And so... I became a pack mule, and spoke "English"

Sounds like you have had quite the exciting week, and things are going well.. Glad to hear that everyone is doing well, send that things are moving along... Sushi was definitely an interesting experience, but I don't think I'll love it ever, though I will probably go back. I'm sure will will adjust to speaking English again, but until then, you will probably have some funny moments... My companion has struggles speaking English a lot of the time to... So often the only way for me to understand is to look it up, because she knows it in Japanese, but not in English... Though I haves tarted to say some phrases in Japanese, that I don't really know what they mean, but I know the fuenki (basically the vibes) of the words that I'm saying.

This week has been crazy! Per the usual of course. Sorry I forgot to send pictures last week... I won't do that again... At least this week. I will be sendi plenty of pictures, cause I have a lot, and lots of sushi evidence too.. :)

After trying sushi last week, and emailing, my companion and I went shopping! And I got chopaticks! With music clefs on them! They are awesome! My companion actually saw them first, and then pointed them out to me.... She hasn't gotten to know me at all... ;)

Tuesday, we ate lunch with our ward mission leader assistant, so that we could actually get to know her! It was so much fun, and the best part is that she is practically fluent in English! She is planning on being a translator, but we still talked mainly in Japanese, I could just use English words here and there, and she understood! I like japanglish, but it was funny, because I actually wanted to speak in Japanese, more than I did in English.... Though English is definitely easier! 

At eikaiwa, we taught them weather words, and then played hangman. At first I was worried they were going to get bored, because it was just hangman, but they got really into it, and carefully selected the words that they put up, all in English! That time went by so fast! It was kind of amazing! 

Wednesday we were going to be busy, but two of our three appointments ended up getting canceled... (Three is busy, because we have to walk everywhere, and one of the appointments was the lady up the mountain, which is over an hour walk...) so instead we went to the church, and did some dendo there. Also my companion received a blessing from the elders, because her back has been really hurting her lately... It was kind of funny though, because she asked me for advice, because she has never dealt with anything like that before, and I had to show her how to stretch her back... She is doing a lot better now, but still working on that... Which is how I became a pack mule, because my back is doing fine... Mostly... And it hurts her more to put her bag on, so I just wear both, and they are both really light, so it is not a big deal... Though she always takes the bag back, right before we go into an appointment... She's just funny.

We had Okonomiyake Wednesday night with a member... It is a cabbage pancake, basically, with a lot of other stuff put in... We had it Hiroshima style. It is delicious, and we got to help her make it,.. Though I mainly just watched... Because I didn't want my gross hand near everyone's food....

Thursday we had our weekly planning session, (SKK), and also taught a member family. So not much happened on Thursday, but we did come up with a great way to get our one progressing investigator to church, and maybe one of our other investigators as well.. So we will be doing a musical number with the elders and her granddaughter, who is a fellowshipper, and just way helpful! She went on a mission a while ago, and it definitely shows, she is awesome! 

Friday we had district meeting! I taught about patience... Which went well... Something if been working on lately, so when I got the assignment from my district leader, I just wanted to laugh at the irony... So I did. My companion got to teach jkaiwa (japanese learning meeting), and for that we played family feud... In Japanese, which was hilarious, because only half of the district knew what family feud was, and my companion wasn't one of those that did... :) ah well, it went well anyway.

We also visited another member Friday night, whom we had been trying to get in contact with for a while.. She is just very busy... But we got to meet with her and her two sons, cause her husband was at work. It was a lot of fun, and we were able to talk with her and help her, and encouraged her to pray for help with her specific problems... The sad thing is that her kids like church, but because they have sport hobbies, and Japan is different and missing practice is dame (not allowed, basically), they don't come to church, but hopefully that will change at some time. 

Saturday we had two lessons! With actual investigators. The first one was our first real meeting with Paula, though we had kind of met her a couple weeks back when we went to her and her husbands restaurant. We got to know her, and then she asked about our name tags, which led us write naturally into a spiritual discussion. She seems very open to change, so hopefully we will be able to help her, she is just busy a ton, because she teaches English... But I think we will be able to work around that.. :) the whole lesson was in English though, because she is originally from California, so she prefers English... It was way weird to speak to someone in English at a normal speed, because with the members who speak English, if we use English, we have to speak really slowly... It was just weird, but that was ok. :) our second lesson was with the Imai grandma. We taught her about the doctrine if Christ, and she readily accepted the first three parts, but the last two parts were new to her, so we had to explain exactly what they were, and why they were important... But that wasn't really a problem... We then invited her to pray everyday, starting right then, with us, (including her son and granddaughter, who were there, and are both members) at first she was reluctant to pray out loud in front of people, but we were able to reassure her, and she decided to pray. Imai bishoppu (her son) was astonished... Afterwards when we were on our way back to the train station to go back to kurashiki, he told us that it was a miracle! Apparently he has never heard his mother pray before, and he was very grateful for that experience. I could really feel the spirit as she prayed, and I am really excited to help her! She is amazing!Â

Sunday, he again thanked us, and just kept on saying we were amazing.. He is amazing! He is really into helping us, and wants to do everything he can to help us, in all aspects, but naturally especially in respect to his mother. Sunday was... Fun, I guess. I got to speak in sacrament meeting. So because of that and teaching in district council meeting, my study time was a bit stressful, lots of preparation, including writing the quotes I wanted to use out in romaji... Because I don't read kanji at all, or hiragana or katakana very well yet... That took a while left handed, but. It all went well, despite the fact that I forgot a word in the middle of my talk that I needed..l a bit embarrassing, but luckily the bishop speaks some English, do I just turned to him, and asked him what the word was. No one seemed to mind, and people came up to me after, and thanked me for my talk, and complimented me on the prparation I must've done to be able to give the talk I did...  Basically the fact that I am able to speak Japanese at all is worthy of praise in there minds... So it was all good, but I did get very nervous. We had several meetings planning activities and such after church, and then we tried to visit a referral again, but she wasn't home again, so we left another note, and hopefully she will get in contact with us... We know she got our last little message, because she emailed the person who referred her to us, and thanked her, so hopefully we will be able to meet soon. 

Not much else happened this week, just the normal stuff... Including a mogi where I pretended to be stitch, and mills shimai gad to convince me not to destroy tokyo... Which was just hilarious, but other than that, it was just another awesome week living in Japan! 

We did receive transfer calls today, transfers are on Thursday... I will be... Staying in Kurashiki! Yay! I am so excited, and milks shimai gets her wish, and gets to stay as well... We kept teasing her that she was going to be an stl... Which she didn't like, but not this transfer, so she is happy about that. 

So that was my week! Love you! Miss you!

Love, Sister Makin