Heyyyyyyyyy! What uppppp!
Don't really feel like writing anything this week!
I have some miracles to share, but I'm too lazy to write them, so you'll have to wait until next week!
Transfer calls came, I'm still in my area. My new comp is the one that looks like Elsa!
Welcome to another installment of On My Knees With the Japanese with your favourite host, スチュワート姉妹!
This week we see a transfer coming to a close, and another one beginning! We still have yet to receive transfer calls, but in all likelihood I will be staying in Asahikawa 旭川, which I am pumped for.
It's literally the best area in the whole mission and I am NEVER LEAVING!! You can't make me go!
I gave a talk on Sunday and so many Ward members came up and told me how much I've grown since my first transfer. And then one of them asked if I was 18 yet. :) Hehehehe, yesss. It's fun that I'm actually starting to be able to talk to these members that I've known so long!
And with the close of this transfer, comes the close of my companions mission! Yes, in missionary terms my companion is "dying," or leaving missionary life. This blog post is titled in her honor.
AND NOW, A EULOGY!
SISTER COMPANION-WHO-LOOKS-LIKE-RORY-FROM-GILMORE-GIRLS ;
GONE, BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN.
That was a short eulogy.
Anyway, now for a little recap of my week!
It was crazy cold. And snowy. And we were outside for all of it! But, right when we were in the thick of it all, completely knackered, and with a long road ahead of us to get home, we suddenly ALMOST GOT RAN OVER, or so we thought! A car suddenly pulled out of a parking lot while we were passing and just stopped in front of us. At first we were shocked and offended, and then we see the face of our Ward Mission Leader and our Too-Cool-For-School District Leader throwing up a peace sign. SALVATION! They drove us home. MIRACLES!
Speaking of miracles I met 15 cats while on companion exchanges.
And then, when we were on the train home from splits, the most adorable thing happens. THIS!!
We saw some young boys in uniforms and berets in the car in front of us and we could not for the life of us figure out what they were up to! And then, we heard the train announcer's voice was quieter, less confident, and at a higher pitch than usual... And then we realized. They were train boys in training!
And then they came around and gave us free promotional tissues. Oh, Japan!
In closing, I watched the Testaments this week. It is now my favorite movie. Big recommend. Must watch.
Literally, that and the Addiction Recovery Program videos that the Church produced are the most entertaining things we can watch as missionaries.
ANYWAY,
BYE BYE, FAM!
Well hello, there!
Right now I am writing from the midst of a District Activity.
You may think I am rude, not participating in the activity and all, but just look at it...
The district that chills together baptises together, or so I've just made up. Way better than bowling, people.
This week, as the title states, if you offer to help and old woman with her snow shoveling, and she declines, and when you stand there trying to start a conversation, unsuccessfully, long enough... She'll let you in, feed you sandwiches, oranges, yogurt soda, and puts you in front of her heater.
Super happy because it was freezing that day~
~~~~
And that is basically all that happened this week...?
We went on a 40 minute train ride to go hunt down potential investigators in a cute tourist town called Biei.
That was good.
Oh, we have a new best friend, and she is really good at English!
This little girl is literally my best friend, and she thinks she is really good at speaking English! So darn cute, maaaannnnn!! A little translation, at the end of the video her mom and grandma are like "Okay, we are going home!" And she's like "Bye guys!" And then they are like, "You aren't coming? Who will you stay with?" And then she's like "My big sisters!" (AKA us.)
We didn't actually get to take her home with us. Sad.
Also, this little girl is amazing at piano....... We thought there was a recording playing, but nope. But her hands are so tiny!! I like how she just keeps going after she catches us filming her.
I'm boring this week!
Sorry, everyone!
Bye!!
Aaahhh... It's 8:09 PM, Japan Standard Time. As I begin to write this email, I have just finished off my Japanese pear-flavored water (a seasonal product,) am listening to Japanese Gospel Reggae written by a member in another area in the mission, am eating shrimp chips, and can hear laughter through different parts of the church coming from the elders in my zone. Thus ends the last evening of the missionaries' "New Years Break."
It's hard to get any work done, because it is very rude to interrupt everyone's New Years festivities, and because this is the one time of year that the Japanese spend as a family, we really don't want to butt in. So we just step out for a while.
Let's take a look into what a missionary vacation looks like, shall we?
Day 1 -- All Day Cleaning Day
This is missionary spring cleaning day!
Well, that's what it was supposed to be.... We had two "goches," which is the word for being fed by members, and the first one we took the wrong bus to... And she trapped us looking at her photos for 3
hours.... By the time we got back from lunch, we had around 12 minutes to clean before we shipped off to our dinner appointment.
Is this was missionaries in America feel like?
Day 2 -- Go Visit Members Day
This is the day when you are meant to stay longer at meal appointments, to strengthen the testimonies of members!
And this was the one day we did not have a meal appointment...
So us and the elders went walking, and bugged our favourite family (the one sister who married an American) and they fed us New Years mochi soup.
Day 3 -- All Day Book of Mormon Reading Day
This day we also had two meal appointments...
I only got ten chapters in....
Day 4 -- All Day P-Day
This is today! It's all day preparation day. We jammed in two fun activities! All the sisters in our zone went to the zoo in the morning, saw penguins walking literally feet from us, ran home to eat
food with everyone, provided by the members, and then went to an activity center that was really loud and sports-centered.... Didn't love it, to be honest.
Oh wait, penguins? You want to know about the Penguins? YEAH YOU DO!!
THEY DO A PENGUIN MARCH AT THE ZOO IN MY AREA.
They literally just escort a gaggle of penguins around the zoo, and then when they come close, they make you bow so you don't scare them when they come.
They literally make you bow to your penguin overlords.
SO CUTE!!!
(Look how close I am to penguins.)
It was great people.
But this little bonus was probably the second best thing at the zoo that day.
So that was great!
No pictures from the sport place, but when we were going home, the bus filled up really fast, and only some people could get on... The rest ran...... Felt bad, but whatevs!
The bus was so full I took a picture.
I felt like I was being bused to a weird Korean church. It was pretty cool.
So, you guys are probably curious about what New Years is like in Japan, huh? Let me tell you.
Well, first, it's called 正月 しよう が つ SHOGATSU
And second, you probably know more than me if you've asked Siri.
Well, I'll tell you what I know, and what I know, is that you eat food! Special food! Magical food! Food to increase your destiny and fate!!
It has been described as this : "It's like you look into a tide pool, and then eat everything you see." ;) It's fun to try new things!
Look at this blurry picture a cute 12 year old member took for me, when she fed us at their home!
Let me start at the cream colored things and go clockwise!
-Some egg-based thing that is yummy and sweet, probably for fertility.
-A sweet sweet potato thing! No idea how it affects your fate.
-Black Soy Beans that were super sweet and delicious. I think they affected my fate very well, due to their deliciousness.
-Herring fish eggs. These are definitely for fertility. They actually weren't terrible, I ate both easy.
-CRAB LEG!! My first crab. It's super sweet! Probably so you're not crabby all year.
-shrimp shrimp shrimp, that you get to tear apart yourself! Fate affect : ?
-(the things in the center) Kamaboko - basically chicken nuggets out of fish. They had chickens on them!!
-(The tin green thing) - sea weed with something salty sweet inside!
- and orange like thing that I don't know what it is in English.
-and a strawberry, because that's apparently a winter fruit in Japan. Literally everything is strawberry flavored right now.
Anyway I'm bored of writing now
Oh and people keep calling me fat.
I've lost weight since October.
Anyway.
BYE-BYE!!
