2 Months!

Monday, September 30, 2019

こんにちは!

I can't believe it's already been 2 months since I came to 日本. 4 months since I entered the MTC, and it doesn't feel like it's been that long at all.

Spiritual Stuff:

Remember that man I talked about who basically dropped of the face of the planet? Well, he unblocked the 長老たち (chouroutachi= elders) and they got through and have started meeting with him again! He even came to 英会話 (eikaiwa= our free weekly English class). They're really working on helping him forgive himself right now, but he's progressing!

On Friday we went to the next town over to do a sort-of-英会話-sort-of-not英会話 at their town recreational center (or something?), and it basically ended up being just eating dinner (absolutely delicious curry, as usual) and talking to people in English, answering random questions, etc. Once they found out that Ogata姉妹 can play piano, however, they requested she play something for them. Of course, the only music we had on hand was the music app on our tablets that has the hymnbook. So, she played and I sang. I am NOT a soprano, but I think they appreciated the effort. Also, I started singing "I Am a Child of God" in English and halfway through realized I'd forgotten it... Ogata姉妹 started singing along at some point, and I decided to drop to the alto part and we made a nice harmony. At that point, the Spirit started to fill the room. Everyone got really quiet and a few people started taking videos. We finished and they requested two encores lol. Talking to the member who drove us to the 駅 (eki= train station) afterwards, she said that it made everyone feel really warm inside. Yay for giving everyone good feelings about the church!

This week we visited a returning member who was found by the elders last week when they were housing. She told them they could come back, but we went instead! Before heading over, though we decided to stop by a nearby member's house, which just so happened to be the Bishop and his wife's. On our way, we ran into the Bishop's wife coming home from grocery shopping on her bike, and it's a good thing we did, because we'd already passed the turn that leads to their apartment building. We walked her home and helped her carry up her groceries, and then told her why we were in her area. We shared a scripture, told her about the returning member living nearby, and then asked her to pray for her. We specifically asked to pray that she will feel the Spirit, but she went above and beyond. It was the most spirit-filled prayer I've ever heard, and we left with confidence. When we got to the apartment and knocked on the door, it was no surprise that she was actually home and willing to talk!

We talked for about 30 minutes, and invited her to several things, and while she didn't want to go to any of them she was still willing to meet us again this week! We'll be seeing her again on Wednesday with a ward member or 2. The cool thing is, as we were talking to her and asking about her experience with the church, she told us she'd been baptized in the 長老たち's bathtub 20, 30 years ago! That would 100% not happen today in 日本. When we asked her what she like about the church, she said the members, and we agree wholeheartedly. 

There's something special about all church members, but the ones in Odawara have been amazing to us. They're all completely willing to help the missionaries and anyone who's in need for any reason, no matter the time or PLACE. This returning member apparently was helped out a lot in the past, and we're hoping to help her see that the members in Odawara still love her and are still willing to help her out!

Daily Life/Fun Stories:

Last time we met with one of the people we teach, a mom of three energetic kids aged 7-11, we invited her to 英会話 but she messaged us the day before and said she didn't know if she'd be able to come, even though she really wanted to come. We completely understood because we know how much stress she is under right now. The next day, about 20 minutes into 英会話, she walked in with all three of her kids! We were super surprised and super happy. She and the kids all had a great time, especially when we played ping pong afterwards. Also, we found out that the day before had been the oldest kid's birthday, and we just happened to have brownies from our Relief Society President on hand, so we were able to sing Happy Birthday and give her one! Also, for those who aren't aware, they just sing the English Happy Birthday song here. In English. With a very cute Japanese accent.

Last P-Day we went to a member's house for lunch, which wouldn't have been that unusual, except she is Filipino. And was expecting the 長老たち too (they didn't come). And likes to cook... There was a Lot of food. (See pics). All of it delicious. Needless to say we did not finish it all.

Tuesday was splits with the STL's! (STL= Sister Training Leader). I and my companion for the day went streeting at a nearby (sort of) 大学 (daigaku= college), which was both super fun and also the weirdest experience. It was fun because we brought a board with stickers and asked people to put stickers under what was most important to them (family, money, friends, god, etc), and because it was in English and because they're 大学生 (daigakusei= college students) they actually stopped and talked to us! We were able to have a lot of really good conversations. It was the weirdest experience, though, because Odawara is basically all old people so seeing people my age, and a lot of them, was very surreal. But very fun! I even met a girl wearing a claddagh ring so we talked about it and she apparently studied abroad in Ireland. Her friends were like, "it's that famous?!"

We had to wait 20 minutes for a train on Saturday, so we sat down. At some point a group of 4 elderly siblings came along, so we gave up our seats so they could sit together. They ended up giving us Japanese sweets (though they're apparently not actually sweet), and we're so cute and nice. They waved us off when our train left.

Saturday morning as we were planning out our day, we got a call saying that we would be helping out the same people with the rice fields we helped out 2 weeks ago. Yes, that's right. We harvested rice again. This time we finished clearing out the dried rice from the previous field and then headed over to another field and started chopping (see pics). This other field was fortunately much more dried out, but unfortunately it still had just as many bugs. The frogs were cute, though.

I filled up my second journal the other day. The first one I filled all but the last 3 lines with my stay at the MTC, and the second one was my first 2 months in 日本. I'm probably going to have 10 full journals by the time I go home lol.

Just weighed myself for the first time in about 4 months... I've gained 10-15 pounds lol. I blame the MTC's not great quality food, the fact that I actually eat breakfast, and Ogata姉妹's way-too-delicious cooking. Probably won't stop gaining unless I give up a lot of delicious food, which probably isn't going to happen. I mean, we could always skip the train and bike everywhere but... Who wants to bike when you can ride the train?

New Foods:

-udon gyoza (highly recommend for if you want that gyoza taste but don't have any on hand)

-melon bread (no, it doesn't taste like melon. I have no idea why it's called that)

-cod roe spaghetti

-Hamburg steak (basically Japanese meatloaf, but better)

About the Pictures:

• Love that I get to see this view every day.
• Went back to see more views from the top of Odawara Castle!
• Went for sushi during splits
• At that member's house for lunch. You can't see the 2 full trays of brownies she also made... This is all for three people...
• More rice harvesting pics!

愛してます!

-スナ一姉妹