Heather and Ashleigh set up a plan to take mom to dinner the night before her birthday. By this time all of my siblings had gathered and joined me at Ashleighs house except for Heather who was bringing mom over. We were throwing mom a party in the Clubhouse of Ashleighs neighborhood and so during the day we had gone over and decorated and got our party stuff set up. I ordered the food from Raisin' Cane's which is one of Mom's favorite places and Stephanie and Jeremy went with me to pick it up. We took it to the clubhouse, dropped it off and then ran back to Ashleighs to get there before Mom arrived. As they got closer Heather told Ashleigh they were almost there and she told them she needed a little bit more time because Andrew Brown was not home yet so to park and then come in. parking is pretty limited around Ashleighs neighborhood and it took them a while to find a spot but finally they did and Mom and Heather were able to come inside. All of us siblings lined up and were waiting for Mom to come in and when she did she was pretty surprised. When she saw me her one comment was "But you went home", hahaha no I did not. It was a good surprise and after she got over her shock we headed over to the clubhouse where we had grandkids and her closest friends waiting.
Ashleigh worked hard all day making a delicious lemon cake for Mom's birthday. I got to eat the caramelized bits that she cut off and sample the lemon filling and frosting. It was really good and looked super cute as well. She also made confetti cupcakes for those who might not like Lemon. Erin put together a Candy Bar and filled it was yummy candy and chocolate and peanut butter dipped pretzels she got from Trader Joes that were so good. I loved those a lot!
This transfer our mission has set a goal to do missionary work at 1,000 ekis. To reach our goal every area should accomplish about 16 ekis. We also have to do 6 total man hours at each one for it to count, so that would be 3 hours of finding for me and MacDonald 姉妹. I was super excited about this goal because missionary work has been pretty slow for us over here in Toyama, so this gives us something to do! That is until we got done with about 2 ekis, and 100% "no"s. Mix that in with the attrocious weather and actual blizzards we were walking through. Its hard, and I wish I could say I am being dramatic, but I know that every effort counts. Even if I dont get to see my efforts counting! God always pulls through!! We will keep trudging through this challenge and look for the mini miracles God gives us!
Yesterday was my birthday! Yay! It was lots of fun! We went to stake conference in Kanazawa and we got to see all the missionaries in our zone there! It is always a good time seeing other missionaries, especially because it is only MacDonald 姉妹 and I out here in Toyama. 
️JJ and Paul were also able to come to stake conference!! It was really fun to introduce them to so many people and help them make friends with so many more members! Please keep praying for them!!
We were also able to visit some people with one of our favorite members, Suzuki 姉妹! We went to Hamaiさん's house and had a great time. She is not a member and is not interested in the church, but is good friends with some of our members. We always give her a spiritual thought at the end of our visits (because we are missionaries, its what we do) but the messages never seem to really touch her. Except this one. Amazing Japanese fluent MacDonald 姉妹 shared D&C 84:88 and testified of angels and God's love in our lives. I then asked Hamaiさん if she has ever felt angels in her life. She told us about her grandparents, then started talking about us and her member friends. She got really happy and said that whenever she is around us she feels super happy. Suzuki 姉妹 explained to her that it was the spirit that she feels. Even though this was not some revolutionary baptism moment, I think it got God's love thinking in her brain. Birthday miracle!!!
D&C 84:88
JJ AND PAUL!!
Even though we get denies upon denies, housing adventures are always fun. The main religion in Japan is Buddhist or Shinto, so when we knock on doors and say the name イエス·キリスト, Jesus Christ, we get rejected. Don't worry though, we are so used to rejection, it does not even phase us. Maybe about 1 in 50 doors will let us talk past our introduction. That's a sad stat, but I am being so for real... we are used to rejection. 
We had a good opportunity to talk to this man for about 20 minutes about what our church is all about and who His loving Heavenly Father is. We were able to clear up a lot of rumors he has heard about our church. He has no interest to learn more, but I think we planted a pretty big seed in his heart.
Another miracle happened with a lady who also has no interest haha. I have recently got super into cross stitching like an actual grandma and taught MacDonald 姉妹 so we can be buddies and just stitch away. The afternoon of the day I started teaching her we knocked on this woman's door, when she opened it we saw the most beautiful cross stitch on her wall! We mentioned it and she invited us in to show us the billions of cross stitches she had. It's not like we baptized anyone, but we made a friend with a little old lady who is very lonely and that is what my mission is about!
The weather is still pretty cold, but the sun has been shining a lot. I am just thankful it isn't pouring rain on us. It's our favorite thing to explore Toyama a bit and take pictures with the beautiful things we find! Especially horses... hehe. 
Teaching JJ and Paul has given me lots of ideas and realizations about this gospel. One thing that I realized is it is impossible to know 100% of the gospel. That is because the spiritual knowledge we can recieve is not measurable. There is no finish line. Not one human being knows and understands 100% of the gospel, and that's the point. We were sent to earth to be tested about what we would do without the full knowledge. Luckily, Heavenly Father gave us all the tools we need to succeed. We must depend on those tools, our faith, and the spirit. 
