Fear not, father, I am still absolutely the happiest missionary in the world.

3/9

Fear not, father, I am still absolutely the happiest missionary in the world. The nihongo is doing well. I've been getting better at expressing myself. My goal is to be functional before the end of the transfer.

Right now, I'm in Ether, and I find it so interesting that the Lord is so close to the Brother of Jared. I always like thinking about the people the Lord actually walks with before he came to earth. The one I respect the most is Abraham. The Lord had a very, very special relationship with Abraham. He walked with him and truly wanted Abraham to understand all that He did. In Abraham 3, he literally shows Abraham the universe. There is no other prophet recorded that was asked to sacrifice their only son. No other prophet was asked to empathize so deeply with God. I think Abraham was a very special prophet.

And whales are mentioned in Ether. But anyways. (**For those of you who don't know Sydney well, she has a special affinity for whales. :D **) 

We went to Korakuen again this week to see the ume trees bloom. It was free :D It was also very pretty. Not much else was alive, but still.

This week, we didn:t get to see our high-schoolers, but we got to see a different group, who I will refer to as B. Kyoudai and W. Kyoudai. They're so funny. SUPER hazukashii (bashful). They're like *what do I say? I can't speak English to these two foreigners...* and W. Kyoudai:s little brother, who is eight-years-old, brilliant, and ADORABLE, is like *Where are you from? I like collecting beetles.* :D The three of them are so cute. The mom of W. Kyoudai and Little W. Kyoudai is interested in the gospel because she saw how a member's son acted. Some of the best missionary work is the kind where you just ARE a missionary. Let your light so shine, everyone. People notice.

And we should be able to meet our dear high-schoolers and our Christmas gal. The lady from two or so emails ago is busy :/ Like, legitimately busy (not the avoiding us busy--we've seen both). We'll need to engage in some serious prayer to find out how and when to visit her.

 But God's will be done, not mine. Life. It's exciting.

Oh, also, the 10-year-old senmin and her sister love me. :DD I adore them. I adore them so much. Please pray for their parents--the 10-year-old really wants to hear the gospel.

But anyways.

LOVE,

Sanzu Shimai