I love that you've been getting the emails and pictures from the sister in our ward *and yes, that is how you spell her name. We're not supposed to send member and investigator's names in our emails though, so sorry about that! I'll tell you all about the incredible people in more detail in a year and a half. :D But yeah. I'm sure I mentioned it last time, but our ward is out of this world. There are 60 active members, and one thing we're really working hard on in our mission is that we're focusing on a Top 5 list for each ward that is compiled by the branch presidency and basically it is the top 5 less active families or individuals that they want us to devote a little more time to and help reactivate. It's been a really effective system so far, and it is a great experience. Seriously, I've only been here for a week and a half but Miyazaki Japan already holds a very special place in my heart.
In answer to a few of your queries:
Yeah, I've basically figured out how to ride a bike in a skirt. The first day was a bit of an adventure but ever since then it's been golden. I don't know how I've survived without always having a bike before now. It's the best thing ever. I LOVE MY BIKE. It makes me so happy. This probably sounds a little extreme to say, but it really is the best - we can be so much more effective because of our bikes and talk to so many more people! Needless to say, it holds a soft spot in my heart.
And your memory serves you correctly. I hate cats. And there were about 14 there at that appointment but it was a good character building experience for me. :D
The ward loves us so much. I was a little under the weather on Friday, right after our appointment where there were so many cats I was feeling pretty dizzy and lightheaded. I think I had a bit of heatstroke but I'm good now. But yeah - so the elders came over with a watermelon, because according to them as long as you have a watermelon when you're sick everything is better, and the ward mission leader left us a delicious homemade egg thing - sorry I still don't know what any of the food names are yet- and then at church a lot of people asked me if I was feeling better. Basically it's incredible because even though I can't speak very much Japanese, I still am able to feel everyone's love as well as our Savior's love through them everyday.
Missionaries:
Yes, Miyazaki has 1 set of elders and 1 set of sisters *but until we came a week and a half ago it had just been the one set of elders* and we are all really busy. There are so many people to talk to and meet with. The elders in Miyazaki are great - Elder Iwaasa, who is half Tongan, half Japanese, and grew up in Canada, and Elder Mabuchi, who is full Japanese. There's one more companionship in our district - a set of elders in Miyakonojo that come here to miyazaki every week for district meeting. They're great too. Our area is essentially all of Miyazaki, which covers quite a bit of area. To tell you the truth, I don't really know how many people or anything - you could probably find out from google and let me know! Haha just kidding. But it is pretty big. Although it is more in the country of Japan, so the people are really nice for the most part. And yes I really like the food overall, even though it is very different from what I am used to eating.
Your week sounds like it was awesome! I'm glad Devin got to visit, and you were able to meet his roommates and friends. They're all are awesome - I can vouch for them.It was crazy when we were planning last week and I realized it was July 24, it seemed pretty crazy to think of all the crazy things going on in Snowflake. But then I was okay with it because we so busy doing everything we needed to do here!
A bit about my week:
I seriously can't even say everything that I want to tell you. It is incredible here. There's a huge main street that is my favorite to ride down at night because the tall buildings are all lit up against the dark sky and there are tons of people for us to talk to, and biking here is so fun - basically one night last week when we were riding home from an appointment down that street I just realized Wow. I'm just cruisin down a street in Japan. This is such an incredible feeling! I seriously just want to talk to every person I see! Haha the only problem is I don't always talk very much because I don't have tons to say in Japanese, but I try!
There is the cutest family in our ward that has 5 kids and they are so much fun. It's official. Little Japanese kids are the cutest on the planet. We went with them on Saturday to the annual Summer Festival *because their 13 yr old daughter had a nonmember friend, PI that we were able to get to know a bit better* and it was insanely awesome. Seriously I can't describe it. There were SO MANY PEOPLE there. Traditional Japanese dress, tons of dances, a huge thing with like 20 guys beating these war drums, and so on. My favorite was the food stand set up that said Fried Potatoes, or in other words just normal french fries. And everytime we go somewhere like that with lots of people, there are always a few groups that stare at me then whisper as I pass by, and all I can understand is the word gaigin, foreigner, and kawaii, cute. It's hilarious. I'm a definite minority but it's all good - we've started using that to our advantage with our streeting endeavors. Basically say yeah I'm from America, and I came to Japan to share a message with you! It's great.
Every Wednesday, we teach Eikaiwa *english class* and since before the elders were the ones that taught, we decided to start up a kids Eikaiwa, which we teach. It's awesome because we teach the kids while their parents are learning english from the elders and we have a great time.
Even though it's only been a couple weeks, we've already seen some incredible miracles. One happened last week after Eikaiwa. We hadn't been able to contact as many people as we wanted to that day, so with the twenty min of our day we had left we decided to go housing for a bit. We got rejected a few times, and decided we had time for one more door. A guy that was about mid twenties answered, and to our surprise listened to what we had to say! He accepted the book of Mormon, was really intrigued by it, and said he'd be interested in meeting again, the following Sunday *last night.* We were really excited, and know that Heavenly Father was really looking out for us. We passed him as a referral to the elders, so all of us showed up at the church for the appointment last night, so we could introduce him to them and such, and we were thinking to ourselves that he might not come because it had been awhile since we'd talked to him, and it seemed a little too good to be true. But at 8 on the dot he showed up at the church and brought his book of mormon with him, and really enjoyed meeting the elders. They set an appointment up and it was just a great experience. Heavenly Father has prepared people for us to share this gospel with! We just need to do our best to always stay close to him, and try to allign our will with his. When we do this, we are able to be tools in the Lord's hands. We've seen this over and over and I can't wait to continue to do the best I can to continue in this work. A favorite scripture from the week - Helaman 3:27-28. The Lord is always there for us! When we turn to him, we can see his help in so many ways. Thanks for all of your prayers, love and support. I hope you have a great week!
Ai shite imasu!
-Flake Shimai
PS Casey and Angela are going to be working for the American Kindergarten that some members of our ward run. And I believe they'll be in Miyazaki this transfer. Small world!
Can you tell she hates cats?
Pretty Styling!
Pretty Styling!
Alyssa and her companion.--It looks like she is fitting in fine
Summer festival
At the summer festival
No comments:
Post a Comment