Week 14

Mon

I made cheese soup for Sister Eguchi. She liked it but she couldn't believe how much cheese there was.

Tue

The sun was out and it was warm, so I wore short sleeves. Because the sun was out and it was warm, I got sunburned. I am still pink today (Monday) one week later. Thank goodness for aloe. We met some very nice people while housing and I almost ran over a snake. Apparently he was enjoying the sun too (see attached picture).

Wed

We visited one of the older ladies in the ward. She lives alone most of the time so I think that she gets lonely, so she talked to us for almost an hour. I unfortunately started spacing out which led to nodding off. I fought off the sandman and stayed awake, but it was a tough battle. One of our investigators has found a CD by the MoTab and he LOVES it. He said that he stayed up very late one night listening to it even though he had work in the morning. I plan on letting him borrow some CD's should he wish to. We did the bicycle equivalent of sprinting from a town that is an hour away by bike back to the church building so that we could teach Children's English class. Usually it takes about an hour and fifteen min, but we did it in 40. We slept well.

Thu

We met with an investigator for the first time. He has a lot of hard questions like why are there wars and why the only records we have of Christ's visits are the Book of Mormon and the Bible. It seems like his heart isn't quite open yet, but hopefully through reading the Book of Mormon it will soften. Contrasted with him, we met right after that lesson with Udaka Kyodai, our recent convert. He truly has a lot of faith and a soft heart.

Fri

We ate so much food. We had three meal appointments within 6 hours of each other. I ate and ate and ate. I felt like saying to the last appointment, "there is no room in the inn," but considering it was the bishop, I ate as much as I could.

Sat

Imagine the most perfect steak cut into strips and cooked to personal perfection. That was the lunch that we had with a less active couple. YUM. Then we had ice cream. I had milk ice cream. No, not vanilla, not plain, milk ice cream. I'm not entirely sure what the flavor was, but it wasn't bad. It wasn't mind-blowing either, but hey, it's ice cream. We watched the Testaments with Jonah, our other recent convert. Everyone was crying by the end because of the Spirit. I wanted to watch it again after it was done, but we had an appointment.

Sun

I got a 4-leaf clover from one of the Young Women. I'm using it as a scripture bookmark.

Week 13

Mon
I bought my new camera. We had dinner at a member's house. Delicious Japanese food. The Nagano shimai stayed over at our apartment again.

Tue
I did missionary work with Smith Shimai, a bean-chan who is currently working in Nagano. We went to an English class with a member and his wife and afterwards we shared a short message which turned into a deep disscussion about God, agency, and how to know what is right. I was suprised at how much people wanted to talk, but unfortunately that led to us not being able to say much. Smith Shimai and I had to go to Nagoya station to pick up our normal companions and then return to our normal areas. Unfortunately we got on the wrong train. It still took us to Nagoya, but it was a limited express train that costs extra money to ride, so we had to pay an extra $5. Oops. On the way home, I eavesdropped on two ladies on the train who were talking about how nice it would be to know English and so I whipped out a flyer and gave it to them. I finally got the package!

Wed
Like Abraham, the Lord provided for us when we were sacrificing. We had an appointment right before Eikaiwa and we didn't have time to stop to eat or make something and bring it, so we expected to spend the night hungry. One student came in with a carton of boiled eggs and said "here, take one. I thought you might like them." Then another student came in with a loaf of bread and a package of ham and said "this is a thank you for teaching us English." The Lord will always provide for the righteous. In the room where I teach English, there is a picture of President Monson (we teach at the church). One student asked who he was which lead to a small lesson about prophets in front of everyone. The Relief Society president called us up in the middle of the day and said "do you have time right now? I'd like to take you to a less active's house and share a message with you." We were extremely happy to say that we did have time. I also saw a small lizard. At first I thought it was rubber but when I got closer it moved.

Thu
I got called Sister Rogers twice in one day. We went to a picturesque town. We had a lesson face to face with an investigator that we usually only have phone appointments with. I think because we were face to face she shared some of her deeper thoughts and worries than she normally does. I hope that we can keep going back. I had a shrimp burger which wasn't to bad actually.

Fri
We had to cancel an appointment with a member because Zone Training Meeting went long. The elders spent 20 minutes trying to make a heart for a video for President and Sister Baird. We taught a new investigator most of the first lesson, but she said that she only believes in the Bible and since she already knows about Christ we ought to spend our efforts elsewhere.

Sat
It rained all day so I and all my scriptures and other things got soaked. I also slipped on the road and fell off my bike. I now have three layers of scars on my right knee. We weren't sure when a train to our next appointment was leaving, so we missed it. I ran for it even though my knee was in less than prime condition. We took the next one though. As we were heading toward the next station, we saw a 70 year old lady sprint like an olympian for the elevator. I was suprised at her energy. We held the elevator for her so she gave us some paper cranes. She was very nice and so I hope that we or some future missionaries find her again.

Sun
I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about recognizing the spirit. The most part of it was quotes, so I think it was understandable. When we got home after church, Eguchi Shimai crashed, so I let her sleep.

Love ya,
Leah

Week 12

My camera is broken, so I'm going to buy a new one/see if I can get it fixed rather than buy an electronic dictionary. I guess I dropped it too many times because the place where you put the batteries won't stay closed any more, so it can't make a full circuit to turn on. Oh well.

Mon
We were riding our bikes on a road with little to no shoulder and a car was coming, so I thought, I can either try to ride in between the telephone pole and the car or the telephone pole and the railing. I chose the telephone pole and the railing because they were stationary objects that would move around as I was riding. Unfortunately it proved to be a little too tight for my bike to fit, so my bike basket got a little bent going through. We tried to visit a member's house, but neither of us had ever been there before, so we walked around for 1 1/2 hours till we had to turn around because of our curfew. Then at the train station we got on the wrong train so we had to walk even further to get back to our apt. Needless to say we were late. When we checked the address of the member, it turns out that we didn't have the complete address. Oops.

Tues
We had been going around the same neighborhood for a long time looking for a less active's house till we called her (it was her birthday so we wanted to surprise her, but we figured it would be better to call her than to keep wandering). Upon caller her, we found out the church records weren't up to date, she had moved and the address we had was her previous house. Oops again. That night we spent an entire hour calling people to set up appointments for the coming month. It was fruitful labor.

Wed
We went to a member's house while she was at work so that we could heart-attack her door. When I pulled out the little hearts we cut out, a large beetle landed on them. Of course I dropped them and so of course the wind started to scatter them all over. It was kind of like an Easter Egg hunt, searching for them. It was fun. The Tagolog Book of Mormon came for our Phillipino investigator. Yay! Since this week was a holiday week for Japan, not many people came to our English class, so I taught both beginning and intermediate together.

Thu
We went to go visit a less active and found out that she had moved and the person living there was a former investigator of the elders! We have plans to go back and see if he will become an investigator again. One less active said that she thought when young people are fat they are cute. Then she called me cute. I wasn't sure how to take it... Sister Eguchi and I taught each other kitchen words.

Fri
One part member family's house had a guard dog. He wasn't barking, just growling quietly as we approached, so I thought maybe he is just getting acquainted  testing our mettle. So I opened the gate and took one slow step in. The dog didn't raise his hackles and he didn't bark or lunge or do much of anything, so I just walked slowly past without a problem. He was all growl and no bite. A less active we planned on visiting was busy, so we knocked on some doors and found a new investigator! Her name is Mable, she is from Zimbabwe, and her husband is a former investigator of the elders. Small world, eh?

Sat
This time we visited a house with a guard cat. It was a friendly cat though. We had a lunch appointment with a member, but we got there early so we rang the doorbell of the house next door. The member came back from walking her dog and saw us on the neighbor's doorstep 
and thought that we had rang the wrong house.

Sun
Jonah, our Phillipino investigator got baptized  She cried during the baptismal service. Her dress kept coming up so they had to do the ordinance 5 times. Afterwards she said she felt "refreshed." See attached picture.