Rice and Ramen: OCTOBER 11, 2015

Ollo, another week. It feels like forever that I've been here. Last Monday felt like months ago, also I can't believe I've been here for so long!

It has started to really get colder outside especially at night. Burr.

We have so much food that we don't know what to do with it. Members keep bringing us food. Oh my! I made French toast but it was most definitely different. I had no cinnamon so I put a dash of sugar in the egg/milk mix and because there is no PAM in Japan, I kinda deep fried the bread because I put just a little too much oil. Over all...still really good and it was happiness.

I'm trying to be more positive. Trying to love the hills and my bike, and love being in the cold or being corrected so I can be better...but alas, I am human and the natural man in me gets annoyed at that last bit. I don't like being told what to do. Especially if what I was doing really doesn't matter or change anything, but I know that by being obedient, say to not using my iPad to type out this lovely note while my companion is in the shower, will bless us. Exact obedience will bring miracles. It's such a stupid thing to get annoyed with but IF (and I believe that it will) help us find our kyudosha (investigator) then I can do that. I want and pray for that person to teach this transfer!!!! I know I can do it. I see others doing it so I, we can too!

Tuesday. The highlights of this day were, we have received more food and I love kids. More of an explanation now: I have asked Uchida Shimai to start using more Japanese when we talk to each other. I have realized that I'm in very "fake it till you u make it" attitude which works sometimes. Nodding and saying 'mmhhh' is okay but it doesn't work however when people ask you questions or ask wakarimasuka? (Do you understand?) Last week when my companion and other people (like members or other missionaries) speak in nihongo, I kinda start tuning them out. Ahhh, this is bad. So today was a brain workout. We did tracking and as usual not much luck. But I feel like I get P-Day hangover. My motivation goes way up and then way down. We do companion exchanges tomorrow so hopefully that will give me the motivational boost I need to keep me going. I ripped my first skirt today. Skirts and bikes don't mix. So today as I was trying to cross the road, my skirt jams into the back brake. I'm trying to pull the cloth from the wheel! Needless today I did a fantastic patch job. Thank you Sister Yoko for the sewing kit.

I’m finding more and more ways for the Japanese to just stare. Earlier it was green beads of nature. That one will be explained in a picture I send.

While making our way home we said hello to a obachan who was on the side of the road working on a patch of dirt, digging weeds out and what not. She had in her hand a bunch of potatoes and she put them in a bag and gave them to us. YAY! I tried to cook them like dad does but we don't have an oven. Still good, I'm eating them tomorrow for breakfast. I love chocolate, maybe because it's just so good here, maybe because I have a huge sweet tooth. I don't know. But I've been craving chocolate all the time. Some members gave us some Sunday so I've been snacking...sigh...

We taught eikaiwa tonight and it was so much fun!! We taught them (children's class) body parts and sung head shoulders knees and toes. That was fun! I love all of them. I really am the teacher because I know English the best. I taught them how to say high five and as they left it was requirement to say it and do it. Ahhhh, I love them because they are silly, they are fun and probably the cutest kids in the world (seriously Japanese win the cutest kids in the world contest). Also we met this 94 yr old woman who lives alone but is Christian. She was very nice to us. Her skin looked like paper.

Okay, I absolutely love today (Wednesday) but I'll just have to write tomorrow, the rest of what I don't write today. I exchanged companions and my comp for the next day is sister yoshida. Ohh, she is awesome!! I love her! Her English is amazing and she went to BYU Hawaii!! Ahh! She loves to laugh and actually understands me which really has made a lot of my stress melt away. We went to the store and bought sushi and went to the church to have a joint missionary lesson. It was lots of fun.

When we biked, all the students going to grammar school were headed towards the train station and everyone says hello to us in English. I think it's cause they think we are gaijin and we wear helmets and we always say hello. It was fun. There are no hills here, here being Nishiwaki which means armpit or something, but it's not that At All!!

Yoshida Shimai has....wait for it....a UKULELE!!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!! This is seriously the greatest thing that happened to me today besides the sushi. I played for her and she videoed me. Today was a day I needed. The spirit was with me and I loved it. There is one thing I do wish that I did was follow a prompting. We were on the train and I had a thought. Talk to the man in the striped shirt. I didn't and I wish I had now. I don't know what would have happened, but I should have listened.

Yoshida Shimai is fantastic. We get along really well. On Thursday we went and taught a lesson to a kyudosha and her little akachan (baby about 2 yrs). We read 3 Nephi 13 and it was about prayer and such and it was my turn to testify and when I did I started going off topic and talked about the priesthood, The spirit at work! Her husband was a member and she actually wants to get baptized but just wants to learn more beforehand. She is reading the whole Book of Mormon or the BOM challenge. She is already in Omni and is doing so well, praying every day, especially when her little girl was sick. Her daughter is absolutely the cutest thing ahhh!!! Okay, so I'm so glad I have a mountain bike and not a mamachattie. It's another kind of bike that destroys your knees and I had to use one in Nishiwaki. I ripped another skirt!

Ughhhhh...finally got back to Uchida Shimai and I was happy to see her! In Japan they probably have the best bread I'm the world. It's also not too expensive and easy access. If I keep eating it I'll turn into a ballon but it's sooooooooo good....sigh life is tough as a missionary.

Mom thank you for the letter. It made me very happy and I was grinning like an idiot, which actually happens a lot because of letters and Japanese things.

So today (I can't believe it's Friday!WHAT?! I'm almost already half way through this transfer!!) we had zone training meeting and it was so nice to be with our zone and other missionaries. I learned so much!!! We talked about new ways to dendo (mission work) and it was awesome! They're really changing the way we do missionary work in Japan! So the church has come out with three new pamphlets specifically for Asian countries. They’re not on paper yet but we have them on our iPads and they also have videos and such! We practiced using them and I'm so excited. At the beginning of this week I was really struggling with motivation to dendo but now after companion exchange and the training meeting I'm so ready to do the work.

Tomorrow is our General Conference and I can't wait to hear the talks. All you peeps are so lucky to see it at the same time, but it's all good. I met another person today that went to BYU Hawaii! We both know some of the same people! Her name is Sister Johnson and she is so sweet and we hit it off like that! She is a music major and plays fiddle and ahhh I love her already. My companion and I had some tired issues/struggles. Let’s just say y'all will have some interesting videos and pictures of us the week.

So, another odd thing about Japan is Playboy backpacks and weed grandma tees. The students don't know about Playboy so they buy the backpacks with the bunny and the name on it. It was strange and I've seen grandmas and children with weed tshirts but I don't think they know what the weed leaf symbol looks like...just strange. So I was looking in the mirror today and I couldn't tell if I had chocolate on my lip or if it was another freckle. I have acquired two new addictions while in Japan. Chocolate and Pan (bread) for some reason it's so much better here or I just suddenly remembered the deliciousness of food since I was in the MTC so long. MOM, send me work outs (like on Pinterest) or I'm going to turn into a balloon.

We watched general conference today but I watched in Japanese and read the talks on my iPad. Oh send me these pictures. And all other pictures, I need some new material to look at haha (I love your faces but pictures please! and of you mom I don't have any of you!) I loved the Saturday session!! It was so good. Has it always been this good? I can't pick my favorite! Maybe when Uchtorf talked about the simplicity of the gospel and how it's like a lily or that "God didn't give up on Moses" or when Holland talked about mothers! Or when Ballard talked about the helm and the old ship Zion! Ahhh there is just so much that I loved that it would be like playing conference over again and I don't have time for that haha.

After conference we visited a family that are possible investigators. They are so kind and the mom is learning English and comes to our eikaiwa class. We also ran into (more like we pinged their house) our students (kids) that we teach at eikaiwa! It was so cool! That was the spirit totally with us when we found them. We met their mom and she was so nice!

My companion and I are getting sillier and sillier with each other as each day passes and it's filled with laughter, food, hot chocolate and funny videos. Understanding each other sometimes may be difficult and frustrating but it's all good. Because we have Heavenly Father to love us, we have Christ to understand us, and the spirit to guide us.

As to the weather, it's like half cold half not. It's a weird combo. Hills have turned my thighs rock hard! Woah! Also, as to who I keep in contact with, I try but fail miserably. Zack doesn't email but I get his mass one. (but he's also super busy with his thousands of baptisms and investigators (little jealous). I email Nick and I keep in contact with my MTC district. I email Stine and Ryan and now Austin Whittier.

Wow okay, GENERAL CONFERENCE! So good! So good! I loved the new apostle’s testimonies and it was just good! Oh, I was distressed for President Monson, but he seemed better at the end. I love what was said today (haha sorta today). So in between sessions the youth made lunch (they did it to raise money for trip to EFY) and it was taco rice. Like everything that is in/is a taco but on white Japanese rice. It was a little strange but apparently normal. It tasted good so I went along with it.

Today while talking to a possible investigator I had a small but simple thought come to my head to talk about family. The thought was clear and simple and didn't seem like fading away into the confusion that are my thoughts recently. So I said why not, the worse thing that could happen is you could just look silly trying to talk about family. I don't know if what I said helped her, it was broken Japanese, messy, and a little strange, but I believe it was the spirit that told me to say that. I never want to disobey or dismiss a prompting. The spirit is so important!

Japanese is fun but I just wish I could understand more. I wish we could actually get investigators.

I love all of you so much!!!