all I need to do is have a little more faith

1/25 月

So! Things have changed recently, and so we will not be getting any general transfer announcements ever again. We will receive individual calls to let us know whether or not we are transferring. And because it's an individual call and an individual trip (if I transfer, it will be the first time I will have traveled anywhere other than the bathroom by myself since October 2014), the days of travel will also be slightly  skeewompous.

Terrifying.

Calls are assigned Tuesday, so I expect to hear something around Friday.

But! Good news: MY BABY (my 1st of 3 trainees) BECAME AN STL (a trainer)! W. shimai got a call from our mission president today telling her that she would be going to... *drum roll* KAWACHINAGANO! That's 5/8 folks! Five out of eight companions of mine have gone to Kawachinagano, (D., W., W., G., and P. shimai), and the eighth one is still with me. I expect that she, too, will go to Kawachinagano.

Unfortunately, we're 99% likely to lose S. chourou. That's a bummer. For a good number of reasons, but we're happy to still have his American twin with us...kana? I think he'll stay...kana?

DARN TRANSFER CALLS!

I'm probably going to Antarctica.

Actually, my wish is to train for the rest of forever.

Some highlights of the week.

This week, by the way, was crazy. We had two days where we were totally booked with non-dendo activities (Trainer-trainee training meeting and the Choi chourou conference), but we hit higher lessons-taught than I've ever hit in my entire mission. Actually, if you combined my first four weeks of dendo in Japan, that's about how many we lessons we got this week--thanks to the love and care of our incredible STL's. (JUST LIKE W. SHIMAI'S GONNA BE :D)

So, this Monday, we finally went to the Disney store (because it would be a shame to not go with my companion since I'm going to Antarctica soon), and on the way back, we met the CUTEST pair of siblings. The younger sister was super sweet and had a curly head--not something you usually see in Japan.

Tuesday, we went to TTTM, and I got to hear about what's been going on in Imabari--there are a couple rocking sisters there, and it sounds like they're doing a really good job. I also got to see W. shimai and A. chourou for the first time in a long time as well as F. shimai. Had such a great time. Focused a lot more on “Preach My Gospel” and using it. That was cool.

Wednesday, I got to koukan (temporarily change companions) with O. shimai!!!! :DDDDD Definitely one of my top three koukan experiences. She is so incredible, and I learned that people are pretty easy to stop. O. shimai is really an incredible missionary. I'M SO HAPPY I GOT TO KOUKAN WITH HER! She taught me a lot about lessons, one of them being that all I need to do is have a little more faith. (On that note, M. shimai told me the other day, "Sands shimai, I feel like you get bolder every day." I hope so! That's how it should be! Heaven forbid that the boldness in me should die.) My goal for the day was to turn a first contact into a second appointment. No second appointments, but we did so much it was incredible, including running into cute little Tk shimai.

We also placed a Book of Mormon, and found an old man who offered to give a pamphlet to one of his friends. Thursday we found out that he read the pamphlets as well, and said that they had "good things" written in them. We taught him how to pray and committed him to this week.

Learned about inspired questions, contacts, referrals from people we don't know...
And, on that note, that's the first time I've had a companion who's better at Japanese that I am in... well, forever. It offered a lot of security, and I learned a bunch, but I think that overall, I'm pushed farther when my companion speaks no Japanese.

SO FUN!

Lastest thing for Wednesday: on the way home, we met a couple of young men with whom we struck up a conversation. We mentioned what we do, and one of them was like, "No interest. I don't believe in God."
O. shimai: Why?
Him: I've never seen him. I've never gotten help from him.
So we talked about how, like the wind, we don't see God, but we can feel him. And that's what we teach about in our daily missionary lives.
Me: Can we give you a challenge?
Him: Sure.
Me: I can promise you that, if you pray everyday this week, you'll be able to know for yourself whether or not God exists. Then we taught a quick lesson on prayer and committed him.
Him: Sure, I guess. I've never done it before, so I guess I'll try it out and see what happens.

That was a really cool reaction.

Then we stayed inside pretty much all day on Thursday because for training, my companion has to see a whole ton of videos, and, well, we don't have Wi-Fi in the apartment. But we do what we can.