Disneyland? Almost.

Konnichiwa!

This week went by crazy fast! How are we already done with Week 4 of the transfer? Someone told me that as your mission continues it goes faster and faster. I didn't believe them, but it really does! Ahhhhh!

At Mission School, Sue-chan and I made origami
of  flowers and the Tokyo temple

We decided to try something a little different this week. We heard about other missionaries visiting universities in their areas to find their English clubs to see if they could help them out and maybe interest them in Mission School. So on Tuesday, we went to Meikai University for lunch and to find the English Speaking Society. It was interesting. First of all, we ran into one set of the Elders (Elder Payne and Elder Akagi) who just so happened to do the exact same thing at the same time. That didn't stop us though. We ordered some food (it was interesting, I just picked something random because the ramen I wanted was all out) and sat next to a girl who was all alone. Turns out she is here studying Japanese and she is from Taiwan! She was so sweet and talked to us a little bit before leaving for her class. We want to go back and see her again soon! We were able to find an English club, but we aren't sure if we can join yet...we are waiting to hear back from the professor in charge.

This week we were also able to have a really good lesson with Liu-San. She invited us over for dinner, but that day she was running a little late, so we got there and she was still cooking. We were able to help her a bit while talking. She is such an amazing investigator! Her sister is a member and so when the Sapporo Temple was being dedicated, Liu-San was able to go to the open house and see the inside of the temple. We talked a little bit about temples, and I showed some pictures I have of the Sapporo Temple and she was like "I've been there!" It was so cool! One day I'm going to go to the Sapporo Temple! I want to see it so badly! We were also able to give a really good lesson about the priesthood to her and about why we need to be baptized with the restored priesthood, the right authority. It was such a spiritual lesson. She is really progressing well and I love watching her learn. She has such a strong desire to learn and follow the gospel!

Our Mission School is getting so big

On Friday we had Zone Conference and it was the best thing ever! Why? Many reasons.

Reason #1: We received some amazing training. I really learned so much from this conference and it was all about things that we have been struggling with as a companionship. For example, making sure we have study every day and don't overbook ourselves with lessons...or making sure we have a full p-day and don't overbook ourselves with lessons...or making sure we take the full hour for lunch and dinner and don't overbook ourselves with lessons. Are you seeing a pattern here? Yeah, we got the message pretty clearly. President Nagano actually told us specifically three times that we need to take a full P-day...people just keep wanting to set appointments on Monday! We are doing better though, don't worry!

With Bernadette

Another thing they taught us about was teaching in unity, especially with an inexperienced missionary (aka me). It was so helpful because that's something we have been trying to work on. They gave us some great ideas in how to mogi and practice. It was so helpful!

Reason #2: They gave us Thanksgiving dinner for lunch! They had turkey, cranberry sauce (sorry mom and dad, it was the one from a can), gravy, rolls, and mashed potatoes. Since I'm in Japan, I don't think I will be getting a Thanksgiving dinner this year, so this was a nice surprise. There wasn't any pie, but they did have Costco cake. When it came out Sister Pourre just turned to me and was like "Remember the last time we saw a Costco cake" I just died laughing. The last time we saw one was the Halloween party in Kiryu, the last day of our sugar fast. Good times.

Struggling with Hangers

Reason #3: No I didn't make a typo, SISTER POURRE WAS AT ZONE CONFERENCE!!! So this is a funny story. Flashback to the start of Transfer 2, right after transfer calls when Sister Pourre and I found out we were both staying. At that time we thought that at the end of the transfer Sister Pourre would be leaving so we decided to make plans for where she would go. I think I might have told part of this story before, but stick with me.

Basically my guesses for her were that she would either go to Urayasu and be with Sister Chinain, or that she would do whitewash training in a Japanese area. (This means she would be going to a completely new area without Sisters and train a new missionary. Therefore she wouldn't know the area and neither would her companion.) She thought I was crazy. Well, it turns out I wasn't because I was sent to Urayasu to be with Sister Chinain, and guess what happened this week? 3 new missionaries came to the mission from Brazil. One Elder went to Oizumi, one Sister went to Oizumi, and the last Sister? She went with a Sister Pourre to a brand new area in Chiba. So, it turns out I was right! Sister Pourre is whitewash training in a Japanese area! When she sent me that email last week I almost died laughing... many times.

Well, because it's the middle of the transfer, Chiba already had their Zone Conference, so President Nagano told Sister Pourre and her companion to come to our Zone Conference instead. So imagine my surprise when Sister Chinain tells me to turn around and I see my amazing trainer standing right behind me! We had so much fun catching up and talking about what's happened in the last few weeks. It was amazing to see her again! Ah, she is such a strong missionary, She's going to do great things in her new area! So proud!

P-day at Ikspiari

And that is my long explanation about why Zone Conference was the best!

Today for P-day we went to Ikspiari which we thought was going to be this super cool place that was like "an authorized Disneyland" but it was not. Cry! It was a cool little shopping mall and there were lots of little shops and places to take cool pictures. We also saw the Disney store (so cute! They are obsessed with a Alice in Wonderland and Ariel here) and a girl doing a dance/hula hoop show.

Also fun fact, this place was right outside Disneyland. The same station as the one you go to for Disneyland. We passed by the Disneyland Hotel on the way there. I could almost touch Disneyland. We were so close, yet so far. Don't worry, we still followed the rules. We just watched other people go to Disneyland instead. :)

One more crazy story. Sister Chinain and I have had a goal all transfer to reach the standards of excellence for lessons taught per week (20 lessons) and meaningful contacts (100). The first few weeks were rough because of lots of craziness, then last week we taught 21 lessons and had 89 meaningful contacts. Well, this week because of Zone Conference (which took all day on Friday) we got to Sunday and we only had 8 lessons and about 45 meaningful contacts. So in one day we needed 12 lessons and 55 meaningful contacts, and we had the faith that it would happen.

We talked to everyone that day. It was insane. On the streets we talked to so many people my head started to spin. Then we came home and did some calling to the Less Actives, Recent Converts, and Investigators that didn't come to church. At first no one was answering and we were really worried. We needed 6 more lessons and it was close to the end of the day. Then all of a sudden people started answering, then people started calling us back! We would be on the phone with one person and the next person would call. We would finish then call the next person and then another person would call and it just kept happening! It was insane because we were calling people back until literally the moment before we had to turn the lights out, but we hit our 20 lessons! Even more importantly though, every single person we talked to has been someone we have really been focusing on and they all weren't able (for some reason or another) to come to church. I really feel that these short lessons we had with them helped each of them to feel our love. They knew that we couldn't talk long, but we still took the time to see how they were and share a special message with them. I felt so much love for each person as we talked even just for 10 minutes. I know that we don't need a lot of time to show others how much we love them, it just takes a little bit of effort on our part.

Pie face - cute idea, difficult execution

This week we saw so many miracles! I've learned so much since being here in Urayasu, especially about how to show my love to others through the little things. I love the people here and I love being a missionary here. We are seeing so many miracles and we are seeing the area change so much! I love Japan and I love this work! Thank you all for your support and love!

Have an amazing week! (P.S. Next week is Temple p-day so I will be emailing a day later!)

ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai

Princess staircase

And a secret garden