Week 21 (July 7th)

I gave in and counted up my days. From today I have officially 300 days left of my mission.

Mon

I made donuts for breakfast. We rode a cable car up to the peak of the mountains as a district activity (see pictures). It was perfect weather at the top of the mountain. We saw this HUGE bug, like the size of  a post it note. Elder Wilkinson stepped on it and it kept moving even though half of its insides were outside. Ugh. We met a girl riding back to our apartment who seemed very promising so we hope that we'll get a follow up appointment with her. I was reading in the scriptures in 3 Nephi and I came across the scripture in 11 that says "this is my beloved son" and an overwhelming feeling of "this is my beloved daughter Leah, in whom I am well pleased" came over me. I felt so happy and relieved to hear that. Earlier in the day both Sister Vincent and I had been feeling pretty crummy for some reason and then I decided that I would put my shoulder to the wheel and shove even though the world says that when you feel bad you should take it easy. When we got back to our apartment, the bad feeling was completely gone. It was a testament to me that when you forget yourself and go to work that you have a good experience.

Tue

My bike chain was a little wonky so we took it to the bike shop and they fixed it up in a jiffy. We parked our bikes outside of a less active's house. When we came out we surprised a lady who had been looking at our bikes. She said "these are really nice bikes so I was wondering what kind of person would ride them." I said "sister missionaries" and she got all fluttery and quickly walked away. We saw another huge bug, a Japanese beetle about the size of a Necco candy. Gross. We met the elders and a member while we were out riding our bikes within fifteen minutes of each other. Funny little world isn't it. One old lady we talked to asked if Sister Vincent and I were married.

Wed

Two of our recent converts didn't come to church last Sunday. When we visited them, they said "something feels different about this week. We ought to go to church." That made my heart happy. One less active called us up and said "I want to take you out to McDonald's some time. When are you free?" I'm always happy to get those kinds of calls.

Thu

We visited a less active that I haven't seen since February. It was strange to see how different it was since the winter. We ate KFC and Baskin Robins as our Independence Day celebration. We went to a recent convert's house unannounced, she wasn't there, so we decided to write her a note. As we were writing, she came home! It rained and I didn't have my rain coat. It was fun.

Fri

We met Yamashita Kaicho. For some reason, when I met him, it felt like Grandpa. I'm not sure why though. Yamashita Kaicho said that after our mission and after he's done he would love to perform any of our sealing ceremonies. That would certainly be interesting. We met this nice old couple on the train. They got off the train before I could hand them any materials, but hopefully this seed will get a chance to sprout. We then volunteered at our investigator's Eikaiwa. It was a busy day.

Sat

REALLY HOT. Right after breakfast, we get a call from Yamashita Kaicho saying, "Sister Vincent, call home RIGHT NOW. Your family is waiting for your call." So as soon as we hung up the phone with him, Sister Vincent was like, before we do anything, let's say a prayer. So we prayed and then we tried to call, but neither us, nor the sister leader, nor the zone leaders, nor Yamashita Kaicho knew how to call outside the country. We finally got a hold of one of the AP's and they told us. It turns out her grandfather was in a freak car accident and this could put him over the edge. It wasn't as bad of news as we thought it was going to be. I think Yamashita Kaicho was just unsure of what to do in these situations because he's only been here 3 days. We went out to lunch with a member and his friend, and then waited 2 HOURS till the missionaries said forget it and went to the ward bowling activity (where I came in last out of all).

Sun

Fast Sunday, so no water plus hot weather plus biking plus housing=two very dehydrated missionaries. One of our investigators came unexpectedly to church. We were so happy and suprised. Hopefully we can get her to come to church every week.

 

Love you

Leah