Drenched in sweat, and we have yet to leave the apartment

Dear family and friends,

Needless to say, Japan is way hot in the summers, and then you add the
extra dose of humidity. I have a love hate relationship with the
weather here, and I just happened to go to one of the hottest places
in the Japan Kobe mission for summer. But that's ok, it is weird
though to drink water on fast Sunday. Because of the heat and
everything we have to drink at least half a gallon of water every day,
even fast Sundays. Otherwise, I think we would not survive.

But anyway, there are way cooler things than the heat.

Monday we had pday, and since there is basically nothing to do in
toyooka, so we get the stuff done at the apartment, and then we chill
at the church all day, emailing and doing other random things. It was
a lot of fun. That night we had to figure out going to Kobe for the
hospital, and then we went to a matsuri, and tried to dendo. It was
not very successful, because everyone was watching the dancing, but
the dancing was still way cool to see.

Tuesday we had our study, and then we visited satake Shimai, a cute 88
year old less active, who can't really remember anything anymore, but
who just is happier because we visit her sometimes. We then had to
pack, and go to the church, and then leave for Kobe, so that we could
go to the hospital tomorrow. My companion gets really sharp stomach
pain whenever she eats or drinks, period, and it has started to get
worse, so she is finally willing to figure out what it is. She was
hoping to be able to make it home to America before it got to that
point, but she needs to be able to eat without it hurting. The train
ride was nice, just worked on some random things, and then we got into
Kobe and went to the sisters apartment and slept over.

Wednesday we went to the hospital. We called Tuesday to make an
appointment, but they told us to just come in, so we did. That was a
mistake, because we were literally there for five hours. There is
nothing obviously wrong, just some big gas bubbles in her stomach that
aren't going away. They gave her some pills for that, and if they
don't work she is going to have to get a scope. Unfortunately the
hospital took so long, that we missed the train we were planning on
taking back, and since trains are not common going back to my area, we
got permission and did a mini kokan with the Kobe sisters. That was
both fun and not fun. Had to deal with some major emotional drama, and
I'm not even sure what it was about, but also got to teach a sweet
investigator, who likes to sidetracks the lessons, but really has a
desire to get baptized. She just wants to know everything.

Thursday we finally got back to our area, and that was a good day. We
met a new investigator that was referred to us by the elders, we
passed one of our investigators to the elders, because we felt
prompted to do so, we read from the Book of Mormon over the phone with
a less active, and went to sushi roll with a sort of recent convert
who wants to build her testimony by meeting with us weekly. The
highlights were working with members. We got to hear the less actives
testimony a little bit, which was way cool, and we also got to support
this member who is just starting the journey.

Friday we had zone training meeting, and it was awesome. All the way
in fukuchiyama, but that is ok. That is the normal here. The only
reason it was hard was because we had already been out of our area a
lot this week, but it was awesome. I got to tesitfy about how much of
a difference one day, one lesson makes in the way you feel when you
leave an area. If I had been called to leave Nishiwaki at any other
time, it would've been so much harder, but I left as Nishiwaki was
starting to rise, and I felt good with the work I had done. That night
we met with Yamada San, and she is amazing. She is starting to
recognize God, and she has been praying. We taught her about the
spirit today, and she started to understand, it was a little hard for
her, but we connected it to the good feelings she had had when she
prayed.

Saturday we went to a fruit parfait shop with a member and her
daughter,  the only active young woman in the branch, mako chan. The
fruit was amazing, and the owner was super nice and gave us some free.
Pineapple from the Philippines. The small bowl would have probably
cost about 6 dollars normally, fruit in Japan is ridiculously
expensive. And he is now a p.i., because the member started teaching
him for us, and he wants to at least come to eikaiwa, so that is a
start. We then met with Youko Shimai, and discovered that she has a
desire to share a mission, but has yet to tell her parents about the
church, let alone the fact that she has been baptized and is a member.
We are hoping to build her courage so that she will be able to do
that, and we are praying that her family won't be hantai (opposed).

Sunday. Yamada San came to church! It was just for a little bit, she
was late to sacrament, and had to leave right before the end, but she
came, and she said she liked it, and she is still praying. So much
potent ion for her. We also have a new member in our ward, they just
moved into the area. The crazy thing is that she is American. Her name
is Amy McGreevy, and she is super nice, she served her mission in
Sendai, and is now back in Japan teaching English. Got a chance to
talk to her, and she started filling us in on normal life. It was
weird, so glad I'm still a missionary and not surrounded by the chaos
of the world as much. We then tried to visit a bunch of people and no
one was home, except for one less active, who told us straight up that
she won't be coming back, which just really hurt my companion, because
she had really gotten to know her, and she had been progressing back
to the church not that long ago. They of course have their agency, but
it is hard to see people reject salvation.

Despite the heat, despite the rejections, I truly am so glad that I am
a missionary, and I have the opportunity to serve here in Japan. The
church is true, the gospel is the key to our eternal happiness, and no
matter what problem you may be facing, it can definitely be solved
through the atonement of Jesus Christ. He is there for you. Turn to
him. Walk with him. Of the truthfulness of this gospel, I testify In
the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love and miss you all.

Love, Sister Makin

My world flips upside down, and yet somehow, I'm ok with it

Dear family and friends,

This week has been a crazy one, and definitely a weird one for me.
Something I didn't think I would really experience in the field, but I
did, and I learned a lot. Especially about the power of the spirit.
Last Sunday night, we got a call from our zone leaders. We hadn't hit
the mission standards for excellence, and they wanted to know if there
was anything they could do to help us succeed. Well the suggestions
they gave ended up really helping.

Monday we had pday, and just had some good time to relax and email.
That night, I just felt like we needed to call a bunch of people and
set up appointments if possible. we did, and we were able to set up
five solid appointments for Friday and Saturday with people that we
have been trying to meet, but had just had no luck with.

Tuesday we hit the pavement, and had so much fun. On the way to
service at the ryoujin home, we met jewsrin, because we paused to
adjust our schedule at a park, and she has tons of interest, and we
got her phone number, and she is coming to eikaiwa next week. The
crazy part was that she stopped us right as were leaving, that was so
cool. We then pushed forward and visited all of the people we had
planned, and they were all home. They aren't interested, and that is
ok, the miracle is just that they were all home. Including the flower
lady from a few weeks back. This time she actually gave us a good time
of day to go visit. That night after eikaiwa, we visited murata
Shimai, and I was able to share the experience I had of my family
going to the temple, despite all the challenges that had faced us. Her
family is really struggling right now, and it is stressing her out,
and hearing that story, among other things really helped her. The
crazy thing is that all day I wanted to just change our plans and not
visit these people, I was tired, I was hungry, but I said no, somehow,
and pushed forward, and it was a miracle. Satan did not want me to
visit those people, but I am so grateful I did, especially murata
Shimai, she was the hardest. I could've just kept mingling with
members and students, but we had planned it, and we needed to go. And
the fact that she was actually home, when usually she wouldn't be, was
just a pure miracle.

Wednesday we went out again, and had another fun crazy day. We visited
yanagihara Shimai again, and told her we wanted to teach her the
missionary discussions so that she could prepare for the temple, and
that started to give her some hope. We also visited the okuras, and
taught them the plan of salvation, and invited them to baptism. The
grandma didn't really say much, but the daughter said that if she came
to know it was true, she would, but she wasn't there yet, still a
lamb, still a baby in the learning process. I hope she will get
baptized soon. She is awesome. We also shared a message with the
inoues, and then tanaka Shimai, who is also less active, and then we
did some finding on the way home to have dinner. It was a way fun, way
full purpose day, and I came home feeling so good.

Thursday was the day my world changed. I got a call from the APs
during study, and they let me know that I was ending emergency
transferred to toyooka. Some things had happened, and they needed me
to go up there so that everything would be ok. I was sad to be leaving
Nishiwaki, but  the spirit filled me with so much peace, that I knew
it was right even before seagle Choro told me that Welch Kaicho and
the APs had all prayed separately to know what to do, and when they
all came back, they knew that I was the one to be sent. It wasn't 100%
unexpected, but it was definitely startlingly and sad. I spent that
day packing, and that night we went to the branch presidents for
dinner. He had invited all of the missionaries over to welcome the new
ones, and say goodbye, since I was transferring so suddenly, and he
had just gotten back from America. That was a very fun last thing to
do in Nishiwaki.

Friday we had district meeting, and I was stressed, because I had to
write down all of the info about all of the investigators, because my
companion was still learning, and the other three sisters would need
that information, I wasn't going to pay attention at first, but I felt
that I needed to, and I learned a lot, and it really helped me. I know
I would've regretted not focusing on the most important thing, even
though there were important things to be done. For just a few minutes
I had to be companions with the four elders in my district, because my
companion wasn't there yet, and the sisters really had to go to an
appointment, but it wasn't too long, just weird. I then met smith
Shimai, we went to the eki, and we came to toyooka.

Saturday we got out of the apartment and went to work. I honestly
don't remember a lot of what we taught to people, but the way cool
thing was that smith Shimai and I taught with great unity right from
the start, and normally it takes a little time to work that out, but
it was great. She was super happy to be out of the apartment, and just
going for it. We met with a less active, a member, and taught a couple
of lessons to investigators. It was another full purpose day, and it
was a lot of fun, but I was definitely tired by the end of it. Just
how missionary work should be.

Sunday I met the branch, and they were all shocked, since no one had
heard, but they had all kind of expected it, so it wasn't too bad. The
branch here in toyooka is small, but the members are awesome, and love
the missionaries. Childs Choro, now Kyodai, came back to visit, and
since he is from American fork it was interesting to meet him again.
Besides that we got SKK done, and I got to know what is happening at
the moment in toyooka, and we are both just super excited to work hard
and see miracles. We are also running every morning, and it feels
good. Bet I shocked s lot of you, but it is true, I have come to enjoy
running, when my companion does.

So that was my week, but because of the spirit, and my newly found
ability to rely on the lord I was able to make it through with only a
few tears when saying goodbye to people. I had been searching for a
long time as to how I could really rely on the lord, and had just
found a big piece of the puzzle for me last week, and just in time. I
know that our savior lives, and he loves each and every one of us. No
matter how strong we may think we are, we can't do this without him,
and if we can learn for ourselves how to rely on him, we can make our
strengths stronger, and also turn our weaknesses into strengths. I
love you all, and I hope you have a great week! Love you!

Love, Sister Makin