Easter in Japan was great!

Sunday, April 20th, 2014

Hi everyone!

All cereal here is just Corn Flakes.  But, I found
Waffle Crisp...with Corn Flakes combined!

Easter in Japan was great! We were able to go to a families house yesterday for a big FHE activity with different families in the ward. The ward did a huge FHE extravaganza where different families went to a families house and had FHE together. We went to the Yoshizawa's house.

One of my favorite ward children!

Clothes swap and Easter egg hunt

Filipino and Japanese food!

My new scripture case I made

Doing some service road cleaning.  This road leads to our church.

 There were 6 other people there. We had curry, and salad and heard about their conversion stories and then talked around some weird jello dessert thing. It was great though, we were able to get to know some members we didn't know very well before. One of the people there was a returned missionary, he is fluent in English, it was so nice to talk to him! He actually understood me! ha! What a concept! It was a lot of fun though!

This week was baby english class! Since I am now the only American sister in Fukuoka I get to teach the Mommy English class and Baby English calss by myself! It was actually a lot of fun! This week after baby eikaiwa, we had "Kangaroo Club" where the young moms brought all of the the old clothes they didn't want and they all switched. I swear, they could have their own shop. They had different tarps for each category of clothes! Too bad they are all really short and belly shirts and mini skirts are totes inapro-pro. Then I explained what Easter was in Japanese, it was so scary, and we hid Easter eggs and little kids ran around finding them. Then they decorated the eggs with LDS stickers! hahahah it was fun! Japanese people don't really celebrate Easter. The members do, but since Buddhism is so big here, nobody else really celebrates Easter. 

This week we had TWO less active members come to church yesterday!! Such a miracle! We were so excited to have them come and feel the spirit of Easter! It is so hard for people to come to church because Japan is such a busy place!!

We weren't able to meet with our investigator, Ueha san because she was sick :( But we were able to meet with Michiko san TWICE! She LOVES reading the Book of Mormon! She reads it as a novel though. We are hoping she can apply it into her life somehow. She leaves tomorrow for her parents house for three days though. So we hope she can keep reading and feel of the power of the BOM! She is so great. She loves Americans. She had me teach a whole lesson in English so she could listen and try to understand English. She didnt understand anything, so we went back and repeated it all in Japanese. She's funny. She took us to a restaurant Marilyn Monroe ate at when she visited Fukuoka haha 

Oh mom, I met a lady on the street. She is 94 and she folk danced for 30 years! she started when she was 60, and was even on TV! I told her I did some folk dancing and she got really happy! She was so cute!

Well I hope you all are having a great Easter Weekend back home, and that you have an even better week this week! Thank you so much for all of your love and support! i love and miss you all!! 

Messer Shimai

my missionary shoe tan line is coming along nicely

April 6, 2014

Hello! 

Well it is warming up here in Fukuoka! The cherry blossoms are turning into leaves, my tights have been put away into my dresser, and my missionary shoe tan line is coming along nicely. It still isn't super humid. So I am thanking my lucky stars for that!

This week was SO GOOD! I think it was so good because it really ended with a bang with General Conference! I was able to watch it with the other American (and one Australian) missionaries in another room in English, so that was good! The talks were amazing and I am so sad that we have to wait another six months to hear them again! It was like a little slice of home all the way here in Fukuoka! 

a ward member went and got TONS AND TONS 

of fresh seaweed. He gave us a lot...it was so ...yummy.

We were able to teach our investigator, Ueha San. Ueha san and her husband own a barber shop that is attached to their house, pretty much on the campus of Fukuoka University, so it is fun to go a little early and find around the college. We are trying to focus on the young people as a mission, but not very many of them have time or interest in religion. But it's ok, because there are some out there, and they are the ones we are looking for! Anyway, we were planning to extend a baptismal date to Ueha san, but the spirit wasn't really there in the lesson, so we didn't end up extending it. But we are praying we can see a baptismal date before April 20. That's the missions goal for this transfer. Date by April 20, and baptism by May 11!! We hope and pray to see a miracle! 

This week we went out and ate lunch with a member from the Philippines. There are a couple of Filipino sisters in our ward, so we all got together to celebrate Elizabeth Shimai's birthday. It was so fun! The Nakagawa shimai came, and so it was a big party at this little Italian restaurant. Let me tell you, Filipino's are so fun! They all speak Tagalog, English, and Japanese. So it is kind of a mix of all three. I thought I didn't know much Japanese, but when they started speaking Tagalog, I realized how much more Japanese I know. Does that make sense? hahahah I couldn't understand a word of Tagalog, but at least I could understand when they 

were speaking Japanese! One thing I have noticed being companions with Ito Shimia is that my understanding has increased! I can understand more Japanese, but I just can't form the sentences to reply. But that is how Ito Shimai is with English, so it is usually a she speaks in japanese-I speak in English kind of situation. But if I can say it in Japanese, I try! I just need to try and then I think I will be able to see more progress!

Elders in my district

Fukuoka is so great!! I love serving here and I love serving the people! We have been street contacting A LOT! Over 200 people last week! The work is good. The work is hastening, and I am trying my hardest!

Thank you for the emails and the love and support! I love you all so much! I hope you all ate an extra funnel cake for me at the fair this week! Love you!
Messer Shimai 

We are progressing and improving!

April 6, 2014

on a bus

vendors

sakura trees in blossom!

by a pond

on splits with Sister Takahashi

Hi!

This week was good! Things are going great with Ito Shimai! We are progressing and improving! I have already learned so much this transfer, and I can't wait to see what in store for me this transfer!! We can communicate pretty well. Sometimes it gets a little frustrating because we dont understand each other 100%, so when explaining investigators situations, we think we understand each other, but then it's just a little different. But it all works out in the end!! Our Nakagawa Sisters that were living with us moved out :( Our 6 man apartment went down to a 2 man. WE HAVE SO MUCH ROOM! We have a huge room for just 2 peoples clothes, and extra bedroom with nothing in it, and our study room is so bare with only 2 desks! President surprised us to help move the shimai, it was scary. President IN OUR APARTMENT!! He told us we had to clean. It was messier than usual, just because everyone was packing and what not. But let me tell you, it is spotless now. We made sure to clean it! We still get to see the Nakagawa sisters on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. So it is always fun to see them and speak fast, normal english! hahah
We did get a little rain this week, its always just a nice mist to ruin the makeup, and make your hair damp. It's theee best. But I am enjoying it, because I know that soon it will be monsoon season and I will wish it was the awkward mist. 

This week I got to go on splits with a first transfer. Sister Takahashi, one of the sisters that was living in our apartment. She doesn't know English. It was SO FUN! She is 19, and just the cutest little Japanese girl. We just laughed and did hand signals and I did cave-man Japanese. We found a new investigator!! But he is a man, so we referred him to the Elders! We are counting on them to baptize him! ;) I will send you a picture of us! I look like a GIANT! compared to her. What's new? 

We were able to meet with Michiko san this week. It was great to have Ito Shimai there so they could talk japanese and understand each other. We met at the most beautiful part of Fukuoka! It is called Ohori-kohen and is a park with a pond in the middle and a track going around it. There is a starbucks there, so Michiko san bough us juice and cinnamon roll! hahah The sakura where in bloom and there were tons of people since it is everyones spring break! It was so nice! She is progressing, and it will be nice to be able to explain everything in perfect Japanese with Ito Shimai so that she can keep progressing! 

We didn't get to watch General Conference this week. We have to wait a week for translation. So next week, we will be able to watch it! Glad to hear no crazy announcements happened! I can't wait to hear it! A missionaries Christmas!! Well thank you for all of the love and support! I hope you have a great week and have fun at the FAIR!! 

Love you!

Sister Messer