Miracles!

Hey hey hey!!

This week was pretty sweet!  We had an awesome lesson with Ling this week.  It was so good!  We taught about the Plan of Salvation and she was SO into it.  She is awesome!  I lover her SO much!  She is the best!  At the end of the lesson, I shared a personal experience and Kuchar Shimai bore her testimony, and the Spirit was SO strong.  It was such a good experience.  We were all tearing up.  Ling was super touched I think.  I think she feels the Spirit really strongly.  She is really excited about learning about the Plan of Salvation.  She said she really wants to know if it's all true.  She is keeping commitments, too.  She just can't come to church because of work still.  But she is progressing really well.  It has been fun to watch!

Then yesterday we went out and we just had a ton of faith that we were going to find investigators.  We just knew we were going to!  So we went out and followed our plan.  And we found a new investigator!  We met her housing, and she was busy, but we have an appointment to go back tomorrow night.  We also have some potential investigators that we are going to meet with this week.  Hopefully they turn into investigators too!  Basically missions are the best!  And the Lord is working miracles to prepare people and then lead them to us or us to them.  So cool!  Really, though, there are tons of miracles every single day!  We just have to look for them!

We saw another miracle up in A-City.  We go and spend the whole day up there because it is just so far away.  So were up there, and took our break to eat lunch.  So we were eating lunch by a window in an Aeon, and S. Shimai walked by!  She is one of our less actives on our Top 5 list!  So we waved, and since we had just barely finished eating we went out and talked to her.  She is super lonely, I think.  She was just going to go grab some food from this little food card, and asked us to eat with her.  She said she didn't want to eat alone.  So we chatted with her and ate (again!).  We even got ice cream!  It was way good just to meet with her.  Then we ran all the way down the giant hill to get back on the monorail.  It takes 20 minutes to get back to the eki (train station) closest to our house and then 10 minutes home from there.  So we literally ran all the way down so we wouldn't be late.  When we left it was 8:15.  We were afraid we would miss the monorail because we didn't know the times it left.  My shoe kept flying off, too, so my foot got all scraped up and I had to keep running back to grab my shoe and sock.  Finally, I just left my sock off.  So we got our money out at a red light and ran and bought out rickets.  We saw that it left at 8:31.  It was 8:30 and the next train wasn't until 8:46 or something, so we just ran and jumped on the train and the doors literally closed right behind us.  The we ran home from the eki.  But our slip-on shoes are super hard to run in and my shoes kept falling off again, so we finally just said "forget it" and we took our shoes off and ran home barefoot.  So here we are, two white girls with big ol' backpacks running down the road barefoot with our shoes in our hands at 8:50 at night.  It was probably quite the sight!  Plus we were laughing because it was so ridiculous.  But we got home at 8:59!  [Mission rules say they need to be in their apartment by 9:00 p.m.]  We made it!  That was also a miracle!  I was praying and I bet Kuchar Shimai was too, that we would not miss the train.  We knew if we missed it we would be late, and we just want to be completely obedient.  So that was a blessing and a miracle too!  When we're trying to do what's right and be obedient, the Lord will always bless us and help us accomplish those things.  Even if it's just making it home on time.  Obedience is the price!!! :)

We also went to H. Shimai's house again this week.  She taught us how to wrap ourselves in a yukate (a summer kimono).  It was hilarious!  She LOVES kimonos.  This is the lady who showed us like a hundred kimonos the one day.  But anyways she taught us how to do it.  And then she is GIVING us the kimonos we practiced in.  Isn't that crazy?  She is so nice!  And we're going back to learn how to tie an obi (the belt on a regular kimono), but we are also going to "practice" teaching the missionary lessons to her.  We told her we wanted to practice our Japanese, but hopefully hearing the lessons will help re-convert her!  :)

Tomorrow is Zone Taikai (zone meeting).  It will be super awesome, I'm sure.  Then Friday is our first junkai (training with the sisters).  I'm kind of nervous, but it'll be good.  We're going with the Hikari sisters.

Last P-day we went and saw a model home.  It was so weird, but it was the NICEST apartment ever!  The Takasu elders wanted us to help their investigator.  So we thought we were going to help someone move or something.  No...turns out their investigator shows model homes for a real estate firm, so he wanted lots of people to come look at the home.  It was a little weird, but if it helps an investigator, that's good!  We also got to go to Costco again!

The other adventure was getting a couple of desks into our apartment.  We got a call from the Honbu (mission office).  They wanted us to get some desks out of an elderly sister's apartment here in Ysufuruichi.  So we asked the ZL's (zone leaders) to help us.  Instead of just taking them and throwing them away, they asked if we could put them in our apartment because one day it will probably be a 4 person apartment.  Luckily the AP's (assistants to the president) were here on junkai (training splits), so they just brought the desks in the van.  But the desks were giant!  Our apartment is the skinniest apartment ever.  It's long, but SKINNY!  So they had to take the desks apart to get them out of the old apartment and load them in the van.  Then they had to take those huge desks up four flights of skinny stairs to our apartment.  So they get them in the front door, but they won't fit  through the door to the study room, so they had to take them totally apart.  Poor elders!  Dolbin Choro  (Elder Dolbin) had to like jump/slide over the desk at one point and then we held it up and he crawled under it a different time.  It was so funny!  And we can't be in the apartment at the same time as the elders, so we're just standing outside with the door open.  Poor elders are breathing hard and sweating trying to get these desks in!  It was quite an adventure!  Funny stuff!

It was a pretty great week though!  And we get to do it again this week!  :)

The Church is true!!!  Let's help everyone come to that knowledge!  Woot!  Go missionary work!  I love you all lots!  Have a great week!

The Hatake (fields)

In reflection, sometimes we are midgets!

The kimono that I did all by myself!!  :)

Bless the Schroeders!  They got us peanut butter at Costco!!

ONE YEAR THIS WEEK!

Hey Everybody!

So I have 2 exciting stories from this week!  I'll start with the awesome miracle!  I heard from Hirata Shimai this past week.  She told me something really cool that happened in Fujisaki (Lacee's area prior to Hiroshima).  But first, I have to start from the beginning.  So when I was still there, Hirata Shimai and I saw this girl on the street.  She looked a little rough around the edges, but we stopped and talked to her.  She was nice, but it didn't seem like she was super interested.  We had a good talk though and gave her a pamphlet and asked to meet again.  She said no, so we gave her our phone number in case she changed her mind.  A few weeks later, we were riding our bikes to an appointment or something, and we saw her in a different part of town.  I recognized her, and I knew we had talked to her before and she didn't seem interested, but I decided to stop anyways.  So we stopped and talked to her again.  We gave her a copy of The Book of Mormon, but she still wouldn't meet with us.  When I talked to Hirata Shimai this week, she told me they saw this same girl two more times in the last six weeks.  She remembered Hirata Shimai and me.  She finally accepted to meet with the sisters.  Now she is an investigator and she came to church.  But get this....she has a baptismal date for July!!!!!  I am SO excited!!  Isn't that such a cool miracle??!!  Sometimes we don't know the seeds we are planting and what will come from the work we do.  I never got to teach her and I won't see her get baptized, but in some small way I feel like I was a part of it.  I am SO excited for her!!!

So now story #2:  It's not as cool.  Kuchar Shimai and I were trying to get our cell phone all set up.  We were getting the shimai (sister) phone numbers and their areas and stuff programmed into the phone because we hadn't had them before.  So we're doing that, right?  We get it all set up.  Mind you, this is at like 10:20 at night.  We were trying to hurry to finish before bed.  We wanted to put them all in the same group though so we could send out mass emails to all the sisters by just choosing the group.  But all the groups were full, so we decided to just delete a group that only had a couple of numbers in it that we didn't need.  So we said sure, delete.  But we accidentally deleted ALL the phone numbers!  In the ENTIRE phone.  The whole thing.  Every single number was gone.  All of them.  None were left.  So we were freaking out.  There were a TON of numbers on that phone because it's the old elders' phone.  It also used to be the phone of the ZLs (zone leaders), so there were literally a TON of numbers on that phone.  It was a sad day.  But anyways, at least our phone is going to be cleaned out!  :)  We ended up getting most of the numbers back today from the ZLs (zone leaders).  So it all worked out in the end.  Funny how that works isn't it??

Also this week was Stake Conference, but it was for all of Japan.  It was broadcast from the Conference Center in SLC.  It was way good!  Elder Christofferson, Elder Walker from the 70, Bishop Stevenson from the Presiding Bishopric, and Sister Oscarson from the Relief Society Presidency all spoke.  They did a way good job!  And Elder Walker and Bishop Stevenson both speak Japanese so well!   It was way cool!  And we got to see all the missionaries.  It was so much fun!  Elder Christofferson said that "Missionaries who serve in Japan are some of the best missionaries in the Church."  Pretty cool, huh?  Those awesome missionaries in Japan!  :)

We also spent that day with Ling on Friday.  It was really fun.  We went to a member's house and made Chinese gyoza for the Chinese International party with the branch.  It was way fun!  And SO delicious.  The party went really well, and lots of people came, which was so good!  We weren't able to teach Ling an actual sit-down lesson this week, but we did build our relationships some more.  We were able to talk about The Book of Mormon and church and stuff.  She's so cool.  I just love her a ton!

Our other investigator that we found last week didn't end up showing to our meeting.  That was a bummer.  :(  We were sad.  We really thought she would show up.

But it was a good week.  I'm excited for some STL (sister training leader) adventures. I am excited about seeing some other places!

Love you all tons!

[From Lacee's mom's email:  "I will be doing the International activity for the branch next month.  I will be doing a powerpoint slideshow of Panaca and Nevada.  For some weird reason, they all think Nevada sounds really cool!  :)  And since I can't use the Internet, can you PLEASE email some pictures of Nevada, especially Panaca.  I am going to have to depend on you a bunch for this!  It's not til next month, but I just want to get going on it."    She thinks it's pretty funny that people half way around the world want to know about Panaca, of all places!  But she's excited to share her home with them.  As of this Thursday, June 26th, she has completed 1 full year of her 18 months as a missionary.  She has mixed emotions about that...she loves Japan and the time there is going too quickly.]

Found these on P-Day!  Painted on the wall by the sidewalk.  They have a diagram that shows you how to stand and where the person taking the picture should stand.  Gotta love Japan!!!  :)

Making skins for the gyoza for our Chinese International Activity.

Kuchar Shimai & I after riding up the mountain!

"Everything the light touches is our kingdom." - Lion King

Transfer...STLs!

Konnichiwa!

This was a good week!  We had an awesome lesson with Ling this week.  O. Shimai (a sister from the branch) jointed with us.  We talked about church meetings ant the importance of coming to church meetings.  Ling is super busy, so she hasn't been able to come yet.  She has a part-time job on Sundays that starts at 11:00.  Church starts at 10:00, so she can't come.  But we talked with her, and she really want to come to church.  She is trying to get a scholarship for her college right now, plus she is working, plus going to school, so she is really busy.  But apparently the busy will be mostly done in August.  So she said in August she thinks she will be able to start coming to church almost every week!  Yay!  Sister O. was talking with her about some things.  They weren't even really related to the lesson, but she was just talking to Ling.  I look over and Ling is crying!  She was so touched, she cried!  Then she told Sister O. that she had had a similar experience.  It was pretty neat.  Go Sister O!!! Members...they are the best!  So that was cool.  Then, this Friday, Ling is doing an international party with the members of the branch.  She'll be talking about China, making Chinese food, and teaching them a little bit of Chinese.  It's going to be fun.  And the branch already loves her!

Other than that, we did find another investigator this week.  She is cool!  We gave her a copy of The Book of Mormon, and we're meeting with her tomorrow!  She doesn't really have any beliefs about God, but when we talked with her she seemed really interested, so we're meeting at the chapel tomorrow.  I'm excited!

We also had lunch with a member and her non-member daughter.  It was a little awkward.  The member seemed to feel guilty that her daughter had never been baptized, so she wanted her to listen to the lessons.  Mind you, the daughter is 36 and NOT interested in listening.  The daughter didn't want to be rude because we're sitting right there, but she does not want to listen to our message. 

I had my first cleaning check of my mission this week.  We got 100%. Yay!

So, for transfers...I am staying right here with Kuchar Shimai, but get this...WE are now the STLs!!! (sister training leaders)  We are over the Hiroshima Zones and maybe over Yamaguchi.  Sweet, huh?  I can't believe they did that, but it will be good!  Something new, so I'm kind of excited.  I just hope I don't mess it up...haha...but we'll have fun!  [for those of you who are not familiar with mission terms, this is how The Church explains their role:  STLs (Sister training leaders) will be responsible for the training and welfare of female missionaries assigned to them and will be members of and participate in, the new mission leadership council. Sister training leaders will continue to proselytise and will also spend time each week training and evaluating the needs of female missionaries. They will report directly to the mission president on the needs of sister missionaries.]

Also, we got to go to Costco!!!  Best, day, ever.

Love you all tons!

Melon Milk...not that good!

I got super dirty cleaning my bike for cleaning check!  (Maybe cleaning checks should happen more often???)

We found a litter of kittens when we were out housing.  SO cute!

Spiritual Growth

Hey everyone!

This week was interesting, but I'm sorry there's not a lot to report.

We went to Hiroshima Castle last P-day.  It was pretty fun!  We went up inside of it and stuff, so that was really cool. (It was restored after WWII and the nuclear bomb that destroyed the original.)  There was a bunch of Samurai stuff.  SO COOL!  My new life's dream...be a samurai!

Ling san was sick this week, so we weren't able to meet with her.  But we're meeting with her this week, and she is also going to do an activity with the ward.  She's going to talk to them about China and do some fun stuff, so that's in the works!  I sure love her!  She is so cute!

Also, I learned that sometimes old Japanese men are less than nice.  I got rejected good a couple of times this week.  One:  we knocked on his door, and I introduced us and stuff.  He just kind of glared at me the whole time.  When I paused, he just looked at me and said, "arigatou, awari" and slammed the door.  Haha!  Basically he just said, "Thanks, we're done."

Two: we were housing.  A man was outside doing something so I said konnichiwa and he just waved his hand in my face and said, "iranai"...I don't need it or want it.  Haha...good times!  It's not too bad, but sometimes it's funny.  Cranky old men...but at least they didn't throw mashed potatoes at my head!  :)

After DM (district meeting) this week, we went to Sushiro.  I ate a little whole squid.  It was GROSS!!! Ewww.  That's what I'm eating in the picture.  I did NOT like it at all!  I seriously chewed on it for probably like 5 minutes and it did nothing!  So I ended up having to swallow the whole thing whole!  Gross.  Other than that the food was delicious!

Also, tsuyu has started!  The rainy season.  It rains all the time!  Or if it isn't raining, it's just super humid and you wish it was raining!  Haha!  But it's all right.  At least it's not freezing cold rain!

So, I had a mid-mission crisis this week.  Luckily, or unluckily, Kuchar Shimai did too.  Have you read "A Consecrated Missionary" and "The Fourth Kind of Missionary"?  If you haven't, read them!  If you have, read them again!  I read "The Fourth Kind of Missionary" yesterday.  It literally changed my life and my mission.  I have felt like I am failing as a missionary.  I'm doing all the things I should...I'm working hard and being obedient, but I was frustrated and upset.  We haven't been seeing a lot of success, and we didn't know what we were supposed to be doing.  I also felt like I was spending a lot of time thinking about home and stuff.  I realized that MY will wasn't completely aligned with the LORD'S will (it's still not completely but I'm working on it!).  So I prayed and prayed and repented and repented, and after feeling like the worst person in the entire world, I think I've figured some things out.  One of them being that most things just don't really matter in the long run.  I am just going to do my very best to do what the Lord wants me to do, and then I am going to have faith and let Heavenly Father take care of the rest.  I am not a quitter, but I gave up...I surrendered.  I gave my will to the Lord.  And it has made a HUGE difference already!!  I'm going to be frustrated sometimes, but I will know that I'm doing the Lord's will.  So nothing else matters!!!  :)

Next P-day is transfer calls, so it will be on Tuesday.

Love you all LOTS!


My District

Japanese food

Swallowing a squid!
 

Future Samurai

Hiroshima Castle





Another Great Week!

This week was super good!  Nothing too exciting really happened, but it was a good week!  We went to the Peace Park last Monday.  It was pouring rain.  The whole day.  But it was still really good.  We were drenched, but it was cool.  It is super sad, but it was a good experience. We pretty much spent the whole day there.  We were standing there getting ready to buy our tickets to the museum when a couple in front of us said, "What mission are you sisters serving in?"  We told him Fukuoka and then talked to them for a little bit.  They were just a cute young couple.  They were from the States, but it was fun to talk to them for a few minutes.  The Peace Park was cool, and I learned a lot!  It is SO sad!  But I'm really glad we went!

The rest of this week we mostly dendo-ed. (worked)  We had a lesson with Ling san.  I LOVE her!!!  She is so cute.  She is reading The Book of Mormon like a champ.  She reads and then when we meet she has questions, and we have like a discussion about it.  So she asked us about baptism!  Super awesome!  We watched "The Testaments", and she loved it!  She thought is was so cool.  She really felt the Spirit I think.  We invited her to be baptized, but she said she didn't think she was quite ready for that yet, but she still wants to learn.  She wants the Gospel to be true, and she wants to believe in Jesus Christ, so she is going to get baptized...I know it!

We met with some less active members this week too!  We have some really cool people we're working with.  I think it's crazy because they still have faith.  They act like active members still, they just don't come to church.  It's a little weird to me.  But we're going to get them coming back to church!

Funny story.  Actually two.  So the first one:  We were at a Family Mart on the way up to A City.  So we had stopped to fill up our water bottles.  These three people - a Japanese girl, a Korean guy, and an American guy (random, right?) - came up to us.  The Korean guy asked us, in English, why were in Japan.  We answered in English because people like to practice their English with us.  We told him we were missionaries, but he didn't understand, so he looked at the American guy.  So we told him in Japanese and he was kind of surprised.  So he starts talking to us in Japanese and he was amazed that we could speak it.  He kept telling us how good our Japanese was, and then he asked how long we had been in Japan.  We told him not quite a year.  He just started laughing and said the American had been in Japan for 7 years and our Japanese was WAY better than his.  Awkward, but funny!  haha!
The gift of tongues is for real, folks!  :)

Funny story #2:  A guy came to church yesterday with the Nishiyama girls.  We all just assumed it was a non-member friend.  None of the elders or anyone had gone to talk to him yet, so I went over and said hi and introduced myself.  I was just talking to him, and I asked him if this was his first time coming to church.  Hahaha...oops! He told me he was a member from a different ken (ward or branch).  Embarrassing!  I apologized and stuff, but I was just so embarrassed.  I don't know why I said what I did, but it was funny!

Kuchar Shimai had a funny one, too.  We were at the house of a less active sister and we were talking to her and her daughter-in-law.  Kuchar Shimai said something but instead of saying "shuusshin" (hometown)  she said "shuujin" (husband)....both of the sisters were like, what???  It was pretty funny!

Anyways this week was super good!  Today we are going to Hiroshima Castle!  Another adventure!  I'm excited!  Love you all lots!

Love the Japanese people!

Peace Park

Peace Park

Japanese country side