Hi mom from your missionary

Dear Sister LeFevre,

Your missionary is in our branch. She is a sunshine.

We got to talking because our oldest son goes to BYUH. His roommate visited us in Japan last Thanksgiving, and is a fan of hers from their freshman year.

Our ward just combined with another to make a branch and we are all trying to learn names and faces. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed seeing hers. She is a very cheerful, positive person and we all enjoy her.

Cindi Sonntag
Sent from my iPhone

Three-minute e-mail

Lol. I love reading all your letters, but now we are trying to get to the temple and make the 10:00 session. It's right next door but they want us to be way early so I'm going to try and type fast.

Brooke--why are you going to Europe and not coming to pick me up here?? :) Where will you go? And just with Kyla?? Just the two of you in big scary Europe? I hope not! Hah, and does Will come to watch your soccer games with all those cute girls there? ;)

Mom, we don't call on P-day it's separate, usually it's during our study time. I guess it works best if it was about the same time as for Christmas, in your evening, my morning of the next day, so I'll probably call from Mon over here to your Sun eve.

Dad--we could just stay in Tokyo the whole time... but it is the more expensive place, and train fare adds up fast too, hmm. Let me think a little more. When we go out to Kofu/Fuji we could probably leave our stuff at a member's house.. threre were some members that love to hike it so maybe I'll send word to them and see if they want to do that with us. Or else we could possibly leave it at the church building.. :) You should talk to Perkins shimai (my trainer) too... to see what they did when they came. I don't know her e-mail but I'll try to send her a letter with yours. The big question too is where do we want to do Sunday.. the big thing here is which ward you'll go to with your parents.. :) I'm still thinking.. maybe it'd be good to do Kofu anyway. I still love that place but I'm not sure if they remember me since it was a year ago now! I'll give it some thought today and let you know.. And yeah, BYUH does start Sept 15th. I still need to apply to the Hale 1 dorms which is only for Juniors and Seniors so you have to apply specially.

Sigh.. this week has been good! The picture was from Sister Sontagg, who is friends with my friend Will Pryor from our freshmen year at the BYUH. Her son is his roomate now and he stayed at their house when he came here for Thanksgiving break. So anyway, we finally made that connection and she took a picture to send one to you and one to him :) She was just like "ok, but your mom's address in here!" :)

Soo, other news, we have a new investigator! Actually it's a pretty cool story because we're pretty sure the Lord had a big hand in it :) We got a message from some Shimai in the ward, and thought it was Oka shimai so we called her, but actually she didn't even call us. But then she was like, oh but wait, actually I have a friend I want to introduce to you. She's going to come to conference! Well, it ends up she had been debating whether to refer that friend to the missionaries or not, and just then we'd called! It ends up Omi shimai had been the one that really called us and they sound kinda alike, but not really!

So anyway, her friend came to conference, we met her then too but didn't set up an appointment but Oka shimai then talked more with her friend and invited her to hear our lessons and she agreed so we just met yesterday for the first lesson and she is great and seems to love what she's learning. She's still pretty nervous about it all, but seems really open and at least willing to read--and really understands! So, oh her name is Igarashi san. Keep her in your prayers, we have good hopes for her!

Other than that, yeah, we just feel busy and happy! :)

Brooke, I'm still sad I can't be there for your first date, but take lots of pics ok? :)

Thanks so much. Gotta run, but talk to you next week!!

Lots of love!
LeFevre shimai

Spring is here and so are gokiburi

Minna Konnichiwa!

Yeah, you read that right. Gokiburi. Aka: cockroaches. I've lost count of all the tiny ones I've killed in our kitchen the last few days.. ewewwwww!!

But well, it's starting to warm up some more here in Tokyo! We are up to what they said is 20 degrees celsius today (which should be around 70F) and you can sure feel it! I'm not even wearing my big jacket! But yesterday seemed to be a fluke as it was rainy and cold and I thought it might just snow! But maybe that's because I wasn't wearing my big jacket then either, and we were biking for a few hours in the rain and forgot our gloves so our hands got pretty feelingless... :) Amazingly enough we still had some good conversations on the streets. Actually I still think it's possible some of the best convo's might come on rainy days. People are surprised anyone is even out those days, no less wearing giant rain suits AND then trying to talk to them... about a church!? :) The startle effect works well as long as you keep wearing a smile from the bottom of your heart. But we did have quite the adventure that Wells shimai wants to tell everyone about, that I really wanted to house this one apartment because it looked like the windows were lit up and people were home. So we went up to it, and it looked kinda different... but we went in anyway and went up the 5th floor. Both of us felt really wierd but we tried to start housing, and realized (before anyone opened their doors for us) that lots of the door name plates had names like 'copy center' and 'media processing' and other business-like names. Sometimes you find them in normal apartments, but this was definitely an unusual amount. So... we decided to quit that, put our cappas back on and went back into the rain. Wells shimai is still sure it MUST have been really a business place, but I think it's just a really wierd mixed apartments/ renovated into offices. Maybe if you want to really live at work that's the place..! Either way, it's hard to tell what's what when we are in the middle of city like this! I guess that's why we still to mostly streeting here... :)

Let's see, other than that, this week has been... great! We had General Conference! Oh man, soooo good! So, because we see it a week later here it's a little bummer but we got to watch it all in English this time so I was happy and just taking notes like crazy. Conference as a missionary is just the best thing ever!! It's like all the stuff that you love to hear, and are trying to tell everyone too, and just like a veritable FEAST. I can't explain it, but it is amazing. I hope it stays like this off my mission too... I really thought they talked a lot about families and strengthening the youth, and about being positive and working through hard times. At least, those are the themes that stood out to me.

And we had a member bring her friend to the Saturday session, who really liked it, we talked to her and walked around the park right by the temple, and then today we got a call from her friend (the member) that said they talked and she wants to talk to us more about the church と言うか　lessons! We jumped up and down. Ok, so Wells shimai jumped up and down and I video'd her. :) Member referrals really are just too good. :)

Other than that, not tooo much different. We did have a dinner last night at the Dunn's house, whose dad is one of the top guys at WalMart who's overseeing the Seiyu store (a branch of Walmart for Japan it seems) here and they live in this waay pretty apartment and we could see Tokyo tower from their dining room window. It was cool. And they were a really great example of a good good member meal. They had the food ready when we got there, it was a simple but delicious meal, we had dessert :), had us sit down to give a quick message, and we were out the door all in just about an hour--which follows missionary rules! Yay! They tell us as missionaries to keep dinner appointments to an hour but sometimes it is sooo hard and then as time drags on you just get tired. I felt like when we left the Dunn's I was really more refreshed and wanting to dendo than anything else. That's how you want to leave them, not drained!! So, they were a great example of being able to do that well.

Ok, well time is about up for today. Will Pryor- Thanks for your e-mail! Now that you're graduated where will your address be? I will definitely look up the Sontaggs! :)

Oh! And I fail at mailing packages! I finally got your guys's package out today. So it'll still miss Luke's B-day. But hope you like it. I didn't get the SD card in there I'll send it later. But I did get your guys' packages thank you sooo much! I was soo surprised because we weren't there when it first came, so they put this little note in your box that says who it's from and one said America and one said Hiroshima and I was like... I'm guessing America is an Easter package, but who do we know in Hiroshima???! Anyway, thank you to the Congers for sending it over! And thanks for the book, Dad! I'll have to check with President to see if it's ok to read it, but it's pretty much a Church book right, so it should be fine. If I find time..! ;) Did you read it and liked it or just saw it? It looks cool. :)

I know food is expensive mom, so don't worry about it too much! We have food over here! And what really means the most is just e-mails and letters and such. But we were pretty darn excited about Oreos.... :) There's definitely a few already missing. hehe. And good job on your tests mom and good luck on today's ... if it's not already done... :)

Love you all lots. Minna ganbette ne! We'll have to start talking about Mother's Day call soon too. well, we still have at least three weeks but it's kinda soon. So I'm excited! Time goes by so fast though... I swear I just talked to you like last week for Christmas right? :) OK aishiteimasu!

Love, Sister Katie LeFevre
と言うか　LeFevre shimai

Little Bitty Miracles

Konnichiwa Kazoku and Minnasan!

SO! Much to tell from this week. We are enjoying some Easter season sunshine over here, although Easter was pretty uneventful save for Saturday we had an Egg Hunt with one of our gaijin wards and then a picnic under the Sakura trees--WHICH are in full bloom now for sure!-- at Yoyogi park, a pretty famous one here for Shibuya. It's right next to the Meiji shrine too, so I'm sure Sister Wells and I will go back later to see that, but the Sakura are already getting sparse. Really probably Sunday was the peak and now they are all starting to fall off. Which I have to say, is just about cooler than the blooming part! In fact, we went to a little college on our way here to e-mail and they have this beautiful driveway full of huge 40 year old sakura trees, so we just walked up and down that sidewalk for a while and just enjoyed what looked like snowing sakura. It is sooooo pretty and I just stopped for a minute to just breathe. And you feel the calm of it all, and every time a little breeze comes by the petals just come tumbling down in a shower. There were a bunch of little schoolgirls too who would gather up the petals that fell on the street and blown into piles by the wind, take a handful (and make a treat... lol, jk) and throw them up in the air or on each other. It was so cool! Like fall leaves... but tiny and pink and soft! Ok, so that's one of the highlights of this week. I'm trying to take lots of pictures, but like I've been saying the SD card is getting full. So I'm also trying to go back through and delete pictures I don't really need (which I'm sure Dad, and myself, will thank me for later... :)

Oh, and I bought a Kimono today. It was used so it was only $10. Has some stains but the color totally matches my eyes. Now I just have to get all the other things that go with the kimono ( the waistband, tying string, socks, shoes... ) ... but I think I'll wait, those won't be as much on sale I think... maybe I'll improvise.. :)

As for the rest of Easter, really it slides under the table here in Japan and no one does anything. It's not even listed on their calenders. And some of the Japanese members didn't even know it was Sunday. ... I thought it was kind of sad, but for me it was just a nice time to really think about the Savior without having ANY of those other distractions and I realized I can get by fine without them :) They are fun (too much candy, coloring eggs) but the real point of Easter after all, is Jesus and celebrating his ressurection. So it was quiet, but nice.
Austin--if you have time go ahead and work on the garden! That'd be great! I don't know if I could remember exactly the plans or anything... but I can try to draw out what I remember again if you want. Basically just keeping the grass and weeds out... I think I'd love to alter it a bit now and make it a tiny bit more Japanese-ish if I can.. :) They just have such pretty garden styles here. We'll see.. I'll think on it some more.

As for Mom and your seaweed adventures :) sounds like fun! Nori (the seaweed) is eaten plain a lot here too. Or cut up and put with sesame on your rice. Or any way you want. That's the dry seaweed sheets. I think they actually fry them or maybe just roast a little too though, so they are just ma-ma (kinda) healthy. The real seaweed they sell all dried up called Wakame and you soak that in water to re-hydrate it, then put it into your miso soups, etc. And the sprouts are great, but I've never eaten them raw! ... We usually use them in stir fries. Today Wells shimai cooked us a fry/soup that had long thin carrot, daikon sprouts, onions, green peppers all fried together, added Tofu blocks, then throw in some soy sauce, Mirin (like a rice wine--you cook with it like red wine), and sou--or dipping sauce for noodles. It was tasty and light and healthy! :) You can use any veggies of course, but those were what we had--says Wells shimai. :) She usually uses those combination of sauces. I like to mix soy and vinegar.

OH! And we made gyoza!! Our own! It was a lot of mincing veggies, then we put all the veggie and meat mix together and put those in the little gyoza skins and fold it on up! So I want to have a gyoza making party at home... I will teach you all my ways.. mwahah :) No, but it is fun to learn how to cook here and use crazy veggies and foods. In fact, I already thought of that before you said anything and there's a little surprise in a little package coming your way soon. aka being sent hopefully today. For some strange reason I thought Luke's B-day was last month! I know it's in April but it was 3 gatsu (third month) and for some reason I thought san-gatsu was April... so I felt bad I was late, got everything and then realized, so now I'll just be on time :)

Ok, so what I really wanted to tell you all about is that Shibuya is so fun! I have had some little thing every day it feels like, that tells me I was really meant to come here. I LOVE all the sisters I've met so far, they are all so strong and faithful! One brought her friend to our Easter picnic. One came to our Eikaiwa class and fellowshipped a newcomer, even inviting him over to her house for a dinner party they were having (for one of the choro's recent converts) just so she could invite the choro too and make sure he has a chance to talk to them.

AND ... Drumroll..... I've gotten to use SHUA! That's the Japanese sign language. If you remember, I was learning it back in Kanagawa and really sad to leave because I was afraid I would't be able to use it any more. But as luck (or the hand of the Lord.. ) would have it, there is one family here with two little girls that are half-deaf. They are sooo cute and sweet. AND on top of that, we keep having the strangest miracles of meeting people on the street that are deaf! That'd been definitely the biggest highlight of my week!! In Kanagawa we only met one person-- and I really truly believe it's because we finally got to the point where we could have somewhat decent conversations. And everyone kept saying as I left Kanagawa how amazed they were I could speak it that much already. I really feel like the Lord has first of all blessed me with this gift, and is giving this opportunity to me here to keep using it as we run into people. Three times in just this last week!! The first two I actually noticed them speaking with their hands on the sidewalk first and approached them. This last time we hadn't talked to very many people that day so I decided to finally stop someone and talk to them because we had a little time and the very first person I stopped was partially deaf! It's funny though, because as much as I KNOW the Lord is leading me to these people, the conversations are just the same: They still don't know much about God. They still put up the objection that they are already Buddist--simply because that's what Japan is. And they still have not said they'd come and try out church. But at least I know I'm planting seed there and if nothing else, being something of an introduction. And I'm sure they are surprised with a good impression... not only is this gaijin speaking Japanese, but Japanese SIGN language! :) :) So, that's been my favorite part of the week. Running into deaf people :) And I'm not sure if it is the gift of tongues or if I should call it the gift of limbs... or appendages.. ;) And cross those appendages that they will come to church soon!

Well, that's about all we have time for today, but Harrison, you have a safe drive home to Floria--sorry it's on your birthday :( long day huh. Sister Shipp!! If you read my blog I did get your email! Thanks! Ganbatte with school ne?! And love you all and keep looking for missionary opportunities there too! They're everywhere just by being a good example and being open! :)

Mom ganbatte with tests! Karada mo daiji ni shite ne! (take care of yourself too!)

Thanks everyone for your love and support!
LOVE YOU LOTS

LeFevre shimai

ps.. I am going to get to go to Education week in Aug right? ... :) I'd love to if I can!