メリクリスマス🎄 [Merry Christmas?]

Merry Christmas from the happiest place on earth! It has been the happiest best day ever. We haven't done anything big or extravagant. It's been chill. The best part was skyping you guys. I'm sorry. I feel like I talked so much. I really wanted to hear from you. I'm sorry! I just had so much to say. It really made my day, seeing you. I've been beaming all day. It puts all the rest of the day to shame, talking with you. I love you SO MUCH. Anyway, it's been a great day. We made a Christmas lunch with stuff from base. We had KFC chicken (so Japanese), stuffing, potatoes, gravy, veggies, sparkling cider, and bread. We bought none of it. It was all gifted by Americans up at base or Nihonjin in our ward. It was so nice. We even had a table cloth (futon sheet). Then we talked about our families and showed pictures (thanks for the pictures momma). I bragged about you guys. We opened presents (thanks for the LIGHTSABER CHOPSTICKS?!?!? And dried mangos) and chilled in pants. It's been great.

This week was a weird week.  We didn't have tons of dendo [missionary] time because L shimai is an STL [Sister Training Leader] and we had to plan for all sorts of trainings. It was still a good week full of miracles. I don't remember what day I left off on so I'll start with Saturday. It was a good day.

Saturday: we morning dendoed. It was nice not to study for 4 hours in the morning when I'm normally super sleepy. We went straight out. We meet tons of people. Lots of young moms with cute babies. In the evening we went up to Okinawa city and listened to Handle's Messiah. It was glorious. It made me feel like I was at home, singing in the car on the way home from church. Gah, it was phenomenal. Music is SO powerful. It's such an easy way to feel God's love. Christmas is a lovely time of year.


Sunday: we senkyoshi sang in sacrament meeting. We found out an hour before. I just remember it was a really crazy day. Not much else.

Monday/Tuesday: L shimai went up to cold Fukuoka for STL Training. I went on splits with the girls in my apartment: K and C shimai. We're all relatively new  missionaries. Transfer 2,3,4. Fortunate one is Nihonjin so at least she understood everything. It was a blast. I spoke more Japanese than ever because we'd get to these awkward pauses and no one would know what to say. So I'd blurt something out and then expect them to build off it. We had a huge miracle on Tuesday. We going housing. The first house we knocked on, we met Carlos from New York. Which meant he spoke English. At first, he wasn't interested in talking about religion. He just wanted to know why a bunch of young Americans were wandering Japan. Legitimate question. We talked about our purpose and asked if we could share a Christmas video. He agreed. We asked it we could start with a prayer. He agreed rather hesitantly. After the prayer, his whole demeanor towards us had changed. He was willing to listen. During the prayer, I felt like we should share Because of Him [the Easter video] and not the new Christmas video. It seemed random and sort of awkward because we said we were sharing a Christmas video. But I started playing it anyway. After we asked what he thought. He was silent for a long time before asking "can we really live again?" It was beautiful. We talked about God's plan for him and how He loved him so much. We talked about how he could live in peace now and forever by following Jesus Christ. We testified (in a language I have no difficulty with). He said he might try church and the other sisters have a return appointment with him. It was a lovely experience. I felt like a real missionary, testifying and teaching. I loved it.

Wednesday: we planned for training meetings all day. We had a lesson on between 2 of the planning lessons with this woman named R. She has an interesting story that I don't feel like typing now. Sorry. Anyway, she spoke hard core okinawain. Which means no one really knows what happened. All I know is she cried during the opening prayer, during the He is the Gift video, and maybe has a baptism date (I'm not so sure about the last one)? It was a way cool lesson with her. Even though I understood less than normal (I can sometimes get the gist of things in lessons).


Thursday: we got picked up by the fufu's (elderly couple) first thing in the morning to go up to Okinawa for a meeting L shimai helped teach. It was an amazing meeting. Recently,I have been feeling like I'm falling short at the whole missionary thing. Like I can't really teach and my testifying is ehhh. But the whole conference was about how awesome we are doing and how it's the little things that matter. It was like all for me. It was great. God knew what I needed to hear. After the meeting we went to America. Like for real. We went on base with the fufu. It was way weird. Like actually being in America. It was great. Then in the evening we went to a huge train station and caroled as a district. It was raining but way fun. We handed out
fliers for the Christmas video to everyone who walked past.


The best part though, was on Christmas Eve. At the very end of the night, we read Luke 2 together as an apartment. And even though every 4th verse was in Japanese, I felt the spirit so strong. Christ is the true meaning of Christmas. And I know He lives. And that He loves each of that. I'm so excited to continue sharing His love with the people here in Okinawa and the rest of Japan for the next while. In any
little way I can. Even if it's just a smile. I love you guys so much!!!! Enjoy Christmas. And take a second to remember it's true meaning.

Love love love love love love love love
Bearman shimai


Sent from my iPad

The week I ate nothing except apple juice

Sorry for the scary title but I'll explain. Also, I've seemed to reach the end of my first transfer. It's a little weird. Don't worry, I'm staying in Naha and sister L is now a STL! [Sister Training Leader] Yeah!! That means I'll be dendoing [doing missionary work] with random people a lot while she goes to meetings and on junkai [training events] and what not. I'm happy for her 😄

Last Monday: I have to write a bit about last Monday. We went to Shuri-Jo, a castle. It's similar to the castles we went to in China because it was built when China owned Okinawa. It was pretty sick. The best part was that in all the buildings and museums we had to take off our shoes and carry them in bags! Total score.



Tuesday: The relief society had a Christmas party. The relief society makes up most of the ward and is mainly Oba-chans [adult women]. We had a sushimi decorating contest. Only in Japan. I, sadly did not win, but holy COW people actually had some like beautiful arrangements of raw seafood.  Then there was a cloths swap with was the greatest. I got a new skirt.

Wednesday: We had Eikaiwa which is always so fun because I get to speak English. We talked about weird English phrases. It's really hard to explain things like "out of time" or "pulling into the driveway" to them. But it was funny. We also played telephone pictionary which is way funnier with people who don't know much English (or how to spell anything (I'm in that category))



Thursday: The start of my apple juice consumption. First I'll say, apple juice in Japan in 10000 times better than Apple juice in America. From Thursday until today all I really ate was apple juice. I wasn't sick, just had a temperamental stomach and no appetite. Out of
no where. Anyway, no need to worry because I've started eating again. We had a lesson with K. It was a confusing lesson because she said she didn't want to meet again but wanted to meet before church on Sunday. She's reading the BoM though and is praying to know if it's true. (She called us, she was a former investigator). Our lesson was really long and confusing and I understood none of it but at the end I felt like I should bear my testimony of the BoM. So I did. It was simple and short. But the spirit in the room was so strong. Simple testimonies are powerful. Sometimes I wish I could say more. But in the end, I can testify and that's what matters. I think it was Gary E Stevenson in conference (he served in Fukuoka, fun fact) that rather on dwell on what we can't do, think about what we can. And we can bear simple testimony. That state to means so much to me because literally all I can do is bear a (very) simple testimony. And that's enough. So I'm challenging the Bearman family again (how missionary like, huh) and anyone else who reads this to bear their testimony of the Savior before New Years. It doesn't have to be long or complex (mine never are), you just have to mean it. There you go. Do it. And email me if you do it. I'd like to hear.

Friday: Still not eating. We visited quite a few members and they ALL fed us so much. And I ate none of it. I was in stealth mode. I snuck it into my bag or onto L shimai's plate. We street ex [contacted?] all day, but no one wanted to chat. I did speak a lot though.

Saturday: Still not eating. I had no energy so we apartment dendo-ed.  We looked though former investigators and less actives and called lots of people. It was fun. We also went to the ward Christmas party. We sang 2 songs. We sounded good but the primary sounded better. They are just SO CUTE! Before the party, we had an unplanned lesson with
K. We didn't say much again. But she said she knows that through this gospel she'd find peace and we were like YES, you are so right!  She and her mom and our recent converts mom all came to the Christmas party and had a blast. There was so much yummy Japanese food (that I didn't eat).



Sunday: Still not eating. Well, L shimai forced some food into me so don't worry. After church we visited the T family. The daughter is a RM [Returned Missionary] (came back last Sunday), T son is 18 and active, the mom is less active, and the dad isn't a member. We show up to this HUGE house full of cool Christmas decoration. We walk in, expecting to speak Japanese only to find out they're way skilled at the English. It made me feel like a real missionary. Getting to know people, showing off family pictures, making, being myself. It was so nice. We shared the Christmas message and I just had the felling that
the dad is way ready for baptism. The family jokes that he's a hidden member because he acts like one. I'm so excited to start working with him. Their daughter who just got back is the BOMB. She's like an angel. Everything she says is something I need to hear. She trained 5 gaigin [foreigners] so she knows how I feel. And she keeps telling me that as a
bean-chan [new missionary] I have a special power. Use it. Even if it comes in the form
of broken jumbled Nihongo.

Monday: The elders caught word that I hadn't been eating. I was trying to keep it on the down low. So 2 of the elders gave me a blessing. It was a smack myself in the forehead moment. I love priesthood blessings. How could I forget that I'm, like, allowed to ask for one? Anyway, it was the elders first time doing one and it was so short and simple. But as we know, great things come in simple packages. After the blessing we went to a members for lunch (all 9 missionaries). And I could eat. Not a ton. Not eating a normal portion. But I could eat.  Since it rude not to eat everything you're served and I couldn't eat everything, I would switch bowls with the elder next to me when the member wasn't looking. He ate the amount of food for 2 people. What a life savor. I felt bad toward the end because there was so much but he just kept taking my food when I couldn't eat more.

Tuesday: The elders are keeping tabs on whether or not I eat. It's the first question they asked me. We had a district pday today. And during lunch they cheered for me when I finished my plate. We ate at a buffet and then went shopping on Kokusai dori. It was way fun.

Well, sorry if I scared you mother. I promise I'm eating. Still not lots but I'm eating. Don't worry. I wasn't going to tell you but it was a major part of this week. Next time I see you will be on skype!!!! Pday is on Christmas so don't expect an email before then.  Keep being awesome. I'll keep working hard down here in the lovely Okinawa weather!

Love love love
Bearman shimai

Sent from my iPad

Its been a month

Can anyone believe it? I know I can't. The weather got a little colder this wee (by colder I mean 60's. It was rough, I had to wear a cardigan because it was so windy). Fortunately, it's back to being warm today. Back to Japanese paradise. All is well. No much happened this week but here it goes...

Tuesday: Was pday but something funny happened in the evening.  We were talking to this high school girl and showed her the new Christmas video (my favorite thing ever). Then some random lady's came and dragged her from us to "save" her from the Christians. Probably because we were looking particularly scary that day. Also, the STL's  [Senior Training Leaders] came over in the evening (for junkai (splits) [The trainers each take one of the missionaries and go do missionary work / training separately]). They live in Okinawa near base so they brought us AMERICAN ICE CREAM! TWO TUBS! And pretzels. And peanut butter. And Nutella. 

Wednesday- I tried my first Okinawa food. It was good. I'm not actually sure what it was. But there was noodles. We had Eikaiwa [English Class] and basically we talk in English the entire time with the advanced people. We talked about Christmas this week and read a story from the Liahona [Magazine]. 

Thursday- My first Junkai!! I went with M shimai. She's from New Zeland. It was scary to begin with but it was way fun. She made me speak like all the time. She'd just look at me and say prayer and expect me to talk about prayer. It was actually a good experience even though it was stressful. We talked to a crazy oba-chan [older lady] who gave us tons free mikan (like the cuties [Oranges?]). We also walked around an abandoned apartment looking for a less actives house. It was kind of creepy. I learned a lot from junkai-ing. 

Then at night I ate NATTO (you can look it up [Fermented Soybeans). I'll send a video of the experience. 

Friday- I GOT A PACKAGE!!!!!! THANKS FOR THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. I hung them up immediately. Our apartment looks so much more festive!! I love Christmas so much!!!! 

Saturday- We had a surprise party for L shimai. Her birthday's actually on Sunday but I got to shove a pie in her face. Also, I had Japanese apple juice for the first time and my life has been changed. It tastes like REAL APPLES! 

Sunday- So fruit baskets are a thing in Japan. Every fast sunday [Sunday you don't eat breakfast and dinner and donate the money you would have spent to the poor], the members throw something together for us missionaries. You think of a fruit basket and you think of this little thing of yummy snacks. No. WE got 8 large grocery bags FILLED to the brim with food. We had so much food we didn't need to go shopping today. It's nuts. The members LOVE missionaries. Everytime they see with they give us snacks. It we visit their house we leave with a bag of food. I'll probably gain 100 lbs out here but I don't even care because the food is sooooooo good!

I love that it's the Christmas season. For the most part, people in Japan run away at the sound of Jesus. But since we can talk about Christmas, people actually take a chance to listen. The Christmas vidoe the church put out is so good. I've watched it 50 times and it still makes me feel warm and happy inside. You can watch the video here- https://www.mormon.org/christmas. Christmas is the perfect time of year to share Christ's love with everyone. So Bearman family (annd everyone else who reads this), I challange you to think about how you've felt Christ's love and then share that love with someone else! It's not that hard. And you even get to do it in English. Iesu Kirisuto wa minasan o ai shitte iru to shitte imasu. Iesu Kirisuto ni yotte warui keiken o kokufuku suru to shitte imasu. Iesu Kirisut o shitagau toki ni shiawase ni naru to shitte imasu. Iesu Kirisuto wa sukuinishi da to shitte imasu. Watashi wa Iesu Kirisuto honto ni ai shitte imasu.  [Um, not exactly sure, but definitely something about Jesus Christ, Charles or other Japanese speakers, any help?]  Now go share His love with others

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Bearman shiami

The shortest week ever but I still have lots of words

Well, this week was only 4 days long so who knows how long this will be. I might include my ever growing list about the weird things in Japan.

Friday: we had a long meeting with the relief society president. I don't actually know what about but it probably was productive. I tried not to sleep. I think Friday was a blah day because it was post Thanksgiving syndrome. Also, I actually got to read some other
missionaries emails- like Allie's and Bens, and Jordan's (ect). It was awesome to catch up on the awesome demo they've been doing. It also made me a little sad because they seem to be finding and teaching so many people and we don't actually have an investigator at the moment (actually, we haven't really had one except for G who we've met 3 times and then moved out of our area). Even when we're finding we can't seem to find people to meet with again. We find people who are so excited and eager and then they don't show up to their appointment or answer calls. It's so frustrating but they have agency. But then L shimai and I made a list of all the cool people we've talked to (a loooong list) and even though we didn't get to see them again, we had the chance to bring them just a little closer to God and His love. And it didn't seem to matter that we weren't (and still aren't)
teaching anyone, I am still being successful missionary because I'm fulfilling my purpose (which I can't actually say in English, only
Japanese so maybe dad can put it in (chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel top box) [Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.]). 

And if I have faith, miracles will occur, even if their not quite the miracles I expect.

Saturday: we had a Thanksgiving party with the Eikaiwa students!!!! We made lasagna (one of the members went out and found most of the ingredients which was rather shocking). We spent most of the day preparing for that. Most of the food was actually Italian food (lots
of pastas) but we'll make do. The lasagna actually tasted like real lasagna. Most of the American food we try to make ends op being slightly Japanesey. Which is still delicious. It was a fun party and quite a few eikaiwa people showed up. We then played revenge of the
turkey (mafia). It was so funny. The only hard part was that it was in Japanese so I was always scared I'd miss the q (que??) [cue] to open my eyes and save someone. When we were finding I accidentally brought a Chinese BoM instead of a Japanese one. So I prayed to find a Chinese person to give it to. We crashed into 8 Chinese/Taiwanese people. What
the what!?!? Unfortunately they all declined my lovely book.


Sunday: biggest miracle of the week.  The elders found a sister who wanted to hear the gospel. So they passed her to us. We met her for the first time at church. She's this super cute Filipino girl WHO PREFERS TO SPEAK IN ENGLISH BECAUSE SHE DOESNT KNOW MUCH JAPANESE!! I probably cried when I heard that. I could talk to her. Like whenever.
About anything. Geez. I'm sooooooo happy!!!!! Also, her name is H which is like the coolest name ever. She loved church. We went to an English Sunday school (I know!! (There were 5 other people: an American husband, two Return Missionaries who went English speaking, a Filipino lady and the American husbands Japanese wife)). It was beautiful. I could, like, pay attention and understand and contribute and basically it was
the best thing that's ever happened. What a blessing. Also, it was the primary program [where the 3-11 year olds sing songs and give mini sermons/talks] which was superb because they speak on a level I can understand (For the most part). A couple kids had lines which are word for word lines I say on the street. Yes, I speak like a 5 years old.


Monday: we had a multi zone conference and kaicho [President], Shimai [Sister Training Leaders], and the APs [Assistants to the president] came down. We went up to Okinawa Okinawa by taxi (it was so expensive but the only mode of transportation. Fortunately we get reimbursed).On the way up we passed approximately 156 American bases (and this
isn't even an exaggeration). The Okinawa stake building is the largest church building I've seen in my life. And it was American style! The conference was so good. It was all about faith. That through faith, miracles come. But we can't only have faith in God, we need faith in ourselves. Faith that we can see and preform miracles through Gods
power. It was something I needed to hear. I've been feeling rather inadequate recently (not a real surprise, I am a bean-chan [brand new missionary] after all). But God can do anything. Help me learn Japanese. Help me find people to teach. Help me get a baptism before Christmas even though we have no investigators. I feel like I need to learn this lesson over and over. It's so simple. God can do anything. I can do anything through God. When I don't believe I can do anything, when I don't have that faith, I limit Gods ability to preform miracles in my life. He can help with anything. No matter how big the issue is or small and insignificant it is. He is always there.

Well, that's my week. As for some weird Japanese things: we now have a microwave (brand new, arrived the other day) that senses how long to heat up food. It's magic except when it comes to popcorn. It has no idea what to do with popcorn. Also, all the sidewalks have this raised textures path for blind people. It's pretty cool but sometimes annoying because the material it's made out in is super slippery and the path is in the middle of the sidewalk. Also, walk signs sing when they have the green man walking.

Love love love you all!!!
ベアーマン姉妹
(Be a- ma n)

Sent from my iPad

I promise I didn't forget about you (AKA Happy Thanksgiving!)

At sea wall with wind from Monsoon coming off the ocean

I forgot to tell you my preparation day [Day she gets to write letters and other fun stuff] was on thanksgiving was this week. Mainly because I forgot thanksgiving is this week. Next week my p day is on Tuesday because we have a mission conference on Monday (well, an Okinawa conference). The mission president is coming down. It's pretty serious seeing we're a plane ride away. Special training awaits. But I'm sorry about no telling you this week! I really do love you all and kaicho [president] commanded us to email our family every p day. I have to be exactly obedient.

So lots happened and I'll try to write as much as I can. But I'm in Okinawa Okinawa right now at a members house near base to have a REAL thanksgiving. So everything's a little hectic. But we're like 3 seconds from the beach (actually a sea wall) and it's sweet. 



Last Monday: I bought some Shisa (some dragon lion protector things. The one with the open mouth brings blessings in. The one with the closed mouth keeps the blessings from escaping). I also bought an Okinawa shirt. They're like Hawaiian shirts but more subtle. Everyone wears them here, even to work. We wore it dendo-I got and all the old ladies thought it was hysterical.

Last Tuesday: I don't remember. I forgot to take a picture of Tuesday's journal entry. I think we wrote a simple version of the thanksgiving story for our eikaiwa [English class] party this coming Saturday.

Last Wednesday: We had a lesson with G. Then we walked home with her and her kids (she lives close to the church). When we saw the state of her house we took it upon ourselves to clean. We cleaned all day. We didn't go to eikaiwa because we hadn't eaten dinner. After dinner we dendo-ed for like 45 min. We met his cute Christian lady. We've met a few Japanese Christians recently. It's odd to crash into one. But they're my favorite people. They love Jesus so much. They love talking to us about Jesus (probably because most people won't talk to Jesus with them because hardly anyone knows who Jesus is). They always love taking (literally grabbing) the BoM from us because they just want to learn as much as they can about Jesus Christ, their Savior. You can tell as you talk to them, that their life is so much different and so much better because they have found Jesus.
Emma's room
Last Thursday: L shimai (my beloved trainer) got hit by a car. It was the funniest thing. She was fine. She just kept riding like nothing had happened. We went to M shimai (a member) house. She has a son and I played with him for an hour after eating yummy Japanese food. It was funny playing with him because he knew I didn't
understand him so he spoke super simple Japanese so the we could play. It was great. Also, my iPad works again! L shimai made us yummy Japanese food for us- takoyaki- balls of dough with whatever you want in them and Japanese mayo on top (which is way better than American mayo).

Blue Bike is Emma's
Friday and Saturday: We had 2 miracle meetings. They're fairly similar so I'll describe them together. S and M. They are so cute and were prepared to meet us. In both cases, we weren't planning to be in the area at that time and neither were they. We had plans that took us to the area we found them in and they both just felt like they needed to take the road that they met them on. We had 20 minute conversations with each about the gospel and even prayed with them (on the road! How
crazy is that?!?!). They're both busy with work for the next week but we're calling them next week to set up appointments. I'm so excited for them. I'm sorry I don't have more time to explain how awesome it was. I actually talked to them!! Like, my own thoughts!

Sunday: Church was long as normal. During relief society, I didn't sit near L shimai. I sat next this cute 20 year old girl. She tried so hard to help me know what was going on. The only problem was I couldn't understand most of her help! All well. Sometimes I caught a word here or there.



Monday: Not p day. We pretended it wasn't Monday so we didn't go through withdrawal. I mogi-ed the 1st lesson in under 5 minutes! With no notes! In Japanese! It was only to L shimai, not like a real person. We talked to a lot of foreigners today. No Americans but Chinese, Taiwanese, Nepalese, Filipino, literally every nationality
except Japanese. All the Japanese people we did talk to were from mainland. It was sort of weird.

Tuesday: After district meeting we went to a Shaba shaba which is like the dimsung place dad and I went to in China. We taught a random lady how to pray too. She didn't care to learn more about our church but was fascinated by prayer. A way to talk to God directly.



Wednesday: I taught my 1st totsuzen (which is like a short street lesson). I spoke Japanese about the Book of Mormon and SHE UNDERSTOOD! And took the BoM I offered. It was really scary and veeeeery slow but it worked! [See video at the end] I had my first eikaiwa [English Class]. It was so fun. We taught the advanced class so we just practiced talking in English. I understood everything perfectly. They're all so cute.

I've been thinking recently about L shimai and trainers in general. I rely on L shimai for everything because I really cannot do anything by myself. Without her I probably would have died. Or at least starved. And had way more mental breakdowns. She helps me do as much as I can do and then picks up the slack and makes it work. How similar to the Savior that is. I cannot return to God on my own. There is no way. But when I do as much as I can do, Jesus Christ picks up the slack and makes my hard work (even when it's a really small contribution) enough. He's excited at my little victories, just like L shimai is when I manage another Japanese sentence. This thanksgiving, I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ's grace. Through Him I can (and have been able to) do everything that seems impossible. I'm speaking Japanese (not at all by my own power). He gives us power whenever we need a quick energy boost to overcome a trial. I am so grateful for Him!!



That's all for this week. I'll send pictures in a second. I love you all (especially the family people because their so awesome). Have a fun thanksgiving because it hasn't started for you yet!!

I'll write again on Tuesday!!

Love love love love
Bearman shimai

Sent from my iPad

I crash 2 times on my bike and walk through a monsoon

HEY!

It's been a great week here down in sunny and warm Okinawa (despite the crazy subject line). Loads

happened so I'll try to type as fast as possible.

Tuesday- We ran to the ocean in the morning. We still haven't found a beach to run to though. But the oceans and rivers here are this really pretty teal color that is sort of unreal. I love it. Everywhere we planned on finding ended up being a casino or a hotel. It was actually pretty funny. We were disappointed at the time so we had an ice cream break. I had this chocolate waffle filled with chocolate ice cream which sounds so weird but is so delicious. 

[Ohaya Japanese Waffle Ice Cream Chocolate Monaka]

Wednesday- I testified of God to a random person on the street and testified of Jesus Christ in a lesson. A fairly successful day. Our lesson with a recent convert - S - went awesome. She studies the gospel in her spare time because she really wants to understand what's going on. She knew every little detail about the Fall (which is weird in Japan because their not generally Christian). Tender mercy of the day- I hadn't said much in our lesson with S and I wanted to say more. The member who was jointing [Helping teach] with us turned to me and asked me to testify of Jesus Christ (which is something I'm capable of doing in Nihongo). It was great.

Thursday- We had a Zone Meeting in the morning  [meeting for all the missionaries and the leaders in the geographic area] which was good and also really long. We had to leave before the end because we had a lesson with S. She taught us some oragami stuff at the end of the lesson. It was really fun. We had dinner at a members house. M and her 4 year old son. We had Japanese curry (yum) and taught a short lesson for her son and then talked to her about the temple. She hasn't had the chance to go yet. We talked a little about the blessings that come for the temple. She was super cute. I felt comfortable talking (in Nihongo) with her because she was very patient. So I talked more Japanese to her than to anyone else I think (except maybe my doryo). 

Friday- Lots happened but the most important thing is-- I HANDED OUT MY FIRST BOOK OF MORMON. BY MYSELF. IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. It was so fun. And it made me want to dendo (missionary work) even harder. I think it may be a turning point. Before I was just doing and expecting not to understand. Now I try to understand and even when I don't, I smile and say like the 4 sentences I know. So Friday might be the best day of this week. I've got some dendo fire! At night, we went with S and a member to this fish aquarium art exhibit. It's hard to explain but it was art, with fish aquariums. It was so Japanese. And super interesting. Probably the coolest art I've ever seen. 

 Saturday- Now to address the subject line. I crashed twice on Saturday. Once was in the morning on my bike. It was raining pretty hard and we were going down a hill and I totally slip thunked. The ground was so slippery that I slide like 10 feel. It was pretty funny. I escaped with just a few cuts and bruises. Then, after lunch, Lowe shimai made a sudden turn and I tried to follow and crashed into a pole. My hand took most of the impact so it has a sick looking bruise on it. I'm amazed I didn't get more seriously hurt though. The Lord really does protect His servants. I gave out another Book of Mormon and we got a baptismal date. We had our first lesson with a lady who had been meeting with the missionaries 6 months ago. WE called her and she said she was planning on calling us. So we met and (I) asked her to be baptized on Dec 12 and she said YES! Our mission has a goal to have 2 baptism dates by Thanksgiving and 1 baptism by Christmas and I may have thought it was impossible because we came into the area and we had no investigators (no potential ones either). But the Lord works in mysterious ways, that's for sure. 

Now for the monsoon. We were out dendo-ing at night and heard this announcement go over these hidden speakers they seem to have all over the city. Anyway, we didn't understand the message so we kept biking. 5 minutes later we were hit hard. Apparently (out resident Nihonjin told us) the message had been warning of a monsoon that was going to hit the area. Anyway, we didn't know so we kept riding until it was so bad we couldn't ride anymore. We were completely soaked and it was hard to stand straight because of the wind. It was raining so hard I could see better without my glasses. Anyway, we ditched our bikes and walked 3 miles home in ankle deep water. We sang the whole way home. It was so much fun! Dad, I would like to let you know that despite the amount of water that hit my bag you got me, everything inside remained completely dry. It was magic. I was fairly amazed. It really is water proof if it kept everything dry in a monsoon.

Sunday- Sorry this is so long. Sunday was good. All the members think I'm hilarious. I'm not. I just don't speak the same language as them so I make a lot more faces and do ridiculous gestures and make sounds. It's my only way to communicate. But they think it's the funniest thing. Miracle moment- While biking in the evening, I prayed to find someone who was interested enough to invite us back of a lesson. We got lost and decided to house [knock on doors in] this random apartment. The 3rd door we knock on was this cute lady. AND SHE WAS INTERESTED. She was the first person we've talked to this transfer that was interested enough to meet again and promised to read out of the Book of Mormon. Holy cow, God does answer prayers. And I've found out the more specific you are, the more likely it will happen (with righteous things of course)

Anyway, it's been a great week. Today we're going to this super famous street in Okinawa that's 3 minutes from our apartment.  [maybe Kokousaidori Street?]

I love you all!! Don't forget to pray (about really anything). He will listen. 

Love love love

Bearman shimai

HELLO FROM JAPAN

What? Emma is the
tallest person in this picture!

I am in Hawaii 2.0 aka OKINAWA!!!! How lucky am I? The weather here is nice and hot and sunny and my type of weather [high 70's, low 80's for the next 10 days]. Meanwhile the rest of Japan is getting cold. Im living the high life. Im in Naha (I cant find the apostrophe key), the biggest city on the island. I live in a apartment with another companionship; M and K shimai. My trainer is L shimai and I love her to pieces. She makes me do hard things. But it's ok, I can do hard things (especially in this weather).

Before Okinawa- I was up for like 27 hours straight. When I met my Mission president for the first time I probably looked like a zombie. We spent a couple days at the mission home (which happens to be right under the temple and right next to a zoo). On of the days we were there, we went out dendo-ing [contacting and talking to people on the street] with missionaries in the area. It was my first time talking to people and let me tell you, 100% of the time I had (and still have) no idea whats going on. That's ok, I have my assigned lines. God is our Heavenly Father. We are His children. He loves us. 

Getting to Okinawa- was a mission. I almost missed my flight becasue the APs [Assistants to the President]  forgot to buy me a ticket. I had to sprint to catch it. It was a 2 hour flight and I slept the whole time. The day I got there we didn't do much because my trainer wasn't there yet and we had to go back and forth to the airport to pick people up.

In Okinawa- I've had so much fun doing missionary work. I can't say much but I'm getting better. I invited someone to baptism (I think she said no) and gave away a BoM [Book of Mormon] (well, my companion did). I have a bike now and it has a sick basket to throw everything in. My doryo doesn't have her bike yet so we walk for the most part. I gave a talk in sacrement meeting. Now everyone thinks I'm fluent in Nihongo. Actually no, I opened my talk with I don't understand Japanese. But then I said that through Jesus Christ I can learn Japanese. For the most part, we've been streeting and housing because we are currently investigatorless [people willing to sit down and have the missionaries teach the lessons. That should change soon. I think that in the 3 day's I've been here I've talked to 35 ish people. We do have one person we're teaching after baptism lessons. She got baptized on Halloween and is so cute. But she talks a lot. We've had one 2 hour lesson with her where she talked and I had no clue what was going on. It's ok becasue at church she wanted to sit next to me. 

My doryo- L shimai, from Illinois, is amazing. She makes me yummy food, is way encouraging about my less than stellar Nihongo, and we have a good time together. She's been out for like, 7 months I think. I love her. 

One funny thing that happened was (we can only approach women in Japan) I was taking the lead (we had bikes at this point).We were riding along under a bridge and I saw what I thought was a woman so I started to get off my bike (which is a mission in a skirt) but as I got closer I realized he was not a woman so I had to awkwardly ride sidesaddle forever. Lowe shimai thought it was hysterical. 

You know, it's been a really rough week. Between the jet lag and the not understanding anything, it was pretty hard not to start crying. But, in a weird way, looking back, it was fun? even though it's so scary, I really am happy to be sharing God's love with others. I love this gospel and so do the people of Japan (they just don't know it yet). For the most part, people here don't know who God is. And when we stop to talk to them, most of the time they don't really want to listen. But we testify that God loves them. So we give them a little bit more knowledge than they had before. And a little bit more happiness because that's what this gospel brings. I've really realized that in the last 3 days. Even though everything I do is hard, I'm happy. And that's because of Jesus Christ. 

Sorry if this email is a bit disjointed. The keyboard is weird so it's hard to write. I promise to do better next week. Also, next week I shouldn't be as jetlagged. 

LOVE YOU

Bearman shimai

Last week in the good ole USA

Has it really been 2 months since I left?!?! Nuts. T-minus 4 days. I'm just waiting for someone to walk into our class and tell us this Japan thing is a joke and were actually going to Kansas. But nope.

Lots happened this week and at the same time I feel like not much happened. I'll let you decide.

On Friday my doryo was feeling crummy again so we went to the doctor.  He wasn't in so they sent us of campus *gasp* to the BYU student health center. I was in the real world. Anyway, we were there forever and they finally decided that she had (not the contagious) pneumonia. My doryo is getting all the weird illnesses. Anywho, she's been sleeping pretty much since. I was in the room for most of Saturday to Wednesday. I had a few excursions that I will detail in my letter. It think she's doing better though. What did I do while she slept for 5 days straight? Studied. Read scriptures. Read conference talks. Listened to conference talks. Watched lots of Jesus videos. And "I'm a Mormon" videos. And journaled. And accidentally fell asleep. Wandered aimlessly around practicing vocab and grammar. It was rough but also really nice because I'm a homebody anyway.


End of last Thursday: we decorated our hall with pumpkins and Halloween streamers and stickers. It was a 2 hour party in the hall with the sisters in my district and we had a blast. It was probably the most fun I've had in ages. Lots of sugar was involved.


Friday: we got our flight plans (happy dance)(but also scared dance). We fly to LAX and then to Tokyo and then to Fukuoka. I leave the MTC [Mission Training Center in Provo] at 3:30 in the morning on Nov 2 and get to Fukuoka at 8:05 in the evening Nov 3. Still no sign of our Japanese name tags though. We meet for the last time with M-san. We have new investigators to practice with the pamphlets. It was a good lesson. She agreed to baptism. Then we told her that we were getting transferred and she was sad and we were sad and we all hugged and almost cried (and she's not even a real investigator).

Saturday: my doryo was sick and I studied with her sleeping body. But then after lunch C shimai was feeling sick so she came back with my doryo and slept and I went to class with H shimai. I forgot that we were suppose to teach that class period. But we persevered. I taught without a lesson plan and without my normal doryo. Fortunately it was a getting to know you lesson with the pamphlet so it didn't go
too bad.

Sunday: no Nihongo talks for me in the MTC. I stayed in the room most of the morning with my sick doryo. I memorized D&C 6:36 (shout out to Addi who gave me the idea). "Ayayuru omoi no chu de watashi o aogi mi nasai. Uttagatte wa naranai. Osorete wa naranai". [Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not] And what a great
scripture for this week. Look unto the Lord in every thought. When I
do, I have no need to doubt my Nihongo ability. I have no need to fear
what's to come. The Lords got my back.

Monday: I just chilled with my byoki [sick] doryo. I studied lots. I'm really familiar with the Gospel Library app now.

Tuesday: devotional time. I managed to go 8 weeks without an apostle coming (to be fair we've had 5 members of the 70 come). BUT GUESS WHO CAME. ANDERSEN CHORO. As soon as he walked into the room, I felt the spirit testify so strong that he is a representative and a witness of Christ. We sang More Holiness Give Me. It was so cool to sing to an apostle. The coolest part was that us he has been set apart to testify of Christ, so have I. As I sang, I testified of Christ. As he spoke,
he testified of Christ. It was an amazing opportunity. He sent a copy of his notes for the talk to be distributed to us. I'll send you a picture because he used lots of good scriptures and quotes.

Wednesday: weird day. I was stuck in the residence like I had been all week. But then C shimai wasn't feeling good again. So she came back and slept and I went to class with H shimai. Well, we had skype TRC that night and we didn't there was no plan for it because of changing companions and such. So we walked in with no plan and lots of prayers. We really had to rely on the Spirit. I had a lot more promptings because I was more willing to do whatever since we had no plan. Then something weird happened. As I was walking back from TRC my back started to have a sharp pain in it. It hurt to breath. We went to find a doctor but there wouldn't be one until the next morning. So when we got back to class, I asked for a blessing. The first thing that was said was that I had been promised good health and no injuries while being set apart as a missionary and that the Lord (ALWAYS) keeps His promises. I just needed to have faith. The elder who gave me the blessing didn't know I had been promised that. But God knew. The rest of the blessing was wonderful and everything I needed to hear. I went to bed that night, still in a lot of pain. But I had faith. God made a promise to me "and [God] is bound [to keep My promises] when we do what he says" (D&C 80 I think?) [D&C 82:10]. So I went to sleep. I woke up this morning and all the pain was gone. God works miracles. He works them through us. The priesthood is His power given to men to act according to His will. I know it's real. I was healed. I know that blessing are given through men who carry the priesthood but are given by God. How else would a 19 year old boy know about what I had been blessed before I knew him and what what words I needed to hear to feel comfort and peace about going to Nihon? It's all God. I am so grateful for the
priesthood. But I'm also grateful that there are worthy young (and old) men that can hold it and bless people with it.

I love this gospel. I love this church that is centered around us being happy and feeling peace. I have felt a lot of happiness and peace this week instead of feeling freaked out and nervous. God is real. Jesus lives. What a glorious message I have to share.

Next time I email I'll be in a foreign country. Weird. I love you all so much.

あいしています！
Bearman しまい

P.s. I didn't include many funny stories. I'm sorry. Plenty of funny things happened. I'll share one. In our skype TRC H shimai gave the closing prayer. I was sitting there, enjoying the prayer in peace when she taps me on the shoulder and whispers "I finished the prayer". I had missed the amen! So I was just sitting there oblivious with my head bowed for a good 20 seconds after the prayer was finished. It was funny.
P.s.s. I have another funny thing that may not be super funny to you but it's funny to me. One of the choros in my district said "I can't wait until I have a baby burrito" (referring to wrapping a baby in a blanket like a burrito). But he said it so seriously with so much enthusiasm!
P.s.s.s. One day for lunch (I get it delivered by shimai in my district because my doryo was sick) C shimai brought me 2 pieces of lettuce so that I could eat something healthy. Lol.

Sent from my iPad

10 more days until freedom (and by freedom I mean a terrifying new country)

First things first, WE GOT IPADS!!!!! The Church just recently made pamphlets geared toward people with a non-Christian background. They're being tested in Nihon [Japan] to see how effective they are. The only way to access them is via an electronics device so here I am. We were sitting in classroom on Tuesday doing personal study when an official looking person comes in the room and tells us to report to 1M with our ID's immediately. So, a little confused, we go. Upon our arrival we were informed to get into a line to get an iPad. We were more than a little shocked (it took us a while to remember what an iPad was (what even is technology?)).  I have to admit, it's a little weird to have technology again. But also super nice for lesson. There's a Nihongo dictionary on this thing that it a lifesaver. If you want to check out the new pamphlets, they're in the App Store. Just look up LDSteachings. I quickly read through them the other day and they are SO HELPFUL and SO GOOD. Not that the other pamphlets weren't good, it's just that we couldn't use them too much because they were too complex and too in depth for our investigators to handle. So look them up.

Anywho, this week was funky. We all (as a district) were in a really weird state of mind. I think it's because we've been here for so long.

Friday: H shimai and I planned out lesson laying on the ground in an empty classroom. Someone came in and thought we were asleep. They started to reprimand us until we very defiantly retorted that we were trying to plan a lesson. Also, I started a dessert fast [fast means to not eat]. It was so hard. I made it to Sunday. I couldn't resist the ice cream they had on Sunday. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing.  I blame my dad.

Saturday: I had the chance to plan a lesson in Eigo [English]. H shimai and I taught Relief Society and district meeting (what we have instead of Sunday school). Anyways, planing that lesson was about the easiest thing I've done in my entire life. We could use complex sentences and big words. It took us maybe 20 minutes to plan. Probably less time but we were distracted. When we finished planning in Eigo we got out our stuff to write it out in Nihongo. We laughed pretty hard when we
realized what we were doing. I also started memorizing the First Vision in Nihongo. Not all of it but verses 16-17. I've got the first 2 lines down at this point. C shimai and I have a dance to help us remember. We look pretty silly doing it.

Sunday: I didn't have to speak in sacrament meeting! Although all the girls in the zone are betting that I'm going to be picked next week. Our lesson went well. We taught about the Spirit of Revelation. One scripture we used was from Moroni 7:13. I found the scripture during personal study time. Sometimes it's hard to know what thoughts and feelings are from the Holy Ghost and what thoughts are yours. Sometimes an idea pops into your head and your not really sure if you should act on the idea because you don't really know if the Holy Ghost. This scripture puts it beautifully: "But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God."  Everything good is from God. So if we have a thought to do something, act on it. If it produces good, it's inspired by God. If if produces bad, maybe stop. The other day I had a idea to go to the bathroom. It was late and I was ready to go to bed and I didn't really need to go to the bathroom. But I decided to go really quick. I crashed into a BYU friend in there and we talked for a bit. She had had a rough day and needed a friend to talk to. I had an idea, I acted on it, and then saw that it produced good. That random thought to go to the bathroom was inspired by God. At the MTC, I've started to realize that God gives us the most help and guidance through small thoughts and actions.

Monday: My last day without technology (not that I knew that). While mogi -ing (I don't know what the word for that in English is... (My doryo [companion] reminded me: role playing)) C shimai told me that her gift to me would be her life (instead of her time). We giggled hysterically for a while. Also, one of our STL's made up a song in Nihongo that I've had stuck in my head all week. If I have time I'll send a video. It goes "subarashi, subarashi. Watashitachi wa subarashi desu" which literally means "awesome, awesome. We are awesome."  

Tuesday: The day I received technology and was really lost for a while because I forgot how to use technology. Also our lesson with J-san went really well. The most conversational Japanese I've ever done in my life. In choir we sang "I feel my Savior's love” which is a phenomenal primary song. I can't remember the 70 who spokes name (it's German) but it was a good devotional. All about the Saviors atonement and how to make it personal.

Wednesday: Today when we were reaching J, he asked H shimai if she was married. She had a random ring on her left hand. She didn't understand what he was asking and I was laughing too hard to tell her. We had Skype TRC again. The Nihonjin (Japanese person) we had this time was a cute mother of 4. She had a daughter, son, son, daughter. Just like the good ole Bearman family. It was really fun. It was hard to hear her because the volume on our computer wasn't very loud but we managed. Sometimes we had to put our ear right next to the speaker to hear her. We probably looked funny. At the end we all bore our testimony about the BoM. Hers was powerful (even though I didn't understand most of it). It just goes to show that the Spirit speaks all languages.

Sorry, that was a lot longer than I anticipated. Maybe it looked like a ton because it's on a smaller screen. I dunno. Tomorrow I get my flight plans!!! And maybe my Japanese name tag!! I'm more excited about that than I was about getting a iPad.

Love you all,
Bearman shimai

P.s. I don't know how to do hiragana on this thing yet so I guess I
have to stick to English.
P.s.s. Some random girl just came up to me and gave me a homemade
brownie. We're basically best friends now. No big deal or anything. 


Sent from my iPad

Tminus 3 weeks until JAPAN

Tree that smells like
Cream Soda

こにちわかぞくととまだち (Hello family and friends)

Only 3 weeks!?!?! Is that even enough time to Nihongo ? [Japanese] It seems too short (which makes me laugh because it's twice as long as Eigo kids are here). I don't feel like I've been here for a whole 6 weeks but at the same time I feel like I've been here for eternity. Time is so wonky here. All our sempai [older mentors / trainers] left on Monday so now we're the old and experienced kids. Hen desu (weird). 

About Addi and Nick: I see Nick way more often because I think our schedules are similar. I see him at most meals. Addi I only see at night because I think our schedules are opposite.She lives on the same floor as me and we sometimes have late night chats (that aren't actually that late because lights out is at 10:30 and I've gotta be exactly obedient.) It's super fun to have them here because everyone else seems to know everyone else (Utah kids) and now I can finally I can get excited over seeing someone I know. Yesterday at dinner we had a Maryland reunion because I crashed into Nick and Addi at the same time. We had a good chat about life.

Friday: Same old same old. Study, eat pizza, study, study, study, study, study, and (drum roll please) study. Something fantastic might have happened but I don't remember. 

Saturday: BYU had it's homecoming game. I could hear the whole thing while I was studying. It's My Life came on and I definitely jammed out to it while reading the Book of Mormon. My STL [Sister Training Leader] told me something that totally changed my perspective on Nihongo. I had been feeling bummed out because I didn't think I knew enough Nihongo to be leaving in 3 weeks (SO SOON). She said something along the lines of "God rejoices over our smallest victories. Especially the victories we don't see as victories." What a wise STL. This means God rejoices when I learn one more Nihogo word or grammar structure. Small things that I don't see as that much of an accomplishment, He is partying up in heaven about. Isn't God great?

Sunday: Huge accomplishment today- I understood 85% of the Nihongo talks given in church!!! Granted, it was other senkyoshi [missionaries] speaking so their vocab is also limited but it was great. Since our sempai left, I'm way more likely to be called on to give a nihongo talk (GAH). I don't have anyone to hide behind anymore. 

Monday: WE HAVE KOHAI!! [In Japan, the senpai-kohai system underlies nearly all relationships. Although there is no exact translation into English, senpai (先輩) means an upperclassman, senior employee or other older person with whom you have dealings. Conversely, kohai (後輩) is the junior or lower person.] We've been the newest newbies in our zone for 6 weeks (way too long). But we got newbies! The first batch came on Monday. They were all International. 2 Mexican sisters, 1 Taiwanese sister, 1 Australian sister. They are the sweetest. They also make me realize how far I've come from day one. While teaching, I accidentally called our investigator by her real name. It was awkward because she pretended not to know what was going on. 

Tuesday: At the devotional we sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer. I love that song and the arrangement was amazing. Joseph Smith (it's hard to write his name in Eigo now. I'm used to writing Josefu Sumisufor lessons) is one amazing dude. And the story of the the first vision is phenomenal. I saw one of my BYU friends at the devotional. She's speaking(handing?) ASL. She taught me how to sign Japanese. You make a triangle with your thumbs and pointer fingers and then pinch your fingers together while pulling your hands apart. If that made any sense. 

Wednesday: Was simultaneously the worst and best day of my MTC stay. One of our Choro's went home and we only got an hours notice. My district is like my replacement family and it was hard to say goodbye to him. We all know it's for the best because he hasn't been eating or sleeping much these past 6 weeks because of anxiety. There was lots of crying. We were in a bum mood all day. That evening we had Skype lessons with actual Nihonjin (Japanese people). We weren't looking forward to it because it was scary and we'd had a rough day. But the Lord knew what we needed to make our day better! He really balanced the good and the bad. Skype TRC [Teaching Resource Center]  was the funnest thing ever!! Me and my companion had this really cute 50 year old woman. We didn't understand everything she said but we had so much fun and laughed a lot. Gah, I can't even put into words how great this experience was. We taught about the importance of the Book of Mormon and shared our favorite scriptures from it (Ether 12:27 is mine). Honestly, it made me feel like I could do this senkyoshi [Missionary] thing. It didn't matter if I understood perfectly. All I had to do was try my hardest and smile. She told our sensei that she understood our message (even though we couldn't say everything we wanted) because the Holy Ghost was filling in our gaps. How cool is that?!?!?! Being a sekyoshi is great. 

Also, one day this week we told our investigator to read the wrong scripture. We asked him to read Mormon 8:2 instead of D&C 8:2. Look up those 2 scriptures and you'll see why it's so funny. 

Well, I love you all. I hope everthing is going well. I hope it's not too cold (because I can still wear shorts here). Eat some mint chocolate chip ice cream for me. Pray. Read the scriptures. Remember that if I can learn Japanese through God's grace literally anything is possible though Him. 

あいしてます

Bearman しまい

P.S. What is Maryland chicken? They were serving it at the temple cafeteria and I feel a little disgruntled (is that the right word) because I'm from Maryland and didn't know we had special chicken. Special crabs yes, but chickens? [I had never heard of it either, but found it on wikipedia]

P.S.S. Do you like the cool hiragana keyboard I found?

Week 5 (I think): Gen Conf and a super popular mens a capella group

Konichiwa!!!!!!!

Random picture from morning
she entered MTC since
Emma didn't send new ones

WARNING: LONG LETTER AHEAD

First off: shout out to J for making delicious HOMEMADE COOKIES. Oh, they were hard not to eat all at once. My district is quite impressed with your baking skills.

Second off: thanks to J and K for the shoe box full of candy. Perfect for Halloween. There was a bit of a letter mix up but everyone got the right letter in the end.

I apologize in advance, lots of exciting things happened this week and I'll try to make it as orderly as possible.

Friday: Exciting things probably happened but with Gen Conf I forgot. We taught a lesson to J-san. We've made so many mistakes in front of him now that I think he's super comfortable with us. We told him this time to look at his stomach up on the board instead of the drawing up on the board. All well. We laughed. 

Saturday: THE START OF CONFERENCE WEEKEND!!!!!!! PARTY!!!! Although I had to wear church dress and sit in 19M which is freezing and sit in horrible plastic chairs that torture your butt and not eat any fun snacks Conference was phenomenal. Like every session was on point. 

Favorite parts:

• Larry R Lawrence of the 70. I really liked how he talked about the Holy Ghost and how we need to ask the Lord not only what is stopping me from progressing but also what I'm doing right. "The Holy Ghost pushes us farther than we think we can handle because he knows how much we really can handle and what we need to do to become stronger" (VERY paraphrased quote from his talk). 
• Holland Choro (my man) was fabulous as usual. He made me cry but he normally does. He has a way with words. I thought a lot about my mom and how awesome she is. Then I related his talk to missionary work. I'm not a mom now but I'll be a "spiritual mom" to my kyudosha. So the things he talked about apply to me as teach God's children how to come unto Christ. 
• The 3 new apostles testimonies [Three new Apostles or leaders were appointed.  Elder Rasband, Elder Stevenson, an d Elder Renlund] were sweet and simple but so beautiful. It reminded me sometimes simple is better (Uchtdorf choro talked about that). I know that those men we called of God. 
• Womens Conference was amazing (I finally got to see what everyone was so excited about) All the talks were great but Uchdorf choro stole the night with his story about Ava.  I especially liked when he said "We are not designed to be sad." God wants us to be joyful! And joy comes thought the message that I'm going to be teaching= Christ is our Savior
• Monson Daikoncho [President Monson], how can I forget about him? His was the most powerful talk of all the conferences. In our Tuesday Devotional Linda K Burton said "When Pres Monson started leaning at conference, not one person watching took the prophet for granted. It was a wake up call for God that we need to do better at listening to the prophets council." I know that quote applies to me. 
• THEY SANG THE SPIRIT OF GOD!!! MY FAVORITE HYMN!!!
• Did you hear the Nihonjin [Japanese Person - Elder Koichi Aoyagi spoke]  speak and the other Nihongin give a prayer? Precious

Sunday: We watched Music and the Spoken Word before conference. After conference we had a special devotional. Aka VOCAL POINT CAME AND SANG! Holy cow!(I may have fangirled a bit) They have voices like angels. Dad, you better put some of their music up when you put this letter up because words can't adequately describe the experience [My kids love their Newsies Medley, and lots can be found on their YouTube Channel]. At the end, when they sang Nearer my God to Thee, I felt the spirit so strong. It was a super spiritual super amazing devotional. When we went to the temple this morning we saw one of the members of Vocal Point. He was in the same session as us and we talked with him. I'm practically famous now. Then, in the evening, all the movies we wanted to watch were full so we watched Joseph Smith IN NIHONGO. I understood way more than I expected. Demo [not sure what this means], it was all gospel words and they spoke slower to fit the timing of the movie. 

Monday: Who knows what happened. Certainly not me. I had a General Conference hangover.

Tuesday: Not much today either. As I said earlier, Lina K Burton came for our devotional. We sang Sweet Hour of Prayer in the choir. I never really liked that song before now. But the lyrics are beautiful. 

Wednesday: Hosting day! These newbie make me feel like an old timer. They didn't ask enough enough shimaitachi [sisters] to help host so every time I left the curb I had 3 girls. I think I hosted 13 girls (none of the Sister F unfortunately). It was exhausting but so fun! I saw N (Elder Olives to Evan) and I had to shake his hand which was weird demo it was so exciting to see him. I saw A eventually, at the end of the day. She saw my name on my door so she came to say hi later. Lots of hugs followed. Then in class, we practiced street contacting in Eigo (I know, what even is English?). It was so hard. I'm not used to teaching in English anymore! It felt too awkward so I switched into Nihongo. Hen desu (so weird). I'm losing my ability to English (taking note for conference was a STRUGGLE) but I'm not good enough at Nihongo to speak that yet. So basically I'm just this mess of language that doesn't really know what's going on. Dajobu desu (all good). I love Nihongo. 

Sorry for the really long letter. Lots happened.

Love love love,

Bearman shimai

P.S. Sorry dad, no pics again. I'm slacking.  [she has been chastized]