Wednesday, August 28, 2013

August 27, 2013


goodness. Babies babies babies. We teach baby Eikaiwa (english class) and can I just tell you, it is the cutest thing ever. I got my heart broken this week though. By a boy. His name is Senjiro, he is 3 years old, and he came and sat on my lap....only we arent allowed to have kids on our lap or to hold them or anything so I had to put him right next to me! It was SO sad!!!! I shall send you a billion pictures of baby eikaiwa. But yeah, anyways. There is also this little baby boy, 8 months old, and his name is HARIHITO!!! He is the CHUBBS, and he is so cute. I kid you not, when we are riding around on our bikes, I have this song stuck in my head from baby eikaiwa. It goes a little something like this, and If I was with you I would actually sing it cause it just makes me THAT happy. It goes "hello, hello, hellloooo whats your name? hello hello helloooo! My name is (HARIHITO) my name is (HARIHITO) hello harihito hello harihito hello!" anyways. Basically we all sing that to each other. ALL THE TIME. It makes me smile everytime I say his name. UGH! okay I will just put a picture of us right here. He is the cutest. 

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ugh. My heart is melting just looking at these pictures. Goodness knows I am printing them out and putting them on my wall. 

Alright. Oh! This is what I was going to do today! Explain missions!
So---here is the rundown. In the mission we have transfers that last 6 weeks. During that transfer you stay in one area with one companion (unless youre in a tricompanionship). Then during the 6th week of a transfer, we find out if we are getting a new companion and moving to a new area, or staying where we are with the same companion. SO!!!!!! This week was transfer week! And (drumroll....) I am staying in Fukuoka!!! Here is the funny part. So my first transfer here I was with Roberts Shimai (from washington state) and Andaca Shimai (from the Philippines). Roberts Shimai is just one transfer older than me, and neither of us took Japanese before the mission or anything. Now let me tell you about Fukuoka. It is a big big city, and our ward has a lot of old APs, returned missionaries, and a former mission president. And our mission president is in our ward. So. The ward is kind of intense! Which is a good thing! but really challenging sometimes. So anyways here is the funny part! This transfer I will be staying with Sister Roberts in Fukuoka! Two white girls without a clue in the big city!!!! Soooooo hahahaha needless to say I am sure there will be a lot of funny stories coming your way. This is going to be an exciting transfer! 

So how is my Japanese coming along? Dad you asked and I never responded haha sorry! My Japanese...its coming! Sllllooooowly but surely. We only have 1 hour of language study a day, and sometimes because of appointments we have to skip language study to make it to everything. So yeah. And contrary to what I thought before I got our here---fukuoka is super fruitful! Right now we have 6 promising investigators, and like 6 people who are progressing reeeeally slowly.So yeah! Its crazy!

Oh, so Sister Gustafson recommended the book Meek and Lowly by Elder Maxwell. So you should all read it and then tell me about it! She absolutely loves it, so I am sure its a really good book!

OH!!! EVERYONE!! I have been getting so brave with food and I just gotta brag. So. on saturday we had 3 meal appointments hobbit style....1 lunch and 2 dinners. Soooo yeah. During that I ate shrimp without flinching, and these fish patties...that taste like FISHY FISH. Anyways. Then for our first dinner, the lady comes out with these beautiful plates, with these HUGE FRIED SHRIMP WITH THEIR EYEBALLS STILL INTACT just sitting there. Guess who ate it without hesitation?!? I DID!!! That might not be a big deal, but for me it was huuuge! Anyways, people are so excited to feed the missionaries. They love it here. but yeah, we usually have a few dinner appointments a week so its not quite like some places in the states but its still a good enough amount for me- because when they give you food...boy you better eat ever single piece of it. I kid you not. Every grain of rice is now eaten off my plate. Some lady told me if I didnt, it was rude. So there you go! But I do have a funny story I forgot to tell. We were at Elsi`s house, and she gives us `fruit salad`...hhmhmmmm yeah right that was fruit salad. It had `baby` cheese, sweetened condensed milk, curded something, and then random crunchy things and ugh. I dont even know what else (Andaca shimai says she cant read the japanese recipes, so she just makes up her own things all the time haha which is awesome!) but yeah. So I ate all of it, and I had this one piece of cheese left. I thought I could get away with it. But no. She looks at me and goes "what, you dont like cheese or something?" in her thick Filipino accent and Im like "what? No! Oh sorry, I love cheese"...so as she steps in the kitchen I throw it down my throat and try to swallow it without tasting it. That backfired...I gagged a but and then tried really fast one more time before she came back in. That backfired even more, and I kinda sorta threw up in my mouth. but you know. Gotta be polite. And the polite thing to do with throwup is just to swallow it. YUM! good thing I carry mints everywhere I go...

This week my favorite thing I read was "Come What May, and Love It" by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. Look it up on lds,org. Even if your dont know who he is, or whatever the excuse might be. It will brighten any day you have! I PROMISE you!! but yeah. I love love love it. I love how the whole tone of the talk is just to be happy, put everything in perspective, and learn from trials. No one is asking you to fake happiness through hard times. Just try your best to keep from going insane by putting everything into an eternal perspective!
We have this one investigator right now, and she goes through a lot day to day. But whenever we see her, she is so happy. She says that she isnt ever happy at home because she is always scared, but when she is with us she is so happy! And she doesnt know why! but her example is amazing. She has so much hope! And she knows that even though things are hard, there are better things in store. She doesnt let the bad things define her life. And I wish all of you could meet her because I love her so much. She is a sweetheart. Her example is sweet and simple, but it is so powerful! I love her so much! We told her this week all about how she is a daughter of our Heavenly Father, and that he loves her! And He is always watching over her. She was smiling ear to ear. And when we told her that she was a princess, she was just so happy. She is the sweetest. 

oh! I almost forgot, this week it rained. Like Actually rained!! And I couldnt have been happier. We have these awesome things. They are called Coppas, and we wear them when we bike. I could describe them, but I am just gonna send a picture. So much better that way. I love my coppa. We get so much attention from them. And all I can do while I am wearing them is smile and laugh. So it makes for a great day when the coppas come out hahaha here you go. 
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more pictures coming your way! I got lots from this week. Anyways, hope you all have a peaceful week! Filled with things that make you go out of your comfort zone! Smile lots and keep a spirit of happiness about you! Tell me about your lives! I am only a half a world away!!!

Love sincerely,
LANE SHIMAI!!!!

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