Konnichiwa, kazoku!
So, fun fact is this. I am currently typing this on an ipad (courtesy of Elder and Sister lamb, the senior couple in our area) and I just accidently deleted my whole email that I had previously written. It was clever, funny, and witty, so if this second go around is not quite up to par, I just want you to know it was at one point. :) Anyway, it sounds like you had a crazy week! I can't believe you were able to sing in the tabernacle, listen to motab practice, and have a workshop with vocal point - that is a trip your students won't be forgetting anytime soon. Sugoii! Well, I just want you to know that Willes shimai and I are having an incredible time here in Saijo. I really miss Fukuoka - the people we were working with really are so important to me. And to tell you the truth, it would have been a little harder to adjust with the transfer if I didn't have such an awesome companion and an awesome area. But really, things are going so well here. We have been able to talk to so many different people here. It is really cool, because there is a big Hiroshima university in our area so there are people from all over, here in Saijo. In the past week, we have met people from China, Nigeria, Thailand, India, Egypt, Iran, Mongolia, and Taiwan, just to name a few. It is really neat. As far as the other sisters we live with - I can't believe I didn't say anything last week about that - they're the coolest! So one of the sisters, Sister Williams, from Utah, is our doki (which means she came to Japan at the same time as us). The three of us are on our 7th transfer right now. And she is training Tseng Shimai right now (1st transfer bean from Taiwan) and we basically have a fabulous time every day. Tseng shimai is completely fluent in Japanese (she went to college here for a few years and has studied it for a long time) but doesn't speak much english. The super cool miracle with that - there are tons of chinese people here that don't speak much japanese or english, but Tseng shimai can talk to them! So the other sisters have a few chinese investigators - the lessons are half japanese and half chinese. Pretty cool. I'll try to send a picture of all 4 of us one of these days. They are both pretty chill - we are having a great time. Our district consists of the 10 Saijo missionaries. 4 elders, 4 sisters, and a senior couple. Fun fact. We have the coolest district. Everyone is really focused. It is awesome. Don't get me wrong, I have loved districts in the past as well, but there have been a lot of times where there is one or two missionaries that are just goofing off or don't really care. But here, it is awesome because everyone is fun, but really focused on why they are here. I think I forgot to tell you, but the nicest thing - last week when we got to our apartment that first day, we got to our door and saw that the other missionaries and the ward members had covered it with candy, happy notes, and the like - way nice. Okay, on to more fun things from the week - - -
We had ZTM (zone training meeting) this week in Hikari (in Hiroshima). It's about a 45 ish minute train ride from Saijo. Our zone leaders are awesome. We had some really good training, and costco pizza. Definitely the first time in a while that I have had pizza without corn on it. But it was great! It's been awhile since I've had to travel for zone meetings. But I love it.
Investigators - - - so we have some unfortunate news. Minaesan had to cancel her baptismal date. She still has a desire to know about this gospel and such, but when she talked to her husband about getting baptized he put his foot down because their whole family is Buddhist and always has been. But, he is okay with her still learning about this, just no baptism. We are really grateful that we will be able to continue meeting with her. She has read a ton of the Book of Mormon, and had some really good questions. We are working bit by bit with her, and will figure this out. Ayakosan, our other main investigator, is a bit of an interesting situation. She is very Buddhist. Specifically SGI, a sect of Buddhism. She is always asking questions, and likes to try to ask irrelevant things to trip us up. Last week's lesson was a little frustrating, because she just started doing a Buddhist prayer chant when we were trying to talk about the way that we pray, and she would interrupt us a lot. I think she really is interested in the things we believe, and it makes her feel unsettled, which is why she will try to disrupt things. Even though she is a little interesting, she does like us. She has come to church twice in a row, and probably will come with us to general conference as well. We will do our best to get her figured out, but I think it's going to take a little bit of time :) Fun thing with general conference - we will be watching it in Takasu, which is about a 1 1/2 hr train ride from here. We will watch it this next weekend - can't wait!
Last fun little tidbit from the week - we stopped a cute little old lady (and when I say little I mean tiny - all the old ladies here come up to my elbow) on the street this past week. We started talking to her about eternal families, and how the knowledge of this plan brings us happiness. She was interested at first, then just started muttering and looking around in her purse for something and kind of muttering under her breath. We gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet, and she just kept looking for something. We realized she might be looking for her wallet, so we told her no, no - it's free, we're volunteers, etc, but she just continued going through her bag. Finally, she whipped out her wallet and pulled out a sen (the equivalent of 10 dollars) and told us we were really nice, and should take this money to buy some tea for ourselves. We refused it, and thanked her for her kindness, and backed away, but she kept insisting we take it. So we refused again, and continued backing away. She came running after us and tried to put it in sister willes's pocket, but she backed up really fast, so it didn't work, so the old lady stuffed it in willes's belt, and ran away. When she was a ways away, she turned around and smiled and told us to go buy some tea again. It was hilarious. What a sweet little lady. I wish I could just record all day every day the things like that that happen to us, for you to see. My life these days is a little crazy. In a good way. Japan is very, very different from America. It makes me sad that I can't explain to you exactly how things are here, but I hope it suffices for me to say I love it and can't imagine being anywhere else. I have learned so much and am continuing to learn and grow every day. I love you all so much - thank you for your love and support!!!!!
Ai shite imasu!
Flake Shimai
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