Adventure is out there!!

My dear Family! I love you!

Well, yesterday marked the end of my second transfer in Japan, and this morning our apartment got a call from President Rasmussen bringing some changes....I am being TRANSFERRED! I am heading to a new area...Yamagata! Its more west of Izumi when you look on a map. I will go tomorrow and meet my new companion who is George Shimai! I don:t know anything about her, other than she is not Japanese, so I am off to new places and new adventures!

This week when me and Kubota Shimai were doing some housing at some apartment buildings, one lady opened her door and inside her house I saw the exact same picture that is in the Manns house! The one of the proper young lady in a yellow dress sitting up all straight in a chair reading a book or something. It was kind of weird, but a nice little moment to see that familiar picture here in Japan!

Japans weather is not like Utah, like I thought. Right now, its getting colder, yes, but there are still beautiful flowers in full bloom over here right now! Some trees change and lose their leaves, but lots of trees are still just green as ever. It hasn:t really snowed...just a tiny tiny bit, but its hardly worth talking about. President Rasmussen says it snows more in Yamagata!

I forgot to tell you about my Thanksgiving here in Japan. On Thanksgiving day me and Moon Shimai in my apartment made a little Thanksgiving dinner with mashed potatoes, corn soup, rolls, and chicken! Then the next day, the Browne family from America invited all of us missionaries over for a real Thanksgiving dinner with stuffing, and gravy, and pumpkin pie, and turkey! It was fabulous!

This week we had Christmas Zone Conference. At the end of the conference, the Rasmussens said they had a special present for all of us and then pulled out packages of letters from our families! Thank you for your wonderful letters! They filled me up!

I actually haven:t heard much about what happened in the Phillipines, its so sad to hear about that. You asked if I have seen any of the damage from the Tsunami a couple years ago. Izumi wasn:t affected by the actual tsunami, and so far I haven:t seen any of the areas that were affected. I think I have been near them when I have gone on splits to different cities, but I haven:t seen it.I think its pretty well cleaned up, but not necessarily rebuilt. But people talk about the earthquake and the tsunami still.

Mom in your letter you said that you miss me but that you are not sure if you should say that...I am so grateful you are trying so much to help me and pray for me through this time. Your love is a great strength and constancy for me and I need it. Saying you miss me was actually good for me to hear, because I am still just me, and I need to know I am missed. Its not like when you become a missionary you are a different person. I am still Courtney Elise King. You are still my family. It good to know I am missed, because it means I am loved.

The investigator (young man) who we took on a church tour and taught a couple of times, we passed to the elders. We didn:t want things to get sticky with him having a crush on us sister missionaries :) So I think right now the elders are still working with him, but I don:t think he has a ton of interest in the Gospel.

Me and Kubota Shimai have had one investigator for awhile now. We had more, but had to drop them as well because they wouldnt let us make an appointment with them to teach them or come to any activities, so there wasn:t much more we could do, so we had to drop them.

But we have been teaching Kotake san, who is a middle aged mom and a friend to Browne Shimai in our ward. She is actually a referral from Browne Shimai.  She has been taught by other missionaries before us too, so she knows about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation and such. Lately we have been teaching her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, about faith and repentance and baptism. 

We asked her if she will get baptized and she said that if she receives a strong answer from the Holy Ghost that this is true, then she will! So, we have been praying for her to receive this answer.

I had a Japanese lady tell me this week that I look French. That was a new one!

I AM LEARNING JAPANESE!! Just recently, I have started making little tiny baby steps in understanding this language a little tiny bit more! YAY! I still have a LOOONG way to go...but look at how far I have come!

I love you all! Keep praying!

Kingu Shimai! 

Posted by Cami:

Click on this link to see the Facebook page with the videos explained by Sister Rasmussen below:

Pres Rasmussen Sendai Japan Mission 2011-2014 

Courtney is in the 2nd video labeled Morioka Zone.  She is at 6 minutes 20 seconds and again at 7 minutes 5 seconds.  I am guessing they were invited to be creative with the theme "bicycles and The Book of Mormon."

Sister Rasmussen, Mission Mom:

For Christmas we presented each missionary with a copy of the mission video for 2013 as a gift from my husband and me.  We have posted the video on the Mission Facebook page where you will be able to view it if you have a FB account.  This page is a place Returned Missionaries can keep up with the "happenings" in the mission.  Only RM's from our mission can be members of the group but anyone can view the group page.  I would invite you to go to this group page and view the video of all the missionaries in the Japan Sendai Mission at this time.  The video is quite long and we had to post it in two parts so be sure you see Part 1 and Part 2.  The group page name is:  Pres Rasmussen Sendai Japan Mission 2011-2014.