Well hey howdy hey. Yeah. I'm
sorry this is late. We have transfers this week, so P-Day was switched
to today, and we didn't have email time until now. It is currently
7:00pm here. We got our transfer calls and we are both staying, and Cox
Shimai will be Sister Training Leader with another sister from another
area. We will have to do splits every week which will be interesting
because the other STL is getting a brand new missionary. I will probably
have to end up doing a lot of missionary work with the new missionary,
so I hope I can do it. This is the end of my first transfer! It feels
like it has been forever and it feels like it has been a blur all at
once! This is just the end of the beginning!
This week was SO long. It feels like it has been an eternity since I was able to talk to you, but it has only been a week!
Fukuoka Tower. The tallest tower in Fukuoka... or on Kyushu
Literally
like 3 hours after Skyping with you, we found a new investigator! We
have found new investigators EVERY DAY this week! None of them have held
their appointments so far, but we have high hopes for some of them and I
know that your prayers have been helping us here all the way in
Nakagawa, Japan.
On Wednesday we visited a
recent convert, "M" in the hospital. She had to get her tonsils out.
We sang to her. My faith in Japanese medical care has been more or less
restored. The hospital she was staying in was really nice, so that was
good to see. We sang her some hymns and just talked with her. She seemed
to enjoy the visit, so that was good.
Probably
one of the weirdest and funniest things that I have done here in Japan
so far has been the following: SQUARE DANCING. Yes. There is a square
dancing class for women here in Nakagawa, and they love it. There were
probably 14 of us total. And the announcer does it in English. Well, we
met a lot of really nice ladies and we think it might be a great way to
get investigators and to spread our name around a bit. The lady that
caressed my face in Daiso like my first week is the one who invited us,
and of course she was very enthusiastically shaking my hands and rubbing
my arms, but hey, we met some other good people. It was funny because
the guy to announces the dance moves was like really shocked that
everyone in America doesn't always square dance. Hahahahaha. It was
pretty funny to us. But that was interesting. Unfortunately I don't have
any pictures, but if I get some in the future, I'll send them your way.
On
Saturday, the BYU Wind Symphony came here to Fukuoka Japan, and we were
asked to go and bring people. We didn't really have anyone to take, but
we went any way because we were allowed to. We ended up helping "M" a
lot, so that was really good. It was really weird because I kinda felt
like I was in college watching a free concert or something, and it was
all band music too. I do miss orchestral pieces. They are much quieter
and peaceful, but the Japanese people really seemed to dig it. We had to
travel over to Chikushino for it, but it was good. We were excited for
something kinda different to do. OH my goodness. I also... I also....
used... the...squatter toilets! Haha it was... interesting.
Honestly
I don't have anything super spectacular to tell you. I am very glad
too. Our weeks have been crazy, but we were able to dedicate this week
to being normal. We had A LOT of finding time. Oh yeah, another
investigator dropped. We had a lesson with her and we were going along
and she wasn't really into it, and I just kinda flat out asked her if
she wanted to learn more and she said no, and it was good to hear it
because we thought that was the case but she wouldn't just come out and
say it. We are still her friends and stuff, but we were glad to know
that we can help someone else and that she's not quite ready yet.
Oh
yeah! Fukuoka city is going to have a new church built!!!!! We are all
SO excited! The building we have right now is really small for the ward,
the only bad thing is that the ward will have to travel up to Fujisaki
for a year to have the new church built now. It's like an extra 20, 30
minutes. The members are worried about it, but we think it will be a
blessing in the long run. They are going to tear down some of the
apartments around the church now to make it larger! What a blessing!
Yesterday
we had no appointments and we had nothing else to do so we had like 7
hours to go and find people. It was really tiring. Also it POURED all 7
hours which was so super fun and fantastic. Okay okay it really wasn't
that bad. We were just wet all day, but you kinda get used to it. The
bad thing is that my bag isn't 100% water proof which is not good
because this is only the beginning of the rainy season. I have been
keeping everything in ziploc bags and stuff which seems to be working
alright for now. We will see how it goes. Anyways... I was very wet
yesterday.
Today was fun! We had an
appointment fall through, which wasn't good, but hopefully we can get
back together with him another day. We had a joint set up and everything
and so we felt bad, but we couldn't control his decision making. After
we bought our groceries and stuff we took a Bullet Train and the Subway
up into the Northern side of Fukuoka and almost into Fujisaki I believe.
We went up to the beach! We were only there for like 2 hours, but it
was way fun! There was a volley ball net and the sand was warm and the
sky and water were blue so, it was fun. Everyone played volleyball and I
played in the sand. Haha. I'm such a 5 year old. I had this really
overwhelming flashback to the HOURS I would spend in the sandbox in our
back yard and I really wanted to just start building "rivers" and stuff
like I used to with Hawkley! Haha it was fun though. I got some really
tiny pretty shells that I hope I don't break :) And then we went to this
really weird store called Don Quixote (of course in Japanese) and I
bought THE. DREADED. RAIN. PANTS. I can't wait to look like a dork every
day in the rainy season with my rain pants on :) When I actually decide
to wear them, I'll take a picture.
Well, this has been a very boring email. I am very very sorry. I honestly can't think of anything else to say.
I love you all, and am praying for you! Enjoy the pictures :)
Love, Raines Shimai
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