Last Word from Sister Kortlynn Herring in Japan

"My Beloved Family,

Hello!  Glad you all had a wonderful week! I sure did!  So, I will
apologize now, because I have absolutely NO time today, so this email
will be short.  To sum up this last week I will just share a little
about Arisa Shimai!  Such a cool miracle!  I assume you all saw her
pictures on Facebook.  This week was just prep and helping her.  She
still had a couple of things we needed to teach her before she got
baptized.  It was so cool though!  The other day, we went to her house
for a lesson, and we walk in, and you could literally feel a
difference, the spirit was much more present.  She had primary songs
playing, and her youngest was chilling in the family room listening
and playing.  It was just way cool.  They are reading and praying
together as a family, and wow!  It's just been a miracle seeing the
gospel work in their lives!

Let's see, we also were able to meet with a lady that we have been
trying to meet with forever!  Eiko San, And it went pretty good.  We
were suppose to meet again today, but she got sick. :(. But that's ok,
we might be able to meet on Wednesday.

So, my last Sunday in Japan, was really nice.  Our Ward mission leader
had everyone write me a message on hearts and they all attacked me
after the baptism.  I'm not going to lie, I kind of cried.  Haha!  I
honestly can't believe it was my last Sunday here.  I still feel like
next Sunday I will get up, go to Missionary Coordination Meeting, then
church, sing in Japanese, and all that jazz.  Ahh!  But, good thing I
don't have to sum up what I'm feeling and thinking, and what I've
learned in the last year and a half in this email!  I'm excited to
just share with you all the amazing miracles, and experiences, lessons
learned, funny stories, and most importantly my testimony of this
gospel, and our beloved Father in Heaven and our savior, Jesus Christ.

This week truly was amazing, and I'm so grateful for this experience
with Arisa.  I love her so much and her family too.  Heavenly Father
has blessed me so much, this past year and a half!  I don't want it to
end, but I'm excited for this next phase in my life.  Missions never
end, they just change a little.  One of the purposes of missions is to
help prepare us for our future lives as mothers, wives, and members of
the church.  So, I will always be a missionary, maybe my day to day
activities might change, but I, we, can always be an example, we can
always invite others to come unto christ, no matter what stage in life
we are.  I'm so grateful for this stage that I had as a full time
missionary,  I'm going to miss it, so so much.  It hasn't really hit
me yet, but even now I can feel the tears coming.  It's ok, I have
tissues :) but I'm just as excited and grateful for this next stage.
I know that, just like this last year and a half, my next year and a
half can be equally full of faith building experiences and miracles,
new friends and loved ones, and many many hard challenges and
opportunities to learn.  I'm so pumped to see you all soon!  Thank you
everyone for everything you have done for me!  I adore and love each
and everyone of you!  And yes, the church is true!  :)"

Love,

Sister Herring
へリング姉妹