Cutest girl ever!!!
Happy Birthday Mom!
2 zone conference
Konnichiwa, kazoku!
Well, even though I'm several thousand miles away from you, sounds like this past week was a little similar for us! It is starting to get a lot more cold here. Problem is when I left for my mission, in the back of my mind I didn't really expect it to get cold because it was so hot while I was preparing to leave, and it was burning hot when I stepped off the plane here, so I wasn't fully prepared. Aka we get to go coat shopping later today :) (Just a disclaimer: the following is just going to be an explosion of random facts)
Anywho, and this past week I was a little sick as well. So fun fact. Here in Japan, going along with the whole everyone is super considerate of other people culture, whenever anyone is sick, they wear a surgical lookin' mask (I guess so the germs stay contained? I don't really know). Anyway, so last Tuesday I had a pretty bad cough, sore throat, etc., so we did some fun Area book dendou and called and set up appointments for later and such. And when I went out for the next few days (I felt better, but was still coughing and such) I got to wear a mask! Haha it was pretty funny. Don't you fret, I'll be sending a picture. I have dubbed them "sick masks." So best thing - texting in Japanese, everyone uses these little smiley emoticon things at the end of the text. My first week I saw the smiley face with a sick mask on and I wanted to use it, but I had no reason to, so I never did. But I got to use it this past week. For the first time. Kind of hilarious. It was funny, because one of our zone leaders was sick as well and we both lost our voices on the same day, so it was pretty hilarious to hear us trying to talk to everyone. But don't you worry mom, I'm getting better! It's a bummer to be sick, but it's pretty exciting that you can still be effective and get things done at the same time... heehee. Last p-day we went to the zoo! We went with the half of our district who's pday is on Monday (the other half work in the office, so their pday is on Saturdays) It was exciting because usually the zoo is closed on mondays but it was a Japanese holiday so it was pretty packed. We had some grand adventures. Another great thing is we sometimes have district language study, where a few sets of misionaries meet at the church for language study one day, and we just help each other out with different questions. Basically it's rather fabulous for us young'ns who don't know tons about Japanese because the older missionaries can explain some concepts and practice stuff with us. Useful indeed!
Lane shimai and I learned some Japanese sign language last week from a lady in our ward. It is awesome, and helps me remember the Japanese words really easily. Maybe I should just try learning sign language before the rest of the language! Ha just kidding. But we can now sign several hymns and random words, so that's fun.
Fabulous news. We were able to have a member present with Christina this week, and it went really well. It's been hard to have a mp lesson with her before because her schedule is super crazy (she works two jobs and goes to college) but I know the Lord was helping us out! The lady who jointed with us had some incredible personal experiences that we didn't even know about that fit with Christina's circumstances. The spirit was so strong, and it was a tender mercy to be sure. Heavenly Father really is so involved in our lives. It blows my mind every day how incredibly blessed I am! I am just going to keep trying to work my hardest to show my appreciation :)
Another awesome experience we had this week was with a less active family in our ward. It's a single mom with two adorable children. We went with the zone leaders, and it was awesome. The mom had to leave to pick up her daughter from preschool so we played dodgeball with the son and his friends and it was great. (another fun fact - the Japanese version of dodgeball is way more fun than the American kind. I'll teach ya when I get back). When she came back with her daughter, we were able to sit down and get to know her and her concerns a bit more. She has an incredible testimony, just is a little nervous about coming back after being gone for so long. We each testified about Christ and his love, and some other things and it felt like we could feel Christ's love in the room. My hair was braided that day, and the 6 yr old daughter was fascinated by it, so I asked her if she wanted me to do it to her hair, and her face lit up. It was the cutest thing ever. So I did, and we were twinners! I'll send a pic - she's basically one of the cutest kids on the planet. I think we'll be great friends. She was basically the most patient child with my Japanese that I've ever talked to, so that was also pretty great.
I basically have to say this each week, but Fukuoka is crazy big. It basically just keeps surprising me every day how insanely huge it is.
The primary program was yesterday and it was the best thing of my life. Oh my gosh, I couldn't stop grinning all day. They are SO CUTE. And there were 30 kids up there singing "Kami no kodesu" (I am a child of God) at the top of their lungs and I couldn't get enough - I love primary programs! It's great, because no matter where you are in the world, the programs are kind of the same. Adorable kids, cute singing, one child who is to shy to say their line so the teacher does, one child who grabs the mike and yells in to it, and so on. Pretty great, if you ask me.
The last news I have for the week has to do with mushi. Aka insects. Bugs. Gross things that I hate. A few days ago, Lane shimai and I were about to start cooking lunch when I heard her scream, and discovered there was a spider on our shelf. Not just any spider, but a JUMPING spider. So granted, it was not ginormous but it was medium size and jumping. I, trying to be the nice companion, offered to kill it, (even though I hate spiders, I don't have quite the phobia she does) so I went for it. I did kill it - there just may have been some shrieking and screaming involved in the process. AND last night, I saw the grossest bug I have ever seen in my life. There was an ENORMOUS beetle crawling on our wall. It was black and creepy and as long as my finger. and the width was probably half a finger lenght across. I don't think I can adequately describe the awfulness of the situation. It could fly. and it was HUGE. and disgusting. and gross. and creeped me out like nobody's business. Please just take a moment and picture in your mind how big this actually was. (also it was around ten fifteen ish at night). I usually pride myself on not being super stereotypical girl ish, like I don't care if I break a nail, I'm usually not a screaming kind of soul or anything but that thing was NASTY. It was the most hilarious situation last night. Bush shimai saw it first, so she grabbed a spray bottle and started soaking it, and it was flying, and we may or may not have been screaming a little, and she kept squirting it but it didn't help, then it was crawling on our floor, and Higashi shimai grabbed an old, water soaked book of mormon that we were going to have to throw away and just dropped it on it and there was a nasty crunch then it died. Bleh. Hate bugs. Sorry about the excessiveness of the details but I just wanted you to get the whole feeling of the situation. It was pretty funny. And unfortunately Lane shimai has the whole thing on video. We were a little bit ridiculous. Our poor neighbors.
Anyway that's about it for today. I hope things are going well for you. I love you all so much, and am grateful for your love, prayers, and support!
Ai shite imasu!!!!
Flake Shimai
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