Shinamon and Black Pepper

Konnichiwa!

Can you believe I'm transfer 4 now? I've been a missionary for 6 months!! What is this?!?! It is so crazy! Time flies so fast!

A view of the water nerar our apartment

This week was the start of the new transfer. Usually missionaries transfer on Wednesday, but this transfer they moved on Thursday. Why? The missionaries coming from the MTC missed their flight from Seattle to Japan so they had to wait a day. Oh well! That meant that we had one extra day with Elder Akagi and Elder Kooyman!

On Thursday, the new Elders came.

Elder Richards is Elder Kenley's new companion. He's actually one of my adopted Kohai from the MTC. He was in a different zone, but one day he came over to talk to Sister Hill and I and from then on we would talk to him every now and then. Now he's in my district!

Elder Barraclough was at the MTC the same time as Elder Richards, but I don't think I ever met him. He's a really good pianist though. We now have a super musical district, good since we were asked to sing at the Christmas party, the Christmas Sacrament Meeting, and while Christmas caroling with the primary kids on Christmas Eve.

This week wasn't as busy as previous weeks, but it definitely had some spiritual highs and some hilarious moments.

Studying at Meikai University

First of all, we decided to go back to Meikai University on Wednesday and study/eat there. Well, we got our food and sat down by these super nice Chinese girls and they invited us to their TOEIC class (side note: TOEIC is an English test many Japanese people have to take to get jobs/keep their jobs, as missionaries we offer TOEIC tutoring as part of mission school). So, we hurried to eat and go to the class.

Well the professor comes in (and I'm feeling really weird because I am a missionary sitting in a college class and it's so strange) and he starts taking roll. He finishes and looks at us and says in English "And who are you?" We explain that our friends invited us, then the girl explained that we were volunteers. The professor was just like "Ummmmmm" so we said we could leave if that would be best. He said that would probably be best since we weren't Meikai University students.

And that is the story of how I got kicked out of a college class while on my mission.

On the bright side, one of the girls exchanged Facebooks with us and told us to message her. Yay!

We also finished our study outside and it was a beautiful day.

Dinner with Kawamura Shimai

Second spiritual and funny thing. On Wednesday night, we went to Kawamura Shimai's house for dinner. She is a recent returned missionary and a newly wed and she is amazing! She loves to help us and talk to us. Anyways, we went for dinner and to plan for a lesson she was helping us with the next day. She had some amazing ideas and it was so cool to hear about her mission and some mission ideas she had. She has so much dendō fire! It's so great! She also made us a super delicious dinner!

Anyway, the funny part is that she was telling us that the night before, her husband asked her what she was planning on making us for dinner. Flashback to a few weeks ago when we were texting her and we said "You're awesome!" And we got a reply "I'm not awesome Shinamon" (like Cinnamon) and 5 min later we got another text "Sorry, that was my husband." Well, apparently the day before we met with her, her husband told her she should feed us "Shinamon and Black Pepper." We died laughing! For those of you who might be confused, my companion's name is Sister Chinain, pronounced Shi-na.

Teaching Bernadette

Good times...they are the cutest couple though!

Third, we also had Zone Meeting this week, but it was super last minute because everything had to change because transfers were on Thursday instead of Wednesday. So...2:30 the day before the meeting we got a call from the Zone Leaders asking Sister Chinain to do a musical number. She and Elder Payne were able to pull together an amazing musical number.

It was a really great Zone Meeting. My favorite thing was the 40 day fast. It's based on this amazing talk that is about a missionary who gave up anything that would take even a tiny bit of the spirit away from him for 40 days and how he completely changed. It's a little hard to describe, but it was really inspiring, so Sister Chinain and I decided to try it.

The Single Adults made this nativity in the
windows of our church

It is hard. There are lots of little things that I can be better at doing that could help bring the Spirit into my life more. However, at the same time, they are also things I've been planning on working on, so this fast gives me the chance to improve in a lot of ways and see the difference it makes in my missionary work. It is super hard, but part of the fast is praying and reporting how you are doing to Heavenly Father every night. This reflection has given me a chance to really reflect on my day and how I can be better for tomorrow. It's like our ward mission leader says "Forward progression." It's all about constantly improving even if it's just by a little tiny bit.

The funny part? We all went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch and it was super fun, but no one remembered what they ordered so almost everyone paid for the wrong things. It all worked out though! Sister Yamashita (the only Nihongen in our Zone) talked to the restaurant and got it all figured out. She is amazing! And she trained Sister Barton, so you know we had fun talking about Sister Barton and how amazing she is!

Lastly, it was Stake Conference this week. On Saturday, we went to the Nakano Ward for the new converts meeting and for the Saturday session with Hitomi Shimai. Two things happened:

Christmas companion picture

I didn't really understand anything. I got bits and pieces, but that was it. Was that important though? No. I was able to receive a lot of personal revelation as I heard these bits and pieces. The main thing I learned was that as missionaries we have to teach with the Spirit. The Spirit will do all the teaching and even if the people don't understand what we are saying, they will feel the Spirit. Well, it's the same for me. I might not understand anything that's being said, but I can understand that I am feeling the Spirit and when I tune into the Spirit, I can still learn. It might not be what the speaker is talking about, but I will still learn and my testimony will grow.

My Nihongo is way better than it was a month ago. I was able to actually talk to people, real conversations, by myself! It was crazy!!! As we walked from the Eki to the stake center (15 min walk) I had a whole conversation with Kawamura Shimai in Japanese, and I actually understood what was going on! Yay!!!

A Christmas box from my family

The Sunday session was much the same. I listened to the spirit and learned about the importance of Members in missionary work. Members do everything! They are so important! Missionaries move every 6 weeks, but Members stay much longer. They are the ones who really make or break converts' experiences. They help them feel loved and included. Members are so so important. We have really been trying to work with more Members these past few weeks and it has definitely helped the Ward open up and help our investigators, less active members, and recent converts.

It was a weird week, but I still loved it. Every day is an adventure!

I love Urayasu so much! I'm so thankful to be here another transfer. Today we are having a chill p-day eating Takoyaki, watching Meet the Mormons (great movie, please watch it!) and putting up the Christmas decorations my mom sent us.

Hopefully we will be able to see more miracles this week! Have a great week everyone!

ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai