Week Fourteen.

Ohayo Gozaimasu!

 

Well the big news as you know is the earthquake! According to the people here, it was only a 5.0 earthquake. If it is over 5.2 an alarm on our phone goes off ten seconds before the earthquake hits and so we only have 10 seconds to prepare. The alarm didnt go off, but I sure did feel the quake! It was around 2 am here and all of a sudden everything started shaking and the walls were rumbling. All three of us woke up and sat up and just started saying, Jishin! Jishin! Daijobu desu ka?! Which means Earthquake, earthquake! Are you okay? Then we just kinda waited it out. Johnson Shimai and I both were saying Ohh.. Oki...Ohh... Nagai!! Which means, Whoa, its big. Whoa! Its long! It lasted forever it felt like! But after it was over we just went back to sleep fairly quickly. It was kinda fun, but also really scary because you cant do anything about it. You just have to wait! 

Last week I bought myself some rain clothes which turned out to be really helpful this week. We had a rainstorm for like 3 days in a row. I basically wear snow gear anytime I go outside. I will have to take a picture one of these days and send it to you. I bought a new SD card at the store and Johnson Shimai has a card reader so I am hoping the card works there... but now I have another problem. The computers at the Aizu college wont let us email anymore so we have to come to the library to email but you cant upload pictures here! Bummer. I did print some pictures off at a convenient store this morning so I will have to send some home. I also bought a really really good winter coat. Well actually a member found a good one for me on the internet and it came this week! I was only 32 dollars. Nice!

We had a split with the sister training leader this last week, but I didnt really participate in it. She only did a split with Johnson Shimai and Morita Shimai. I was kinda happy about that because I was really nervous ha ha. It was a fun few days. Morita Shimai was really happy too because we had 2 added Nihonjin at our house for a couple days! We did a lot of walking for the tri-panionship. The people on the split took the bikes so the other 3 had to walk around. I got blisters and I hurt my left foot somehow. It hurts always. I might have twisted my ankle or something. I dont really know. But I just keep walking on it because I have to ha ha. I dont think it is anything serious.

Last week during the split Morita Shimai and Iwasa Shimai (the STLs companion) and I went with a member and visited a referral she had for us. We went sight seeing and also visited this giant shrine. It was so cool! Shrines are so pretty and interesting. It was awesome. My camera died so I didnt take any pictures...

Looking back at this week it was actually really fun! We door bell ditched one of the members and left a halloween treat on their door... We went shopping for halloween costumes and halloween food in Koriyama with some of the members because we have a Halloween party coming up on Wednesday... yesterday church was really good and I kinda understood relief society (like maybe 15%!!) so that was good. And! Yesterday we got the transfer call!

So I will be staying in Aizu.. and my companion is... Sister Johnson! Yipee! Ha ha she already is my companion and I really like her so itll be good. Two blonde Americans trying to speak Japanese... this will be interesting. This is only the beginning of her 4th transfer, and she is continuing my training! Scary right? Sister Morita is the new Sister Training Leader!!!! She will be receiving a new bean chan too! American probably... She will be busy busy. Tomorrow we are going to Sendai to go to training meetings and get the new bean. I like traveling because it is kinda a rule to be quiet on busses so you cant talk to anyone, so we just sleep. It is awesome.

Dad, happy birthday! I am glad you got my present. How long did it take? I got your dear elder 2 days ago on Saturday the 26th.

Mom, I dont know if you have sent my package yet, but if it isnt too heavy, will you send my straightner? And I am going to need a journal here in 30 days or so. I looked for journals here but all they have is wimpy notebooks. Also, I can buy shampoo and everything here. I just really need toothpaste and stuff ha ha.

Well, I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and everything.

Love, Sister Miranda Robertson

Week Thirteen.

Hey mom and dad! Thanks for your letters!

 

I did enjoy the Typhoon quite a bit because President Rasmussen told us all to stay in our apartments! So we had kinda a second P day! It was awesome. We took naps... did as much dendo as we could in doors with preparing... and had some fun taking pictures and such. We also did a lot of cleaning. It was a good day! Very very very rainy and windy though!

Also we have the occasional earthquake too here. I can never tell if it is just the apartment that has problems when a car passes by or if it is a small earthquake. But usually in the morning my desk will shake for a few seconds. Its cool.

I have a request: I have been buying a lot of clothes to protect me in the weather. It would be great if you could send me a balance of my account every week so I know where I am at. Thanks!

So we have been making a little progress with Otaki san. I found out that he is scared of crowds.. we taught him about the Book of Mormon and prayer but he said he doesnt really believe in that stuff so he probably wont pray. But he did invite us back again. With the transfer coming up and a new bean chan coming, we will probably have to pass Otaki san to the elders.

We did find two new investigators this week though! Kawashima san and Hirano san. They are a mother daughter combo! They both are so sweet and so prepared. I am excited to start teaching them more.

I feel like I dont have much to report on. But I do have a lot to ask for, sorry!

Mom, here is my list of things I need.

Crest toothpaste

PB M and Ms

zone protein bars

flavor packets

(the food is optional ha ha i dont need it.)

venus- embrace razor refills

maybelline dream liquid mousse foundation- classic ivory

CG fresh complexion concealer (it has a blue lid)

my black pants from my closet

my warm socks from my dresser (red/white, yellow, turquoise stripes)

ear warmer (can buy here)

eye drops

black tights and little socks for flats. I am a size 9 shoe.

nylons (i can buy some here so this is optional)

I bought 2 pairs of tights today and 2 pairs of little socks, but I need more to cover for the whole week. I have to wear socks in other peoples houses. Its a must.

The raincoat we bought me doesnt work. It is terrible. So today we are going to go look for a raincoat and rain pants. Hopefully I can find some good stuff. I didnt realize that it rained so much here. I bought a coat today and also a nice family in the branch i am serving in ordered me a cheap good coat off of the internet! so That should be coming soon.

I am doing pretty good, still homesick sometimes though. I hope I can pick up on the language soon. The transfer ends Oct 27th. I should be staying and we should be getting a new bean chan.

To all that have asked: for my entire mission, you should always send your letters to the mission home and they will forward the letters to me. Please, and thank you!

ALso to my friends, if you want.... I am wishing I had some music to listen to! So if you find some good church music and wanna make a good cd, you can and then send it to me! Thanks!

Thanks for all you do, I will talk to you next week.

Love, Miranda

Week Twelve.

Hey mom Im sorry that you didnt get a letter yesterday! We had a big ward activity that took up the whole day and also it was a holiday so we couldnt use computers because the college was closed. We moved our Pday to today so we could email. We had to go to the library today though because they computers were down at the college. I got my very first Japanese Library Card today! Yay! Ha ha...
Okay so this week also had its ups and downs. The beginning of the week was the bad part and the second half of the week was okay. On Tuesday nights we have institute and we are studying in 1 and 2 Corinthians. One of the members of the ward has an english lesson manual that he lets me and Sister Johnson use so thats nice. But at insitute I got asked to read a block of scripture so I did and then after the teacher asked what I thought about it but I couldnt even understand the scripture so I tried saying Oh Im sorry. I didnt understand the scripture. But everyone thought I was just not knowing how to say anything so they were all saying Oh Engish is okay! Eigo daijobu! And it was just making me freaked out because I am trying to speak Japanese to them but they cant understand me anyways! Everytime I have to speak on the spot without practice before hand I get so nervous and start to cry. So yes, I started crying in institute. It was embarrassing. But on the bright side, earlier that day we went streeting and talked to a lot of people! There was a guy sitting on the curbside and I said to Sister Johnson, I need to talk to that guy! So I went over to him with an Eikaiwa flyer and in very very bad Japanese said, Im from a nearby church! I am also an english teacher! We have english conversation class every week on wednesday. Here is a free flyer. Please come!   My companions chuckled because I said free flyer. Flyers are always free! I meant to say free eikaiwa ha. But that was cool. I did it all by myself even! He never came to eikaiwa though. Oh well.
The next day right from the beginning of the day it was bad. I woke up and started walking down the hall way to the bathroom which is a straight shot but I was blacking out. I figured, the bathroom is straight ahead! Ill be fine to just keep walking even though I cant see! But there is a door that seperates the hall from the kitchen which was the pathway I was taking and the door wasnt all the way pressed against the wall so I walked right into the side of the door and banged my head. It hurt so bad! I had two lines where the door hit my forehead all day and the days following as well. My head is still a little tender today even ha ha. But then the whole rest of that day I was just feeling poor thinking of how unclean I am and how I need to repent so much. I spent all day studying repentance and just feeling so low. I think the BOM prophets give good descriptions of the pain a person can feel from being full with sin. I felt how they felt. So it was a pretty sad day for me. But the next day I studied forgiveness and I feel as if I had a complete change of heart! The joy Alma the Younger talks about in Alma 36 is real! Also I love what Nephi says in 2 Ne. 4. The Book of Mormon is awesome! It was a good day to feel forgiven.
Also, on that same day we went to this place that is 2 hours away by car with one of the members to visit a referral she had for us. It was the nicest family! We visited a lady named Gamon san. Her husband died like a year ago and she has been so depressed since then. She lives with her parents and her mother has bad knees and has had some pretty crazy surgery so the member we went with said they have really been prepared by the Lord to be ready for the gospel. We didnt end up teaching a lesson but we did a lot of BRTing (Build Relationships of Trust) which is really really good. I spoke a lot of Japanese too and they in return tried speaking english to me! It was the only time this whole mission I have actually felt comfortable talking to a Nihonjin. I was able to tell them that at school I studied food and health and so then they started asking my all these questions about Oh what has more calories? A kilgram of flour, a kilogram of sugar, or a kilogram of rice? Ha ha I do not know the answer! Nor did I understand they were even asking me that. My companions have to translate everything for me. But I thought it was really awesome how they understood me enough to reply with a question like that! So thats cool! Later that night we also taught a lesson to Otaki san! Remember him? He is our only investigator. We taught him about God. He told us that he doesnt believe in God. He told us we could come back the next week though so we will keep teaching him. Tonight we are going to teach him about the BOM and I have to start! For companionship study this morning we practiced and I did so terrible and I think Sister Johnson was getting frustrated because I was going really slow and couldnt figure out what to say and I kept asking, What would be a good thing to say? Or how to do you say this? and Johnson Shimai said   Just say what you can! Its up to you!! I dont know. It made me get embarrassed though so I felt like crying again.. like always ha ha.
On the 11th was my half birthday! I am half way to 21 years old. On this day we had interviews with President Rasmussen so we traveled to Koriyama for that. It was fun to see some of the other missionaries in my zone. And to talk to President Rasmussen. He told me that a new sister will be coming to Aizu and so we will have 2 companionships of 2 people.
The next day was Saturday and so I got to watch conference! In the main meeting room is where the Nihonjin watched conference and the english speakers had to sit in the kitchen and watch the english version ha ha. Me, Sister Johnson, Elder Low, and Saito Kyodai were in the kitchen. Saito Kyodai is the member that gave us the english manuel at institute. He is also Pres Rasmussens first counselor. He is so nice and he speaks pretty good english so he always speaks english to me. Conference was way good. I am excited to get the conference talks. Every month we get the Liahona here which the nihonjin use as the ensign, new era, and friend all in one. Its awesome. Later on saturday night we went to the Saito familys house and ate dinner. We also did a surprise mogi lesson with them on Joseph Smith. Can you guess what happened to me since it was a surprise? Yep. When it was my turn to talk I froze and couldnt think of anything in english or japanese but managed to say something after my companions said it first and then I just repeated them. After the mogi was over I went to the bathroom and cried... Im such a baby! This week my goal is to get more confident so hopefully I can manage that.
The next day was Sunday which meant more conference! Yippee! It was the same procedure as Saturday. After conference we went to visit a lady that lives close to the church named Suzuki san. A week ago or so she donated a ton of fruit called kaki to the missionaries so we went to give her a thank you card. She isnt a member and when we went to say thanks she invited us in and we had Mugicha and did self introductions. Mugicha is the water of Japan pretty much. It is a barley based tea so it is okay and not against the Word of Wisdom. It is so gross! But I have to drink it every day because that is what they drink here! It is getting better... but I still dont like it. And when Suzuki san gave me a glass to drink the Mugicha, there was a booger and a hair in the cup!!!!!!!! Ew! But I had to be nice and just drink out of it anyways! Nasty nasty nasty.
Yesterday was Monday and like I said we were busy with a ward activity. We had an imoni kai which is kinda like a potluck. Lots of people from the community came and I had the opportunity to talk a little to a 16 year old girl named Nozomi chan. She was so cute! She has an english test coming up so we are going to go over to her house and help her prepare. We are going there tomorrow. We have plans to teach a lesson too.
After the imoni kai we went to the matsuri which is like a parade with the takegawa family. I love the Takegawa family! They remind me of my family so much. While in the car we were talking about being tired and I said, Taberu koto ato de, itsumo nemui desu. Which means after eating, im always tired. And the lady driving, Maria Shimai, understood me! It was awesome! It is kinda ridiculous how tiny things like that are what I triumph over... but its true. Plus I didnt get too scared to say it. So thats good too. Anyways, thats my week!
Thank you again for your support. My president said that my family is receiving so many blessings because Im on a mission, so youre welcome ;)


The shampoo and conditioner here is very expensive. But I can use dendo money for it... I dont know if you can send shamp and cond though via mail. You shoudl let me know and email about it next week. But I like sulfate free shamp and conditioner. I need razor refills as well. I have a venus 2 or something? I dont remember. I will have to look and email you next week. I would like my black pants too. the pants I brought on my mission dont fit anymore because I am too big. Also, I need those little socks for flats and more nylons but I think I could find those here probably. ALso i need mascara and foundation as well... but they have that here. It is just twice as expensive. But I can use dendo money. Oh and I need peanut butter M and Ms! Thanks!

Thank you so much!!!

And today I am going to buy a coat but if you find good rainpants you can send those. Also a few pairs of black tights maybe. I have black leggins but I cant wear them because i have to have boots to cover the end since they dont cover my feet. I will look for boots here too. Thanks!!

Week Eleven.

Dear mom,
I will get to listen to the conference talks this coming Sunday in English! I am excited to hear what the apostles have to say about member missionary work. I am glad you made a personal mission plan too. Member missionary work is very very important! Make sure to build good relationships with the neighbors so you can help them! I have faith that through your efforts, you will help someone get baptized and start on the path towards the temple. Have faith!!
Okay and about all the news, OH MY. So many things are happening in my family! I had a dream last night that all my cousins were getting engaged and lo and behold, my dream came true! Everyone is getting married! Sam, Susie, Isaac... everyone! Congrats to them! I am excited about Baileys new boy and I didnt know that Paige was pregnant until right now! That is so exciting!!! Congratulations to everyone.
We still dont have any investigators unfortunately. But we received some referrals and have one potential investigator that we found housing so maybe things will finally get started. I am currently serving in a branch. It is pretty small but everyone is really nice and I have met some great families that I feel I will be friends with forever even if I cant talk to them at all right now ha ha. The language is still coming like it always is. I can understand maybe 3% of what people are saying now ha ha but really I am still clueless. It doesnt stress me out really though. This week I made a pretty good Language Study Plan that I think will help me a lot. I am going to have more courage too and ask the members to help me with my Japanese and maybe do some mogi (role play) lessons with them. It is an assignment from the mission president anyways to do mogi lessons so we just need to schedule them into our week is all. Thanks for thinking of me in the temple!
The weather is cooling down a bit. It is getting a little windy. I need to buy a coat today probably. Today is Morita Shimais 22nd birthday so after emailing we are going to the mall and going shopping! Maybe I will find something good there.
So here is a recap of my week.
On last weeks P day after I already sent my email we had district P day and went bowling! It was really fun and I got to wear pants! Yay! And then after that we went to this sushi bar which was way fun. I tried lots of interesting food! Then we road our bikes up this terrible hill and walked up like 1000 steps to this haunted Buddhist shrine. It was so creepy and scary, but really fun! It was good exercise for sure ha ha. I had a good time bonding with my district. They are all so great!
So now it is October and Pres. Rasmussen asked the whole Sendai Mission to do a special sacrifice of something we really love for the next 3 months so we can get a new investigator every week and hopefully see 25 baptisms in the next 3 months. My sacrifice is bread. It is so hard! The bread here is so good!
On Wednesday I taught kids eikaiwa again. That will always be my assignment. Morita Shimai and I taught them body parts and we did Head Shoulders Knees and Toes with them and they seemed to have a good time. I like eikaiwa because I get to speak English! I also experienced my first misting on this day. It wasnt quite raining but it was still wet outside. It seriously felt like it was misting. It was kinda nice!
On Thursday we went and taught Hiro san again. I dont remember if I referred to her as Sato san or Hiro san in my last email, but it is the same person. She was a lot more genki this time. But I dont know if we will really keep teaching her because she has schizophrenia and cant really comprehend the covenants that she would be making if she got baptized. We taught her lesson one and I shared a bit about the BOM and Jesus Christ. We are going to teach her again this coming week and this time with a member. I will let you know how it goes.
That same day that we taught Hiro san I had a cool experience with my companions. Earlier we were looking at this big map of Aizu and we didnt know where to go housing that day so we layed the map out at prayed together about where we should go. Then we took some time to think and on the count of three we pointed at the area we thought about going to. After a cycles of doing this we were able to agree on an area so later that night we went housing in that area. We met a potential investigator named Otaki san. He was busy when we met him but he said we could come back later which is a big deal in Japan! We will go back this week to see if we can teach him. We also met a guy from spain when we were riding our bikes home and he spoke english! He wasnt interested in Christianity because he was Shinto but he was really nice!
On Friday we had Zone Meeting in Yamagata. It was so nice to see my whole zone. Jones Choro from my MTC district was there and it was comforting to see him and the other elders from my doki. We all shared about the progress we had and apparently their investigators are crazy too ha ha.
Yesterday we went to the Koriyama for church. It was testimony meeting and I bore my testimony. Oh man it was so scary! But lots of people told me good job after church so that was good. I also went to Young Womens and shared an experience about tithing. It was really simple. All it was was When I was a college student, I didnt have money. But I knew that tithing was important. So I payed my tithing. Then I received a miracle. I received two jobs. After that I had money. Ha ha... really simple!
Okay so I have a BOM question. Right now I am reading about the interpretation of Lehis vision and in chapter 11 it says that the Spirt of the Lord was teaching Nephi about the Tree of Life and showing him the vision. But then in verse 11 and 12 Nephi asks to know the interpretation of it and the Spirit says, Look! So he looks but the spirit disappears! And then Nephi sees the Heavens open and an angel comes down and ends up teaching Nephi the rest of the interpretation and then some. Who is this angel?! Do we know? At first I thought, is it Jesus Christ?? But I wasnt so sure about that. Do you know?
Thank you for your prayers and your thoughts. Congrats again to my family! I love you all! This week was much better and I am getting happier every day. I love you all so much!
Love, Miranda

PICTURES 

 SERVICE 

 CHINS OF DOOM!

 heart attacking the elders door to tell them good luck with their sacrifices and thanks for district p day

MIRANDA BEING MIRANDA AND RUBBING OFF ON HER COMPANIONS.