Guess what? I transferred!

To a new apartment!!!! Yay!!

Eating Shabu Shabu which you cook in the pot while you eat

Don't worry, I'm still in Matsudo. I'm a little further away from the church, but closer to a 7/11 and to one of my favorite members, so it's all good.

This week was a week full of packing and more packing and then some unpacking.

Early in the week, Sister Nicholes was doing a lot of packing because she finished her mission this week. Because her stuff was everywhere it was a little hard for me to start packing up the rest of the apartment.

Saying goodbye to Nicholes Shimai

It was so sad saying goodbye to Sister Nicholes. We had a super last minute, last lesson with Kikuchi Shimai together just 2 hours before her train left and I think that was when it really hit both of us that she was going home. It was very different to be around Sister Nicholes when she ended her mission and Sister Chinain when she ended her mission. Both were hard, in very different ways. Sister Nicholes was hard because I was taking over a huge area, a huge ward, and training a new STL when I barely knew anything about the area, Ward, or being an STL. It really hit us that she was going home and it was so hard. We walked all the way to the station together. I had to go to Kamagaya to wait for Sister Shim to arrive so we got on trains going in opposite directions and waved goodbye as the doors close.

If that sounds sad, it's because it was.

It's hard to be with missionaries ending their missions because you know you won't see them until you finish your mission and that's scary to think about. I have passed my halfway mark, I'm in my 7th transfer and I now know that time goes by so fast on the mission. Before I know it I will be going home and I'm just not ready for that. There's so much more work that needs to be done! There's so much more good that I need to do! Whew. I still have a solid 6 transfers though, so I will definitely make them count.

A traditional Japanese meal

Kamagaya was fun. I got to dendo with two of my favorite people, Sister Keiser and Sister Kunishi! Then I got a phone call from a public phone and it turned out to be Sister Shim! She got to the station earlier than we expected, but it's so funny because she is from Korea but she is fluent in Japanese and was able to figure out the payphone in Japan to call me.

Now let me tell you about my amazing new companion Sister Shim! She is from Korea but she studied Japanese before her mission because she loved manga and anime. She understands a lot of English so we speak mostly Japanese with some English in there. It's so fun! I can feel my Japanese improving so much. She has explained so much to me! Haha and yesterday I explained to her what fruitcake was, she doesn't want to try it ^^

Cones to protect the ice cream on the way home

Anyways, most of our week was spent packing up the apartment. We spent as much time as possible packing because on Saturday the Elders, the Commissarian and his companion (the Commissarian is in charge of apartments) and some people from the Ward were coming to help us move. I had to pack all my stuff in my suitcases so I joked to Sister Shim that it felt like I was being transferred.

On Friday we had to go, with a member to help, to get the new keys to our apartment...and we had an apartment orientation. Everything went over my head, it was so bad. Luckily Yukimoto Shimai and Shim Shimai understood. They would translate the questions to me (since I know the most about the apartment) then translate back. It was a good system.

Well Saturday came and we literally woke up, got ready, and started packing more. No time for breakfast! The Ward Mission Leader, Orito Kyoudai said he would get some people to help us move and he did an am amazing job, I was shocked. At 10:00 the night before we texted the Relief Society President that we needed some more boxes and at
8:00 in the morning the Bishop, the Ward Mission Leader and 3 other Brothers showed up to help us move. Add to them 4 Matsudo Elders and the 2 Elders from Honbu and there were 13 of us total in that tiny apartment packing the reminder of our things and loading up the moving truck. We got more done in 45 min that Sister Shim and I were able to do in 3 days.

Packing

As we packed we found a lot more mold so I am very glad that we have left that apartment. We had to throw away lots of old moldy futons and curtains so we have to buy new ones and it is expensive. I have a new testimony about the importance of cleaning the apartment every week.

At about 11:00 almost everything was moved out and I was mentally preparing to clean. I had no idea how we were going to do it with all these people and our limited cleaning supplies, but then I looked out the door and it was the most beautiful sight. The Relief Society was marching up the street with all the supplies and they were literally like a cleaning army. They came in, put on their slippers and gloves and got to work. I have never been so grateful in my entire life. They knew just the right sprays to use for each thing (and let me tell you, Japan has some magic cleaning sprays, there is a spray for everything and it just takes everything off) and they knew what to do. It was beautiful and so helpful because Sister Shim and I had to go to the new apartment to organize everything.

The new apartment is so beautiful. So clean and nice and it feels like a hotel. There are still tons of boxes so I'm sorry you won't get any pictures of it this week, but I will send some soon! And the Bishop bought everyone drinks and little racks so our futons won't get moldy and it was just so sweet and nice I wanted to cry.

Sister Shim

The Ward really came in and helped us and I can only thank the previous missionaries for leaving a good impression so that they were willing to help us since we are both new in the Ward. I felt so much love for Matsudo as we worked with them to move all of our stuff.

We didn't finish until 1:00 and a member volunteered to take us shopping for new curtains really fast before we had to be at an Easter activity at 2:00. We only had time to eat a little bit of potato salad that Orito Shimai made us (she brought us lunch because she knew we wouldn't have anything and it was so sweet!) before sprinting off to the store.

It was truly an insane day. We helped with the Easter activity then came home and felt no guilt about spending 1000¥ on dinner since we hadn't eaten all day. Now we are in the process of unpacking, almost harder than packing. It's been hard because we haven't had much time to really get out and visit and teach and find because we have been packing and unpacking (also we don't have a stove yet...it's still in the old apartment but hopefully tomorrow!) but we will get to soon! We have both received revelation that this is a time for us to prepare. Something big is going to happen, we can feel it, and we need to be ready. I guess that includes unpacking the bazillion boxes we have.

Today was temple p-day! It was so nice to be in the temple again. The Tokyo temple will be closing in October for 2 years for renovations so I don't want to waste a minute of being in this beautiful temple. I will only have a few more visits before it closes. I also had the chance to see several of my Kohai from the Tokyo South Mission again as well as some missionaries I've worked with in the past. It's like little reunions all the time! I love it! I can't imagine having never met these amazing people.

I have had the chance to make friends with people literally from all over the world. My mom recently mentioned that I have had very global companions, which is true! I've had companions from Brazil, Tahiti, Hawaii, California, Utah/Japan and Korea. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to work with such amazing people from all over the world. There is a one in a million chance that I would have been able to meet them if I hadn't served a mission. I am thankful every day for the guidance Heavenly Father gave me to choose to serve a mission. I have received so many blessings because of it.

At the temple

This week we have the chance to hear from a member of the Area Presidency, Elder Choi who is also from Korea. He served as the Mission President of the Washington Seattle Mission (my home mission) from 2012-2015 and I had the opportunity to hear him speak a few times then. I am excited to hear from him again!

See you all next week! I hope you all have an amazing week!


ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai

Hide and Go Seek

First things first, TRANSFER CALLS!!!!! Sister Nicholes tried to convince them to let her stay haha, but no luck. She is still going home this week. I am so sad!!! She has been an amazing companion!

My new companion is........Sister Shim!!! She is from Korea and is super fluent in Japanese. Two funny things about this transfer call:  two transfers ago when Sister Shim and I were both at the honbu to pick up our trainees (that's when Sister Atkinson became my companion) I told her I wanted to be her companion! I meant that we would be companions together in Niigata (I really want to go to Niigata, but Matsudo is great too!)

Lots of boxes

Just this morning I told Sister Nicholes "I had a dream. What if Sister Shim is my next companion? That would be so fun!" And she is!!!

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The rest of Matsudo is staying the same, except for Elder Lewis who is leaving to Koiwa for his last transfer.

In other news, this Saturday we will be moving into our new apartment! Yay!! The Honbu Elders are coming all the way to Matsudo with a huge truck and the Elders are going to help us move all our stuff into our new apartment. It will be exciting for sure. Today we had to go find some boxes to start packing...I had to balance them on my bike to get them back home. That was quite an adventure! There was this one corner that I just could not get around and two people walking by stopped to help. So nice! :)

Dinner with the Bishop and his family

Because this was Sister Nicholes' last week in Matsudo (she has been here 5 transfers, that's 7.5 months!) we had a lot of meal appointments. I got to know a lot of members and she got to say goodbye. It was so nice! The members here are the best! One day we went to eat with the Relief Society President, Yukimoto Shimai. She's Korean and made us super good Korean Sushi. It was so nice! She's super excited that Shim Shimai is coming.

Yesterday we and the Elders went to Bishop Nakanishi's house. Their kids are so cute! We had dinner and shared a really good message, then we played a game together. It was so fun! The kids have so much energy though. They just wanted to keep playing games, so we played hide and go seek with them. It was so fun! I love building relationships with the members because it helps them become so much more excited about the work. Members are so important and it is so important to know them (especially the leaders). This week was a really good opportunity to meet many of those members that we need to work closely with.

We also went to MLC again this week. Once a month, all the STLs and Zone Leaders in the mission gather for training from President Nagano and the Assistants. We learned a lot about faith in this meeting, especially faith to continue finding new investigators. At lunch we sang the EFY Medley and I felt the Spirit so strongly. Whenever I sing that song I just want to cry. It was so powerful to hear a group of missionaries sing it though. The EFY Medley is such a powerful song, I can always feel the power and love of Heavenly Father when I sing it.

MLC (Mission Leadership Conference)

At this MLC, Sister Nicholes and I were also selected to do a mogi (a role play) lesson in front of the whole MLC...and it was filmed for all of the mission to watch. I was so nervous! The moment I sat down, all my Japanese just flew out of my head. However, the Spirit really guided me to the things that I needed to say. I am so grateful for the Spirit which testifies of truth and guides us.

This past weekend at General Conference (I was lucky to have the chance to watch all the sessions in English this weekend) the Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ were huge focuses. I love it! The Spirit is such an amazing gift that Heavenly Father has given us. He loves us so much and through the Spirit we can feel comfort and guidance and know that what we are hearing is true. When we follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ and really strive to know him, we will truly find true happiness.

Kumon Shimai with a Layton, Utah jacket

This General Conference was so perfect! On Saturday, we taught out investigator, Ami-chan about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End). Then when she watched General Conference she told us "I recognized so many of the words! They were talking about the Spirit!" It was perfect! She is really progressing so fast! We were able to meet her several times this week. She is only 17, but she is starting to see how the gospel can really change her life and bring her so much more happiness.

Yukimoto Shimai

I guess this week was all about the Spirit. We had a lesson with Shizuko-san where we just read lots of scriptures from the Book of Mormon about the Spirit and she told us "Wow, I guess I have felt the Spirit before!" For an investigator who has been off and on for a while, this was huge progress.

We are seriously seeing so many miracles in Matsudo! I'm excited to have another transfer here!

One last miracle! Last week on p-day when Sister Nicholes and I were taking pictures by the Sakura, a random lady came up and offered to take a picture of us. Then right before she left, she took a selfie with us. Well yesterday, we had just left our apartment to go to church and we saw a lady walking past us. We said "Konnichiwa" and she said "Oh!!!!! Sakura shasshin!! (Sakura picture)" It was so crazy to run into the same lady 1 week later and have her still remember us. :)

ALSO at General Conference, they announced a temple in Brasilia Brazil and I am so excited!!! My trainer Sister Pourre is from Brasilia Brazil and I am so excited for her and her family!!!! She told me about how she had to take an airplane to go to the temple before her mission. This is such a blessing! Yay!!!!

I am excited to be here in Matsudo. This is going to be a great transfer, I can feel it! Thank you all for your love and support! I hope you all have a great week! Enjoy the spring weather! The sakura is starting to fall here, which is sad, but it's being replaced by lots of green!

Love you all!

ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai

 

Ohisashiburi Portuguese

Konnichiwa!

Or Ola! I guess :)

It is time for Sakura blossoms in Japan

This week we had Zone Conference and Interviews with President Nagano. During my interview, I told him that at the beginning of this transfer I got a prompting that I should start studying Portuguese again, but I wasn't quite sure how to fit it into my study because I only have 1 hour of language study per day and I still feel the need to study Japanese. His response was "That's funny that you brought up Portuguese, because the moment you walked into the room I thought about the Portuguese Sacrament meetings they are starting to do in Ushiku every week." He gave me permission to go to Ushiku any week that I feel prompted to go, so that I can help with the Portuguese Sacrament meeting. Right now it's being run by Elder Correa (one of my senpai that is from Brazil) and a lot of Brazilian members, less actives, and investigators come. Many of them are women, so President Nagano thought it would be good for a Sister to be there.

Well, yesterday we went. :) It was so good!!!! I was conducting all the songs and singing in Portuguese and I bore my testimony. It was really really rough because it's been 6 months since I've really spoken Portuguese, but it was also refreshing. I understood a lot of what was being said. It was really ohisashiburi to Portuguese. I had the chance to talk to some investigators afterwards and it was so fun! Sister Nicholes made friends with a less active young woman who translated to Japanese for her, and she used her Spanish to talk to a few of the Spanish-speaking members. It was so good! Haha, now I really had to brush up on my skills.

It was so amazing though. Later that night we went to a member's house and there was a couple visiting from America there. The husband didn't speak any Japanese, but I think he stated my feelings perfectly: "It's amazing how I can go to church in a completely different country and the Spirit is still there. I can't understand anything, but the Spirit is still there. The members are warm and welcoming. The doctrine is the same. It truly is the true church." I testify that what he said is true. No matter what language it is, no matter how many members are there, the church is true. The Spirit can be felt all over the world. That is what I love about being part of this true worldwide church. I can be in a completely different country, but I always know that if I find the church, I will find friends and helping hands, even if I am a stranger.

Recently we had a cool experience where our Ward Mission Leader forwarded us an email from his friend in America. The friend's daughter was here in Japan and had an unfortunate encounter in Tokyo. She was looking for some members to just be her friends and help her get back into the fun spirit of her trip, so they contacted the missionaries. That young woman ended up having a great time because of the love of members in Japan, people who didn't know her, but reached out in Christlike love. So cool!

So that was my Sunday :) Chuch in Japanese then church in Portuguese! It was also one of the Portuguese members' birthday so they had cake and brigadero (sorry for spelling that wrong, it's caramel and chocolate and it's delicious) and it made my day. Also Brother Raul and his granddaughter, Nanami-chan were there too! I met them for the first time when they came to General Conference in Oizumi and it was so nice to see them again! Nanami-chan remembered me!!!!! <3

Zone Conference was also amazing. We had the chance to do some mogis with the Sisters in the Zone and it is so amazing to see their progress, even in just 6 weeks. I love working with them and I'm excited to be staying here another transfer (I probably won't transfer since Sister Nicholes is going home). I just love Matsudo!!!!

This week we also had 2 lessons with Kikuchi Ami-chan, a 17 year old investigator whose mom recently joined the church. The first lesson, we made brownies, played badminton (while Sister Nicholes, Watanabe Shimai and Kikuchi Shimai had a lesson), then watched Meet the Mormons with her. She really enjoyed all the stories, and I got super emotional during the last story about the missionary, because that is my life now. Then today we taught her the Plan of Salvation and guess what?????? SHE ACCEPTED THE BAPTISMAL INVITATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Even better? She and her mom and our doseki member stayed for Zone P-day and played badminton, volleyball, and basketball with us and it was so fun! I feel so lucky to be here, helping Ami-chan progress towards baptism! She is so cute and I love her so much!!!!

One last thing I would like to share with you. This past week, I've been focusing a lot on personal revelation. I have had a lot of questions for Heavenly Father, everything from What can I do to be a better missionary? to How can I better help Matsudo? There have been so many questions, and I've really been working on praying and seeking personal revelation to receive answers. It is amazing! When you really focus on questions that you want to ask Heavenly Father, he will give you answers. I had made a list of questions I wanted to ask President Nagano at Interviews, but instead I received all the answers in the studies I had leading up to interviews. I walked into the room and told President Nagano "I had a whole list of questions prepared, but Heavenly Father answered them all...so here are some other questions."

When we really prepare and truly seek for answers to our questions, Heavenly Father will answer them. It won't always be in the way we want, oftentimes it isn't, but I can testify that when we follow the Lord's direction, we will be blessed. I didn't want to listen to Heavenly Father when he told me to come on a mission, but I am so so so so glad that I did. He truly knows what is best for us and he just wants to help us be happy and become the best people we can be. Trust that he knows best, and that he will guide you to greater happiness. I know he will!

Thank you so much everyone! Have a great week!

ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai

Tamago ga nai hito!!!!!

Konnichiwa!

This has been a crazy week filled with exchanges. We had full day exchanges with the Tsukuba Sisters and half day exchanges with the Kamagaya Sisters. I barely dendoed with my own companion this week :( I missed her.)

On Tuesday, I was on exchanges with Sister Mitchell, who is actually my Senpai from the MTC. She's from New Zealand and she is so amazing! She has done so much for the mission in terms of helping Mission School move forward. She served in the honbu for half her mission and had so many great ideas about how to help the mission including new Mission School flyers and pamphlet cards that have the Missionary Pamphlets in English, Japanese, and Romaji (romanized alphabet) on them to help the missionaries. She is so great and so creative. We had so much fun together!

We also saw an amazing miracle. We went to teach Mission School and a new student came named July. We actually found July last week while doing the Free English Challenge and she came this week. Sister Mitchell is a master teacher so she led the class and I learned a lot from her about how to teach a really effective class. July loved it! She learned so much and she is so excited to come back next week. What was even better was that after the class she really opened up about her beliefs in a greater being, but how she wasn't sure if it was God or not. She had a lot of questions about prayer and it was so amazing. We were able to share more about the gospel with her and she is just such a kinjin, she wants to learn more so badly! Miracles!

Later in the week we had half day exchanges where we went to Kamagaya (about an hour away) and dendoed there. I was with Sister Keiser and because we didn't have bikes we had to walk...except we got lost...then walked to the wrong train station...yeah. It was rough, but I probably burned a lot of calories! So much walking. We did another Free English Challenge with them and we saw a lot of miracles. Lots of kids and moms wanted to take the test and it was really good exposure for the Mission School.

With Shizuko and Miki Shimai

When I finally got to be with my companion again, I was so happy, and the miracles didn't stop!

We had an amazing lesson with Shizuko. She's been an investigator for a long long time, but this week was the first time when she said we could meet at the church. We went through the "Who is God?" Pamphlet with her and the Spirit was so strong from the very beginning. That was probably one of the most powerful lessons I have been in. The Spirit was testifying so strong and you could tell that she felt it. She laid out her desires for her family and the church and she really began to understand who God was. God loves each of us so much. He really is our Heavenly Father. He wants to hear from us no matter what we have to say. I know that my dad likes to hear what I have to say, it doesn't matter what I'm talking about, because he loves me. Heavenly Father is the same way. This is such a powerful truth and it was amazing to watch Shizuko realize it in her own life.

St. Patrick's Day activity

That night we had another powerful lesson. We had a Restoration mogi lesson with Ishimori Shimai. Once again, the Spirit was so strong. It was a last minute mogi, so we didn't have time to prepare it, and Sister Nicholes and I have never taught the Restoration together before, but it was powerful and the Spirit was so strong.

Those were some powerful lessons. I'm so glad that I was able to be worthy and prepared to help invite the Spirit to touch the lives of these amazing people.

Making okonomiyaki

After that mogi, Ishimori Shimai and her husband made okonomiyaki with us. Okonomiyaki is basically a cabbage pancake (but they added seafood and meat) and you put sauce, mayo, fish flakes, and seaweed on top. It was so good!!! They are such a funny couple too! They told us so many funny stories. Haha Ishimori Kyoudai works at PBO (the Church offices in Japan) and he told us "I'm not supposed to tell you, but the honbu started looking for a new apartment for you." He was so funny. He tried to keep it a secret, but not really. I'm so glad he told us though! Our apartment is so moldy, I've been sick for the last week. The fans in the shower and bathroom don't work so the water never dries and it's nasty. But yay for change!

The final product

Then on Sunday we helped with the Primary Easter Activity. Oh my goodness, there are so many kids and they are adorable! They all had name tags and I joked that they needed the name tags all the time because there are so many of them! How am I going to learn their names?

It was a fun time though. We did some easter relay races, including one awkward but really fun one where you had to jump across the gym with a balloon between your knees (a nice challenge when you are wearing a skirt). We also decorated Easter Eggs with the cutest stickers and there was one little girl who kept trying to sit on my lap and I felt bad that I had to keep lifting her off. She was so cute!!!!!! Lastly, there was an Easter egg hunt. Japanese kids are so nice! They were told that each kid could only get 1 egg, so they would get their egg then start shouting "tamago ga nai hito!!!" (People who don't have an egg!) to give them another egg. So nice, so obedient to the rules.

It was a fun week :) I can't believe we are starting week 5 already. This transfer has gone by slow, but fast The days feel slow, but then I blink and all of a sudden it's Saturday! Time passes by so fast.

After basketball

This week I just wanted to share a little something I learned over the past few days. I've been reading in Alma 54-57 about the Stripling Warriors and they have inspired me in a way I never thought of before. Lately there have been a lot of days where it is hard to have the desire to work hard. I can work hard, but it isn't the hardest I could be working, if that makes sense. I was reading in these chapters and I realized that they had no doubts, they put their complete trust in Heavenly Father, completely focused and as a result were blessed with "magnificent power....and mighty strength." I realized that the way that I can achieve more desire is to trust Heavenly Father, and get rid of any doubts I have. Doubts don't have to necessarily be a conscious thought, they can just be shown through your actions. If you aren't putting in 100% effort into something, you are showing doubt. If I am only talking to 90% of the people I see, then that last 10% is doubt. Doubt doesn't lead to miracles. I then read a talk about becoming a consecrated missionary and a quote that stood out to me was "God expects immediate progress, not immediate perfection." My earlier realization about doubt was great and all, but also overwhelming. It is hard to get rid of all your doubts and become consecrated to the Lord. This quote brought me a lot of peace because Heavenly Father just wants to see me try and do my best. He will bless those efforts and magnify them.

Dinner with Hana-chan and her mother

I really love the Book of Mormon and the prophets. They really do guide us and teach us. Every single person can read their words (multiple times) and learn new things that can completely change them. After studying those chapters and the that talk, I started implementing the things I learned and I have already seen a change. I am so very thankful for this gospel and the many blessings it has given me, for all the guidance and comfort it has given me.

Thank you so much for all your love and prayers!

ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai

Baptism, Bap-baptism

Konnichiwa!

Let me explain the title. There is this funny rap that two missionaries made in the mission and at one point they are just saying "Baptism bap-baptism" over and over and it's so funny. However, it was so true for this week! I saw 4 baptisms on Sunday. It was crazy!

The first three baptisms were for three 8 year olds in the Matsudo Ward. All three of them were so cute and so prepared to be baptized. One of them, Hina-chan, was someone I met my 2nd day here and she loves the missionaries so much. She gave the cutest testimony and it just made my day.

Aoi-chan's baptism

The last baptism was something so so special for me because Aoi-chan (my investigator from Urayasu) was baptized. Sister Nicholes and I had permission to leave church early to go to Urayasu and be a part of the baptism. The moment I got to the Urayasu church Sister Atkinson ran up to me and attacked me with a hug. Haha, I love her too. Then I basically did the same thing to Aoi ^^ I hug attacked her. I was just so excited to see her! She was so beautiful in white and she was so prepared for baptism. We took so many pictures with her and I just couldn't stop smiling.

I was so lucky to be in Urayasu with Sister Chinain when President Nagano first called us saying he had a referral for us. I had the chance to teach Aoi with 3 different companions and to see her progress almost right up until her baptism. She was so willing to change because she knew that this was the truth and that it would bring her so much happiness. She has such a strong testimony.

This was such a special baptismal service because her friend Elder Sasaki (the one who first taught her and then referred her to us and who is currently serving in Utah) Skyped in for the whole thing and he even gave a really beautiful talk. It was so special!

After the service, when Aoi had the chance to bear her testimony, I could not keep the tears in. She was so ready for the gospel. She knows that baptism isn't the end and she is so excited to have the chance to continue learning and coming closer to Christ. She is amazing and I love her so much! She has grown so much since I first met her and I know that she will continue to grow. It was such a special opportunity for me to be able to go and see her baptism too. For the rest of the night, I just couldn't stop telling Sister Nicholes "Aoi got baptized today! That actually happened!"

I don't really know what would have happened if I hadn't decided to serve a mission. But I know that Heavenly Father had a plan for me and I'm so glad that he has led me every step of the way. Aoi has forever changed my life and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be a part of her life for just a few months.

I really can't express everything that I felt yesterday at the baptismal service. There just aren't enough words in Japanese or English. I can say though that I know that I have found one of my eternal friends.

Sunday really was the highlight of my week. It overshadows everything else because it was just so bright and full of light. I had the chance to talk to some of the Urayasu members and give lots of them hugs and I just miss that ward so much. They really became a home to me. I love Matsudo though too!

On the way back from Abiko
there was no one on the platform.
We waited 10 minutes and then
checked the schedule again and
found out the train was coming in
another hour.  We hurried over to
theexpress train.

This week we spent a whole day in Abiko (the neighboring area) because they don't have any Sisters and a member asked us to come visit some Less Actives with her. It was really fun and she was so prepared! She had set up appointments and prepared materials and everything, so it ended up being really productive. It was such a fun day because we didn't have to worry about anything except bringing the Spirit and helping to find these Sisters' needs.

The next day we had exchanges with the Mito Sisters and I got to be with Sister Akers. I met her a few weeks ago when I was at follow-up training with Sister Atkinson because Sister Akers is also a trainee. We had so much fun together. Ah! She is so smart and fun. It reminded me of how fun it was to train Sister Atkinson. Then I got to see Sister Atkinson again on Sunday and that was even more fun! She has grown so much and it's only been 3 weeks. On a side note, she told me I looked more mature too and I just don't know where that came from...I've barely been gone. Haha!

Manhole covers in Matsudo have a pattern

At District Meeting this week we talked about Facebook and Line some more and after some other things that happened this week I realized some things. This mission is very blessed to be given so many tools to dendo with, and I think Heavenly Father really trusts us with these tools because he knows that we will use these tools effectively while still following the rules. We have had a huge focus on consecrated obedience since I got here and I am grateful for that focus. I have a personal goal to make sure that my mission is 1.5 years completely given to the Lord. I don't want to spoil that sacrifice by breaking rules to do things that seem fun. I didn't come on a mission to go to a foreign country and just have fun and do what I wanted to. I came because Heavenly Father asked me to and I knew that by coming I could help people find joy and happiness. Being obedient is a huge part of that sacrifice and when Heavenly Father sees that we are being obedient, he wants to bless us. The missionaries in the Tokyo Japan Mission are amazing examples to me of obedience. The missionaries here are always focused on the work and how to help the people in their areas. It is amazing and I am so proud to be a missionary in this mission.

I'll just finish up with a few random things. :)

We met with the new Bishop this past week and originally it was just supposed to be him and the missionaries, but it turned into the Dendo team and his counselors too. We got a lot done and I really feel like this ward is getting on board with the Mission School. That's so great! Once the ward is on board, it will really get going and then it will be amazing. I can see so much potential here!

We made kanji for tree (ki=木)

Today we helped a member with a St. Patrick's Day activity. It was kind of funny because I don't own much green so everyone is wearing bright green and all I have is this pastel green shirt and my bird skirt. Hehe :) I didn't get pinched though! I also didn't realize that March is already 2/3 of the way done. Sister Nicholes only has 3 more P-days!!!!! WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! I'm not ready for her to leave yet! We have a plan though, I'm going to sew a doll that looks just like her and it's going to fool President Nagano so he will send the doll home instead of Sister Nicholes. Perfect. Foolproof.

I just want you all to know that I really appreciate your love and support. I can feel your prayers helping me throughout the day. Thank you so much!!!

ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai

"I Mean We've Practiced it Once..."

Konnichiwa!

This was my first real week of STL-ing...is that even a word? Haha, this week we had both Mission Leadership Council (where all the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders go to honbu to receive training from President Nagano and the Assistants) and exchanges!

With Mikumi Shimai

MLC was so great! I GOT TO SEE SISTER POURRE AGAIN!!!!!!!! Aka the best trainer ever. ^^ She is a Sister Training Leader back in Kiryu, my first zone, and I was so happy to see her! I also got to see Sister Bede again. So basically, half of my former companions are Sister Training Leaders too, so it was one big party. I was also asked to play this song called "I'll Find You My Friend" and it is a beautiful song and everyone sings it a million times on their mission, but this was my first time, so I was sightreading it, but it was beautiful and very nice.

Also funny story. So flashback to about 6 months ago. Elder Merrill (who was in Maebashi at the time and I was in Oizumi) calls me the day before Zone Meeting and tells me he has been asked to do a musical number and asks me to accompany him. He says the song is "Lead, Kindly Light" so I say okay, even though it's super last minute. Well, this week, 1 day before MLC we are having a meeting with the Zone Leaders (the same Elder Merrill and Elder Lewis) and he says that he has been asked to do another musical number. He said he would get back to me about what song though because I told him I could accompany again. That night we call and he says "Well, since we've already practiced it once, we can do Lead Kindly Light again." All I could do was laugh. We had practiced it once...6 MONTHS AGO!!!! It went well though. :)

At the temple

MLC was amazing. There was such a focus on keeping our faith high as missionaries to continue to see amazing miracles. We have set an Easter baptismal goal as a mission and we are working to help keep the faith in the missionaries high so that we can reach the goal. I loved hearing everyone's ideas. One thing that really helped us have a lot of faith during the White Christmas goal was when we used lots of creative dendo. President Nagano is all for creative dendo. We don't just do the normal streeting and housing in this mission. He is always encouraging us to get creative and to get people excited about the gospel.

Some things we've been doing include Mission School, playing basketball with the youth and their friends, planning lots of activities, using Facebook to dendo, visiting colleges, getting involved in other Eikaiwa classes outside of our church, doing service all over the community, and the Free English Challenge.

This week was the first time I've ever done the Free English Challenge even though missionaries have been doing it since Christmas and seeing a lot of success. Basically, we print out some simple English tests (just 4 questions) and go to a crowded area with lots of youth and ask them to take the test. If they get it all right they get a candy, and regardless we get to promote our English classes. We also have a huge photo frame that they can take pictures with, that we post on our Facebook page. It is really fun and the youth love it! Back in Urayasu, we actually got 2 new students because of it.

More Free English Challenge

I love being in this mission where there is such a focus on the youth and on creative dendo. We really want to be effectively using our time and President Nagano really emphasizes helping people pull the gospel into their lives through their own questions and interest in who we are as missionaries and what we teach, instead of us trying to push our way into their lives.

Another big game changer that was announced at MLC was that LINE was approved for our mission! LINE is a lot like Facebook Messenger, but in Japan almost everyone has it! This is such a game changer! In the past we would try to get contact information especially from youth that were interested, but they never had Facebook, only LINE, but we didn't have LINE. Now we can get in touch with them!!!!!! YAY!!! We spent a lot of time at church on Sunday getting all the youth's LINEs ^^

I also had my first set of exchanges as a Sister Training Leader. I was with Sister Fossa, who is an awesome Sister from Italy and she was actually companions with my MTC companion Sister Hill. <3 She is an awesome missionary and we actually did the Free English Challenge together and met a lot of cool people.

We also visited Rosa this week. She is so sweet!!! She always says that we are her daughters and she gives us really good advice too.

Seeing the temple from a nearby park

On Sunday we had some miracles happen! We weren't 100% sure what to plan for after church, so we made some kind of half plans and then headed to church where we were invited to YW New Beginnings and to a member's house with our Recent Convert for dinner. Such a miracle! I got to work on memorizing the Young Women's names some more, talked to some of their parents, got to know the leaders, and build relationships with the ward. It ended up being a perfect Sunday. We were really able to help the ward and I am slowly starting to feel a little bit more like this is my ward now. Last week was a little rough since it was Stake Conference and I was meeting people from all over the stake, but this week I was just meeting Matsudo members and that helped me focus. Yay! Matsudo is seriously amazing though. There are so many members who are slowly getting more and more dendo fire. I love seeing the change as they realize the important role they play in missionary work and then actually take action to fulfill that role!

Cherry Burger

Today was Temple P-day and it was an amazing opportunity. Last transfer, we weren't able to go, so this was the first time in several months and it really felt like coming home. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and it was really special to be there. I love the temple so much! We even met a missionary who went home last year and is now visiting with her family. That was really cool!

Sakura Frappuccino

We spent our P-day at a gorgeous park near the temple and we ate these amazing cherry burgers at Burger Mania. It was so good. It was a pretty relaxing p-day. Hehe...and we got Sakura Frappuccinos (i don't know how to spell that, sorry) from Starbucks. I am so excited to see the Sakura (cherry blossoms) soon!!!! We saw some ume (plum) blossoms but no sakura yet.

Thank you so much all for your love and support! Have a great week!

ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai

Plum Blossoms

Hello from Matsudo!!!!

Konnichiwa!

I will miss you Urayasu

Hello from Matsudo!!!! Only 45 minutes away from Urayasu (by train) but so different! The church building is 5 stories tall, there are 300 members, it's way more country than Urayasu was, and we live behind a Pachinko Parlor (aka a huge casino ^^).

So we live really close to the church, which is right next to the Pachinko, so as we walk to the church we like to look between the church and the Pachinko and just say "Zion, Babylon, Zion, Babylon" it's way fun.

Let's start with my last few days in Urayasu. It was a hectic mash of packing and visiting members. We set a last minute appointment to visit Sotodate Shimai and originally I was thinking "Ehhhh do we really need to visit her?" But we did, and it ended up being perfect. Just an hour before our meeting she was hit with some news that really gave her a hard time and she said that the only thing that got her through it was knowing that she would be meeting us. She said our visit was perfect and helped so much. I love the Spirit for guiding us to be there in her time of need!

Sotodate Shimai

We also helped Abe Shimai, who is pregnant, with her grocery shopping then had an amazing discussion about the Priesthood. I regret not working with her more while I was in Urayasu, but I know that Sister Atkinson will definitely use her to help!

Lastly, we visited the Kawamuras, my favorite people ever! I will miss them so much! Kawamura Shimai has made so many days even better. She is always a light!

Girl's Day decorations

On Wednesday, Kei Shimai met us to walk to the train because she wanted to say goodbye. It was hard to leave Urayasu because I have come to love it so much. The people there are amazing and it truly was a home to me. I love you Urayasu!!!!!!!!

Then came the 45 min train rides by myself...always an interesting experience. It's weird to be alone when you usually have a companion. I tried talking to this one girl who had a bag that said Seattle on it, but she was not having it. That's okay ^^

I arrived at Matsudo and got to see Sister Bede before she left! Sister Bede was my last companion before she moved to Matsudo and Sister Atkinson became my bean-chan. It was so good to see her! I love her so much! I also got to meet my new companion, Sister Nicholes!!!

My new companion, Sister Nicholes

A little bit about Sister Nicholes: She is half Japanese, she is adorable, she lived in Japan for all of elementary school and is fluent in Japanese and English so she has no idea what to do during language study. This is her last transfer in the mission, she is amazing, and so strong in the gospel. This week has been so amazing with her. I'm so glad I get to be her companion!!!! She also bikes way fast...so I feel like I did back in Oizumi where I am like 600 ft behind her...hehehe I've gotten out of shape in Urayasu. There are so many more hills here than there were in Urayasu.

A cool wall in Matsudo

And a little bit about Matsudo. There are a lot of people. There are a lot of names. There are a lot of meetings. I actually have a goal to memorize peoples names here because there are so many. Ahhhh!!!!! Also, since I know exactly when I will become Area Senpai (at the end of this transfer) I also know that I have a deadline to learn everything that Sister Nicholes knows. Yay! It's been good so far. One step at a time. Sadly, I am terrible with names, but it will get there. All the members I've met so far have been amazing and I love them already! They are so sweet and there are so many families here. They really do fill up all 5 stories of this church!

One investigator that I started working with right away was Rosa, a Filipino, whose sister is actually a Less Active that I was working with in Urayasu. Crazy! She is amazing though. They set a baptismal date with her about a month ago, then lost contact. They finally got contact back last week and I came in just in time to start teaching her most of the lessons again. We decided to try to do daily contact with her by teaching her half the days and reading the Book of Mormon the other half of the days. As the week went on, I started to see the change in her. She started smiling more and she had the light of Christ. It's so amazing to watch that change in people. I am so excited to help her come to baptism and come unto Christ.

Promoting Mission School

We are also trying to establish Mission School here in Matsudo. It's nice to know that areas all over the mission are experiencing similar problems that we were in Urayasu with establishing Mission School. I'm looking forward to helping Matsudo's Mission School grow really strong. I truly believe that Mission School is the future for dendo in Japan. It's an amazing tool to help the youth and young adults here learn and grow both in their English knowledge and their spiritual knowledge. Even if they aren't going to be baptized, they are being surrounded with good influences that will help them stay away from the Babylons of the world.

This week has definitely been a time of growth for me. There are many responsibilities that come with being a Sister Training Leader, but the best one is getting to know the Sisters and how to help them. I am so excited for this transfer. Matsudo is amazing! I love it here!

I will see you all next week!!!

ブラクラ姉妹
Black Shimai

Spinning Fake Food

Costco in Japan - doesn't it look familiar?