Everyone's just waiting for me to get in, lie down and die.

9/14

The funeral march

Everyone is preparing for my departure from Imabari. I still have at least two more weeks here. I may even have another transfer. But seriously, the hearse is ready, the tombstone is slated, the procession is lined on both sides of the streets and the coffin is open. Everyone's just waiting for me to get in, lie down and die. Even my trainee's got the embalming fluid ready. Geez. At least wait for the announcements. I could very well stay another transfer.

Tuesday, we taught a really, really good lesson with our recent convert. It was on fasting, and he had read Eyring's talk as homework. We asked him what he thought about fasting, and he gave a really good, solid answer: something like "It's a time when you miss two meals, pray and exercise self-discipline, and become more pure and feel the spirit more." He's so cool. Then we went through, then stood up and made a list of all the pros and cons of fasting on the whiteboard. At the end of the lesson, we asked him what he thought, and he was like, "Man, I'm really excited for next fast Sunday!"

He's so cool. We also had Kodomo eikaiwa (children's English class) for the first time in a long time. And one of our investigators came! :D

Wednesday, another investigator came to our normal eikaiwa (adult English class) and had a lot of fun :D Our class, we were talking about a talent show and the Word of Wisdom came up (long story). One of the other long-time students was like "Oh, they can't drink tea."

Now, the Word of Wisdom is something that most people only know a little about and often have some miscommunicated information, so we were like "Yeah, that's right! Here are the other things we can't have." *list on the board* "What we can have is" *list them off* (Sorry, I'll go through it more thouroughly next time for my readers. Time is running low.) "Any questions?"

And we got a lot of really good questions answered. It was a really solid discussion. And better yet, problems were fixed before they began! That's my favorite thing in the world! Problem prevention! Yosh!

Later in the week, we went and hung out at the A's, the resident Area Authority. He and his wife taught the Pre-Mortal Life and the Creation. A. chourou mentioned something very interesting: he was looking through a book on Chinese Mythology, and came across an interesting picture of the Creation. In Chinese mythology, apparently the god that created the world was half-man, half-woman, and half snake. Like a centaur, but with two bodies coming out of it. The man was named Seiji or something, which means "Obedient to righteousness." The woman was named Jouka, which roughly translates as "Calamity woman/Woman that causes wrong/calamity." But the most interesting part was this: The man was holding a square (the thing that looks like an L), and the woman was holding a compass (the drawing tool that looks like a V). ...Sound familiar?

Then we ate the most amazing pumpkin croquettes I have ever tasted in my life and nashi :)

Annnnd…Hooray! Birthday day for Sands shimai! It's really weird, since being on a mission is like living on another plane of existence--seriously. You live only for one thing: preaching the Gospel. That's what your entire life is centered around. So you spend every day all day serving others, teaching, planning to serve others, planning to teach, fellowshipping members, going to church, living every day in a skirt... It's like a completely different world. But I can confidently say that it was the funnest of my life :)

PRESENT SHOUT-OUT to everyone here who made my day special -THANK YOU SO MUCH, EVERYONE! You probably won't read this, but I love you!!

And to any and all family and friends who are not of this faith and people who are of this faith and deciding whether to go on a mission: I love it here. I am so blessed to spend a year of my life serving the Lord. There is no greater reward, no fulfillment more lasting, no effort so exquisite and sweet. So long as you throw yourself into the work, you will not regret a second of your mission. I don't regret a moment of mine.

I love you, family, I love you, friends. Have a great week.

Love,

Sanzu shimai