What a wonderful week! Thank you so much for telling me all of the wedding details! I know it has been said before, but I will say it again - I wish I could have been there, but the only other place I would rather be is right where I am. We had a great week!
I am so so grateful for the wonderful members, investigators, other missionaries - and even the random people I meet on the street each day. I feel like I learn and grow a little bit from every person I meet.
I feel like way too many things happen each week to tell all of them, but I will share some main things.
---We got our death calls from the APs this past week. Just so you know, mom - I will be coming home on December 5. Huzzah for getting an extra transfer because I was in the MTC for a little less time. Willes and I are SO EXCITED that they aren't making us go home end of October. December it is!!!!!!!
---I love accents. Living in such an international place, you'd think I would be used to them by now but nope - still makes me happy every time.
---We had a ping pong tournament tonight with the ward members and investigators. It was so much fun. Everyone gets really in to games here, which always makes things a party. Loads of fun. Just so you know, I held my own (kind of). I did alright, beat a few people, but then was still out long before the championship. Best part about it was playing around the world with everyone at the end. I love how much everyone gets in to games here!
---A few days ago when we were on our way to visit an investigator, a lady standing in the gate of a nearby house flagged us down and asked if we spoke any Japanese. When we said we did and went over to talk to her, she just started asking us a bunch of questions - why were we in Japan, what were we doing, what was our church like, and things like that. We answered her questions and explained a few more things, and she told us that she lived in that big house all by herself and wanted us to come over and talk to her a bit more when we had time. We exchanged numbers and will hopefully be able to meet her soon!
---I can never remember everything I have told you about Ayakosan. She is a character. We went with her last week to help clean out her mother in law's house (she had a few set backs with the church, so we are trying to focus on serving her and feeling our love for her as of late), and this past saturday we went to a Soka Gakkai meeting with her. It is a sect of Buddhism that she is a member of. One of the most interesting things I have ever been to. Very Japanese-y. I will try to explain that one better when we talk in person because I don't really have words for what it was like. However, going to our church the next day made me even more grateful for the fulness of the gospel that we have. We are so blessed!
----We had a lot of great lessons this past week! I am so sorry I can't talk about all of them because I am running out of time, but here it goes for a few of them - lesson with Suzeni, our Brazillian friend (who doesn't speak japanese, and has very very little English). We were able to give her a portugese book of Mormon and testify a little about it, and we told her we would be coming back to explain a little more with someone who speaks portugese. Problem - none of our members speak portugese. That is okay! When we try our hardest, the Lord provides a way! Solution - our ward mission leader's cousin is brazillian (but not LDS) and said he would be willing to come translate for us. We are meeting again in a few days and can't wait! So many miracles! Another awesome lesson with Umedasan, another Brazillian friend that went really well. Lots more to say but no time - sorry!
-----We met a really nice girl on the street the other day, Nana. She was really interested in the Book of Mormon and we will be meeting with her again in a few days.
----Biggest news of the week. So we had a lesson with Tomikosan last week that honestly was a bit rough. It went a little long, she kept getting off on tangents and uses a lot of grandma Japanese that is hard to understand, and willes shimai and I were just not feeling like we were explaining things as clearly as we should be. When we got home that night, we thought a lot about the lesson and decided to do everything we could to change the things that went wrong and do the best we could the next time. So yesterday, we had another lesson and this one was solid. The spirit was there, we were explaining more clearly, Tomikosan could feel it, and we were understanding all her Japanese and felt so calm. We had had a baptismal date with her a little earlier, but that had to drop for a few weeks because of some situations she was dealing with. But, yesterday we were able to make a really solid baptismal date of August 3rd for her and we are excited to all be working toward that together!
Alright family. Sorry this week was random and scattered and all over the place. I blame the fact that we are running around trying to get things taken care of with it being the last week of the transfer. But thank you for the pictures and wedding details - and have a lovely week!
愛しています！-I love you!
フレーク姉妹 Flake Shimai
PS - sorry I am emailing a day later than normal - it is transfer week (aka Tuesday pday) so we will be getting our calls anytime. maybe while emailing, maybe later this afternoon - I am not sure. But stay tuned for next weeks letter!
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