Rain, heat, lots of ice cream, breaking down walls

Hello lovely family! And friends!

Tuesday: G shimai and I went on splits [trading companions] while our lovely companions were at their fancy STL meeting [Leadership training for sister missionary leaders]. We are both new to the area. We didn't even know the boundary between our borders. We got way lost but saw tons of miracles along the way. One cray thing was we taught a lesson on the street. We stopped a high schooler and taught her a short message and asked if we could meet again another day. She said "I'm free right now, can we talk now?" So we found some trees to sit under and taught her a lesson 0 (God, Jesus, baptism). She said yes to baptism and gladly took a BoM. It was crazy. We also talked to a lady who was scared to death of us. Because we were foreigners and we were talking about religion. The most scariest thing in the world. But we started talking about English class and showed pictures of our families to show we were normal people. I think that helped. It was a fun day. G shimai and I came to Japan at the same time so it was fun to spend the day with her.

Wednesday: the whole apartment helped plan for ZTM [zone training meeting - where the leaders train the rest of the missionaries in the area]. G shimai and I made games and handouts while our lovely STL companions prepped their training. However, me and B shimai (my actual companion) had a lesson with a recent convert. She was baptized in between the 2 huge earthquakes. The water was green and the ground wasn't stable but she was so happy she did it then because the next day the water shut off. I love teaching recent converts. It's was fun. You don't have to worry about messing up someone's salvation.


Thursday: good ole ZTM. It was a lovely ZTM. Lots of inspirational things were said. I think my favorite part was when a Japanese elder got up, told a story in Japanese and then bore his testimony in English. As I listened to him bear his short, very basic, grammatical incorrect I realized why they send so many people who can't speak
Japanese to Japan. Because short, basic, grammatically incorrect testimonies are so powerful. If you bring the Spirit. It was a really powerful thing for me to realize. That even though my language skills are minimal, I can touch people's hearts.


Friday: some former investigator took us out for fancy dessert. Like way fancy dessert. It was so fancy. We were supposed to meet her at her house. We met her at her job and she drove us to this fancy restaurant, not her house. Yeah, we had no idea what was going on. Well, it tasted delicious. We have another lesson with her this week. Hopefully a real lesson this time. Then, when we were out dendoing [knocking on doors], literally no one wanted to talk. So we were soaking wet (from sweat or rain, who knows) and sort of sad. But then someone answered and said they wanted to meet again. The rest of the night was back to now one talking to us. But we were on the top of the world. Because of that small miracle. That's missionary work for you. A small miracle makes your whole day the best day ever. When we look for the miracles God gives us everyday, it's hard to be sad.

Saturday: we had service! I wore pants all day. We went to this volunteer center that people can call and ask for help. As we drove over there we went through the area of real bad damage. House everywhere were collapsed. Tons of abandoned homes because they were leaning funny. It was crazy. Anyway, an old woman called in to the
volunteer center. Her house had been completely destroyed. She needed help picking us trash and rubble and trashing it. We tore down a crumbling wall. We picked up glass and chunks of house. We cleared all the junk out from the yard. It was way fun. And so hot. The hot here doesn't move. At home, it's hot and humid but there's a breeze or wind. The air moves around. Not in Kumamoto. The air sits on you and
presses down real hard. I was so sweaty. But you always feel so good after service. In The Woman's General Conference someone said "He [the Savior, Jesus Christ] asks us to be His hands. I have come to know that it is the love of God and neighbor that gives meaning to life."   [I think this speech]  I know that that is true. You feel more of the Saviors love for you and others as you serve.


Sunday: I gave a talk, as you always do when you transfer. It's literally the most nerve wracking thing in the world. But I lived. In the afternoon we met this really cool guy. He was closing the door on us and we quickly brought up baptism and being free from guilt. He opened the door back up and we ended up talking for 15 minutes. He wants us to come back and teach him more next week. It was crazy. I'm very grateful the Spirit told us to start talking about baptism. Half the time, we don't know what's going on as we teach (especially with the Japanese) but the Spirit does. And he just tells us what we need to say. It's so lovely. In the evening, a family had us over for dinner. The made us SO MUCH FOOD. I ate so much food. They even brought out ice cream at the end because I said it was my favorite food. Members rock. Family, be good to the missionaries. It makes all the difference. Feed them. Joint for them. Give them rides. Refer friends (this is actually the best thing you could do). Members make missionary work.

Well, that was my week. We have an amazing week lined up. Lots of scheduled lessons. Before the week actually started. People are answering calls. Get excited. I am.

I love you all. So much. I love being a missionary. I love Japan. I might never come home...

Love love love
ベアマン姉妹
熊男

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