Dinner & some real JAZZ

Our Evening

This is Bourbon street. 

We avoided this street at Night.

Not the crowd I'm comfortable with.

 After dinner we stepped back into time as we entered Preservation Hall.

along with about 100 people crammed into this tiny room...

* Pure Jazz for an hour *

So worth it! 

Pics were not allowed once the performers came out...

Caroline treated us to a lovely French Dinner at the Two Sisters Restaurant...

We ate outside in the totally magical patio! 

New Orlean - The French Quarter

Girl Trip!

My LOUISANA friend Jaime has been wanting me to see for the past 6 years the French Quarter!

We finally did it!

Caroline, Jaime and I drove the 5.5 hours from Houston to New Orleans.

This is the street our Bed & Breakfast was in. 

Right smack in the French Quarter.

We parked the car in a parking garage and walked for the next 2 1/2 days we were there. 

We did take a 3h Historical Bike tour! :)

 Bourbon Street crossroads. 

For us only to be walked through during the day.

It's like a different place at night that we had no interest in going to!

The house next door...

Stop with the fake flowers!

Our little Bed & Breakfast! 

OLD OLD OLD

It was almost like being in Europe!

Where I sat and ate breakfast in the glorious mornings there...

Our little apartment was up these stairs!

The weather was P E R F E C T !

Best time to go is March thru May.

I can't imagine being there in the Summer!

Lovely Ferns and MaidenHair were growing on the side bricks! 

Like a little fairy world...

Week 62 - Skype Time, Fire Pit and Duck Eggs

Alright! 

So I wont be sharing too much right now but Happy Mothers day to 

everyone who that is appropriate for!

Here is a folder of some pictures from my last few days in the Baltimore YSA!

If you wrote me an email this week and I didn't respond yet, 

I am working on that response, promise :)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j42s8nxlxo9lm2c/AADa1vnjofdsGGZT3hYiyW94a?dl=0

I got to skype my family this week! it was very special! :) Wonderful blessing!

Two investigators, Theresa and Kaitlyn, from the Odenton ward 

(I taught them a year ago) are getting baptized this month!! 

What!!?? 

So awesome!! 

This week one lunch Sister Udall and I had was chocolate chip pancakes and rice left overs! 

Super good, not necessarily good together though!

We had a lesson with our investigator Fran and are planning a temple visitors trip this weekend!

We saw some ducks in our front yard one day and then found eggs in the front flower bed! 

However both ducks havent been seen for days and since its been rainy and cold Sister Udall 

brought the eggs inside and we are now tending to them...

hopefully they are actually alive still!! not sure though!

Oh! And the elders had a fire pit in their back yard! so we roasted some stuff :)

Love you all!!

Have a great week!

Sister Nakata

Week 61 - Overjoyed in Nap-Town

I have had the CRAZIEST week!!

I got a call tuesday from Sister Christiansen and found out my new companion got her appendix out THAT MORNING! So instead of a normal transfer day I got to go to the Mission home with the departing missionaries and meet Sister Udall! The cutest sister! We stayed at the mission home until friday morning letting Sister Udall recoup and heal. We got to be part of the departing missionary dinner and devotional they always have. I got to see the sweetest goodbye between Sister Udall and her trainer, Sister Blanchard (who was going home). We got to eat some burger cookies with the Senior missionaries that stayed there (President and Sister Christiansen went to a mission presidents seminary for 2 days). and we got to participate their family scripture study with their two daugthers!

I am out of time so I am going to insert here my email I sent to President Christiansen!

Dear President! 

Ah! I love this new transfer! So so much! I love Sister Udall! She is a rock star and exactly obedient and diligent and loving and kind and wonderful and I could go on for days! Wednesday night I prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for a new best friend! There are things we are going to work on together so by the end of this transfer we are going to be PRIME missionaries! We set a goal to invite someone to be baptized every day this transfer! She's really amazing

I love that I am in a new area! Sister Udall and I had weekly planning Thursday morning before you and Sister Christiansen left. And in that weekly planning Sister Udall was able to give me the rundown of all the amazing work we have going on in this ward. So many potential investigators and nearly all of them are friends or family of members! How awesome! As I have gotten to know more about the ward I have been able to recognize how much work there is to be done and its not going to be easy either! But that can be the best kind of work. :)

I keep feeling the blessings POURING from the Lord right now. I am overjoyed, President. The other blessings I am seeing is that I am in an area right next to my first area I served in a year ago! The Odenton sisters have been able to tell me all about my past investigators and street contacts and convert! Theresa is determined to get baptized this transfer, a minister I ran into and gave a Book of Mormon to believes it is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet, a man I taught with Sister Ward said once again that he would get baptized if I married him (Sister Ward was about ready to punch him last year for that), families I love are still going strong! I get to serve in the same building as Hermana Dahle again! 4th transfer in a row now. She is an eternal best friend. And I got to see my very first ward mission leader at church this Sunday! He and his wife lived in Odenton a year ago, have sinced moved to Utah and were visiting the Annapolis ward (who share buildings with the broadneck ward) this past Sunday. How crazy!

I also got to ride in a nice convertible yesterday!

I and this other attached picture is on of me and Sister Spencer
The wife of my first ward Missionary Leader! :)

I love you all so much! I know the Lord blesses us!

I know that he helps us through the bad times!

I know He's helped me through mine and is going to continue to help me!

Make it a great week!

Sister Nakata

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