Week Fifty.

Well, yesterday was the transfer call! And also my 7 months left mark! Today marks my 8th transfer out of 12! 4 more left! Oh yeah... and I AM TRANSFERRING! To Ishinomaki! Ishinomaki is the place that got hit the worst from the big tsunami in 2011. I will be in Sendai Zone. Bye bye Morioka zone! Bye bye my precious Akita! It feels like my time in Akita has been really short but I guess it has been 4 1/2 months. I dont want to transfer at all. I feel like there is still so much work I need to do in Akita and still so many people I need to help and teach. I hope I am not just getting transferred because of the issue that went on with one of the members having a crush on me, but I have a feeling thats why I am leaving which makes me really frustrated. I dont want to have to deal with that kind of stuff, but there is also so much I feel I need to do in Akita so I am having mixed emotions. When we got the call I started to cry because I instantly thought of Hitoshi san, Kai kun, and Natsuko chan. I just cant imagine not seeing them ever again which could happen since they live in Japan and travel is not the easiest or cheapest! I knew I would transfer eventually but I didnt think it would be this soon. I thought I had another transfer here if not more. Ah I love Akita. I dont want to leave.

So the transfer is not the only change happening in the mission! We got a new mission president! President Smith! He is SO DIFFERENT than President Rasmussen. And Sister Smith is SO SO SO DIFFERENT than Sister Rasmussen. I think it will take some warming up to get used to Sister Smith... but I already love President Smith! We had a mini zone conference to meet him and his wife and talked about a lot of really really good stuff. He started by saying he had a dream recently and in this dream he saw a giant tsunami... I instantly started freaking out inside thinking, "oh no! Another natural disaster is coming!" Plus, right before Pres Rasmussen left he felt really impressed to have all the missionaries prepare an emergency backpack in case of a disaster.. but turns out the tsunami was a tsunami of evil, not water. But that is still scary! A big tsunami of evil is sweeping the earth destroying everything in its path and the only thing that can stop it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Us missionaries hold a lot of power. We have the truth and we have a responsibility to teach it to others and save them from the tsunami. When a tsunami comes, the only thing you can do is get to safe ground and go somewhere high. We need to keep our investigators and members and everyone SAFE. We need to get them to high ground. We need to get them to the temple! That is where there is safety! Baptism is an important step, but ultimately we want everyone to go to the temple and be sealed forever and ever with their families.
President Smith also talked about how he loves each one of us. It was cool that he said that because he doesnt even know us but you could really feel his love just from listening to him talk. He also said, "there is nothing so bad that you can do that will ever make me or Heavenly Father stop loving you. There absolutely is nothing. You could be the worst person and I will always love you. Sorry, there is no escaping that!" It was so comforting actually. I think I too often focus on the strict, just side of things. I am always worried about the judgement day because I am just afraid I am going to get a good whippin' or something! But in reality, God is so so so so loving and he wants me to be saved, not punished and damned!
It seems like everything Pres Smith said was exactly what I needed to hear. I truly know that he was called of God and that me and him are both serving at this time for a reason. I am thankful for him.

So the fun thing of the week was the 4th of July! On the actual 4th of July I didn't celebrate at all besides wearing red, white, and blue... but on the 5th of July we had a big American BBQ at a park! It was so fun but also SO STRESSFUL. Lots of members cancelled out on us and we were counting on them to bring food to share and plus lots of people were late and no one seemed to be able to help us so it was pretty difficult getting everything up to the park on our bikes... it was an adventure for sure. But we did it! We had kabobs and salad and yummy apple pie made my Morgan Shimai. I also made a ton of brownies and everyone said they liked them! Woo hoo! We had a water balloon fight and all the American missionaries also put on a Patriotic program. We had everyone hold American flags and wave them around while we sang patriotic songs. It was so fun! I even found an opportunity to sing the 50 states song, YES! I knew memorizing that would come in handy someday! We ended our program with a very emotional rendition of "I'm proud to be an American". You can best believe I threw up a few fist pumps. After the program we did sparklers with everyone! It was so so so so fun, as you can see from the video. I never did get to see that video unfortunately. Was it the one that Ishida took? I will have to see it after my mish I guess since Im leaving Akita.

Thats it! Oh by the way, I am sending a box of stuff home-mostly clothes. I cant fit it in my suitcases for transfers! Since I bought all my winter clothes and boots and coats here in Japan, I am having to throw stuff out so I can pack all that stuff and bring it with me.
Also, did you see the pictures Lita Shimai took of us? Isnt she the greatest! Be sure to thank her and love her for taking care of me. She really is such a special person. I will miss her and everyone else in Akita.

Sayonara. Love ya!
Love, Miranda

Me and Elder Canepari ! He was being so dangerous with the fireworks and trying to light me on fire!