Well, Christmas was SO GREAT!!! Got to talk to the fam, go ice skating, saw the awesome lights at Hakata Eki (train station). So fun! Now we're heading to New Years! Whaa???!!! Tomorrow is the first day of 2014! New Years is kind of a big deal here...Christmas not so much. But New Years is like the biggest holiday in Japan. So yesterday we went to, get this, a mochitaikai!! :) SO MUCH FUN!!! I was dying. It was a blast! We helped make mochi! So I got to use a giant wooden mallet/hammer thing and pound rice into mochi. (Mochi is a glutinous rice mashed and the gooey paste is formed into rice balls with flavoring on the outside.) We rolled up the balls and ate it! So fun. I will definitely send pictures. We did it at the Shiki family's house. Their house is cool. It is an old firehouse. The upstairs is their house and the downstairs is a giant shop...wood, tools, and stuff. They also have bees, and get their own honey.
We are going to the Watanabe family's house tonight for a New Year's celebration. They live out on the island. I don't really know exactly what we are doing, but it should be fun! :)
Things have been good lately. Kitigawa san is doing pretty well. We had two lessons with him last week. He struggles with prayer, so we had a whole lesson about prayer with him. We thought it went really well. We shared our testimonies, scriptures and experiences, and he said he would try praying. But when we followed up the next lesson, he said nothing had changed. It is heart-breaking when an investigator doesn't keep a commitment. But he's cool! He always reads the Book of Mormon, and he said he is really going to try to get to church even if it's only for 30 minutes like last time.
Baba san is still sick. We went and visited her, and we email her all the time, but she is really not doing well. As least she remembered us! We're just praying for her, and trying to keep in touch with her, but there's really not a lot we can do until she gets better!
We moved! We moved in one day from our old apartment to our new apartment with the help of the APs (assistants to the president), ZLs (zone leaders), and the Honbu (mission office) elders. They're the best! Our new apartment is nice. It's smaller, but it's closer to the church and we can't see our breath inside, and we don't get slivers from the tatami (floor coverings), so I'm sold! :)
We had a mini junkai (meeting) with the other Fujisaki sisters. I went with Wilson Shimai, the other gaijin (white girl). We are not really fluent in Japanese, but it was good! I learned that I can talk to people and teach them about the Gospel even without a senior companion or a Japanese companion. I think just knowing that made me feel a little better about my abilities as a missionary. I may not be really good at it, but I CAN do it! It was a good experience!
I think that's about it for this one! Talk to you again in a week! Or actually a short one tonight to update you on transfers....
Love you all so much! Thanks for all the cards for Christmas!
We finally got our transfer calls. I am staying in Fujisaki for another transfer. The other companionship in our apartment will stay the same...Wilson Shimai and Nakamura Shimai are staying. Kuroki Shimai will be leaving. I am now the senior companion. My new companion is Nihonjin (Japanese). She is 6 weeks behind me in time in the mission field. We'll see how it goes. To be honest, I'm scared to death! I'm sure the Lord has a plan! Love you!
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