Gepetto's whale (the slippery beast)

This week, we were at the church, and the elders came in and were like, "Hey,
there's a present for you."
G.shimai (my companion): Is it a pony?
elder: Nope.
Me: Is it a whale?
elder: Close!

It was a gigantic fish. It was a salmon that could barely fit in the

church freezer. It wouldn't stand a chance in ours. We stared at it
for maybe two minutes.

Me: ...What do we do with this?
G. Shimai: ...Mount it on our wall?
Me: Play baseball with it?

We left it there, until we could decide what to do with it.


…Day two of worrying about the fish in the freezer.
…Day three of worrying about the fish in the freezer. (I found out my dear junior
does not like fish. So I am left to eat it on my own.)

THE FISH.
Take one, and...action!

After teaching and meeting people and working pretty hard, we decided to stop by the church and take home the fish.
This thing is gigantic – a meter long - so we string it under the flap of my shoulder bag and get going. (Now, I understand all you fishing professionals/Alaska frequenters are like,
"Please. We catch 5-foot salmon on bad days." but when you have no room in the freezer, the sink, or your non-existent bike basket; no way to cook it and not enough time to get home, you may as well strap Gepetto’s whale onto your back) We do pretty well until we turned off the main road and the monster fish slipped out of its holster and almost assaulted a passerby.

Me: *dismounts and picks up the blunt weapon* Sumimasen. Shitsurei
shimashita :) *apologizes and returns the fleshy ice block to its temporary home*
*remounts*

THE FISH.
Take two, and...action!

About five minutes later, the jostling disturbed the beast and it once again escaped face first onto the sidewalk. A man walking by stopped and picked it up. With a smile, he handed the monster to us and said, "Good fish."     In English.

M. shimai took the now-melting aquatic ice club and stuck it out of a plastic bag on her handlebars. This bag was a third of the fish's size, but we went on.

THE FISH.
Take three, and...action!

Another five minutes later, as we biked in a straight line, the fish leaped from its confines and bounced on the asphalt twice before finally resting as we met another passerby. This one, we used the fish as an opportunity to talk with her and had a fairly good, if short, lesson. Nothing came of it (Not today, at least ;) ), but with that, we finally got to take the fish home by wedging it between M. shimai's back and backpack.

THE END. (I'll tell you later how it goes when we figure out how to cook it.)

A member of every club on campus

10/26

After eikaiwa (English class), we've been talking with a student who's been a 

gem, and who seems interested in finding the truth. She asked what the

difference was between spirit mediums and feeling the Holy Ghost, and 

something clicked that I had realized since coming here, but had never 

really thought about :

The way of Japanese Buddhism is a little like being agnostic.
Everything's true. It doesn't matter what you believe. People believe
things that make them happy, and so long as it makes you happy and
doesn't conflict with those around you and establishes your inner
peace, then not only is it worthy of a pat on the back, it's true.
Your truth is true. My truth is true. Mediums see spirits. Joseph
Smith saw God and Christ. Buddha saw his past lives. In that mindset,
it's all true. But believing in every religion is like being a member
of every club on campus. It really just means that you're not a member
of any of them. Certainly, they love blood types and Horoscopes and
spirit mediums and zodiac signs and whatnot, but "religion" is really
just a set of traditions that you do on New Years and Obon. Unless
they're super intense in their sect, no two Buddhists look the same.

Because of that mindset, an actual, sole "truth" is something that is
foreign to a lot of people. In a way, it's nice, because there are not
any conflicts about religion and whatnot, but when someone is looking
for truth, there is nothing to grab on to. No handhold, no ledge, no
help. It's hard to tell which way is up.

Japan needs missionaries. Not to force all the Buddhists into the
font, but to catch the hands of those who are looking for
something--anything--to hold. It's given me a new perspective on
missionary work, and a new appreciation for my role.

I love my mission, and I love the people here. The Gospel's true, prayer
works, God loves His children. In the name
of Jesus Christ, amen!

Pray for us and this little girl!

Today, I got a special present for myself: A SCRUB BRUSH!!!! YAAAAAY!
I'm so excited to clean the bathroom with something that works :D Earlier
today, I took apart the disgusting tub drain (and became very
glad that we only had time for showers), and wished very badly for a
scrub brush. Today, we got a scrub brush and an edge brush that I used
to clean the filter for the shower vent :D What a happy day.

This week, we passed by a 7-11 and saw a gaijin (foreigner)! What on earth

is a gaijin doing in Japan?! So we talked about deep things and whatnot, and 

now he wants to know more. :D So we set up a meeting on Fri with him and
friend and wife. Unfortunately, the wife wasn't able to come, and it's against rules to be alone with equal #'s of the opposite sex, so instead of doing a lesson inside, we just took them on a church tour.

They were really cool and had a lot of deep doctrinal questions. I was
braced for Bible-bashing, but it seems like they honestly want to
learn. I'm excited to keep working with them (I get distracted
though--it's been a while since I talked to someone who likes the
Bible.)

This week we got to meet with someone who we've been having a lot of phone 

lessons with. And she's totally 110% prepared, she just doesn't know it, yet. So that  was fun. And, we met a LA's daughter, who's really really REALLY wants to be baptized, and the only reason she hasn't is because of church attendance. She's young, so she can't go by herself. But we picked her up with a kyoukaiin, and she came to church. During sacrament meeting, she looked through my gospel pictures and fangirled every time she saw Jesus. It was really cute. She also told us her life plan after church: baptism, sister missionary, temple marriage, exaltation.

Sounds like a plan.

Pray for us and this little girl! We love you all and hope you have a
great week!

Love,
Sanzu shimai

P-day pictures at the temple

It was like a movie

Wow. Today was a six-lesson day. Truly a miracle. What was more of a miracle was that these 6 people were all taught on a day where we had district meeting, and then lunch, so we didn't get out until about two. 

For lunch, we went to Q's Mall, to a tabehoudai (all you can eat) place called Shabu Shabu, and ate a good bunch of meat. (Note: at these kinds of places, they give you a salad and side and stuff, and it's extraordinarily rude if you don't eat it all. With the style of Shabu Shabu that we ordered, it came with two eggs that we were expected to eat, raw, with the meat. But I'm not so fond of raw eggs, so I boiled them in the table's pot and smuggled them into my bag.

As we went to teach our lessons, we had to cross a big bridge. On the underside of the bridge was a bicycle path overlooking the rest of the river. The sun was setting on the horizon, and the sky was just turning orange. It was like a movie.

For our final appointment, it took a little over an hour to get to our member's house, and they fed us kabocha- (pumpkin) flavored cake. We shared a small message, but their testimonies were powerful. It was a good visit.

However, we had only 45 minutes to get home. We said a quick prayer for speed and safety and set off.

We hit. EVERY red light. The entire way.

I played in my mind, as we were braking for yet another light, how I would console myself if we were late for curfew. I would pat myself on the back and say, "You worked hard, you gave it your best shot. God will forgive you. You can't be perfect all the time. It can't be helped." At the same time, I thought of 1Nephi 3:7. I thought of Gideon, and the deliverance of Alma and his people. Now, my life wasn't in danger, I would certainly get out of the experience without emotional trauma, but I would be breaking mission standards and commit an act of disobedience. God didn't want me to be disobedient, and he certainly knew about the abnormal streak of red lights. I knew He heard our prayer because He's heard all our others. So I decided this was a trial of faith. I couldn't change the lights. What I could do was pedal fast and remember the God who created the time I was racing against.

We were five minutes away from home when I looked at my watch and saw we had a little more than a minute left. We got home with fifteen seconds to spare.

God heard our prayer. God hears all our prayers, but sometimes, like the tale of Gideon, I believe he stacks the odds against us. Sometimes he says to us, "The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the [the enemy] into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." And he stacks the odds, not to make us uneasy, not to hurt our feelings or shake our faith, but to make His deliverance unmistakable. When the odds are stacked against us, we don't need to worry. Rather, "dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

I'm a daddy!

I felt incredibly incompetent listening to people speak today. Just when I had gotten the hang of how people spoke, I was moved to a place where people speak entirely differently. I feel a little like I've moved from Canadian French to Morocco.

TRAINING. I'm a daddy! (2nd transfer trainer) [My new trainee/companion] G. shimai is super cute. She's definitely used to taking care of other people, and she's a fast biker--first time I've met a trainee who's faster than her trainer. (Not that she was faster than me... but... okay, yeah, she was faster than me. But only because I'm not used to the bike!! ;) )

So, we were walking to the apartment, and I stopped to look at a decorated manhole cover with what looked like the Osaka-jou on it, but I wasn’t sure.

Me: *points* What's that?
GS: *glances at it* Oh, that's a manhole cover.

XDDD She's wonderful. She also gave me a tour of the conbini (convenience stores that exist on every other block in Japan) and walked me through the making of Mabudofu (a missionary necessity that is learned around 1st or 2nd transfer – several transfers ago for me). I love her so much. She's so funny. She's very sweet, too, and really wants to really love the people.

We're in for an exciting transfer :D

At Tennoji, I got to see two of my favorite people (previous companions) in the whole world: P. SHIMAI AND F. SHIMAI!!! Oh, that was so wonderful! I was so happy :D And everyone looked well. F. shimai looked healthy. P. shimai looked a little apprehensive, but I was so happy to see the two of them. :D I can't wait until we can just hang out together after the mission (that is, if I don't stay a missionary forever).

Speaking of old companions, Z. shimai would be proud – This week we got some mold-killer and got pretty serious today in our souji. HOORAY! I was glowing by the end of it. Got vacuum bags for the vacuum, bleached the sink, washed one of the five towels that I've kept from Imabari... MAN! Glad that’s accomplished!

Still speaking of (most recent) old companions, I wrote an Ode to W. shimai

O W., dear W.,
My incredibly competent protegee
How wonderful, how close to my heart.
O W., dear W.,
The Kobe mission has never seen before
The glory of which you are made;
The angels fashioned
The stars aligned
And thus became
The W.

Thank you, W.shimai, for sending my suitcases. I love you. <3 Thank you, parents of the W. shimai, for birthing a child who does everything better than I ever could.


Altogether, I'm really excited to love the ward here in Abeno, and my new companion is very sweet and a very valiant soul. I'm looking forward to see what we can teach each other.

Life is exciting and the gospel is true. I love you all!

Love, Sanzu shimai

The candles looked a little like incense for the dead, and they very comically turned out to be impossible to blow out

Sept 28

Farewell to Imabari


Monday we climbed a mountain :D Mine, companion, and WS's goals were "Go tell it on the mountain," "Go tell it on the mountain," "Go tell it on the mountain." respectively. Unfortunately, it was not told on the mountain, but we got to see a really big, cool shrine on the Ishizuchi mountain.

Then, all three of our packages came, but one at a time. That was very funny. Especially because at the beginning, WS was like "You know what'd be funny? If he only had one package, and had to come back three times."

Well, it wasn't the same guy, but it was three separate guys in three separate visits. That was interesting. Took me like, fifteen minutes to open the package my friends sent, and they sent me...candy.

Good heavens. It's only by the grace of God that I have not ballooned on my mission. Six months to go...

Altogether, it was a good day :D

So we began Tuesday by going to N-shimai's to learn calligraphy. She is SOOOO nice--let us do three kanji three times, then gave us boards to write on so that we could have a little bit of kanji in our homes. I did 風、真心、and 望--wind, sincerity, and hope/desire. Then she signed our works with little kanji that she decided fit us. she gave me 志、which means aspire/motive/hopes. So, I feel, like, super privileged. The experience was really pearls before swine.

[This week we taught so many sweet people. They were so kind and generous.] One family that we taught has the cutest little boy, and he was the most cooperative in the lesson. He even recognized the whale I drew in panel five!

Him: “KUJIRAERERA!”
Me: “That's right! Kujira!” (whale)
Parents: surprised (whether at the fact that it could be recognized as a whale, or that the 3-year old knew what a whale was, I'm not sure.)

At the end, I had drawn two hands (male and female, for the 6th day of the creation) holding each other, and he recognized those, too.

Him: “Hands!” reaches out
Me: reaches out and holds his hand
Him: so super excited that we're copying the picture. It was really cute.

We also stopped by to say hi to one of our favorite LA's. He wasn't home, but his mother was. And thus began a chapter I'd like to call "Let's argue about the purpose of prayer and chakras." In short... My chakras were poked. All of them. We spent the last five minutes saying nothing but "We understand what you're saying, but we believe differently." It was... exhausting. I have since repented and have decided to say that from the get-go if it ever gets like that again.



[I found out, sadly, at the end of the week that I’m being transferred.] Abeno Osaka area. I have gone from the suburbs to country and now to city. To drink our problems away, we went to the nearest Hamazushi and got cake from a place by the station. It was really good.

Then we did FHE with our LA, and she has really come so far. So far since I first met her six months ago. I was so happy. It was really a good, solid lesson, and then I said my goodbye. But before I left, our dear member was like,

Her: “Wait.”
Me: ?

Then she went off and came back with cake. Four big nama rolls from a great bakery (aka: Darn good quality cake) and lit a couple candles for me and they sang "Happy Birthday" to me. The candles looked a little like incense for the dead, and they very comically turned out to be impossible to blow out (everyone was surprised at that), but I was so touched. I was so touched.

The next day, an older family took us out for a goodbye lunch, which TOTALLY surprised me--I had no clue that they actually liked me. But they were super sweet and gave us a couple towels. (Towel count: 23. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Towel Magnet.)

Afterwards, we went down to visit our people in the old neighborhood, [and to say my goodbyes, and witness a string of miracles.] We went to the house of the BBQ family and said goodbye. Unfortunately, the wife wasn't there. So I said my goodbyes and waved goodbye, then thanked Heavenly Father that we actually got to see them, for like, the first time for the past two transfers. After we prayed, the wife pulled into the driveway, and I said goodbye to her. Then we dropped by R-chan. She and her mom weren't there. That was very sad. So we sighed and began getting on our bikes. Then a car pulled in and lo and behold! It was our R-chan and her mom. We said our goodbyes to them and hopped back on our bikes and visited M-chan. M-chan and her mom weren't there. That was too bad. So we sighed and remounted. Then a car pulled and and lo and behold! It was M-chan's mom! So we got to say goodbye to her as well.

Then we went to our favorite cake shop and the owner was like, "Today's a Tuesday."
Us: ??
Her: You usually come on Wednesday. Today's a Tuesday.
Me: Oh. I'm transferring.

And she actually looked sad! I felt loved. I'm gonna really miss that cake shop. But W shimai's totally got it covered, and like a pro set up a 30/30 English appointment. Man, she's so cool.

We had an incredible lunch with the W. gofuufu (I'm gonna miss them so much). Then we went to one of our LA's and said goodbye, and then, we got to meet our two girlies!! YES!!! I had sent them a text previously, trying to feel out if R-chan is okay enough [she had hurt her leg badly] to come see me off, but she was still healing, poor girl. I told them that I was transferring and would leave a letter for them with W. shimai. Then I got the most amazing text:

R-chan: "WHAT?! You're leaving? When?"
Me: “4ish.”
R-chan: “We can't stay after 12, but can we visit you in the morning? I've talked to S-chan and we want to see you before you go.”


God. Is a God of Miracles.

So we met with our two girls and had a great time and committed them to baptism. My last act in Imabari. Yes. YES. I wanted so badly to leave Imabari better than I left it, and I can truly say I have. Thank heavens. Thank heavens.

Then it was like one big party. Our neighbor and friend came and gave me a handkerchief as a parting gift, a LA who wouldn't talk to anyone came to the church to hug me goodbye and gave me a Mikan-chan coinpurse. Her sister, whose testimony I saw flourish, gave me a plushie of the Imabari mascot and a bunch of Bari-san stickers. The girls gave me a letter and a home-made cheesecake (and W. Shimai got another appointment like a pro), and I just... Man. I felt really, truly loved by God and the people of Imabari.

It was a wonderful week.