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
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