Sapporo temple and famous Japanese singers

Hello my beloved family members (and friends),


This week was all over the place. I discover that when I'm speaking as dad in my stories I always use a British accent. So my comp thinks your British dad. I didn't even realize I was doing it until she turns to me in the middle of a story and says "I know your dad isn't British but the way you tell your stories had led me to believe he is British." I don't know what that's means dad, I haven't got a clue why
you always talk in a British accent in my stories. Analyze that and get back to me.

This week is also transfer week (that went too crazy fast) which is why I'm emailing on Tuesday. Sorry I forgot to remind you. As for transfer news, I don't know yet. You'll have to find out next week 😉 I hope I'm staying with my comp.

On to this week, it was an amazing week although I'm not 100% sure what happened. My brain was in a weird place all week.


Monday: I got acupuncture again (by the guy in our ward, he's way nice). In the evening- even though we were only out for a little bit, we saw some cool miracles. We got to talk to a family from Syria and a family from Sudan. They were really nice and got to talk to them in English. My favorite most cute part of the night was when we were talking to this cute old lady. We were chatting with her when she suddenly reaches into one of her 500 bags and hands us each a thing of ice cream. She said that we had make her heart so full of nice feelings that she wanted to give us the ice cream to say thanks. It was cute. And much appreciated because it is crazy hot.
Notice sleeping beauty
in the background

I finally figured out how to describe the heat in Kumamoto. You know in August on a sticky sunny day when you return to the car that's been sitting in the sun for 3-5 hours. You open the doors and sit in the car and it feels like an oven and you're just suffocating in heat? That's summer in Kumamoto. We got into a members car that had been sitting in the sticky sunny weather for 3-5 hours and there was no temperature difference or humidity difference from the outside to inside the car. Crazy...

Tuesday: Nothing really happened today. I think. I chatted with Kaicho [mission president] a time or 2. Talked about how my back is doing. Kaicho is a nice guy.
He made me feel better. (Kaicho=mission pres).
 
Wednesday: We dendoed to a grocery store, bought things to make 1000 cookies, and then dendoed back. Then we proceeded to make 1000 cookies. We studied a bit. And practiced Japanese. Then we decided to write all the missionaries in the area lymrics and haikus. So we did it. It was way fun. We took them to Eikaiwa with cookies and gave them to all the missionaries. It was really fun, they were all so
surprised. 


Thursday: We weekly planned at Joyfull again and I drank WAY too much hot choco. No regrets. In the evening we went to do a family home evening (FHE) with a part member family. The wife is a member (of 1 year), the husband is taking lessons from the elders, and they have a 3 year old son. Doing FHE with them is way fun. We talked about the stripling warriors and being strong with the son. He wants to be big and strong like people in the Book of Mormon now. Then we talked about how the stripling
warriors had amazing parents and that's how their kids turned out amazing. The most exciting part was the father (who has not prayed out loud for the 3 months the elders have been teaching him).  [story of the strippling warriors found here]


Friday: We had 3 lessons today. And a crazy miracle. To one of the lesson we had a ride. The member asked where we wanted a ride back to. We wanted to say to the apartment but felt like we should ask her to drop us off at this train station. So she drops us off and we're sad because we're no longer in an air conditioned car. So we're walking home and all of the sudden this guys who's biking by comes chasing
after us. And it was the high school guy we had met the night before and set a RA with. He came and chatted with us for a bit and was really excited to see us. Way cool miracle to see him again.


Saturday: We studied in the morning and then hauled butt over to the stake center to practice a song as missionaries. Then in the afternoon, we had a concert with 4 very professional singers (all members). We sang a song with them. It was actually quite fun. They were way talented. Then we ran and got dinner before the Sapporo temple cultural celebration. It was so cute. And sad as they talked about Japanese history and how during the war, members were far and few between and were punished for being part of an "American" religion. It was so sad but then all the youth came and sang hymns. This church is fairly new in this country, most of the members are either converted or their parents converted. But they are strong and as the youth sang I could just see what a bright future Japan has. Also, they had some fun Japanese dances. It was sick.


Sunday: We went back up to the stake center after studies and got to watch one of the dedicatory sessions.  [once a temple is "dedicated" only members can go inside since it is now treated as a holy place.  Information can be found here] They had English headsets for all the missionaries with translation but as it started I realized that I'd rather listen in Japanese. It was a cool moment to realize I would understand more listening in Japanese than following along with the translation. Elder Stevenson spoke in Japanese and Elder Yamashita (he's came to our mission 2 times and talked to us. We're basically friends) also spoke. It was cool to hear them speak about how the youth of Japan will lead their family and friends to the gospel.


Monday: yesterday we went back to the member who is an acupuncturist. It really makes my back feel better. After, the wife bought us a bunch of bread because she's an angel and was a sister missionary and knows how important food is to living. We ate and then went out to dedno. We dendoed near my favorite spot in Shimizu. It's this beautiful bridge over a river surrounded by green and mountain. It's lovely. After dendoing a bit we went and played down in the river for a while. Well it was way cooling. It had a way cooling effect. (how do you even say that?) It cooled us off. Then we went to McDonald's to have some peach shakes sent straight from heaven. Then we had a FHE with the bishops family. We shared 3 Nephi 5:13 with them. It really like that scripture. It talks about how as disciples of Christ, we should share His happy message with everyone when we decide to be a disciple of Christ, we are promising to always remember Him and share His love with the world. I'm glad that I am a disciple of Christ and that I have this amazing opportunity to remember Him daily and share His love daily to the Japanese people.


Well, that's this week. Have a lovely week. Isn't school about to start? That's CRAZY. Evan'll be a senior. What has even happened to time?!?! We're hiking Aso (the volcano) today for Pday. It should be 






fun. I'll take pictures.

Love love love
ベアマン姉妹

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The tale of a cockroach killer

Yeah. Our house is crawling with them. We keep the apartment clean but they live in the drain of the sink and the washing machine. Gross. Perks of living in super hot and sticky Japan. Fortunately it's not super bad. Yet.

In other news, this week wasn't too exciting. My back was all over the place this week so some days it was fine and others it was not.

Well, let's start with Tuesday: There's a member in my ward who has his own therapy shop. So we went there after district meeting. Man, we were so pampered. Back massages, foot massages, and stretching machines. It was very Japanese. And then, I got stabbed with some needles. Because he's an acupuncturist. No big deal. When in Japan, do as the Japanese. I actually didn't feel the needles at all. I had one in my head, on in my finger, a couple on my legs and arms. I'm here to testify that acupuncture works. I left their place and my back didn't even hurt at all. Not in my upper back, not in my lower back. I felt so light. In the evening we tried 2 different types of dedno- "you're cute" dedno and "lost foreigner" dedno. Lost foreigner dedno is SO effective. People are always willing to help us find places. Then we tell them about the gospel. It's great fun.


Wednesday: We dendoed at a huge store. Because we are Americans, people just came up and talked to us. It was great. It was also good because it was air conditioned.

Thursday: We planned at a restaurant called Joyfull. They have these HUGE mango shaved ice things that are basically to die for.

Friday: lesson with M shimai! She's so cute. We talked about her family and how their hearts are being softened. Before they were all WAY against religion and would leave the house when missionaries came for lessons. But now when they find out we're coming over they clean up the house and make sure there's juice in the fridge for us. It's amazing how the Lord works. We also felt like we needed to bring her ice cream to eat together before the lesson and so we did. When we got there she was SO excited because she wanted to buy some the other day but couldn't leave the house beaches of her sick mom. So we were an answer to a prayer and a small reminder that God loves all of His children and knows their desires.


Saturday: It was a bad back day so we tried to go to the doctor- but it's a huge Japanese holiday this weekend so literally everything is closed until tomorrow (Tuesday). So we went to 31 ice (baskin robins) before deciding to go back to the apartment to rest. So laid on my futon and slept a bit and studied a bit. Then we went to a 8 year old baptism. The girl and her mom and sister are American but are half Japanese. And the girl wanted to be baptized in Japan with her grandparents. It was the strangest mix of Japanese and American baptism. American: big fancy baptism dress, food after the baptism, baptism book, taking pictures with everyone who came. Japanese: introduction of the baptized person, shaking everyone's hand after the baptism, the baptized person giving a talk. I didn't even realize that baptisms were so different. Well. The important parts are the same. In
the evening, our apartment had wifi which was a blessing because we stayed in all evening as well. We watched church movies and MOTAB and devotionals.

Sunday: we had a movie night after church in the evening and quite a few members showed up. We watched meet the Mormons.


Even though this week wasn't too eventful, but something I learned is that even when you can't give your 100% if you give the 40% you have, God makes it be enough. Some days, I've had only 10% to give. But it's always been enough. We met the people we've needed to meet and done the things we've needed to do. We do our best, Jesus does the best.

I'm sorry this week is a little sparse, there was a lot of time spent in the apartment because of my lame back. But we are still having fun and trying to be creative in how to dedno. Also, my companions an angel so... Also, my iPads acting weird so it's hard to type this up.
Sorry.

More miracles next week.

Love love love
ベアマン姉妹🐻


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More Japanese hospitals and being a missionary at Tiffany's

Well, this week was not as happy and exciting as planned. There was a lot more downs when we were expecting there to be ups. K san, the amazing really to get baptized I love Jesus investigator, has dropped off the face of the map. She won't contact us. And we have no idea why. Good old Satan. Up to his schemes. Then, we went back to the hospital to check out my back because it's been acting up again. Despite Satan's hard work- fun times were had and miracles were seen, although not the flavor we were expecting.

Tuesday: we've been doing lessons with members to help them create their own family mission plan. We visited a lady who is a 30 minute bike ride and a 30 minute train ride away. She took us to an all you can eat pizza place (with her adorable grandsons!). Then we found out she has a TON of dedno [missionary] fire and wants to help with dedno and go out dendoing with us and joint for all our lessons. Wow. We were excited. In the evening we went to visit another member. She's single and been feeling lonely lately. It was really cool as we taught her and she realized that this message was from God at the same time we realized we didn't prepare the lesson, God did. We said things that she needed to hear for sure. Even though I speak and understand (to some extent) Japanese, there's still a lot I don't know. A lot I don't pick up. And it's cool to see how when I try my hardest to be prepared, even if I don't know what's going on, what needs to be said is said.


Wednesday: You think that I would be a pro at Japanese hospitals based on the number of times I've been. But kanji gets me. Also, I'm not super familiar with a ton of Japanese medical terms. Fortunately they speak slowly. Man, the gift of tongues is real. After another batch of X-rays we determined (again) that there's no bone problem. So they sent me to the rehabilitation center (which is the Japanese version of PT) where they shocked me with electricity and then I experienced some water torture. In actuality, I had the electric patches on my back and then I got to lay on a water bed and water was jetted at my back in a manner that resembled a massage. I felt so good after. When we got back, the elders called us an said that 2 girls we met on Pday while shopping were at the church so we ran over there an gave them a church tour. They came to Eikaiwa that night as well. Success!


Thursday: we had a zone conference where Kaicho, shimai, [mission president and wife] and the AP's [Assistants to the President - missionary leaders who help him] came down (all the head honchos). We didn't have to bike 30 minutes up because a kind member gave us a ride. I was thrilled. We didn't show up soaked in sweat!

Friday: we had an awesome lesson with M shimai and taught from the scriptures. Most Japanese people think the scriptures are super unrelateable and hard to understand. But as we read a Book of Mormon story with her to teach about enduring to the end, it all clicked. She was able to relate it to her own life experiences and she was SO EXCITED. So were we. For dinner, we had an appointment with M san, a 22 year old college student. She's way cute and we ate at this delicious restaurant. The food was cheap and to die for. Gotta love college town rinky dink restaurants. Our lesson with her was super casual but at the end when we asked if she has any questions, she asked "can you teach me more about your church?" Well, yes. Yes we can. She goes home for summer break but will be back in September.

Saturday: we went to the doctor again. More water bed and electric patches. While at the doctor a few awesome things happened- we crashed into 2 less active members who told us to stop by their house (we wouldn't have met them otherwise, were normally studying at that time), I got to chat with a bunch of nurses about being a church
volunteer, and the Olympics were on in the lobby. It was the parade of nations. It was good language study because it was in Japanese of course. Speaking of the Olympics, the next one will be in Japan so I need to start saving up money and becoming more fluent so I can go...Real life dream.

Sunday: we had dinner with a member and a part member family. There was 2 little kids under the age of 5 so that was a party. The members did a stellar time fellowshiping while we kept the kids occupied. It was really fun. Also, we had really delicious food. So that's always a plus.




This week was a lot of creative missionary work. We were stuck in our apartment for a while- my fault- but we wanted to be effective so we got a bit creative with the time we did have. We had doctors dedno, Tiffany's & co dedno, lost foreigners dedno, sparkles dedno, huge festival dedno, and talk to shop owners dedno. We're getting the work done, just though slightly different means. It's fun to come up with
creative ideas. And people listen. Today, we're doing dinner dedno- going to the restaurant area of the mall and wandering around and asking people for restaurant recommendations.

It was a bit of a rough week. That's what happens on a mission. Last week was so awesome, it was bound to happen. But good things will come!

Good luck on the home front,
Love love love,
ベアマン姉妹（＾∇＾）

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I am no longer a teenage (Happy Birthday!)

Mom! Dad! It is weird to have an adult daughter? I assure you, I probably still act like a crazy teenager. The longer I'm on my mission, the crazier I get.

Tuesday: We had a cleaning check in the later morning. So we naturally cleaned all morning before that. We passed with flying colors. "Celestial" the sheet says. The couple doing the cleaning check also bought us a ton of ice cream because their angels and our stand in grandparents. When we went out to dedno, the first person we talked too turned into a return appointment. We were so shocked we forgot how to speak Japanese for a moment or 2. Then we biked over to a Family Home Evening with a part member family. The mom was baptized a little over a year ago, the husband is taking lessons with the elders, and they have a cute 3 year old boy. It was way fun. We talked about the temple and the power families get from the temple. I got to talk about my own awesome family and how much they have blessed my life and how grateful I am to be sealed to them forever. I wouldn't want to be stuck with anyone else. Then we made our own shaved ice after!
Shaved Ice
Wednesday: Was such a good day. I woke up at 6:30am not to my normal chewbacca alarm but to the Japanese sister in our apartment banging on a pan, singing happy birthday. It was an exciting start to a jam packed day. We had district meeting where happy birthday was sung and they surprised me at the end with some fire crackers that were way loud and covered me in streamers. Then we had all you can eat Italian food followed up by 31 ice (what they call Baskin Robbins in Japan). It was a good food 
31 Ice
day. Then we rushed to a lesson with M shimai (our recent convert). Her lessons always make me so happy. We talked about temples and you can never be sad when talking about the temple. Then she gave me this gorgeous red kimono because in Japan, when you turn 20 you become an adult and take lots of fancy kimono pictures. I love her to death. She's like my Japanese grandma. Then we spirited to our lesson with K San  WHO IS KINJIN (golden investigator). We met her last Wednesday, she came to church and loved it, and Wednesday was our first lesson with her. She is a spiritual power house. I've never met anyone SO prepared. We invited her to baptism and SHE SAID YES. 

We asked her when was good and she said the sooner the better because I want to go to the temple. So on August 13th, we plan on having her baptism (happy birthday dad). We are going to have to teach her almost every day next week but she's willing because she wants to come closer to God. After she left, we danced and screamed. I was so happy. I can't even describe how amazing she is. And how ready she is. And it makes me so happy. And excited. Man. So after that awesome lesson, we head back to the apartment to eat a quick dinner before Eikaiwa and go to unlock our apartment door to find the door decorated for my birthday. I was very happy. Then, as always, Eikaiwa was way fun. We taught everyone what "she's a peach" means. Then they suprised me again during conversation time by pulling out a cake with candles  and singing happy birthday. It was such a fun day. I felt so much love. Love from home (thanks for the packages and letters!!!) and from missionaries and from members and from Eikaiwa students and from God.  Sorry, that was long. Next...

Thursday: I got a letter from my companion in my last area and she told me that my convert in that area (T shimai) GOT ENGAGED and I was so happy. I danced around a bit. She's going to convert her husband for sure. In weekly planning we planned out how to teach everything to K san before she gets baptized in less than 3 weeks. It'll be a crazy week. I'm excited.

Friday: We met again with K san. She came before our member did so we showed her the room and went to go wait for the member. When we came back with the member, she was diligently reading from the BoM and taking note! Who does that? We had an amazing lesson with her. She loves God and prays to Him all the time be aide she knows He will listen. She even says she can hear His "voice" inside her heart when she has questions and doubts. We're not even teaching her really. She knows everything. As soon as we teach something she agrees like she known it her whole life even though she just learned it. Well, I guess she knew it all before this life and just forgot. We are just the lucky shmoes who get to remind her.

Saturday: We met with K san AGAIN. We taught her a quick lesson and then went to a baptismal service with her. She's way excited to be baptized. Then we biked all the way up to the stake center and arrived drenched in sweat. But then we had an awesome concert. My companion sang a song from Pocahontas and killed it. K san came to this event as well. She's practically a member already.

Before Bike Ride

After Bike Ride

Sunday: K san came to church. Even though Sunday was yesterday I don't remember much of what we did. We visited 2 members and made mission plans with their family. Hopefully we'll start getting the missionary work rock rolling because members are dwindling in the stake and they might get downsized to a district of big changes don't start happening [A stake is like a Diocese, while a district is a smaller organization] . Were working on it! Also, it's fun to visit with the members. Especially the younger one who dendoed so they know exactly why we came to visit them. Family, you're on top of it! You already have a Bearman mission plan. You rock. Keep it up.
Cool Park


Park




Well, this week should be fun for me so I hope you guys have fun too!

Love love love
ベアマン姉妹

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Last letter as a teenager, Temple Reunion, CHEESE, and a golden investigator

Beloved family and friends, this is my last email you'll receive from teenage me. Enjoy it.

We did have Pday. But not until Saturday. We went 11 days without a break. We were really tired. Exhausted. But it was worth it to go to the temple on Saturday. And because we sacrificed a day off, we saw SO MANY miracles. So it was worth it. Shimizu is on FIRE! We met SO many prepared people. And taught so many prepared people.

Monday: Was not Pday. We emailed and then we went out to face the world. We sang happy birthday to 2 people turning 19. We met a few Chinese people we set up appointments with. But the biggest miracle was in the evening. We went to a members house to share a short message. It was a spirit filled message. At the end, we asked her if any of her neighbors needed more peace and hope in their life after the earthquake. She pointed out a house down the street and explained the lady in that house's heart changed big time after the earthquake. So we set off to talk to this lady. It was way late but she answered the door almost immediately after we knocked. We chatted a bit. Then talked a little bit about how we can find hope through Christ during hard times. She then told us that during the earthquake she prayed so that her house would be ok and that she felt peace because of that prayer. She said she wanted us to come back!! We were on cloud 9 biking home. Moral of the story: members are the real missionaries. You know prepared people!


Tuesday: We biked up a mountain in the blazing heat. We melted. But then we went with a member to check a list of less actives. She rode her scooter (she's 65) and we sprinted behind her on our bikes. Everyone here rides scooters. It's the sickest thing. I want one. It would be so much quicker than a bike! And going up a mountain wouldn't be such a pain.

Wednesday: We met the coolest lady. We met her on the street and she told us how she wanted to a better person so she felt like she needed to learn more about God. She enrolled herself in a Bible class to learn more about God (who does that?!?!). When we said at church we can learn more about God, she was so excited and asked if it was ok that she come. We were blown out of the water. Her story continues on Sunday. We had 2 awesome lessons. One with a lady who came to church a few weeks back. We talked to her about family and she was SO excited. It was fun to talk about families with her (she's a grandma) and to hear and see the love she has for her family. The Japanese people know how to family. Then we had a lesson with a Chinese college student. That was interesting became we could only communicate in not our first language. But she's Christian and was way excited to talk to people more about Jesus. We were happy to comply. When we asked her to take a BoM she said that she wants to pray about whether it's really God's true book before she takes it.




Emma sees pool for
First time in Japan
Thursday: We planned. For everything. It took a while. We're making a lot of plans for the ward to want to become more involved in dedno. And we have quite a list of investigators now and it's really exciting. It's like the first time ever I've had such a long solid list of investigators (normally I have 1. Maybe sometimes 1.5 so I'm super excited)

Friday: I RECEIVED CHEESE!! It has been so long since I ate cheese. The few times I've eaten Japanese cheese (so expensive) doesn't count because it tastes COMPLETELY different. For dinner we had grilled cheese and I cried (not really but inside my heart I cried). It tasted like home. And it was amazing. So many many many thanks. We had a lesson with our recent convert, M shimai. She is an angel. She glows so much that when I leave lessons with her, I think I'm glowing too.


Saturday: Finally it was Pday. We woke up at 4:30am (which wasn't so bad until Sunday). A member drove us up to Fukuoka. And we went to the temple!! I was in the changing room, waiting for my lovely companion to finish changing, when I look up and see the back of a very familiar Japanese head. It was O shimai [Japanese Companion of Emma a few months ago] (who finished her mission about 2 months ago and lives about 5 hours away from Fukuoka)!!!!!!! I freaked out (very reverently) and gave her a big hug. It was like Alma 17:2. I was SO EXCITED TO SEE HER. I was filled with so much joy. I love her to death. Both times I've been to the temple in Japan, she's been there. The temple was amazing. I felt so full. Of love, energy, peace.
When I left, I felt like my heart was overflowing. I felt very whole
and complete.


Sunday: The lady we met on Wednesday came to church!!! And was 30 minutes early!!! Her name is K. And she is a kinjin (golden investigator) [someone really ready to hear the gospel]. She told us that the road we met her on is a road she hasn't walked on in 2 years but decided to take that road on Wednesday and was confused because she had no purpose. Then she met us. And she knew that's why she walked on that road. 😊 She loved sacrament. We talked all about the temple (because the Sapporo temple is opening soon! Look on LDS.org for pictures of the inside. It's SO pretty) and she told us at the end of church that she wants to do anything she can to go to the temple. We have an appointment with her on Wednesday and we plan on setting a baptism date with her. She's so prepared it's crazy. Then we dendoed for a bit and met some more prepared people who wanted (what?!?!) to come to church. We were very shocked. Then we had a meal at a members. For an elders birthday (that day) and my birthday (later). It was way fun. We ate taco rice. Which is taco salad on rice. It's the best. Then we had a TON OF ICE CREAM. It was heaven.


This past week was bananas. This next coming week should be equally so. We have some good lesson and stuff set up. I'm excited. 

Love love love,
ベアマン姉妹🐻

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