Welcome to Japan!

こんにちは皆さん！Hello everyone and greetings from the beautiful country of Japan. I am in love with it here. There truly is nothing better. This has been the most adventurous, scary, and 100 percent worth it week ever!

The plane ride was long but so much fun. Everyone on the plane was talking to the person next to them about the gospel. unfortunately, I was in between two missionaries so couldnt do much missionary work haha but I studied a lot, so that is good :)

 

When I walked off the plane into Japan, and I saw President Welch and Sister Welch standing there, I had this amazing feeling like I was home. I could feel in my heart that I was meant to be in japan and that I was meant to be with the Welchs. Words cannot explain the happiness that overcame me those first few moments of being with them. It was the coolest experience I have ever had. I even started crying haha it was amazing. I am in love with Japan and the people here, and I have never felt more love, peace, guidance, and purpose in my life than I feel right now.

 

Staying at the mission home for two nights was tons of fun. We woke up each morning and went on a run and then played football in a park. The APs are awesome, one is from australia and the other is a nihonjin, but they are both so awesome and helped us new missionaries out so much. we also did the excercises that the old people do every morning in the park haha we looked so awkward.... a group of like 30 gaijin (white people) trying to copy the 85 year old grandpas haha it was awesome. no wonder the japanese are so healthy and live to be so old! we learned lots at the mission home and I honestly do not remember much haha but it was fun. we met with the president one on one and let me just say that he is the coolest man alive. I am so happy that he is my mission president. I feel so lucky :)

 

 

we had a testimony meeting that was awesome. i am so excited to work the amazing missionaries here in kobe. THEN the next morning, we met our companions and got told what area we were going to! It was like christmas. each person was brought up to the front of the room and got told what area and what trainer they had. I got called up and got told that my companion is the absolutely WONDERFUL Scheffler 姉妹! I love her so much and we get along so well. It is her last transfer :( but im happy to have her while I can. she is a great example to me and we have so much fun together. my area is the Kobe Akashi area  :) Scheffler Shimai and I are white washing, or opening, this area so we are basically starting from scratch! It is way fun and we are working really hard to find people to teach.

 

 

 

Friday night, once we got the apartment, I tried Nato...... or fermented soybeans. EW. but hey, at least I tried it right? It was nasty haha a sister who is in our apartment eats one pack every day...... I wish I had that kind of determination. haha but I definitely do NOT.

 

Saturday was my first full day in the mission field and boy it was awesome. we planned a ton though, since it was the beginning of the transfer. so we didnt get to go outside until around 5:00. we biked over to a place where we were planning on advertising and talking to people about our free english class that we teach on tuesday. then, we both suddenly felt that we were supposed to go housing (knocking on peoples houses/apartments) to try to find a new investigator. we were both looking around and pointed to the same apartment complex and knew that we needed to go there. we had to climb a fence to get there (in skirts this is really hard and probably totally against the rules haha) but we both felt like we needed to get to that apartment complex and we really honestly didnt know why. but we went! and fast! the first door we knocked on was a nice man, who looked japanese. he then invited us in.... which is extremely rare for japan. EXTREMELY. so, we went in and met his wife and his 2 year old son. we quickly started teaching them about the gospel and they loved it! every second of it! it was crazy! theyre from brazil and are the sweetest people ever. they care so much for each other and for their family. the gospel is so perfect for them and they are so ready to receive it! It was so amazing! we showed them a mormon.org video of a man in japan and the husband cried! they are so ready for the gospel. unfortunately, the wife worked this past sunday but we are teaching them next sunday and I cannot wait to tell you more about them. it was a miracle finding them. Like i said, situations like this are extremely rare in japan :)

 

Sunday was awesome. I love the ward members. They are so sweet and absolutely love us missionaries. I went up and bore my testimony and introduced myself in front of everyone......I was so nervous haha but it went well. literally every single person giggles when they hear my name becuase it means sponge cake in japanese.. haha its pretty funny. last night we went out trying to find a less active and got lost and ran into a baptist church to ask them for directions. I then started talking to a baptist priest about the gospel haha we told him that we are similar in that we are christian. at first he didnt believe me, but eventually he came around ;) i love talking to people about the gospel! my desire to spread it to the people is amazing.

 

I love being a missionary for this amazing church! there is truly nothing better :) I love japan and the people here are amazing. I cannot wait for the next 16 months :) I hope you all have a great week! I love you!

 

愛しています！

 

Kasteler 姉妹