Hello everybody!
I got some great stories for you! Maybe I shouldnt have said that- got your hopes up....well anyways. Nagasaki is brightening up! My new companion- Sister Cook- is wonderful! She is like a breathe of fresh air. I needed to be reminded how to breathe. And she is perfect! So much fun. When we are streeting she is SO GENKI it nearly scares the people to death. I almost had a heart attack the first time she talked to someone haha it was hilarious. But it works! People are so stunned by her genkiness that they stop and listen. Its incredible. She is a brave bean! I love it. (By the way, I dont know if its like this in other missions but a new missionary is called a bean haha) Anyways, she is great! She has had a crazy life. One of the best things about having different companions all the time is being able to hear everyones stories. I absolutely love it. And sister cook has got to have some of the best embarassing moments. Goodness.
So- on Sunday I did it! I wore Matono Shimai`s dress from the 80s she gave me. I got more compliments on that than anything ive ever worn before hahaha and Matono shimai just loved it. The elders in our ward have started this new thing where they write the name of a sister or family on their tie and has it say -I love blahblahblah- and the ward loves it.
In church yesterday I sat next to one of the most interesting ladies. If I was ever in charge of making a cartoon show, she would definitely be in it. I know what she would look like, and what she would do. cartoonized she would be that kid in the tv shows who all the bad things happen to haha. How would she look? triangle shaped curly hair with huge frog eyes. A little like she just got struck by lightening. I know that sounds really mean and harsh, but im not saying that because of the way she actually looks- im saying that because of her personality. Wow that sounds even worse. Alright, for the record I love and respect her, and im not making fun of her haha. anyways, long story short, I was sitting next to her in church and she kept falling asleep...onto my lap. It was hilarious. She did that thing where you fall over, then kinda catch yourself, then fall over again, and just keep bobbing until you finally wake up. But whenever she woke up it was super random and all of the sudden haha. You shoulda seen the paper she was taking notes on. It was marked allllll up. I was tempted to put my arm around her and let her sleep on my shoulder, but just imagining her reaction to that told me I probably should hahaha.
happy Valentines day for last week! as soon as I stopped emailing I realized that it was valentines day that week haha. Sorry! hope you had a great one! We celebrated it by heart attacking a member, nearly got caught and nearly peed my pants so i would say all in all it was pretty darn successful. When we were walking down the street I saw a couple kiss! WHICH NEVER HAPPENS. You gotta understand how rare any kind of pda is here. Thats the first time i have seen anyone kiss in japan. They were gaijin, but still! cook shimai missed it haha. anyways, that night the elders heart attacked us! we got black thunders and flowers. It was perfect.
Alright, now for the story of the littlest nihonjin. Her name is Yukari- and she is a potential investigator. So we figured we would go over to her apartment and try to make an appointment with her. So opens the door and sees us, then closes it again and says chotto matte! (one second!) so we wait outside for 10-15 minutes, wondering if she has forgotten about us. Then she comes out with her jacket and high heels. and is like alright! Where are we going? and we were like uhhh uhhhh.....church? so we all get on the densha to go to the church, and when she sat down on the seat, her little feet didn't touch the floor. I died inside. It was so cute hahaha I asked her how old she was. Shes 29.... insane. Anyways, she is adorable and doesn't even come up to my shoulder. So- we go to the church and we teach her a completely totsuzen lesson that basically was an overview of lesson 1, 2, and 3, and then we invited her to be baptized. She said she wasn't sure yet. She had a great time- and we are meeting with her again. We walked her home afterwards too. It was one of the weirdest experiences of the mission haha but man! Heavenly Father is preparing people and we don't know who so we just gotta be ready!
Something that has been on my mind a ton is that sometimes, we gotta take things one day at a time. If you have time- even if you don't, look up the talk "recognizing Gods hand in our daily lives" by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. It is wonderful. Sometimes I get caught up in thinking about everything that I need to do, everything that I want to improve, etc. here is a quote from it that kinda captures the main idea "...make commitments for keeping them and letting no obstacle stop us. Let us remind ourselves at the beginning of each day that we can keep a resolution just for that day". Its like when you are on a run, and you feel like stopping- but then you're like pshh....I can make it to that lightpole- and then you do. And so you set a farther distance, and before you know it you've pushed yourself so much farther than you would have gone if you had tried to from the start. Doesn't that make sense? In my mind it does but ive been told me words don't exactly make sense sometimes. All I know is that the best goals are challenging goals, and sometimes its overwhelming to see yourself where you are right now, and where you want to be. For me at least, it makes me feel like the goal is pretty impossible. BUT, when we take it one day at a time, we get closer and closer to that goal. Christofferson talks a lot about praying for strength each day to help us achieve our goals. If I wanted to learn Japanese (which I do...haha) I wouldn't just pray for it once or every once in a while. I pray everyday that my mind will be clear and I will be able to remember the things I study and learn each day. Anyways. Goals are the best. And with Heavenly Fathers help- we can achieve anything we set our mind to! 1 nephi 3:7. Its right at the very beginning of the Book of Mormon for a reason. Side note* I don't remember where I read this or heard this, but someone was talking about how th Book of Mormon isn't in chronological order, but its in the order of conversion. I love that. 1 Nephi 4 is in the beginning for a reason! anyways, I love the Book of Mormon, I love my mission, I love my Heavenly Father, and I am being SHOWERED with blessings. I love life. Goodness. Its so good.
I hope you all have the best week. Love you to death and beyond!
Sincerely,
Lane Shimai!
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