525600 Minutes

The 30th will mark my 1 year mark. I can not believe it! 525600
minutes of trying to be a good missionary. I have about half that time
left now!
So I ended up staying in Moiwa with dear sweet Kaneko Shimai! I am so
happy and relieved! I love her and she is SUCH a GOOD missionary! We
are STLs so we get to go work with some sisters throughout the
mission. We get to go back to Asahikawa and Obihiro my bean area! I am
so excited.
There is not much to report this week. We have been trying to build
this area up because the last few transfers have been hard for dendo.
But, I am excited to dig in and see some miracles.
I just want to beat my testimony of member missionary work. A sweet 20
year old in our Ward who got baptized this last year is planning on
serving a mission. Not only that but she is such a good missionary
already! Another recent convert was really struggling on Sunday and
she just became her best friend and heard her out. I can't explain it
well but I was so humbled by her pure example of Christlike love.
Members make a difference!
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Sister Kempner

Bright lights in the big city

What a crazy week!

Monday was a normal Pday. We passed the time by watercoloring... We are no artists. 

Tuesday we didn't have DTM so we had a few appointments. However, after the first appointment I get a call from the APs. you never want a random call from the APs. That's no good. He is trying to make small talk and I'm thinking ya ok what is he going to ask me to do. And then he says "well, Sister Kempner this is your transfer call." Transfer calls are supposed to be tomorrow. He proceeds to tell me I have been "emergency transferred" and I am to go home pack up ALL my stuff and head into Sapporo tomorrow morning...

I'm a little shocked of course after being in an area for 7 months and then having to leave in one day. Then he tells me my comps aren't coming to Sapporo with me and that I have to go by myself and I need to meet President and Sister Nakatsuka at the bus station in Sapporo. 

A sister unexpectedly went home early so the other sister didn't have a companion so... I made it to the city guys! But, it was really hard to leave Asahikawa. Because I had to leave to quickly I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone.  I love it so much. I saw so many miracles there! 

However! This might not be my actual call for next transfer. I will still get a call tomorrow which means I could be transferred out of the area I am in now or stay or who knows what! But riding to Sapporo by myself was fun. The first time in like a year I have been completely alone!

Moiwa, the area I'm in now is awesome! I hope I can stay. One of the elders is going home on Thursday so a lot of members have been feeding us. It's been great! 

Anyway I am trying to adjust to this new area, but not get attached if I have to leave. I love my new comp, Kaneko Shimai. She is perfect! I hope we get to stay together!

Something that has really struck me this week is how fleeting time is. One member I called to say goodbye to said "I thought we had more time." It really hit me. We really don't have much time. Not on a mission or in life. Time is such a precious resource that our Heavenly Father has given us. I don't want to make it to heaven and look back and say. I thought I had more time. 

I am thankful for this opportunity to serve the Lord and learn so much. I will go where He wants me to go! I love you all!

Kempner 姉妹

Oh climbed a mountain today.

 

Our last supper together

Oh climbed a mountain today.

Dinner with a super cute couple

Hit him with water balloons because he is dying. 

 

It was the Load.

Once upon a time I have been in Asahikawa for 7 months. Once upon a
time it is the coldest place in Hokkaido and also the hottest place in
Hokkaido. Once upon a time I was here during the coldest part of the
year and am here during the hottest part of the year. I am quickly
learning humidity and I are not two peas in a pod. But, anyway! On to
the good stuff!
You know a mission is a strange and wonderful thing. You do things you
will never do apart from being a missionary. It's the best.
This week we did a lot of "shizen" or natural dendo(missionary work).
It's interesting because I think Japan may be one of the only places
where people not from Japan are treated extremely different. We like
to go to parks and see how many little kids come talk to us and then
we talk to their moms. This week we played dodgeball with some little
boys. We also met a couple from South Africa. It is always fun because
you see people who aren't Japanese and you know you both don't belong
there so there is this strange connection. So we just chatted with
them. Before we left she's like "girls can I just pray for you right
now?" And we said of course! They are heading back in two weeks dang
it!
So I read a talk by Elder Bednar called Bearing your Burdens With
Ease. He talks about how the loads in our life's which seem like
burdens are actually what give us the spiritual traction we need to
progress in our faith in Jesus Christ. Happiness is not an absence of
trials or hardships. Those are the things necessary for growth and
progression and they make the sweet times even sweeter! I love you
all. The gospel is true!
Love Kempner 姉妹

Happy Birthday America! 🇺🇸

This week was really good! And fast! I love being in a trio. It is
super fun. It will be sad when we all only have one companion again.
It is quite enjoyable to ride behind them and see how surprised
everyone is when three big foreigners ride past them.
This week we got to go to Sapporo for this thing called MLK. (Mission
Leader Kaigi) my comps went on splits and I got to meet with all the
Zone Leaders and Sister training Leaders and the APs and President
Nakatsuka and talk about lots of things on Japanese I barely
understood. But it was still a really good experience. I felt the
Spirit so strongly. Plus we got Costco pizza for lunch so yahoo!
The gospel is amazing you guys! I love to see it change the people we
work with. We have an investigator named Uenishi San and at the
beginning she only listened to the lessons so we would teach her
daughter English. The first time we asked her to pray she was super
reluctant and it wasn't really a prayer. But, this last time we talked
about the Book of Mormon and she said "ya I want to read it."! She is
also telling her friends about things she learns from us! Super cool.
She also prayed again for us at the end of the lesson and it was soooo
different from the first time. It's good stuff I'm telling you! The
gospel changed lives.
We read a good talk yesterday in church from last conference called
"Latter-day Saints keep on Trying."  I really liked it. If you can
find the time you should read it! But if not I will supply a quote I
really liked!

My invitation to all of us is to evaluate our lives, repent, and keep
on trying. If we don’t try, we’re just latter-day sinners; if we don’t
persevere, we’re latter-day quitters; and if we don’t allow others to
try, we’re just latter-day hypocrites.

We are all just trying to do our best here. Let's help others on the
way! I love you all! Oh, and Happy Birthday America!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸✨✨✨