Week in Okinawa and a baptism

SO this week was nuts. 3 out of the 7 days I was in Okinawa on splits with B shimai. 1 day was pday Chikashino to be exact. Where there is currently snow. And I will also have a Japanese companion which is way exciting but also like so scary. But I'll probably talk about that next week.
and one was weekly planning so those days don't count. So 3/5 days I was in Naha. Which is too bad. Because on Thursday I leave Okinawa and I'm going up to Fukuoka.

Well, since this week was so nuts, I'll talk about the most exciting part. S got baptized!!!!!!!! On Sunday. And it almost didn't happen. She had to come to church in order o be baptized and church started and she was not there. So we called and she was on the way to a date! So we told her she could go on her date or come to church. She was shocked and said she would run to church. So we waited. 30 minutes passed and she still wasn't there. We were so worried. We were about to go out and find her. But she showed up! I've never felt so relieved in my life. She said she ran the whole way to the church and prayed that she'd make it in time. So she was baptized after church. It was so cool. Seeing the change in her since we first met her. She is so much happier and confident and at peace. It was a cool transformation to watch. This gospel really makes this life so much happier. It's changed my life and it's also changed S's. 

The one day it was cold in Naha

On Junkai with B shimai, we had a blast struggling to converse with people. I was with her for 2 days then went back to Naha and then went back to Okinawa for emergency junkai. While I was with B shimai, we met this really awesome single dad who cried when we showed him Because of Him. When I went back to Okinawa I got to go to the next lesson with him. It was way fun to see him again. I taught him how to pray. Then asked him to pray. He did, but read directly from the pamphlet every time we asked him. It was sort of funny. 

Also in Okinawa, the fufu [senior missionaries] treated us to AMERICAN FOOD. Fancy American food. I had some dang good grilled salmon and chocolate cake. It was to die for. And it was so American. Naha is the best area to be. It's Japan but it's only 45 minutes form America so we get pampered occasionally but not as much as the people working with the Americans. 

So this is a short email. Gomen ne! It's just been a hectic week. Lots of driving. And being in not my area. And now my brain is all over the place because I'm freaking out about transfers [moving to the new location, and getting a new companion]. Maybe next week I'll write more.

Love love love

Bearman shiami

The week it rained everyday

And it was cold rain. You only stay dry so long when your outside all day. At least it's not snow!

Tuesday: we had a relief society activity. There was probably 50 women there, most over the age of 75. We sat with the young-ins (which was everyone aged 50ish or younger). I don't really know what happened but there was an activity that was pretty funny. We wrote our name on cute paper and then passed it around the group we were sitting in and the other people write nice things about you. It sounds all well and good. But it was in Japanese! Not only another language but another alphabet! It took me forever (although my writing skills have
definitely improved). It was actually pretty fun even though I wrote variations of the 5 compliments I know. When I got mine back there was 2 in English (missionaries), one in half English/half hiragana (the nihonjin missionary), and the rest in kanji [pictographs]. Which I can't read. So hopefully they wrote nice things. Anyway, the whole activity was fairly impressive. From what I understand, they set tons of goals as a relief society (and not wimpy ones either. Like finish the BoM and New Testament, and go to the temple up on mainland Japan, and joint for the missionaries, etc). It was super inspiring. They have rewards at certain check points to motivate them. So if you're feeling to lazy set goal remember the 70 year old Japanese women who shave set 1001 goals and will probably accomplish them by the end of February. If that isn't motivational, I don't know what is.

Old lady's and a HUGE rice cooker

Wednesday: eikaiwa [English Class] I don't really know what else. But eikaiwa was fun, as alway. I hit the jack pot and get to teach the advanced people funny sayings and jokes. We taught them "what's cooking good looking". We also made cinnamon rolls that turned out like real cinnamon rolls. They taste amazing. 

2 of my favorite nihonjin: T shimai (returned missionary who's fluent in Japanese on left) and K shimai (she's the cutest) 

Thursday: Kaicho (I guess you don't know who that is, the mission president) came down for interviews. It was so good. He and Shimai (his wife) are so wonderful. They acted like mom/dad. Just lots of hugs and encouraging words and when you looked in their eyes you could just tell how much they loved you. It was so good. And a great confidence boost. Kaicho told me to work on having every prayer entirely Japanese. It's way hard. But really helping my language. Kaicho knows best! He also talked about how to be way specific with our prayers. I don't know about you but I didn't think you were like, allowed to do that. I knew we could ask God for things but I did t realize how specific we can get. We can ask to meet a 15-25 year old college student who wants to learn more about Christ. The more specific we are, the most specifically He answers our questions. I've been working on that this week. And some cool things have happened because of it. So I challenge you to make your prayers a little more specific as well. Because as it says in Moroni 10:6 (I think), if we ask for good things, the Lord will give them to us. Man, God is the best. 

These girls were just walking around like this casually 

Friday: we meet with a member that we eat dinner with every week. M shimai and her 5 year old Y. Y found out I liked Star Wars last week so this week he wore a Star Wars shirt and had all of his Star Wars toys for our for us to play with. We're like bfffffs. 

Saturday: I made a legit phone call. By myself. In Japanese. When the member answered and found out it was me, she laughed. Also, we met with S again. After not talking to us for a week she decided she still wants to be baptized this coming Sunday. Which we're so excited about but means we'll have a busy week! We only meet her 2 weeks ago!! What a miracle! 

Sunday: well, church. It was yesterday but I don't remember what I did. Dendo in the rain. 

Well, I'm tired of writing about last week. Hopefully that was sufficient. Tomorrow and Wednesday I get to bean dendo again! [do missionary work with another brand new missionary] Except in Okinawa this time. Hopefully I survive!!

Love love love
ベアマン姉妹

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The week my trainer left me for 2 days with someone who came out to Japan at the same time as me and expected us to be functional people

It was a lovely week. And I don't really remember much of the first part. Most of this email will probably be stories from Friday and Saturday. Since I've only been in Japan for 2 months I have a trainer who essentially makes sure I don't die. She became a leader (STL) and so for 2 days she left me to check in on the other girls on Okinawa. My new companion, the other leaders bean-chan (new missionary), Sister B. We were in the MTC together and are like besties. But our Japanese skills are not quite there yet. But for some reason our trainers thought it was a good idea to leave us in Naha together. It was a blast. I spoke so much Japanese and I felt so empowered. 

B shimai came on Thursday night. We went out and dendoed for an hour together. We were freaking out. It took us 5 minutes to knock on the first door. But we did! And no one answered! It was so anticlimactic. We did talk to 3 people. We managed to give away a BoM. And teach someone about baptism. And it took forever. But the people we met were patient enough to listen. It was a real confidence booster. 

Friday morning we woke up and mogied [studied?] for like 2 hours straight. And then we went out into the pouring rain to conquer The World. We talked to so many people. Normally we talk to a decent amount but not really talk to them. All of the people we talked to we had like a deep meaningful conversation with. And like, we were using all sorts of grammar and vocabulary that we didn't even know we knew. It was nuts. The biggest miracle is this cute Christian lady we met. We talked to her about God and Christ. And then she's like "I'm Christian yo! I know". So we show her the "Because of Him" video and she started crying on the street. The spirit was so strong. We gave her a BoM and she said she would read it as soon as she got home. As we were trying to leave, she pulls out her wallet and tried to give us money (this is a first, normally people run away, not try to pay us for our services). We said no but she kept insisting saying that no one has made her feel so good and peaceful and she wanted to give us money because we touched her heart. We kept saying no but we told her that her gift to us would be to read the BoM. She agreed it it. It was crazy. 

On Saturday, we planned for (not 1) but 2 lessons. It took 3 hours. It was so hard. But we planned and entire plan of salvation lesson with sentences we knew how to say. We were really drained at the end. But felt accomplished. Then we went to the church to make mochi with the primary kids. It was way fun. We got to smash rice with huge hammers. It was like a great stress reliever. 

We had a lesson with S the recent convert and S the golden investigator. One speakers Japanese so fast natives don't understand her. The other has a lisp. So, our lessons went so well.  The concepts were taught, the spirit felt. We relied a ton on our member joint (we picked one who spoke English and Japanese). But it made me realize that I am not the teacher here. I can help. But our lesson together probably had 100000 grammar mistakes and the spirit took those mistakes and taught the people what they need to hear. All God wants us to do it to work hardest. He will make up he rest. 

Then on Saturday night B shimai left. It was such a good experience to junkai with her. I learned so much and recognized how much I know. I'm more confident now and so much more excited to go out and dendo. There were so many miracles we saw, I can't [even] tell you half of them. 

Well, yesterday we went to S's (the recent convert) mom's house. Her mom isn't a member but has been coming to church for a month. Together they are the sweetest people. We shared a message about faith and how through faith in Christ we can do anything. We showed the Mormon message "mountains to climb" (so good). After the video, Shimoji's mom said she wanted to learn more. She wants the happiness we have in her life. I'm so excited for her! Then we taught them how to make funny faces for pictures. They loved it. We definitely laughed a lot. And you know, I think we shared God's love for them through laughter. 

It was a beautiful week. I love being a missionary. I love Naha. I love the people. And I do it all because I love the Savior. And I know He will help me do His work. 

I love you all!!

Bearman 姉妹

P.S. Grilled cheese!!!!! I cried!!! The fufu brought down REAL CHEESE from base 

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Well, only 2 [days] have happened since I last wrote

And it [one of those two days] was a Japanese holiday, so we didn't Dendo much because members had us over for every meal and we ate for HOURS. The food was amazing but toward the end I didn't want to see another bowl of food again. But all the members were so sweet. We played lots of Japanese games.  But mainly ate. I'm not lying when I say I probably gained 50 pounds.  I'll just write about some highlights.

C: I can't remember if I wrote about him last week. But I meet him on splits with the other girls in my apartment. He's from New York and is KINJIN (golden investigator (is that what their called in English). Well, the other sisters had an appointment with him and their joint fell 


through so we jointed. It was a beautiful lesson.  Well, his wife showed up and yelled at us.  That was scary. But he came back and said he wanted to keep learning and finished the lesson. We talked about God and families. He ate it up. He said that everything we were saying answered a question he had. I felt like a real missionary (it comes in phases, the feeling like a missionary thing). Anyway, it was good and after the lesson I was on cloud nine. I could teach and explain and give 


examples and share experiences. It was beautiful.  

S2: Then right after we had a lesson in Japanese. (Our recent convert has been dendo-ing got on her own and found S2 for us. She's gold (both S's). She already wants to be baptized. After 1 lesson. So our lesson went really well). Biggest shock of my life. I went from a functional human being [teaching in English] to a not so functional human being [Teaching in Japanese].  And it was SO hard. I may have had a breakdown during the lesson. Actually, I've had like 3 breakdowns in the past 2 days. It's been a little rough. Mainly because I expect myself to be fluent already. And I just want to connect with people but I can't. I try, but can't. So I've been feeling really down in the dumps. But yesterday I was reading the scriptures and came across 2 Nephi 4.  Nephi's psalm. Read it. That's how I felt. Pretty crummy. But as I read, and as Nephi's perspective changed, I saw mine could too. God has given me so much and I have accomplished so much through Him already. I just need to quit focusing on what I can't do (it's way hard but I'm working on it). But I'm in a happy mood now. So don't worry ☺️

Well, that's all that really happened. My companion was sick yesterday
so she slept and I studied. Well. Next week should be more normal.

Love you!!!!!
ベアーマン姉妹


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I'm in a new year and you are not

Happy New Years!!!!!!!  I hope Evan and josh are going to the New Years dance (actually, just Evan because I know Josh will go).  [both successfully attended the dance]  But Josh, you're not off the hook.   You better not be in the slow lane at practice. Bearman's do not swim in the slow lane. I expect more.  [Josh moved up a lane in practice]   And Camille, that lipgloss you made me? Our of Kool-Aid? It tastes SO good!  Anyways, this new year is awesome so far! You're totally missing out! Did you know the Japanese tell the same New Years joke as we do in the USA? "See you next year!" "I won't see you until next year!" 

The rest of Christmas: was so great. It was weird though. I felt more like Emma than I did Bearman shimai. I wore sweatpants and lounges around all day. We watched Frozen together as a district. Don't worry, I sang along. Loudly. With gestures. It was great fun. 

Saturday: we had zone training in the morning. Afterwards we went to this all you can eat place. We always seem to go to all you can eat places after meetings. I think it's because the elders choose. Ridiculous. After we had a lesson with Hershi!!! (The Philippino girl who speaks English). It was such a great lesson. We didn't have to convince her God existed or that we pray to God not our ancestors. Yeah for people with a Christian background!! Also, since it was in English I could actually teach [appears not just?] to recite a few lines at an appointed time. It was refreshing to be able to teach. And understand her. And not just understand her words. But really UNDERSTAND her. It was a great lesson.  She agreed with everything we said. And understood everything we said. We tried to set a baptism date but she doesn't feel ready yet. But she's excited to learn which is all I really care about. 

Sunday: two interesting things happened today. I went to church and enjoyed it. And I didn't dread going out to dendo [missionary work]. What a miracle. It's so hard to like church when you don't understand any of the lessons and you can't chat with the members. I don't know why it was different this week. I think because I tried to talk to members. Even though it was way hard, they definitely spoke really simple Japanese for me. And laughed at everything I said so something good must have been happening. Now about dendo. I didn't actually like it. It's still absolutely terrifying to go up and talk to strangers in a strange language. But I didn't hate it while I did it. I've been working on having positive thoughts while I dendo. Like "I love talking to strangers!", "And my Japanese is way good enough", and "This person will listen". Well, who would have thought, but I think changing your attitude make something less miserable. 

Monday: I don't think much out of the ordinary happened? I wrote a terrible journal entry that night. 

Tuesday: we had our district meeting up in Urasoe. It was like a 30 minute bike ride. It was lovely. It was a lovely district meeting. All about faith and having the faith to baptize (something I'm still working on). 

Wednesday: I think I spoke more Japanese this day than any other day on my mission. I don't know why but I was on fire! I wasn't afraid to talk to strangers. We talked to this really awesome mom and 6 year old for 30 minutes. I played with the 6 year old (we're besties) and testified whenever I could. It was actually really fun! 

Thursday: it's the Japanese new year! Which lasts 4 days! All we did was eat with different member. I rolled home (like Violet in Charlie and the chocolate factory). 

Well, not much more. This week has felt like 2 days. I love you guys! Stay awesome. 

ベアマン姉妹

Ps. Sorry, this letter is lame. I think. Actually, who knows. 

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