They have a Cafe Du Monde in the iinaka of Japan

5/4

This week has been pretty fun. Right after I sent off the email about the amazing Sunday we had, the phone rang. We picked it up and it was a woman who had met a couple of senior missionaries a while back. A friend of hers had recently died and so she wanted to know what happened after death. So I got to listen to the amazing F. shimai give a twenty-minute life-after-death lesson to this woman, and an appointment was arranged for Sunday, for her to learn more.

God works in mysterious ways.

My companion, FShimai, may I mention, is a boss. Like, world-renowned CEO, final-level boss. She's so cool. It's really a blessing to hear her teach. If it was socially acceptable to pull out my camera and film her during a lesson... well, I can still plant one somewhere. Probably. But anyways, she's been with this branch since December, and really, really loves them. I'm really happy that she's starting to see the fruits of her efforts.

The next day, we went to this thing called SGG, which is basically a bunch of fluent nihonjin speaking English together. It's really fun, because I get to talk about English literature and American culture for an hour and a half, then share a gospel message for fifteen minutes. The missionaries have been going there for a while, so everyone knows that we don't do tea or coffee during teatime. So these wonderful people get juice especially for the missionaries instead. (Although I did have the opportunity of eating a coffee-chocolate ball.

Me: ... *still smiling* glance at F. shimai.

FS: *silently* Dame? (DAH-may, Bad)

Me: *makes an X with hands under the table*

FS and I: *silently set the rest of the chocolate aside*

But anywho, to show my gratitude, I broke one of the plates. *high fives self* (A note from Sydney’s mom – yes, this is Sydney’s dry humor. She did not really break the plate on purpose.)

Me: ... I... am a horrible person.

FS: Ieie, daijoubu desu.

Head of SGG: ... *takes pieces of plate away*

Wednesday, we visited our branch president. We texted them that morning and asked if we could drop by at around noon, and KK texts back: "Won't you have lunch with us?" Then: "Does Sands shimai eat yakiniku?" (literally "fried meat.") Basically, you sit at a table with a miniature grill in the center. Then you receive an array of meat and vegetables. Then you fry the meat according to your liking, then you eat the meat. It's delicious. It's also relatively expensive. (Meat's rather expensive in Japan) But there are two things that you do not do in Japanese society, and one is turn down a gift. But anyways, "Does Sands shimai eat yakiniku?") Me: DID ELIJAH SLAY THE PRIESTS OF BAAL?! (Yes. The answer is yes. I love yakiniku.)

We were very blessed to partake of yakiniku with the K’s. (By the way, mom, we ate at the Fuji Grande Mall here in Imabari, and I saw a familiar face(?). Cafe Du Monde. They have a Cafe Du Monde in the iinaka of Japan. I have yet to eat there, but it is on the list.) We shared a message with them (which was the original goal. I hadn't actually planned to take more than five minutes of their time.) It was a little rocky, but fun. I think. I hope.

Later that day, we had the opportunity to teach eikaiwa! One of my favorite parts of the day (unfortunately, last week and this week are without the kodomo eikaiwa. :'( ), and the theme was "body parts". So to illustrate, I drew Superman on the board beforehand and labeled the body parts. It went over pretty well. I think the Japanese have a bit of a hard time understanding my humor. (When I say a joke in Japanese, they don't want to laugh in case it was just a mistake. When I say it in English, they don't want to laugh in case they made a mistake in understanding it. If I elaborate and tell them it was a joke, then they laugh a good 70% of the time.)

Saturday, we had a shokujikai (literally a meal-meeting) to welcome a new family, a new convert, and a newly-returned missionary. I was charged with the game, which turned out decently. A couple new friends were made among the ward members, which was the goal and great cause for great thanks. (However, someone took my lemon square when we were cleaning up. That... may have been the saddest moment of my mission so far.)

Today we just spent a fun couple hours with the local Area Authority doing pottery. The area was beautiful, and A. Chourou and his wife were super nice. We'll try going to a less-active's concert tonight.

But anywho, I think that's it for the evening. Love you all.

Also, could you tell Becca's mom that I love and adore her and am very
very grateful for the mail she sends? Thank you :D

Love your favorite missionary,
Sydney