Week Thirty-four.

Happy St. Patricks Day!
Today I surely did wear green! On Friday we are having a St. Patricks Day party! It should be really fun.
Wow I cant believe all the changes back home. People from high school are getting married and having babies and becoming mothers and fathers and adults! Ahhh everything is changing! It is so crazy.
This last week was so amazing. So much happened that I dont even know where to begin.
Last Wednesday we found a NEW INVESTIGATOR! Her name is Miho san. She is a mother in her 30s with a 3 year old daughter. They want to move to New Zealand where it is safer I guess so we are teaching them English but also sharing our church message with them. I guess when Miho san was really really little she went to Primary sometimes but she never got baptized. She is so amazing and I feel like she has real potential and that she will get baptized someday! Hopefully while I am in Akita...
We also had Zone Training Meeting and it was like I was in a whole different mission. The missionaries were all so different than my last zone. It was fun meeting new missionaries and making new friends. Plus, I got to see my mother, Morita Shimai! She was my trainer! We received training on how to invite people to be baptized. Hopefully we can put what we learned to use soon!
On our way home from Zone Training Meeting we had to take a bus to a train and then from that train we take another train until we are back in Akita (because Zone Meeting is in Morioka) but our first train kept breaking so eventually the announcers told us all the get off the train because we had to switch to a different one, but they just let us take the shinkansen instead! You will have to do some research on a shinkansen but they are really fast, and we got to ride it for free! We were only on it for like 5 minutes though. After all our traveling we made it home safely.
This last week we decided to do some basketball dendo. We went to the gym and invited as many youth in the branch as we could and any potential investigators or investigators that were of youth age to come play with us. A boy named Kai came that Tuttle Shimai had only met once for like 5 minutes clear back in November, but we had a way fun time with him! At the gym we also met a boy from the Philippians named Justin. Justin is 17 and he has been living in Japan for as long as I have-8 months (today actually!) He told us that he doesnt have any friends and that only once a week on Sundays he comes to the gym  by himself to play basketball but that for some reason he decided to go on Saturday. Well I know why! It was so we could meet him! We ended up playing basketball together then going out to dinner afterwards. A girl in our branch invited him to church and he came the next day! He was there for Sunday School and Sacrament meeting. He even participated in Sunday School a little bit! I gave a talk in church on the Atonement and he said that he really enjoyed my talk and that I did a really good job. He is Catholic so he understands a bit more than what your regular Nihonjin would ha. But after church the elders and one of the young women helped him with Japanese and kanji for 2 hours after church and he said that he loved church and wants to come back again. Today we had a party for Sister Morgan (a missionary I live with) because it is her birthday and Justin came! So we have been hanging out with him a lot! We hope to start teaching him the lessons soon. He seems so ready. The branch is so amazing and so kind to him and they are all such good fellowshippers. I think he feels really happy at church because he went from having no friends to having a whole ward family that already loves him. Its amazing.
We were also able on Sunday to go visit some Less Active members. We had to take a train to get to the area we wanted to work in and on the train I just happened to sit next to a woman that spoke fluent English! She was really nice and I was able to introduce myself as a missionary and ask her a little about if she knew about our church. Before we got off the train Sister Tuttle gave her an Im a Mormon card with our phone number. She was so nice! When we started looking for some members houses we kinda got lost once and a lady was walking her dog kinda next to us. The dog started barking at us so we just said to her, Oh cute dog! How old is your dog! Do you like dogs?... our conversation about dogs led her to ask us why we were in Japan and we told her that we were missionaries and that we were visiting some friends from church. She asked us if we knew where we were going and we told her we werent exactly sure. But then I took a wild shot and asked her if she knew the person we were trying to visit, and to my surprise she said yes! She said that her sister actually lives with the person we were trying to visit and she walked with us to the house! It was such a miracle! We werent able to meet any of the Less Actives but we met two nice ladies who didnt turn us down or make excuses when we introduced ourselves as missionaries! I call the success!
Today was a great day. Like I said we had a big party for Morgan Shimais birthday. I love Morgan Shimai! She is SO funny. We took a picture all together than went out to eat. After that we played ping pong and I made cupcakes that everyone decorated. It was such a fun time! After the party the 4 sisters went to a giant shrine for fun and took pictures. It was a really busy, but fun day. Now it is 8 o clock and I am so tired! Ive got to get home in about an hour.
Sorry, I would have attatched pictures, but I forgot my camera cord. I will send pictures next week.
I really love Akita so much and I am so pumped up about missionary work! I want to just talk to everyone and find someone so bad! I hope you can all do the same! Use your talents to serve others and find others for the missionaries to teach!
I love you all lots. Thanks for your support.
Love Sister Robertson