This was a way busy and productive week. My goal for the week was to just work a lot until I cry every night because of stress and exhaustion. I didnt cry, but I was definitely tired and stressed. Ha ha thats a good thing though. Ill tell you all about it in a bit, first I need to answer your questions!
Mama! $15/hr job?! Full time?! What is this! Hook a sista up! What is the job anyways? Does it suck? Will I be speaking Japanese at it??? Thatd be cool. Yeah I would like to make it back to Idaho before I start it. I still have friends asking about when I will be in Idaho... would it be safe for me to say the week of Feb 22nd? Or the week before Feb 22nd? Hmm... yeah I guess it all depends on if I can speak in IF or not, but if I cant then its all good. I still wanna go see my sisters and brother and friends and stuff. So after I go to Idaho would be the ideal time to start a job. But my friend from Japan is also coming to visit for a day or so in March but I dont know exactly when yet but it would totally be possible to get just like 1 or 2 days off of work, right? Also, is it going to be freezing or anything in Houston in March because I am trying to think of things to do with my friend. Prob not swim in the ocean, right. Ha. But like the zoo is open right? I guess I can think about this stuff later.
It snowed in Sendai a few days ago but not a whole lot. Its all just kinda ice now or melted away. It has been kinda windy though and so it is pretty cold some days. But honestly it is like the nicest winter I have ever been in in my life. No snow... little bit of wind... the sun still shines... nice :)
SWEET gasoline is so cheap in America! But I guess it doesnt really matter for me though because I dont have a car. Also I am totally going to need to buy me a bike or borrow one of your guys` because thats what I have lived my life on these last 18 months and those things are USEFUL!
Good luck training for your races! The day after I get home I am going running with you mom. And I plan on not eating because I wont like the food anyways ha ha. Bye bye rice cheeks!
So like I said it was a way busy missionary work filled week! We started the week off good by going out to sushi with the Touta couple. They are just the best ever. They have strong faith, but dont come to church because they wants to relax. But seriously they have the strongest testimonies but just need SOMETHING to get them going to church. I love em. They are so nice and fun. And we were able to build an even better relationship with them which was nice.
We had a GIRLS NIGHT with an English Class student named Moemi! We made food at her apartment and ate it. Then we did our make up and went and took a purikura. A purikura is like one of those photo booth things you can find at a mall but like 100x fancier. I will show you all my purikuras when I get home. It was fun! She has absolutely no interest in God and stuff like that, but she is really nice. And it was a good activity for us to determine her interest and things like that.
There was a giant Hula Party in Kamisugi this week! Me and Sister Bullock were in charge of the decorations and everyone said we did a good job. One person even told me I could be an interior designer. Sweet! I am finding new talents! Lots of missionaries came and you know how much I love other missionaries! It was fun seeing Sister Kanno and Sister Alcazar and members from Ishinomaki and other missionaries that I have worked with. Happiness! Oh but as for the Hula-ing... yeah I cant dance.
We FINALLY had a lesson with one of our recent converts! Sister Oyama! Sister Bullock had an idea to play a game instead of doing just a regular lesson and I was kinda hesitant about it especially since Sis. Oyama is a 70 yr old grandma, but I let my pride go and said sure. We played Prophet Jeopardy and turns out she really liked it. She said she learned a lot, and it was fun, and we even set up a next appointment. Holla at my girl Sister Bullock!
English Class has been good lately... except all my little kid students dont even come anymore! Only 2 kids come. And me and Sister Bullock finally found the way to their little hearts.... RUNNING IN THE HALLWAYS! We play red light, green light a lot. Or like follow the leader and stuff like that. Its actually fun for me too ha ha. Its crazy that I will only have like 2 more English Classes. Waaahhhh
So we had a split this week! I went to Izumi for my split which is maybe like 15 or 20 min from Kamisugi by subway. Pretty close. I was with Sister King!!!!! From my MTC district! It was so nice being with her because we were able to talk about our whole missions together and reflect on how we went through so much together and how far weve made it and also our plans for after the mish :) It was so nice to get away from Kamisugi for a day as well. We did some real legit streeting and went straight up to people and interrupted them and told them who we were right from the beginning and what we are doing in Japan. It was awkward and scary and I dont like bothering people ha ha... but we did it. And you best believe that no one had interest! Welcome to Japan!
But really, just talking with Sister King was healing. I dont know if that sentence makes sense in English... anyways... even though I make mistakes a lot and I still have a lot to go when it comes to becoming more like Christ and things like that, at least I have made a lot of progress in the right direction (with a few ups and downs and detours). Thats success, right? I really felt a lot of peace with her. But when I got back to Kamisugi it all went to stress again, but I am sure on that last night in the mission home I will feel nothing but peace and happiness. And exhaustion ha ha.
We went with Sugawara Shimai (the stake pres wife) and visited a lot of less actives this week. We even got to share a message with one lady. She is like super depressed and sick because she was abused a lot throughout her whole life. Well, Bullock Shimai`s family is the same way so she tried her best in her Japanese to share her story. I think the less active lady understood pretty good which was a miracle but they had a cute bonding moment. Its nice to be in a companionship where we can have one person share experiences and testify about trials and how to overcome them(Bullock Shimai), and then the other companion testify about how the gospel really does bless families and going to church and things like that really bring happiness(me!). We have experiences for every situation basically!
So every Friday we play ping pong with friends and members and investigators. I usually dont play because Im bad at it, and instead we always have like a card table where we play uno and stuff like that. Let me just say that I am soooo excited to play GAMES with you guys. I want to play hearts! And Risk! And Monopoly even! But it was fun playing with everyone. As a district we are going to play games today for P day and order McDonalds. Im pretty pumped ha ha. But also at Ping Pong night, I taught Bullock Shimai how to play the piano! I taught her how to play C-D-E. Remember that song? C-D-E made a boat, round and round the pond he float.... ha ha thanks mom for making me learn how to play the piano! It actually has been coming in handy a lot. I had to play in church yesterday as well.
So we made our way to the Furukawas again for dinner.... the are the family that makes all the American food and A LOT of it. I set a P.R. for eating though, so that was good ha ha. I ate sooooooooo much and got way sick after it and the next day. Ha ha my stomach hurt so bad. But it was so fun and one of our friends from English Class even came and it was good to have her in that environment. Maybe we can start teaching her the gospel.... maybe. I want to.
Church was so good yesterday. I love the young womens teacher. She is sooo inspiring and deep and real and funny. She reminds me of my best friend Heather Hill. (shout out to my homegirl Heather!) She shared a lesson on how we can "know God". Well... we did an activity where we paired up with other people in the class and we told them everything we knew about them. Then we made a list of how we came to know that thing about that person. So for one pair, they said it was because they lived together (they were sisters). For another pair it was because they asked questions. For another pair it was because they have watched that person or seen them do something before. For me and my partner, all I knew about her was her family information because of a record I had in my apartment. Anyways... then we took all these different ways and applied them to how we can know God in the same way.
How can we be together with God in order to know him better? Follow his teachings... follow the spirit... walk WITH God by following His will and he will be by your side.
Ask questions- prayer is so awesome. The young women leader once prayed to know if God sleeps or not because she was curious. Well he answered her and she read in a church book that he doesnt. Even silly questions like that are okay to ask!
Because you have seen him- well we havent seen God... but we can look at pictures or the examples of leaders like the prophet and stuff. Its like you are looking at God because they are so in line with his will.
Records- the scriptures have the answers.
I thought it was so cool and so brilliant for some reason. We spent some time reading in the scriptures about God and it was really fun actually. Then the young womens leader shared an experience about when she first learned she was a daughter of God. I felt the spirit so strong and I just really know that I too am a daughter of God and that he really really does love me! I am grateful for the young womens program.
Well.... these emails are all coming to an end arent they. I am going to need to start creating my last email to send and make it super super good so you all cry he he he. I am excited to see you all, but I am also very very very very very sad to leave Japan. I dont really see myself coming back here very often, if ever again. Life will move on in America and this will just be another little part of my life story someday. Its weird to think about that. I just need to enjoy my time the best I can.
Love you all,
Miranda
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