Words from Sister Kortlynn Herring in Japan

"Hello!!! Happy Easter! Isn't Easter just fantastic! I loved it! This week was insane! I hate transferring. Maybe hate is too strong of a word, I dislike transferring. Not coming to a new area, that part is exciting, I don't like packing, and saying good bye to friends and family. But I love Oyama! It's awesome! I'm in a ward again with about 60 active members. And there are babies! I love babies! There are two 5-month old babies, and a primary of about 15. So cute! My new companion is Sister Ipson. She is from Utah, and is way nice! This is her second transfer here in Oyama. She studied Japanese before her mission, and is way good! She is studying animation and wants to make video games after her mission. She is crazy creative! This week was insane!

Monday we had transfer calls, and that began the good byes. Monday night we had fhe and my favorite family, the nakagawas came and their 2 teenage daughters, who are like my best friends, cried, and that of course made me cry. Then Tuesday we got to see beautiful Sakura with nakagawa Shimai and a less active from nagaoka church. It was beautiful and I will send pics. Wednesday was eikaiwa and more good byes! I love the people of Sanjo so much! They are so kind and loving to me. My branch pres. And his wife came to eikaiwa to say good bye and Kumagai Shimai, the branch pres.'s wife cried. Let's just say I've been a crying mess the last couple of days. Then Thursday came and I got on a bus bright and early and headed down to tokyo, then back up to Oyama where I met my new comp. Ok, so up in Niigata, you don't really have the opportunity to interact with other missionaries, but when I came down here, I got to see beloved friends who I haven't seen for 6 months, so that has been exciting. My trainer and my second companion are in my zone. It's so great to see Takishita Shimai and Ono Shimai again.m then Friday was planning and ping pong. Saturday we did an activity with the single adults and went to a strawberry farm, and for 30 min you just get to pick and eat as many strawberries as you can! I kept thing Cody would have loved it! Then we had the ward Easter party and I was about to meet the members. It was great! Then Sunday was fantastic! It was ward conference, so I got to meet a lot of people. Then we did some finding and then it became pday and I was finally able to unpack and clean!

It's been a busy week, full of emotions, but it was great! I'm so excited to work in Oyama. It's way bigger then Sanjo and, and the ward is great! We have an investigator named S. She is a bit slower and has a hard time with the word of wisdom, but she is so sweet and has a desire. I'm excited to become her friend and help her along the path back to our Heavenly Father. The weather has been nice, a bit rainy, but nice.

Basically I love my life! Being a missionary is amazing! I will have more to tell you about the area next week! I love you all! I hope you all had a great week! I'm so grateful we were able to celebrate our Savior's resurrection. I know he lives! I know that because he lives, we will live. I know that through Him and his atoning sacrifice, we can overcome anything. We can always move forward, and become who our Heavenly Father and savior know we can become! I love you! Have a great week!"