Voting, Fire flowers 💥, fire balls

Hellooooooooooo family,

What's cookin'? Lots of stuff is cooking in Higashiku. Including pots. We were getting ready to make lunch and we put a pot on with some oil in it. Then we started chopping up veggies when suddenly the inside of the pot caught on fire and here was a crazy fire ball. Turns out there was a hole in the pot (thanks elders) and so the flame went through the hole and caught all the oil on fire. It was exciting to say the least. 

Well, on to this week. It was a crazy stressful week. Lots of not knowing what's going on. Because of whitewashing [neither Emma or her companion being in the area previously]. Because me and my companion are from different countries with very different cultures. Because we don't know the area at all. Because all the people who we contacted previously are male (and guy Japanese is so much harder than female Japanese). But despite all the "I don't knows" we still saw miracles. I am so grateful this is the Lord's work and not mine. 

Fire flowers: on Saturday we were talking to a lady on the street and she told us there would be fire works (which are called fire flowers in Japanese) that night over the river. We really wanted to go but we  got told in the early afternoon so by the time evening swung around we had forgotten. By the time we remembered we assumed they were over. So we went and started knocking doors. Then we heard the sound of fire works. We sprinted back to our bikes and started biking toward the sound as fast as we could. And we found them! We got to watch them from a bridge for 5-10 minutes get lit off over a river. It was beautiful. Afterwards we still had a little time left to dendo but we didn't know where we should go. So we prayed to know where to go and I felt like we should go to this one apartment that seemed to have a lot of lights on. So we went over and knock on the first door and this really chill guy answers the door and we just casual talk about Jesus with him. He was way nice and even though he didn't want to learn more I know we went there to meet him. 

Phone dendo: one of the days this week when my back wasn't too happy, we called people on the phone who had met with missionaries before. A surprising amount of people answered and lots of them were willing to chat on the phone. Two guys said they had interest but were too busy because of work. One guy said that he was grateful that missionaries were here trying to help people in Japan. That phone call made me feel better. Then I called a guy named Andy who turns out to be British. Yeah. That was confusing. I had like, a normal English conversation with him. Weird. It's been so long. Like actually, I haven't spoken normal English in about a year. Phone calls are so different in English! 

Voting: so I voted for the first time. For the president of the United States. From Japan. While eating food. With chop sticks. While explaining to my Japanese companion in Japanese what I was doing. It was a strange moment. Especially to see the options listed in English and Spanish. Like who even speaks Spanish? Everyone speaks Japanese! 

Enrique: our Peruvian recent convert. He was baptized 2 months ago. It's hilarious because we teach him in Japanese but he acts and speaks very much like a Latino. Too bad I forgot ALL my Spanish since learning Japanese. He is so humble it's unbelievable. All he wants to do is follow Jesus Christ. And he'll do anything he has to to follow Him. It's cool because his brother's wife is a member (they live in Peru). And his brother recently converted. He found out his brother had converted and met the missionaries on the street soon after. Man. God has a plan. For everyone. It's so cool! 

Zone training meeting: I met so many missionaries that I haven't seen in forever. People from Okinawa, the MTC. And then I realized how old I am. I got to talk with the Chikushino missionaries and they caught me up on all my people in the Chikushino ward. There's one Eikaiwa student that me and my companion saw all over Chikushino. So one day we casually invited him to church and he came. Then I transferred but apparently he's been attending church and is preparing to be baptized in November! And my recent convert- T shimai- got married!!!!! Now she has to convert him. Lol. So I can go to their temple sealing. 

J: she's the Vietnamese girl we met last week on the wrong train. She spent 3 hours trying to find the church. But because she can't read or speak Japanese and because I don't know the city of Fukuoka, we couldn't help. She showed up at the end and we gave her a BoM. We plan on meeting on Wednesday as a dinner date/lesson and then go to Eikaiwa together after. It was cool to see how her desire to go to church continued through 3 hours of being lost in a foreign county. Satan can't stop her!

The Elder who reminds me of my cousin, Kellen Cribbs: if you haven't met my cousin Kellen Cribbs, I suggest you fly out to Washington state and meet him. He's a chill dude. Anyway, there's this new Elder in Fukuoka. He arrived from the MTC 2 weeks ago. Fantastic guy. I've chatted with him a time or two. The reason I bring him up is because he gave me a priesthood blessing on Sunday. My back had been hurting and crazy stuff, you know. So I asked for a blessing. Well, of course they let the newbie do it but the coolest part was to see him prepare to give the blessing. He stepped of to the side and said a prayer. And then he gave me a blessing. And it was one of the most powerful blessings I've received. And I think I really came to understood how we can use God's power. All worthy men over the age of 12 hold the priesthood. And women have power from God too. But there's a difference between using that power and exercising that power. Both get the job done. But when we exercise that power, opposed to just using it, we can do so much more than we could ever think of doing on our own. And how do we exercise power? Prayer (if you listened to conference, it talks all about it)!  It was a cool "aha!" moment. I don't know about you guys but I'm going to start praying to exercise my power. 

Bike home: in the pouring rain ☔️. Despite it being chillier and cold rain it was fun. Add to the fact we didn't know where we were going was fun. But there's something liberating about biking in a skirt on a bike in the pouring rain. Like "if I can do this I can do anything" sort of liberating. 

Fukuoka Ward: is huge. There's 18 missionaries in the ward (I miss counted last time). The ward is 8 times larger than my last area of 30 members. It's split into 5 areas so members and missionaries can actually work together. It was a little overwhelming. Also, since its right next to the mission office and all the office missionaries and people go there, it is run very different than a tiny ward in Kumamoto. But is fun. O shimai's (my former Japanese companion) older brothers family lives in the ward. I hope she comes down for a temple trip and stays with her older brother and then maybe I can see her! 

This will be a good week. Also, just found out there's a Costco in my area so it has to be a good week. Y'all have a good week too!!

Love love love,

ベアマン姉妹

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Moving and Conference

Dear kazoku and amigos,

As always, I'll start off by saying this week was CRAZY! I say that almost every week but every week is crazy in a different way. Never a dull moment when you're serving the Lord. 

Right now I'm up in Higashiku, Fukuoka with S shimai. It is probably 105 degrees cooler than Kumamoto. Kumamoto still feels like D.C. in late July/August. Fukuoka is more like mid September. I'm sweating a lot less. The elders (thankfully) did an amazing job cleaning the apartment [They moved into an apartment that used to be used by male missionaries, typically not the cleanest]. Although when we first got there we didn't know where the apartment was. So we just wandered around. Fortunately my Japanese companion can read a map it took about 20 minutes to find our place from the train station. Turns out, our apartment is less than 5 minutes away from said train station. We arrive in our apartment and are pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness but soon realize as we decide to start lunch, that there's actually no food. At all. So we leave the apartment and start wandering around, looking for a grocery store. We come back, eat, and start planning for the week before realizing we can't because our area book hasn't synced [they have electronic records of who is being taught, and they didn't sync with their ipads yet]  and the elders didn't leave a note about the people. And that about sums up my time in Higashiku so far. No one knows what's going on or where anything is or who anyone is. 

As for my companion: S shimai. She's from Tokyo, Japan. She's 19 and the oldest of 3 siblings. She loves dancing. Transfer 5. She speaks a little English and understands a bit too. 

This week we had a cool miracle. It was the day after transfer day and we realize we have no iPad chargers in the apartment. And no maps either, to tell us where we're going. So we trained to Fukuoka Shi and picked up S shimai's charger. On the way back we took the wrong train and ended up in the way wrong place. So we were waiting for the right train and a cute girl walks by with English writing on her shirt. I said "hi" and she said hi back. And we started chatting in English. She's Vietnamese and moved to Japan 2 days before. She asked what we were doing in Japan and I said teaching about Jesus. She got really excited and said she wanted to learn more. She said she wanted to come to church that Sunday too. She didn't end up coming become she lost the map we gave her but we've had daily contact since we met her. We gave her the address to the church and she plans on coming next week. God really puts us in the right place at the right time to meet the people we need. 

Saturday night we were dendoing [knocking on doors] a massive apartment and most people slammed the door pretty quick. But I kept thinking about Preseident Uchtdorf's talk about continuing until the 4th floor, last door (although in our case, we started on the 13th floor and went down). Then we met someone REALLY COOL. It was cool because when we got to the area we planned on there was 10 huge apartment buildings but we both felt we should do the same one. We went to that one and it had 4 sections and we felt like doing the same section. The Spirit. It's real. He guides us. Anyway, we met someone named A. She's Chinese and a mom and works. She was really interested in learning about how Jesus strengthens family. She told us that she has had interest in Jesus before in her life but she didn't know where to look and she didn't have enough time to figure out. Coincidence we showed up? I think not. We are meeting with her next week :)

Today we went to a ward BBQ. Fukuoka ward is HUGE. Shimizu ward had 30 people in it on a good day. Fukuoka ward has almost 300. Yes. Wow. They're all super solid members though. There's 14 missionaries in the ward. AP's, office elders, Fukuoka shimai, Fukuoka elders, Fujisaki sisters, Nakagawa sisters, and us! I don't think I missed anyone. Oh, President Egan and his wife come when they're not traveling. Fukuoka city is huge but I live north of the city. We have some of the outskirts of the city so it seems. Haven't spent a ton of time in our area yet. With conference and stuff. Our church building is over 30 minutes away by bike. If we go really fast. That will be interesting with lessons. We'll have to have them at McDonald's or something.  

Well, this week should be interesting. My back is doing a lot better. Still bleh but a better bleh. I'm going to the doctor again this coming week. 

Have a wonderful week. I love you guys TONS. TONS OF TONS worth of love coming you're way. 

Love, love, love

ベアマン姉妹

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Well, Elder Rasband committed me to do it so here I go. Testify time!! To start off with I know that we are God's children. And He loves each one of us individually. He has a plan for each of us. That may a plan completely different from one we expected but it's the one that will make us happy. That's what He wants. Our happiness. Part of His plan, to make us happy, He gave us a Savior. Jesus Christ. Through Christ we can overcome weakness, trials, mistakes, death and eventually leads us to eternal life with Him, God, our family, or friends. In the ultimate state of happiness. Because that's what God's plan is all about. Our happiness. The path that leads us there is Jesus Christ. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we learn about how to follow Christ. It is His church on the earth today. I know that's true. I know God's love and Christ love is what keeps me going during hard time. Times I don't know why what is happening is happening. But I know that when we trust in Christ, whatever does happen will ALWAYS work out in the end. I have experienced that on my mission so many times. With members, with investigators, with my self. We don't know God's will, but God knows God's will and sometimes that's all that matters. 

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The modes of transportation this week: bus, train, subway, bike, foot, President E's car

Hello beloved people!  

Happy news! I'm staying in Japan for sure! This week we managed to

travel all over the place. Seriously, this week was CRAZY.

Also, got transfer calls! I've been called as a senior companion- to a Japanese companion, S shimai. I'm whitewashing in to Higashiku.  [white washing is missionary speak for going to area where both you and your companion are new to the area at the same time]  It's been an elders area for quite some time, but they're taking the elders out and putting us in! I'm SUPER nervous. 

Fukuoka: We went up to see the doctor. Thanks mom, for mentioning him in an email because he fixed my back. Again. And becomes of him, I'm staying on a mission 💃🏽 We bussed (is that a word?) up and we're planing on taking a bus back. But Shimai and Kaicho [mission president and his wife] offered us a ride back. NOT NORMAL. It's a 2 and a half hour ride and we chatted for all of it. The first little part was an interrogation. Of me and my back and my situation. That was at the beginning of the trip. He didn't make the decision until towards the end. We were just chatting away with Shimai and he interrupts and says "I've made a decision. Sister Bearman, you're staying." I've never felt so relieved in my life. It was really fun, however, to chat casually with the mission president and his wife. For 2 and a half hours. They're such cool people 😁

K san: we met with her 3 times this week and finished up all her lessons. She LOVES the commandments. She understands that commandments are a way to show thanks to God and she wants to say thanks to God as much as she can. When we taught the law of tithing, [practice of giving 1/10th income to the church] she understood the purpose before we even explained it to her! She believes everything we say because she knows we are messengers from God. I can't adequately explain how amazing she is! Well, she was supposed to get baptized this past Sunday but on Friday morning we get a call from her. She had gotten way sick. So we hauled butt out there with the elders on a train and had a crazy adventure. We were able to see her for a short time (she did not look too good) and the elders gave her a blessing. The next day (the day of her baptism interview) we get a text from her and she said she had been hospitalized. So we went out with the elders again to try to find her: checked 2 hospitals and her house and she wasn't there. So we left her some flowers at her house. We haven't heard from her since. It's so sad. And frustrating. She's so close! And Satan had to get in the way. Side note: we taught her a lesson at her house his week and her rice cooker is Pooh Bear. When you push the start button to start cooking rice, it starts singing the Winnie the Pooh theme song. 🎶 Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh 🎶 

A and E: 2 sisters from Eikaiwa. They came to church on Sunday and when I asked them after church if they had any questions, they asked if we could teach them more about Jesus. Gladly! We set up an appointment for Monday. They came to dinner at a members house with us on Sunday evening it was a cool experience for them to be in a home filled with the good feelings they've only felt at church. As we talked to them at the dinner (in half English half Japanese) we realized how humble they are. On Monday we had a short and sweet lesson about Jesus. They LOVED Jesus. 

Cleaning baptismal font: With bleach! We were preparing for a baptism (which sadly didn't happen but will happen soon (and I won't be here😂)) and the baptismal font was COVERED in really gross yellow mold. We poured so much beach into the font we lost our sense of smell for a while. But it's all sparkly and clean now. It was a fun time though. We sang to LDS.org songs!! 

Women's conference: watched it from the comfort of our futons. I really liked Pres Uchtdorf's talk about faith. That's something I learned these past couple transfers. Sometime you can't have faith in an outcome, but if you have faith in Christ, the outcome will be ok. 

Bugs in the night: My companion is a hoot. I wake up in the middle of the night to my companion screaming "BUG!!" and then sprinting to my futon and perching there while peering at her bed suspiciously. I went back to sleep because I thought it was a dream. Turns out, it really happened! Found that out the next day. We laughed for 20 minutes straight. 

Family Joke

My companions account: it was sometime around 11:30, and I was in the state of mind when I wasn't quite asleep, but I wasn't really awake. Well, I was looking up at the ceiling and in my groggy stupor I thought I saw a large hairy spider on the ceiling above my head. After a second or two, the spider fell from the ceiling and I thought it fell right on my futon! I was not about that. I woke myself up shrieking "It's a BUG!", promptly launched out of my futon and onto my companion's. Sister Bearman awoke from the noise, sat up groggily and found me perched on her futon peering suspiciously at my sheets. She shrugged and went back to sleep, and I, after a few minutes of sitting on her futon in the dark, figured I was willing to risk going back to sleep and climbed back in bed. The funny part is, yesterday after a lesson, she started telling me about weird dreams she had, and started telling me about how I had been screaming about bugs. We had a good laugh when I had to tell her that her dream was actually real. 

Wild pork: We went on a drive with a Japanese person (an investigator of the elders who was taking us on a trip) and we went though a pretty forestry area. He's trying to learn English so he was speaking Japanglish to us. We asked if there was any wild animals in the forest and he got really excited and was like "there's wild pork!" We thought it was hilarious. Also, we were slightly confused. We soon realize he meant wild boar. We laughed for a while after that. 

Well, these next few days will be a whirlwind of packing and saying goodbye. Which is always sad. But I'll definitely get good pictures!

Have a fabulous week! I will because it's CONFERENCE WEEK!! 

Love love love

ベアマン姉妹

Sent from my iPad