Week 13 Zone Taikai, Kobe, and exhausted!

みなさんこんにちは！
Minasan konnichiwa,

I can't believe I've been in Japan for a whole month! Where did the
time go? I felt like I just got here, but I have been here for a full
4 weeks! It has been nothing, but crazy adventures! Japan always seems
to amaze me with all the weird and amazing things they have!

This week has been a really tiring week. I don't think I have been
this tired except the week I got here. But, man I had my first zone
conference and I learned so much from that meeting. We talked a lot
about repentance and faith. We also got the challenge of reading the
Book of Mormon and looking for faith and repentance. So I'm really
excited to start that. We got some really great counsel from our
president and I learned so much. That night we left to Kobe and spent
the night in Kobe. I got to see my old companion Epling Shimai, and I
got to see my old Senpai Conejo Shimai! The next day we went to TTT
(trainer, trainee, training) it was amazing. I met up with all my old
Senpai. We were just missing Goto Shimai she was sick so I was a
little sad not to see her. But, we had fun anyways. I got so much good
insight and some helpful tips! We then left and headed home back to
和歌山 (Wakayama)!
  The next day we went to a zone meeting and got some more helpful
advice, I just have received so much revelation these past few days! I
am so grateful for all the training and effort our leaders have put
into teaching us.
  Saturday was a really fun day, we had to leave early, because we
had to make a long trek over to this restaurant. One of the brothers
in our ward invited the Elders and us to this lunch. It was a all you
can eat restaurant with this grill like place where you could get a
bunch of raw meat and cook it on this grill in the middle of your
table. It was genius!!! I was overwhelmed with home much meat and food
there was it was amazing!
  After we headed back to our apartment, but we did a little bit of
finding. We ended up at these pretty poor apartments, that were sad to
see, but we ended up meeting this old obacha (grandma) who was really
nice and she talked to us about the church.. she was really nice! She
also gave us these hackysack things they are so cute. She really had
nothing but gave us something she really is Christ like and I love her
so much. We hope one day she will come to church!

I have really felt the saviors love for me and for his children
everyday. The Japanese is really hard, but I can feel myself learn
more and more and grow even more. I have such a love for the
scriptures and I keep learning more and more.
One of my favorite scriptures right now is
Alma 60:23-
23 Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit
still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would
that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall
be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.
I read this scripture and thought about having faith and taking
action, that it all starts with cleansing the inward vessel of having
a desire, that when you then take action and clean the outer vessel
and share the gospel.

Love you all! あいしています！

Love ロケット姉妹

Sent from my iPad

Pictures

Kawamura Shimai

Okonimioki

Gusman Shimai and I

Week 12 Gelato in December

Konnichiwa!

WOW... what a week, I felt that this week just flew by! I cant believe I have been in Japan for 3 whole weeks! This week has been nothing, but fun, miracles, and Service!

This week was really interesting....well on Tuesday we were biking on our way to go around the Eki ( train station) to find people, we were saying hello to everyone we saw and to this girl across the street that was going the other way, but then yelledーOboeru (remember) and kept riding. We were so confused and turned around to talk to her, she was going fast so we tried to keep up, but as we were riding a young guy was about to cross the street, but then decided not to, backed up into the path where I was at, luckly he was wearing a backpack because I decked that backpack, lost my balance and my bike ran into a fence. My goal for the day was not to be awkward, because for some odd reason either Gusman Shimai and I are awkward or Japanese people are, so I just asked if he was okay and then went on my way. Luckly the only damage was to the fence and that wasnt even bad. my bike was fine and I and the guy were stunned. Sad to say, we never did find that girl that said she remembered, but we were happy that she did. 

  Later that evening we were at a Covenie (Covenient store) and were walking out, two young guys (looked like they were in high school) were walking into the parking lot and we said hello. Whenever we see younger people we say hello in english. Just because. They were really excited we said hello. We then said How are you? One of them said Im fine thank you, which is what you will get from anyone in Japan. We then asked if they like English, we went on to talking and learned that one of them met two young elders two years ago on a rainy day, and he really like them. We invited them to Eikaiwa (English Class). Another sad to say we never did see him again this week and he didn:t come to english class, but we were really excited that he remembered the missionaries on that rainy day two years ago. 

We left on Wednesday to Kowachiagano which is an area in our zone for a kokan(companion exchanges) with our STLs ( Sister Training Leaders). And that was so fun.On the way over we were riding a train, and these two girls that were sitting next to my companion and I would just fall asleep on our shoulders, it was the cutest thing ever... they were just so tired.

 I was paired up with Kawamura Shimai, she is from Tokyo and she is really nice and it was kinda hard sometimes to communicate, because she doesnt speak a ton of English. But, I learned so much from her. I learned to open my mouth, be confident in myself, and to always testify about Jesus Christ. One of the things that was really difficult in Kawachiagano is the HILLS! My goodness, I thought that the one hill in Wakayama was hard to go up, these hills are like monsters! No joke! They were really hard to go up. But, I tried riding a mamachadi again( the crazy bike that everyone in Japan swears by is the best bike, but for me is the hardest bike). HAHA... I tried hopping on it and immediately fell over hahaha. But, Kawamura shimai took it and let me borrow hers, which was really nice of her, except the part that she is really short and I felt like a kid riding hers, it was so low to the ground. HAHA! But, I didnt complain, I just rode that crazy bike up those huge hills. 

We left on Thursday, exhausted we slept all the way back to Wakayama. Oh and Thursday was the first of December, I hope all of you have been watching those christmas videos they have for LDS.org. My companion and I were so excited because they have the new #LIGHTTHEWORLD video out and 25 ways to be like Jesus calender, I hope everyone has one, I think you can get one from church. They are like a scatch calender, my family better have one! My companion and I will scatch it off and watch the video! Its one of the highlights of our days. So anyways Thursday was World Wide Service day, and my companion and I decided to pick up trash and make cookies for people. It was so fun! That was also the day I found bamboo! While picking up trash, we were to a forest like area and found wild bamboo growing. 

Friday was district meeting so that was really fun, after the meeting we went to a Okononiyaki house and had really good food. On our way back we were riding our bikes and this old grandma saw us and we said Konnichiwa and she said something like wow so many foreigners, when their was only Gusman Shimai and I haha. But, we were about to turn the corner, and my companion was about to say something to her, but instead the grandma starts yelling BYE BYE BYEBYE!!! We then left and laughed all the way home! We were pretty sure she was crazy.

Later that night we were riding back to the church and my companion stopped and started talking to a little girl about Christmas and Eikaiwa. When all of a sudden this other grandma stopped her bike, I was pretty sure at this point from all the grandmas I have seen lately she was crazy too. But, needless to say she was really nice and asked a bunch of questions and I do not know a lot of things to say yet, so that was hard. But, I told her who I was, where I was from, and a little bit about church. She asked I think where and when church was. I tried my best and told her. She then asked another question that I could not understand, so I grabbed my companion, she came over and started talking to her, she then thanked us and went on her way. I later had found out that her son had found the missionaries in Osaka and made cake or something? She did ask when church was and where. She also asked how long I had been in Japan... she was really sweet and I hope and pray she will come to church some day. 

 My Eikaiwa class on Friday was bigger from last weeks, there are three classes and I am one of the teachers. Last week I only had Ari San but this week I had 4 people! We talked about answering the phone in English, I made up a game to go with it and everyone had a blast. I was really excited that two new people that I had not come into contact with before came, and one was in my class. Ari San volunteered twice to say the prayer ( remember he is not a member) and after I gave him a pamphlet, and in two weeks we have an appointment with him. So, I:m really excited.

Saturday was really excited, we were on our way to go heart attack someone in our ward, and we were riding past these young girls, we said hello and kept going, we were stopped at a stop light, and were waiting when one of the girls got the courage and yelled hello! We then turned around and came and talked to them. They all started giggling and laughing. We then talked to them for a little bit, and talked about Christmas and Eikaiwa, who we are. We asked if any of them would be interested to talk with us again and one of the girls raised her hand and we got her contact information and got a picture with them and left! We then met a cute young couple that had twins, they were so nice and we invited them to go to church sometime. We also got to stop and have gelato 🍧 at this cool gelato and crepes shop I had mango and apple it was so good, I just sat there laughing because in Idaho we would never have gelato or ice cream in December, sometimes it just gets so warm I wonder if it's even December!

Okay, yesterday was a crazy day. Yesterday was fast sunday so we had to fast which I love doing for other people, and if I have a reason, it really not that hard for me, we also were invited over for dinner at a members house. So, after meeting with a less active we started our journey over there. It was raining really hard when we left, and I was already drenched, but we headed to their house. On the way their we were biking fast trying to make good timing, we were going over the meadle grate type of thing, when my bike lost its balance and my bike slipped and I fell with my bike. Luckly I landed with my hands, but hit the pavement hard, I scraped up my knees, and my hands now have bruises, my seat on my bike has a tare which I was so sad about, but I called Sister Welch and everything is just fine. We got to their house in record time and we had one of my favorite meals in Japan Mamadofu and Gioza (pop stickers) hand made and they were delicious! This morning was a little hard to get up, I have a nice bruise on both the palms of my hands, some bruising on my knees, but other than that Im doing just fine! I am very grateful for my Heavenly Father for watching out for me and keeping me ready and able to share this wonderful message with His children in Japan! 

I love you all and Im praying for you daily!

I hope all of you, share a little bit of Christs light and #LIGHTTHEWORLD!

Talk to all in a week!

あいしています！

Sent from my iPad

Week 11 Newly weds and Natto

みなさんこんにちは!!!!!
(Minasan konnichiwa)

I still cannot believe I have been in Japan now for 2 weeks! Oh before
I forget Happy late Thanksgiving! What I have notice while being here
is that some of the people hear aren't as friendly as I thought they
would be. But, it's alright.
Well this week has been nothing, but finding, finding, and finding so more.
When I first arrived in Wakayama there wasn't any investigators that
we were teaching. Not even one. We had a few potential investigators,
but we were starting from scratch. In a way, I was excited, but after
these first two weeks, I kinda kept wondering why?
Wakayama is a crazy city! The language in this part of Japan, like
Osaka is very slang. So, when trying to listen to someone it's really
hard. But, little by little I'm catching on. Wakayama is know for this
mikans(which is little mandarins oranges) and umeboshi (pickled
plums). Okay I probably should start from the beginning.

Tuesday- we went across town and went to a lesson, with a sister who
was very nice, she read some of he Book of Mormon, after we went to
the bishops, and had dinner at their home. It was really good, my
companion and I got to help the the bishops wife her name is V Shimai,
she is really nice she is from the Philippines, and loves talking
English with us. After the meal, we taught a quick lesson and left.

Wednesday- we did our normal studies and then headed out to a less
active members house. This sister was so nice, I had not met her
before, but she was so cute, she is this cute little old lady, who
made us, I thought Moogi cha, but turned out the tea was black bean
tea... haha it wasn't the best. But, I still drank it anyway. After we
headed around and went finding.we really didn't have any luck, and I
mean we went to a apartment complex that had 20 doors and not one
opened. Okay, I probably should explain about housing. In Japan,
people don't normally answer their door, they talk through this little
speaker phone that everyone has. You press the button, and that is
when you know if they might be interested, if you press the doorbell,
and you tell them who you are and they say I'm not interested, or they
might come to the door, or you have to have a conversation on the
speaker. Very weird, but okay! But, we were riding our bikes, and all
of a sudden I saw his old lady working on her garden. I told my
companion I wanted to stop, when we got over there, I used what little
Japanese I had and asked her if she has heard about God. She then
started talking fast, and my companion translated, but she said she is
Buddhist and believes in recarnation and she believes that she will be
able to come back as another person, and she said when she comes back
she would like to be in the Olympics hahah. But, we gave her a plan of
salvation pamphlet!

Thursday-yah Thursday was Thanksgiving! Yah, it was weird not being
around the table with a big turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing...
but I still had fun. So first off post office people here need to
figure out their addresses right, second off did you know that Gusman
Shimai is getting married? Hahah I didn't either, Just Kidding! Gusman
Shimai and I were just getting ready to go when the doorbell rang!
Gusman Shimai got up and ran to the door. When the mailman handed her
a package and shouted "Omedito" which means congratulations and left!
We brought the package upstairs, and were about to open it, when
Gusman Shimai said wait... is this for the right house? Confused she
looked for our address, and low and behold it wasn't. She then looked
at the senders name it said "bridal"!!!! Laughing our heads off, I
turned to her and said "wow, Gusman Shimai I didn't know you were
getting married.." it was so funny. "I thought he was just excited to
give us a package, not that I was getting married)!haha!
After we hopped on a train towards a family in our wards house. One
thing about Wakayama is that we have the coolest trains ever! We have
one that is called the umeboshi dencha (pickled plum) train, the
Ichigo dencha (strawberry train) , and Tama dencha (Cat train). But,
we didn't get any of those haha... but we headed over and had a
thanksgiving dinner with a family and the chōro Tachi, I did get
really full though, so that was good. We thanked them, and then headed
home. When we got home, we worked on planning for the next week. Then
headed our to another dinner appointment with a family in our ward the
Oumis'. When we got there we sat down and had dinner, the talked and I
just sat their listening, then for some odd reason, I don't know how
they got on this topic, but they were talking about Natto. If you
don't know what Natto is I would highly recommend looking it up
online, but I would not eat it. They were talking about it, and then
they asked if we wanted to try it? I said sure, that was a big
mistake. My companion and I got some put in a bowl for us. And it did
not look good. Natto looks like snot, it is so gross. We then on the
count of three, put it into our mouths and my word man that was so
gross.

Friday- was my first district meeting, I got to meet Carr chōrō and
Meckam chōrō they are super nice. After the meeting we went this this
sushi restaurant that is so good! It's like fast food sushi, but I
didn't care, it was so good. Basically you just either order on this
screen what type of sushi you want our you take the ones that go on
this conveyor belt, and it just comes out on the conveyor belt. I
tried many different types, but my favorite was shrimp with onions,
mayo, and avocado! I also tried, salmon, salmon with cheese, and 🐙
octopus, octopus is a little chewy though. That night we taught
Eikaiwa, that we do every week.it was really fun, there was only a few
people this week, so I only had one person in my class, and his name
is Ari San, and he told me at the beginning "may we just have a
conversation in English the whole time" I said "you bet"! During the
lesson we talked a bunch about America and my life actually, he asked
a lot about my mission, how much, and then he asked about coffee. Do I
drink it? I said not, and he was surprised. After we were done, about
to end I asked if he would say the prayer. He said sure. The funny
thing is after the class, I was talking to my companion, and she asked
about Ari she asked "did you have him pray?" And I said "yah" she then
goes on to telling me that Ari san is not a member. I was beyond
surprised. Haha yah, so I got a nonmember to say a prayer, I also
taught him a lesson without knowing it haha? And at the end he asked
if we could come over. What? So apparently he was taught before by my
companion, so now we can count him as a investigator! Wow!

Saturday- that was really fun day, we went to the BEACH! We biked far
to get there! Probably a good 12-15 miles. Don't quote me though. When
we got there we talked a little bit, and then started talking to other
people that we saw. We met this really nice lady who had a bull dog
that was beyond cute! We then talked a little bit about God but she
wasn't that interested, after we started our long bike ride back home.

Sunday- we went to church, oh the little primary children in our ward
did a cute program. It's funny because my companion had to translate
for them as well. Haha.. after we did a lot of housing. Oh and it was
raining hard, but we got to sing a Christmas song for this cute
family. After, we headed to this cute old investigators house, we got
to introduce ourselves. But, she was busy, so she said we could come
back. As we were walking back to our bikes in the rain she yelled to
us and gave us an umbrella. In that split second I could see the love
I had for her, and what joy and hope I had for her!

One of the things that I have realized from being on a mission is the
power of the Book of Mormon! There's a quote that  President Benson
further taught: "The Book of Mormon teaches us truth [and] bears
testimony of Christ. … But there is something more. There is a power
in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you
begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to
resist temptation. … You will find the power to stay on the strait and
narrow path." And I know that to be true. I have found so much desire
to ready from studying the Book of Mormon and I love it! I hope each
of you try to read this wonderful book! I have felt the love of my
savior as I have read it! Also the new #lighttheworld video on
Mormon.org is up go watch it!

Love you all
Love ロケット姉妹

Week 10- JAPAN!

みなさんこんにちは!!!!!
(Minasan konnichiwa)

I still cannot believe I have been in Japan now for 2 weeks! Oh before
I forget Happy late Thanksgiving! What I have notice while being here
is that some of the people hear aren't as friendly as I thought they
would be. But, it's alright.
Well this week has been nothing, but finding, finding, and finding so more.
When I first arrived in Wakayama there wasn't any investigators that
we were teaching. Not even one. We had a few potential investigators,
but we were starting from scratch. In a way, I was excited, but after
these first two weeks, I kinda kept wondering why?
Wakayama is a crazy city! The language in this part of Japan, like
Osaka is very slang. So, when trying to listen to someone it's really
hard. But, little by little I'm catching on. Wakayama is know for this
mikans(which is little mandarins oranges) and umeboshi (pickled
plums). Okay I probably should start from the beginning.

Tuesday- we went across town and went to a lesson, with a sister who
was very nice, she read some of he Book of Mormon, after we went to
the bishops, and had dinner at their home. It was really good, my
companion and I got to help the the bishops wife her name is V Shimai,
she is really nice she is from the Philippines, and loves talking
English with us. After the meal, we taught a quick lesson and left.

Wednesday- we did our normal studies and then headed out to a less
active members house. This sister was so nice, I had not met her
before, but she was so cute, she is this cute little old lady, who
made us, I thought Moogi cha, but turned out the tea was black bean
tea... haha it wasn't the best. But, I still drank it anyway. After we
headed around and went finding.we really didn't have any luck, and I
mean we went to a apartment complex that had 20 doors and not one
opened. Okay, I probably should explain about housing. In Japan,
people don't normally answer their door, they talk through this little
speaker phone that everyone has. You press the button, and that is
when you know if they might be interested, if you press the doorbell,
and you tell them who you are and they say I'm not interested, or they
might come to the door, or you have to have a conversation on the
speaker. Very weird, but okay! But, we were riding our bikes, and all
of a sudden I saw his old lady working on her garden. I told my
companion I wanted to stop, when we got over there, I used what little
Japanese I had and asked her if she has heard about God. She then
started talking fast, and my companion translated, but she said she is
Buddhist and believes in recarnation and she believes that she will be
able to come back as another person, and she said when she comes back
she would like to be in the Olympics hahah. But, we gave her a plan of
salvation pamphlet!

Thursday-yah Thursday was Thanksgiving! Yah, it was weird not being
around the table with a big turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing...
but I still had fun. So first off post office people here need to
figure out their addresses right, second off did you know that Gusman
Shimai is getting married? Hahah I didn't either, Just Kidding! Gusman
Shimai and I were just getting ready to go when the doorbell rang!
Gusman Shimai got up and ran to the door. When the mailman handed her
a package and shouted "Omedito" which means congratulations and left!
We brought the package upstairs, and were about to open it, when
Gusman Shimai said wait... is this for the right house? Confused she
looked for our address, and low and behold it wasn't. She then looked
at the senders name it said "bridal"!!!! Laughing our heads off, I
turned to her and said "wow, Gusman Shimai I didn't know you were
getting married.." it was so funny. "I thought he was just excited to
give us a package, not that I was getting married)!haha!
After we hopped on a train towards a family in our wards house. One
thing about Wakayama is that we have the coolest trains ever! We have
one that is called the umeboshi dencha (pickled plum) train, the
Ichigo dencha (strawberry train) , and Tama dencha (Cat train). But,
we didn't get any of those haha... but we headed over and had a
thanksgiving dinner with a family and the chōro Tachi, I did get
really full though, so that was good. We thanked them, and then headed
home. When we got home, we worked on planning for the next week. Then
headed our to another dinner appointment with a family in our ward the
Oumis'. When we got there we sat down and had dinner, the talked and I
just sat their listening, then for some odd reason, I don't know how
they got on this topic, but they were talking about Natto. If you
don't know what Natto is I would highly recommend looking it up
online, but I would not eat it. They were talking about it, and then
they asked if we wanted to try it? I said sure, that was a big
mistake. My companion and I got some put in a bowl for us. And it did
not look good. Natto looks like snot, it is so gross. We then on the
count of three, put it into our mouths and my word man that was so
gross.

Friday- was my first district meeting, I got to meet Carr chōrō and
Meckam chōrō they are super nice. After the meeting we went this this
sushi restaurant that is so good! It's like fast food sushi, but I
didn't care, it was so good. Basically you just either order on this
screen what type of sushi you want our you take the ones that go on
this conveyor belt, and it just comes out on the conveyor belt. I
tried many different types, but my favorite was shrimp with onions,
mayo, and avocado! I also tried, salmon, salmon with cheese, and 🐙
octopus, octopus is a little chewy though. That night we taught
Eikaiwa, that we do every week.it was really fun, there was only a few
people this week, so I only had one person in my class, and his name
is Ari San, and he told me at the beginning "may we just have a
conversation in English the whole time" I said "you bet"! During the
lesson we talked a bunch about America and my life actually, he asked
a lot about my mission, how much, and then he asked about coffee. Do I
drink it? I said not, and he was surprised. After we were done, about
to end I asked if he would say the prayer. He said sure. The funny
thing is after the class, I was talking to my companion, and she asked
about Ari she asked "did you have him pray?" And I said "yah" she then
goes on to telling me that Ari san is not a member. I was beyond
surprised. Haha yah, so I got a nonmember to say a prayer, I also
taught him a lesson without knowing it haha? And at the end he asked
if we could come over. What? So apparently he was taught before by my
companion, so now we can count him as a investigator! Wow!

Saturday- that was really fun day, we went to the BEACH! We biked far
to get there! Probably a good 12-15 miles. Don't quote me though. When
we got there we talked a little bit, and then started talking to other
people that we saw. We met this really nice lady who had a bull dog
that was beyond cute! We then talked a little bit about God but she
wasn't that interested, after we started our long bike ride back home.

Sunday- we went to church, oh the little primary children in our ward
did a cute program. It's funny because my companion had to translate
for them as well. Haha.. after we did a lot of housing. Oh and it was
raining hard, but we got to sing a Christmas song for this cute
family. After, we headed to this cute old investigators house, we got
to introduce ourselves. But, she was busy, so she said we could come
back. As we were walking back to our bikes in the rain she yelled to
us and gave us an umbrella. In that split second I could see the love
I had for her, and what joy and hope I had for her!

One of the things that I have realized from being on a mission is the
power of the Book of Mormon! There's a quote that  President Benson
further taught: “The Book of Mormon teaches us truth [and] bears
testimony of Christ. … But there is something more. There is a power
in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you
begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to
resist temptation. … You will find the power to stay on the strait and
narrow path.” And I know that to be true. I have found so much desire
to ready from studying the Book of Mormon and I love it! I hope each
of you try to read this wonderful book! I have felt the love of my
savior as I have read it! Also the new #lighttheworld video on
Mormon.org is up go watch it!

Love you all
Love ロケット姉妹