Words from Sister Kortlynn Herring in Japan

"Wow, what a week! But first off, happy birthday Mom! Yay! 41! And,
Cody Boy, you are a beast! A 7 min mile! Holy crow! Sounds like
everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July. And thanks to everyone who
wrote me emails, I love and appreciate it so so much! I'm lame and
don't have time to write everyone back all the time, but just know I
appreciate and love it so much!

So, for my 4th of July, I got to drink some root beer! And it was
delicious! The 4th was on a Friday, and every Friday we have ping
pong night, and we told everyone we were going to have root beer
floats, because they don't really drink root beer in japan. You can
find it in special stores, but most Japanese people don't even know
what it is. Anywho, so the elders were in charge of the root beer,
and we the ice cream. Well, we held up our end of the bargain, but
the elders went to the special store, the only store that we are aware
of in Oyama that has root beer, and they only had one can! So, we
bought melon soda instead and had melon floats planned. Well, sadly
everyone apparently already had plans, so only 2 people came to ping
pong night, and so, for my 4th of July, I split a can of root beer
with 2 Japanese people and elder Howard. Neither of our comps like
root beer. Kind of a pathetic sounding Independence Day, but we had
an America against japan ping pong war, and we won! Yes, my ping pong
skills have become pretty dang good if I do say so myself, and when
playing to represent America, I was unstoppable! Haha! But it was
good, and I got to sing some good old patriotic songs, and said the
pledge and what not. Man, I do love America!

The rest of the week was good. It started off kind of slow, a lot of
our investigators have gotten busy with the summer, but we had an
awesome miracle! This Saturday, Wendy contacted us on Facebook and
said, she was sorry and that she had made a mistake. Apparently she
had gotten pretty sick after the last time we came, and she just got
super stressed and worried and sick and she ended up going to the
hospital. So she just decided it was to much, so she stopped. But
while in the hospital she contacted us, and apologized and said she
wanted to continue learning, and that she understood now, and wants to
get baptized! Awesome miracle! The Lord is always working on people,
and all we need to do is remain close to the spirit, and be there to
help Him move His work along. It was great! Then, this Sunday was
Sister Wright and Elder Howard's last Sunday, so we tried hard to get
lots of people to come. Well, just the sisters had 5 investigators
come to church, and usually coming to church is super hard for
Japanese people, but they came, and one of them was an eikaiwa
student, and she said she really felt something. She said, all of
these people really believe in God, and if all of these people feel
it, and even I felt something, then something must be there. There
must be a God. There is something to this! So cool! We see her
again on Wednesday, and I'm so excited to invite her to learn more and
continue coming to church.

Crazy that Sister Wright is going home. This transfer I have learned
so much from her. I know now,
that just because I am not best friends with every comp, it doesn't mean I'm a bad missionary. As
long as I learn, grow, and continue to do my best, everything will be
fine, and I will be an effective tool in the lords hands. And I will
go into my next transfer here in Oyama with my new comp -who speaks
Spanish btw- strong, and continue building the work here and helping
the people of Oyama come unto Christ.

So I'm way excited for this upcoming transfer, and excited to see what
happens! Oh, also the elders investigator got baptized on Saturday ,
that was a way cool experience! The spirit was way strong, and it was
fun to be part of Oki sans conversion. I met him when I first got
here, and he has changed so much! I have such a strong testimony of
the gospel, and the power of the atonement in people's lives. It
really can and does change us, when we make Christ and his gospel the
center! I'm so grateful for this gospel, and a Heavenly Father who
loves me and is aware of me, and always allows me to learn grow and
become better!

Love you all! Have a great week! Keep being wonderful!"