The week of Junkai (splits? companion exchange?)

I'm not really sure what happened this week but here we go! (I forgot my journal so forgive me).

Tuesday: we had district meeting. We found and "American" burger shop.  It was fairly Japanese but it tasted amazing and had real ketchup. We had a lesson with the K family (recent converts). After the lesson during chatting time, I played scripture pictionary with S(the 9 year old).

Wednesday: another day of running from lesson to lesson. The most rewarding thing was that A (Less active Korean) finally recognized the Spirit. We had a fun activity where we had a back full of different topics. We each pulled out a topic and shared an experience based on what was on the card. All of the cards were different ways to feel the spirit. Then at the end, we had a huge reveal and she was
like "that makes sense". It was beautiful.



Thursday: I was having a grumpy day. For many reasons. But I was a real grump most of the morning. Anyway, at lunch I saw I had a letter from Sydney. It was a normal letter until the very end when she talked about a scripture she like and that scripture was just what I needed to hear. It changed my whole outlook on the day. It helped me realized that God does watch out for His children. And He planned for Sydney to write that letter 3 weeks ago so that it could come when I needed it most. If that isn't proof of God's love, I don't know what is. Then I rode a bullet train to junkai!!! I felt fancy.

Friday: Junkai's are so good for the soul. It really helped me realize how much I know and to be confident in the knowledge I have. It's easy, with a native companion to assume you know nothing. Because it's true, my Japanese will never be like hers. And that's ok. The weather was beautiful and we found all day. And I had so much fun. We saw so many miracles. The biggest was that we had a lesson that canceled and
we were sort of bummed. Then an investigator they haven't seen in over a month called and asked to meet with us at the same time our other lesson had been! We also met some amazing people, the coolest being this family of 5. Before starting the apartment we prayed to find a family who would take a BoM. We were knocking and the 5 door was a mom, dad, and 3 sons. The mom wasn't interested but was too polite to
close the door because her 10-ish year old son really wanted to listen. When we asked to come back at another, more convenient time, the boy said yes! Come back Sunday! He almost convinced his mom. She said no in the end. Then we offered a BoM before we left. The mom refused it but the boy ran forward and grabbed the book. Then he said "yomimasu!" (I will read it!!). It was so cool to see how open and
receiving this boy was. In the scriptures, Christ tells us to become like children for many reasons but I think the biggest reason is that children are willing to open their hearts to new ideas that could be truth. He recognized us as who we were, not just gaijin (I can't spell the word in English, sorry), but as servants of the Lord. It was a way cool experience. And humbling. I want to be as accepting of Christ as
that little boy who doesn't even know who Christ is.

Saturday: weekly planning at Mister Donuts which has the most amazing mochi donuts. We also took a train to visit a less active. She was Less than excited to see us. All well. I've rode the teian a ton recently. I like it. 

Sunday: T (our investigator with a bap date soon) came to church! She managed to switch her work schedule to come for the first part!! I was so happy. Then the weather was a balmy 60 degrees which made me so happy. Then we had dinner at a members. Nabe. One of my favorites. We also ate ice cream because they know it's my favorite.

Today: we are going to Tenmongu. I don't know what it is but it should be fun. All I understand it there's something to do with ginger. 

That was a lame letter. Sorry, next week will be better. Probs. Oh yeah, next week will be on Tuesday because it's transfer week (already? Nuts!).

I LOVE YOU!!
あいしているよ（＾∇＾）
ベア-マン姉妹

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The week I prayed in front of a General Authority

And not even in English. In Japanese, Yamashita chōrō's native language.  [Elder Yamashita is a General Authority, or a leader with responsibility over Northern Asia]  My heart was somewhere in my throat region. And it was acting more like a hammer than a heart. But I lived to tell the tale. I'll talk more about the meeting with him later.

Tuesday: We weekly planned. As usual. Then we went and visited a Canadian member who's been sick. We shared a short message with her and then just talked. It was like in English. It was so nice. O shimai told a story in English that we prepared together and I was so happy. It makes me really happy when she uses the English I teach her. Or when she surprises me and prays in English.

Chocolate sauce for
McD Fries, and homemade
Tuna Sandwich
Wednesday: We ran from lesson to lesson. I guess we didn't run, we biked really fast. We had a lesson with J, a young mom. We didn't actually teach much. We played with her son. But it turned out to really support our message. We shared Mosiah 3:19 which talks about becoming like a child. It was perfect because we could use her son as an example because we had been playing with him. We were there for an hour and a half, taught for 10 minutes and it was so effective she was willing to make a baptism date! However, she wants to be baptized but doesn't want to be a member of the church. We'll see how that turns out. Then we sprinted to the church for T's lesson. She's a solid investigator and has finished all the lessons but has trouble coming to church on Sunday because she has to rely on other people to switch shifts at work. But she committed to come to church next week and
we're excited. We had a joint for the lesson too. Which is rare for us. But members make all the difference. Then we ran to a lesson with A (the Korean less active). We hadn't had lunch yet and we were both starving and we walk into A's house and she asks "have you eaten lunch?" We said "no". And she was like "perfect, I felt like I should make lots of sushi for lunch so I have leftovers I want to share."  We almost cried. I had been praying for a way to not notice my hunger as we taught and God delivered. In a very delicious way. We had an amazing lesson with her. Then we hurried over to the K family (recent converts) house to deliver some baked goods and share a short spiritual message. She's been having a rough time at church. Not many people are interested in being her friends. Then we went to McDonalds for a lunch dinner and I fell asleep in McDonalds I was so tired.

Thursday: we had a Streeting miracle. We were biking down the street and I stopped this girl and she I interrupted me to say "wait, I got your Eikaiwa flyer [English Class] in my mailbox. I wanted to go but didn't know where it was". What?!? People actually read the fliers we give them? We were on the road of the church so we could point out the building. Then we went and weekly planned in the park because it was oddly warm. We brought bubbles so we could have brain breaks. It was lovely. And he park was gorgeous. There was a lovely view of the mountains.





Friday: Yamashita Taikai!!!!!!! We had to got to Fukuoka for the meeting. I sat in the front row. And I shook hands with him!! It was such a cool experience. As I walked up to him, I just felt surrounded by love. Like, I could feel it in the air. It was amazing. I got to tell him and his wife my name and where I'm from and then shake their hands. And he said everyone I needed to hear. He answered all my
questions (even the ones I didn't realize I had). He didn't speak from the podium so he was just walking around in front of me occasionally asking me to read quotes or scriptures. His wife is the cutest little Japanese lady. She taught us how to make origami mouths that moved to remind up to open our mouths. It was an amazing day and the spirit was so strong and I left wanting to talk to everyone. I can't even put into words how I felt. But I was so happy.

Saturday: We weekly planned and had kids Eikaiwa. We got a call around 6 from the bishop asking us to go visit this member because it was her birthday and she was sick. So we did- and we brought a cute strawberry cake with a candle. When she saw the cake she was so happy. She had been craving sweets all day but was too sick to go out of the house. We were an answer to her prayers. We had a lot of those experiences this week. We did things that didn't count towards our weekly numbers. But we were able to help people. Just goes to show God doesn't care about numbers. He knows us individually and wants to help us individually.

Sunday: was yesterday. But it was normal??? We went home teaching (yes). It was K shimais first time so we were there to make it less awkward. It was really good I think. 

Have a good week everyone! I love you!!!!
あい、
ベア-マン姉妹

ひさしぶり: the weekend of Eikaiwa

Friday: what a roller coaster of a day. The first part was really rough. Planning takes forever and is sometimes very frustrating (mainly I'm frustrated at myself for not understanding Japanese and O shimai is frustrated with herself becomes she doesn't understand English.) Anyways, we spent forever planning a lesson and I was tired and a little grumpy be issue it was taking up language study time. When we finally finished I hurried out of the room quickly to do language study (and maybe cry a bit before). Then O shimai came in with a note in English apologizing and I felt so bad because I wasn't upset with her at all. I was upset with myself. So we cried a bit together as we tried to explain what was going on. And then we napped
because we were exhausted. (We nap a lot. Mostly during meals but during planning we often take naps because it's draining). Then we woke up and acted like functional human beings. We went to Eikaiwa [English class] at a members house with all of their friends. It was a bunch of 10 year old girls. It was a hoot. 10 year old girls are the same all over the world. Really giggle-y. Especially around the elders. Then we weekly planned. But because planning is so stressful we decided to plan somewhere fun. So we went to Mos Burger and got food and planned. I think it was fairly effective.  Also, I was TOTALLY SURPRISED by a package from Amazon prime. I didn't expect a Valentine's Day present. Thanks mom❤️❤️ You had perfect timing. How did you know I was out of dried mangos? Magic.

Saturday: we had 2 Eikaiwa's- kids Eikaiwa at the church and then Eikaiwa at a members house with all their friends. Such good member missionary work! Then we housed for a bit in the pouring rain. Fortunately it wasn't too cold so we didn't freeze as we got soaked. But it was cold enough to be real chilly. No one really wanted to chat. Bummer. Then we weekly planned at McDonalds with food. I think it was our most effective planning session ever.

Sunday: Valentine's Day. Which basically means that everyone gave us baked goods and chocolate at church. K shimai (recent convert) made me an ice cream keychain because I love ice cream and it looked sweet. Until I accidentally smashed it. A also broke my glasses so it wasn't really a good day for me. But the glasses are fixable.
Just a screw came out. After church there was a potluck for a couple members who are moving out. Japanese potlucks are the best. You get to sample all the different yummy homemade Japanese food. Plus there's always the random American dish (usually pasta salad or Mac and cheese. Classics).

Monday: and now it's Pday again. I bought a new pillow. The apartment had one that's probably 50 years old and flatter than a sheet of paper and lumper than unstirred pancake mix. Im so excited to go to sleep tonight!!! Also, I got my glasses fixed. The nice man did it for free!!! I was pretty happy about that. There was also snow today. Lots. But none has stick so far because ginger [???] ground is warm from the
warmer weather.

Fun fact: on Friday Elder Yamashita is coming to talk to us!! I may or may not be giving a prayer (ok, I am, but over the food so not like during the actual event. I'm stoked. I'm also stoked be issue they had mustard at the store!!!

Love you guys!!!

ベアマン姉妹

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Eternal planning is not as cool as eternal life

Check out the socks

Yes it it Thursday. Yes, I'm alive dad. [I was very good and didn't send anxious emails this time when she didn't write on schedule, that was last time she was late :)] We found out on Sunday there was a ward [church congregation] temple trip today so we last minute changed Pday. Sorry you didn't get a warning. As token of my apology, I'll write lots.

Monday: in the evening when we dendoed [Missionary Work], we weren't getting very far with people. I think it was because it was cold and they didn't want to stand in their doorway longer than necessary. So one time, and a lady was saying bye, I asked "before we leave can we pray together?" I didn't expect it to work. But it did. O shimai [Her companion] says it is gaijin [foreigner] power. It was fun, at every door after (that answered), to ask if we could pray together.

Tuesday: it was so cold. I think I was wearing 5 or so layers and I was still dying. Long sleeve shirt, shirt, cardigan, sweater, heavy coat. And of course no one wanted to talk. It was slightly frustrating. Towards the end of the night, we were looking at the map when T and S (recent converts) popped up and surprised us. It was the pick-me-up we needed. People still didn't want to listen but we didn't really mind. Because we knew eventually someone would.


Wednesday: we taught a less active lady from Korea in English. Her name is A. She was baptized while at BYU. Our joint was this lady, E from Canada. There was so much English. It was weird. I taught in English. O shimai said her 2 planned lines. It was so familiar.  It was me last transfer (but not me anymore). It was so odd.

Thursday: Zone Training Meeting. It was an all day affair. It took 2 hours to get there by train. It was a great training. We talked about how we have tons of blessings over our head and the way to access them is obedience. When we are obedient we can reach those blessings. Then we talked about how sometimes being obedient takes sacrifice. We were challenged to come up with some things we could sacrifice to receive those blessings and see miracles. As I've been thinking about that this week, I've decided to give up my free time during meals. Meals don't take the full hour because even when we talk it's not much. I normally have 30 extra minutes in which I normally write in my journal or read conference talks or watch Mormon messages. But I decided to give that up. If I want to learn the language I have to sacrifice. So now in those free minutes I'm going to study Japanese. It does not sound fun, but I'm willing to do it to learn Japanese. I've been reading the BoM in Japanese during meals this week. We'll see how it turns out. Also, Kaicho (president) surprised everyone and showed up at our meeting. That would have never happened in Naha. Also, I convinced my companion we needed a huge tub of ice cream. So we bought some.  She's very happy we got it even though at first she thought I
was a crazy person.
S. Chan She likes to steal my glasses. 
Sometimes it's problematic because
she runs away and I can't see. 


Friday: we had 2 lessons. One with J, from Taiwan. She's fluent in English and Japanese but loves English so we taught in English. And Ogawa shimai would pitch in in Japanese. It was odd but it worked. She is stellar. She committed herself to our commitment before we could commit her. What a boss. She brought her husband to play pingpong and chat with the elders while we had our lesson. She also bought me a
nice and toasty scarf. Sam, I've become a scarf person. I'll never make fun of you and your Frenchy scarfy-ness again. Although, they wear them different in Japan. It's not a fashion statement, more like a cover-as-much-of-my-face-as-possible statement. Except they look stinking cute as they do it. Of course this is Japan: land of the cute. Then we had a lesson with the the K family (recent
converts). We played jeopardy! Years of primary jeopardy paid off. (Thanks dad. I feel like whenever you substituted for my primary class we played jeopardy.) [in my defense those were times when I wasn't planning on substituting]. It was way fun but trying to explain it to my companion was a bit hard. She'd never heard of jeopardy before! What did she do in primary?!?

Saturday: we weekly planned all day. We also took a power nap in the middle of planning because planning causes exhaustion. We had kids Eikaiwa [English Class] in the morning which was way fun. We play games and color. That's my kind of party. Since this day is so short I'll describe Chikushino more. It's cold. Way cold. I miss Naha and its paradise-inness. When people find out I came from Naha they all have the same reaction. "Awwww. It's so cold here. Are you ok?" No, I think to myself, I can't feel my toes ever. But I do love it it. Don't get me wrong.

Sunday: fast Sunday! It snowed. How terrible. Biking to church in the snow was way weird. I think I showed up looking like a snowman. But when we went outside after church it was like 50 degrees and sunny. What? So when we were housing the temperature was really nice. But when we bike home the son was gone and it was freezing again. Well, at least housing wasn't miserable. Mini miracle. The cutest thing happened at church. S, the 9 year old recent convert wrote a letter to Jesus during church and then wanted us to deliver it to Him. It was precious.

Monday: it was a weird day because it was Pday turned normal day. But my body wanted a Pday. We did have an awesome lesson with his young mom, J. She has a 1 year old son. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. It was so cool! I taught a lot of the lesson (which was terrifying because I didn't have much time in language study to
prepare). And it was by no means perfect. But I spoke. Without having to refer to my outline every 3 seconds. I even said some unplanned stuff. Modern day miracle! She was way nice. As we taught her, she said that everything made sense. Then after, while O shimai and J chatted more about life (in too deep of a way for me to
understand), I played with her son. He was so cute. And I realized something something cool. Recently I've been praying a lot for the gift of tongues so I can understand and get to know the people better. But I still don't seem to understand anyone any better. I speak better, but my understanding is still way minimal (except for O shimai. I'm starting to understand her Japanese). Anyway, back to my
story. I was feeling sad because the language barrier was keeping me from getting to know people (so I thought). But I learned something new. I speak kid fluently. I seem to become everyone's kids best friend. And somehow that helps me get to know their parent and helps the parent trust me. Today in the lesson, J wasn't really opened to me. But then, after I played with her son, she was just chatting away to me (not that I completely understood.) I got to know her! And not even by talking to her. Long story short, God has been answering my prayers for the gift of tongues, just in a unexpected way. Typical God, He's really a God of miracles.

Tuesday: we finally finished weekly planning. During the week we were planning for. Better luck this next weekly planning. We had district meeting. In our district of 6 the shimai [female missionaries] overpower the choro [Male missionaries]! That's a first. The we went out and Indo-curry (which is huge in Japan. I didn't know that because it's not big in Okinawa). It was way nice to chat in English and get to know people in English and tell/understand jokes in English. It was a good break. Then, in the evening durning our extended dinner (Og shimai wasn't feeling too hot), we read the BoM together. She read in English and I read in Japanese. It was good language practice for the both of us. And it was sort of fun. 

Wednesday: Senpai day😭 [Senpai means the senior or older person, not sure why that means she is in charge] That meant I was in charge of everything. Blah. We taught A again (the less active from Korea). We talked about when we felt the most happy in our lives. I talked about how when we went hiking up old rag and we were all being goofy together and saw the sunrise and the scenery was beautiful and I was just with my family. And it was only a couple days before I left. But I was was happy to be surrounded by God's beautiful creations and my beautiful family I was leaving for a year and a half. I was happy. Also, who doesn't love hiking. A has been having a hard time recognizing the spirit but we were hoping we could get her to recognize that happiness is a feeling that comes from God. O shimai told a story in English! We worked on it together in language study. It made me so happy. While we were Streeting we crashed into a Chinese couple. O shimai started talking to them in Japanese and they said I don't understand Japanese and looked worried until they saw me and said I can talk to you. So we talked about God and how we are His children and how we should love each other. The biggest miracle was that I had a Chinese pamphlet in my bag that I could give to them.


Thursday: temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Before the temple we went to good ole Micky D's and I had a delicious shrimp patty. It was so delicious. Not to rub it in. Then we went to the temple. I got a cool name tag that said English and some sweet headphones and translator. I didn't realize how stressed I was until I walked in and bam, I felt so chill. And it was peaceful. It I didn't even worry about the fact I had to speak Japanese. It was so nice to go to the temple again. It had been too long!  Well, that's my week and a half. I'm doing great here in Chikushino. The weather these past 2 days has been so warm. But I heard there's going to be snow again next week. Bummer.

LOVE LOVE LOVE
ベアマン姉妹
Aka your favorite daughter in Japan






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From Naha to Chikushino

Happy February all the way from Chikushino!! It's cold here. But fortunately all the snow they had disappeared before I came. We just had freezing rain. My favorite. But once the 2 days of fog and rain cleared up, I realized it's quite pretty here. And there's mountains!!! Not Utah mountains, but Maryland mountains. Covered in trees. It's beautiful!

Wednesday: fairly boring day. I packed. Traveling from Okinawa is such a pain. You can only take one suitcase and a carry on with you. Both those bags have weight restrictions. Then you stuff the rest of your junk into your 3rd suitcase and mail it. And hope it arrives. Just kidding. It was really fast this time. It only took a day for my bike and stuff to arrive. Anyway, the other parts of the day we visited members to say good bye (😥) and dendo-ed around a bit. Then at night
we partied! Which means we ate lots of junk food. It was good. 

Thursday: transfer day!! I left the beautiful island of Okinawa (I plan on going back. Hopefully the Lord is on the same page as me). For Asa Undo (morning exercise... Is that right?) L shimai and I biked around our area and took goofy pictures. We also went to the docks and chilled by the ocean as the sun rose. It was lovely. Then we went to the airport. And I managed not to cry; I'm fairly surprised about that. When we were up in the air I could see the entire island out the window. Okinawa is tiny! Anyway, then I got to Fukuoka! And met my new companion! O shimai. She is so stinking cute. And also very small. She's 27 years old and almost done with her mission. She doesn't speak much English. Half the time I don't really know what's going on. We have a 2 man apartment. So it's just me and her. I will probably forget how to speak English. Speaking of our apartment: it's HUGE. It used to be a 4 man apartment but when they went down to 2 man, they kept the apartment. It's a really nice apartment. We had 2 lessons right off the bat. One was with a mom and a 9 year old daughter. They were baptized last Sunday and confirmed this Sunday. The 9 year old, S, is my favorite person. Kids are so much easier to talk to than adults.






Friday: we weekly planned. It took 7 hours. That is not an exaggeration. With L shimai it took about 3 hours, as a reference point. But Lowe shimai and I spoke the same language. O shimai is pretty good at speaking slowly and simply. It's very interesting.

Saturday: I made O shimai a prayer chart in English and Japanese. She randomly surprises me by praying in English. It makes me so happy when she tries to pray in English. We met an investigator named J today. She's Taiwanese and is was good at English. She's way cute. We didn't have a lesson, just a short get to know you. But she called us later in the day and said she would try to come to church so she could see us again (she has been an investigator for a while and has not come to church yet). Happy day!!


Sunday: church day. I'm in the Chikushino ward. The ward is about 100 people or so. There's a lot of families. I gave a talk. My least favorite thing to do. But T and S (the mom and daughter) received the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is such a great gift. After she was confirmed, S (the 9 year old) turned to me and just gave me the biggest grin. Even though she's only 9, she can tell the difference the church has made in her life. Then, after church we had lunch. I was slightly sleepy so I decided to nap for the last 30
minutes of lunch. I woke up an hour and a half later. I was so exhausted I slept though my alarm and I think I freaked out my companion so she didn't wake me up. I think she thought I was sick or dying. Nope, just speaking Japanese 24/7 is a little tiring. More than
a little. I never seem to have slept enough. My brain is always exhausted. And it's only been 3.5 days! I'll just take lots of naps during meals.






Anyway, happy February. I showed people in Naha the snow pictures you sent and they about cried. They didn't know it could snow so much!
Have a great week!!

Love love 愛
ベアーマン姉妹