week we also were asked to sing in Sacrament meeting. With the 6 sisters and 2 elders in our ward we made up a nice missionary choir :) We sang "I'll go where you want me to go" and our new mission President and his wife (the Christiansens) spoke! They are truly some great people. I love them already. They have 5 totally daughters (I believe) and their 12 year old and another daughter in her 20's with down syndrome will be with them as they serve their 3 year mission. They are an amazing couple and have great inspiring words. We got to talk with Sister Christiansen a few times this week seeing as she oversees all things medical and she had a career in the medical field. I love them a lot.

We were able to pick up a new investigator this week! So that was awesome. It is hard to find those people who are truly prepared by the Lord, I know that it is a work that needs to be done. My testimony of missionary work period has grown so much. President Christiansen shared this quote with us today in his weekly email and I love it.

"We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family" (Preach My Gospel, p. 2).

Things may be hard but I do have faith that the Lord does not call us to fail. And I lean on that faith :) The gospel is amazing. Find it, apply it, and hold onto it! I love you all and am so grateful for your support!

Love,

Sister Nakata

okay! So I found skyline in walmart and made some for my companions! It was great. One of these pictures is funny because of the picture of the girl in the back ground and my tag is completely sideways. Thought I would share both!

Sister Bindrup loved the skyline, sister Johnsons..not so much haha!

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 - 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

Justine's Farewell

 Today Justine gave her talk at Church and her plaque was put on the "missionary wall"

by the bishops office.

This is her last day at home...

After Church we went to the Stake President's home for Justine to be set apart as a full time Missionary.

Then we rushed home for a little open house in her honor and to say goodbye.

I kept getting and making more food thinking I wouldn't have enough...
As it turned out, we had way too much food!
It was after dinner and people had eaten already.

And as people showed up, they also brought more treats!

Next time: less food...

The weather was perfect! 

A break in all the rain and cloudiness of this winter.

We opened the back doors.
Mike had put up lights on the patio.
It was lovely!

The kids were able to play in the back yard!

Thank you Aunt Shirley for all the cutting and the Johnsons for helping! :)

We are so going to miss her but are very happy for her decision.

What a great example of courage and sacrifice she is to us all!

She is not your most outgoing talkative of us! 

Kinda takes for her moma!

We know she will grow so much by having to reach out of her comfort box.

But especially we know that she will grow closer to her Savior.

And have a once in a lifetime experience.