Sounds like things in good old AZ are starting to get a little bit crazy!!! But I am glad you had a great week. So many things, and I swear I never have enough time to tell you about it all!!! But it:s all good. That:s what journals are for!!!
But really - Thanksgiving sounds like it was awesome for all of you! I am glad Devin was able to come down, even though it wasn't for very long. I:m so happy for him with all of this Vocal Point endeavors - it sounds so crazy! I still can:t believe he is in Vocal Point, doing all these things every week and such because it all happened after I left. But it:s all good!! I am so happy for him. And yes - it:s a bit of a party here. Mostly just in the sense that everyone here is so much fun. We all get along so well. Thank you for telling me all about everything going on - I love hearing all about it!!!
This week, tons of fun happenings occurred. We had ZTM (zone training meeting) and the Fukuoka zone is HUGE. But it:s great to see everyone and how they:re doing. The training was awesome! I learned so much that I am trying to do better with applying every day - in my studies, missionary daily activities, and so on. Super great. Also, always such a good reminder of how important the members are in missionary work. We all got an awesome early Christmas present - a conference issue Liahona for each missionary. It:s great because I can mark it up however I want! But anyway, this morning I read through Elder Ballard:s talk, Trust in the Lord and it is so golden! This really is such an exciting time to be sharing the gospel and hastening the work of Salvation.
Sorry, I don:t want to get all preachy or anything but it just really is so exciting!!!! I have definitely seen how important member present lessons are.They just have such a strength. That:s one thing that we have come to learn - especially for us right now, where we can:t always fully express everything with this little language barrier, having a member that can share experiences is really wonderful. Anyway - on to the week!
Some members in our ward invited us over lunch last week - and when we got to their apartment, biggest surprise of all surprises - we smelled bacon. They made BLTs and soup for us (wanted us to have an American lunch for once - so sweet!) It was crazy. I haven:t had a sandwich in months. First meal without using chopsticks since I:ve been here! ;D (may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much!!) Super nice couple. Our ward really has incredible members. They:re all such huge examples to me!!
Sorry I always just talk so much about food. But on to your Thanksgiving questions -- we did not have any crazy food for Thanksgiving (because people don:t celebrate thanksgiving here) but we did have an incredible Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to Sister Gustafson. Seriously, the perks of being here in Fukuoka are awesome. It was our district, the Gustafsons, and their son and his wife who are here visiting right now. Turkey, ham, chicken, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry salad, yams, rolls, broccolli, etc.. a full blown thanksgiving meal. It was SO GOOD. One of my favorite things about it was that it was the first Thanksgiving meal that some of the Japanese missionaries had ever had and they loved it. And afterward, we talked about things we were thankful for. I can:t even tell you how much I love Kaicho and Shimai (President and Sister Gustafson). They are incredible.
Some more exciting news from the week - we got to go to the temple on Saturday for the first time since the MTC!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was wonderful, as always. I:m pretty sure that the Fukuoka temple has a really similar or the same floor plan as the Snowflake temple, so that was cool as well. Love it!
Last bit of news with investigators (sorry I;m running outta time so I:ll give you more details next week)
Christina and Karan are not doing so hot. We:ve been working with them a lot, but they both work all the time and just have been too busy to do very much gospel wise (reading scriptures, haven:t come to church for a while, aren:t really praying, etc) which is a bit of a bummer. But we:re still working with them and trying to do what we can. We:ll see what happens and I:ll keep you updated.
Yukari is avoiding us - not answering our calls, won:t set up appointments, etc, but once again we:ll keep pressin forward.
The bright ray of sunshine in our week is Michiko san!!! She is devouring the book of Mormon, has tons of questions, and enjoys meeting with us. She takes tons of notes every time she reads and asks us awesome questions. Love it. She:s kind of busy with work too, but she is great about meeting with us.
Anyway, that:s all I have time for right now but I love you all so much!!!! Have a wonderful week, and enjoy this fabulous winter season and the cold!!!!!!!
Ai shite imasu!!
-Flake Shimai
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