Transfers!

I got transferred to Chiba Ward, my companion is Sister Nagamine from Okinawa (I keep getting Okinawajin and it's great! My Japanese is going to be so Nihonjin-poi!) and we're white washing the area!!! So I got here on Monday, and we didn't have a phone or computer so we were roughin' it big time!  We already have an investigator, and she's getting baptized on the 7th!  Her name's Catherine and she's a referral from the Filipines. We taught her yesterday about living prophets and the ten commandments, she's so excited to be baptized!  I'm excited to have a baptism :)  We also met a girl on the train who we're going to try to have dinner with, hoping to have another investigator soon.  Since we're white-washing the area we need to do a lot of finding.  Luckily this is my companion's fourth white area.  So I'm in good hands. 

My last week in Abiko was really great, we found 7 new investigators!  From Eikaiwa and referrals.  The Abiko sisters are going to have a lot of teaching and I've learned a lot about finding investigators this past week, which is great.  I needed to see some finding miracles to know that I can open up a new area and be a successful missionary!  

I still need to move in my things, we've been cleaning all day...our apartment's full of old sister missionary junk.  It's super fun going through it all.  (I actually do kind of enjoy it.) I want to make my apartment so cute! It has so much potential! 

Last Post Of Transfer ONE!

Well I'm growing up, I'm almost a transfer two missionary!!!

Wednesday mornings we do a district Kubari, so we all get together at the Kashiwa train station/shopping center and hand out Eikaiwa flyers.  I met a girl named Mari, a Jehovah's Witness, and she was soooo sweet.  She even gave me candy AND her email address!!!  So we're going to keep in touch, and maybe teach a Jdub! :) 

At Eikaiwa there's a student who has a really big crush on me, and he says he loves me and runs away almost every week.  I usually just smile and ignore the fact he's saying anything. But this past week he just came up and tried to hug me out of nowhere!  I panicked! I didn't realize that in such a short time a hug from a male would be so scary! (he's like 20...by the way) Here's to hoping I won't be completely socially awkward when I come home.

Also I had cold-stone ice cream and a turkey sandwich on wheat bread.  I felt SO at home, it was great.  They don't sell turkey here at all...so I haven't been able to get my daily sandwich fix in for a while.

So here's something interesting about Japan:  We had zone meeting in Matsudo on thursday (about half an hour by train) and as we're stopped and people are getting on the train this punk guy gets on and accidentally gets his foot caught in some nerdy guy's bag and he starts kicking it around like a punk.  (you know the type).  Anyway the punk sits down next to the other man and the other man says something to him under his breath (probably like, what a jerk thanks for kicking my bag around the train...atually we're in Japan, so he probably apologized) I was nervous that the punk was gonna start chewing the nerdy guy out or something because the punk bumps his shoulder like "excuse me, what did you just say"! But then they're all the sudden friends and the punk is slapping the nerd's knee and sharing his mints.  Even when the punk's getting off, he pretty much trips out of the train because he's waving goodbye to his new pal. I was so confused. I wish I could have recorded it, it was so interesting.  Japan has no garbage, and no violence, and everyone's so friendly!  At least that's what it seems like! 

I did however get my helmet STOLEN yesterday, so Japan's not perfect I guess. 

Today I spent the morning in Tokyo and got to do a temple session. :) It was great, but sad because that was our LAST temple day as a mission before the split so we got a picture of the whole Tokyo Mission! 

The Power of A Principle: Just Gotta Be Toughness and More Cool

Welll hellooooo!   This week was a roller-caoster week at its finest.  Junko san and her daughter Ann chan said they would be baptised on Monday!  We had the date set for the 23rd of June and we were so excited!  Since then they've completely dropped us.  Junko has decided that our relationship is over and she doesn't need the church to be happy.  It was ironic timing.  We had a 3 zone conference and just as Budge Kaicho was asking how our investigators are doing and we're about to announce we have a baptismal date set, she sends us a text saying she doesn't want to meet anymore. :( I cried.  It's still so sad to think about it. So we've been working really hard to find new investigators. 

Sunday we had lunch at a member's home and they invited three friends over (and to church) they all have BOMs and we're seeing them again!  They're so cute, I can't remember their names but they're trendy girls in their 20s and were really interested in our message!  They're not in Abiko area, so we'll have to give them up eventually. But it's still good to have some investigators if even for a day.

In Japan some clothes have English writing on them, however the majority of them make NO SENSE AT ALL.  You'll see...also the title of this email is a good example.

 

Also today, we spent the majority of our afternoon at the doctor because Jack Shimai couldn't hear out of her left ear.  The doctor said it was clogged up with earwax. They pulled some random American man out of somewhere to be a translator and the doctor spoke pretty good English anyway.  She really did have a ton of earwax in there!  They pulled it out and she could hear again! TWas a Christmas miracle! 

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH!!!!! Ganbatte imasu! Invite Invite Invite!!!

Find Invite Teach!

Tuesday was wild!  Jack Shimai and I, two little beans, were left on our own while Sister Toyosato went on companion exchanges.  We were surprised at the end of the day that we were able to manage the train and bus, teach three lessons, and finish our planning by 9:30 all by ourselves!  Our first lesson was with Junko Shimai! We're doing English lessons with her and teacher her the lessons.  We spent most of our time trying to explain the difference between rice and lice.  The R sound is very difficult for Japanese people, I hear it every day.  I know the R sound is difficult because every time high school boys walk past us they giggle and yell "HERROOO!" It was really funny trying to explain how to say rice, we'd tell Junko san to make a lion noise and say rrrrrice, so she'd growl "rrrrrr-lice". We taught her about the Atonement and said she feels our prayers even though she couldn't really understand us. haha, oops.  Takako san was a lot more difficult to teach, she thinks these weird hyroglyphics are God's word and she feels so excited when she writes them...and it's frustrating because she's so closed off to our message and to the spirit.  It's sad, she used to have a baptism date and she was progressing really well, until she discovered how fun it is to draw hyroglyphics on her body.  It was a frustrating lesson to say the least. Someya san was our third lesson, she's a wonderful human being, she's the one who climbs trees and montains and dances.  She loves when we visit her, once upon a time we gave her a Book of Mormon, but she thinks the police came into her house and took it.  She won't accept another book, because she thinks they'll just take it again.  So every time we go over to her house we call up to her window "Someya san!!! Konnichiwa!" She pokes her little head out the window comes down, and we share a scripture with her.  She has a lot of faith and I think she enjoys the little bit of upliftment we bring with us. I just wish the police would give her Book of Mormon back.

NIHON NI IKIMASU!

I'M GOING TO JAPAN!  ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW!   We got our travel plans today, and we're leaving a week before we thought! MTC time just went from 9 weeks to 8 for my group of daisenpai and we're so excited!  Apparently our mission president needs missionaries a little earlier than the MTC was thinking.  I'm super nervous because sometimes I KNOW I'm not ready, other times I'm super excited because I KNOW that God KNOWS I'm ready enough.  It's kowaii for sure, and I just need to embrace it. 

 

So we get to the salt lake airport by noon on May 8th (next wedesday) and fly to San Fransisco at 2:00, from there I'll have a 4 hour layover and I get to CALL HOME!!!!  I already bought a phone card and I still know our phone number...so we'll just have a good ole time talking on the phone while I'm hanging in SanFran for the first time ever.  My whole district (minus 2-going to Sendai) will be on the same flights (both to California, and Tokyo) and that's super great because for the last few days we were thinking we'd all be split up and that was bumming us out a bit.  I'm so excited!  WAKU WAKU!  It's weird to think I'll be leaving one week fromtomorrow morning, but I won't be in Japan until one week from Thursday night...it's gonna be a long trip.

 

 

On Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting! In Nihongo!  The way talks work here at the MTC are probably really good prep for the mission field, because no one tells you beforehand when you're getting up to give a talk, you just have to be prepared.  Luckily I was super prepared and rocked that talk even though I couldn't breathe through half of it.  My talk was on faith and I read these scriptures because they're super great: Helaman 5:12, Alma 37:6-7, and Alma 32: 21. I encourage everyone who reads this to get a hold of a Morumon Sho and read these verses! :)Subarashi ne!  

 

Funny thing happened the other night probably around 2am, I guess I talk in my sleep, and Jensen Shimai woke up in the middle of the night and heard me say "kikinasai" which is JAPANESE! Hey minasan, Bagley Shimai's fluent in Japanese without even knowing it! Kikinasai is the command form of listen if anyone's curious... I practice Japanese confrontation in my sleep.

 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!! 

 

MINASAN, AI SHITE IMASU! 

 

I'm SO close!

I feel like I just got here a few days ago, but I'm seriously so close to leaving!  It's ridiculous how fast time has flown here at the MTC. 

We finally got to hear from an apostle this week!  Richard G Scott came and spoke to us and he gave me soooo much confidence in learning the language. He gave an apostolic blessing to the whole MTC that we will be able to learn our language to perfection and that we shouldn't worry because the Lord is on our side!  It was an amazing experience hearing from an Apostle of the Lord! 

So this was our Tuesday devotional...so exactly a week ago. Feels like 2 days ago...In our Sunday devotional we were privileged to hear the BYU Men's choir perform and at first I was noticing the 2 guys with beards...and then Elder Sisneros came out of the choir and spoke to us about life and missionary work and I was so happy!  I love Elder Sisneros and it was awesome that I got to hear him speak for a few minutes at the MTC! 

I guess one last thing I could throw in is that the MTC does exercise classes at 6 am for 30 minutes and I actually was able to get up early one day this week to do a yoga class for half an hour....I'm never doing it again, but it was really great for people who enjoy mornings.  Sleep is too valuable.  Don't mind me if when I get home I just hybernate for 2 days straight. haha 

Pictures from the MTC!

Found Sarah!

Grandparents with Madi at the temple!

Axel from the Ann Arbor Stake!

The district!