Week Sixty-six.

Hello mom and dad! Glad to hear you had a good time in Atlanta. And I am glad to hear about the new ward split, even though I already knew ha ha. Thanks Bishop! :)

I had a pretty busy week...

First off, every week we have a meeting with the ward mission leader and he is pretty intense. He is from Hawaii but he is full Japanese. He served his mission in Japan, learned Japanese, then continued to study it and ended up living and working in Japan and marrying a Japanese woman. So he is pretty much super Japanese, but with an American personality maybe? Anyways, he is pretty strong. He really expects a lot out of us which is good but it can get kind of stressful. He is the type to give improvement point after improvement point but hardly any compliments on what we ARE achieving. He said we should be finding 3 investigators every week, and easily be teaching 20 lessons, and filling up 3 pages worth on the progress record we write every week. I totally want to accomplish all those goals (and probably die in the process) but if I dont, I dont want him to get frustrated... but I have just come to the conclusion to do what I can do, think more about what the Lord thinks of my work, and remember that I will probably never see my ward mission leader again after I go home so its not that big of a deal ha ha. And so far no stress really! But he is kinda the talk in the district right now. The elders all seem pretty stressed.

Here is the big news of the week! Guess where I went this week... AIZUWAKAMATSU! My first area! I went for splits and it was so so so so so great. It was so crazy riding the bus into town and seeing everything again. It hasnt changed a bit :) I was nervous at first because I thought I was going to have bad memories about when I was a new missionary but it turned into a really good experience, and I was fine.
So I was able to visit a lot of members which was really fun and so cool because I could actually understand them for the first time... it was so awesome to see my progress in the language. Plus, everyone said I got a lot better at Japanese which made me feel good :) But the happiest thing that has ever happened to me on my mission was that I got to meet Brother I for the first time.
When I was in Aizu as a bean, I used to go to his apartment all time because he was a less active member. I used to leave notes all the time but I was never able to meet him. I met his mom a couple times though and she even said she hasnt forgotten that blonde sister that always came over. But right before I transferred I had left a note at his house saying we really wanted to meet and left our phone number too, and he called us! I remember being so surprised when he called that I forgot all my phone manners and couldnt speak or anything ha ha. But the day I transferred, Sister Matsumoto actually replaced me in Aizu and she had the first lesson with him and I went off to Akita. So I never actually got to meet him... but gradually he came back to church and is now a really strong member with a calling. I got a letter from him once when I was in Ishinomaki I think and that was the only contact I have really had with him. But when I went to Aizu for splits this week I was able to go back to his apartment that I visited so often and finally meet him. He told me that he had received lots of notes from different missionaries but it was that last note I wrote that had the biggest influence on him and he decided to change his life and come back to church. He still has the note to this day. I cried so much when he told me that. I was able to bear testimony to him and share my favorite scripture and I felt the biggest outpouring of love for him. And I knew that God loved him too.
The fact that me and Matsumoto Shimai are companions now is amazing. If it wasnt for her, he probably wouldnt be active. She is a great missionary. And really we can take it back to Sister Tuikolovatu, too... if it wasnt for her I might not even be on a mission still. And before Tui Shimai was Johnson Shimai... and without her I wouldnt have even gone to Brother I apartment in the first place. It just goes to show that we are not alone in the work. We are all working together! I used to always want to just harvest harvest harvest but I realized how grateful I am for all the planters in this mission. Their job is so important too.

So we had the Halloween party in Yamagata this week. It was pretty fun! And it was so nice to have help from the members... sometimes working in a ward is so so so much nicer than a branch. We had lots of non members come and we were able to talk a lot about our 30 min English/30 min gospel program. One of mine and Matsumoto Shimais friends came. His name is M san. We met him at an imoni party awhile ago... but he is a very good guy. I hope he becomes an investigator soon. Too bad we have to pass him though. I swear we are always finding a ton of great people for the elders but they arent giving us anyone back!

Yesterday was my first time attending sacrament in Yamagata ward! We have been going to Fukushima so much lately that I still havent met very members. But I gave a short talk in sacrament and was able to meet more people, so that was good. I also taught gospel principles class on charity.. that was good too. I like Yamagata.

Today we are going to Yamadera with some friends (investigators.. members.. missionaries) for P day! It is a place where you walk up like 1000 stairs to all these shrines and stuff. I am excited!

Oh and dad... HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN JAPAN! Sorry, but this year I didnt send a present. I am trying to save money right now... but I hope you have a great day with mom!

Oh one more thing.. I got the package you sent me mom, thanks! Matsumoto Shimai was very happy that you sent gummy worms. I gave them all to her because I am on a diet... I have lost almost 7 pounds in case you are wondering! But Halloween and my split in Aizu really put me back.. But just letting you know that I am getting fit over here in Japan too!

Love you all so much.

Love Miranda

There are crocs in Japan too...

Me and my grrrrrl M@T$UM0T0

district pic at our weekly meeting with the mission leader! the mission leader hadnt arrived yet. from left to right... Elder Jake Dowdy(Australia), Elder Sho Fukuchi(Japan), Elder Austin Drenk(California), Elder Ashton Canepari(California), Sister Seika Matsumoto(Japan), ME, Sister Jordan Yim(Indiana), Sister Saki Ishikawa(Japan)

Me, Sister Nakaima(STL), and BRO I!!!!

Week Sixty-five.

Hi!

This was one of the most tiring but best weeks of my mission. It starts with my district leader asking us to pay attention to the little miracles and blessings we see everyday... and I did just that!

Miracle 1- had a great relaxing P day last week and wasnt affected by the typhoon at all! Every time we were outside riding our bikes it was dry and no rain!

MIRACLE 2- OKAY FIRST OFF FOR SOME REASON I AM IN CAPS LOCK NOW AND I CANT FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF! SO IT IS GOING TO SEEM LIKE I AM YELLING THIS THE REST OF THE TIME... SORRY. WE HAD ONE DAY THIS WEEK WHERE WE DIDNT HAVE SUCCESS MEETING ANY OF THE PEOPLE WE VISITED AND MY COMPANION AND I KINDA GOT IN A LITTLE FIGHT THAT DAY TOO (THE FIRST ONE ON MY MISSION... IT WAS OVER SOMETHING STUPID SO DONT WORRY. WE ARE OKAY NOW) BUT WE DECIDED TO STOP AT A PARK ON THE WAY HOME AND TAKE A PICTURE WITH THIS COOL LITTLE ANIMAL STATUES BECAUSE PRES SMITH ASKED ALL THE COMPANIONSHIPS TO TAKE A PICTURE TOGETHER AND SEND IT TO HIM FOR A CHRISTMAS DVD HE IS MAKING FOR US. WHILE WE WERE THERE WE ASKED AN OLD GRANDPA TO TAKE A PICTURE FOR US AND WE GOT TO TALKING TO HIM AND IT TURNS OUT HE BELIEVES IN GOD AND HE HAS MET MISSIONARIES BEFORE! HE TOLD US WHERE HIS HOUSE IS AND SAID IT WAS OKAY IF WE CAME BACK, SO THAT WAS AWESOME! THEN AS WE WERE ABOUT TO LEAVE THERE WAS ANOTHER GUY IN THE PARK PLAYING THIS COOL BAMBOO FLUTE AND WE ASKED HIM ABOUT IT AND HE LET ME TRY TO PLAY IT, WHICH I FAILED MISERABLY AT, BUT HE WAS SUPER NICE. WE ALSO MET HIS WIFE/FRIEND OR SOMETHING AND SHE INVITED US TO COME TO HER COFFEE SHOP SOMETIME. IM TOTALLY GOING, BUT NOT DRINKING COFFEE OF COURSE.

Yes! I figured out how to get the caps lock off!

Miracle #3- One night we were at the church and the church phone rang and it was a member asking whoever was at the church to check and see what sundays relief society lesson was so she could prepare. We told her but then also decided to stop by her house on the way home and give her the extra 2 cookies we had taken with us that day to give to people. When we stopped by she was so grateful that we came and it just so happened that her granddaughter was there and she has tons of interest in English! So the member said that we could come over again and do our 30 min English/30 min. gospel program with her. REFERRAL! A true miracle!

Miracle #4- we decided to go to an imoni party (imoni is like soup with veggies and meat in it... its hard to explain. Look it up!) with an english class student and tons of his work friends and family were there so we were able to build relationships with these people and get phone numbers!

Miracle #5- the sister training leaders for my area live in Aizu- my first area- my first area and they called last night and said they started teaching the A Family again! Last time they were taught was a year ago when I was there! I am so happy to hear that! I love that family! Miraaaaacleeee!

Miracle #6- one of the less actives we visit has a tobacco problem and for one day out of the week she went tobacco-less when usually she smokes a TON. It was amazing!

Miracle #7- we had a lesson with H san, our deaf investigator, this week. We went to her house and helped her build these pipe things for a little bit then we went inside and talked about the Book of Mormon. We were able to communicate through writing down what we wanted to say on a piece of paper and just passing notes. Also, I dont know how but I was able to catch on and understand some of the sign language she was doing and not only understand, but use it too! We were able to teach her about baptism and pretty much what we did was prepare a ton of scriptures about what baptism is, why it is important, the blessings, the covenant, how it is performed, etc and just had her read them. And since she has strong faith and believes in the Book of Mormon, we didnt even have to say anything (nor would she even understand what we said if we did say something) and she took everything for truth. We asked her to be baptized you guys... and she said YES. And we set a baptismal date! And we didnt even use words to do it. This is the biggest miracle I have ever seen. I think a lot of the time missionaries arent exactly obedient and just kinda bank on their skill of putting emotion in their words or being really good teachers and somehow get through lessons and things even without having the spirit. I know I have been guilty of that before, but in this case, I cant bank on my words. The spirit is so so so SO important and is the real teacher. A missionaries role is seriously to just be obedient so the spirit can be there and then to just let the spirit do its thing and work through the missionary. The only way I will be able to help H san is if I am obedient. That is the only way! And I have been working so hard at it. Actually, my goal this week was to really study obedience so I am really learning a lot about it. But I still just cant get over the idea that we have a progressing investigator that believes this gospel and wants to be baptized. She GETS EVERYTHING! On top of that, she also gave us a referral and she is bringing this guy to church with her and wants us to tell him about the gospel. Ahhhh miracleeee

Miracle #8- So because we got a baptismal date... and were able to contact enough less active members (6 to be exact) and help them come closer to Christ (if we visit an LA and help them but dont necessarily teach a lesson, it is called an LA point here) in the Japan Sendai mission me and Matsumoto Shimai achieved the STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE! Waskdjfdlskfjjdsalhfdjk! The first time on my mission! I am so pooped, but it is a good feeling. We worked so hard this week. We are sacrificing everything... all our personal time and P days and everything to just help others. Today we have some time to rest though which I am SO grateful for.

Of course we saw disappointment this week too though. I had my first disagreement with a companion... we taught a lesson to the O family which WAS one of our investigators but they dropped us... werent able to meet all the people we tried to meet... etc. but we need the hard stuff to appreciate the good, right?

So in the end, it was a GREAT week and I plan on continuing this streak of miracles too! Thank you for your prayers.. I can really feel their influence.

Thanks for the info about the stake pres and bishop and stuff. Bishop Fairwell actually emailed me and gave me the all the details on the new bishop he he he so I know but you dont! :) He made me promise not to tell!

Also, I heard that there is a giant outbreak of some weird disease where people are bleeding and dying in the states. Is everyone okay?!

So when I get home from my mission... I was wondering if I could spend some time of course, maybe like a week or so, in Texas and then fly up to Idaho and maybe stay with Bailey and Chad for a week or so in Pocatello... yeah? Bailey and Chad, what do you think about that? :) Then go back to TX and start working and stuff.

LOVEEEE YOUUUUUUUU
ロバートソン姉妹

Week Sixty-four.

Hey everyone, are you genki??

So I am gonna take this day by day! Here we goooo!

Tuesday- We visited a less active grandma that has pretty strong faith actually but her body condition is just so bad that she cant make it to church. We sang hymns with her and cleaned her nasty tiny apartment. It was pretty gross... but it always feels good to serve. After that appointment, Matsumoto Shimai was sick so we went home and she ended up sleeping from like 3 until the next day. I dont know how she did it... I spent my time reading old letters and studying the bible a little. What do you guys know about Nathan the prophet? Grandma sent me a letter once that had an experience that Grandpa Flash wrote down saying he felt like "Nathan of old". I am assuming he means Nathan the prophet but I really dont know that much about him and I couldnt find too much... hmm.

Wednesday- We had a practice lesson with Furuuchi Shimai, an active member. She gave some really good feedback on how we could improve our lesson which I was grateful for. Do you guys do practice lessons with the missionaries at all? I bet it would really help them to practice! Of course in Japan we use it to practice Japanese, but it has other purposes too. They are to practice using the Book of Mormon, practice teaching the principles correctly, and practice using the spirit. We also use our practice lessons to help the members have a spiritual experience so they will want to share the gospel with others. If we have them pretend to be one of their non member friends, it helps them understand maybe what their friend needs and sometimes we can get referrals from them. We also use the practice lesson excuse to have english students help us or less actives to help us because every Japanese person likes to help people, especially Americans! Its a great tool. We also taught english on Wed, like usual. I taught the intermediate class and everyone was pretty good at English. It was fun. We have an instruction manual about what to teach and how to teach so we arent just making up our own lesson plans or anything. We go over correct pronunciation, vocabulary about the theme for that week, and I always give question prompts to start conversation in the class. If we have time we always play a fun game too.

Thursday- We went to Tendou, a nearby area, to visit some people. We visited a member named Otake Shimai and she is like 94 years old or something. We did a practice lesson with her then spent the next hour in a half doing origami. She LOOOVES her origami! I learned how to make a penguin, dog, and little box thing. Thursday night we had DCS which is our meeting with the ward mission leader where we talk about the progress record. I realized during the meeting that I understood EVERYTHING that the ward mission leader said and I was so amazed... one year ago I couldnt understand ANY Japanese... This is seriously such a miracle. I can understand Japanese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After DCS we had a special practice lesson party! Some priesthood leaders from the ward came and for the next hour we did 15 min practice lessons and then switch people. It was so scary, but so so helpful. I became such a better teacher! Yeah!

Friday- We had zone training meeting! We learned about making goals and having purpose in everything we do. For example if you have the purpose of getting to know someone then you will probably ask questions about their hobbies and favorite food and stuff. But if you have the purpose of wanting to know about what kind of person they want to be, then the questions you ask will probably be a lot different. We were challenged to have a purpose in everything we do and have our purposes be effective and something that will help the work move forward. We also had a lesson with our investigator Eiko san on this day. It was my first time meeting her and she is AMAZING! She is the wife of a less active but her mother in law is a strong member. We taught her about prayer and she has real interest!!!! She had tons of questions about what to say when you pray and when you pray and how you do it and stuff. We asked her to say the closing prayer and she said yes so we all waited with our eyes closed for her to start but she never said anything, so Sister Matsumoto said, "first you start with Heavenly Father..." and she said, "oh, out loud??" It just goes to show that the Japanese people really dont have any clue when it comes to God being our father and christianity and prayer and how it works and stuff. They only thing they know is clapping twice at a shrine and making a wish. I love this culture and I love teaching people and seeing them understand these simple things of the gospel. We also had a lesson with Kirari chan, our 17 yr old investigator. It was really short and it was about the Book of Mormon. She has been praying regularly and she really likes this church! I bet she will for sure get baptized :) We also had FHE that night and we played this like lazer tag game with everyone using dart guns. It was so fun, yo!

Saturday- we hiked the mountain that you can see from our apartment! It was fun. We went with a member. When we got back down the mountain, we went with Elder Drenk and Canepari from my district and ate McDonalds and it was SO GOOD. I havent eaten mcdonalds in forever. Then we went back to our apartment but we accidentally locked ourselves out of our apartment so we had to go to the church for general conference in our hiking clothes.... but when we got there the other sisters were there so we grabbed their key and hurried home to change then rode back and just ended up being late for conference. I like conference though! I havent seen all of it in English yet though. Tonight I will watch the session with Holland in English. One of the members said I could borrow the DVD and watch it in our apartment, so thats nice!

Sunday- General Conference! I really loved President Monsons talk about being Christlike. Just like Christ is indistinguishable from the Father, I want to be indistinguishable from them too. That is the goal of my life!

Now its Monday... and yes a typhoon is coming! We are instructed to stay inside our apartment from 6 o clock on tonight and tomorrow we are not allowed to ride our bikes if it is raining which SUCKS because we live so far from everything. It takes 20 or 30 min by bike to get anywhere. But hey I havent felt any earthquakes... I dont think Yamagata gets them too much. I bet if I was still in Ishinomaki I would be feeling them though.

So I got my trunky letter this week... It is a letter that pretty much tells you not to get trunky and that the Lord wants finishers. It was weird getting it because that means I am close to being done, but it still feels like I have 18 months left. Im not trunky at all. But I need to get some information from you guys... I need the name and address of my Bishop and Stake President and the name of the ward I will be going home too... and since our ward just split what do I write? Can you please tell me that information next week because I need to send in my returning home information ASAP.

oh btw I looooooove my companion sister matsumoto. She is a second generation member. she is from tottori prefecture. we speak japanese all the time, sometimes i still cant express myself and when i tell experiences or stories i dont exactly tell them smoothly but she understands my short choppy sentences so thats good. i think that is my biggest challenge right now.. telling personal experiences smoothly and so all my thoughts connect.

i havent practiced and sign language. I dont know how really. we have an appt with our deaf investigator this week. I will just write her notes.

Also... I have a package request! Deodorant, toothpaste, and gummy worms! Thanks!

Love ya! Miranda

Week Sixty-three.

Hello.

Here is a weather update! It is FREEZING. And it is RAINY. I guess it is a typhoon today or something so it makes getting around a little bit harder. My bike is sooo heavy and hard to ride sometimes especially in the rain. I already fell off of it once today when trying to dismount ha ha. Good thing I was wearing rain clothes.

So Yamagata is pretty good though! Lots of mountains... the name Yamagata actually means "lots of mountains" so yeah ha. The view outside my 5TH FLOOR APARTMENT room is way pretty. There is a giant mountain covered in trees! I cant wait for the leaves to change. The ward (yes I am in a ward! My first one on my mission!) is way great! But I havent actually met anyone yet... on Sunday we went to Fukushima for church, which means I probably have some serious radioactive poisoning or something, but it was nice to meet all the Fukushima members. They dont have missionaries in their area of course so when the missionaries come, they are so happy and so nice!

I came to a way great area where the missionary work is on fire though. We have like 8 investigators and 2 or 3 of them are telling us they wanna get baptized so that is pretty AWESOME. One of our investigators, H san, is deaf... so now I have the challenge of learning Shuwa (Japanese Sign Language) on my own with no resources! My prayers now consist of "please give me the gift of tongues and the gift of... hands?" She is a way nice lady though. When we want to communicate we just write it down on a piece of paper and talk that way. But even writing in Japanese characters and reading it is sometimes difficult so it has already been kind of overwhelming and frustrating for me. But hey, the spirit can teach and be present no matter what language you are speaking or signing!
We have another investigator that is 17 and she is Korean but fluent in Japanese. Her name is K chan. I have only met her once but she is really cute! Her and Matsumoto Shimai have everything in common. Me and K chan dont have anything in common... but that is okay. She is one of the investigators that wants to get baptized but it is looking like it might be a challenge to get permission from her parents.

We taught a lesson to our other investigator, K san. She is a young mother with two of the cutest little kids I have ever seen. She was pretty busy with her kids and so we only taught a short message in her entryway. She seems to have real interest so that is awesome! She likes English too so good thing I transferred here!

We get to watch conference next week. Thats cool that they are letting people speak in their native languages! Is this going to be a new thing they do every time? I am excited to watch conference for sure  :)

My older sisters kid is 3 years old now! Ahhh time is going by so fast isnt it. Sometimes I wanna get home fast, but other times I am a little bit scared to get back into real life. It is nice not having a real job ha ha and only having this one thing to do. But I still have 4 months left which sometimes feels really short and sometimes reallllly long. But in the end it is still just 4 months. I will do what I can with the time I am given!

Oh by the way, I got your package in the mail this week! Thanks so much! I am going to have to lose some weight before I can wear the skirt ha ha.. I cant get it on... but it is still way cute! I am working hard on my diet but it is impossible when I have to just eat what everyone else is eating in the apartment and at the same time when everyone else is eating because thats just how it goes. Hmmm at least I have a whole summer before I go back to school to get running and stuff again. Yeaaahhh!

Love you all so much!
Love Miranda

During transfers all of the Morita family was able to get together! From Right to left... Sister Morita (mother) Sister Luk (1st child) Me (2nd child) Sister Kanno (3rd child) Sister Arashiyama (4th child)

The mountain I can see from my apartment balcony

The sunset last night

the S Family in Ishinomaki. I cried when I said good bye to them. I will miss them so much.

A toilet I used this week ha ha.