And here are a few pictures from my last few moments in Beppu! The hand onsen (hot spring) by church! weird statue guy! and our church!
Well, transfer 6 has officially begun.... and I am now in Hiroshima!! yep. I transferred. Missions are crazy that way haha. gosh. I am now in Hatsukaichi and it’s way fun! My new companion is Horio shimai. She’s Nihonjin (Japanese) and on her 4th transfer... she also speaks very very VERY little English so it’s been fun because I also speak very little Nihongo (Japanese). But it’s okay, this transfer I will become way fluent!... I hope! The ward here is huge! Probably around 60 people... I guess that’s not huge by Americas standards haha, but in Nihon (Japan) that’s a big ward. And this ward is full of families! with way cute kids! It’s so happy! Especially coming from Beppu where we weren’t even a branch. I loved Beppu though. Everyone felt like family, I’m kinda sad that I only stayed one transfer, but at the same time, I felt like I needed to leave. But anyways! Gosh! I guess the most exciting thing that happened to me this week was that I transferred haha. Which was a crazy adventure. I got on a bus and rode it for six hours... alone! Well, there were a lot of other people on the bus but none of them were missionaries haha. I don’t know the last time I was alone for 6 hours haha so that was weird. Well then I ended up getting off the bus a stop early... oops...but in my defense, everyone got off the bus so I figured it was the last stop haha. anyways. so we didn’t get to the apartment until almost 9! But we made it! Then the next day, Friday, we had a lesson with a recent convert, Okaza san. She’s 78 years old. and way cute!! Then after that we came home for weekly planning and that took.... all day. Seriously. We started at about 2 and ended at 8:50... The language barrier really slowed us down haha. Plus Horio shimai had to tell me all about our investigators and ward and stuff. but gosh. That was a long day haha. Then Saturday I got to meet two of our investigators, Na Chan.. she’s 21, today is her birthday! and she met the missionaries 3 years ago! Crazy! she has come to church almost every week for 3 years and she reads the book of Mormon everyday and prays everyday... but she won’t receive baptism... okay sorry that was a direct translation from Japanese haha she won’t get baptized! She’s had a million baptismal dates but always comes up with a new excuse haha. Anyways. I met her, she’s way awesome! I’m gonna see her baptism! I’m way determined! Then I got to meet the Sakai family! It’s a mom and dad and their 5 year old son Kazuki... gosh, they’ve been coming to church for about 2 years but won’t get baptized haha. but Kazuki is planning on getting baptized when he turns 8... it’s so weird! haha. I don’t get it. But they are a great family and if I didn’t know they were investigators, I really would have thought they were members. Anyways, then Sunday happened. It was way fun meeting everyone! Kinda overwhelming since there were so many people haha but it’s way fun... and now it’s Monday! it’s been a crazy past few days! but I’m way excited to be here in Hatsukaichi!
And here are a few pictures from my last few moments in Beppu! The hand onsen (hot spring) by church! weird statue guy! and our church!
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Hello! I hope you all had a fantastic week! We sure did! So last Monday we found 2 new investigators! One of them is Tanakasan. He is probably in his 50s. He is so awesome! We had to pass him to the elders, but it's okay! Anyways, when we first talked to him he wasn't interested but we kept talking and eventually he told us we could come back! This man is so pure. Like he just has this light in his eyes. And the elders have had 3 lessons with him and tell us that he is just so amazing and accepting the gospel! So that's way awesome! The other one we found is Kusaka san. She's 47 years old and quite interesting. Her husband is very controlling and doesn't let her work or even buy things at the store if the cashier is a man... she isn't even allowed to have a phone. Gosh and this poor woman just wants some friends. So she was way happy when we came to her door. Right now we are a secret from her husband. We taught her about Christ and God and prayer and it went really well. We asked her to pray at the end of the lesson... and oh my lanta. She started okay and then she started singing a song for like 2 minutes! And me and So shimai were just trying to not die of laughter. Gosh. And I was crying from choking down my laugh and then she finshed and I couldn't look up. So shimai manages to tell her that she did a great job and I finally look up and I'm crying and Kusaka san looks at me and is like are you okay? I still couldn't talk and So shimai tells her I was just really moved by her prayer haha. gosh. I can't even describe to you how hilarious this was haha. But anyways, Kusaka san is awesome! Missions are never boring haha that's for sure.
Well, today is transfer call day!! We are all anxiously waiting for "the call" haha. I'm probably staying here in Beppu since I just got here! But ya never know! I guess you will all have to wait til next week to find out! I love you guys!! Hello! How was your week? Mine was pretty crazy! On Tuesday we went to Kumamoto because we had a general authority, Elder Whiting, visit our mission! So we went to Kumamoto on Tuesday and I got to spend the night in my old apartment! It was so fun and the best part was that Kiyomi and Rinkun and Matsuyama shimai and kyodai and Harukun came to surprise me! It was 9:30 and someone rang the door bell and they were like Ketch shimai can you get that, and I did and gosh! It was so happy!! I miss Shimizu so much and I still pray for the people there everyday! Kiyomi told me that she's doing so good and that she's going to the temple for baptisms on the 28th!! gosh! she's so awesome! and she told me all about how Kaoru, her husband, is coming to church sometimes and she's way hopeful that he will get baptized one day! Man, she's so great! and Matsuyama shimai got way huge! She's pregnant! And due in April! And she's having a girl! So happy! Gosh, I can't even tell you how happy it was seeing them! Okay, and then Hiratasan, I don't know if you remember her, but she was the investigator in Shimizu that had depression and gosh I just love her so much! And when we went to Kumamoto for mensetsus (interviews) a few weeks ago, I wrote her a letter and gave it to the Shimizu shimai to give to her. well at that time she had kinda stopped talking to them. They messaged her and told her they had a letter from me but she ignored them. Well last week, she randomly called and was like "do you really have a letter from ketch shimai?" she thought they were lying to her just to get her to talk to them haha. But she told them that she had a dream that she needed to write me a letter, so she met with them and gave them a letter to give me. and gosh! it was the best letter ever! She is in the hospital right now for her depression and she's going through a hard time but she told me that she still prays and that she still reads the book of mormon to help her. And gosh she just told me how much I helped her to be happy. It was a miracle letter! Gosh, I love her and I seriously still pray for her everyday. I think a piece of my heart will always be in Shimizu. It was way good to be back for a little while!
Okay, then Wednesday was the devotional and it was SO good! gosh, he was amazing. Honestly, this transfer has been way hard for a lot of reasons and I've kind of had a bad attitude about it, and his devotional helped me see that I need to fix that. Anyways, he was just so awesome and he talked about how when we are called as missionaries we are given authority to be missionaries but we aren't given power. Then he talked about how all the missionaries in the Book of Mormon taught with power and authority. Then he talked all about how it's our job to gain power. How it's not given to us and it's up to us to do the things we need to so that we can be missionaries with both power and authority. It was the best! Other than that nothing too exciting this week... all of our investigators either went home for the next month, moved, or just disappeared... all but one of them. Murakamisan. gosh. she is very interesting. We talked about prophets and she got so fixated on president monson and she wants to meet him so bad. She has called us everyday since our lesson asking us how she can talk directly to him haha. gosh. its really interesting. Murakamisan is 50 years old and is a free spirit haha. she believes in a lot of things... and she gets her energy from the sun haha. so teaching her is fun! This transfer went by so fast! Gosh, next week is transfer week! which means I'll email on Tuesday. I'm probably gonna stay here in Beppu... my guess is I'll be here for 3 transfers. But ya never know! Time is flying by! My 5th transfer is almost done! crazy! But I'm loving every minute of it! Love you all! talk to you next week! Well, not much happened this week... except oh yeah! We had a baptism on Saturday! It was totally unexpected haha which sounds weird and impossible, but it was great. So Yosen got baptized! Yosen is 23, she's from China and studying design at Beppu University. She met the sister missionaries on the street about 6 months ago. She is so awesome and learned so fast! And she is even planning on serving a mission! Anyways, she's going back to China next week for about a month. So her baptismal date was for April. Well this past Tuesday we had a lesson with her and she told us that she thought about it and she wanted to get baptized before she left for China. Well we looked at the calendar and realized that if that was gonna happen the only day we could do it would be that Saturday. Which was crazy because it was only like 4 days away. We all prayed about it together and we all felt like it was okay. So we decided to do it. So gosh, the next few days were crazy. We finished teaching her the lessons the next day, she had her interview, we called a million people to get the baptism organized and it happened! The day of the baptism was kinda hectic, I mean after all it was kinda last minute haha, but it was still a really great experience. I sat there in the baptismal service and just really felt the spirit. I looked at Yosen and gosh she was so happy. She is so awesome!! I have pictures but you'll have to wait til next week because I forgot to bring my camera haha ごめん!(sorry!) Anyways. It was so great! Then she got confirmed yesterday and it was so great! Gosh, I wish you all could meet Yosen! she's the best! Besides that, not too much to report haha. It was just a crazy last few days! But seriously the best!
Oh, I thought of one funny thing from Eikaiwa (English class) haha. Gosh, so many weird things are said in Eikaiwa haha. Well here they start every class with get to know you questions and the Elders make them up and they are always so weird haha. But one of the questions was if you could have a restaurant what kind of restaurant would it be? Well this one grandpa haha, he's hilarious, he said that he would open up a coffee shop. Ho Choro asked him what kinda food he would serve, haha and he answers mutton. I start kinda laughing because who serves mutton at a coffee shop? haha. well Ho Choro didn't know what that was and asked him what it tastes like haha. Gosh and he thinks about it for a minute and then says mayonaise! haha. gosh and that's when I lost it. for like 10 minutes haha. What does that even mean? gosh, it probably isn't even that funny and one of those "you had to be there moments" but man, I always laugh so hard at Eikaiwa. It's the best! Anyways, I hope you all are doing awesome! I love you! Hello family!!
This week was way great! So many laughs haha. Gosh, I don't remember if I told you this already but my district is me and my companion and 8 elders. We really only see the Beppu elders since the Oita elders are a train ride away. Anyways. We have the funniest elders! Except they probably aren't even that funny but because we are missionaries and have no form of normal entertainment they are the funniest people I've ever met haha. Here are some highlights! So Choti choro, He is from Thailand. When he found out I'm a quarter Thai he was way excited haha. We talk about Thai food all the time haha. Anyways, he found out that I like nam (Thai sausage) and he was like gosh! you're so Thai! Then he wrote his mom and asked her to send him some nam. haha. Well on Saturday he was like Ketch shimai I'm so sorry. I asked my mom to send nam, but I got a call from honbu (mission home) yesterday about the package and they burned the nam. haha. I didnt understand. but he explained to me that the Japanese post office people read the contents of the package (beef jerky and nam) and they told him that they can't let him have it because it has meat from another country. So they gave him 2 options, he can send the package back or they can open the package and burn the jerky and nam and send him the rest of the stuff in the package... he chose option number two haha. He was so sad haha. but it was way funny. Then there is Ho choro. He's from Hawaii. He's pretty cool... Well we were teaching Eikaiwa together and one of the pronunciation words was moose. Someone asked what the plural of moose is and he told them it was meese! He was dead serious haha. and he and I argued about it for like 10 minutes haha. We finally concluded that meese is not a word haha. It was so great! I don't know why they let us teach English to people haha. Okay, enough of that haha. Beppu is a great area, there are so many people here who are ready to hear the gospel. And these people come from all over the world. It's amazing. But I will share our biggest miracle this week! Sasaki-san! We housed into her and she was kinda crazy, we realized she was totally drunk. She talked to us for a minute and was like hold on a second! and she runs back in her apartment and brings us 5 bucks and is like go buy yourself some coffee, it's cold outside. We tried to give it back and explain that we don't drink coffee but she was insistent. Then she invited us inside, which has never happened to me. But she invited us in and was like okay let's talk! We hid the 5 bucks under a pile of magazines haha while she went and grabbed her family pictures. She started telling us about her family and it was a really sad story. She is so lonely I think. Anyways, we taught her about prayer and just talked for a while and then she was like are you hungry? Let's go eat yaki niku. She then goes into the other rooms and grabs a pair of jeans and just strips infront of us and changes clothes haha. Then she puts this huge SUPER pink coat on and is like okay let's go! So we follow her to this yaki niku place but it's closed between lunch and dinner. She is way bummed but is like that's okay! There is a joyful around the corner. Joyful is kinda like a diner. I'ts good. anyways, she orders us a ton of food and we just talk for like an hour and she drinks some more haha and then she just keeps looking at me and telling me not to be sad and that if I ever need anything I can go to her and she will help me haha. gosh. it was weird. and she made me drink so much juice haha. anyways. then all of a sudden she tells So shimai to go and pay for the food and hands her 100 dollar bill. So shimai comes back with the change and gives it back to Sasaki san... she then forces us to take 10 dollars and then just leaves haha. like she doesn't even really say goodbye. She just takes off haha. gosh. It was so weird. But she wants us to come back. She is just so lonely and she told us that she didn't understand why we were so nice to her. She said that for the past 30 years everyone has hated her, but we just met her and were so nice to her. I don't know if she will get baptized, I don't know if we will get to teach her. But for a couple of hours, she was able to feel loved and I hope she never forgets that experience... even though she was totally drunk haha. Gosh, this has nothing to do with Beppu, but last week Kiyomisan emailed me! And she told me about how she decided to try and fast! and she told me all about her experience and it was so happy! haha. gosh. I love her! So every fast sunday we go to church in Oita. Since we only have a total of like 15 people in our group. Oita is about a 45 minute drive away. but it was fun! Things are so different here than in Shimizu. But it's so cool to see how the gospel is everywhere. Even if things are different, the teachings are all the same. It's really great. Anyways, this week was really great! Hope everyone is doing well! I love you! Hello family! Sorry I'm writing a day late, we had interviews yesterday which was quite the adventure. We had to go to Kumamoto for interviews with Kaicho (mission president) and training from the APs! I just came from Kumamoto so it was kinda like coming home. Except just a week ago I lived a 20 minute bike ride away from the church we had our interviews but yesterday we spent like all day traveling. We woke up at 4:30 to be at the train station at 5:40 to catch our train to Oita. Then we had to wait for like an hour for our bus from Oita to Kumamoto. Gosh. It was raining all day! After a 4 hour bus ride we had to walk 20 minutes in the pouring rain to the church. Good thing the elders in my district are all fun and positive people. We all laughed so much yesterday. Some of it was probably due to how exhausted we were too. Well after our interviews and stuff we made the journey back... and got soaked some more and we all just passed out on the bus home haha. It was really taihen (hard), but it was a great day!
Other than that excitement I've just been here trying to learn this new area! Beppu is a way cool place. There are so many people from all over the place here. It's so cool. Gosh and people are so nice! But geez. Beppu is a mountain, so many huge hills to bike up! It's crazy! But somehow we do it! God really is helping us! Anyways, we have some way awesome investigators. Yosen is from China, she's in her 20s. She's so cool and progressing so much! She wants to serve a mission! so she always asks us questions about our life as missionaries haha. it's awesome! She is doing so great! And she's gonna get baptized in April. It would be sooner but she's going back to China for about a month. The ward here is so tiny. I think I told you about it last week. But this Sunday, 20 people were at church. 6 of them were missionaries haha. But we did have 4 investigators there so that's pretty good! Anyways. Fun fact. So we rent the 3rd floor of this building for our church. Well on the 6th floor of our building is a gay bar haha. so the elevator always smells like alcohol and cigarettes. haha. it's quite interesting. But the ward here really is like family. It's the best. Its just so different than Shimizu. It's been hard to adjust, but I really have grown to love the people here. And I'm liking it here more and more everyday. I love you guys! Talk to you next week! Well. it's the first day of Transfer 5!! Seriously so crazy. So you all heard from Chigusa that I transferred. I didn't go too far away. Just a 4ish hour bus ride away from Kumamoto. I will even get to go back a couple of times this transfer for meetings. Anyways. it's kinda funny because Magalogo shimai, we were in the MTC together. She was in Beppu while I was in Shimizu and we just switched places! kinda crazy. Well we get our transfer calls on Tuesday and then we transfer on Thursday so we only really have Wednesday to say goodbye to people. I had to say goodbye to Hiratasan which was so sad! Gosh. But she promised me that she would keep learning and that she would keep praying and that one day she will get baptized! So I know she's gonna be okay. Gosh, then we had a lesson with Kiyomi and Matsuyama shimai and I had to tel them I was leaving and we all just cried. Seriously, Kiyomi is so awesome and she will always have a special place in my heart. Gosh, and Matsuyama shimai has become like my shimizu mom! haha. she helped me so much and we became so close. We also have Eikaiwa on Wednesday so I had to say goodbye to all of my Eikaiwa kiddos who I just really grew to love! Some of them even brought me presents! So my district back in Shimizu was 8 people. 3 of us transferred. Clements shimai went to Okinawa. It was way hard saying goodbye to her because we have been together since the MTC. and Gonzalez choro transferred to Hiroshima. It was sad saying goodbye to him too. Me and him came to Shimizu at the same time! We were together for 6 months! It's weird not having Clements shimai and Gonzalez choro around anymore. My new district is 10 people. Me and my new companion are the only shimai (Sisters). It's way weird. The ward is so tiny. It's not even a ward. It's not even a branch. It's a group and we don't have church on fast sundays haha we have to go to the church in Oita. Also, church is only 2 hours long. It's really interesting. We don't even have a building. We rent this kinda sketch space. But it's great and the members are really awesome. Beppu is a really diverse place. There is a big university here, APU, Asia Pacific University. So there are people from all over. It's way cool. Oh, my new companion is Tseng Shimai, but So shimai in Nihongo (Japanese). She's from Taiwan.. She's 25 years old and joined the church about 2 and a half years ago. she's pretty cool. So far it's okay. It's been kind of hard to adjust. But it will be okay soon. I'm already starting to like it here so it will be great! Gosh, the weird part is that I will probably only have one more area! gosh. the mission goes way too fast. But I love it! Everyday is an adventure. But I can't wait for winter to be over!!! it's so cold! Anyways, I don't have too much to report. We have mostly been doing a lot of planning and So shimiai has been telling me about the area and stuff. It's good so far. Well! I love you guys!! have a good week!
Well, it's transfer call day.... I'm ridiculously nervous and can't focus on writing this email so sorry haha. This week we had a birthday party for Hiratasan! It was so great! She was so happy! And it makes me so happy that something so simple could make her so happy. I have some way cute pictures... which hopefully eventually I'll get to send. On Saturday Tsuboi ward had a mochi making party! It was a lot of fun! This week was really great! So many fun things! Yesterday we went out with Chigusa! She's so awesome! She bought us some delicious pancakes! haha. I don't know. Nothing too exciting happened this week... Just a lot of dendo. which was great! Gosh at church on Sunday the closing song in sacrament meeting was God be with you til we meet again and gosh I cried like a baby haha and then in relief socitey the opening song was I'll go where you want me to go... soooo probably it's a sign that I'm transfering. Which is just crazy because gosh,I've spent 6 months here and I've just come to love shimizu and to love everyone here! and I can't leave! But I know whatever happens is supposed to happen. Sorry, I really don't have that much to report. I love you guys! and gosh, you'll just have to wait a week to find out what happened at transfers haha. gomen! (Sorry!)
Happy new year! This week was crazy! haha we had dinner with members every day this past week for the new year! I'm still full... we ate a ton of food.... Gonzalez choro even ate a fish eyeball haha. It was totally gross. Anyways. I cannot believe it's 2015 and I also cannot believe it's week 5 of my 4th transfer. This transfer seriously flew by. Here are some exciting events coming up... Next week is transfer calls so I will be emailing you on Tuesday... well my Tuesday so your Monday. The Japan Fukuoka Mission is stepping up in the world! We are getting IPADS IN APRIL! Happy birthday to me! :) And a general authority is coming to our mission next month! So yay! Okay, this week was kinda just crazy. We had a million shokujis (dinner)... no one wanted to talk to us because it was shogatsu (New Year's holidays). And to celebrate the new year we all woke up at 5 in the morning and went to Kumamoto castle to watch the first sunrise of the year. Apparently it's a huge deal... there were a million people there. We hung out in the cold for 2 hours... it snowed... it was so windy... and so early... but it was worth it... I got a free plate haha. Gosh. Totally ridiculous. But hey, it was fun! Anyways. Let me just tell you about yesterday... it was a day full of miracles!
So Hiratasan... gosh, shes gonna give me a stroke one day. Seriously I'm going crazy. Okay. So on Tuesday she called and wanted to meet so we kinda had a lesson, but mostly she just talked about how she really wants to be happy and she wants to tell her dad about the church but she was scared and gosh, I had no idea what to say. But Sahochan, this way awesome member whos parents were super hantai (against), just happened to be at the church because there was some YSA activity and the thought popped in my head to go get her.... so I did and oh my gosh! They talked forever and it was amazing! Hiratasan just poured her soul out to Sahochan and gosh, Sahochan was amazing. She said exactly what needed to be said. Okay, then on Friday we had another lesson with her and it was awesome! The Furutas came and we just talked about church and really tried to get her excited about going to church and we sang hymns and she cried and it was so great! Gosh, then that night she called me crying because she was way depressed and we talked for a while and she asked to meet the next day. So we scheduled to meet. So Saturday I message her to make sure it's still good and she tells me that she can't become christian..... I called her a million times, she didn't answer. So I was way upset and super sad because gosh I have done everything I could possibly do for this girl. I have cried so many tears for her. I've prayed so much for her. and she just dropped us. Gosh and then I wanted to punch my companion because she's just like I knew this was gonna happen. Kaicho(mission president) should have told us to drop her a long time ago and ugh. you have no idea how mad I was.... soooo I ate three donuts. haha. Okay, then Sunday happened.... and Norihiko called and asked me to play the piano in sacrament meeting and I really didn't want to but I did. Really badly because I was mad haha. Anyways, I spent all morning praying my guts out that somehow something would happen and Hirata would come to church. So I'm sitting up at the piano listening to testimonies and the phone vibrates and it's Hiratasan! so I run outside and answer it and she's like I'm so sorry! I'm coming to church right now!!! So gosh! She comes to church and she sees me and gives me this huge hug and says she's way sorry and then she told me she came because she went to Fujisakigu and they still had all this new years stuff out and she got a fortune or something and it told her to believe in God. So she came to church. Seriously the biggest miracle ever. Gosh! Then in Sunday school Matsuyama kyodai starts talking about how his one daughter has mental health problems and Hiratasan started to cry! Because they have the same biyoki (illness) and she just told me she felt so loved. and GOSH!!! it was totally perfect. God really does answer our prayers. I'm so grateful. I know that dumb piece of paper she randomly got from some fortune whatever was no coincidence. (guzen janai yo!) It was God answering my prayers and it was exactly what Hiratasan needed in order for her to come to church. I am so grateful. Being a missionary is the best! Love you guys! Happy new year! Well, today, the library we usually email is closed. So we came to the stake center to email! Which means I can send you pictures! Yay! Plus I'm feeling way lazy and don't want to write a long email and pictures are worth 1000 words right? haha
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