There are some universally regarded truths in this world--such as stealing and lying are bad

*July 27

Monday, we went to the towel factory, and I got three new towels.
Handtowel collection: 14. In Imabari, you have to be careful, though.
If you leave couple towels in the same container for too long, you
come back and there's five where there were once two. We also went to
a LA's daughter's gelato place. That was fun. Nothing scheduled, but
she was nice.

Tuesday, we went to an LA's home in Hakatajima, one of the islands off
of Imabari that's still technically considered Imabari. We came in
full kusatori gear, ready to rid her yard of its formidable weeds, but
as we pulled up, the 80something-year-old landlady was pulling out
with her truck. She had been working in the yard for the past 4 hours,
spraying and pruning and whatnot. She left us in the dust, with our
daiso gloves and Helping Hands vests.

Gaijin.

However, because she totally wasn't expecting us to come over, she was
all a-fluster and invited us in and woke her daughter (another LA,
highschooler) up. We talked and taught her a quick lesson, then
invited her to hang out with us at one of the Oomishima museums. She
agreed (she's super cute, by the way) and gave us a closing prayer. In
it, she asked that she would be able to come to church soon. :D

The SGG group took us to the Imabari jou (castle) and told us the stories in
its walls. Two of my previous companions went to the castle and had
little to no fun. But they didn't have an SGG group and P. shimai.
I don't know if I want to go to a museum without her from here on
out--she asks all these awesome questions that lead to some pretty
fantastic stories. I'll record the retelling of them on my camera. At
the end of it all, we were leaving, and then the guy at the desk ran
out.

Man: Ah, wait! Do the young ladies want to wear the kaba?
SGG: *turns to us* Do you want to wear the samurai helmet?
Us: :B

Yes. We wanted to wear the samurai helmet. And so we did. It was
pretty heavy, and it was wide, probably to accommodate the rest of the
armor. I was a little worried it would slide off, but things worked
out okay. ;D Afterwards, the SGG members treated us to waffles at this
cute place across the street. As we ate, everyone but three people
left. And so began the lesson. We learned a lot about shintoism. We
began by asking them whether or not in Shintoism gods lie. They said
no. We asked if they knew everything. They said no again, which was a
little surprising. Apparently, before the Christians came, gods lived
on the tops of hills, and everywhere their eyes could see, they
protected. It wasn't until the Christians came and introduced the idea
of living in heaven that the Shinto gods changed locales. But they
still don't know everything.

The reason we asked is because we believe that our God knows
everything and does not lie, so all truth comes from God. We can trust
him. Truth is constant, unchanging. Regardless of who you are, where
you come from, or what you've done, there is truth in this world, and
all truth comes from God.

Then we posed this scenario: If you were blind, and someone told you
that there is a sun, would you believe them? 

SGG: If it were someone I trusted. 

Us: Okay. What if the person who told you was blind?

Our dear SGG member, the same who stopped the others from praying,
said that we cannot possibly know. No one can know. P. shimai then
pointed out something that made me think--there are some universally
regarded truths in this world--such as stealing and lying are bad.
Everyone in the world all seems to know that those things are bad,
even from a young age. She continued by saying that she believes that
we all have an innate ability to recognize a lot of truth.

We concluded by asking: What if the person who told you also said they
knew because they could see? However, you don't know because you're
blind. What would that person have to do to make you believe?

That one was a very interesting lesson, because we only said two to
four sentences that did not end with a question mark. Later that day,
we got cake at Imabari's best cake shop, and struck up a
conversation with the lady at the register. She knows one of our more
elusive LA's, and showed us a picture of her adorable grandchild. We
talked for a good long while, and as we got to know the whole family,
the daughter brought out a bag. You know how the bakeries have odds
and ends of bread that need to be gotten rid of at the end of the day?
They had given us the same thing, but it was a roll cake instead.
Like, the cut equivalent of an entire roll cake. And in Japan, where
cake is super expensive, that runs anywhere from 15-25 dollars. This
was a big deal. :D The daughter came to eikaiwa (English class) on Wednesday.

Wednesday, we dropped a note off at our dendo shuni's just thanking
him for his hard work. Found a pretty cool caterpillar that we have
dubbed the swagapillar. At eikaiwa, W. shimai gave us some very
delicious curry.

Thursday, we met with a good number of our people and ate dinner at
the branch president's. :) We're really lucky to be in such a good
branch. (Btw, we've been eating curry for the past week. :| Probably
my most unhealthy time in my mission. We decided to do a no-curry day
to purge our bodies, then when we went to the branch president's
place, they took out dinner and P. shimai gave me this look. Super
funny. PS: It's curry. It was hayashi rice, but they look and taste
very similar.)

Friday. Friday, we went to District Meeting, where I delivered a short
message about the iPads. Then we returned home to begin SKK (weekly planning). 

Soon into the endeavor, we get this text asking if we can do service for the
member who took us to the towel factory and got us the sushi set. We
said okay, and as I was thinking "We need to tell her not to feed--"
Next text: By the way, my mom's making food for you guys.

Guess what it was? Octopus curry. But it was good. Spicy, but good.

Then she took us to the matsuri that was going on next door. They did
a bon odori dance. For any of you who are like me and do NOT know what
that means, it's like the Japanese version of a congo-line. Except you
dance to different music and don't hold onto each other's shoulders.
It was really fun, but we were like, "What... are we doing?" The
member: :3 *waves us into the congo line* After the excitement, we
were asked to take a picture with a cute little girl whom we didn't
know. Us: *pose with our badges out*

Next was the Mochi Nage. 

The Mochi Nage literally means mochi throw. A group of

people stand on a large, hastily-constructed colorful tower and throw
candy and bags of mochi off the top. P. shimai took a bag to the
face, but was otherwise unharmed. I gave some of the loot to a couple
of familiar toddlers behind me. Turns out they were our kodomo eikaiwa
students! And I remembered their names! Bonus points!

Super fun. That was super fun.

Then we finally had the gyoza party, which I'm pretty sure my
companion has gone over in detail, so I'll close up here and send an
email to the mission president.

Love you all! *does a quick little macarena/bon odori mix dance*
Sanzu shimai

And we got more cake to celebrate

*July 20

This week, we found the cake shop. THE cake shop. Cake is pretty serious business, too. But before that:

Monday: We milled around and went to Hatada's, a fairly cheap cake shop. Decent. That night, I got a call from our District Leader.

M. chourou: So, I'll show you the pictures tomorrow.

Me: ?? What's happening tomorrow?

MC: Zone Conference.

Me: :) ?? Zone... zone conference?

MC: ...Yeah.

Me: :) ... ... *cries silently and cancels appointments* But it's okay! Because we'll be touring the Imabari jou tomorrow with the SGG group like we had planned to tomorrow :D

Tuesday: Zone Conference! We got to hear our lovely mission president and wife speak. Then I showed C. shimai how to make hijiki. (sea kelp, soybeans, carrots, and some kind of fried tofu whose kanji I cannot read) We taught an awesome lesson before that.

Wednesday, we went and taught a bunch of people, and that was really fun.

Thursday, we had karaage (fried chicken) from Imabari's best fried chicken place (we think) with our Panamajin. Taught a pretty darn powerful lesson. I do want him to understand that, regardless of his beliefs, we'll stay friends with him, though. I hope that's not something he's worried about. Ate inside because a typhoon was moving in.

Friday, the typhoon was disappointing, but our gyoza party was cancelled. No people flying around or whatever else I may have expected a typhoon to be like, but we still stayed inside for a while and did SKK. BUT! We did eventually go out and teach. And we saw the BBQ family! 3/4 of them anyways. They were eating dinner, so we had to leave fairly quickly, but I'm glad we got to see their faces.

There's also a twelve-year-old who I was 90% certain just liked F. shimai. But we kept visiting because she hadn't outright shot us down. Anywho, we met her today (I think her mom likes us. Probably) and talked to her. We brought the salt dough we made last transfer for the BBQ family and played with it as we taught her a lesson. She was really into it. At the end, per usual, we asked her to pray. We always hope, but she usually looks away for like, five minutes and then turns us down. This time, she prayed.

And we got more cake to celebrate :D

Saturday, we were finishing up our weekly planning in the church, and then the W.s came in.

Us: :D?

Them: Hi, mind if we use this room to teach in right now?

Us: Sure.

We ended up sticking around with them and shared our stories about pioneers (olden and modern-day). Our student, at the end, got a call from her daughter. “ Oh, btw, it's my daughter's b-day.”

Us: *clicking on our helmets before she's finished speaking* *ride off*

So we got cake and brought the salt dough. Turns out the kid's nieces and nephews were over, and so we all ate the three pieces of cake together and played with the salt dough. Brought me back to my nursery days.

Youngest (about 2 yr old) “Sit down. Sit down.”

Me: *Squats down*

Her: *takes my glasses, puts them back on my face, repeats this process perhaps 10 times* *sticks red salt dough on my forehead*

2nd youngest: *takes glasses*

Youngest: “No! I'm doing it!”

Me: :) ...

Long story short, I'm now wearing my spare. But don't worry--I've bent the frame back and only the plastic pieces of the nose rest are missing, so it's an easy fix. Probably.

Sunday, there was more magic. That same woman with the birthday daughter came to church for the first time since...December? :D Then we went with O. shimai and visited someone I've never met before. It went well and we have an appointment on Friday :D Then we went and taught an elderly lady with another member and visited our beloved church member who hasn't shown up for the last three weeks. All of them were good appointments. I'm glad we did them.

I love you all! Go find and love that person who hasn’t been to church for awhile! They're wonderful and just waiting for a hand to get back on track.

Best of love,

Sanzu

"By this shall men know ye are my disciples--if ye have love one to another."

*July 13

Ah, weeding. Thank you weeding, for bringing us closer to less-actives and members alike. Thank you rainy season, for keeping the weather cool. Thank you kanji-covered airconditioner remote, for making a climate-controlled apartment that much more satisfying (it's a self-justifying aircon. If you can work it, you deserve to be cool).

Here's more of Sanzu shimai's missionary-appropriofying of secular music. This one is to the tune of "Joy to the World (Jeremiah was a Bullfrog)" (by the way, for all who don't know, bullfrogs sound something like alien spaceship generators. Something like "WHOO-OMP. WHOO-OMP.")

"Isaiah was a prophet

Born before my time.

I don't understand a word he says,

but I read him line by line

'Cause he says

(Chorus)

Joy to the world

All the boys and girls.

Joy to believers 'cause salvation's free.

I said joy to you and me.

If I was the king of the world,

Tell you what I'd do--

I'd sell all I own for the truth that I know

And preach the gospel to you.

And we'll sing

(Chorus) (Fade out)"

But anywho. This week.

This week was really not terribly exciting. We did a lot of walking because I lost my bike key, but I think that was divine guidance from God, because frankly I needed a new lock. The one attached to my noble steed was in a sad state of decay. The new lock was bought, and we once again shoved off into the normal swing of things.

Tuesday, we met the SGG members, who are all getting steadily more open to the idea of repenting as they've begun to understand that you can repent about literally anything. Since repenting is really just becoming a better person, everyone's super excited to share what they have learned/read/did recently that has made them a better/happier person :D 

Wednesday, we met T. again :D He's the kid we met last week doing service for someone whose weeds we always pull. He's so funny. He reminds me a lot of Slade age-wise, but he's very mature and really respects his dad. That's really cool. We also found a delicious karaage place nearby.

Thursday, we did a lot of kusatori (weed-pulling) again because we were trying to meet with one of the sons from that family. He's the really really cool one who followed up on himself the second time we met with him. We couldn't, but we got the front of her store looking pretty nice, which is a satisfying accomplishment. Apparently, the ward members have seen us pulling her weeds. :) Next step is to get them to come pull weeds with us. :D Service service everywhere! P. shimai and I are also becoming ice cream connosieurs, because we basically have begun getting a bar of ice cream/popsicle every time we finish weeding. It's delicious.

Friday, the W.s went to the temple to see one of our young men one step closer to his mission, so we went to Indo-curry in Matsuyama before taking a bus home. That was exciting. The seats in the buses. They recline :D But anyways, we got off before Imabari station to visit a member family, but they were inai, so we decided to walk home. It took a pretty good while, but we made it. Taught a lesson to a person who didn't terribly appreciate it, and then met our favorite older investigator. She's great. Always gives us a banana when we come over, and has recently begun saying "I love you" back to us. :D

Saturday, we did.... Kusatori. :D I like it. It builds character. We also finally figured out how our aircon worked, which was miraculous. Me: ...Here's the kanji for "strong", and here's the one for "wind"... *presses button* *is blasted with warm air* After approximately two hours of trying and giving up, Me: What does this button do? *presses* Aircon: *stops* Us: TT_TT Aircon: *begins again* *blows cold air* Us: :B :DDD *click heels* *happy dance* *collapse in chairs and fan ourselves until the apartment cools down*

So, we've been feeling some serious love recently. Last week, I sat by a sister who I hadn't seen the entire time I was in Imabari. I asked if I could sit by her, and during the entire meeting, she was writing a note. I was like, "Man, I hope she's getting something out of this," but I didn't say anything and did my best to pay attention to what was going on. Afterwards, she gave the note to me. The entire sacrament meeting, she was writing a 3-page note to me, telling me how wonderful it was and how grateful she was that I sat by her. She said that it strengthened her testimony and she really felt God's love. Keep in mind--I didn't say anything to her during the meeting, but it still had such an incredible effect on her.

This week, as we were leaving, another less-active called out "Sisters!" So we stopped and turned around. She had come a few weeks earlier after a long long break from church. Her father always drove her, but he's reached an age and degree of health where that's gotten a little harder for him. So she could take a bus, but it's an hour early, and, of course, costs money. But one of the members drove her several weeks ago. When we met her, she told us, "I'm sorry, my faith's gotten weak. I don't know if I'll come to church next week. But pray for me, okay?" And the next week she came and the week after :) This week, she had the closing prayer at sacrament meeting, and during it she specially thanked Heavenly Father for our existence, and after church, when she called out to us, she ran over and gave us a hug and said, "Thank you shimaitachi! Church is fun for me again!"

The gospel's amazing. Alma's words are so true: By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. I had always attributed that to God bringing things to pass, but these last couple weeks, it's been incredible to see just how much we're able to affect not just the investigators, but the members as well. And we did nothing with these members but sit by them and tell them that we love them and were excited to sit by them again. But I guess that's enough. 

Love. It's not always much, but it's enough.

I love Imabari and I love all of y'all! Have fun doing life in general, and go sit by a new member or a less-active this week. They just need love. That's pretty much what everyone needs. That's the first and second great commandments. Take a word from Christ's book/the hymnal: "By this shall men know ye are my disciples--if ye have love one to another."

Love,

Sanzu

we moved really big bags of dirt

6-29

Tis the season to be weeding. Tralalalalaa la la la la.

Today, I decided to make a rendition of "On My Own" from Les Mis

"On my own,

My companion’s not beside me.

All along

I'd thought that I'd gone slowly.

Evidently, that must not be the case now.

'Cause all I see are bikes and cars and no white telltale helmet..."

It's still a work in progress, but I think it's coming along nicely.

Laaast week,

Tuesday, we had fun at kodomo eikaiwa! Unfortunately, our co- teachers are going on vacation for two months. And there's no one to fill the hole. So we won’t be having it again for awhile and that's really sad, but it's sure to free up our day. After kodomo eikaiwa, we went to one of the SGG members' houses and pulled weeds for her. Then we taught our increasingly amazing recent convert (I LOVE it when recent converts get even more amazing.)

Wednesday, we moved really big bags of dirt for one of our members. That was fun. It was tiring. Then she treated us to lunch.

Us: *large tray of sushi*

Her: *bowl of soba*

Us: ...

Her: ... Oh my gosh, I am so full! I don't even know if I can eat this little bowl of soba!

Us: ... *grabs the check*

Her: Ah! No!

It was... outrageously (maybe not outrageously, but quite) expensive. One of our plates cost as much as three bowls of soba. Geez. Needless to say, we paid her back and ran away before she found the money.

Eikaiwa was really fun. I don't know why they keep coming. I go off on so many tangents. But it's really fun. I have a lot of fun. One of the women told me that I look like her daughter. Haha. I was touched.

Thursday!! We met with one of our favorite guys!!! He. Is amazing. We came in and were like, "Hey, did you read the scriptures we assigned you?"

Him: Sorry, I had tests--

Us: *bracing for the usual "so I didn't have time and didn't read it."*

Him: --so I didn't get to read as much as I wanted to.

Us: ... :)?

Him: *has read a third of the homework* (and we gave him like 3x what we normally give people)

Us: :)? ... :DDDDD

So he's rocking. And his mother, is getting involved with the lessons, too. :D

Saturday, we weeded for a woman who recently started coming back to church. She's super cute and she loves loves loves us. (Mostly my hands and P. shimai's hair.) Then we went and weeded for our SGG member again. Then we ate at Ooshoos :D

Sunday, we saw a woman who I been hoping to see. She couldn't talk long, but we prayed for her and when we were done, she was so touched that she was crying. :D Good feelings. That's what we're here for.

Then we biked around and met again with a guy who was interested in family history.

Him: Do you have it all back to Adam and Eve?

Us: No, not--wait, how do you know Adam and Eve?

Him: Just read some stuff. There are so many Christian churches, but none of them really clicked for me. I've heard a lot of stuff that I think is true, but none of them made me go, "Oh, this religion is true." So, I'm just kind of searching.

Us: ...

So. We have his phone number. Pray for him and the BBQ family and our dear Thursday friend! And that we can help them find what they are searching for!!

That's it for today.

Love you,

Sanzu

The towel museum has 5 floors...

6- 22

Hello everyone. I have lost my keyboard. Not really, but it's batteries are dead, so it is dead to me. I am using dictation. So who knows what kind of mistakes this will make.

Monday, we looked up cake buffets and found one that has excellent reviews. So we went. We saw the word patisserie so we went and saw shaved ice. Everywhere, shaved ice. It was remarkable. I did not know that shaved ice was a cake. So we were startled, but we enjoyed our “cake”. I had mango “cake”. P. shimai had melon “cake”. It was remarkable. The “cake” was very good. Next time we will probably go to a different cake shop.

We pulled weeds three times this week for different people (some we are teaching and some we are not. } It was very fun. We did not bring the gas mask. We should have. It would have been funny. Next, we went to a towel museum with the SGG group (that gets together to practice English). It was very fun, but there were five floors, and the fifth one was the towel museum. We went everywhere except the fifth floor. So we did not actually see the museum. The wonderful SGG members paid for our food there. The lunch came with a beautiful dessert. Mango Jell-O, and strawberry ice cream. When we saw the dessert, P. Shimai looked at me and said, "Look, Sands Shimai! Cake!" Then they bought us towel scarves. We were surprised, and had a hard time choosing colors. I chose a white one, P. Shimai was torn between a blue one and a purple one. As she was deciding, the SGG members began talking about how nice it would be to have two scarves. I turned to P. Shimai, and said, "if you don't choose now, they will buy you both."

In a heartbeat, she chose one. I was very impressed.

Oh, also on Monday, we went to the bike shop. My bike, had fallen over several times in the wind. It was interesting. My bike basket had come entirely off of its welding, and the bottom was separated from the sides. So we finally got it fixed last week.


Other than that, our week was pretty normal. Lots of teaching.  Imabari's doing really well. Pray for us and wish us luck!

Love,
Sands Shimai

Fret not, young padawan. It gets better.

6-15

*****

Due to time constraints, I decided to send you my companion’s email instead :D

Last week on preparation day we were invited by a member to come learn joudou (a martal art using a waist hight staff, used by shrine maids to defend the temple (usually from rouge samurai)). It was a lot of fun. It's also a lot of hard work. Sands shimai really liked using the bokken. You only had about an hour so we only got through two basic forms. Afterward we were able to teach [about the gospel]. One is less active and the other is not a member. We will be teaching them again today but this time no jodo (the weather is getting rainy). We were also invited [to a cermonial luch]. It was intense. 45 minutes of Seiza three times in a row with five minute breaks to wash the utencils. Sands shimai was able to practice [performing the ritual] herself. (Sands: IT WAS SO FUN!!) It is incredible the amount of detail that is put into every single motion.

For me it was a test of endurance. If you don't know what seiza is, it is sitting on top of your legs thereby cutting off the circulation. After about 10 minutes your legs start to go to sleep. After 20 minutes they begin to burn. By 30 minutes you are in quite a bit of pain. The worst part being that other than pain, your legs are numb. So when you stand up you your legs are mostly functional, but you can't feel them and so is having a prosthetic. It is a perfect prosthetic, it works just like your real leg, but you can't feel it and that makes it extremely difficult to stand. (Sands: Fret not, young padawan. It gets better.)

We had a Kokan [going to a different area, and working with other missionaries] this week. I don't particularly like leaving my area but it is fun to see how other missionaries do things. It rained all day that day. We're beginning to get into the rainy season so that will be the usual for about two months. After that it will get extremely hot. Apparently rainy season and Typhoon season are not the same. Typhoon season will begin in the fall or so. I'm not particularly looking forward to it. (Sands: I AM!! :D)

So I have told you about the food basket that members put food into for missionaries.This week we were given eel. We had quite the conundrum as to how to cook it. We tried frying it like a normal fish, but it just fell apart. So we battered and deep-fried at it. It was very good because we had lemons. We were talking and Sands Shimai and I were saying, when life gives you eel, fry it. And then I said and thank heavens it gave you lemons first. Apparently when you touch it leaves a silver residue on your hands. It remind us both of the goa'uld.

We had another adventure cooking this week. Last week a member gave us a head of lettuce. Was very kind of them. She also gave a head of lettuce to the elderly couple serving here. One day we were talking with the elderly couple and they asked us if we had used a lettuce yet. We said we had not. They then warned us that we may want to wash it very thoroughly. Apparently it had quite a few slugs. So we look in the refrigerator box and put it in, and sure enough, slugs. Good good thing we learned slugs become immobile when refrigerated. For that we are very grateful. So we washed the lettuce, picked off the slugs. …

We have rescheduled the gyoza activity [for this coming week because everyone] is healthy now and with any luck should remain so. I hope there is a good connection made.

"Oh, I prayed. It felt uplifting/good."

Jun 8

So, Tuesday, we passed the post office. There was a gaijin there, so we said hello. He looked up and looked very startled. As we were waiting for the light, he pedaled up to us and said, "Do you speak any Japanese?"

Haha! Who do you think I am?!

I don't speak Japanese.

But we offered to help him, anyways. He was having trouble with his card, and couldn't understand the custoner service people when they tried to help him. (The language that customer service speaks is so complicated, and very different from conversational Japanese. Ex:

   Everyone at home would say:  “Hey, do you want me to send this letter for you?”
   Japanese people: “If I sent this letter in your stead, would it be alright?”
   Japanese customer service people: “May I humbly partake of thee kindly allowing me to send thine honorific letter in thy stead today?” And it actaully uses a different vocabulary (form.)

 On the bright side, I’m getting much better at understanding it and only have to ask for help every now and then, but this was one of those times.)  So we called the W. couple, who can speak customer-service Japanese, and the husband answered.

Me: *asks for help*

WC: Sorry, I'm a little busy right now. I'm at the post office.

Me: ...The one by Imabari Ginza?

WC: Yep, that's the one.

Me: ...We'll be there in five minutes.

So we went with this guy to the other post office, and everything worked out really well. At the end, he asked us a few questions and took a picture with us. (Us: *positioned to show name badges* :D) So we gave him a chirashi and told him to call the missionaries if he ever had any troubles in Japan, because they’ll help if they can. Then we said goodbye and have fun, and shoved off.

Wednesday, the wife of the BBQ family showed up at the English class we teach! YAAAAAY!!... Also, one of our people we’ve taught about the gospel followed up with us on his own. He's so great. We walked into his mother’s shop and he looks up and goes, "Oh, I prayed. It felt uplifting/good." on Thursday, we had another lesson with him. It worked out really well. Actually, on Thursday, we had five lessons. In Imabari. I felt REALLY, really good. And we got like, twenty cucumbers from another of our favorite people :D Saturday, we picked lemons, and ate salt ice cream, which is actually really good.

So this week was really great.:D

Love,

Sanzu shimai

Gardening supplies??

5/31

So, we were going through these boxes today, and P. Shimai was
like, "'Gardening Supplies'?" Then she pulls out some hardcore rubber
gloves, woodshop goggles, and a gas mask.

Everything you need to make a good garden. ;)

Then, of course, we took some suteki shots with the gas mask. I think
I found my new ofuro(bathtub/bathroom)-cleaning gear. :D

GRAAAAAAAAH!!!! You told me I was safe!

5/25

No time, so here's a copy of my email to my mission president.

Dear W. Kaichou,

You told me I was safe.

You told me I was safe for another two transfers.

YOU TOLD ME I WOULD NOT BE TRAINING FOR ANOTHER TWO TRANSFERS.

And, I guess, in the strictest sense, I am not, indeed, training. But I'm as close as you can get to training without actually training. SHE'S A THIRD TRANSFER! She doesn't deserve to have a fifth transfer missionary as a second companion!

GRAAAAAAAAH!!!!

Okay, I'm done. 

But man, what do I do? Other than, you know, pray.

It kind of feels like a koukan, to be honest. Like we're just chilling in the area until our senior companions come to pick us up. But it has only been four or five days since she's got here. Reality's sure to set in at some point.

But I want to know what YOU thought when God said, "Hey, stick 'er with the fifth transfer"?

I've already told you what I thought. I was like, two buttons away from calling you up and vocalizing them.

Oh, happy birthday, by the way.

As far as first junior companions go, though, P. shimai is really chill. I don't think we'll have too many problems. And she's super into cooking, which is something that I definitely plan to enjoy.

But I agree that having a junior companion is a great way to learn Japanese. I've felt the gift of tongues very strongly recently. God qualifies the called.

But I've also come to greatly appreciate the gift of dousekis.

This Sunday, we had the opportunity to teach the woman who called us one day and asked us what happens after death... Her scripture highlights were color-coded. And she wants to bring her fiancee with her to church. She said he was the one who woke her up yesterday so she could be on time for church, and that he has an English kyoumi. :)

In other news, Imabari's doing well. You've seen the numbers (not that the numbers matter--people matter). 7 times the average for this area. :) Not too bad, huh? Not that P.shimai, F. shimai or I had anything to do with it--100% Heavenly Father. I'm just really blessed to be a part of the work.

Desu.

We love you so much and pray for you!

Your favorite Imabari senior companion (position, not age. I mean, no one can win against the older married-missionary couple, the W's.)

Sanzu shimai

I...just...I'm still trying to - I don't think I was dreaming...

SGG was fun. :) I'll be giving a thirty minute speech tomorrow on "any subject I like." Silly. There's only one thing in this world that I love. It's called salvation, and it's free. And I would love to speak to you for thirty minutes about it. (But all the same, I'll probably speak to them on American and Utah history as well. By the way, it's not written yet. Neither is my fifteen minute talk in Japanese on receiving personal revelation. That's how I roll - through gnat clouds.)

Friday, we went to a district meeting by train. We also did more service / weed pulling.
Saturday was fabulous. We were getting on a bus to go to Oomishima and I read Japanese like a pro. Feeling pretty great about that. And we saw a familiar face. It was the adorable high-schooler we met coming back from greeting a recently returning missionary about a month ago. I don't know how I recognized her, but I did, and my companion, F. Shimai, did too.

Me: (to F. Shimai) "We know her. We know her. What's her name?"
F. Shimai: flips through her planner where she had written it, like a pro!

So we sat next to her and her friend and had an awesome conversation.
Later, we were treated to lunch by a church member and talked with his friend and her extraordinarily energetic son, then returned and met my favorite tsundere!!! She's so cute and really softening up, I think. She bestowed more presents upon us, and said that my hair color is the same as Super Sayan, We shared a message with her mom.
Sunday was fantastic. We had the shokujikai, and even though literally no one who we invited came, we had a surprise visitor, a less active church member come to my Old Testament class! Super fun. I hope they had fun too.
Do you remember that family I talked about meeting last Sunday? We made banana bread and hijiki, and dropped by. They weren't expecting us to actually come, I think, Haha. Silly wonderful family - we're missionaries. We would come even if we had to climb a sheer cliff to do it. (I'd climb up two, now that I've gotten to know them better.)
They. are. perfect. I don't know if I've ever met a more Christlike family. They sat us down and gave us food and drink and talked to us, and then when it got dark, invited us in, gave us hot milk when we explained that we don't drink coffee or tea, were totally interested in our family pictures, were so BEYOND kind, then gave us mikan juice when we left. And let us pray for them. I can't describe how wonderful they are. I...just...I'm still trying to - I don't think I was dreaming...
It was a good week. Thank you for your prayers. Please keep it up. I think I'm kind of starting to feel the gift of tongues working.
Love, Sands Shimai

Rest in peace, harmless disgusting gnat. Rest in peace.

On Tuesday I swallowed my first bug while biking. It was like "A Bug's Life," when the walking stick is flying via one of his friends (I forget what he was doing - something like making airplane sounds or something) and then starts choking. I wasn't flying, but I imagine it looked similarly elegant.
 A gaijin, skin glistening and shirt dark with the satisfaction of hard work, bleary-eyes from the sunlight and from pedaling uphill. She rolls across the bridge, wind combing softly over her helmet. The seat is low, and makes her more aerodynamic as she sticks out her elbows. With the casual grace of a dumptruck, she parts her lips to gasp for air. But lo, at the same moment, our heroine passes through a well-placed cloud of what have been assumed to be gnats. Both parties are surprised, shocked, and the intruder holds her breath too late.
The deed is done. Imabari is one gnat less, and one slightly disgusted but no less determined missionary more. Rest in peace, harmless disgusting gnat. Rest in peace.

A mistake has been made !!!! ... Subtitled: Leveled up, unlocked "Senior Companion" status

5/17
Good morning, everyone. I would have started this email a little earlier, but I was a little busy. Transfer announcements have been made. Yaaay. I ...I'm staying in Imabari. It's a party. Unfortunately, the party will soon be one nihonjin less than it was. :(  :((( Dang. :( My companion is being transeferred.

Well, there was a small mistake in the transfer announcements, so I might keep F. Shimai, yet :D
Here is my letter to my mission president explaining the problem, and looking to clear things up:

"Dear W. Kaichou :D

Today is a very sad, sad day, but I know that F. Shimai will be in good hands with her new companion N. Shimai. (Actually, I'm kind of jealous - I love N. Shimai.)

This week was truly miraculous. I don't know how, but we ended up with many more lessons than we expected...I am happy.

Well, if I got to keep my dearest beloved companion, I'd be REALLY happy, but I'm happy nonetheless.

Speaking of transfers, I wanted to say thank you to all the people in office that make them happen :D However, it would seem that there was a pretty serious mistake made in the notices. You see, I don't have a companion. 

Well, there's a companion written down - P. Shimai - but I don't think she's mine. you see, she's just finished training, so naturally, she's leveled up and unlocked the "JUNIOR COMPANION" status. Which is wonderful. I still remember unlocking that status 2 transfers ago (I'm only 4th transfer, and all). So that is fantastic. But being a junior companion, she'll need a senior companion, and the senior companion is leaving me to party with N. Shimai.

Another issue that I noticed is that, for some reason, there is an S(senior) where the J(junior) should be, in my "New Position" bar on the form. Which is completely understandable - when you have so many missionaries, there's bound to be a mistake or two. S and J are fairly close to each other on the keyboard. Even so, when I first saw the S, before I understood that it was a simple mistake, I felt my stomach invert. Now, I'm laughing, but for a millisecond or two, I thought you were serious. Terrifying. I laugh now, but I thought I was going to burst some rather important visceral function.

But yes, those are the issues. :D I'm sure that they can be easily resolved by sending the adorable P. Shimai to N. Shimai, and leaving F. Shimai with me :) That way, no companionship is out a senior companion and everyone is happy :)

Hahahaha. Senior companion. I was scared for a moment there."


Haha, indeed. Hopefully that one will get resolved soon.

Technical difficulties aside, our week's been pretty great.

People are kind, and my bike builds character

5/10


Friday was a koukan (companion exchange) with my dear companion's
previous trainer, S. shimai. It was a blast and a breather.
Probably the most laid-back koukan since L. shimai. It was really
fun. After Zone meeting, we went to Sushiro, and I had a bunch of
sushi. We were treated by the amazing N. couple, who are
wonderful and incredible, and at the very last week of their senior
mission. Everyone will be super sad to see them go, even though
they'll be right next door in Osaka from next week out. They were also
our ride back to Niihama, so we went with them to stop by the
A's--the Area Authority's house where we did pottery. It's in this
secluded little pocket of countryside. They only have 18 neighbors in
an hour or so's radius. It looks like a cross between a movie set and
a Japanese fairytale. There, we ate ginormous grapefruit-like mikan
and used a genius little Ehime invention called "Muki-chan." I think
I'll see if I can't bring one home with me.

Afterwards, we went to an investigator's piano-teaching studio, and I
got to watch S shimai play the violin for forty or so minutes. It
was really cool, and the lesson afterwards was fun.

S., we taught a DARLING little golden investigator. She's really
cool. It made me really want to find a golden investigator. Or, like,
seventy.

Afterwards, we came home and I made mashed potatoes for the first
time. SUCCESS!! ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! I felt so proud of myself. I
might become independent yet. Regardless, it's certainly a step up
from miso soup.

That being said, I really do like miso soup. Also, we had some
vegetables in the fridge (not on the koukan, this was earlier), so I
cut and fried them, boiled noodles, and mixed it with some tomato
sauce. BAM! Borderline healthy dinner! ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! I'm
leveling up all over the place. *pops collar*

It should also be mentioned that I got to enjoy a regular bike seat
again for the first time in a long time. My mamachatti's pretty
rockin'--it really builds character. The seat is woven from 90% moral
fiber and 10% tough love. I love my steel blue steed, but it's nice
once in a while to sit astride a more luxurious means of
transportation. Also, the Niihama bicycle had a whole six gears. I
really felt privileged to ride on fifth gear for the first time this
transfer.

All in all, the koukan was a very wonderful vacation. Not because we
did anything less than we normally do--we actually got a lot
accomplished, but it reminded me that Christ never ran anywhere. I can
be as good of a missionary on third gear as I am on sixth gear. (And I
mean third gear on a normal bike. My bike's highest gear is three, and
I think that it's tougher than gear 6 on a normal bike...)

Saturday, we contacted a bunch of people. A bunch of people who were
all very wonderful people. Imabari is really just filled with
wonderful people. We'll see if any of them have interest in learning more.

Sunday. Sunday was very interesting. Right after church, I waited for
my family to Skype me. When I reread the email Mom sent me, I realized
that she thought we were speaking on Monday (Sunday in America). I
waited a little while longer, getting more and more impatient. Then I
remembered a moment in the MTC where I was feeling very much the same
way. It was around Thanksgiving, and, long story short, I decided to
change my attitude and my day changed. So I decided to change my
attitude again and see what happened. We finished what we were doing,
I closed out of Skype, and we shoved off.

We were visiting an investigator (not home :( ) and, on the way, met a
woman who was watering her flowers. We stopped and talked with her for
a while. I was wondering how to introduce our message and then this
cute little obaa-san rode up on her bicycle and said basically "The
weather's nice. Who are you?"

Us: Oh, we're missionaries.
Woman on the bike: Oh, how nice. You're both so pretty. *rides off*
Woman watering flowers: Oh. I met some gaikokujin (foreigner)
misisonaries a while back. They gave me a little book and introduced
it and talked a little about it. It was about a year and a half ago.
Us: Oh really? *look at each other*

They might not have been Mormon, but we talked about God for a while
and made a return appointment before shoving off.

After we discovered our beloved investigator was inai (not there), we
began returning home when I saw a family holding a little barbecue out
in their yard. I had actually seen them before--when I first came to
Imabari--maybe the first or second day there--and I didn't talk to
them. I really regretted it, and promised that if I saw them again,
I'd speak to them. And there they were. God had given me a second
chance, so I said, "F. shimai, I want to talk to them."

FS: Oh, good. I've seen them a lot, and I wanted to talk to them, too.

So we talked to them (rode up and said "Hello! Your family is so cute
that we just had to come up and talk to you." First time I actually
went out of my way and approached someone on a bike) and the father
practically invited us to eat with him right there. We asked if we
could return next week with a dessert, and he was like "What time?" So
we talked a little about our message and invited them to stake taikai
(meeting), then shoved off.

They were all such kind people.

God has very certainly blessed us this week. Hopefully, we'll be able
to bring the spirit to these wonderful people and keep meeting people
who are willing to hear the message.

My challenge to all my reader is to be aware of how you're feeling
this week. Believe it or not, most of your feelings are under your
control. God has given you the incredible gift of agency--you can
either act or be acted upon, so choose to act this week. Choose to be
happy! In the words of my very best friend in Ventura, California,
"You are a millionaire!"

I love you family! I love you, friends! Please take a moment out of
this week to be happy :D Live the gospel joyful.

Love,
サンズ姉妹