Christmas is coming!! So is skyping!! 12-15-13

Christmas in Japan

Konnichiwa, kazoku!!!

I have a lot of news. I will try to remember to say everything I need to say, and answer your questions as well!!! I have some good news and some bad news for you. The bad news is that I won:t be calling you for Christmas................but I will be skyping you if that is alright with you!!!!!! WOOT. Basically the lowdown on that was this - plan on calling, unless a member offers to let you use their computer, but don:t ask to use anyone:s computers. HA so it was a kind of crazy situation. But the office couple offered to let us skype! I:ll send more info in a bit on that.

Anyway, this week! Lots happened. Some big news of the week is that we officially dropped Christina and Karan. It was hard, but we have been praying and fasting about it and knew that it was the right thing for them. It was hard, but we talked to them and they agreed that this was not the right time for them. But they did say they will call the missionaries again when they are ready to keep commitments and learn more, so it went well. It was just so hard! But it felt right after, and we knew that it was what we needed to do. I love them so much, and I know that they will be baptized someday. It:s all in the Lord:s timing!

Michiko san is doing wonderfully. Okay, so I just realized I don:t think I:ve told you much about her personality - but she is hilarious. I love her so much. Basically she tells us things every day that just make us die laughing. She loves the Book of Mormon and she has tons of questions, all the time. She keeps us on our toes. She loves trying to learn English, so we have a fun little exchange of us teaching her English stuff and her teaching us Japanese stuff - it is a party. It was super funny - at the beginning of a lesson we had with her last week, we were just having some small talk with a few things. She showed us a picture her friend in America had sent her of him at a shooting range. Pointing to the picture, she said `If I shoot guns like this in Japan, I will go to jail. Then after jail, hoshinosakae (the Telestial Kingdom).`We were glad to hear that she remembered the plan of Salvation lesson we taught a few weeks ago! It was hilarious. 

Just really quick, before I forget - you may or may not be getting a little something in the mail from Japan.... If you do.... Don:t open it till Christmas!!!!!!!!!!! That:s all. 

This past saturday was basically one of the craziest and funnest days evah. We (our district and another district in our zone, about 22 missionaries) caroled for all of the stake presidents in our mission - they were at the mission home having a big meeting. That night, we had a caroling program at Tenjin! It was awesome. We sang several big christmas songs all together, and a few smaller group songs. I did a duet with Elder Iwaasa - we sang a really cool version of I know that My Redeemer Lives (in English) and it was a lot of fun! The Gustafsons came to watch us, and Kaicho (president) said the nicest thing to me afterward. He said something like this -- Flake shimai, that was beautiful. I don:t know how anyone could see you up there singing like an angel and not know that this message we bring is true.` It was so sweet! I love the Gustafsons so much. I really am blessed to have such an incredible family here in Japan. I miss you all so much but all the elders and sisters here really do feel like my brothers and sisters, and the Gustafsons are our awesome parents. It;:s awesome. 

We got to watch the Christmas broadcast last night! So good, as always. 

Oh and on a random note - we can eat sugar again. I had a chocolate bar for the first time in 2 months the other day. It was so good. It feels like there are so many things we can eat now. Kinda blows my mind a little.

In answer to your questions - yes, we do streeting and housing. Interchangeably. There are tons of apartment buildings here, so we often will start from the top  and work our way down. Basically, it depends on your area and your personal preferences if you do more streeting or more housing -- in other areas, there are hardly any people out walking. We like streeting here in Fukuoka because the streets are always crowded. Lots of people to talk to all the time on our way to other appointments that we have. I:ve gotten to be quite a pro at getting off my bike and back on again like a lady, really fast, rather than awkardly throwing my leg over and almost falling off (which may or may not have happened a few times my first transfer) haha. 

Christmas question - yes! Christmas is a big deal here. However, not very many people connect it to Christ or even know who Christ is. The commercial side of Christmas is a big deal here. But it is great because we use Christmas to introduce Christ sometimes to people we talk to. It is really neat. 

Well that is about all I have time for today but I love you so much! I can:t wait to SEE and Talk to you next week!!!!!

Ai shite imasu!!!!!!!!

Flake Shimai

The Christmas kisetsu...12-8-13

Konnichiwa, kazoku!!!

Mom - I love your long epistles! Thank you thank you! It actually hasn:t been as cold this week as it has been the past few weeks. But there is still  a Christmas feel in the air :) (fun fact - the japanese word for season is kisetsu....I think) And mother any time you want to use any of my stuff - go for it! I:m glad it:s being used! Sorry about all these colons instead of apostrophes. It:s either that or the only other option is typing in Japanese. not the best idea. I can:t believe all these people are already getting home from their missions - I swear they just barely left! Time sure does fly. I:m glad James and Rockie are doing well! Tell him that if he wants to see how I:m doing, to write me a letter! (Yes indeed, I am pulling the letter card that I:ve always judged missionaries for pulling. Letters are the best things EVER. Especially here in Fukuoka because the recorder (one of the office elders) always calls us and lets us know when we have one. Super exciting indeed). Okay but anyway - I hope the musical goes well! Make sure to take lots of pictures and videos for me!!! I:m glad everything is working out for you guys. 

I:ll give you the lowdown on our week real fast ---

And I will start a little bit backwards! Yesterday, we had the coolest opportunity. Lane shimai and I were asked by one of the ward members to go up to help out in an upstairs room during relief society. We went up there, and it turns out there was a family visiting from Utah on business and they had brought a few of their business associates to church. There had been a mix up with when they thought Sacrament meeting was, so instead they met in a room and had us and the zone leaders come and introduce ourselves and just explain a little bit about what we do as missionaries. It was really neat, because the couple:s son had his mission call and leaves in a couple of months, so he talked a little bit about why he wanted to serve. Then the dad gave an overview of our beliefs. There was such a strong spirit in there, and the business associates were really accepting and respectful. We helped a little with some translating as well, and overall it was just a really neat experience.

Another exciting thing that happened yesterday - Marquez shimai, one of the less actives we:ve been working with for the past transfer came to church for the first time since we:ve been working with her! It was so exciting. Sorry, this is a bit of a tangent but I just realized something interesting the other day. It:s funny because before my mission the Christmas season has always been such a flurry of activity - I:ve focused on Christ, and the actual reasons but have still been involved in a bunch of the other things as well, gifts and so on. But I realized the other day that the best gift I could even possibly imagine receiving would be to have several of our investigators and LAs come to church. I don:t want to sound cheesy or anything but it:s so true. I love these people with my whole soul and I just want them to see how incredible this gospel really is!!!

Okay, sorry for the rambling - but it really is how I feel!! So I have a few random stories from the week that I would like to share - 

1. When we were streeting a few days ago, we stopped to talk to this lady who was walking a tiny tiny dog on a leash. After we said we were missionaries (at this point the dog was walking around a little bit) she started walking away PRETENDING LIKE THE DOG WAS DRAGGING HER. It was SO funny. She basically said `I am so sorry - I would love to hear more but I just can:t right now` while gesturing to the dog. Funny stuff.

2. There are so many adorable children in this ward. But fun fact - there is a little girl who is probably 5 ish or something who acts and looks like the Japanese version of me when I was that age. I am serious. It  is crazy.

3. Last night, I ate a whole bowlful of chicken gizzards. It was the food that has been the hardest for me to eat here. It would suffice to say that is one food that I will not be making for myself......ever.

4. I started learning a tiny bit of kanji. It is hard but way fun and it makes the vocabulary make so much more sense! The dollar stores here have practice kanji books so I got one and I love practicing with it. I showed it to higashi shimai and said `I know you probably had one when you were five or something, but hey I:m way excited about this!` She replied (in a very encouraging voice) `No, I was 7... but I:m so happy for you!` It was hilarious.

5. Mom, you would be so proud of me. I SEWED. True story. I sewed straps onto my shoes - they broke forever ago and I:ve just been kind of dealing with it but I got some stuff and sewed them back on and it:s better than before and I will send you a picture someday. Just know that it:s a big deal.

Okay, now for a bit of a report - and then I:ve got to get going! 

Christina and Karan both work on sundays so they can:t come to church. We:re still trying to do our best, figuring out what direction to take with them. They want to keep learning but are struggling a bit with the commitments, so I:ll keep you updated on them.

Michikosan is doing great. She:s out of town this week, visiting her mom, but she is still doing great with reading the book of Mormon. She has tons of questions all the time, and it is awesome. 

Real fast Japanese lesson - basically it:s rude to call people by just their name. A real quick explanation is this - you add on san to their name if they are older than you (it:s basically like mr., miss., or mrs.) and chan if they:re your age or younger (girls), and kun for little boys. Or at church, shimai and kyodai are acceptable in place of san. Yep. So hopefully that helps when I talk about people!!
Japanese is still slow, but I;m chugging along. It is such a cool language. Another fun thing - Higashi shimai:s english is crazy good so we teach her all sorts of random phrases all the time that she doesn:t know yet (like It:s raining cats and dogs, or don:t ruffle her feathers) and things like that. Good times. The four of us have so much fun in this apartment. Anywho, I have got to run but I love you all - thanks for everything!!!

Ai shite imasu!!!

Flake Shimai

Thanksgiving in Japan! 12-1-2013

Konnichiwa, kazoku!!!!

Sounds like things in good old AZ are starting to get a little bit crazy!!! But I am glad you had a great week. So many things, and I swear I never have enough time to tell you about it all!!! But it:s all good. That:s what journals are for!!!

But really - Thanksgiving sounds like it was awesome for all of you! I am glad Devin was able to come down, even though it wasn't for very long. I:m so happy for him with all of this Vocal Point endeavors - it sounds so crazy! I still can:t believe he is in Vocal Point, doing all these things every week and such because it all happened after I left. But it:s all good!! I am so happy for him. And yes - it:s a bit of a party here. Mostly just in the sense that everyone here is so much fun. We all get along so well. Thank you for telling me all about everything going on - I love hearing all about it!!!

This week, tons of fun happenings occurred. We had ZTM (zone training meeting) and the Fukuoka zone is HUGE. But it:s great to see everyone and how they:re doing. The training was awesome! I learned so much that I am trying to do better with applying every day - in my studies, missionary daily activities, and so on. Super great. Also, always such a good reminder of how important the members are in missionary work. We all got an awesome early Christmas present - a conference issue Liahona for each missionary. It:s great because I can mark it up however I want! But anyway, this morning I read through Elder Ballard:s talk, Trust in the Lord and it is so golden! This really is such an exciting time to be sharing the gospel and hastening the work of Salvation.

Sorry, I don:t want to get all preachy or anything but it just really is so exciting!!!! I have definitely seen how important member present lessons are.They just have such a strength. That:s one thing that we have come to learn - especially for us right now, where we can:t always fully express everything with this little language barrier, having a member that can share experiences is really wonderful. Anyway - on to the week!

Some members in our ward invited us over lunch last week - and when we got to their apartment, biggest surprise of all surprises - we smelled bacon. They made BLTs and soup for us (wanted us to have an American lunch for once - so sweet!) It was crazy. I haven:t had a sandwich in months. First meal without using chopsticks since I:ve been here! ;D (may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much!!) Super nice couple. Our ward really has incredible members. They:re all such huge examples to me!!

Sorry I always just talk so much about food. But on to your Thanksgiving questions -- we did not have any crazy food for Thanksgiving (because people don:t celebrate thanksgiving here) but we did have an incredible Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to Sister Gustafson. Seriously, the perks of being here in Fukuoka are awesome. It was our district, the Gustafsons, and their son and his wife who are here visiting right now. Turkey, ham, chicken, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry salad, yams,  rolls, broccolli, etc.. a full blown thanksgiving meal. It was SO GOOD.　One of my favorite things about it was that it was the first Thanksgiving meal that some of the Japanese missionaries had ever had and they loved it. And afterward, we talked about things we were thankful for. I can:t even tell you how much I love Kaicho and Shimai (President and Sister Gustafson). They are incredible. 

Some more exciting news from the week - we got to go to the temple on Saturday for the first time since the MTC!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was wonderful, as always. I:m pretty sure that the Fukuoka temple has a really similar or the same floor plan as the Snowflake temple, so that was cool as well. Love it!

Last bit of news with investigators (sorry I;m running outta time so I:ll give you more details next week)

Christina and Karan are not doing so hot. We:ve been working with them a lot, but they both work all the time and just have been too busy to do very much gospel wise (reading scriptures, haven:t come to church for a while, aren:t really praying, etc) which is a bit of a bummer. But we:re still working with them and trying to do what we can. We:ll see what happens and I:ll keep you updated.

Yukari is avoiding us - not answering our calls, won:t set  up appointments, etc, but once again we:ll keep pressin forward.

The bright ray of sunshine in our week is Michiko san!!! She is devouring the book of Mormon, has tons of questions, and enjoys meeting with us. She takes tons of notes every time she reads and asks us awesome questions. Love it. She:s kind of busy with work too, but she is great about meeting with us.

Anyway, that:s all I have time for right now but I love you all so much!!!! Have a wonderful week, and enjoy this fabulous winter season and the cold!!!!!!!

Ai shite imasu!!

-Flake Shimai

The adventures continue!!!! 11-24-13

11-24-13
                                                 Me being....me I guess.

Konnichiwa, kazoku!!!!!!!

Fabulous news. Lane shimai and I are staying here together in Fukuoka for another transfer! 6 more glorious weeks. Well, we already decided we'll be companions for the rest  of our mission, so its all good. But yeah! We are about the only companionship in our district that stayed the same. Kind of crazy. But way fun. So Bush shimai, one of the girls in the other companionship in our apartment transferred and Lyles shimai came in. Fun fact - lyles shimai and I were in the same ward for the first semester of my sophomore year at BYU and she was Heaton shimai's trainer. Small world indeed. Living in a 4 -man apartment is the greatest. 

Exciting news about this transfer - three holidays. Thanksgiving, christmas and new years. It's going to be such a party (in a missionary kind of way). :D  

Sooooo, on to the week's news! First off, bean dendo was super fun. It's where all the fukuoka missionaries go on splits with all of the brand new missionaries that came from the MTC and are at the mission home for a couple of days before getting sent off to their new areas.  I was on splits with Sister Sukuki (a bean, not my trainer!) and it was the greatest. She was super sweet. We had so much fun. Eikaiwa that night was insane having the normal 12 ish Fukuoka missionaries plus 30 new missionaries and all the eikaiwa students, but it was a party! 

The Adventurers:

So Higashi shimai and Lyles shimai are the new STLs for our zone and the nagasaki zone, which is super exciting. We came to realize that we were the only ones in the zone without a fancy title (for example, APs, ZLs, DLs, STLs, etc..)..... so we came up with one for ourselves. From here on out, we are the adventurers.  It's just the truth. We have so many crazy adventures/ things that happen to us every day. Here are a few examples -

- We're train pros these days. We have gone on trains multiple times in the last few weeks by ourselves and have gotten to where we needed to go!!! It's exciting. That's all.

-We discovered the coolest forest/park thing ever. It's right next to a road, but it's kind of hidden so in order to find it, it needs to be stumbled upon. There were pinecones on the ground. I've never seen pinecones here before! So we gathered them in preparation of Christmas decorating and such. Yosh. We decided to name this sneaky forest "The Forest of Banff." (We stole the name from a random bakery with that name that we pass every day).

-We both happen to have bright red coats, so it's hilarious because these days whenever we're wearing our coats at the same time, people notice us even more than before. We already stick out a ton because we're clearly not Japanese, but with our coats it helps all the more. I think it's kind of like a sneaky proselyting tool.

So here is a quick update on all the people in our lives right now!!!

Oota Emiko (RC) - She is super sweet. She's older, and unfortunately her memory is declining a little so she has forgotten most of the things she was taught before baptism, so we are just going through slowly and simply and reteaching from the beginning. She is responding really well, and I am excited to continue working with her. And she adores us, so the three of us always have a good time.

Yukari san - this week was a little disappointing with her. She's recovered from her surgery now, and we tried to meet with her but weren't really able to get in contact with her till later in the week. When we did finally get through to her, she was pretty vague and wouldn't set a time to meet up, and said she was busy with friends so she couldn't come to church or eikaiwa. We're going to do our best to just continue to let her know that we love her, and continue praying for her and trying our best to follow Heavenly Father's will for her at this time.

Christina and Karan - they are super busy with work (they each work 2 jobs, and christina goes to college as well). So unfortunately we weren't able to meet with them this past week but we were able to talk to them on the phone and share a few small messages. We have a member present set up for them tomorrow at the church which I am way excited for, and I have high expectations!!!! Also lane shimai and I are still ganbaru-ing with the no sugar in karan's behalf, and he is decreasing his smoking intensity! Subarashii!!

Takahashi Michiko (she is who I told you about last week)- she is still reading the book of mormon like crazy, and we can't wait to meet with her again. She loves asking us doctrinal and english questions, and we are doing our best to work with her and help her as much as we can. I love her so much. I can't wait till we can meet with her again. She's a little busy with work right now, but we're keeping in contact with her and doing our best. 

Geez, I write so much! Sorry it's so rambly. I'm not exactly an english major, sometimes just kind of throw the words on the page. But you get the general idea!!!

Last exciting news. This week, we were invited by Sister Gustafson to THANKSGIVING dinner at the honbu!!! There are too many perks to serving in Fukuoka. True story. I'm treated like a princess here. So I can't wait for that! Also, one of the office elders gave us christmas music. And there are gorgeous christmas lights everywhere these days. I'll try to get some pics eventually. Anyway thank you SO MUCH for everything, your love, support and prayers. I love hearing about how you all are and everything going on with you!!!! Thanks for your testimonies and the strength you are to me! I love you - have a great week!!!

Ai shite imasu!!

-Flake Shimai

Adventures!!! 11-18-13

11-18-13
                                            We are celebrities!!  They all want a picture with us.

                                               

Konnichiwa, kazoku!!!

I have five thousand things to say, and no time!!! I don:t know how this happens every week. Daijoubu. I will do my best!!!

Oh but first in response to some comments --- that is awesome about the new stake presidency! And I am so glad everything went well with the festivals, and choirs, and events going on. And even though they lost that football game, that is super exciting how far they were able to go this year! Kudos! And dad - I:m so happy for you with how things are working out with your job!!!

Alrighty. So last monday after we emailed we went on an adventure with some other missionaries in our zone - we went to Chikushino (another area in our zone, still in Fukuoka) to visit a famous Buddhist shrine. It was gorgeous. I also bought some coats for  a crazy good price, which is fabulous because it is cold every day as of late. And I have come to realize that the pouring rain when it:s cold outside is in fact a smidge crazier than the pouring rain when it:s humid and hot. I don:t know for sure which one I like more - but right now I:d probably say the humid/hot rain is preferable whilst biking in a skirt. Anyway - good thing I have an awesome kapa (rain suit)! I:ll send you a picture some time. It:s great. 

Really fast fun fact - our ward has the absolute cutest families on the planet. There are a ton of young couples with like 2 or 3 kids and they are the greatest. 

Several exciting stories that I would like to share!

-There is an awesome lady that we just started meeting with. She:s sixty, a business woman, married to a doctor, super rich, and really interested in learning English. Long story short - a few months ago some sister missionaries talked to her mom on the street and told her they taught free English, and she said her daughter would be interested. She:s come to Eikaiwa a few times, and came to church last week and this week. She initially said she was not interested in our church, but we were able to meet with her last week a couple of times. It was pretty funny - basically we called her to see if we could talk about some things we believe in and she told us no, then five minutes later one of the APs (whom she:d met at Eikaiwa as well) called her and she said yes. So they called us up and the four of us met her the next day at a cafe to explain why mormons were so happy (one of her questions). We ended up teaching part of the first lesson,. and introducing the book of Mormon and asking her to read Mosiah 2. When we talked to her next, we found out she had read it 10 times because she wanted to understand it - and she took several pages of notes. We asked Higashi shimai (a sister in our apartment who is japanese but has crazy good english) to translate it for us and it was incredible. This lady is a really deep thinker, and a great studier. We had another lesson with her a few days later, mostly talking about some of those questions. The thing that was a little scary was the lesson was at the honbu (mission home)　- with President. Yep. It was going to be with the APs but they had another appointment, so the plan was they:d go on splits and one of them would be with president and us for the lesson. So yeah - it stressed me out a little at first when I discovered that! But it was awesome. Kaicho (president) is so kind and loving, and it was incredible how much we were able to learn. I guess that:s a fun perk to being in Fukuoka that not everybody gets - so I:m counting my blessings! They officially passed her to us that lessons, so we:re pushing forward now! Anyway sorry for the bajillions of details on that but she is awesome. We:re meeting again with her in a few hours and I can:t wait! 

Alright I took too much time with that - now I will just give some small info on the rest of my week!

Christina and Karan have crazy work schedules so it:s been hard to meet with them much recently, but we:ve had some pretty good phone lessons, so that:s great! And on that note, lane shimai and I are doing fabulously with the no sugar thing still.

We had an awesome adventure day last week where we went to a part of our area that is aways away so we went my train. I:ve ridden tons of trains since being here in japan. The reason today was a big deal because it was the first time I:ve ridden the train without being with a Japanese person! Aka someone who can read the kanji and train information. So, it was an adventure, but lane shimai and I totally figured out which train to get on at which time in order to get to this random part of Fukuoka. and it worked. And we couldn:t even read very much of the information. Heavenly Father sure does look out for us so much every day! (fun fact - our area, Fukuoka, Fukuoka zone, is crazy big. We can ride a train for an hour and a half and still be in our area. The rest of the areas in our zone are technically still in the city of Fukuoka as well. I guess where I:m going with this is that it blows my mind how huge Fukuoka is.)

I jammed my toe a few days ago so I have been limping a bit for a couple days but I am almost back up to par again - almost healed! So that:s great! In case you:re wondering how I jammed it, I slammed it into a post on accident while biking. Still graceful as ever.

Okay, the Shibata family (the one I sent the picture of last week) is the cutest ever. We taught them about family home evening last night, and it was so cute because we talked about being examples, and being a light to others and taught the little kids Jesus wants me for a sunbeam. The best thing was, the adorable little girl:s name is Hikari, which is the japanese word for light. So the chorus goes `hikari, hikari, Iesusama no tameni` and she loved it. Giggling the whole time - so cute. 

Gosh I have a bajillion more things to say but my time is gone- I am sorry!!!! But last bit of news - today is transfer call day, we:ll know anytime but we haven:t found out yet! I am assuming I:ll be staying here but who knows. Also tomorrow is bean dendou, which I am stoked for - it:s where we go on splits for the afternoon with one of the missionaries who just got off the plane into japan. Tanoshimi! It will be so great, Anyway, love ya all so much, sorry for the scatterbrained letter this week but I hope you have a fabulous week!!

Ai shite imasu!!!!

-Flake Shimai

Bugs, sick masks and cute kids! 11-10-13

Cutest girl ever!!!

                                                                     

                                                            Happy Birthday Mom!

                                                                       2 zone conference

Konnichiwa, kazoku!

Well, even though I'm several thousand miles away from you, sounds like this past week was a little similar for us! It is starting to get a lot more cold here. Problem is when I left for my mission, in the back of my mind I didn't really expect it to get cold because it was so hot while I was preparing to leave, and it was burning hot when I stepped off the plane here, so I wasn't fully prepared. Aka we get to go coat shopping later today :) (Just a disclaimer: the following is just going to be an explosion of random facts)

Anywho, and this past week I was a little sick as well. So fun fact. Here in Japan, going along with the whole everyone is super considerate of other people culture, whenever anyone is sick, they wear a surgical lookin' mask (I guess so the germs stay contained? I don't really know). Anyway, so last Tuesday I had a pretty bad cough, sore throat, etc., so we did some fun Area book dendou and called and set up appointments for later and such. And when I went out for the next few days (I felt better, but was still coughing and such) I got to wear a mask! Haha it was pretty funny. Don't you fret, I'll be sending a picture. I have dubbed them "sick masks." So best thing - texting in Japanese, everyone uses these little smiley emoticon things at the end of the text. My first week I saw the smiley face with a sick mask on and I wanted to use it, but I had no reason to, so I never did. But I got to use it this past week. For the first time. Kind of hilarious. It was funny, because one of our zone leaders was sick as well and we both lost our voices on the same day, so it was pretty hilarious to hear us trying to talk to everyone. But don't you worry mom, I'm getting better! It's a bummer to be sick, but it's pretty exciting that you can still be effective and get things done at the same time... heehee. Last p-day we went to the zoo! We went with the half of our district who's pday is on Monday (the other half work in the office, so their pday is on Saturdays) It was exciting because usually the zoo is closed on mondays but it was a Japanese holiday so it was pretty packed. We had some grand adventures. Another great thing is we sometimes have district language study, where a few sets of misionaries meet at the church for language study one day, and we just help each other out with different questions. Basically it's rather fabulous for us young'ns who don't know tons about Japanese because the older missionaries can explain some concepts and practice stuff with us. Useful indeed!

Lane shimai and I learned some Japanese sign language last week from a lady in our ward. It is awesome, and helps me remember the Japanese words really easily. Maybe I should just try learning sign language before the rest of the language! Ha just kidding. But we can now sign several hymns and random words, so that's fun.

Fabulous news. We were able to have a member present with Christina this week, and it went really well. It's been hard to have a mp lesson with her before because her schedule is super crazy (she works two jobs and goes to college) but I know the Lord was helping us out! The lady who jointed with us had some incredible personal experiences that we didn't even know about that fit with Christina's circumstances. The spirit was so strong, and it was a tender mercy to be sure. Heavenly Father really is so involved in our lives. It blows my mind every day how incredibly blessed I am! I am just going to keep trying to work my hardest to show my appreciation :) 

Another awesome experience we had this week was with a less active family in our ward. It's a single mom with two adorable children. We went with the zone leaders, and it was awesome. The mom had to leave to pick up her daughter from preschool so we played dodgeball with the son and his friends and it was great. (another fun fact - the Japanese version of dodgeball is way more fun than the American kind. I'll teach ya when I get back). When she came back with her daughter, we were able to sit down and get to know her and her concerns a bit more. She has an incredible testimony, just is a little nervous about coming back after being gone for so long. We each testified about Christ and his love, and some other things and it felt like we could feel Christ's love in the room. My hair was braided that day, and the 6 yr old daughter was fascinated by it, so I asked her if she wanted me to do it to her hair, and her face lit up. It was the cutest thing ever. So I did, and we were twinners! I'll send a pic - she's basically one of the cutest kids on the planet. I think we'll be great friends. She was basically the most patient child with my Japanese that I've ever talked to, so that was also pretty great. 

I basically have to say this each week, but Fukuoka is crazy big. It basically just keeps surprising me every day how insanely huge it is. 

The primary program was yesterday and it was the best thing of my life. Oh my gosh, I couldn't stop grinning all day. They are SO CUTE. And there were 30 kids up there singing "Kami no kodesu" (I am a child of God) at the top of their lungs and I couldn't get enough - I love primary programs! It's great, because no matter where you are in the world, the programs are kind of the same. Adorable kids, cute singing, one child who is to shy to say their line so the teacher does, one child who grabs the mike and yells in to it, and so on. Pretty great, if you ask me.

The last news I have for the week has to do with mushi. Aka insects. Bugs. Gross things that I hate. A few days ago, Lane shimai and I were about to start cooking lunch when I heard her scream, and discovered there was a spider on our shelf. Not just any spider, but a JUMPING spider. So granted, it was not ginormous but it was medium size and jumping. I, trying to be the nice companion, offered to kill it, (even though I hate spiders, I don't have quite the phobia she does) so I went for it. I did kill it - there just may have been some shrieking and screaming involved in the process. AND last night, I saw the grossest bug I have ever seen in my life. There was an ENORMOUS beetle crawling on our wall. It was black and creepy and as long as my finger. and the width was probably half a finger lenght across. I don't think I can adequately describe the awfulness of the situation. It could fly. and it was HUGE. and disgusting. and gross. and creeped me out like nobody's business. Please just take a moment and picture in your mind how big this actually was. (also it was around ten fifteen ish at night). I usually pride myself on not being super stereotypical girl ish, like I don't care if I break a nail, I'm usually not a screaming kind of soul or anything but that thing was NASTY. It was the most hilarious situation last night. Bush shimai saw it first, so she grabbed a spray bottle and started soaking it, and it was flying, and we may or may not have been screaming a little, and she kept squirting it but it didn't help, then it was crawling on our floor, and Higashi shimai grabbed an old, water soaked book of mormon that we were going to have to throw away and just dropped it on it and there was a nasty crunch then it died. Bleh. Hate bugs. Sorry about the excessiveness of the details but I just wanted you to get the whole feeling of the situation. It was pretty funny. And unfortunately Lane shimai has the whole thing on video. We were a little bit ridiculous. Our poor neighbors. 

Anyway that's about it for today. I hope things are going well for you. I love you all so much, and am grateful for your love, prayers, and support! 

Ai shite imasu!!!!

Flake Shimai

Jealousy!! 11-4-13

Konnichiwa, kazoku!!! 

I will definitely admit, I am a bit green with jealousy right now. I am so happy you were able to go up to Utah to see Devin in his Vocal Point concert!!! That is awesome. I feel jealous with news like that for about 2 seconds, then I remember that I'm in Japan and I stop feeling jealous because this is basically the best place on the planet. It makes me feel bad for you all that you aren't here! :) heehee. But really. I love it so much. 

This week, we had zone conference. Our mission has 8 zones, and its so spread out that for zone conference, every other transfer, its always combined with 2 zones. Here, it is the Fukuoka and Nagasaki zones. Why, do you ask, is this a big deal? Let me tell ya. I was reunited with Heaton Shimai! There was a bit of screaming and big hugs involved. She's such a gem. It's so fun to be around a lot of missionaries, catch up on some stories, and so on. ZC was great - President and Sister Gustafson are so sweet and I learn so  much from them every time I hear them speak. And our APs are super cool. Loved the training and such. One thing that was pretty cool was that the church just came out with this new "Adjusting to Missionary Life" book for all the missionaries - aka how to handle stress. It is fabulous. I am a big fan. 

We made biscuits and gravy this week! It was great. Lane shimai's first time having it- and good news; she's converted. On the food topic - now that its getting a little more cold, we've been having a lot more soups. Japanese soups are insanely delicious. I will most definitely be learning how to make these and making them every winter for the rest of my life. So good. 

It's still raining every few days, which means we get to wear our kapas (rainsuits) which I LOVE. I feel like a spy. True story.

Here are a few of our miracles from the week!

- We were talking to two girls on the street about what we believe, and gave them each a book of mormon. As they were walking away, a man came running up to us and asked if we had any more of those books. We responded of course! He showed us a flyer (it's an I'm a Mormon flyer that we all pass out to tons of people every day) and said "I got this a few days ago in Chikushino (another area in Fukuoka). I can't wait to go to this free english class!" We told him that we also taught a free english class, in a place about 5 minutes away rather than the flyer he had, which was a lot farther way. He was super excited, thanked us, and gave us his business card, phone number, etc and asked us to call if we needed anything, then walked away. He came to Eikaiwa that night, and we were able to set up an appointment! Then we passed him to the elders. They will be meeting with him tomorrow. Exciting indeed! 

-We also say Konnichiwa! To about a thousand people every day. Not really, but we do say it to everyone we bike past on our way to things. The exciting miracle is one that the other sisters in our apartment shared with us. They were out biking one day and a lady stopped them, waved and said Konnichiwa! Apparently we had told her hello the day before, and she really appreciated it. So she stopped the other sisters and told them to tell us thanks for brightening her day! Pretty fun.

-We have a fabulous sense of direction. We discovered that the other day when we were traversing unfamiliar trevain. (sorry. can't spell in english anymore). We both stopped and decided to guess which way was north. Then we pulled out our compasses (which were the best purchase ever) and we were CORRECT. 

-We each compiled a small toolkit a couple weeks ago to always keep in our bike baskets, so if we have problems we don't have to rely on other people - we can take care of it ourselves! Also the best purchase of our lives.

-Fun fact! We have a huge hill that leads to our apartment, and every morning when we ride down it I yell WOO HOO and it is way fun. Probably not very japanese ish of me. Just not quite as fun when we are biking back up it at night.

Investigator wiise - this week was a little hard. We don't have a baptismal date with Christina any more. We weren't able to meet with both her and her husband. Just with her one time. There are a lot of shaky things testimony-wise going on, but more info on that next week. We'll keep trying, praying, and working with them! But on the plus side - they're doing great with the word of wisdom, and we're doing great with the sugar fast!

Yukari is in the hospital right now, and we were able to visit her last week. It was great to see her, and we love her to death. She is such a sweetheart.

Lots o time for finding! Woot!

Well that about sums up the week. Love you all, have a fabulous week!!!!!!!!!

Ai shite imasu!!!

Flake Shimai