#57 "Pink Elephants on Parade"

Wow, this week was FAST. It was kind of a hard one though, because we didn't get to do much proselyting. Proselyting can be tiring, but I always feel so good when we do it. This week we were busy with meetings and training and planning sessions - not fun. I'm starting to get itchy feet just thinking about it! 

Monday we had another Japanese sister missionary hang out with us for the day. Her companion finished her mission, so she needed someone to be with to wait for her new companion to come. So that was crazy busy. 

Tuesday we had to go to transfers to pick up the new companion! And then we had our weekly service activity, passing food out to the homeless. So that was crazy busy.

Wednesday we made cookies and decided to try to go out and find as many people as we could that were on a ward list of people we don't know. Then we taught our free English class! So that was crazy busy.

Thursday was our weekly planning session, and that always takes a good three hours. Then we had to pack our bags and head out! We went to teach Kato san. She's doing really well! We taught her about the life of Jesus Christ, and asked her to pray and read to know that he is her Savior. She wants an answer, and we'll be meeting the next Thursday, so maybe she will have it by then; we're prayin'! Right after her lesson, we biked to a member's house for dinner, and as soon as that dinner finished, we headed to Meito to spend the night with all of the STLs of the Japan Nagoya Mission (BEST SLEEPOVER EVER). So that was crazy busy.

Friday was our training from our beloved President Yamashita. He gave us all some guidance for how he wants us to work with the people in our zone, and how we can work to achieve our goals. These meetings are always so uplifting and make me want to work, but by the time we get out, I'm just exhausted! That night we also went to Seminary at the church. So that was crazy busy.

Saturday was our HALLOWEEN PARTY! We had two of our investigators come, and they had a good time! It was funny in planning this party - the ward didn't want to do it because it always gets too big, so they said if the missionaries want to run it then they can make it smaller, so we made a plan for a smaller party, and the ward took the plan and blew it up to a much bigger party. Gotta love this ward. After that we headed over to see a recent convert who has been struggling. We were able to meet him and talk to him for a while and ask him to come to church! So that was crazy busy.

Sunday we had CHURCH. And Hiromi san came! We first met her the day before while we were exercising in the morning (don't get your hopes up, I just walk). We talked for a bit and she said she would come to the Halloween party and then at the Halloween party she said she would come to church! Woohoo! We're not too sure what she thought of it all because she didn't say much, but we'll be visiting her on Tuesday to ask her! Later that night, we biked an hour out to our Bishop's house for dinner, and then biked back. Fed and tired, I slept well last night. So that was crazy busy.

So this whole week was crazy busy! And it doesn't look that way when I write it out like this, but you just gotta believe me that it was. I swear it was like I was seeing Pink Elephants on Parade, I was so dizzy! And I'd like to tell you that this next week seems very calm in comparison, BUT we've got some fun things planned. Until then!!

#56 "Something There That Wasn't There Before"

So this week has been short, but I've got two stories to tell you. 

On Wednesday, we were able to meet with Nakane san. She wasn't really interested in our message before - well she was interested by it, but didn't really want to apply it. But seeing as she was a friend of a member, we decided to invite her to come to church for General Conference. She was so excited to come and hear the talks, but a couple days before Sunday she called and said she couldn't make it. She was so sad that she had to work, but we offered to come to her house and show her how she could find the talks online. We set an appointment, and brought the member with us. We showed her President Uchtdorf's talk (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/receiving-a-testimony-of-light-and-truth?lang=eng). After the talk, she got really quiet. I didn't dare move - I just felt like this was it, she was going to turn around and tell us that the talk was lovely but that she doesn't want to hear from us again. I could just tell that something big was going to happen, but I was afraid it wasn't a good thing. My companion asked her what she thought about the talk, and she just sat there for a minute or two in the quietness staring at the screen. She turned around and smiled at us and told us that what he said was truth. For the next hour, she proceeded to tell us how she had been trying to talk to God, but hadn't heard back from Him. She then told us how she knew He was there, and how she knew that she had met Him before. She told us how she wanted to return to Him, but that she wasn't sure how to. She then asked us how, but before we could answer, she told us how. She remembered the things we had taught her months ago, and suddenly felt like they were right. It was an amazing experience; she would ask us a question, but before we could answer, she would answer it herself! It's been a while since I've felt the Spirit as strong as I did in that lesson - it was so wonderful. 

The other story is that we had transfer calls this Saturday, and I was so antsy because I KNEW I would be transferring; I was on my third companion in the area, and I was already on my fourth transfer in the area (the average is two companions in an area, and three transfers in an area). So I was waiting right next to the phone, so nervous to hear where I would be going, and... NO ONE EVER CALLED! WE ARE SAFE! NO TRANSFERS!! This means I will be staying another transfer with Sister Peterson, and going on my FIFTH transfer in the area. This is SO rare for a sister, to be a total of 7 and a half months in a single area, but I know there's something that I have to do here that I haven't done yet. 

"There may be something there that wasn't there before!" (Beauty and the Beast)

#55 "It's the Time of Your Life"

This week was insane. It really can only be described in the word 'insane'. We had interviews and training by our Mission President on Friday, and General Conference on Saturday and Sunday, and then a surprise Typhoon on Monday, and P-Day got moved to Tuesday and WHEW. I'm just TIRED.

Interviews were wonderful - My Mission President gave me a lot of training and counsel that will really guide me for the rest of my Mission.

Conference was also wonderful - I loved pretty much every single talk. They all had a hidden message for me, and I know now that I have some work to do.

Missionary work this week was hard, but we did our best! I do have a rather interesting story to tell you though. While we were tracting one night, it was about 8 at night and we decided to go out and see if we couldn't talk to a couple more people before curfew that night. We were biking one direction and came up to a light. At the same corner was a woman and her son on a bike crossing to the other corner. I called out to them, and my companion began to explain who we were when the woman expressed complete shock, hopped off her bike, and ran over to the side of my bike. She asked me if I remembered her, and I told her yes (although it did not hit me until later). We had met her a couple weeks ago, and though she already had strong faith in Jesus Christ and we had offered our message to her and her son, she wasn't interested, so we commended her on her faith in Jesus Christ and friendly parted ways. Well here she was again, and she asked me if I remembered her and I told her I did. She then told me that she had been trying to remember my name for weeks but had not been able to. I showed her my name tag, and told her I go by 'Johnson Shimai'. I was then about to ask her how she had been but she grabbed one of my hands with her two, bowed her head, and began to PRAY. Right there, on the corner of that busy street, she began to pray aloud that she was grateful to meet me again, that she had been worried with the weather and dangerous streets that we biked along, and that God would protect me for the rest of my travels. The second she finished her prayer, she ran over to her bike, grabbed some chocolates from her basket and put them in my hand. She told me that she had been praying for my safety and protection, but that because she couldn't remember my name she had been sad and because she hadn't seen me recently she was worried (though we only met the once before). She then told me to be careful and hopped on her bike and hurried off, all while my mouth was just hanging open - I was in shock the whole time! It was a wonderful prayer; I hope I can meet this woman again sometime, she was so kind. I'm still in shock though...

Oh here's another shock;

So I talked to my mission president on Friday when we had interviews, and I told him that I had not gotten my "Trunky Papers" yet. These papers essentially come when you are 3 and a half transfers before going home. It's just a quick check to see if they'll be sending you home to the right place and seeing when and where your family will meet you. I have been waiting for my papers all transfer, but they hadn't come, and I thought maybe they were just late this transfer. He said he would look into it, so I didn't worry. I did ask him how hard it was to extend a mission and he said it was nearly impossible - even his best missionaries with the best of reasons had not been able to receive an extension. Well I ended up talking to another Elder who is going home the same day I am and he said he already got his papers, so then I thought it was a glitch in the system. I called the mission office a couple days later and she looked up my date and.... I'M GOING HOME APRIL 7th!! They've extended my mission for me! Haha it was like God was just double checking to see if I would be willing to extend, and then when I thought I couldn't, He just went and did it for me.

Do you remember 'A Bug's Life'? Because I don't. All I really remember from that movie are a couple of lyrics from the opening song;

'It's the time of your life, so live it well.
It's the time of your life, so live it well.
It may only go around just one time,
As far as I can tell.
It's the time of your life, so live it well.'

This is my mission life! And I am so blessed to be given more of it! I will only have this one year and a half to devote to the Lord's will. I've been praying to know if I should try to extend my mission, and received my answer by being told to read D&C 58 every day until I received more instruction. It's a wonderful chapter of those D's and C's, but after knowing I got my extension, I was struck by verse 16;

"Behold his mission is given unto him, and it shall not be given again."

This is my mission, and it will not be given again, so I'm going to do my best to make Him proud.

#54 "Once Upon a December"

Thiiiiiis week. This week? This week. What happened this week? I don't remember. Let me grab my planner and check!

Oh yeah! I had another one of those fantastic weeks! I'll just tell you my favorite part though. This week I had the opportunity to do a companion exchange with a certain Sister Ishida. Does she sound familiar? She SHOULD! She was my TRAINER!! 

Back Together with Sister Ishida (Oct. 2014)

It was a wonderful day with her, and I felt like I was a Bean again...except I can speak more Japanese...no that's a lie, I still can't speak Japanese, haha. We switched companions at around lunch, after we went out together, and then we trained back to Inuyama, only to grab some exercise clothes and head out to go work in a member's field for service. We spent the entire train ride out there talking about the wonderful members of Komatsu ward, and all of our crazy and lovely investigators we met out there. We shared inside jokes and phrases we used to say to each other to make us laugh. I absolutely loved working out in the fields of Japan again. I didn't dig ditches again, but I got to pull weeds and to bring in all the vegetables from this summer season. I also came face to face with a spider who's abdomen was about the size of a quarter-sized round super ball. Other than him, I had a blast being back in the dirt again. I loved working on the fields of Komatsu, and being on the fields of Inuyama, with my trainer... It was just wonderful.  

The nights have been getting cooler too, and with the large rainfall from the typhoon that's just come in, I've been reminded over and over again of my days and cold, rainy nights, of my Beanhood in Komatsu. It feels strange knowing that a year ago, I was preparing to come here. Once upon a December, right? It feels strange to know how much I have grown, and changed, since then. But at the same time, I have loved how I've changed, and I'm so grateful I've got a couple more months to grow much more.