The Last Transfer Call

Ushiku Transfer 10 Week 6

Konnichiwa!

Well this is it. Today marks the start of my last transfer as a missionary. It is a little surreal, and I'm not sure that I actually fully realize that it has started.

Making Tempura

Today we received transfer calls and its sad to say, but Sister Honda is transferring to Yachiyo. We knew for sure that one of us would be transferring because we can't be together during our last transfer, but it was still sad. My new companion is a Transfer 3 Sister (she just finished her training) named Sister Savage! I'm so excited! Also I will get to finish my mission here in Ushiku!

Other good news is that Sister Shim got transferred to Tsukuba so she is still in the same zone as me and I will get to see her every now and then until the end of the transfer. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

It was also my last transfer call. Oh no!!!! So much stress! We had absolutely no clue who would transfer and who would stay, so it was really nerve wracking waiting for the call. The next time I get a transfer call, it will just be for my companion. Ah!

Tempura

Today we had a lot planned and it was a good thing too because it allowed Sister Honda to say goodbye to some of our favorite people! We had a lesson with Kazumi-san and after doing English and the message, she taught us how to make tempura and it was so fun! And delicious!!!!!! Then later we got to go out with a college student who is a PI. We were planning on going to this cute little village-like place where you can do crafts and such, but we got there 1 hour before it closed so everything was already cleaned up. We took a lot of cute pictures though and had a fun time. Yay!!!

The Young Women of Ushiku

Speaking of college students, this was the week of college students! On Saturday we met up with another PI who is in college and had a great English lesson with her too. Right now we have a lot of college student PIs who have a lot of English interest, we just have to find out if they have gospel interest too. But yay for the sweet spot! Sister Honda and I have been really focused on finding and helping the sweet spot (15-25 year olds) since we came here and this past week we realized that all that hard work has paid off. We have a lot of young investigators and PIs and we've built some really great relationships with the Young Women. It is really different teaching young people, but we are slowly learning and adapting.

One thing that has really helped us recently is that the church released The District 3 and a whole new Chapter 8 to Preach My Gospel. What does this mean? We received a lot of training on how to plan more effectively and use our iPads to better help our investigators! We have already started using social media more effectively and it is really helping our investigators to stay in contact with us. Also, as missionaries, The District and Preach My Gospel are basically our life, so receiving these 2 new things was major! We come in at night and during personal time we get so excited to watch the new videos. ^^ Missionary life! <3

On Tuesday we had a cool thing happen in Ushiku. We had a Zone Blitz! All the missionaries in the Zone came to Ushiku and split up to go to different parts of the area to find. I was with Sister Fernelius and it was amazing! We saw 2 really big miracles.

1)  We found a girl with really bright red hair right outside the train station who wants to meet us this week! We saw her hair as we got off the train and we just knew that we had to talk to her. It was a miracle!

2)  On our way back, we stopped another high school student and started talking to her and it turns out that she just moved here from New Zealand 3 years ago and is Catholic. She has faced bullying in the past because of her beliefs and we just had a really good conversation about standing up for what we believe in. It was an amazing conversation and really symbolized to me what we are here to do as missionaries. We aren't here to tear down anyone's beliefs or tell them that they are wrong, we are simply here to help people and to add on to what they believe. As we talked to her, I could tell that we were strengthening her. The presence of fellow Christians who have faced bullying and persecution like that really helped her receive strength. She opened up a lot to us even just in our 10 minute conversation and as she walked away she told us that she hoped that she could see us again. It was so amazing and strengthened my faith of just opening my mouth. You never know what good you can do when you just open your mouth and talk to one more person.

We had another tender mercy, sweet little miracle this week when we had a lesson with a less active member. We knew that we wanted to share a General Conference talk with her about the Restoration, but as I was looking through recent talks, nothing stood out to me. Then this tiny voice told me to look in April 2016. So I did, and I found what I thought was the perfect talk. It was Elder Gary E. Stevenson's "Where are the Keys and Authority of the Priesthood?" talk. In the lesson, as we started to introduce the talk before watching it together she told us "Oh good! I've never really understood what the priesthood was."

It turned out to be the exact talk that she needed to hear. I am so grateful for that small voice of the Spirit that told me to go look there. That talk was so perfect.

Recently, I finished an activity from Preach My Gospel which involved looking up various scriptures about the Spirit and how we recognize it and then write down all the experiences I have had that relate to that specific way of recognizing the Spirit. There were many scriptures and it took me 2 transfers (3 months) to complete. It took a long time, but I learned so much and I really feel like I better understand how the Spirit feels and communicates with me. I still have much much more to learn and study, but I have realized that the Spirit really does guide our every action. He knows what will bring us the most happiness and joy in life and when we follow him, we will be happier. It takes a lot of work and concentration to hear and focus on the Spirit, but the rewards are infinitely better than when we ignore his promptings.

The rest of the week was a bit rough because I got really sick on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm still fighting it off a bit now, but it was pretty bad early on. Despite being sick, we went to 2 short appointments on Friday and 1 appointment on Saturday. The rest of the time was spent resting.

Eating Kimchi

On Friday, one of our Eikaiwa students took us out to really nice sushi and taught us how to eat it correctly. It was so nice! And really good. I love sushi!!!!! Then we went to teach Ueda Shimai at her family's home. Her parents passed away semi-recently so she has been slowly packing up there things. We were admiring a lot of the really beautiful crafts that she had there when Shigematsu Kyoudai told her "You know, they are both going home in 1.5 months. You should give them something." Ueda Shimai was like "Ah perfect! I don't have anyone else to give these too!" And that is how I walked away with many many beautiful handmade dolls. ^^ It made up for the terrible mistake I made in going to that lesson when I was sick. ^-^ Hehehehe one day I will learn.

That was the week I guess. It was really busy and full of miracles. I still can't believe that it is already Transfer 11. In many ways, I still feel like a Transfer 3 missionary and in other ways I feel really old. It doesn't feel real. I'm just excited to have one more transfer here in the beautiful city of Ushiku. I love it here and I look forward to seeing what blessings Heavenly Father has in store!

Love you all! Have an amazing week!

Love,

ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai

Cute Village