Week 25 You're about to be rained with pictures.

Mon

A little bit busy for a P-Day. We had a member lesson in the morning, a service project (helping a less active in her tailoring shop) and then went out for dinner with a less active couple. The food was SOOOO GOOOOD. There was tempura and sashimi and tofu and miso soup and steak. YUM. I want to eat it again.

Tue

We spent a good portion of the day trying to get in contact with former investigators. We contacted three, but they all said that they were busy so they didn't have time to meet with us. They were all nice however. We also got a referral from the elders! Yay! We haven't met her yet but the elders set up an appointment for Tuesday.

Wed

We rode our bikes about 45 min to an appointment and as we are standing on her doorstep, she calls us and says that she's waiting at the hospital. She went there for a standard check up and had been waiting for over an hour to check out or something, so unfortunately we couldn't meet with her but we got another appointment thankfully. On the upside, because she canceled, we were able to have a full hour of lunch and all four hours of study. Had we done that appointment, we would have only had about half an hour for lunch and lose an hour of study. We visited a less active who has a kitten. The kitten play attacked my hand, but it didn't bite or use claws. It was cute.

Thu

We went by a less active and a member's houses thinking that it would be hello-here's-a-scripture-and-a-prayer kind of a drop by but the both wanted to talk so we ended up spending more time than we thought. Oh well. Then we went to the area where the referral lives and tried to find her house so that we could be on time for our appointment. Unfortunately we didn't find it but we texted the elders who gave us more specific directions and so...

Fri

We found it! She wasn't home, but we left a pamphlet and a note. We had Single Adults FHE on Sunday, so we dropped by a store to pick up some things we needed for the activity. Little did we know that in that store we would find such treasures as Hersey's chocolate syrup and chocolate whipped cream. It was hard not to buy everything that we wanted, but we stuck to the things we needed for the activity and a six pack of Dr. Pepper for Sister Vincent.

Sat

FUN OUT THE WAZOOO! First, there was a ward activity (see attached pictures). We went to a member's house to have a barbecue, Japan style. Basically you have a griddle and you put everything on it, onions, peppers, squash, eggplant, meat, and noodles. Then you pour sauce in your bowl and heap the food in there so that it gets covered by sauce. Then we ate about 5 slices of watermelon. The Relief Society President told all the kids that if you eat a watermelon seed you can grow watermelons in your stomach. Apparently it's the same in Japan as in the US. A family that attends Eikaiwa came to the activity and we had a lot of fun with their three kids. I hope we can get them to hear the lessons or come

to church...Then we hurried home, had 15 minutes of personal study, then went back out the door to go to a festival with one of our investigators and her entire family. It was beautiful and very japanese and loud. The taiko drums and cymbals are incredibly loud. I came home with a headache, but so happy to have experienced something like this.

Sun

The elders had a baptismal service. He is deaf so there is a feeling among the members of great responsibility. I guess we need to convert a translator next. After that, we went out housing for a bit, came home and broke our fast. Then we had the SA FHE. It went suprisingly well. I wish more people would have come, but oh well. I taught the "cake is our body and if we don't take care of it it's like putting grass or rocks in it" lesson. The elders seemed almost physically ill when we started putting the stuff on top of the cake. Then we played the "cookie on the forehead" game and also a game where you have something or someone written on a post-it note and then without looking you put that post-it on your forehead and ask the people around you yes or no questions to figure out what it is. All in all it was a success.

 

Love

Leah

Week 24

I want to see pictures of Europe!

 

Monday

The elders found an all-you-can-eat-pizza-and-pasta restaurant so we went there for lunch. We ate till we were squinting from stomach fullness. Then, out of the blue, the bishop calls up the missionaries and says "let's go out for dinner!" And so we all make time to go out with him and his wife. Turns out they take us to a restaurant known for it's big portions. We felt somewhat guilty at not being able to eat alot with them. Then Sister Vincent and I decided to go and see if we could find some former investigators. As it was nearing curfew, I was trying to decide whether or not we should try to go and find one more former investigator or pack up and head home. I decided that we would try to find one more. To get to the next address, we had to go past our apartment building. Something said "go inside" but I was like "we've gotta work hard or we're not missionaries. Work to the end!" so we kept going. About two streets later, we were stopped at a street light and Sister Vincent turns to me and asks, "how do you feel right now?" I say "weird" and she says "yeah, me too." So we look at each other, turn our bikes around, and head back to the apartment. I don't know what was up, but we were supposed to be in our apartment.

Tue

COMPANION EXCHANGE! Sister Vincent and Sister Cox (a sister that got here only a week before) worked together and Sister Hart and I worked together. Sister Vincent was nervous and I was nervous for them, but we parted ways and worked in our different areas. I worked in a suburb of Nagoya called Fukutoku. It was different because the area is all city, no countryside. While I was with Sister Hart, we found 1 Potential Investigator, and 4 Potential Investigators became investigators. Both of us were exceptionally suprised. I am filled with mixed emotions because I'm glad that they are investigators and I am happy for the Fukutoku sisters, but WHY CAN'T THAT HAPPEN IN YOKKAICHI? We're gonna try hard to.

Wed

Sister Vincent and Sister Cox survied! They did just fine. It helped Sister Vincent realize how much she can understand and how much she can communicate. Here's hoping that it continues. We had lunch with a member. She went on a tour of church history sites in the States about 3 months ago and told us how much it strengthened her testimony. It makes me want to do a similar thing.

Thu

Interviews with President Yamashita. Both Sister Vincent and I cried, for seemingly no reason, but apparently the Spirit just worked on us that way. We had curry for lunch. Yum yum. We had a lesson with a recent convert and then straight to a dinner appointment with some members. We talked about video games, new technology, Star Wars, and faith without works is dead. Such is the dinner of a missionary.

Fri

3/4 of our appointments fell through so we went to visit a less active member at her cafe. After that we ate at McDonalds because both of us were feeling like we needed something greasy and unhealthy and tasty to eat. The set that I bought was apparently a special set because I got a collectible coca-cola glass and a folder-with-an-actor-who-I-don't-know with the food. Then we had weekly planning and to a member appointment where we had pizza. It was the wrong day to have McDonalds. By the end of the dinner both of us were feeling wholly unhealthy. The member's husband was at work with the car, so we had to wait till he got off work to get home. So we got home a little late, but not extraordinarily late.

Sat

We had an FHE with recent converts and a member family that went extremely well. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and I played the cello and the spirit was there. I wish all dinner appointments were like that.

Sun

Similar to the previous day, we had a cello concert/FHE/dinner at a member's home with recent converts. This one went well, too, but we didn't share a message, so it was a little sad (for us). I was still very appreciative of the members for taking the recent converts in like that.