Losing your voice as a missionary isn't fun

Konnichiwa!

Our New Companion Sister Bede

Well, we have some big news! We are now a trio!!!!!!!! Today, Sister Bede returned to the mission today and she is with us in Urayasu! She is such an awesome missionary and she has so much energy. She is from Hawaii and is so fun.

Today we had a Zone P-day, so we all went to Koiwa to play volleyball and eat sushi. It was really fun to see the whole zone and just have fun and get to know Sister Bede as well.

On to the rest of the week. We had interviews with President and Sister Nagano this week in Koiwa. Sister Chinain and I decided to go a little early so that we could eat lunch there. We decided to go to the same restaurant as zone lunch and we joked that we might see President and Sister Nagano there. Well, we go in, and guess who is sitting right next to us? President and Sister Nagano! It was so funny. When they left they told us to take our time and that they would see us soon.

Zone P-day

The interviews themselves were really good as well. President Nagano told me that there are a bunch of Spanish investigators in Narita right now and he asked me if I could teach Sunday School in Spanish and I was like "Well...I mean I could" haha! He and Sister Nagano both assured me that I would be fluent in 4 languages when I got home, so I guess there might be more Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese in my future?

On Wednesday, we saw a huge miracle. At the end of Eikaiwa, President Nagano called us and told us he had a referral for us. Apparently, Elder Sasaki (who served 3 transfers in our mission while he waited for his visa to go to America) Skyped his friend from high school and taught her the Restoration and she was really interested so now she wants to take the lessons and she lives in Urayasu so we get to teach her! It was such a miracle referral! We called her right away and she was so excited to meet us. We were then able to call her over Facebook yesterday and she was still excited! She has such a desire to learn and know for herself what this church is all about. It was amazing.

Lots of Decorations at Rainforest Cafe

This week we also went to Meikai University again and we saw more miracles there as well!!!!!!! We met with Jessica again and she said she was planing on coming to church! We've barely talked about church, but she wants to come just to see what it's like. In the end, she wasn't able to come because of work, but the desire was there, and that's the important part.

After Meikai we decided to try and visit the Itou family and we got to the right area, but we could not figure out which apartment it was supposed to be. Luckily, the post man drove by and stopped just down the street. He was happy to come and help us. He found the apartment so fast, it was amazing. Well we knock on the door and a random lady (definitely not Itou Shimai) answered the door. Turns out the Itou family moved about a month ago. Well, as any good missionary does, we started to share our message with her and she was super interested! She is Chinese but had gone to Christian churches before and was really interested. She even took a pamphlet and said she would come to church. But then, she saw the picture of the Book of Mormon on the back of the pamphlet and just said "Mormon? Dame!" (Mormon? Absolutely no, that's forbidden). She said she couldn't explain why in Japanese and tried to give us everything back, but we just let her keep it and went on our way.

I don't feel well

Our next stop was Shogi Shimai. We gave her a little card and a cute picture of us and she was so happy! She gave us so many hugs. It just made my day! I have never seen her so happy to see us before. There was just pure joy on her face, and that made me so happy! Ah I love Japan!!!!

Then came the hard part of the week. I got really sick on Thursday so I had to stay home and rest. I basically slept the whole day. However, we had a lesson with the Nemoto family at 5:30 so Sister Chinain spent 3 hours contacting everyone to find two Sisters to go on splits with us. Aiko Shimai stayed with me (but I was sleeping the whole time) and Sakamoto Shimai went with Chinain Shimai to teach the lesson and apparently it went really well. I'm so glad everything worked out, and I felt a ton better afterwards. I really felt the love of the ward because they were willing to help us. Aiko Shimai brought me medicine and all sorts of things to help me heal and Yoshihashi Shimai brought us dinner. Japanese people take sickness super seriously, so when they heard that I was sick, they were ready to help.

At Rainforest Cafe

Friday, we had District Meeting and District Lunch which was good because it allowed me to rest a little bit more. For District Lunch, we biked all the way to Ikspiari (again haha) and ate at Rainforest Cafe (this was Chinain Shimai's last district lunch and she really wanted to go). It was great! We ordered a volcano cake and pretended it was Elder Kenley's birthday so that they would sing to him. All the Elders left the table to go to the bathroom when we ordered the volcano and the waitress asked us if it was anyone's birthday so Sister Chinain and I said it was Elder Kenley's. She then asked if it was a secret and we said yes, so it made it super funny when they came out and sang to him and all the Elders were so confused. It was a great District Lunch.

Saturday was the CHRISTMAS PARTY!!!!!!! It was so fun! We helped make paper chains before the party and it took so long, but we had some help from some primary kids so they made it fun. The actual party was great too! There were three sections.

The first part was a musical program. The missionaries sang a few songs first. We had been practicing for the last few weeks because Sister Chinain had some great ideas. We did a medley of "Jingle Bells," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," and "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" then we sang "Joy to the World" in Japanese with some of the youth and lastly we did "Mary did you know?" It was really fun and everyone loved it! We even had jingle bells for the fun songs. After us, the primary kids sang a few songs and finally one of the members is a part of this gospel choir and they came and sang some really fun songs too. Everyone was clapping along and having a really fun time!

The second part was some minute-to-win-it games. We were divided into teams to play a few different games. At this point, one of our Eikaiwa students that I have been talking to a lot recently came and she had so much fun. The kids were just running around crazy and it was great. We were on the same team and our team actually ended up winning! Whooooo!!!!

The last part was the food and Santa Claus. All of the kids got Happy Meal toys and the adults got macaroons and cute cards. It was adorable. I had the chance to talk to a lot of members, investigators and our Eikaiwa student, Keiko too. She is so nice! I invited her to the Christmas Sacrament Meeting too and she said she might be able to come. She really enjoyed the party and meeting some of the members, so it was a good experience.

Overall the whole party was way fun and it was a great way to help fellowship some of the investigators and help them meet more members. They all had a good time and the missionaries did too.

I actually sang and talked so much that because I hadn't completely healed from my cold/sore throat, I completely lost my voice the next day. So I basically just sat through church on Sunday and whispered to people. It was so hard! I just wanted to talk to them and teach them and help everyone, but I couldn't say anything! It was especially hard during call-in summary report because I couldn't say anything, I just had to sit and listen. That's okay though, my voice is back now and I'm ready to share the gospel!!!!!

This week is Christmas and I am so excited! We have a special Christmas Sacrament Meeting planned with singing and telling the Christmas story about when Jesus was born. I am so excited to be able to share this Christmas Spirit with the members and people of Urayasu. Please take the time to really enjoy the spirit of this season. I have the chance to share the Spirit of Christmas to people through song, video, and messages about Christ and it brings me so much joy. Please enjoy this time that you have to be with friends and family and to show your love for them and for Jesus Christ. Christmas is all about him and the sacrifice he made in coming to Earth and becoming our Savior. I am so grateful for his example and the love he showed for us. This is a season to remember him and to feel and show his love to every one we meet.

This week I also received a package from my mom containing a bunch of Christmas cards that many of you wrote for me. Thank you so much! Every day I open 1 card and it really brightens my day to see all of your support and love. I have not opened them all yet, but thank you to Sister Jones, Sister Toborg, the Shin Family, Sister Frederick, Sister Anderson, Sister Schwaikart, Sister Teeny Jones, Sister Rowe, Sister Nelson, and Sister Mellor. If I forgot anyone, I am so sorry! But know that your words mean so so so much to me. Thank you for taking the time to do that for me.

All the Christmas Cards

Last note, next week is Temple P-day so my emails will be a little later.

Merry Christmas every one!

ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai