We had to stay inside all day because of Typhoon Vongfong

October 13, 2014

Konnichiwa!

Just for the record, vongfong isn't Japanese. BUT typhoon is! Don't worry, by the time it got to Kyushu (the island of Japan that I live on) it had died down! We were instructed to stay in our apartment all day! But be effective. What does that mean? We cleaned for SIX HOURS!! I didn't even know our apartment could be cleaned for that long. We cleaned and cleaned, finished, filled out records and then realized. Nobody had cleaned out the fridge or freezer. Oh well, better luck next time. hahah. But it was fun! We made nabe (really good soup that is practically Japan's chicken noodle soup) and homemade gyoza! (we at it at the Cooper's house before my mission!) It was way good! There were really strong winds, and it did rain a little. Probably the wind was the worst part. This time we got smart, and instead of putting the bikes in our living room are, we just put it them on our back porch! hahah The things you learn as you mature in mission age. The day ended with Hirata Shimai giving me a message. (after daily planning of course) Best companion award. Plus, she is really ticklish so she didn't even want one in return!

But we got to watch GENERAL CONFERENCE this week! Christmas came early!! It was way good! We had two investigators come. One of them was Kinjo san, who usually wears jogging suits to church, but he promised us to wear slacks, and this week he came in his slacks!! (still wearing his baseball cap, but he made progress!) he has already read from the beginning to Words of Mormon! Gosh I love that little guy! He is amazing! Just have to get him to gain a testimony for himself! We are praying he can pray by himself! But General Conference was way good! We got to go into the "English room" Where we ate popcorn, no bake cookies, and a ward member made us SANDWICHES! Granted, they were Japanese-y but they were good! Oh, I don't know if I have said this, they don't eat sandwiches here. They eat rice balls for lunch, or other things, but never sandwiches like we have! 

This week we were housing a big apartment complex, and there were these 6 little kids who answered the door (one kid, 5 friends), the mom was standing there, we were talking about God but she was just playing on her phone, so we ended up asking the kids if they believed in God one girl in the front did, she was so cute, probably 8ish. But the mom didnt have interest, so we left a flyer and moved on. Two days later we went to the same complex to finish housing, and knocked on this door, the same girl who said she had believed in God answered the door. She got really excited and told her mom she knew us! Hirata Shimai was behind the door, so they couldn't see her, so it was just me teaching them, but I was scared I wouldn't be able to understand their answer if I asked them any more questions. So I just asked if we could come back. The mom said yes! So we are going tonight! We are excited!! People to teach! We hope we can go back again! 

Well I love you all, hope you have a great week! And don't forget those things you learned in General Conference! I LOVE YOU!
Messer Shimai

Receiving massage from Hirati Shimai during the Typhoon lock down

Don't worry, because Hirati is so tiny, the punching actually felt good!

We got to visit Fukuoka this week!

Sept. 28, 2014

Went to Fukuoka for training this week!

Before anyone else says it, I KNOW tomorrow marks my 11 months mark!! It's crazy!! Where does the time go!! But I still haven't reached my year mark, so we are ok! 

This week was good! I was able to go back to my beloved city of Fukuoka for training!! Where I got to see COOK SHIMAI my MTC companion! We went through so much together, it is always so fun to see her! And my first area! It was so weird, I kept having flashbacks where I was freezing on my bike, or running away from members because I couldn't understand what they were saying to me! hahah I can't believe I am already on transfer 7! 

We were able to help one of our investigators at the dentist this week! The dentist is fun, but weird. They even take off their shoes when they go to the dentist!! So we put on slippers, and then the person that sits in the seat to get worked on, takes off the slippers so they are just getting worked on in their socks!! It does make it have a more "homey" feel to it!! But I am getting used to never wearing shoes, so I hope you don't judge me. 

This week we also had an open house! President has asked that all areas have an open house to get non-members to be able to come see the building in a non-scary environment (sorry, I am starting to really forget English! Even when I think hard about words, they don't come!) But our goal was to get 10 people to come!! We gave every member 10 flyers, and asked them to hand them out. We ended up getting SIX people that were members friends, ONE potential investigator (somebody that the other sisters in our area work with), and THREE middle school boys off of the street, which adds up to TEN!! We did it! we hit our goal!! We were so excited! It ended up being way good! We just set up the church like it would look at church, put some nice music in each room, and would just explain each room in 2-3 minutes! It went really well and even got to hand out a couple copies of the Book of Mormon, and got their numbers and addresses! So we were excited about that! 

I also got a package from the Young Women this week! It made me so happy! I was SO SURPRISED!! It was marvelous!! And perfect timing, I had just biked home in the beginning part of a typhoon, so i was drenched and a little embarrassed from how often my skirt kept flying up while biking in the wind! But it was so good to see all the notes that the girls wrote me! So fun! I felt the love!! 

Have a great week! I love you!

Messer Shimai