Emily drove herself as well as Ashleigh and her kids to Idaho on Tuesday and thus started a week of fun having family in Idaho. Kefford took Atticus on his dirt bike which was super fun for Atticus. Abigail wanted to take a ride but her Mom did not like the idea so I told her she had to wait until she is 5 to ride the bike which is the age of Atticus right now.
We went to the Quilt shop to look around and it ended with Emily and Ashleigh both buying quilt kits. I helped Heather get all of her pieces cut out in her Pride and Prejudice quilt kit while in California and she started sewing her quilt while here at my house. It was fun that Ashleigh and Emily bought kits because while Heather was sewing Emily and then Ashleigh were cutting out their pieces. We had ourselves a little sewing bee and I love that they wanted to try a hobby that I have indulged in and love.
I got to take my family to the different food places that they like to eat at when they come because they do not have them in California. We went to Slim Chickens, Tin Roof Tacos and Waffle Love and they enjoyed eating at all of them.
Ashleigh, Abigail, Bonnie, Emily, Heather, Elizabeth, Erin and Atticus
Abigail let me do different hairstyles in her hair and I always called them an animal name to make them more fun. Her favorite animal is a crocodile and so I put braids in her hair and called them crocodile tails. She loved them and was so good at holding still and letting me do her hair, She laughed whenever I sued my teeth to get a better grip on the hair elastic, she would say "That's funny".
Emily was going home on Thursday and we went blueberry picking that morning. I tried to get them out as early as I could to try to avoid the heat but we didn't leave the house until about 8am, ideal would have been 7am, It got too hot for Mom and Erin and they went to sit in the shade while we were picking. I already had enough blueberries from when I went with the Peterson's so I just helped put Blueberries in Atticus and Abigails buckets.
Elizabeth, Emily, Erin, Abigail, Atticus, Ashleigh, Heather and Bonnie
This week was an even more exciting week because it was the start of the Summer olympics. I love the summer olympics and was so excited to start watching the competitions. Kefford set up a TV for me in the Living room so I could watch the Olympics without having to watch the TV in my Bedroom or upstairs in the TV room. I was watching the opening ceremonies and was very excited when I saw Japans athletes announced. I had Ashleigh take a picture for me so I could sent it to Avynlea.
In th evening we went over to the snow shack in our park for an icy treat. Kefford did not want a snow cone but he brought his plane so he could fly it at the park while we were there. Atticus and Abigail really enjoyed watching him fly his plane while playing on the playground.
Abigail struggles at night not having her bed to sleep on and her crying keeps Ashleigh up and neither of them get good sleep. I was glad that they were both able to take a much needed nap on the couch.
Cute monkey ears were the hairstyle of the day for Abigail.
Erin, Ashleigh, Abigail, Atticus, Elizabeth, Bonnie and Heather
With the return of Rylee comes the return of finding her random .5's on my phone.
The day that my California family was flying home Abigail requested me to do her hair in Bear ears and Crocodile tails. So I did up side down braids with the bear ears on top. I will miss having her let me do her hair and am glad she loved having me do it.
Last Pday we went to Suwa to meet another set of missionaries and went to an arcade and bowling!!! It was lots of fun! Basically everyone was coming at me because how bad I was at bowling. Everyone took it upon themselves to try to "teach" me but I didn't care. I was there for a good time, not to beat 4 elders 
which btw I did beat 1 hehe.
Monday night my comp was walking down the stairs and twisted her ankle. As a result she could not walk the next day. Idk how she was okay that night, but I guess it got really sore throughout the night. The funny thing is the translation for ankle in Japanese is "foot neck". So she kept saying her foot neck hurt hahaha. It was pretty funny. We stayed in the apartment most the day, until the evening time when it was feeling better!!
We had another Book of Mormon day where we hand out as many as we can. Last time our mission handed out 280. Our goal this time was 300, we ended up handing out 433!! So amazing! With a tiny tiny bit of help from my comp, I was able to explain and hand out a Book of Mormon to a woman. It was all in Japenese and mostly by myself. Huge miracle from Heavenly Father!
A member took us and the elders to a BEAUTIFUL waterfall. Somehow the elders convinced me and my comp to take our shoes off with them and stand in the freezing cold water. It was a beautiful place though!
Japanese Tips
then it gets very awkward.
I have been thinking a lot of how Jesus Christ actually brings joy into our lives. Everyone says that, but how? It wasn't til I was in a deep talk with my companion that I realized why. Jesus Christ performed the Atonement so we can comfortably live life. So we don't have to stress about being perfect with no mistakes. Because of Him we can try things, make mistakes, become our own person and still recieve salvation. 
While me and Takahashi ć§ćŠč were housing she would have me stand in front of the door's peephole/doorbell camera because she said the people would only answer if they saw the "ABW". The "American Beautiful Woman" haha. So kind.
When I first came to Matsumoto there was 1 person actively being taught. My companion said when she arrived, Matsumoto was known as a hard/dry area. As of today, we have 6 people we are teaching and 1 almost there. This may not seem like a lot of people (especially to my friends who are basically baptizing people weekly haha) but the difference from before to now is amazing. What is so cool is we found all these people through various circumstances. The Lord works very differently depending on the person. Mind you, I am NOT taking any credit whatsoever. It is just so amazing to see how God's timing has a role in everything! If it was anyone else, I know these people would have been found! 
As far as my Japanese goes, still very small. Like for being here for 2 months, kinda embarrassingly small. But I know I am way better than when I started. I am able to pick up more words here and there and to say more things. When we are teaching people my face isn't in my notebook the whole time reading pre-written sentences and with the help of my companion, I can very basically get my ideas across to the other person. I am very far from saying everything I want to say, and use ăšăă« - tokini (when) wayyyyyy too much, but Heavenly Father has helped me see my progress which I am thankful for. My mind still cannot wrap around the fact that I am learning/speaking (very little) Japanese. Crazy.
On Saturday we had an activity with the primary where we played a bunch of different games. At the beginning there was one little boy crying for like ever while the rest of us were having fun playing games. After everyone tried to help him, finally his mom was able to calm him down. Within 10 sec of him not crying he was up playing with us. Totally forgot about what he was crying over. It made me think about how we can get so wrapped up in the scary things of the world, our pride refuses other people's help. We feel like we are alone and no one can help us. BUT once we accept help and realize what we are missing out on, we can, like this boy, untwist ourselves out of that spiral, forget it and have fun. There are a lot of stressful and scary things in life, but if we let those things takeover and overwhelm us we are going to miss all the good things. The things that our Heavenly Father wants us to experience.
The first half of this week Takahashi ć§ćŠč and I got to do exchanges with our STL!!! Super fun! We traveled to literalllyyyy the other side of our mission. About a 5 hour trip there, but it was worth it. I might have explained this before, but STL is Sister Training Leader. She is another sister who was given this role to help other missionaries. I pray one day I will become one so I can impact other sisters' lives as my STLs have impacted mine!
We saw many small miracles and it just reminds me to not take things for granted. God has a plan and a perfect path, he put people in my life this week so I could bless them with the gospel! We handed out a gospel Pamphlet to a man that did not want to give us any time, but as he was walking away I watched him. As far as I could see him walking away his nose was in the Pamphlet reading. I pray that the things he learns sinks in and someday he will be able to recieve the fullness of the information.
We had zone conference! A bunch of areas together is a zone. Kinda like a school district. Zone Conference was so amazing and I know I said I love my mission presidents before, but holy cow. They are so amazing and have been a HUGE blessing to me. I can't even express how excited I am to serve with them for 14 more months!! YAYYY unfortunately though me and my comp are the only sisters in our zone, so basically 2 little kitties in the room with like 20 elephants. Because the elders are like elephants in my head. Little scary. Don't worry though the elders are nice... kinda. 
HA as a joke I gave an elder a sweater to have. But he like actually likes it. I will put in a picture. Basically everyone was trying to figure out how to tell him it was too girly. We tried but I am not sure if it fully sunk into his head haha. Ahhhh 
Last week I mentioned a woman named Rhea. The one we are teaching Japanese to. She is Catholic so we asked her if she prays. She said yes, morning and night, and prays about personal things. After a little bit more questions we figured out she has a really good relationship with God. She is the sweetest and so amazing, I can't wait to see where things go with her!
Japan Tips
I want to share something that was shared to me from an incredibly strong woman in my family! She sends out an email once a week with the most amazing spiritual thoughts. In her email last week she shared something that really stuck with me. 
