Kibasen, and dendou go

Dear family and friends,

I have had a really fun week. Takatsuki is a great area, and the
members here are super awesome.

Monday we had a stake wide sports activity, everyone gathered together
and competed to get the most points, I didn't really know what was
going on most of the time, and the games i did know, they did with
weird rules, but it was a lot of fun. Didn't leave much time for
normal pday activities, but we somehow managed. They did a kibasen, or
Calvary battle, I'll send a video, cause I can't explain it. I wish I
could've participated, but we will just have to try it once I get
back. It looked like so much fun. That night we visited nakamura San,
an old investigator, and she wants to start meeting again. She used to
have a baptismal date, so hopefully we can rebuild that desire.

Tuesday we went and did our normal weekly service, cleaning up a park
with a bunch of grandmas. They are so cute. Don't seem to have much
interest in the gospel, but they like praying, and prayed with us
before we ate the refreshments after. We then were able to mayumi
Shimai, a less active. Our timing was perfect, she was just coming
back from a job interview, and saw us stopped in front of her house
and came and talked to us. We had never met her before, so we wouldn't
have known otherwise. As we talked she told us she has a desire to
come back. She has some health problems, but hopefully we will be able
to help her, and strengthen her faith as well. We then visited
Yoshimura Shimai, and we found ways that we can serve her and help
her. Yay, more service, I am way excited.

Wednesday we tried to visit more people, but without any success,
though we did bump into these sweet 11 year olds, and they got really
excited about sports night, and eikaiwa, hopefully they come. We
taught kids eikaiwa that night. It was fun, but I prefer normal
eikaiwa. Being around kids that much, and that many, makes it hard to
be obedient. Especially when my companion struggles with that one, and
the moms all don't understand why not. Plus I feel like I am helping
people more in the normal classes, but it is a lot of fun to teach
kids. I am just excited for the day when I can pick up the kid that
wants me to hold them.

Thursday we met with shoko and invited her to take the lessons. She
said yes, with I kind of of course, why haven't you asked before
fuenki. She is also interested in English, so we will be doing the
30/30 program with her. Besides that, we did SKK and got dendoud by a
JW. Always a fun experience, always nice, but always just weird.

Friday we had district meeting, and it was a wonderful district
meeting, I learned a lot from the spirit, but unfortunately had no
chance to take notes. I was translating for the nihonjin, but I think
that honestly helped me learn more. Which was great, I just need to
write it down so I'll remember it, haven't really had a chance yet. We
also taught the moms eikaiwa, which was fun, and then met with Wilma.
Her sister also stopped by, so we got to talk with her as well. We
talked about the plan of salvation, and they had really good, kind of
deep questions. Good thing these lessons are in English. Wilma really
loves the missionaries, and wants to feed us whale, and some
traditional Philippine food, which of course I am excited for. That
night we found a new investigator, momoka. I am really excited to
start meeting with her. She is coming to eikaiwa, and also gave us her
number, so it's pretty certain we'll be able to meet again.

Saturday we had dendo go. If you haven't heard of the new game Pokemon
go, it is taking over the world, at least in Japan, so they modeled
their dendo activity theme around it to connect with the youth. It was
so much fun, and we saw so many miracles. Missionaries from 5 zones
came to ibaraki, split with members that came from 6 stakes (I later
found out), and went out and dendod. So many book of Mormons were
given out, and numbers were exchanged, and it was just a great day. Me
and my companions kept choosing places where no one was, but there was
always one person willing to listen, and it always felt like a miracle
to me. Not tons of lessons, 5 in two hours, but really good quality
ones. That night we met with yoshino chan, and she also agreed to
officially start taking the lessons, though she is in the middle of
exams, but hopefully it works out.

Sunday we had church at 9! It was so hisashiburi, haven't had that in
a long time. I actually really enjoyed it. We still had lots of
meetings, and DCS was after church instead of before, but it was good.
I got to practice with the choir for stake conference in a couple of
weeks. The members in Takatsuki were so happy I could help with that.
I'm singing alto, but last night I kept singing the tenor. Though I
would start in soprano cause the conductor kept on messing me up. The
tenors were really strong, so it was easy to follow them. There was a
Bednar choro devotional being broadcast from Tokyo that night, but
found out last minute that we had to have an investigator with us to
go, which was way sad. All of the missionaries in ibaraki and
Takatsuki were struggling with it, but we got out and went to dendo.
Basically biked around for a couple hours, but I know I feel better
for having been obedient, than I would've if I had just decided to go
to the devotional anyways.

I know obedience does bring blessings, even if we don't see them at
first, and I know that the lord is guiding his work. We just have to
get our wills out of the way, and follow his will. I truly love being
a missionary, and working with the wonderful members here in Japan. I
love you all and miss you! I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Makin

Gypsy missionary, and general conference, and the jouzu jiko

Dear family and friends,

Often when you aren't in an area for more than a transfer, they say
you gypsied, at least among missionaries. Lately I have been changing
areas really fast money way different from the beginning of my
mission.

Monday one of our potential investigators wanted to take pictures of
omisaki Shimai, for his studio, project, something. Actually turned
out he wanted pictures of both of us, so I got to be in a photo shoot.
Ya, that was awkward. I don't have any of the pictures, yet. He might
be getting a cd to me, we will see. That night we went with the Koyama
to have ramen. It was so good. We got fortune telling ramen, and I was
given excellent luck, and my companion got one that meant marriage.
She wasn't happy, felt awkward about it, cause a server writes it
himself.

Tuesday we met with Aiko chan, a member debating whether she wants to
go on a mission or not, she is super cute! Plus she is coming to Utah
for her sisters wedding not too long after I return, we planned to
meet up sometime while she is there. That night we had eikaiwa, and I
taught the kids class. It was a lot of fun. Played hokey pokey and
head shoulders knees and toes. It was a lot of fun. After eikaiwa, I
got the transfer call, and learned I was headed to Takatsuki. At first
I hoped I was to be companions with workman Shimai again, but alas,
she departed. But I'm with Laswell Shimai, and she is a good
missionary as well.

Wednesday we met Yanai satako chan, who is from my first area,
Kurashiki! Megumi' skittle sister. She is currently less active, but
hopefully the missionaries will be able to help her. We also taught
kyono San, and even though her husband is way hantai, she is
progressing. But she can't tell her husband, and so that's a bit of a
problem. We haven't been able to help her get the courage to tell him,
but hopefully she will, and things will work out. I then worked on
packing and such, and then that night we met our dendoshunnin, and
shared a message with him. Omisaki Shimai thought we were both out, so
she wanted to make sure she could tell him some important things about
some people.

Thursday was transfers I traveled to meet my companion, couldn't find
her, we were both lost, but eventually we found eachother, and once
the other sister arrived, we headed back to our area. That day we
taught Wilma, a wonderful lady from the phillipines who wants to be
baptized, but her family has said no. But she opened up to us, and has
a lot of questions, she is way sweet. We also worked on SKK.

Friday we taught a moms eikaiwa, and a new mom was there. The new mom
and her friend that brought her showed a lot of interest besides the
kids being everywhere, and we were able to connect with them, which
was awesome. We also met shoko, and ended up talking with her about
temples, she thought it was awesome. She is super sweet, and I think
interested.

Saturday we did service at a hospital changing the bed sheets with
some of our members, and then we watched general conference. It ended
up taking most of our day, because the hospital isn't close, but it
was so much fun! I love general conference. The messages are always
what I need, and I have noticed that different people take different
things out of them, according to our needs. We had dinner with yoshino
chan. She is a little shy, but started opening up to us. We taught her
about general conference and prophets. It was a very natural meeting.

Sunday we had more general conference, and it was great. We also had
some meetings with our dendoshunnin, and he is a way cool guy. Really
nice, loves missionaries, and has a Mohawk. That night as we were
biking to visit amano San, a nice traffic guider told me to be
careful. He was telling everyone, in saying thank you, and telling him
he was a hard worker, I ran into a metal pole in the middle of the
sidewalk. I have gotten better at crashing at least. I launched off my
bike,and hit mainly my helmet, and thus my face, but no big injuries.
Just a couple scratches on my nose and legs. The traffic guide felt
bad, I assured him I was fine, and we finished the night at a slower
pace. I had a headache, but was actually really fine. We visited
amano, and she was really sweet. We got to help her with her shop.

Transfers have helped so much. It is definitely a fresh start, and I'm
excited to work hard in Takatsuki. I love you all, and hope you had a
great week. I especially love elder yamashitas talk from conference,
though I have to admit it was a little weird to hear him speak in
English. His English is way good too! Love and miss you all!

Love, Sister Makin

Shock of my life, members have friends

Dear family and friends,

Not really a shocker, of course members have friends, it was just cool
how many were introduced to us in a variety of ways this week. First
off, thank you to those who sent letters of encouragement and love,
they really helped. I truly am lucky to have such an awesome family,
and great friends.

Monday we did splits with the stls so my companion and one of them
could rest, and I went and had a little fun with Zhou Shimai. We went
shopping, which isn't my favorite activity, but it was alright. That
night we went and helped yuri Shimai pack. She is currently less
active, and we just recently got ahold of her, right before she moved
to Nagoya.

Tuesday we went and visited satomi Shimai in the hospital. She had her
baby, and named him Aki. It was cool to see she was doing alright, but
I just wanted to hold him. Wasn't too much point visiting when you
can't hold the baby was  thought. One of our investigators, kana San
came with us though, and her and satomi Shimai have become good
friends, so that was awesome to see. That night we had kids randomly
show up at eikaiwa with their mom. And so I ended up trying to teach
the beginner class and a kids class at the same time, while the sekime
elders taught the advanced class, with most of my students, cause it
was seriously so impossible. But it was fun. We also taught nagaoka
San, and he has realized he has to be willing to keep all the
commandments before her receives baptism, so he's willing to wait.
Wants to finish off his supply of coffee before he tries.

Wednesday I was sick. I had a really bad sore throat, and a head ache.
I think I just caught a bit of omisaki shimais cold, but with the
relationship stress, it just knocked me out a bit. I'm feeling better
today though.

Thursday I wasn't feeling good still, and before omisaki Shimai
arranged splits with some members before I could tell her I felt ok
enough to dendo. So I went with mitani Shimai and learned about some
less actives as I rested again, and she went with Juliette Shimai and
me akatsuka shimais friend Rosalin, who is now our investigator. I
also got to visit Nishikawa Shimai, a member from shimogamo, because
she was in a hospital in Hirakata. She actually lives in Hirakata
area, but because of all the hills to the church, she goes to church
in shimogamo. That is how close the two are.

Friday we had an awesome ztm, and I seriously learned so much from it.
Welch Kaicho has given us all a goal, and I felt the spirit confirm to
me that is a goal straight from God. The goal is to see a baptism
before the end of the year. For each missionary to see a baptism. I
feel if I get myself out of the way, and change and follow the lords
will, I will be able to see the accomplishment of this goal. The
spirit was just really strong as they told of this goal. That night we
visited emi Shimai, and she wants to take the missionary lessons to
help her remember. She has been less active for ten years, and just
started coming back after she moved to Hirakata. She is awesome.

Saturday we got to see the women's session of general conference, and
it was amazing. I loved uchtdorfs talk, and also Jean b. Binghams
talk, I will bring the light of the gospel into my home. It truly was
a great conference, and I can hardly wait for next weekend when I get
to see the rest of conference. That night a member had us over for
dinner, and invited her friend, and her friend seems to really have
interest! She lives in Higashi Osaka area, but has only met with us,
hopefully she will really want to learn, and we can refer her to the
sisters there.

Sunday koike Shimai brought a friend to church. No Christian
background, and didn't speak Japanese, so I translated everyone's
testimonies as best as I could, but I also explained a lot of what the
people were talking about. She had seen a Mormon documentary before,
so she knew of some things. She also gave me her phone number, and
said she would like to come again, and so I am excited to see where
that goes. Her name is Fatou. We also met a less active young women
that day, who hadn't been to church since basically her baptism. We
were knocking on her house as she was coming home. That night, koike
Shimai had us over for dinner, and we were able to share a message
with her nonmember husband, he is really nice, and you can tell how
much he loves his family. His English is also really good, and so I
spoke mainly in English. I felt bad for omisaki Shimai, but koike
Shimai is still ganbaroing with Japanese, and so I put the members and
hopefully soon investigator first. She seemed ok with it.

Well that's basically my week. Hirakata has a lot of dendo Fire, and
so many people introduce their friends to the missionaries. There are
so many potential and former investigators that were referrals, sad
that they aren't investigating, but awesome to see the members desire
and action to share the gospel. Love you all! Hope you have another
great week!

Love, Sister Makin