What is nervous?

Dear family and everybody,

I had a bit of an epiphany this week, and from that I have decided
that I no longer know what the word nervous means. I am still working
a bit on the application of that, but it is definitely good to choose
not to be nervous, because sometimes being a missionary is nerve
wracking.

Monday we cleaned mold out of our futons, and it was nasty! Not too
hard, but we had to use bleach, and the smell was overwhelming after a
while. Mold is a real problem in Japan. After pday we went housing,
and it was fun, way cold, but fun. No one really wanted to talk, but
that is ok.

Tuesday we walked to a nearby college and did some finding on the way,
and then passed out eikaiwa flyers. After that we went up to try and
visit a less active. She wasn't there, but her husband who is way
active was, and we talked with him for a bit, and he brought us some
fruit, which is a awesom treat, and huge glasses of chocolate milk,
and then asked us to share a message. He is a great guy, and it is way
nice, because he is from New Zealand, so he speaks English way well,
and really wants to help with missionary work. That night we helped
the members create a tree for the upcoming family history fair they
are having as a stake, because only members showed up for card night,
and we just had them help out as well, it was way good.

Wednesday we did a lot more of passing out eikaiwa flyers, and I got
to speak to an Austrian guy in Japan for a vacation. He spoke perfect
English, though I did try to use a little bit of my German with him,
and it wasn't too bad. I could understand what he was saying, I just
couldn't respond. Whenever I try to speak in German now, at least most
of the time, I always switch into Japanese, or use Japanese words, it
is just all meshed together in my brain. He was funny. He talked
mainly about Christians being greedy, and then when I asked if he was
Christian, he said he was, it was an interesting conversation. That
night we had eikaiwa, and we had fifteen students in my class, which
is the biggest class I have ever had, and it was a little
overwhelming, but definitely lots of fun! We also had quite a few new
students, so we are hoping that they will come back, we are sure one
of them will, he asked us for next weeks topic, because he wants to
prepare, and unfortunately we hadn't picked... We are going to get
better at that, but he gave us his phone number so that we could mail
him when we did decide.

Thursday we did SKK, and we also had a roleplay lesson with a member.
It was a bit confusing because she would all of a sudden break
character and give us tips on explaining or on our Japanese, which was
helpful but just a little bit confusing. We also got to see misato
tonight, briefly, we had dinner together, but ran out of time, because
she had gotten late, so we couldn't share a lesson, but she is still
awesome, and she way loves the missionaries, we just need to refer her
to missionaries that live closer to where she lives, that are in her
area. We didn't know exactly where that was before, and she comes to
Shimogamo area fairly often because her boyfriend lives here, but I
think she could be better helped by whoever lives closest to her.

Friday we had district meeting, and as my companion and I were doing a
roleplay with one of our district leaders, we have two, which is a
little weird, we realized what has been happening for the past couple
of weeks. We have both been getting way nervous when we talk to
people, it happened with Matsumoto choro as well! And when I get
nervous I start talking more, and when Lowry Shimai gets nervous, she
all but doesn't speak, so we have decided that we are not going to get
nervous, and then that afternoon when we went finding, we did it, we
were a lot bolder, and it was so much fun! We also met this amazing
girl, and she trusted us instantly and gave us her phone number and
email, it was so cool. That night we again helped with the tree
building, and they are also building two life sized ish oxen, so that
is also a big project, our ward members are crazy!

Saturday we had another roleplay lesson with a member, and practiced
street contacting, and it went really good, and we also went finding a
ton, and just practiced what we are learning, testifying more, not
quitting, and just giving bold commitments. One of the people that we
taught today was 87 years old man. It was kind of weird, because both
Lowry Shimai and I had the feeling as we were talking with him that he
didn't have much longer to live, that he was almost done, and it
seemed like he knew it as well. I think he was mainly happy that we
were talking to him at all, it being gospel related didn't affect him
to much, just having someone talk to you is often a special thing,
especially for the elderly in Japan, they love it, and even though I
can't really understand them, I love it too! We helped more, and the
members way appreciate how much we are helping, and it is also helping
them open up in ways I haven't seen before, it is crazy!

Sunday was Easter! But it didn't really feel like Easter. We tried to
talk to people about Easter a little bit, but the one guy we told went
off on reincarnation as they believe in Buddhism, and it was hard to
bring it back. Easter just isn't popular in Japan, but I know that as
we continue to spread the truth of the gospel that it will become
popular once more.

I know that church is true, and the Book of Mormon testifies of that
truth. The Book of Mormon is all about the atonement, the more I read
it, the more I come to see that that is true. I hope you are reading
the Book of Mormon looking for the atonement, because I know that it
has the power to change people's lives. Have a look at 2 nephi  2, it
is one of the chapters I have read that I really love. I love you all
so much! Keep having fun and being safe! I love you, I miss you, and
Japan is amazing! I hope you know that by now though!


Love, Sister Makin