Getting to play dress up at a less active members kimono shop
Konnichiwa, kazoku!
It sounds like you had quite a week! Thank you so much for always keeping me so updated with everything that is going on with you! Just so you know, if that sentence is grammatically incorrect I blame it on the fact that English is a struggle these days. True story. Sometimes when I speak in English I find myself saying things that are a direct translations from Japanese. Or I just completely use incorrect grammar. So please have patience with me - that's all. Anyway, things have been great this week in Saijo! I can't even express how much I love Saijo - and for that matter, Japan. It's scary to think that I am cominig up on my year mark so soon. Elders are so lucky to be here for two years. I'm just saying. Anyway, on to the week!
Oh but first I will try to answer a few of your questions. A typical day - - - (but first a disclaimer - every day is way different)--- Wake up at6:30, go running, eat breakfast/shower, then on to studies (personal, companion, and language) from 8:00-11:00. Lunch, then we are out the door by noon. If we have appointments, we will find (street, talk to everyone we see ) on the way to the appointment, teach, find on the way back. Sometimes we visit members, or less actives and do that same thing. We usually come back home and eat dinner at around5:00, then head back out. If we don't have solid appointments for the day, we will go and visit potential investigators or just pick an area the night before during planning that we want to go to to find a new investigator, then we will street on the way there, and house, and street on the way back. Come home by 9:00 to plan. We try to always schedule our day hour by hour (by that I mean always have something planned for every hour) even if we don't have solid appointments so we can be as effective as possible. Yeah - that about sums up our days! It is really interesting though seeing such a stark contrast between the city and the country. Everyone was so busy in the city. We would have days in Fukuoka where we would be finding for hours and didn't even get past Konnichiwa before the person said they were busy and walked away. Things are a bit slower paced here. Anyway, sorry about that explosion of boring details but I have some things to tell you about!
Alright, to start off - We went to Miyajima for p-day last week. It was so beautiful. It is a really famous place just past Hiroshima -- I will try to send some pictures. It was weird going there though, because it is a really tourist-y place and it was the most foreigners I have ever seen in one place in Japan. SO WEIRD. This past week we rode the train so much it was ridiculous, between general conference saturdayand sunday, miyajima on monday, then interviews on Tuesday. It's a party! We had interviews with President in HIroshima on Tuesday, and it was great to talk to him about how things are going. Always such a boost to see him and sister Gustafson. I have a thousand things to tell you all and no time -- oh no! I will speedwrite. Don't you fret.
-Bakeries in Japan are unreal. They are so good. There is a bakery in hiroshima called the one coin bakery - everything is 100 yen - the equivalent of one dollar. Fun stuff.
- A less active member called us up and asked if we wanted to go try on kimonos last week - so we did! We were able to talk to her and get to know more about her, and we went to this super intense kimono shop and all these japanese ladies dressed us in kimonos (which have many layers, fun fact) and when we took pictures told us to tell our friends the kimonos were from that shop.
-We followed up with a pretty solid potential investigator that we had met while streeting last week, and when we went by her house to see if we could schedule another appointment she invited us in and we ended up teaching an entire lesson right on the spot. Her name is Umedasan, and she is from Brazil. Her husband is Japanese and she has been here for the last twenty years, so she speaks portugese and Japanese. We gave her a portugese Book of Mormon, and she can't wait to read it. This is so interesting, because she and Adriana are the first people I have ever taught that are Christian. It is so interesting how different the teaching approaches are when you teach a Christian. It is so cool. We are currently learning how to pray in Portugese from our Brazillian zone leader so we can teach her. Super cool experience.
-I FINISHED LESSON MASTERY. I can't remember if I already had told you or not. It's exciting stuff.
-Aloe vera flavored everything. Melon flavored stuff. They're great.
-Lisa. Coolest thing ever. Last week, the elders started talking to a lady on the street and she told them she just moved to Saijo from Malasia last week, and she was baptized there into our church a few months ago, and she was hoping she would be able to find the church but did not know how to go about doing that, and was praying to know, then met the elders. They gladly showed her where the church was, and she came to eikaiwa during the week and church yesterday! She has two adorable little kids, and tripled our primary. There has been just 1 girl in primary, but now there are 3 kids there and they are great friends already.
-OUR LITTLE TWIG. Church here is just about the best experience on the planet. I love these people with my whole soul. We are really hoping to turn in to a branch in May - two of our recent converts are preparing to receive the Melchizidek preisthood by then. Every single member is so unique but they all contribute so much and help so much. Sister Fe is from the phillipines and has been a member since she was young - she moved here about 20 years ago and is a really solid member. Brother toma is our ward mission leader and he has been a solid member for a really long time as well. The rest of our twig is made up of recent converts that are awesome. 4 that have been baptized in the last few months and one that was recently reactivated. They are all huge examples to me. I really feel so blessed to be here learning from all of them. I want to talk about them all day but unfortunately don't have time for that right now. One day - I will tell you about more of the continuous saijo miracles.
-We had a huge eikaiwa party this past week that was a really big success - big dinner/played games at a huge park. It was loads of fun.
-Yesterday was Easter! What a wonderful day. I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting (half Japanese, half english because of our international branch these days) and it was a good experience. I learned a lot while I was preparing. The Atonement is so real! We really are so blessed to have it in our lives. I am so grateful for the things that I have been learning on my mission. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn't come out here, and learned the things that I have been learning and that I know I will continue to learn. Sorry to get all preachy, but it is definitely the truth! Unfortunately I have got to run, but I love you all - have a great week!
Flake Shimai
ps We do sometimes get good teaching opportunities from our english class - and it is a super fun thing to teach. we have regular students that come every week, and find more while we are streeting each day
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