P-Day, Planning and Prayers

So I'm actually down at the church in Naha which is on the southern part of the sland because today is the other Zone's Zone P-day and the Zone leaders called us up and wanted us to help out with it. We arrived last night, slept over at the Naha Sister's apartment, and then when P-day ends we're going to do a companion exchange with the Naha Sisters tonight and tomorrow. I love Naha so it should be good times!

This past week was pretty busy because we've got some big activities coming up. The first one is an open house/ lu'au to show off our beautiful new building and have tons of fun! My companion and I got put in charge of the entertainment portion of the event and we've been on the phone for hours on end trying to see what kind of people have talents that they are willing to share and prepare in a matter of about two weeks. Luckily, we've actually got quite a few Hawaiians on the island, my companion included, so it's been coming together quite nicely and we're just trying to keep everything organized and pull this thing off in two weeks! 

One random slightly embarassing story goes as follows. The Elders in our area got it set up for us to teach English Lessons to some young girls that they passed over to us. We went the first time two weeks ago by car with a member and the Elders so that they could introduce us and show us where it was. This past week, we planned on going by bike and just asked the Elders for directions to the park that we were going to meet them at. This was our directions 'Go down this road until you see the Tiki man and then turn left.Its the park on your right. It will be further than you think.' Long story short, we ended up biking for THREE HOURS looking for this place. Back and forth many times, about halfway through, it started POURING rain, and I of course forgot my rain gear, so I was completely drenched from head to toe. We finally stopped, and said a prayer. After tree hours of biking. Yea, I don't know why on earth we didn't think about that before. But literally three minutes after we finish our prayer and start biking, we found the Tiki man, and then the park. Moral of the story, Don't forget to pray. And Don't forget your rain gear when you live on Okinawa Japan. 

Also, the other sisters that we live with had a baptism this past Saturday for an American girl named Karla, so that was a really cool experience. It was actually the first American baptism that I had attended in this area, (besides all the 8 year old ones because all these military Mormons have tons of young children) and it was really neat to watch a baptismal service in my native language. 

Also, we ran into this cute young woman on the street the other day named Okamune San and she's actually from mainland, but down in Okinawa for work and we've been teaching her a little bit. She came to church for her first time yesterday, made a lot of friends, and stayed for the entire three hours! It was super cute too because during sacrament meeting, we looked over at her at one point, and she had her eyes closed so we thought she fell asleep. The member that was sitting next to her poked her to wake her up, and she opened one eye and whispered that she was praying, and then closed her eyes again. It was so cute! She has a lot of potential so please pray for her! 

Well, I love you and all appreciate the support! I hope you all enjoy conference weekend! We won't get to watch it until next weekend on the 11th and 12th so don't spoil any of the surprises for me! 

Sister Wells

STL Stuff, Sick Companions and Skinny

This past week was sort of a weird one. Just in the sense that we did abnormal things.

First of all, this week was Zone Training Meeting and since my companion and I are STL's we got to help train! And, because we are the STL's of both of the Zones here on the island, we got to go down to the southern part of the island to Naha to do their training as well! So a large part of the beginning of the week was spent preparing for training, and then training! 

Then comes Saturday, and my companion woke up with a migraine so I had the wonderful opportunity to read the Old Testament for like 5 hours! Sunday she also wasn't feeling too well, so we skipped out of a few hours of church and went to the mothers room so that she could just take a nap before we had our evening appointment. Like I said, not a typical week, BUT, I must say, having a sick companion turned out to be a little bit of a blessing because it allowed me some down time to just think and ponder about my mission right now and have some really good realizations that I don't think I would have had had we just been going about our daily lives. The Lord knows how to turn all the bad things into good things. That's the truth. 

Just as a side note, my companion and I and another Elder in our area that goes home at the same time as us have decided to get in shape before we come home. We've officially cut out all sweets, snacks, white bread, and white rice. Unless we get fed by investigators or members. Anyway, ya'll better be ready for a brand new Sister Wells when I return! Although, I did get rid of my red hair, and dyed it back to dark brown, so I guess I probs won't look that different. But feel free to pray for me to have success on my diet because trying not to eat white rice in Japan is WAY difficult. 

You'll have to forgive me for such a random and scattered email this week, that's just how my brain has been lately. To end off, I would just like to mention that this week amongst all my pondering and deep thinking, I did come to the conclusion that Satan has been influencing my thoughts way too much lately. As a missionary, when things don't go the way I expect, or the way I want, I tend to take blame, feel inadequate, feel like my best will never ever be good enough, and so on. However, those thoughts would NEVER come from a Heavenly Father who loves us, has never ending patience for us, and who's greatest desire is for us to be happy. Sometimes, all we really need is to realize that Satan is real, and kick him in the face and get on with our lives knowing that WE are in charge of our happiness and we have a Father in Heaven who loves us so much and is SO PROUD of our efforts. That's my simple spiel for this week. 

I love you all! I pray for you often and I'll see you in about 2 and half months!

Sister Wells

Okinawa For Life!

Transfer calls came and went and out of all 10 missionaries in this area, NO ONE LEFT! Haha everything just stayed the same, except one of the Elders got a green bean and now we've got 7 Elders and 4 Sisters in one area. It's a missionary party all the time. I can't complain. I love my companion and my roommates!

Anyway, I don't really remember what happened in the past week. I'll try to mention a few things.

There was another Baptism this past Saturday for a cute little man named Nakazato San. He self referred himself to the Elders about 5 weeks ago when he just kept feeling like he needed to be involved in the Mormon church. Since that time, he has had absolutely no problems with anything and was able to get baptized! I've been trying super hard to be his friend for like the past 5 weeks, making small talk and being super friendly each time I see him, but for some reason he always just seemed to give me looks like I'm crazy or something. BUT for his baptism, my companion and I bought him a tie, and he was SUPER HAPPY, and now I feel like I've finally earned his friendship because he'll actually talk to me now :) 

Just to mention some of our investigators progress right now, Toshiko San, is from Okinawa but married a marine a long while back, and EVERYONE in her family, besides her, is a member. All of her kids live in the states, a couple of them have been married in the temple, and I'm pretty sure she's basically gone to church for a good portion of her life because she seems to know just about everything. She even says herself that she'll get baptized at some point, she's just not sure when. When we asked her what is holding her back, she said she doesn't even know. However, I really seems like her time could be coming up soon because she's been coming to church lately, and asking us questions so it seems to be just a matter of time now! Feel free to pray for her!

Erin, the American who watched all the episodes of the district, is still really gung ho about learning more about the church, but with her, the biggest issue is that she really would like her husband to be more ok with it. It is a pretty big lifestyle change, after all, and she just doesn't want to jump into anything too fast before he has time to adjust and understand what's going on. Please Pray for her so that she can have the courage and faith to keep going forward! 

Takeshima San, our recent convert just got the Aaronic priesthood yesterday and he is doing wonderful! He and I decided last week at our Ward FHE that we're going to start an air band, and we  beat box and play air guitar basically every time we see each other. He's hilarious :)

I truly have been so blessed to have the opportunity to work in an area with so many wonderful people! Thank you everyone for your love and prayers! Time is winding down but I know I've still got 3 months worth of miracles to see so there's no time to slow down! Love you all!

Sister Wells

Sister Wells gets to sleep on a real bed!

Starburst Origami

Dunked, District, Dates

So, due to an email recieved on Friday night, we're heading to the airport in about 30 minutes to hop a plane to Fukuoka to go to the Sister Training Leader meeting tomorrow at the mission home. So, this email is going to be short and sweet despite the fact that this past week was one of the most eventful weeks of my entire mission. 

First things first, TAKESHIMA SAN IS BAPTIZED! WOOT! It was a perfect baptismal service, just small and simple because he didn't want a ton of people to come. It was extrememly reverent, and exactly what he needed. Definitely one of the most spritiual moments of my mission. 

Other crazy thing worth mentioning, we have this new investigator named Erin who is friends with someone in the ward. She came to church with her friend two Sundays ago, and then we went over to her house this past Friday to figure out her story. Apparently, she has had a lot of mormon friends throughout the years, with a couple of neat experiences and she just has this insane interest about learning more. Also, for those of you out there that know what "The District" is, she has watched ALL OF THEM. Yep. Some random non member out there found out about mormon reality TV and decided to watch the whole series hahahaha. I could not believe my ears when I found that out. Anyway, she is currently praying about a baptismal date, and we'll be meeting her at least twice this week so I'm sure I'll have more to mention next time. PRAY FOR HER!

Last cray cray miracle of the week: So about 2 months ago our mission president came out with new standards of excellence and it included for everyone to have 2 baptismal dates. Because it was a new standard (the previous was 1) we set a mission wide goal for everyone to get to 2 by September 1st. We were at 2, but then Takeshima San got baptized which put us down to 1. (Not that i"m complaing! I'm super happy he is baptized :)) But I just kind of figured we might just be down to 1 for a little bit until we could find our second. BUT, it's a good thing I'm not the one in charge here. This past Sunday, yesterday, our investigator Shimabukuro San was supposed to come to church. Due to a late shift, she slept instead. However, at 4:30, when we had already been at the church for 7 hours after our last meeting ended, she called us and asked us if we could meet at the church at 5:30. Starving and exhuasted, we agreed to meet. We then quickly went to our mission coordination meeting, which ended at 5:30, and then went in without a lesson plan whatsoever. By some sort of crazy miracle, WE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE WITH HER! I seriously don't know how it happened. She was all for it though, and we've now got a goal for November 22nd! We made the goal! By some sort of crazy unexpected miracle, we actually met President's goal. 

I love being a missionary. I love my area, I love my companion! Thanks again for all the love and support! See you in 3 months!

Love Sister Wells