Dear family and friends,
This week was not too eventful, but we had a good week as far as
effort, but it was definitely one of the harder weeks of my mission.
Last week we spent our pday in Kobe with the sisters and went to
harbor land. It is really famous, and I thought it was a lot of fun.
It was kind of fun, but it was a shopping mall, and I wasn't expecting
that. I got bored really quickly. Just before pday ended we traveled
to Akashi and started our kokan. I was with saijo Shimai again, and we
went to a member in akashi for dinner. They fed us yakiniku, and it
was so good. The brother is Kobes stake president, and he taught us
about prayer. It was a fun night.
Tuesday I did not enjoy too much. Saijo Shimai is a great missionary,
but the way she almost forces lessons on people that don't really want
them just bugged me. It was also hard, because she kind of took over,
and then let me testify at the end of lessons, which isn't what she
had done before. We spent almost the entire day at the eki finding. We
taught 18 lessons, though I wouldn't have counted some of them, and
then we had our kokan review. She asked me why I seemed less happy,
and I was kind of stumped. But we talked, and I tried to explain, but
she didn't understand. Language Barrie probs. We ended the night by
teaching one of their investigators, and it was a good lesson, but I
was again just kind of there. I really struggled with that kokan, and
felt like I didn't learn much. But I learned some, and especially some
things that I don't want to do, because they just aren't who I am, and
when you dendo, you still need to be you.
Wednesday we went back to the hospital, and it was decided that my
companion will need a scope so that they can figure out what is wrong
with her. So we had even more travel to Kobe. We came back to toyooka,
and got out and dendoed. The only person that was home, told us she
wasn't interested anymore. But then on the way back we met Youko
Shimai, and we were able to share a message with her, and that
brightened our day, and then we almost ran into a fellow gaijin, and
she wants to meet again. She recently moved here from France, and we
are not sure if she is interested in the church or just having
friends, but we are hoping for the former.
Thursday we got out and worked our butts off Dendoing, because it was
the only day that we really had to dendo, and we did not see as much
success as we were hoping for. We taught 5 lessons, which was awesome,
but we visited over 12 people. At first I was pretty down about it,
especially cause the one scheduled appointment we had stood us up, but
we worked hard, we had fun. And I felt good at the end of the day. Had
to stop and get an ice cream pick me up, but there were definitely
small miracles that day to keep us going.
Friday we had district meeting, and it started super late, because one
of the elders almost got arrested. He is big, and Mexican, and when he
was picking up the bike the elders had left for them at the eki, he
looked suspicious, but the elders let him go. Meanwhile we were at the
church wondering what in the world was going on. But after that
district meeting was a lot of fun, and then we went to lunch together
at sukiya. After that it was back out to dendo. No one was home, until
murata Shimai, and her son murata Kyodai from Nishiwaki was there as
well, so I got to talk to him a little bit. We also got to teach
Yamada San, and she is doing well. Unfortunately her family is hantai,
so she is debating whether or not she should keep learning with us,
but she has a desire to learn, so we encouraged her to pray about it,
and hopefully she will continue learning with us. Not too long after
that we headed back out to Kobe, got on a train and then slept over at
the Kobe sisters again.
Saturday smith Shimai got a scope. She really wanted to just get right
back out to dendo, but it totally wiped her. So I ended up staying
with her at the sisters apartment, with the other sick sister, Harada
Shimai, who was the person I replaced when I came to toyooka. So we
stayed at the apartment all day and she rested up some, and then that
night we went to the Sapporo temple celebration, and that was amazing.
I didn't really have any idea what was going on, but it was way good,
and cool to see how all the youth worked together to make it a special
night.
Sunday was president monsoons birthday, and the Sapporo temple
dedication. We watched the first session in Kobe, and it was so
amazing. I felt the spirit so strongly, as if I had been in the actual
temple itself, not just in a church. I loved that feeling. It was also
cool to see elder Stevenson speak in Japanese, though I got the
English translation, so I could only hear him sometimes, but he is way
good at Japanese. They had a great translator for president Nelson
though. We then traveled to Nishiwaki so the we could ride back with
our members, and then they decided to stay for the 3 session as well
as the one they had just watched. It was way cool to be able to see it
again, but not good for dendo time. But they were our way home, and we
couldn't drive the car ourselves. So once we finally got back to
toyooka, we had to get SKK done, and then it was planning time. After
planning time, I was just waiting for my zone leader, tanaka Choro to
call, and talk about the 20 lessons goal we have as a mission, since
we didn't get it this week. I thought I could handle it, bad that he
would be super understanding because of how little dendo time we had
in our area, but he wasn't very understanding, and by the end of that
call I was broken. I couldn't really respond to him much, and when it
ended, I just cried. I felt like I had done my best, until that point,
and even though I knew he was trying to encourage me, it just made me
sad. My dear sweet companion supported me so much, even though she was
blaming herself for it. Sometimes calls to repentance are good things,
but this time it just hurt, and I didn't know what else I could've
done. But it was ok, I have a loving companion, and we are supporting
eachother through this.
Transfers are this week, and the only thing we have found out is that
smith Shimai is going to be an stl in kawachinagano with kawamura
Shimai. Still waiting to know if I am staying/ who my new companion
will be.
It may sound like I had a crappy week, but it was a good week in at
least one thing. I learned that I don't care what others think, as
long as I keep my savior as the focus. It is hard, but I am happier
when I strive to do as he would do, and just utilize others
opinions/counsel to help me better do that. I love you all so much,
and I miss you.
Love, Sister Makin
This week was not too eventful, but we had a good week as far as
effort, but it was definitely one of the harder weeks of my mission.
Last week we spent our pday in Kobe with the sisters and went to
harbor land. It is really famous, and I thought it was a lot of fun.
It was kind of fun, but it was a shopping mall, and I wasn't expecting
that. I got bored really quickly. Just before pday ended we traveled
to Akashi and started our kokan. I was with saijo Shimai again, and we
went to a member in akashi for dinner. They fed us yakiniku, and it
was so good. The brother is Kobes stake president, and he taught us
about prayer. It was a fun night.
Tuesday I did not enjoy too much. Saijo Shimai is a great missionary,
but the way she almost forces lessons on people that don't really want
them just bugged me. It was also hard, because she kind of took over,
and then let me testify at the end of lessons, which isn't what she
had done before. We spent almost the entire day at the eki finding. We
taught 18 lessons, though I wouldn't have counted some of them, and
then we had our kokan review. She asked me why I seemed less happy,
and I was kind of stumped. But we talked, and I tried to explain, but
she didn't understand. Language Barrie probs. We ended the night by
teaching one of their investigators, and it was a good lesson, but I
was again just kind of there. I really struggled with that kokan, and
felt like I didn't learn much. But I learned some, and especially some
things that I don't want to do, because they just aren't who I am, and
when you dendo, you still need to be you.
Wednesday we went back to the hospital, and it was decided that my
companion will need a scope so that they can figure out what is wrong
with her. So we had even more travel to Kobe. We came back to toyooka,
and got out and dendoed. The only person that was home, told us she
wasn't interested anymore. But then on the way back we met Youko
Shimai, and we were able to share a message with her, and that
brightened our day, and then we almost ran into a fellow gaijin, and
she wants to meet again. She recently moved here from France, and we
are not sure if she is interested in the church or just having
friends, but we are hoping for the former.
Thursday we got out and worked our butts off Dendoing, because it was
the only day that we really had to dendo, and we did not see as much
success as we were hoping for. We taught 5 lessons, which was awesome,
but we visited over 12 people. At first I was pretty down about it,
especially cause the one scheduled appointment we had stood us up, but
we worked hard, we had fun. And I felt good at the end of the day. Had
to stop and get an ice cream pick me up, but there were definitely
small miracles that day to keep us going.
Friday we had district meeting, and it started super late, because one
of the elders almost got arrested. He is big, and Mexican, and when he
was picking up the bike the elders had left for them at the eki, he
looked suspicious, but the elders let him go. Meanwhile we were at the
church wondering what in the world was going on. But after that
district meeting was a lot of fun, and then we went to lunch together
at sukiya. After that it was back out to dendo. No one was home, until
murata Shimai, and her son murata Kyodai from Nishiwaki was there as
well, so I got to talk to him a little bit. We also got to teach
Yamada San, and she is doing well. Unfortunately her family is hantai,
so she is debating whether or not she should keep learning with us,
but she has a desire to learn, so we encouraged her to pray about it,
and hopefully she will continue learning with us. Not too long after
that we headed back out to Kobe, got on a train and then slept over at
the Kobe sisters again.
Saturday smith Shimai got a scope. She really wanted to just get right
back out to dendo, but it totally wiped her. So I ended up staying
with her at the sisters apartment, with the other sick sister, Harada
Shimai, who was the person I replaced when I came to toyooka. So we
stayed at the apartment all day and she rested up some, and then that
night we went to the Sapporo temple celebration, and that was amazing.
I didn't really have any idea what was going on, but it was way good,
and cool to see how all the youth worked together to make it a special
night.
Sunday was president monsoons birthday, and the Sapporo temple
dedication. We watched the first session in Kobe, and it was so
amazing. I felt the spirit so strongly, as if I had been in the actual
temple itself, not just in a church. I loved that feeling. It was also
cool to see elder Stevenson speak in Japanese, though I got the
English translation, so I could only hear him sometimes, but he is way
good at Japanese. They had a great translator for president Nelson
though. We then traveled to Nishiwaki so the we could ride back with
our members, and then they decided to stay for the 3 session as well
as the one they had just watched. It was way cool to be able to see it
again, but not good for dendo time. But they were our way home, and we
couldn't drive the car ourselves. So once we finally got back to
toyooka, we had to get SKK done, and then it was planning time. After
planning time, I was just waiting for my zone leader, tanaka Choro to
call, and talk about the 20 lessons goal we have as a mission, since
we didn't get it this week. I thought I could handle it, bad that he
would be super understanding because of how little dendo time we had
in our area, but he wasn't very understanding, and by the end of that
call I was broken. I couldn't really respond to him much, and when it
ended, I just cried. I felt like I had done my best, until that point,
and even though I knew he was trying to encourage me, it just made me
sad. My dear sweet companion supported me so much, even though she was
blaming herself for it. Sometimes calls to repentance are good things,
but this time it just hurt, and I didn't know what else I could've
done. But it was ok, I have a loving companion, and we are supporting
eachother through this.
Transfers are this week, and the only thing we have found out is that
smith Shimai is going to be an stl in kawachinagano with kawamura
Shimai. Still waiting to know if I am staying/ who my new companion
will be.
It may sound like I had a crappy week, but it was a good week in at
least one thing. I learned that I don't care what others think, as
long as I keep my savior as the focus. It is hard, but I am happier
when I strive to do as he would do, and just utilize others
opinions/counsel to help me better do that. I love you all so much,
and I miss you.
Love, Sister Makin
The Sapporo temple, it's beautiful.
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