Words from Kortlynn Herring in Japan

"Hello! How is everyone? I'm great! First off, thanks family and
moores for the letters. They made me very happy to hear from
everyone. Such a cool missionary experience Abby and Aunt Stacie! So
cool! Isn't missionary work awesome! And amazing what miracles
happen when we just open our mouths and invite! This week was good.

A lot of people cancelled our appointments, but we were able to still
contact them. Right now is summer festival season, and people leave
and go everywhere, but we still had miracles. One is when we were
doing something that we call smile Dendo. We have a board that says
smile on it, and we ask people to smile, and they think it's weird,
because we are obviously not Japanese, and asking them to smile, so
they want to know why. Way effective to find new people. You prob
saw the pic on Facebook, but while we are doing it, a lady saw us, and
passed by, came back, asked to take a picture, and we were able to
talk to her and get her contact info. Her Facebook post just
described what we were doing and how it made her feel. She said that
thanks to us, she went from having a bad day, to one of hope and is so
grateful to have met us, and can't wait to see us again. So cool!
Then another guy took our picture and put it on twitter. When people
get to know our name, and how Mormons and this religion isnt scary,
but full of happiness, more people will be willing to talk to us. A
lot of Japanese people have a bad image of religion. Like for example
I was having a pleasant conversation with this lady, explaining what I
was doing, and when I told her I was a missionary and she looked at my
badge, she started panicking and saying how scary churches where and
how dangerous religion was, and walked away and wouldn't let her
friend finish talking to me. It's so sad. But it's also so amazing
to meet those people who are prepared and know that this something
worth learning about.

Wendy is still pretty sick, and her daughter is on summer vacation, so
it's hard to meet, but she is doing well. We weren't able to meet win
Hiroko San this week, but she came to eikaiwa today, so we were able
to set up something for this week. We just had a lesson with Yasuko
San. She is awesome! I love her, so much! In fact I taught her what
awesome means today. Hehe! She just wants to know everything. Her
problem is that she can't decide what God to believe in or pray to.
Today we were reviewing the 1st vision and asked if she had any
questions. She asked if the God that Joseph smith saw was Zeus.
That's a bit of a difficult question. Hehe! But she is like I said
awesome, and progressing great!

Mom, to answer your questions, yes we are still doing eikaiwa.
Everywhere you go in japan, they have an eikaiwa class. This last
Sunday we went to a dinner with like 4 different families from the
ward. It was so fun! I'm finally to the point where I can
participate in adult conversation, and answer quickly back to sarcasm.
It was so fun! One brother named kawaguchi kyodai was making jokes
about me getting married and what not, and just being super obnoxious,
he is great, and I think you would get along with him really well dad,
anywho I was able to play along with his jokes and joke back, and his
wife said, I need to learn from you, you're good! It was cool,
because, I still can't speak Japanese very well, but looking back to
where I was a year ago, when dinner appointments scared me because I
didn't have a clue to what was going on, to now be able to
participate, is way fun! So yes, we have occasional sinner
appointments. The Oyama ward is awesome! There a couple of young
families with the cutest most chubbiest babies ever! And I love them!
Every ward is different and has their strengths. Oyama members are
so willing to help the missionaries. We go out with a member once a
week and visit less actives, we have other members call us and ask if
they can help, or if we have time to visit a friend or less active
with them, it's just great! My time here has gone by so fast! I feel
like I just got to Oyama, but I have been here as long as I was in
Okegawa. It's, great!
I LOVE Sister Carrasco! She is so sincere, and probably one of the
kindest companions I have ever had. We met some great people this
week, and I'm looking forward to another great week her in Oyama.
It's getting super hot and humid and rainy. Getting flash backs of
the disgusting person I was last year. So sweaty! But, it's weird,
I'm almost use to just being wet. Yuck, but true! Hehe, glad you are
getting a taste of humidity Chan!

Well, I love you all! Hope you have a great week! Keep on being
amazing! Just know that this work is amazing, and we are so blessed
with the knowledge that we have. Share it, always!

Stay dry, and hot! Hehe!"