Giraffe Say Moo

Hello most awesomest famiry. Here are this week's highlights.

11/30 月

We went to Namba today! It was so loud, I couldn't think. If I ever come back to Japan, I need a good pair of sound-cancelling headphones. We went to the Disney store, and found a bunch of absurdly adorable things, but nothing that was useful enough to convince myself to buy. Finally I came across a pair of reasonably priced Frixon pens. I've actually been looking for something like that for a good long while, and never got around to buying any, so that was nice. Now I have Ariel and Rapunzel pens. :D

12/1 火

So, today, had a really good lesson with T-shimai on keeping the commandments. We watched the awesome seatbelt talk from Conference, and she really liked it. Moreover, she understood that she needed to keep the commandments and when she ended with a prayer, she asked God to help her keep the commandments. It worked out really well.

On the road to M-shimai's, a member, we ran into this guy at the stoplight. He took one look at us and went, "Your clothes are old fashioned. Like the Amish."

First of all, our clothes are certainly not old-fashioned—especially not 200 years old-fashioned, which is what he was referring to. [Secondly, I gave him a much needed explanation of the] differences between the Amish, FLDS, and LDS religions and their origins. It was a fun discussion.

At the end of the day, we taught English to our beloved H-shimai, who seriously wants the Gift of the Holy Ghost, but doesn't want to acknowledge it. :D

12/2 水

Today, we got to [split up with another missionary pair from Hashimoto]. (I remembered my dear previous companion, F. shimai, saying that she loved Hashimoto to the ends of the earth. So it was fun learning about it.) I was partnered with N. shimai, a Japanese sister who was a beast. It was so cool to see her in action--she just straight-up rocked it. She would go up to people and be like, "Hi, we're missionaries from the LDS church." And people would listen. I learned so much from her today. Then, before we prepared for bed, N. shimai was like, "Oh, I'm going to call (your previous companion) F. shimai tonight for follow-ups. Do you want to talk with her?"

YES. Highlight of my day. Very happy :D We had a great time, and it was so good to talk with her again.

Just about it. Love y'all. Night.

12/3 木

Today we finished splits and I got to reunite with my beloved current companion, G-shimai. Then we got lost on the train, for like, an hour because we had to go back to Hashimoto because G. shimai needed to return the bike key to N. shimai. We talked to people on the train and that was fun.

12/4 金

ZTM (zone meeting) was really good today--it was about working with the youth and the Doctrine of Christ. I really liked it. And of course I got to see Rb. chourou, which is always a good, happy thing. Afterwards, Rk. chourou gave us some of the cake he made. Also, the AP's dropped in on us, so I was able to see D. S. chourou, my beloved Zone Leader from Matsuyama Zone. He's an AP, now.

We also visited and had a really good lesson with T-shimai, and her dog, was all over S chourou. We ate ramen, and he pet the dog until the end of the lesson. It was very cute. As we were playing with the dog, my mind drifted over to a cute little gunky-eyed dog that we had met a little while back. It lived on the way and was a well-tempered little thing. But its eye was gunky. I hope its owners took it to the vet.

On the way back to the apartment, we actually saw the gunky-eyed dog. We kept going, but I was like, "...You know what? We need to go back." So we went back and said hello. It remembered us/smelled the other dog on our legs, so it was all over us (its eye was better. I'm very grateful for that.) The owner (or the owners mother?) was impressed that the dog liked us so much, and she stopped to talk with us for a bit. Apparently, I have the same birthday as her grandkid, and so that was pretty much a free pass to "Come and play whenever you want". That was exciting. But almost more exciting than that was when a guy came out of their garage in work clothes and was like, "Eh?"

Obaa-chan: “They're Kirisutokkyo.” (Christians)

Him: “Morumonkyou?” (Mormons)

Her and us: “You know them/us?”
Him: “Yeah, I live in the same apartment as two of them.”

Us: “The one down there?” point in the direction of our apartment

Him: “No,” Points in the direction of the chouroutachi's (elders’) apartment. “ I've seen the guys
around.”

So we gave him a Christmas pass-along card and a smile. He'll probably be baptized. XD

Time's up. Love y'all!