18 Months in the Land of the Rising Sun: Yasufuruichi!

Alrighty! Well, we made it to our new area. It's already been an adventure, for sure! Saying good-bye to everyone in Fujisaki was really hard. There are so many great people there! But I already LOVE Yasufuruichi, too! Kuchar Shimai and I rode the bus for like 4 hours or so to Hiroshima City. The ride on the Shinkansen (bullet train) is only like an hour. But the bus is less expensive, so...the bus it was! But it was super fun because Kuchar and I got to catch up. We literally talked the whole bus ride, I think. PLUS...driving through beautiful Japan was fun too!

Our travel plans were a little different, so actually getting to Yasufuruichi was a little bit of an adventure. We had no phone, a TON of luggage and stuff, and different instructions. When we got to the Hiroshima Station, we got off, but then we didn't know exactly where we were supposed to go. We got on the trolley thingy and went where we thought we were supposed to go. At that point, all bets were off! :) When we got to the other station, we really didn't know. Our instructions were different from each other's, so we did the only thing we could think of....make an educated decision, pray about it, and get on a train! We ended up getting here all in one piece and without getting really lost....go us!!!

Now Yasufuruichi...It's great! We have a branch, not a ward. On Sunday, there were maybe 40 people there, including 6 missionaries! But the people are great! The Shibu Kaicho (Branch President) is the coolest! He is truly amazing! The church is a renovated apartment above a mechanic's shop. It is way cool. The door says (in English) House of the Lord. I love it! It's been the church here for 30 years. There haven't been sister missionaries in this area for more than 5 years, at least that's what most people are saying. So everyone is super excited to have us here! And 6 missionaries in this area is the most they have ever had.

We've already met lots of nice people. We met a funny less-active member lady. We went to her house, and she showed us probably a hundred kimonos. It was so funny. She would run upstairs to get another kimono and we would have to stand up and stretch because our knees and legs hurt from kneeling so long. Ha! It was funny!

But best of all, this week I got to talk to my family!!!! Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Thanks for being the best mom in the whole wide world!! I love you, and it was SO great talking to you!!! Best. Day. Ever. [and mom agrees...it was WONDERFUL to hear her voice and her laugh, and her Japanese sounds amazing!]

Things are going super great here. I love the elders, too. We all get along really well, and we all have the same vision for our area. All the elders are way cool, and it has been super fun to work with them already.

I LOVE Kuchar Shimai! We have so much fun. This is going to be hard, starting from scratch, but we're having fun and we will just work our tails off!!!

Love you all and hope you have a GREAT week!