I dont know where to start! I guess Ill just start listing stuff off!
So we were exhausted from traveling, we had 2 hours to oregon, 9 hours to Tokyo, 2 hours to Fukuoka and we went about 27 hours without any sleep! I actually think being that exhausted helped me adjust to the time change a lot easier. I'm completely used to it by now!
First thing I noticed about Nihon- how crazy humid it is! Especially in Fukuoka. You walk outside and are basically swimming in your own sweat, We carry little towels with us to wipe off our sweat before we knock on a door haha. In my area, it POURS every day! It's been hard 'cause I just barely got my bike today so we had to walk every in the rain and got soaked, We wore these super attractive looking ponchos which helped some. My mission president and his wife are amazing! They fed us a ton of good food right when we got there, at like 11pm! They also took us out to eat the next day, and paid!
So we got in late Tues and then Wed we went out and contacted! All I could do was introduce who we were and then ask basic questions like do you believe in God and have you ever heard of Jesus Christ, then the other shimai would take over. We're only allowed to approach girls, but if a guy asks us a question, were allowed to answer, The first lady I talked to said back to me, "your japanese is very good" in English! So that was kind of funny. I was like, why couldnt you have told me that early on, when i was struggling to talk in japanese?! Everyone here is super polite, they always let you talk for at least a few seconds before they turn away and leave. During this first day of contacting, it started POURING and we didnt have umbrellas, so we got completely soaked! good thing it was super hot or else we would've been freezing!!
so my first area is....TANIYAMA! It's in the kagoshima district. in kagoshima there is an active volcano that goes off every day so sometimes we get some ash over here in taniyama. its super green here and its like a suburb of kagoshima. it was a four hour buys ride (by myself!) from fukuoka. on the bus they played "let it go" from Frozen and it was in nihongo and super hilarious sounding!
Little boys always come up to us and say, "herro! how are you?" its so cute! they never see americans, so they were super excited to practice the english that they had learned in school. its adorable!
so we teach english class twice a week, wednesdays to adults and saturdays to little kids. we always pass out flyers when we go streeting. only two little boys came on saturday, but it was still super fun and we got to talk to their mom a lot. we taught them the letter h and then played 4 corners and sang a song. it was super fun!
my trainer is Capener Shimai and she is seriously the best. she is 22 from nauvoo and only has 3 transfers left. she reminds me of Jill! shes a super hard work and is super loving and funny. she's so enthusiatic about missionary work!!!!
we live with two other shimai, one of them is on her last transfer and the other is on transfer 4. we sleep on futons, which i actually really like because they're super comfy! every morning in our mission we have "sacred grove" which is where we have a 15 minute personal prayer at the beginning of personal study. it is so awesome and i'm able to really feel the spirit as i pray about my investigators. it makes you really think about what you say in your prayers, too!
so we have 3 super amazing investigators! the iwakawa family. the first lesson i taught them was their second ever lesson, so we taught lesson 1 from Preach My Gospel (PMG) and then gave them a Book of Mormon (BOM). they fed us a ton of good food, too! so its the mom, 1 son, 3 daughters, and then the dad. normally just the mom and one daughter join for the lessons. the dad is always gone and the other kids dont want to join...we will hopefully change that!
then we have Mayu San. Shes 21 and her baptismal date is the 22nd of this month!!! we have some more commandments to teach her before then! she is so sweet and just needs a friend. we are going out to eat with her on tues and then teaching a lesson afterward. we had a basketball activity and she came!
then there is the Yamashita mom and daughter, whose date is august 30th!!!! they have so much faith and this past lesson we taught some commandments and she was so excited to fast, she asked if she could start one right then. we said, yes!!! they read and pray every day and are just so awesome! the Lord really did prepare them!!!
akina shimai is a member who sits in for a lot of our lessons. and guess what!? she is kaneko shimai`s sister! kaneko shimai was one of the nihonjin i met at the mtc, and now im serving in here home branch! what a small world. i bore my testimony on sunday and i felt the spirit so strongly.we helped in primary the second hour and the kids were crazy! and super cute!
nihongo is overwhelming if i let it be, so i try not to! i just say what i can in lessons and then capener shimai fills in the rest. i just smile and try to love the people. i love nihon and the people here are amazing!!!! we see miracles here every day. i have the best trainer ever, many people have told me that, the food's awesome, and the work is progressing. missionary work is the best. I know that this is where i am supposed to be. I know that this gospel is true and i know that Jesus Christ is my Savior! this is the true church and it can bring so much happiness into anyone's life. i love this gospel!
愛しています！
klein 姉妹
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