Our little Twig...3-30-13

Konnichiwa, kazoku!!!

What a week! Shoutout to Logan - he is going to be awesome in Iowa!  I am so proud of him!!!!    (Alyssa's younger brother Logan just got his mission call to the Iowa Des Moines mission last Friday)  I'm glad you were able to have  a good spring break - sounds like things are just moving right along for you guys. Wow, I have a plethora of things to tell you but I don't know if I will be able to even begin to explain what my week has been like. Well, I guess I will start off with a bit of Fukuoka news, because that is what the start of my week was like. Well, last pday, after finding out about transfer calls, we were able to visit a few people we had been wanting to see. It was raining harder than I have seen since being in Fukuoka. Huzzah for kapas (rainsuits)!! Those are definitely needed, while biking in the rain. Anywho, we were able to visit with Tamada shimai, the less active we have been working with , and say goodbye to her. She is so strong. After that, Michiko took us out to dinner and we were able to have one last lesson with her. She took us to a place that had steak. So I had a fabulously tender, juicy, steak. this is a big deal because I am in Japan - where we hardly eat any beef EVER. It was fabulous. I think the hardest part of leaving Fukuoka was leaving Michikosan. I have been working with her for 4 transfers and love her so much. I know she will get baptized one day. She is an amazing person.  Anyway, it was exciting because she came to my last eikaiwa (english class) the next night. It is exciting because that was the first time she has been in the church since that argument with the member situation. Super cool. But I am getting ahead of myself - on Wednesday, we had bean dendo! It's weird to think that I did that 4 times. Wow. I swear it does not feel like I was in Fukuoka for 6 months. Time is flying by entirely too fast these days. My bean was so cute. She was from Fiji. We had a great time talking to people on the streets, and I was just getting all nostalgic realizing I wouldn't be streeting those streets that I knew so well anymore. Eikaiwa was heaps of fun (I;ve started saying that alot now thanks to all the Australian missionaries in our mission) and I was able to talk to more people and say goodbye. It really is crazy how many people I have met here and learned so much from. Went home and packed, then left on a bus Thursday morning to Hiroshima! Michikosan surprised me by coming to see me off at the station that morning. She is so cool. It was fun because I was able to meet up with Willes shimai at Hakata (the Fukuoka station) and we came to Saijo together. We had a 4 hr bus ride to the Hiroshima bus terminal, then about  a 20 minute city tram ride to the train station, then about a 40 or 45 minute train ride to Saijo. Thank goodness for the nice hiroshima missionaries that were there to direct us and help us with all our luggage. Transfers are always a fun time. It was great because Willes shimai and I haven't really seen each other since the MTC, so we just talked the whole time and got caught up on each others' lives and mission and such. We came to Saijo and hit the ground running. We are opening an area here. Well I don't know exactly how to say that but we created a new companionship here - as in it was a 2 man sisters area and now it is 4 - so we have got some work ahead of us. We got to set up desks, order futons, get apartment supplies, and so on that first day then weekly planned. The other sisters gave us a few potential investigators / or people they had only met with once which was super nice. We set up an appointment with MInaesan, one of these investigators, and we were able to have an awesome lesson with her this past weekend. She has been reading part of the Book of Mormon, but had only been taught about that and prayer. We felt like we needed to talk to her about Christ, and how much he can help her. So we planned on teaching her lesson three, and when we went to her house we just started talking to her there in the doorway. She didn't have us come in, but we ended up having a solid, 40 minute lesson right there on the doorstep. we talked all about Jesus Christ and the way to return to God, and asked her to prepare to be baptized by April 24th.... and she accepted!!! That was our first Saijo miracle - Minaesan has a baptismal date!  Another huge miracle here - the people are super nice. Everyone we talk to on the streets is way nice, even if they are turning us down. Most people will listen to what we have to say. For the past 6 months, I have been used to people flat out ignoring me or speeding up to get away , or saying they are busy before we can even get two words in. It's interesting how much you can tell the difference between being in the middle of the city and being out here in the countryside. 

A bit more about Saijo - - this place is just straight up awesome. As far as the church goes - we currently are a group, not a branch. We affectionately refer to it as our little twig. We are hoping to make it into a branch in the next transfer or two. Our church is two rooms, in a big office complex thing. there are different businesses and such in this big building, but the LDS church owns two of the rooms! IT is exciting because they didn't even have this until two transfers ago. They went to Hikari, which is about a 40 minute trainride from here. We have 6 active members in this group, and now that the sisters became 4 man, 10 missionaries. There are 4 elders, 4 sisters, and a senior couple. Saijo really is exploding with people wanting to hear this message. They have had a baptism each month for the past few months, and there are lots of investigators with baptismal dates in our district. Super exciting. I feel like I could just keep talking about it forever, but I will save that for another day. The Lord really has plans to hasten his work, especially here, and I can't wait to do my best to continue this growth. Willes shimai is a champion. I still can't believe we are companions. It is so fun being able to work together. I have already learned a ton from her. She is an awesome missionary, and we work really well together. GAH. so excited. Anyway, I probably forgot to tell you something but I will get to that next week. I love you all so much - thank you for your love and support and I hope you have a great week!!!!!!

愛しています!!!

フレーク姉妹

p.s. Because there is a national university here, there are all kinds of people here. our ward has 3 chinese, 1 phillipino, and 2 japanese people, with several japanese investigators, several chinese, one from Iran, and so on. That is your fun saijo fact of the day!!!!!

Transfer week!!! 3-24-14

You were so close with the transfer count - transfers are actually this week (as I am sure you:ve figured out by now). We had a really good week - one of our miracles was that we were able to have a wonderful lesson with Uehasan and her husband, as well as Michikosan. Uehasan invited us over for dinner and made the best curry I have ever had, and we were able to talk about the Book of Mormon but we mostly focused on prayer. So the elders found them by housing, but referred them to us, so we:ve been teaching a few lessons with them but this was the first lesson we had without them there. It really was so good. It was so sweet - the elders gave them a picture of Christ during the last lesson, and when we walked into her house last week it was framed and sitting on her shelf in the front of the room. Uehasan is a very sincere person,and very genki. She is progressing so well right now!!! We also were able to have a really good lesson with Michikosan about the importance of sincerly praying and reading the Book of Mormon. She is reading so much, and always has very sincere, applicable questions. I love it! We actually are meeting with her tonight again, and I am very excited. Sorry for just giving a bear minimum report on that for the week but things are a little crazy here because......

I am getting transferred to Saijo, which is in Hiroshima.

AAAAAAAAAAAAA.

I really am excited, but I am so sad to be leaving Fukuoka and our investigators here! I have been here for most of my mission - so leaving is a little bit of a crazy thought. I am so excited though - I will be companions with Willes shimai!!!! We were roommates in the MTC and she is one of my favorite people on the planet. She is the coolest. Messer shimai will be staying here, and her new companion is sister Ito - a nihonjin that doesn:t speak much english. She is a little scared but I know she will be fabulous. One thing that is going to be quite an adventure is that Willes shimai and I will be opening up an area together :) Right now, there are 2 sisters in Saijo but we will be coming in at the same time and making it a 4 man apartment. According to reports I:ve heard from the other missionaries here, Saijo has about 7 or 8 members. Just about as small of a branch as the mission has, but the work over there is exploding. I think there are about the same amount of missionaries as members in the branch. I really can:t wait to jump in and get to work there. I will be leaving here early Thursday morning. Loads o fun!!!!!

I:m glad to hear things went so well with the musical! Dad, that is so exciting with all of your real-estate work - keep up all the good work! I am sorry to hear that you decided to jump off your horse (because it did not buck you off) last week, but it was great to hear that your hand was a-okay. ;)

Mom - that is wonderful with your visiting teaching! One thing is for sure - I know that when I get back I want to be so much more involved than I was before my mission. That is something that I have learned on my mission - the members really are crucial to missionary work. The members here are incredible. I honestly can:t even describe how much I love them, mom. I just will learn from their example and apply it in my own life! 

As for your last few questions - we normally have zone conference one transfer, than interviews the next transfer, and so on. And usually zone conference is 2 zones combined. But this past transfer, kaicho wanted to be more one on one with the missionaries, so the zone conferences were just zone by zone. We also usually have a zone training meeting at the beginning of every transfer, which is just a big training for the zone run by the zone leaders, whereas zone conference is led by President and the APs. As far as lessons go - it really depends on the week. We usually have 3 or 4, with investigators - sometimes more, sometimes less. Then several lessons with less actives or recent converts as well, and during weeks that we don:t have as many lessons as we would like to be having we will set up roleplay lessons with members so we can practice for our investigators. Usually, with how busy all our investigators are, most of them can:t meet more than once a week so they get a bit spread out at times.

Anyway, that is about all I have time for today but I love you all so much - have a lovely week!

Flake Shimai

Zone conferences, reactivations, birthdays, engagements, musicals, mission papers - what a week! 3-17-14

                                                                    Morisan

                                                                             Sushi time

                                                              Birthday package

                                                                      Me and Messer Shimai

                                                   My birthday Lemon pie

Konnichiwa, kazoku!

Gosh - this week has been one of the craziest yet! I am SO happy for Devin and Heather! I am a little bit sad about missing the wedding but I definitely know this is where I need to be right now. You best believe I will be catching up on every detail when I talk to you all in person. I am so excited for them! And I cannot believe Logan:s mission papers are in - huzzah! I thought of something fabulous the other day. Maybe he will come to my mission - and I will see him! Yep, I would be a-okay with that. And we could speak in our sneaky language for the rest of our lives. But anyway - a bit about the week!

We had zone conference this past week and it was so good. Don:t get me wrong, they are always great, but this one was scary and exciting and just plain awesome. It was very interactive. President Gustafson was doing a lot of interactive things - calling companionships up and having them teach him as the investigator about baptism, or the word of wisdom, or things like that. He also called on every missionary, asking them vocabulary questions, and what they would do in certain missionary situations. Definitely a training we learned a lot from and that we won:t be forgetting anytime soon! 

We also were able to have a really great lesson with Uehasan this past week. She is a referral from the APs - they met her housing, so we have had a couple of lessons together with them, but tonight we are having our first lesson with just her and us. She has come to church for the past two weeks, and just loves the members. Last week, we were  talking about the plan of salvation and we discovered she has really similar beliefs. That was really exciting to discover, because that is not the normal thing here. We are super excited for tonight!!!! We also were able to have a lesson with Morisan, the genki 85 yr old lady that loves us. She is still very Buddhist, and tells us she is happy just the way she is, and always tells us things about the war because she was a teenager during the war. She has started to read the Book of Mormon, so we are hoping we will be able to help her come to realize how this will help her in her life!

So with the whole girls night idea... it was a great idea. But unfortunately it failed a little bit. We had a lot of people planning on coming but almost all of them cancelled last minute. We had one less active come, but she had to leave early so we didn:t even end up watching the movie. But it:s all good - we tried it and learned from the experience!

Now on to the birthday news - I had one of the funnest birthdays ever! 

The day before my birthday, the whole district went to kaitenzushi together (its sushi on a conveyer belt that just rolls by your table - it is way fun and delicious). The reason this is a big deal is because we never have our whole district all together because the office elders are often too busy to come to things. Twas a party!

I decided the best day to have a birthday as a missionary is Sunday. Totally lucked out. Ueha san came to church, as did Sukizaki shimai - and sukizaki shimai was officially reactivated yesterday! Huzzah!

But mom, don:t you fret. The sisters I lived with definitely made it a fabulous birthday. I will send some pics of me opening presents so you can fully appreciate the birthdayness of it. Thank you so much for the package! I absolutely loved everything in it. Tell Dallin he is sneaky. But I will eat a black thunder today, just for him. But really - I loved it! We made fabulous st patricks day smoothies this morning, thanks to the lovely dye. Basically everything in there was super happy. Thank you thank you thank you! We made lemon pie, had super good chicken adobo ( a phillipino food sister lyles made), and lots of good things all day. We talked to some really nice people while proselyting - one lady even gave us chocolate!. Great day indeed. 

Last bit of news - there was a bit of an earthquake here apparently. Not really a big deal or anything - the only reason we knew was because at 2 am our phone received an emergency text that they send to all the phones as an alert. Fun indeed.

Last of all - to answer a few questions - the members in Fukuoka are incredible. They are super missionary oriented, and the ward here is so big.

The average work day here is all day every day. Seriously no such thing as 9-5. Every adult is always working, every child is always in school. It blows my mind. I will explain better in more detail at a later time.

And weather wise - it was cold for awhile but the past few days have been so much warmer! We didn:t have to wear coats today for the first time all winter - just a cardigan. So that:s great! Anyway, that is about all for now. I:ll try to send some pics - have a lovely week! Love you!

愛しています！！！

フレーク姉妹

Japan, the best thing in my life 3-9-14

Cherry Blossom Krispy Kreme!!

                                                             T.--in front of the church

                                                      Taking out my frustration on the Futon

Konnichiwa, kazoku!

I feel like you guys are so busy these days - お疲れ様です！It is so weird to think that Devin is this famous person at BYU these days, and I am not even there to glory and tell everyone my claim to fame. But it is a-okay because I prefer living in Japan for a year and a half instead. I am glad everything went well with concerts and all-state auditions and what? Mom, you are the coolest person ever. Remember how you teach at a 3A school and you had the 2nd highest number of students make the All-state choir - aka all the schools in the state but one had less than you - I am so happy/proud/ecstatic for you right now! おめでとう！Congratulations! And dad, I am glad you have so many things getting finalized with all of those deals in your work. Don:t worry - I totally learned how to say Real estate dealer in Japanese, so now when people ask me what my dad does for work I am set. But anywho - on to the week!

The beginning of the week was a little bit of frustrating because I did not pass one of my long lesson masteries, that day our appointment that was about a 55 min bike ride away fell through because the investigator didn:t show up, we weren:t able to get as much done with finding and such that day, and just a few more things just really didn:t work out for us. It was a little frustrating, because we were working our hardest and doing everything we could, but thing after thing kept happening at the beginning of the week. HOWEVER from Wednesday on things just kept happening and we saw a lot of miracles! Some small, some big, but all blessings from the Lord that we were really grateful for! We talked to some really nice people while streeting this week. None of them became new investigators, but they were all really nice and some accepted copies of the Book of Mormon, which was a plus. One thing that can sometimes be a little hard in Fukuoka is that everyone is always going somewhere with a purpose, whereas in the more rural areas people are walking with a little more ease. But it:s all good because we just get to find out who the prepared people are! Anyway, so at Eikaiwa last week, we had a new student, Fumie san, and we were able to talk to her after and such about a lot of things and she became a solid PI. She is awesome, and recently moved here for her work so she doesn:t have any friends, and she is 26 - so we are going to introduce her to a lot of the awesome YSA in our ward. OH fun fact - we (the four fukuoka sister missionaries) are having a girls night this weekend. We are inviting all the YSA girls, our younger investigators and potential investigators and less actives - it is going to be so fun. We:re going to eat a bunch of food and watch the Testaments. Mostly we:re just way excited for some of them to make new friends. Anyway, it:ll be great! 

We were finally able to have a lesson with Morisan, the super genki 85 yr old lady that Lane shimai and I  found while streeting a few transfers ago. It went well! She is really Buddhist, and content with her life, but we were able to open up her heart a little bit as we testified about the power of the Book of Mormon in our lives. The spirit was strong, and I know she felt it! 

We also had a small lesson with Miyukisan on Friday, and it went well but it was just a little. We are working on going really slowly with her to open her heart to accept the gospel. She came to the relief society anniversary activity this weekend and was able to meet some ward members which was great! 

Last exciting news - Tamada shimai, the less active we met while streeting over two months ago was finally able to come to church yesterday! She is an incredible lady. I have learned so much from her. She was able to feel the spirit so strong and had a wonderful experience at church. I will try to include a picture! Anyway my time is up but I love you all so much! Thank you for everything, and have a fabulous week!

愛しています！

フレーク 姉妹

Happy Hinamatsuri Day! 3-2-14

hehe. That was a funny bit of weird english/japanese mix up right there in that title. but anyway - 

Konnichiwa, kazoku!!!

Wow. It really does sound like things are crazier than usual  for you this year! All of those auditions, practices, trips, etc. - but it sure does sound like a lot of fun! I am glad you had a little bit of a breather this weekend. And yes, time is flying by entirely too fast. One thing that is weird is I still remember my first transfer, when I found out my district leader would be going home in march that seemed way far away, he is dying this transfer. I guess it:s just a little weird because every transfer, more people are going home that I know. Weirds me out. Anyway, my happy news of the week is that I passed off 3 different lesson masteries. That was exciting. I am hoping/planning on finishing this transfer. がんばります！！！

We had a great week! Crazy news. Remember how we:ve had two instances of finding less actives while streeting in the past little while? It happened AGAIN. On Monday, we were furiously biking home in order to be home on time from an appointment that was normally about a 55 minute bike ride from our apartment, and a lady flagged us down and asked if we were missionaries. We talked to her for a little bit and came to discover she had been baptized in Fujisaki (a different area in the state of Fukuoka) about 5 years earlier. We talked for a bit and invited her to church and yesterday she came! She stayed for the whole 3 hours. She has a 4 yr old daughter, so she went to primary with her for the two hours which meant we were able to go as well. It was my first time going to primary as a missionary and I loved it. We were able to talk to Sukizaki shimai there, and it was great. I loved it because the stories and lesson were simple enough that I understood every word of Japanese and every story that the teachers told. It was AWESOME. A little bit easier than gospel doctrine, if you know what I mean. Also I know I mention it all the time but the kids here are adorable. All of them. GAH. Love it. Anyway - Sukizaki shimai is coming to church again next week and I can:t wait. I guess since I started with less actives this week, I will continue! We helped Tamada shimai move this week (don:t worry, she:s still living in Fukuoka, just a place closer to her work) and invited her to take a tour of the church. When we went in to the chapel and explained a little about sacrament meeting and such she just kept saying oh, natsukashi! (basically means nostalgic) and she told us how good it made her feel. She really had a good experience, and she was able to make room in her work schedule and promised that she will come next week!! Anyway, I feel like I could talk forever on how happy reactivations make me, but just know that I love less active work. I also feel like Heavenly Father really has blessed us lately with being able to meet these people and become the friends that they need right now in order to have their hearts softened with coming back to church. 

We were able to meet with a lot of people this week that we had been having a hard time setting up appointments with in the past, which was awesome. That is one thing that is hard here - in Japan, but especially serving in a big city - everyone is super busy. It]s not just an excuse they use, it:s the truth. Don:t even get me started on Japanese schooling - it is so intense. It almost makes me want to cry when I think about it compared to American schooling. But work schedules are super intense here too. So honestly, we just get to be really creative sometimes with meeting people (during their lunch break, random free times they have). Gosh time is running out - I want to give you a detailed lowdown on everyone but that will have to wait for another day. I:ll just stick with Hanzawasan for right now. She has come to church 4 times now, but we have not been able to teach her because she is really busy. She is 76, and seems like a posh madam. she is great. Anyway, we were able to have a member present lesson with her before church yesterday. She really likes church, but doesn:t really care to discuss doctrine. We talked about how we come to church to learn more about Christ and follow his teachings, and we explained that we teach lessons that explain more about what we learn in church and asked her if she would be interested in that. She asked, `In order to keep coming to church, do I have to have these lessons?` We responded well technically no but...` `Great. I:ll keep coming to church but I don:t want to take these lessons. I will continue to read this book (BoM) and come to church each week, and if I have any questions I will give you a call!` Haha it was a little interesting. But we will continue figuring out how we can best help her to have that desire to know for herself!! 

I bet you:re wondering about the hinamatsuri that I mentioned earlier. I don:t know what the exact translation is, but basically it is girls day! It:s a holiday in Japan. So happy girls day today! Another thing with japanese - have I ever told you that the grammar is opposite of english? So when I am talking to people on the street, I will often say `Kamisama wa watashitachi no ai suru Ten  no Otousama o shinjite imasu. Which, directly translated says God is our loving Heavenly Father we believe. Which is really We believe that God is our loving Heavenly Father.     That:s not too crazy of an example, but when you start having multiple grammar patterns in a sentence it sometimes gets a little crazy. Sometimes my brain feels fuzzy after speaking Japanese for a long time because I have to focus so hard. But that is all part of the fun and excitement of learning a new language! Anyway, that is a fun fact of the day. Gosh well  I am outta time but thanks for the stories and the fun and I am supa happy for Devin and Heather and I love them to death and I love all of you so much - have a fabulous week!

愛しています！(ai shite imasu)

フレーク　姉妹  (fu-re--ku shimai)