Week 34

I forgot my old planner today since it is a new transfer and I am using a fresh one. This will be a true test of my memory.

Mon

I learned how to make sushi! We made it at a recent convert's house for lunch. When I get back I will teach you. And all the other Japanese food I have learned to make so far. We decided not to go to the thrift store (Sister Ishihara wanted to buy some new cardigans) and instead stayed at home so that we could sleep. It was a nice, quiet day in. I drew the flyers for the Halloween Party. It's a good thing they asked me to draw the Halloween flyer because my drawing skills are pretty scary, as you know. Also, a member asked me for ideas for Holiday cookies, so would you send me your favorite Chirstmas/winter/fall/holiday/any-time-of-the-year cookie recipes?

Tue

We tried to find a long lost Less Active but we couldn't find her house because it was an incomplete address. But I saw a tiny turtle in the canal as we were looking! As we went to visite a new investigator, we turned around the corner and saw a lady getting into her car. Lo and Behold, it was our investigator, who apparently forgot our appointment. So we waved to her and said we would come back again another time. We talked with one member about the Halloween party as she made dinner. Her two year old ate three jellos and then started to get sleepy so she put him down. In the middle of us eating dinner, he woke back up and began crying and proceeded to cry until we left for the night. Apparently eating three jellos right before bed isn't good for your stomach.

Wed

We met an investigator's husband for the first time. He was very friendly and gave us cake, but then went into the next room and started watching television. Hopefully we can entice him to listen with her. We invited her and her family to church and to General Conference. I hope she can come so that she can see a living prophet for herself. Decided to eat at McDonald's because it was on the way back, ate my first teryaki burger. Once was enough. We also had chestnut pies, a seasonal product available only in Japan in the fall. Fairly good. As we left, a biker on a sleek cycling bike in spandex biking get-up started up the same hill we were on. I laughed under my breath, put my 7-months-of-riding-a-bike-every-day-all-day leg muscles to work and beat him up the hill. Not a huge victory in the scheme of things but I had fun.

Thu

Companion exchange with Sister Vincent in Yokkaichi! It was strange to be back in the same place with the same companion but not for real. As we met the sisters at the train station this old lady came up to us and said "oh I'm so glad you're here, these two nice young girls said they were waiting for friends but I was worried because this is a town that doesn't have anything but goldfish and they don't speak much Japanese but they are just so nice so I was worried and now that you're here I can leave and not worry about them." Apparently Sister Vincent and Sister Aoki hadn't said much of anything except hello and the lady did most of the talking. She was a sweet old lady. We went with the elders to wish a PI happy birthday. I hope that she can come to church or Eikaiwa or something. We had a few lessons with members and recent converts in Yokkaichi and almost every time they greeted me like normal but then after about a minute it caught up to them that I hadn't been there for a month and then the got all happy and huggy. I was so glad to get to see them.

Fri

We bought bread from the bakery by the train station in Takabata again. I am now thoroughly convinced that anything they have there is delicious and heavenly. The Zone Leaders out of the blue showed up for district meeting. We had fun playing pictionary with them. They just shouted a stream of words until they got it correct. Afterwards we taught an investigator the plan of salvation. I don't think she's wrapped her head around it yet. She did say that she wants to go to General Conference and have FHE though.

Sat

At kid's eikaiwa one kid decided to pull down his pants and show us his underwear. Hmm. At family eikaiwai, we were able to teach another small lesson which went over well. We also got a lot of presents again. In a package of gum, the little boy of the family got a light up pile of poo. Something only a little boy would find joy in, but he loved it.

Sun

Sister Ishihara did a great job of asking the members to come with us to appointments. 3/4 appointments now have members attending. We broke our fast with a member, a less active, the elders, and a returned missionary who joined us via skype. The member and the elders did home teaching for the less active and then we ate okonomiyaki until we were all full to the brim. It was a fun way to break the fast, do missionary work, and spend time with them.

 

Lots of love,

Leah