Week 23 - Tis the season. But He is the reason.

Well, I said last week that I would email tomorrow...but jokes! I won't have time to email tomorrow, so I am doing it today!!

You guys...Christmas is just around the corner!!! AH!! I am so excited!! It doesn't really feel like Christmas here in Japan...1) there is no snow 2) no one celebrates Christmas here! But yo, it's a big deal! I have been drinking hot chocolate everyday! I also get to see my cute fam!!! and show off the Japanese I don't know :D

BIKE WRECKED

So we went to go visit a less active member this week! She is so cool. her name is Hitomi!!

Tsukuba is really different from Senzokuike. There is literally nothing here! Senzo is in the city of Tokyo! In Senzo, I got so used to taking the train everywhere I went! Being crowded by thousands of people, and being pushed against the windows of the trains because there were so many people! That was like a natural thing! but...NOW I am surrounded by big fat nothing! ahha besides rice fields...and dirt! and no human-beings! Its really pretty though :)

So anyways, we biked to this members house...and guess how far it was..? ....

We bikes 26 miles.

YEP 26 MILES! it took us 2.5 hours to get her house...and 3 to get back because we got lost. Long story short.. it wrecked us both ahha. I only got 7 bugs to the face and a rock to the eye! It was awesome!

DISCOVERING NEW THINGS!

I finally have achieved one of the things on my bucket list.

JUGGLING YO!! I learned how to juggle!!!! :) On Sunday, a 7 year old boy in primary taught me after church! He was such a good teacher too!! My record is 6!! (six rounds where i juggle all 3 balls without messing up) So that is something I was so stoked about!!

But nothing else crazy awesome happened other than the fact that I was sick in bed with a fever and the chills for the past few days! :(

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

"Stick to your mission till it sticks to you.

Beginners are many, but Enders are few.

Honor, power, place, and praise

Always come to the one who stays.

Stick to your mission till it sticks to you.

Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it too.

For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile

Will come life's victories after a while."

We don't want to just go through life. We are not sent here to simply pass through trials, but rather we want them to pass through us. We want them to refine us. We want the powerful experiences in our lives to stick to us. To remain with us. To change us and make us better. I do not simply want to go through a mission, but I want the mission to go through me. To change my very core.

We are called to follow Christ. To live as he lived, and to make it stick. As we go through a Christ-centered life, we will find that it indeed goes through us. When you stick to the Savior, he will stick to you. Little by little, you will find that parts of His character have been ingrained in your soul. Stick to the Savior till He sticks to you.

This can be very hard. Many would want to say, "I cant! There is no way I am good enough. It is too hard. I am just not enough."

With our own strength...we are never going to be enough. Jesus Christ gives us the strength and the power to keep going. When we see ourselves through our own mortal eyes...we may not see ourselves as good enough. But our Heavenly father sees us as who we truly are. And who we can become. I know that to be true. Our very being...our very core can change because of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for his love and his mercy.

Especially during this Christmas season, I am so grateful for a Savior who sees me as who I can become. Not who I once was.

Because of him, we all have the ability to #LightTheWorld!! so don't hold back :)

I love you all! Merry Christmas!!

愛しています!

Phelpsy

Sister Fukuda made me soggy boiled bread with blueberries