Members are amazing!

Dear mama and papa,

I wasn't trying to write an epistle, I just wrote about what happened
during the week, and there was a lot, so it ended up being long...
They were probably just shocked due to the difference between wills
emails and my emails, though I would think they would have gotten use
to that by now... ;) and I will just keep writing what happens, and so
it will probably continue to be long.

It is weird to eat raw fish, but so far it has only been shrimp, I
haven't tried the raw fish on rice yet, though I have a feeling it
won't be long now... But we will see... The food in Japan is actually
really good, and I love it, the only problem is that when members feed
you, the serve you so much food! Course after course after course, and
then they send more food home with you! And they are always so nice,
and we constantly are saying the equivalent of its fine in Japanese,
because they always apologize that they can't give us more food, or
other things.... I'm probably going to get fat here, because they feed
me so much... But ah well, just have to bike a lot... Which we do,
because this area is big... And if we were to bike to the top of the
area, or the bottom, it would take about 5 hours either way, so we
have yet to go that far. One time a member apologized, because they
couldn't pay for our train ticket back from having dinner with them,
and I was relived, because it would be totally unnecessary after they
showed us so much kindness, and I wouldn't have let her, probably...
But it just proves how nice and kind and polite he Japanese are, they
don't want to make anything an inconvenience for their guests, and go
out of their way to inconvenience themselves in order to make it less
inconvenient for you... So different from America, but that's ok, I
knew it would be, and I like it for the most part, though I don't like
having all the roads backward, because you drive on the left, not the
right. Also the roads are very narrow, there is barely enough room on
most roads for two cars to go right next to each other, sometimes not
even that, and then you have bikes and pedestrians... So it is a
little freaky, but because everyone is so polite, it all works out.

The rain is fairly warm, though it is cold, it really just depends,
but I'm doing all right, i dry out fairly quickly so it all works out.
The bike riding is fine, and the funny thing is my trainer has to keep
up with me, instead of the other way around, which is the norm... So I
tend to lead, and just watch over my shoulder for her a lot, make sure
I'm not going to fast... The one thing is that my skirts like to get
caught it my tires by the brakes... I've figured out away to prevent
that, but it is definitely inconvenient, and so I was wondering if you
had any good skirt tucking techniques I could try, it's funny, because
I was worried about my skirts not being flown enough, but they may be
too flowy, though I think it is just the type of bike... My skirts got
a couple small holes once or twice when they got caught, but I was
able to fix them, and it is all in the back bottom, so that's all
good... Most of the time when I hadn't figured out a way to tuck them,
they didn't get holes, but they did a couple of times....

The ward really so just awesome. There are some that want to be with
us all the time helping with lessons, and other are figuring out
people for us to teach, so they do a lot of work for us... They all
just participate, and are really helpful. They are also very
protective of their sister missionaries... Which is kinda cool, they
don't want to lose us, since they have been wanting sister
missionaries for a long time. There is a man who lives in Kurashiki,
who has some mental issues, and just isn't really safe to be alone
around... He is a member, but got baptized in Okayama, because he
didn't really need baptism, but didn't like that answer when the
missionaries here told him that, so he went off and found other
missionaries... Anyway, last week at eikaiwa, he asked my companion
and I if he could take a picture with us.... We didn't feel good about
that, so we said no, and that caused a bunch of problems, since he got
upset over it, and was saying stuff that hinted to suicide, which
freaked the elders out a bit, because he was messaging them... Anyway,
the next night, we had ward correlation meeting, and we talked about
what had happened... The bishopric and everyone, were against letting
him take a picture to resolve the problems, and so was I, cause i
didn't feel right about it, (and the Okayama sisters have had trouble
with him in the past... ) and so then we came up with a solution, and
a reason to give him as to why we couldn't, so that was good, and we
haven't seen him yet since then, so it is all good, and I don't think
it will be a problem... The reason I share the story, is because it
just shows how awesome the members are, they want to help, and they
want sisters, and they are going to do whatever they can to help us,
and keep us safe... It is very comforting.

I'm glad to hear that things are going well for the family. Has
Danielle already moved up to Logan then? I bet she is excited to get
back to school! I hope things continue to go well for her and the rest
of the family. I had a touch of homesickness one morning his last
week, but I was able to pause and allow myself a couple of minutes,
and then get right back to work, which in that case was studying... I
just love you all a lot, I just am not going to let that distract me.

Anyway, I had a lot of good experiences this past week. We visited the
takata family on Wednesday, and shared a short message with them over
dinner, and got to know them. Which was awesome, and then the next
night, takata kyodai took us out for dinner at the best restaurant in
Kurashiki, which was super nice of him! I ordered a jumbo, I'll send a
picture, and of course it was too much, but I ate all of it! Never
getting a jumbo again though, my eyes are just too big for my stomach,
so I need to work in that... I love meeting with members, because it
is a great opportunity to practice my Japanese, and they are just so
helpful. The takatas go every second and fourth Thursday of the month
with the missionaries to visit less actives, which is just a great
thing! Takata Shimai is the relief society president here, and she is
really engaged in her calling, all the members are, it is kind of
fantastic.... Actually it is super fantastic.

Also Friday we met with another family, the yanais, and had dinner
with them. They are really wonderful, and we have a pretty solid
foundation for a relationship... They want us to come back and teach
their children that are less active, and awe have also been asked to
work with one of their daughters, who might serve a mission, but that
is kind of up in the air... She is the young women's president, though
really young, which is kind of crazy, she is only a couple years older
than me...

Sunday we met with another sister, Ono Shimai, whose daughter served
with one of my sensei, Crandall kyodai in Tokyo/Tokyo south, cause it
was during the time that the mission split... Her daughter was also
there, so we shared our prepared message about how the scriptures can
help us, and why we should read them. They then fed us dinner, and I
yet again had too much to eat, but I'm getting to used to that... You
can't leave a single grain of rice on your plate in Japan, it is
rude... You eat every single one, so I just eat it, and hope I don't
burst from all the food.

The busy days are the best!ci love coming home exhausted, but I have
to be careful.... Saturday I had pushed myself too hard, and so got a
bit heat exhausted, and had to take a break, but I'm good now, and I
will be more careful, and I'm drinking a lot more water, because i
don't want that to happen again... I don't like taking breaks... Cause
I want to be out working, but it is necessary sometimes, because it
is just so hot!

We finally met the bishop yesterday, he was out of town last week, I
think, and we also met the stake president. They are both so nice! One
is natively American, but has been living in Japan for many many
years... His Japanese is very good.... The bishop also has really good
English, better than my Japanese, but like all Japanese people, when
we compliment him on his English, he says he can't speak it, but they
really can... I try to speak Japanese as much as possible though,
because it is apparently unusual to have so many English speakers in
your area, and I dame here to speak Japanese, not English... It is
very helpful though for learning to be able to ask them how to say
something, and they can help me, since they speak both languages...
Occasionally my trainer can't, because she knows what the word means
from Japanese, but doesn't know in English... So she can't explain,
which is just funny, but ah well!

I think that's about all for this week love and miss you!
Love, Kathleen

P.s. Speaking of epistles, there was a talk given at some point in my
MTC stay about becoming a living epistle to the lord... It should be
in one of the notebooks I sent home, feel free to look up my notes on
it, cause it was so good, as were all he talks in the MTC. love you!