Goodbye, Hello, bus walks and absolutely no mention of ice cream

Emma's war on cats

Dear beloved family, friends, zombies, and aliens.  

This week was short and a lot of waiting and unpacking and planning. But miracles still happened!

Wednesday: I helped B shimai pack. I was sad. We had a lesson with M shimai and we talked a little but about sharing the gospel with those around us and she was telling us it was impossible because her family and friends aren't Christian, their Buddhist. I was able to talk about how I was able to share the gospel in high school. Not by doing anything big and showy. But by being my self and standing up for my beliefs. Talking about it made me tear-y eyed. Siblings, you have a huge impact on those around you. Keep setting a good example. You don't know who's life you'll touch.

Bye to old companion
Thursday: dreaded transfer day. So sad. I walked to the bus stop so many times do pick people up. It was a good workout. I probably lost 5lbs because it was so hot. After dinner, I picked up my new companion, Sister M. She's from Provo Utah and is shorter than me. It's been a fun few days with her. We have made some big plans and we're excited to go out an accomplish them.

Friday: we planned. It took a while because I had to tell her about everyone. After, we tried to go visit an investigator with a baptism date in a week who we haven't seen in a month. Every other time we tried to visit her before, she wasn't home. But she was home. And we were able to teach her a short lesson. She's normally very quiet and tired. She was still tired but she answered some of our questions with thoughtful responses. Miracle!!!
Hello to new companion
Saturday: we made apple bread for the ward. To keep up (aka make) good relationships with the ward. We went to a RS activity in the morning. We talked about emergency preparedness. It was a little hard to follow in Japanese. Not my normal, everyday vocabulary. We went out and dendoed and just met a ton of REALLY nice people. Everyone was willing to chat and listen. Which is a miracle in and of its self.

Sunday: today 3 sets of Americans came to church (what?!?!?!?!?!). One gave us American brownies (sob), another took pictures of us to send them to our mothers, the last had a 8 year old daughter who I had a blast talking with. So church was fun. Then, we had a sandwich party after church. We basically had a bunch of sandwich making materials. And made our own sandwiches. It. Was. Awesome. I haven't had a sandwich in a while. But, it was a good chance to chat with members. Then we came back and made a transfer vision [maybe goals on what to do this transfer?]. And made a pretty poster for it before we went out and dendoed. My companion is an awesome missionary. It's going to be a great transfer. Hopefully I have 2 transfers with her.
Bye at Bus
We found out the on Saturday, we get to go to the TEMPLE!!!!! I AM SO STOKED. So today isn't Pday, but we got permission to email today because the temple trip will take all day. After this, we are going out to dedno. It's going to be a little rough not having a Pday until Saturday but it's worth it for the temple!! At least we get to email.

I love you all!! This month is a crazy birthday month. Everyone I seem to know and is important to me was born in July (don't worry, there are some outliers). Mom, I sent you a package the other day. Enjoy. I hope it makes it. I forgot to put a card in so one will hopefully come later.
Planning Poster
Short email. Short week. See you on the flip side.

Love love love
ベアマン姉妹（＾∇＾）


Sent from my iPad

Game of Life with Missionaries (in Japanese)

Break dancing, breaking feet, baking 1000 cookies

Hello beloved family and friends, 


First off- transfers... 😫. My wonderful amazing companion, B shimai, is leaving me. I thought she was going to stay with me for my last transfer. I'm SO sad. But my new companion, Sister Miller, should be awesome. I'm fairly sad though. This transfer was a dream.

Tuesday: I learned how to break dance for district meeting. It was way hard. And way fun. I broke a sweat. And got to wear workout cloths. We went to visit an old investigator after and she let us talk to her about the Book of Mormon. She brought out her Book of Mormon and was super excited to have us tell her our favorite scriptures so she could read them. Her husband is not a fan of churches however, so hopefully we can continue to meet with her.



Wednesday: we sang happy birthday to America in kids English class. It was their idea. It was awesome. In other news, we biked up a mountain a couple times. In the vain attempt of finding a less active. They were never found. We got a killer leg workout. We spent most of the time biking around looking for a house that probably doesn't exist.

Thursday: we weekly planned. I also got a blessing for my foot (me and my accident prone self). But I had the Japanese missionaries give me a blessing. They were way nervous to do it in English. But the gift of tongues is a real thing.


Friday: we went to the hospital. I am the Queen of Japanese hospitals. It was just for my foot. The X-ray said there was no fracture (which made no sense because I couldn't really walk normally). But they gave me some tape to tape my toe. The biggest accomplishment was that I understood (almost) all of the Japanese they said to me. Then we went to a lesson with M shimai, the recent convert. We taught her the Word of Wisdom. She has been wanting to drink green tea recently. But to resist the temptation, she threw out her tea set. She's amazing. She has so much faith.




Saturday: We decided to take the day off to rest my foot (walking was proving to be slightly difficult). We brainstormed some ways to have a better relationship with the ward and we decided to make cookies for the entire ward. Yes. The entire ward (granted, the ward has 30 or so people in it but we still made 100 cookies). We had all day to spare. Since we don't have an oven (just a tiny microwave that turns into an oven), it took forever. We made s'mores and cookies and chocolate cake and heart cards with notes written on them for every member. It was way fun.


Sunday: the cookies were a HIT. Our ward loves us now. They want to participate in dedno [missionary work] more. All they needed was a little bit of love. And Japanese feel love through gifts. Then we did a long language study (to rest my dying foot) where we told stories and watched movies in Japanese. It was way fun.

Monday: we went to an all-you-can-eat Italian restaurant. My stomach is NOT used to that kind of food anymore. It was really delicious. Until it started to settle in my stomach. Then we went streeting for ages. We met some pretty cool people. We talked to a lot of middle and high schoolers from a Christian school. Let me just say, Christian schools in Japan are literally the best things ever. They teach their students about God and Jesus and have them read the bible. Then, when we meet them on the street, they're way excited to talk about religion because they've been taught to love Jesus. It's so great because they love Jesus. And when we tell them they can learn more about Jesus through the BoM, they get SO EXCITED.


Well folks, that's all for now. Sorry, it wasn't too exciting of an
email. But I still love you.

Love love love
ベアマン姉妹（＾∇＾）

Sent from my iPad

4th of July, pineapple ice cream, fracturing toes(???)

HAPPY AMERICA DAY TO ALL THE PEOPLE IN AMERICA. AS AN AMERICAN, I AM CELEBRATING THIS DAY AS BEST I CAN BY WEARING RED, WHITE, AND BLUE, AND EATING POTATO SALAD. 

ALSO, WE ATE AMERICAN PANCAKES. THEY WERE SO GOOD. THEY TASTED SO DIFFERENT FROM JAPANESE PANCAKES AND IT WAS SO AMAZING I CRIED A BIT. BECAUSE I LOVE PANCAKES. AND ITS THE 4TH OF JULY. AND THEY WERE AMERICAN.

# AMERICAin🇯🇵
#arehashtagsevencool

In other news, this week was great. We did a LOT of strange crazy things and took videos and pictures of us doing it. So get excited dad. I was a better paparazzi.

Tuesday: we had a training from Kaicho (mision president)!! I love it when we get to see him. SHIMAI (mish pres wife) made us all homemade cookies. At the meeting there was 2 zones of elders and 4 sisters. I felt very very very out numbered. Probably how you felt mom, dendoing [doing missionary work] in the good old glory days. Just kidding. You're not at all old mom.


Wednesday: there was a crazy wind an lightning storm all morning but as soon as it was time to go out, it became a manageable rain. #blessed. So we biked to forever and beyond to find a less active member. We couldn't find her house for the life of us. So we were biking away and stopped to talk to a lady. Who turned out to be a less active. The one we were trying to visit. Magic. We had a good chat with her on the street and found out her house was destroyed in the earthquake (hence we couldn't find it). It was amazing and felt so nice to be in the right place at the right time.

Thursday: we planned. We then found the most beautiful area in the world. Green and ricer and mountains and the bats came out. There was a nice breeze. I loved it. I didn't write much else for the day. I knocked out soon after getting home.


Friday: we went out to visit someone who called us and said they wanted us to stop by their house. We were really excited. But we got there and no one was home. So we went back out to talk to people and there was a lady right outside the apartment. And she was the daughter of an old investigator. She recognized and we were able to share a short message with her on the street. We texted her mom and she's interested in learning more with her daughter! God. Seriously, he's the master planner.

Saturday: I hit my 10 month mark. 8 months in the land. We celebrated with McDonald's pineapple soft serve ice cream. Yes. It's amazing. We taught our recent convert, M shimai. She is SO CUTE. She was really excited when we came because she gets her government pension soon for being a older person and since she'll have an income she can pay tithing. She was ecstatic. She is counting down the weeks. I was feeling a little tired and worn out during dedno (the sun--was nuts) so I said a little prayer to feel more energized. Not 3 seconds later we stopped this cute mom with 2 sons who were so happy to chat with us and show us all their toys. Even though the mom wasn't interested in hearing more, it was so fun that I was way more happy and energized. God knows.


Sunday: we went to sacrament meeting times 2. We had someone we called that could only come to the later church time. So we were brave souls and went with her. Then we had a fun day calling 1000 people (because of foot problems). But a surprising amount of people answered. We have appointments set up with quite a few of them. It was surprising
effective. 

Is week was amazing, I think, because we had so much fun. SO MUCH FUN. We focused on our purpose but acted like real people, not robots, and it made people want to talk to us way more. The more we acted like ourself, the more fun we had, and the more people liked us. God gave us out different personalities for a reason.
Her look alike missionary brother
Next week is transfer week (NUTS, I LITERALLY JUST GOT HERE YESTERDAY) so I'll be emailing in Tuesday when transfer calls come.

Also, about fractured toes. I may or may not have one? Yes, I am very accident prone. But between the icing and elevating and ibeuprophen-ing I'll probably be ok. I prayed that I'd be able to walk the night it happened and I'm able to walk. Normally. For the most
part.

Love love love
ベアマン姉妹🐻