Jaaa, I love your letters!!! Thank you so much for keeping me updated with all the happenings of your life! I love every bit of it. ;) Well, today (Tuesday) is p-day this week because of transfers, and I figured I'd let you know the big news of the week that I found out a few hours ago... I am transferring to Fukuoka! I am feeling quite a range of emotions. I am really excited, because I am sure it will be awesome there, I am excited for a change of pace and stuff, and my companion will be awesome, and my district is all of the office missionaries and such. It will be great. But I love Miyazaki soooo much. And just about a bajillion things seem to be happening this coming transfer. N-chan is officially getting baptized in 3 weeks (Oct 27) because that is the day that both of her parents will be in town and will be able to come. Super exciting!!!! The branch is renting a bus to go to the temple, the halloween party, eikaiwa, our other investigators, a lot of things with the zone, etc... so I am not gonna lie, it is a little bit sad when I think of leaving. However, I really am so excited to go to Fukuoka. Oh and big news - I am going to be a co-senior companion. My companion will be Sister Lane, who I was in the MTC with. We are both Americans on our 3rd transfer. She is super nice - it will be awesome to get to know her a little better! Wow sorry I am so all over the place, its just this call surprised me a smidge. I do know that Fukuoka is where the Lord needs me to be, so I really am excited to head on up there. But seriously - it feels so weird to think of leaving Miyazaki! I guess its just crazy to think I will be gone from here in a day and a half. I leaveThursday morning. Crazy. But super exciting, at the same time. Also Sister Suzuki's new companion will be on her 2nd transfer. Fun stuff. And Heaton Shimai's new companion is a 2nd transfer as well. So awesome. I love it here. I definitely know that the Japan Fukuoka mission is the place for me.
Wow I just feel like I have so much to say and no time to say it! Don't you fret. What I forget to tell you / don't have time to say in letters is in my journal, so I'll fill you in on the details November/December ish of next year. ;) Last week we went to a really cool park by the ocean with cool statues and stuff. I'll try to send pictures. We had a Mexican food party (thank you Costco) with one of our investigators and it was a little weird having Mexican food in Japan - but pretty fun, too. I've probably mentioned it before, but Japanese kids are absolutely the most adorable children on the planet. They are so cute. I just seriously can't even get over it. We went to visit some former investigators the other day (huzzah for effective area book dendo!!!!) and it was the greatest. It was a young family; a husband and wife and their 3 year old son. He was so cute. He kept talking to us the whole time, and when we were leaving he ran up with some bags of snacks and gave them to us, very seriously, and in the cutest, highest voice I've ever heard said "Hai, dozo!" Over and over. ADORABLE. Goodness, I really can't get over how cute they are. One more fun fact is how weird it is to see gaigins (foreigners) these days. Mostly because Miyazaki is my home, and I am used to only seeing Japanese people, so on the rare occasions that I do see people that are clearly foreigners it totally weirds me out. Till I remember I am one too, then that weirds me out as well. Japanese is still hard. Real hard. But things are slowly improving. Basically my goal is to be able to speak understandable Japanese by the end of my mission. We shall see.
To finally answer some questions you had - ha, I feel like I could have been much more prepared beforehand, but thats what retrospect is for, right? I love how much I am able to learn everyday. Its pretty exciting. With the lessons - it totally depends on the week. Depending on the week, if we have referrals, find new investigators, etc., then we'll do a few first lessons (sit down, actually detailed lessons in their house or a member's house). I love first lessons. And yes, with PMG things do vary a bit, but we usually try to emphasize the message of the Restoration because it is so important. Obviously we try to focus on the person, though. Also we do a bunch of totsuzen (sudden) lessons each day - those are what we do when we go finding (streeting, housing, etc). We stop people on the street and strike up a conversation - maybe ask them if they believe in God, what they think the purpose of life is, and things like that. A totsuzen lesson is about a 3-5 min lesson that teaches 2 principles from PMG and has a commitment. Sometimes people are interested, and will listen to what we have to say and even set up an appointment to learn more. Some aren't interested at all. But we make sure whatever the situation is, everyone gets an Eikaiwa flyer! Haha. Its an adventure. I love being able to talk to so many different people. Definitely an awesome experience. Anywho, love you all and I hope things go well for you - and that this week is wonderful!!!!
Ai shite imasu!!!
Flake Shimai
Isn't she beautiful?
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