Ohaiyo!
Okay let me start with PDay on Monday. Well PDays are a bit different in the field. We actually have to do work. We had 2 lessons last Monday so it just felt like a regular day to me...except MORE stressful because we had to do laundry and shopping and email.
We taught a nonmember with a member present lesson at the Suzuki home on Monday. I think this is when I realized how bad my Japanese actually is. I just smiled alot. It is all you can really do. It is very difficult not having control of the language situation. I'm just learning that I'm going to have to have patience with it. Our Spanish appointment fell through. I was very sad about it...but then we visited a less active family, the Ozake family. They are Peruvian Japanese. It was really fun. They gave me Inca Cola and we talked about Peru. I like talking to the Peruvians in Japanese...because they speak Japanese very simply like me.
I found frosted flakes at the grocery store and I bought alot. They have Tony the tiger on them so they are actually legit frosted flakes. I've eaten alot of cereal lately. The Japanese grocery store was so cute. All the ladies who check you out wear these bonnet things and yell really loud. It is funny.
On Tuesday we had a zone conference. CSwags is in my zone (Christiansen shimai) so it was so fun seeing her. It had only been 4 days since we had been separated...but you can tell we'd both been through alot of culture shock in those few days. It was comforting to see a familiar face. I really like my zone leaders. They are also in my district, Elder Burghin and Elder Hamada. Elder Hamada was the assistant for an entire year. He is finishing out his mission in Narita. Elder Burghin is nice...I like that he speaks to me in English haha. After the zone meeting, our district went to eat. It was my first restaurant since before the MTC. If you don't count the McWrap I had at LAX. Lol. Guess what? It was gross. I did not like it at all. It was supposedly an American place. But just no...I did not like it. Tuesday was sort of a big spending day. Haha. Taneda shimai and I went out for REAL JAPANESE sushi on Tuesday night. Haha. So we went to this place where its 100 yen for a whole plate of sushi. That would sound SUPPPER sketch in America, but in Japan it was great! It was so cool. You place your order on this tv screen and then it comes out to you at your table on this conveyor belt thing! It was so cool!
On Wednesday I was feeling very stressed out about the fact that we have zero investigators. So we searched the area book and...it yielded pretty much zero results. I was just thinking...how am I supposed to do work here when we have NO ONE and I can't even begin a simple conversation with someone??
Wednesday night we had Eikaiwa. Eikaiwa is the English class we teach at the church every week. There are some interesting characters. The people love speaking to me in English. I think its really funny. They also always ask me if I'm Brazilian before they ask if I'm American. Isn't that weird? I think it is because they picture everyone in America to have super blonde hair and blue eyes...and I have blonde hair but darker eyes. Idk. It is kind of strange.
It seems that Thursdays are just sort of rough days to be a missionary...even in the field. I kind of had a bad attitude on Thursday about the investigator issue. I just don't want to be that missionary that had zero baptisms and just feels super inadequate. So I decided to get over it and just work. I told Taneda I wanted to knock on 200 doors, not including homes where people were not home or didn't answer, by the end of the week. I figure with that amount of people, we are bound to find people that will be receptive to that message. Housing (door to door trackting) is tough because the Japanese people all have these intercom systems...so you basically get no face time. Of course...on Thursday...there were no results. So I was a tad bummed.
We taught a member mogi (practice) lesson on Thursday at the other Suzuki family's home on Thursday. We then went to the ward sportsnight. I played basketball and volleyball. I've got a wicked serve. I liked going over to the Suzuki family's house. She made us american BBQ. Oishkatta! It was delicious.
On Friday I resolved that numbers didn't matter...and I just personally resolved to give my best effort every day and work as hard as I can. That is all I really can do. Then it will be up to the people, because they have agency.
Being a missionary is helping me to overcome my awkwardness a bit. What's more awkward than approaching strangers, while looking like a nun, in a foreign language? Nothing, right? Wrong...I'll tell you what is more awkward...when drunk old asian men come up to me and ask me to get a drink. It is super creepy and happens every time we go streeting. It is weird.
.I eat pretty much yogurt and granola and cereal and ramen. I am very grateful when we don't have dinner appointments...because you never know what they are going to serve you...and its rude not to finish it all. So I'm grateful to eat IN...eating out is also a kind of a scary experience because I don't know how to order or anything. I bet you never thought you would hear me say I would rather eat at home than out at a restaurant. lol
On Saturday we walked around and housed a lot. Weekends are good because people are actually home. We were sort of in a nicer part of our area. We usually go to the Murakami Danji or what Taneda shimai calls "Peru town" and it is kind of a dirty area. Japan is weird. Some parts of it are just so modern...and other parts are like 3rd world. But anyways...so we are in this nice neighborhood...everyone has a zen garden and just a really Japanese style house...and so we are proselyting and this guy steps off his porch and tells us we are in a bad area. They are all "bukhyo" or buddhist. And I'm just thinking..."Then what IS a good area??" So we continue on...and seriously with about 15 minutes left...I'm just wanting to go. But I had this feeling to keep going...so we are walking and we come up to this cute house...and of course...intercom system. So I'm like..."Great. No one will let us in here." But we ring the bell anyways...and Taneda drops the "Watashitachi wa Matsujitsu Seiku IesuKiristuto Kyokai no senkyoshi desu" line and lo and behold, the lady says she'll come down and let us introduce ourselves. Of course I'm just like an excited little puppy. And Taneda is giving me this look like "Don't get your hopes up"...so she comes down and I pull out my BOM and I'm just smiling...and she lets us in. And she says she only has 1 minute. So we share...and she's interested in the BOM. Starts asking questions> We are there for 1 hr and 1/2...and then we share our favorite scriptures. I bear my simple testimony...and then at the end of all that she says shes buddhist and can't accept the BOM but would love for us to visit and chat again. So we leave...and we are def going back. And I know I havent baptized a congregation or anything. But that just renewed my faith that people WILL answer doors. They will. You just have to be diligent and you will see miracles. One of my new favorite scriptures is Mormon 9:19 and 21! It is all about miracles.
Sunday was good. All the youth bore their testimonies yesterday and the bishops 2 yr old son started screaming during sacrament. Reminded me of an American ward lol. Bishop Sato reminds me alot of the chairman in Memoirs of a Geisha. Haha He sounds just like him and has that business man swagger. Exactly what I would imagine an LDS bishop in Japan to be haha.
We taught a recent convert lesson to a girl named Maya yesterday. She is so adorable. She is learning english so she likes to practice with me.
Anyways. That concludes my adventures in the Orient this week. I miss you guys alot. I think of you every day. I love you.
Ai shite imasu!
Love, Goose.
Okay let me start with PDay on Monday. Well PDays are a bit different in the field. We actually have to do work. We had 2 lessons last Monday so it just felt like a regular day to me...except MORE stressful because we had to do laundry and shopping and email.
We taught a nonmember with a member present lesson at the Suzuki home on Monday. I think this is when I realized how bad my Japanese actually is. I just smiled alot. It is all you can really do. It is very difficult not having control of the language situation. I'm just learning that I'm going to have to have patience with it. Our Spanish appointment fell through. I was very sad about it...but then we visited a less active family, the Ozake family. They are Peruvian Japanese. It was really fun. They gave me Inca Cola and we talked about Peru. I like talking to the Peruvians in Japanese...because they speak Japanese very simply like me.
I found frosted flakes at the grocery store and I bought alot. They have Tony the tiger on them so they are actually legit frosted flakes. I've eaten alot of cereal lately. The Japanese grocery store was so cute. All the ladies who check you out wear these bonnet things and yell really loud. It is funny.
On Tuesday we had a zone conference. CSwags is in my zone (Christiansen shimai) so it was so fun seeing her. It had only been 4 days since we had been separated...but you can tell we'd both been through alot of culture shock in those few days. It was comforting to see a familiar face. I really like my zone leaders. They are also in my district, Elder Burghin and Elder Hamada. Elder Hamada was the assistant for an entire year. He is finishing out his mission in Narita. Elder Burghin is nice...I like that he speaks to me in English haha. After the zone meeting, our district went to eat. It was my first restaurant since before the MTC. If you don't count the McWrap I had at LAX. Lol. Guess what? It was gross. I did not like it at all. It was supposedly an American place. But just no...I did not like it. Tuesday was sort of a big spending day. Haha. Taneda shimai and I went out for REAL JAPANESE sushi on Tuesday night. Haha. So we went to this place where its 100 yen for a whole plate of sushi. That would sound SUPPPER sketch in America, but in Japan it was great! It was so cool. You place your order on this tv screen and then it comes out to you at your table on this conveyor belt thing! It was so cool!
On Wednesday I was feeling very stressed out about the fact that we have zero investigators. So we searched the area book and...it yielded pretty much zero results. I was just thinking...how am I supposed to do work here when we have NO ONE and I can't even begin a simple conversation with someone??
Wednesday night we had Eikaiwa. Eikaiwa is the English class we teach at the church every week. There are some interesting characters. The people love speaking to me in English. I think its really funny. They also always ask me if I'm Brazilian before they ask if I'm American. Isn't that weird? I think it is because they picture everyone in America to have super blonde hair and blue eyes...and I have blonde hair but darker eyes. Idk. It is kind of strange.
It seems that Thursdays are just sort of rough days to be a missionary...even in the field. I kind of had a bad attitude on Thursday about the investigator issue. I just don't want to be that missionary that had zero baptisms and just feels super inadequate. So I decided to get over it and just work. I told Taneda I wanted to knock on 200 doors, not including homes where people were not home or didn't answer, by the end of the week. I figure with that amount of people, we are bound to find people that will be receptive to that message. Housing (door to door trackting) is tough because the Japanese people all have these intercom systems...so you basically get no face time. Of course...on Thursday...there were no results. So I was a tad bummed.
We taught a member mogi (practice) lesson on Thursday at the other Suzuki family's home on Thursday. We then went to the ward sportsnight. I played basketball and volleyball. I've got a wicked serve. I liked going over to the Suzuki family's house. She made us american BBQ. Oishkatta! It was delicious.
On Friday I resolved that numbers didn't matter...and I just personally resolved to give my best effort every day and work as hard as I can. That is all I really can do. Then it will be up to the people, because they have agency.
Being a missionary is helping me to overcome my awkwardness a bit. What's more awkward than approaching strangers, while looking like a nun, in a foreign language? Nothing, right? Wrong...I'll tell you what is more awkward...when drunk old asian men come up to me and ask me to get a drink. It is super creepy and happens every time we go streeting. It is weird.
.I eat pretty much yogurt and granola and cereal and ramen. I am very grateful when we don't have dinner appointments...because you never know what they are going to serve you...and its rude not to finish it all. So I'm grateful to eat IN...eating out is also a kind of a scary experience because I don't know how to order or anything. I bet you never thought you would hear me say I would rather eat at home than out at a restaurant. lol
On Saturday we walked around and housed a lot. Weekends are good because people are actually home. We were sort of in a nicer part of our area. We usually go to the Murakami Danji or what Taneda shimai calls "Peru town" and it is kind of a dirty area. Japan is weird. Some parts of it are just so modern...and other parts are like 3rd world. But anyways...so we are in this nice neighborhood...everyone has a zen garden and just a really Japanese style house...and so we are proselyting and this guy steps off his porch and tells us we are in a bad area. They are all "bukhyo" or buddhist. And I'm just thinking..."Then what IS a good area??" So we continue on...and seriously with about 15 minutes left...I'm just wanting to go. But I had this feeling to keep going...so we are walking and we come up to this cute house...and of course...intercom system. So I'm like..."Great. No one will let us in here." But we ring the bell anyways...and Taneda drops the "Watashitachi wa Matsujitsu Seiku IesuKiristuto Kyokai no senkyoshi desu" line and lo and behold, the lady says she'll come down and let us introduce ourselves. Of course I'm just like an excited little puppy. And Taneda is giving me this look like "Don't get your hopes up"...so she comes down and I pull out my BOM and I'm just smiling...and she lets us in. And she says she only has 1 minute. So we share...and she's interested in the BOM. Starts asking questions> We are there for 1 hr and 1/2...and then we share our favorite scriptures. I bear my simple testimony...and then at the end of all that she says shes buddhist and can't accept the BOM but would love for us to visit and chat again. So we leave...and we are def going back. And I know I havent baptized a congregation or anything. But that just renewed my faith that people WILL answer doors. They will. You just have to be diligent and you will see miracles. One of my new favorite scriptures is Mormon 9:19 and 21! It is all about miracles.
Sunday was good. All the youth bore their testimonies yesterday and the bishops 2 yr old son started screaming during sacrament. Reminded me of an American ward lol. Bishop Sato reminds me alot of the chairman in Memoirs of a Geisha. Haha He sounds just like him and has that business man swagger. Exactly what I would imagine an LDS bishop in Japan to be haha.
We taught a recent convert lesson to a girl named Maya yesterday. She is so adorable. She is learning english so she likes to practice with me.
Anyways. That concludes my adventures in the Orient this week. I miss you guys alot. I think of you every day. I love you.
Ai shite imasu!
Love, Goose.