*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?
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).
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.
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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment