Snarr-shimai

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Earthquake and one of the Seventy?

Monday, November 25, 2019

こんにちは!

Yes, the 2 things mentioned in the subject line were actually part of this past week. Also, I can't believe next week is already transfers again...

Spiritual Stuff:

This past week we've been doing a Lot of visiting of inactive members and former people with interest/people who were taught. Unfortunately, it's really hard to find the right place in 日本 (nihon= Japan) when you just have the address. Or a point on a map in area book that's usually totally Wrong. And if you do find it, the wrong name is in the mailbox. Or they don't answer. Anyways, usually there isn't much success. One day we decided to try and visit our relief society president's daughter, who hasn't come to church in years and who we've tried to visit multiple times in all the time I've been here withour the door opening once (even though we can hear them inside). This time as we walked up, the door was cracked open. We knocked, and she pushed the door open from where she was crouched putting on her 2 year old son's shoes. They were about to go for a walk, and she do nice. And her son was adorable. We were able to invite them to an upcoming event, and we hope they'll come!

We went to visit a former long-time 英会話 (eikaiwa= English class), who Ogata姉妹 had met, but who never responded to messages in the time since I'd been in Odawara. We rang the interphone, and we're about to leave when she answered. We introduced ourselves and invited her to this week's 英会話 Thanksgiving party, and she said she'll come! She ended up coming out and giving us some food. So nice and adorable. We can't wait to get to know her more!

Daily Life/Fun Stories:

On Tuesday we had our interviews, which included a training on the new hand-I mean, Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ, and also Costco muffins. And we got sheet music from Sister Esplin! We'll be performing in a Christmas cincert next month. Also, we were able to use the music for our distrcit blitz on Saturday. And yes, it was Christmas music. If you're wondering why so early, just know that the missionaries here have been talking about Christmas and what we'll do in December since Halloween. Thankfully nobody in 日本 knows about the after Thanksgiving "rule"...

We had a great time playing our instruments (me on clarinet, Takatori姉妹 on bass clarinet, and an elder in our district on flute), singing (the sisters in our district plus the STLs), and passing out flyers and tickets for our stake's Christmas concert (that we're not actually playing at lol). Despite the strong wind that threatened to blow our music away.

At one point in the evening, as we were getting ready to play another song, a man walked by. With a bunny on his shoulder. Just casually sitting up there. He had what looked like a carrying case on his back, which I can only assume he used while he was riding the 電車 (densha= train). He also had a little handbag thing he could put it in and carry around with its head poking out. It was the cutest thing ever.

On Wednesday morning, I woke up around 5:30am to my bed moving side to side... Thing is, I'm on a mattress on the floor. Which means the floor was moving. Which means 地震 (jishin= earthquake). It was the first time I'd noticed one, though there were at least 2 before now that I totally didn't notice at all when my companion and others did. Very strange experience.

On Saturday we and the 長老たち were asked to help the busy member in charge of cleaning the church by cleaning and setting up the chapel. But, we're missionaries, so of course we went and cleaned the whole church. She was so grateful, and it was so worth it to take that time out of our day to serve her.

On Sunday we got to the church a bit early for our DCS (what we call our correlation meeting), which was when we saw the message in the branch group chat... Elder Wada of the Seventy would be coming to our branch today for church. As in the same Elder Wada who had toured our mission, and who spoke in the spring general conference. Apparently he's friends with a couple in our branch, and they invited him. He came to our DCS, and spoke in sacrament meeting. He's so funny. And powerful. A great combination in a leader.

New Foods:

-takoyaki. A classic. I've officially decided that octopus is superior to squid.

-party ice cream flavor KitKat. Tasted like that birthday cake everyone is obsessed with as kids.

-tonjiru

-gobou

-taro in food form

-umeboshi

About the Pictures:

I don't believe I've actually sent a picture of me in my rain suit before... We'll here you go. You can very obviously tell I got an M size on accident...
Blitz!
Bunny!
Love takoyaki
The orange farm that was definitely NOT the house of an inactive member...

愛してます!

-スナ一姉妹

More Pics!

Monday, November 11, 2019

You could see the fog moving a couple feet in front of you at several points during the day, but it cleared up for a bit of view towards the end.

Gyoza are Scary

Monday, November 18, 2019

こんにちは!

Not all gyoza are scary, just the ones we ate yesterday... Keep reading to find out why!

Spiritual Stuff:

Yesterday as part of what we did (read below for full story), we all came up with a way to connect gyoza to the gospel/teaching it. The analogy that Takatori姉妹 and I came up with is one we actually kind of like. When first looking at the gospel/Book of Mormon, just as when first looking at the scary gyoza, you have no idea what it's going to be like, if it's going to be uplifting and delicious or terrible. But you have to take a bite, take a step forward, and actually do something to find out. And even though there may some weird things inside, you'll find that it's actually not that bad. And maybe you actually like it. But that first step is vital. Without it, you'll never know. You'll miss out on experiences that could add so much color to your life.

Daily Life/Fun Stories:

Last Tuesday we went to a member's house for lunch and a message, and they surprised us by handing us a bag and scissors and pointing us in the direction of their みかん tree (mikan= mandarin orange). They told us to take as much as we liked. I definitely would not be able to pick oranges in New York in November lol. We didn't take that many because we've been getting so many from various people over the last couple weeks. We can't eat fast enough to keep up.

Last week we did a 配り会 (kubari kai) at the 駅 (eki= train station), which basically means we stood around trying to hand everyone that passed by flyers, talking about our free 英会話 (eikaiwa=English class). When we met up with the 長老達 (chouroutachi= elders) afterwards, we were surprised when a 16 year old boy came up to us and literally said, "I have interest." We were so surprised. Long story short, he came to 英会話 and is officially our newest and by far the youngest student. He's super nice, too.

The STLs brought chocolate chip banana bread to our district meeting when they came last week, and we brought the vanilla ice cream. I can't believe I've never eaten them together. Cookie, yes. Brownie, yes. Banana bread? It was a first. And absolutely delicious. Highly recommend.

Last week we got permission to use time to take the clarinet to get fixed, so we did! It was a super fast and easy fix that made it so much easier to play and made the sound much better. And, to our surprise, the man who fixed it refused to take our money. It was such a quick fix, and the overall condition is apparently so terrible, that he refused to take any of our money unless we wanted to leave the clarinet for a complete fix. So happy to have the main issue fixed, though.

For the past couple of days, a praying mantis has been hanging out on the door handle of the church. And for some reason, the 長老達 (chouroutachi= elders) cannot bring themselves to even touch the other parts of the handle. To the extent that they'll try kicking the door to get it off. Which didn't work, obviously. We ended up having to let them in several times.

Praying mantis

Yesterday was stake conference, and it was kind of a surreal experience because while Odawara branch is very different from Brockport ward (building and size-wise), Fujisawa stake conference was so similar in so many ways it was kinda weird. But fun. Because it was in 日本語 (nihongo= japanese language). Although it was even weirder when a woman gave a talk in Spanish, trading off with an interpreter, because I got to hear 2 languages I've studied side by side. Made even weirder but the fact that I understood more of the 日本語 than the Español...

Last night we were invited to a members house for a gyoza party, as were the families that had kids (aka 3 families). It was all fun and games until they let us know that some fo the gyoza had some... Interesting ingredients... I was the first to fall victim, as I bit into a gyoza that had both normal filling and a piece of orange. Very strange flavor. More victims soon popped up as gyoza with Tabasco, mustard, orange/orange peel, and other weird flavors came up. It got to the point where everyone was carefully checking the gyoza before they took it, trying to determine if it was 安全 (anzen= safe) because the worst had yet to appear... いなご (grasshopper). I checked a gyoza and it appeared safe so I bit into it... Only to stop short as my teeth met resistance. I looked at it more carefully and then dug around with my chopsticks... To the horror of everyone around me, the leg popped out. I placed it on Wilcox長老's plate (because I was NOT going to eat that) and he actually ate it. It apparently wasn't too bad. A few minutes later he got the other one too, but he passed it on to his poor companion who managed to eat it. Somehow.

New Foods:

-soy sauce potato chips

-nabe (Japanese stew)

-manjuu

-anpan (bread filled with sweet red bean paste)

-chestnut rice

-grapes

-weird gyoza

About the Pictures:

Some more pics from last pday!
Went out for monjayaki. Love places where you can make it yourself.
One night after we got back we had some fun with our hair and LINE filters
The praying mantis (it had moved off the handle by the time I got a picture)

愛してます!

-スナ一姉妹

100 Days in 日本!

Monday, November 11, 2019

こんにちは!

I can't believe this past week marked 100 days I've been in 日本, as well as 100 days in Odawara. Love this place!

Spiritual Stuff:

Yesterday was the primary program, in which all 3 of Odawara's primary kids sang and bore their short but sweet testimonies. It was both absolutely adorable and uplifting as I got to hear the 日本語 (nihongo= japanese language) versions of primary songs I know and love. One of my favorites is the song "A Child's Prayer," which Takatori姉妹 and I actually took a video of us singing. But it was in 日本語, so here's the English:

〜〜〜〜〜

Heavenly Father,

Are you really there?

And do you hear and answer every child's prayer?

Some say that heaven is far away,

But I feel it close around me as I pray.

Heavenly Father,

I remember now

Something that Jesus told disciples long ago:

"Suffer the children to come to me."

Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee.

Pray, he is there;

Speak, he is listening.

You are his child;

His love now surrounds you.

He hears your prayer;

He loves the children.

Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.

〜〜〜〜〜

Daily Life/Fun Stories:

This past week we did a LOT of housing (tracting), and met some really... Interesting people. For example, there was the man who owns at least 10 different copies of the Bible, all different editions and translations. And he got very excited showing them to us and explaining their differences. And that is only one example of some people we met in this last week.

We got invited over to a member's house for lunch one day, and after eating and sharing a spiritual message, the wife took us upstairs where she proceeded to work on Takatori姉妹's shoulder, which has been hurting for a while. And when I say "work on," I mean she used a mixture of massage and something called 恩灸, or moxa cautery. Basically what that means is she burns incense that's stuck in a metal tube and then caps it with more metal, which makes the metal heat up, and then she rubs it all over you. She did some of my hands and arms and it felt nice. She apparently wants to take the time to do a full-body session on both of us at some point, which we would not mind in the slightest.

The weather has actually started to get chilly, and it was cold enough to wear a jacket when we went housing the last two nights. Soon it'll be time to pull out the fleece-lined tights and leggings...

Ok, we had the funniest (to us) and most unexpected experience the other day. We were doing our morning studies when we heard a "ping-pong" that marked that someone as at the door. When we checked the camera, there were two women standing there. When we answered the intercom, they started saying some things that sounded awfully familiar, but a bit different... They turned out to be Jehovah's Witnesses. It was super weird to be on the other end for once, but so funny. We couldn't believe that we'd just gotten housed by Jehovah's Witnesses. In 日本.

Today for P-Day day we hiked 大山 (ooyama= Mt. Oyama) as a zone. President and Sister Esplin came along with 2 of the office 長老たち (chouroutachi= elders). We only hiked up to the shrine because of time and the fact that it started to rain, but it was gorgeous. See below for pictures! Also, the Esplins brought the clarinet with them, so after we take it to get fixed I get to play it for people!

New Foods:

-dried curry-flavored fish snack

-tofu ice cream (literally just tastes like you're eating tofu)

-sesame seed ice cream (same with the tofu, but sesame seed)

-the best fried rice I've ever eaten, made by the Great Takatori姉妹

About the Pictures:

Out for sushi during splits with the STLs
The sushi special the STLs ordered and tried (I did not. Maybe some day.). And yes, those are whole tiny squid.
Love finding cool water spouts you can drink from. We all filled our water bottles.
This was the most japanese place I've ever been to

愛してます!

-スナ一姉妹