Wildflower Thoughts : Week Forty-nine.

Hello.

Thanks for all the pictures! The backyard patio looks LEGIT! I cant wait to see it in real life!
Happy Birthday to my sister Paige this last week! I hope you had a good one!

Glad you got the picture from Ishida. I asked him to send it to you. We went to a parade and there were a ton of schools and groups dancing on the streets. It was really cool! I took movies and pictures! We are totally ABLE to talk to people on the streets but they arent necessarily interested ha ha. I did talk to one guy as we were walking to the parade. I was able to introduce myself as a missionary even and he didnt run away! He actually asked me a question about heaven and hell but I couldnt understand the Japanese well enough to answer. I had him repeat it a lot of times but I still couldnt get it. I asked if we could meet another time and talk about it more but he said no and walked away. I think he was a little frustrated? I was frustrated too. If only I could understand Japanese... think of all the investigators Id have!

It makes me way happy to hear that you and dad are studying PMG so much. That book really is the guide to successful missionary work. I know it is especially for missionaries, but I think it applies perfectly for non-full-time missionaries as well. After all, we are all called to spread the gospel. Your purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ just like it is my purpose! Just remember, all we need to do is invite. They have their agency whether or not to accept the invitation. But we can feel peace knowing that we accomplished our purpose! You are a great missionary mom by offering your visiting teacher a ride to church. You invited!

So the whole getting my skirt caught in my bike thing is almost a daily occurrence, but usually I can save the skirt without ripping it. You dont have to send me skirts... there are plenty of places to go shopping here. One day when I have the time I will go buy more.

Daddy, yes the sun rises at like 4:30 am and it is really quite annoying! I think most people do get up earlier now that the sun rises earlier. I know that I always wake up when the sun is up but I always try to go back to sleep. Oh and Im sorry to hear about the world cup. What was one of the players doing biting other players?!

Havent gotten a letter from you... I bet it will come this week! Thanks! Speaking of letters... Sister Morgan unfortunately never gets letters. I usually get one letter every week and my companion gets lots and Sister Stice gets lots too but Sister Morgan never gets any and it is really sad. If you wanted to do a kind service for a really great missionary, please write her a letter!! Or send her a package or something. Dad, she particularly thinks you are pretty cool. Maybe you could send her an update on your bees or talk about something Scottish!
We also did just run out of honey... if you have any to spare, send another bottle this way please!

Here are the big moments of the week:
1. Last Monday we went to the gym to play basketball and I met two boys there and they were really nice! We took a picture together and they want to play basketball again in the future. Maybe something will happen!? New investigators??
2. We handed out flyers for eikaiwa at the train station this week. I met a guy from Thailand that spoke English and we had a conversation and he said he has seen the missionaries around before and knows where our church is! Then he handed me his business card and said, come hang out with me and my wife sometime! Heres my email! YES. We are definitely going to go visit him as soon as possible. He is in America on vacation right now though. Oh and his name was Bird. Cool, huh!
3. On Thursday we had eikaiwa... yes another english class. We now teach Chinese on Tues nights and English on Wed, Thurs, and Fri nights. Im so tired of teaching English!!! But at Thursdays Eikaiwa we went to a hospital and taught physically handicapped children. It was actually really awkward because they were all really shy and didnt really talk. We spent a lot of time preparing with the branch presidents wife for the eikaiwa so I was so tired afterwards. Plus she was talking so so much and my brain couldnt handle anymore Japanese but we had plans that night to ride our bikes way far to deliver a birthday card to a member. I didnt want to go, but we did anyways and it turns out the members we visited really brightened my day! And they gave me ice cream! Always stick to the plan even when you are tired!
4. We had hopes to teach Hitoshi san this week but since he is a man and we are girls we can only teach him if we have a woman joint or 2 other men joint, and we couldnt find a joint (like usual!) so the other option was to teach him in public. So we went to sushi! We ate lots of sushi but the environment was quite difficult to feel the spirit so we couldnt do a lesson. He did tell us a lot of personal things though so we were able to understand his needs better. Also, he has been researching "Christs grave" in Aomori, Japan and he is kinda fancying the idea that Jesus Christ died in Japan. I dont know what the religion is called that believes that but come on! Christ didnt die in Japan! But Hitoshi san said he felt something at the grave when he went and visited it and he wants to go back for confirmation to know if it is right. WHY IS HE NOT FEELING ANYTHING WITH US! He told us when he comes to church, he gets a really heavy scary feeling. I hate Satan.
5. I went to a cultural festival for Natsuko chan! She played the flute and the bass at it and she did so good! Me and Sister Luk made fan signs and held them up while she played. She was SO embarrassed. It was adorable. After her performance she ran up to me and just hugged me. I was so happy! I hope someone can teach her someday. Hopefully its me, but just as long as SOMEONE does.
6. Guess who we met yesterday?! Kai kun!!!!!!!! Remember him?! We havent been able to meet with him in forever because he has been busy and he has been having friend issues. But yesterday he texted us randomly and said, "Hey I can meet right now!" and me and Sister Luk were at our apartment at the time and we both looked at each other and said "Iko(lets go.)" and we stopped what we were doing and rode our bikes so fast to where he was. We only saw him for 30 min because he was with his friends and was going to go eat so we had to leave because it was Sunday and we dont buy food on Sundays of course! But it was so nice to see him. So so nice. Its actually a huge blessing because all week we worked SO HARD. We didnt waste any time and we were out talking to people and visiting people all week but we came home at the end of the week with all zeros. Taught no lessons. Got no referrals. Had no less active lessons. No new investigators. No nothing. But then right before we were supposed to report our numbers to our district leader we were able to go out and see Kai kun! Even though that visit didnt change our numbers, seeing him made the whole week worth it. Such a huge blessing from Heavenly Father.

With much love,
Miranda