Planes, Parties and Prayers

This last week was NON STOP. 

 

Monday night we flew to Fukuoka for MLC and then got to stay at the Mission Home, (Just a side note for those that don't know, our mission home is located directly under the Fukuoka temple) sleep in a BED for my birthday, and then eat breakfast the next morning underneath the Celestial Room :) 

Tuesday was MLC and President and the APs and some people from Tokyo came and trained us about how to be better leaders and better missionaries and then we flew home Tuesday night!

Wednesday we planned the Zone Training Meetings that we had to train at on Thursday and Friday and we went out for sushi and brownies and ice cream with some members for a combined birthday party. 

Thursday we trained our own Zone about all the stuff we learned at Fukuoka on Tuesday and then we had a birthday party for cute little China Tomi san who got baptized last Saturday and turned 84! We ate more birthday cake, of course. We also had our English class that night, and a Halloween Party with all of the students afterwards.

Friday we went to the southern part of the island and trained the other zone about the stuff we learned in Fukuoka. (There's only one set of Sister Training Leaders on the island, so we work with both zones) We also had the Trunk or Treat for all of the wards that come to the building that night so it was crazy madness with TONS of people and Japanese and English flying all over the place. I could hardly keep my languages straight. We missionaries borrowed the Senior Couple's van and made it into a mouth and passed out candy with little scriptures saying Open your mouth in proclaiming my gospel. We thought we were pretty clever :) 

Saturday we FINALLY got around to doing some planning so that I could tell my poor new companion about all the things to know in this area. And at night we had a movie night with the other sisters and a few investigators and we ate dinner, more birthday cake, and  watched Legacy and talked about Joseph Smith and had a nice night :) 

Sunday was the usual 7 hours of church and half way through the 2nd branch's testimony meeting, I realized this was my last Fast Sunday on my mission and decided to get up and bear my testimony. I also mentioned briefly that it was my last Fast Sunday on my mission. BIG MISTAKE. After that, EVERYONE and their dog came up to me and started talking to me about how sad it is that I'm going home and when it was and what I'll be doing and it was AWFUL. Haha. Now don't get me wrong, I'm totally at terms with the fact that I'm gonna be home in like a month, but having EVERYONE bring it up ALL the TIME is terrible. Future missionaries, learn from me, and don't announce from the pulpit that you're going home soon. Talk about your investigators or something instead haha. 

One thing I have been pondering lately though, as it comes nearer to the end, is weaknesses. I guess at the beginning of my mission I had this vision of coming out here for a year and a half, being completely morphed and coming home as the new and improved Nikki. As I reach the end, I had started to get a little frustrated at the fact that I've still got SO MANY things that I should be better at by now. I'm not at all a perfect missionary, and if anything, I'm much more aware of all my weaknesses than I was  a year and a half ago. However, those weaknesses are from our Heavenly Father, and we NEED them, yes need, them in order to be humble, and to learn the things that we need to learn. Through our weaknesses, we can realize that we CAN'T do this along and that it truly is the Lord's hand in everything that will ultimately bring success. Weaknesses are a good thing. Any of you wanna look it up, Ether 12:27 has some good words to say about it. 

Anyway, I've still got a full month to see plenty of miracles and continue in doing the work of the Lord and I am so ready to work hard until the very end! Thanks again for all the love and support and the birthday wishes! See you in a few!

Sister Wells

Sister Wells' Birthday!

Many, Many Pictures

Baptisms, Birthdays and Busy, Busy, Busy

This past week was super busy. Sister Nagamine got transferred to Sasebo which is actually in Nagasaki Ken and pretty close to my last area! It was really sad to see her go after 3 transfers together but I think we both knew it was coming to an end soon.

My new companion is named Sister Jeffery and she:s from the exotic land of Provo Utah! Funny thing is that we had the same trainer! So we're mission `sisters`. She's super outgoing, half Japanese, and adjusting pretty well to the craziness of the military area. I feel kind of bad because we literally have been ON THE GO the entire time she's been here so far. 

She arrived Thursday, and we promptly ate dinner, taught a lesson to Okamune San, and then had English Class.

Friday, we came to the church for crossfit with the relief society sisters, went home, had lunch, she unpacked while I just talked at her for like 2 hours about all the people in this area that she needs to know before I ditch out of here in 6 weeks, and then we had to leave for a lesson. 

Saturday we came to the church in the morning and helped clean it, then we ran and visited a less active that we needed to schedule with, then we had to come back to the church because 2 of the Elder's investigator was getting baptized! She is the most adorable 84 year old woman who is actually the mother of George, who got baptized here back in August. We get to come help her figure out her baptismal gown and help her change. We also had the privledge of figuring out what to do when we found out Elder Dolbin forgot to tell her to bring extra underwear... Long story short, we figured something out. :) Just don't ask too many questions haha. 

Anyway, she got to be baptized by her recent convert son, and it was actually a little bit scary because she's an 84 year old Japanese woman who was a little scared to actually go into the water all the way, but after some practice and a few tries, she did it! 

After that baptism, we ran home because we hadn't actually eaten anything since breakfast and it was now close to 3:00. After a pit stop at the apartment, we come back to the church for round 2! 

The other sisters that we live with also had a baptism on Saturday! Theirs was a young couple who are in the military stationed here in Okinawa named Sam and Johnathan. It was a wonderful service and a great way to start off a new transfer. 

Sunday was 7 hours of church, as usual, a Sunday night meal appointment with members, and then we went and visited the mom of our 9 year old investigator Britton so that we could fill out the baptismal record that they are going to take to Hawaii for when he gets baptized on November 8th! I'm seriously so sad I don't get to go to the actual service, but teaching him was SO much fun :) 

Today, we actually got to do companionship study for the first time since my new companion got here and we are going to have a super chill birthday for me. Except for the fact that we're actually taking a plane and flying up to mainland tonight for the missionary leadership conference at the mission home. The madness never ends! We literally haven:t stopped moving in the past week haha. And this week will be full of trainings and halloweens parties and birthday celebrations so its not stopping any time soon! 

Shout out to all the birthday wishes! Thanks for remembering! I've already gotten donuts, a cake, a muffin, and cookies for my birthday so it sounds like my plans to get fit before I go home might be a little hindered haha. 

Anyway, love you and thanks for the love and support! See you in 6!

Pictures - Sister Wells Sings in a Talent Show

 

Talents, Tires and Transfer Calls

Another Busy week! I kind of don't remember what we did, so I'll probably just do a flip through my planner today and mention the highlights.  Monday for Pday we all just hung out at the church, and prepared some stuff for the Talent Show that was Thursday. It was a nice relaxing Pday. At night, we went to our 9 year old investigators home for dinner with the family and ate ribs. It was delicious! And we finished his lessons so that he can get baptized in Hawaii when they go there to meet his biological dad and grandpa in a couple of weeks! Then we had our weekly Family Home Evening that we missionaries hold for our recent converts or investigators or anyone that wants to come. It's always a good time :) Tuesday, we had district meeting, did some studies, some finding, had some cancelled lessons, and... yep. That was Tuesday haha.  Wednesday we had a chunk of time, so we decided to go to a somewhat far away place and do some finding! We also wanted to stop by a Less Active that lived by a red bridge and we had only ever been there by car, so we were on the lookout for a shortcut by bike to get there. We reached a path that ran along the river that would lead us to the red bridge and decided to take it. After about 2 minutes along the path, we passed some construction workers, and as we went by them one of them yelled and said the path doesn't go through. Now, I'm not really sure why, but for some reason, my companion and I both decided that we wanted to keep going anyway. After about another 5 minutes of biking, sure enough, the path ended. However, we could see the red bridge not too far off in the distance! At the end of the path, there were also some stairs that led up probably back to the main road. Rather than backtrack, we decided we should just carry our bikes up the stairs and figure things out from there. After a few minutes of hassle, we finally reached the top of the stairs with our bikes in tow. We started biking down a road that looked promising. Not 2 minutes later, did I realize something was wrong with my bike. For the first time in my entire mission, my tire had gotten punked! Moral of the story, LISTEN TO THE WARNING VOICES. When people tell you not to go down a certain path, you should probably listen to them and not just ignore them. That was the lesson I learned that day.  Thursday we went to lunch with one of our investigators, taught a lesson, and had the Talent Show after our English Class! We had quite a few English Class students willing to share their talents, and it turned out to be a ton of fun! One of the Elders and I sang an acapella/ beat box duet to "Secret Prayer" (In case you didn't assume this, he was the beat boxer, not me. I'm not THAT cool yet. I just sang haha.) Anyway, it turned out to be a very fun night.  Friday we biked to another far part of our area, did some finding, visited a Less Active, visited a Recent Convert, and then get signed onto Base and had American Pizza for dinner with some of the American Members. It was a good day :) Saturday, we went onto base in the morning and helped with a service project that consisted of preparing hot dog lunches for the homeless. Then we did some good old finding, visiting of peeps, and then came home for dinner, and then watched the General Womens Broadcast! All in all, a very good day. Sunday, was pretty typical for a Sunday here in Okinawa, 9 hours of church because we had 2 ward councils to attend, starving missionaries because there's no time for lunch, and headaches in the evening because we've been trying to talk to any members we need to talk to for the one chance a week that we get to see them! Then we went and had a picnic at a park for dinner with the other sisters and one of our investigators. Another good day.  Yesterday was our not pday Monday because it's transfer week, which makes pday become Tuesday, so we went to visit a recent convert, who is the cutest little old 80 year old woman who kindly informed me that my skin is oily and has acne and that I should probably do something about it, and then she informed my companion that the yakisoba that she made for her had raw carrots and that she needs to learn how to cook. She also told us about how her 2 random women from the relief society asked her if they could come visit her sometime (her visiting teachers of course) and she was so confused, and didn't really know them, so she just said no thank you. We then explained to her what visiting teachers do. I love 80 year old women :)  That brings us to today! The transfer call day! No one is safe. I have no predictions. But I'll try to save some email time and sneak back on after we get our calls and let you all know the scoop!  Thanks for the love and support! Love you all! Sister Wells
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