They finally put our pictures up at church. I don't know if I've mentioned but in Japan (maybe they do it in America I don't know, I don't ever remember anything before I started my mission but whatever) they put the pictures of the missionaries serving in that ward. We're supposed to put our names, hobbies, and family size on a card. Well I've got like 3 more Sundays and they (Brother Swasey) just now put our pictures up. Woah! Procrastination! But granted I'll probably be up there for another month or two because my last comps picture didn't get taken down for like 7 weeks after she left.
The week was good. We left Wednesday morning for the Whiting Choro conference. While we were on the bus we received a text from our ZLs (that should have been sent like four days earlier) that we needed to be ready and seated in our seats by 9:30 or we wouldn't be able to participate in the morning session. We wouldn't get to our destination till 9:26...oh man....we got off our train that was a good walk to the
church and we ran! Oh man it was cold and my lungs were on fire! So ridiculous. But we made it...in like 6 mins. A little late but it didn't matter because Elder Whiting and Welch Kaicho were late!
So we were in! BESIDES the craziness of it all, we had a great conference with Elder Whiting. He is the president of the Asia North presidency. He first let us ask questions that we had and we talked a lot about the Spirit and being prepared to preach. He talked about how pondering is really a way to study the word and sometimes gets over looked. It was really a great conference.
At the end I said goodbye to some missionaries that had come from another zone for the last time..it was actually really sad. I won't see a lot of them again or for a really long time. I love people so much. Seriously I found so many, so many who mean a lot to me! Gsjdjdfndnfh I love people too flippin' much! Heart hurts....anyway moving on!
Friday it snowed lightly. But nothing stuck so we still were able to use our bikes. We went out to the old folks home and got to see my favorite old lady, Nakano San dressed in a kimono. She didn't know we were coming and she was so happy to see us! So were the other people there who we usually see! It was for a green tea making ceremony...we didn't drink, only watched and they gave us hot water instead and
sweets :) it was cool! Then the snow began to pick up. We were out housing and man it was so cold. The wind was literally icy. Apparently this is the coldest it has gotten in Kurayoshi in a long time.
We woke up Saturday morning to find a wintery wonderland. Blanketing the ground was about 4 inches of snow. The snow here is so weird! It falls in little balls, small chunks, at high speeds and in large quantities. They look like dippin' dots. We went without bikes because there was no road or side walk that wasn't converted in snow. It was a good thing that we first had a warm lunch with Omae Kyodai and his wife. She is seriously an amazing chef! So delicious! She loves to give us food to take home. She is from Osaka and acts like it too. She's funny and makes fun of Omae Kyodai for us.
Then we walked back to the church to meet Matsumoto Shimai and her husband to go visit our investigator, Kiyoshi. We had the lesson in her car. We asked him what he thought of the Book of Mormon (he's like in Helaman..no big) and he said he liked it but then turned to us and asked, "What is happiness?" Oh my, what? I was not prepared and at the same time I was and something like way cool happened! We talked for a moment about what happiness is, and a scripture popped into my head,
Mosiah 2:41. We read it together and then lead into our lesson about the Plan of Salvation. It was amazing and our doseki was also fantastic!
Then we returned to the church and waited for our next member to come pick us to take us to our next appointment with Kyoko and Natsumi. When we visited, we talked at their door and the snow and wind was blowin' like crazy! But we talked a little more about the BOM and they READ! I tried to commit them to read a chapter and they were trying to find it and it was such a struggle because our hands were to cold to flip open pages. Eventually after like 3 minutes of awkward, we got it and then we all laughed at how difficult it was....sheesh. Ahh so awesome! Man, I love them! They are so cute! So is their little boy! He's a cutie! Man, so many good things on Saturday!
Sunday was also great! We shoveled snow. Speaking of which! They do not clear the roads or the side walks so it's a slushy mess EVERYWHERE! It's crazy! Anyway! Later from our ward mission leader we heard a dream that he had about a pig and that was the highlight of our meeting this morning. No deep doctrine just sitting in a room laughing about a pig. Yup! Anyway! Later we walked to Iwagaki Shimai's house and we sang to her. We could see our breath inside of her not warm house! But she was really happy to see us so that was nice!
Well there is another layer of snow on the ground and we are still walking everywhere making the work slower....oh well, maybe we are supposed to meet somebody. We'll see.
Did you know all Brazilians love chocolate and will eat it by the kilos? We have a few Brazilian missionaries and I can confirm this truth and the next truth is I might be turning Brazilian.
Love Sister Oswald Shimai
I'M SO GLAD WE BOUGHT A HONDA!
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