You're American so you know how to eat Pixie Stixs

Konnichiwa!

This was a crazy miracle filled week!

Yamashita Shimai

On Tuesday, even though the transfer has barely started, we headed to Koiwa for exchanges and it was so fun. This time I was with Sister Yamashita who is one of my favorite sisters in the whole mission. She is so amazing and sweet! She is also Nihonjin so I got to speak Japanese all day and I realized that I actually know a lot more Japanese than I thought I did. :) We went to a college in Koiwa to see if they had an English program that we could help with. We found the cafeteria and sat by two really nice girls, one of who had met one of the Elders a few months ago. A little while later another girl came and we asked if she was Nihonjin and she said "I'm actually Paraguayan." I got to break out my Spanish again and we had so much fun talking in Spanish. She really wants to learn English too so that is awesome! It is so crazy how handy Spanish is in Japan. It was just another testimony to me of why I needed to serve in Oizumi. I feel like every day, Heavenly Father gives me more and more confirmation that this is the mission he prepared for me.

The college where I used my Spanish

Another example of this was on Wednesday when we had a mogi lesson with the Relief Society President, Yoshihashi Shimai. We decided that we wanted to mogi the Plan of Salvation. As we were teaching, the Spirit just became so strong. Yoshihashi Shimai started crying and testifying and we were just feeling the Spirit testify through us. That lesson was probably one of the most powerful moments of my mission. I really felt the Spirit speaking through us to Yoshihashi Shimai's heart and helping her to feel the truth of our message. Our Japanese is by no means amazing, but the Spirit doesn't need us to be fluent in order to speak to the hearts of others. It was such an amazing lesson!

View from our apartment

Thursday we texted Nemoto san and asked her if there was anything we could do for her. It was kind of a random text since we were going to visit her that night anyways, but she said that she really needed some help with a costume she was sewing for her son's Peter Pan play. Perfect! We called Yoshihashi Shimai (who we now had a super strong connection with after the mogi the day before) and quickly found someone in the ward who could help. This is one of the things I love about being a member. There is a huge family of people with all sorts of skills and backgrounds that are always there to love you and welcome you and help you. No matter where you go, members of the church will welcome you with open arms, even if you can't speak the same language. It really is one huge worldwide family and I love it!

District Lunch with Tsukushi and indo curry

On Thursday we also watched a Worldwide Missionary Broadcast that many of you might have heard about. The missionary schedule is now a lot more flexible where we get to pick when we study based on what fits our schedule best. This allows us the flexibility to dendo more in the mornings if that is more effective, and study in the afternoons when it is harder to visit people. It is definitely and adjustment from what I have been living up to this point, but it is inspired. This new schedule also gives us a little bit more time at night to get ready for bed and write in my journal!!!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSS!!!!! I am finally staying up to date on my journal, a goal I have had since day 1. It really helps me to clear my head before going to sleep and focus more on the people I want to help here.

Friday we helped Yamamoto Shimai, a member, make miso soup base. We boiled soybeans, mashed them up, then mixed in a ton of salt and fermented moldy rice. We got to roll it up then throw it in a bin and it was way fun. Japan is such a cool place :)

Cleaning the beach

Saturday was a way fun day! We started out the day by going to Maihama Beach and cleaning up trash there. It was so fun and although we only made a small difference, the man in charge has been coming for 5 years and in that time he has made a huge difference! I think it's the same with the gospel too. It might not seem like we are doing much now, but as we read the scriptures and pray every day, in 5 years who knows where your testimony will be. Imagine if this man hadn't cleaned the beach though...5 years later it would have been even worse. That's the same with us. Part of the reason that the missionary schedule changed was to help missionaries develop more freedom and practice using their agency to make study a part of their every day life, a skill they will need after their missions as well. Daily spiritual nourishment is so important!

Then after the super fun beach clean up, we all headed to the church for the mochitsuki!!!! We got to pound rice into mochi and eat it! It was so fun and there were so many new people there that we got to talk to. We ate so much mochi too, it was delicious!!!! I decided that from now on I can spend Christmas in America and then came to Japan for shogatsu (New Year's) and eat all the mochi ^^

Mom's Monchhichi

It was such a fun activity and we were able to talk to so many ward members and investigators and visitors. Ward activities are such a great way to give people a chance to see the church, meet Mormons and see that they are cool normal humans too, and it gives the missionaries a chance to create relationships with everyone. Please invite your friends to ward activities!!!!!!!!

Sunday was the miracle of all days. At church the Bishop presented his ward vision for the year and I had the chance to translate for Bernadette. It was really hard because I didn't know a lot of the words, but I felt like it went pretty well and she seemed to really like it. She is starting school today and I hope she likes it and does well! Ah!

Monchhichi

After church we had the chance to go to Karin Shimai's house with Kei Shimai and Kawamura Shimai. They are basically 3 of my favorite people ever and we had so much fun. We got there late because we had some other things we needed to finish first, and when we got there, they were trying to figure out how to eat pixie stixs and honey sticks. They were dumping the pixie stixs in water, it was so funny! When we got there they were like "Yes the Shimaitachi are here! You're American, teach us how to eat these!" We taught them and it was so funny to see them get all hyped up on sugar. We were also able to share a really good message about 1 Nephi 3:7 and how it (and the rest of the Book of Mormon) applies to each person differently depending on what stage in life they are and what situation they are in. Honestly, this is why we have to study every day, because every verse in the Book of Mormon has different meanings to us on different days based on what we are going through. It is constantly helping us improve, so we can't stop studying it! I love the Book of Mormon so much. This week I had the chance to write my testimony in Portuguese and put it in a Book of Mormon to give to Alexander (a Brazilian investigator of the Elders) and it gave me the chance to reflect on the Book of Mormon and how it has affected my life. I don't know what I would do without the guidance it give me every day.

Takayoki

We ended the day with a great member mogi with the Enomotos and we were finally able to get in contact with Liu-san!!!! We set an appointment to call her again next week and I am so excited. I have missed her a lot and I hope that we will be able to help her come closer to Christ!

This really was an amazing week. Today we went to Odaiba and went to the Takoyaki museum. It wasn't really anything special, just a bunch of takoyaki that you could buy, but it was relaxing and nice. We also had the chance to eat with the Shibata family and their son is the cutest thing! He is 3 and has so much energy and he loves the missionaries so much. We had so much fun! I love this ward so much!!!!

Thank you all for your love and support! See you next week! Also, this week is my Grandma's birthday so Happy Birthday Grandma Black! I love you!

ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai

At the Takoyaki Museum