Thank you for the letter! It is always so great to hear about your week. I am still in a state of shock that Logan is now a missionary! Mostly just the fact that he will be in Iowa by next transfer is a little crazy. But awesome, of course. Oh, speaking of that - transfers are next week so I will be emailing a day late. Just a heads up :) (and mind you, willes and I are planning on staying in saijo for 4. I have faith).
Also, I had no clue grandma was going on another mission - good for her! She will be wonderful. She is such a great example. I know she will change lives.
On to the week! I just might start a little backwards. This morning, we went golfing with Tomikosan and one set of the elders (Wood and Bowler). It was way fun, but I am exhausted! She is a huge golfer - it's always fun to do some fun things with investigators as well as the more serious gospel lessons. We had a great time. Tomiko was teaching us all sorts of Hiroshima ben (which basically means Hiroshima dialect/slang) and it was hilarious. We were able to have several good lessons with her this past week. Things are going well with her, but because of some sickness things she has we have to teach pretty slow, and review alot. She has a few fears because of awful experiences with churches in the past, but she really does want to believe and be baptized. We are really working on building her faith and little by little overcoming fears. I have learned a lot from every person that I have taught on my mission. Sometimes I feel selfish - because we come on missions to help other people come closer to Christ and progress, but I am the one that is learning and changing and growing so much every day.
Favorite miracle of the week - - - So a few days ago, we had felt really strongly during planning one night like we should go visit Umeda san (an investigator we haven't been able to meet with for a little while) the next night. So we did, and were a little disappointed when she wasn't home. BUT as we were biking away, we were going down a really small random side road, and we ran in to Barbara!!! We had not been able to get ahold of her. She didn't come to our last appointment, and we don't know where she lives, so we were kind of worried. When we began talking to her, she just started apologizing and telling us about all sorts of things she had to do that day that had taken longer than expected, and she had felt so bad that she didn't have a way to get a hold of us. So she had gone to the church earlier that day and slipped a note explaining that under the door. She is so sweet! I am so glad we were able to work everything out with her. We set up a time for another lesson, and have been able to have a couple lessons with her since then. One awesome thing was Fe shimai, one of our solid members is from the Philippines and was able to joint with us yesterday and talk over more serious questions in Tagolog. I love teaching Barbara - she has such strong faith and such a relationship with God. It is so different to teach her compared to the majority of the people I have taught on my mission. I love the experiences I am having.
Fun fact - yesterday I taught gospel principles. I've helped out with the classes before on my mission but yesterday was the first time I had done it all by myself. I learned some pretty fun new words to be able to tell stories and such. Everyone was really nice, and we had a great time - but suffice it to say, I will not ever complain about teaching one of those in English. It sounds a little nicer than prepping another full Japanese one. Loads of fun.
Last exciting investigator to report - Takedasan. She is the Japanese girl in her twenties ish that we are teaching right now. I love her. She really has such a strong desire to know the truth. I love the people we are teaching with all my heart. I am trying to do better every day to be worthy to teach them exactly what they need to hear. I wish I could express how often we have seen the Lord's hand in the work here. He really is always with us. So many things are so hard, but the miracles we see and ways we grow always outweigh the hard things. I can't fully express myself today - sorry fam. But, just know that I love these people with my whole soul. I love being a missionary. I love being in Japan - the food, culture, language, other missionaries - and truthfully never want to leave. (except to see your lovely smiling faces, of course). I love you so much - thank you for your wonderful example, love and support! Have a good week!!!
Ai shite imasu!
Flake Shimai
PS Mom, we will be having some words about Japanese schooling when I get home. It is the craziest/saddest thing I have ever seen in my life. They basically have homework all the time and basically don't have much of a summer break. it's called summer break but they still have to go to school. crazy stuff. that's all.
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