Oshogatsu-(New Years Eve meal)
My bean-chan (greenie) Sister Messer
Konnichiwa, kazoku!
Fun fact - the title of this letter says Akemashite, omedetou gozaimasu! Or in other words, Happy New Year! Things were insane as always around here. One thing that was really interesting was the opportunity I had to be in Japan during o-shogatsu (new years). Fukuoka is always super busy, tons of people walking everywhere, tons of stores, lots of bustle - biggest city I:ve ever lived in, to be sure. But on new years day, it was a ghost town. Nobody walking through the streets, and most of the stores were closed. The fun thing about that is that it was bean dendo day! Where we get to take the new missionaries and basically go tracting for a few hours. Anyway, even though things were a little dead that day, we still had some great miracles and talked to some awesome people. I got to bean dendo with... my new companion! She didn:t know at the time that we would end up together. It was a lot of fun. Her name is Sister Messer - she is from Nevada, around the Las Vegas area. She is a sweetheart, and we are having a blast. She basically reminds me a lot of me as a bean - except she:s a lot cooler. ;D But yeah! We get along really well, and we are having a lot of fun here in Fukuoka. Lane shimai got transferred to Nagasaki - different zone but it:s the zone we combine with for zone conferences so maybe I:ll be seeing her around eventually! The other two sisters in our apartment stayed here as well, so that is fun. They are the greatest too. Yes, we:re doing really well, but I:m not gonna lie - training is a bit of an adventure! I feel like it was yesterday that I stepped off the plane in Fukuoka. It:s interesting being the one completely leading in everything, but it really is a good experience. 1 Ne 3;7 really is the truth. The Lord does a provide a way for us to do the things we need to accomplish. I have already seen miracles this past week. One being I understand almost everything being said these days. Almost every word. And Japanese really isn:t as stressful anymore. I still have a long way to go, but I can get my point across, and say what needs to be said. It is amazing. Anyway, sorry for that little tangent. But things are good here!
One exciting thing from last week was we got invited to several oshogatsu (new years) meals. They are traditional meals, with food that is usually only made once a year. It was.......unique. Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed the experience of eating the traditional Japanese oshogatsu food, but I am okay with the fact that I will not be eating it again.
Fun fact with new year:s eve - I made pizza dip. Just for you, mom! Ha but really, it was a huge hit with the other 3 sisters in the apartment, and it made it feel like new year:s eve!
On transfer day, we got to help out at the train station all day, directing missionaries to different trains and buses and such. Heaps of fun, as our Australian ZL would say. I got to see Heaton shimai and we had a grand time. She is an STL this transfer - super awesome! I also got to see Suzuki shimai again and it was great. It sounds like new years was a party for all of you! I:m glad things are going so well back home. I had no idea Christian was even engaged - who did she get married to? And can you ask bryana and laura to send me a letter? I hate to be that missionary begging for letters (but yes, I have reached that point. and I]m pretty over it). Anyway, that is a little of what my week looked like! Michikosan was out of town until a few days ago so we weren:t able to teach her for a little while, but we did teach her after church on Sunday and it went really well. One thing that I love about her is that if she doesn:t understand something or if she thinks something is weird, she tells us exactly what she thinks. No beating around the bush. It:s great, because it helps us answer and clear things up! Another thing that is way exciting for this week is that we have a lot of potential investigators right now that were busy when we found them, but asked us to come back and talk to them the week after new years. So we:ve got a lot to do this week, but I couldn:t be any happier! I love Japan. I love Fukuoka. I love the people here. I just wish I could get across (even though its hard in an email) how much I love the people of Japan. they are incredible. I feel so blessed, every day, to be working with such wonderful people and spreading this message of joy! Gah I just love it here so much! Thank you for all of your love and support. It means so much to me. I hope you have an incredible week - good luck with all of the crazy things coming up! You:re the best!
Ai shite imasu!!!!
Flake Shimai
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