Week: Lots Of Craziness

This week was pretty crazy. When I was reading back in my journal to remember the beginning of this week, I thought some of those events happened last week. Craziness.

Anyways this week was really crazy. Full of fantastic and less fantastic experiences. On a mission, or life in general, it always seems to happen that way. So anyways on Monday we decided to visit an investigator who wasn`t home, but his Mom answered the door. She was like hysterical and crying. She told us that her Mom had just passed away that day. We just didn`t know what to do. She kept apologizing, crying, and then she would stop crying. In the end she wanted to be alone so we prayed outside her house and cried together. We tried visiting her again a couple of days later but they weren`t home. So we left notes, hopefully something touched her heart. She really needs to hear about the plan of salvation so that she can know that she can meet her Mom again. 

The rest of the week was also crazy. We did a lot of housing. Hardly anyone would listen then somehow at the end we would always find someone who would seem somewhat interested or very. We found a high school girl who we made an appointment with next month and this young family. Now to be honest, I really thought they were going to reject us. But he listened keenly and was totally fine with us stopping by the next week. It was awesome! Went super smoothly! And a young family is really someone we wanted to teach! So that was great. Young people are the greatest, I think most of them understand that there is a greater power and i feel like their hearts are more open to the gospel. 

Then on Saturday we had a really busy day scheduled. Four lessons planned. It was going to be great, except everyone cancelled. Everyone but this 20 year old college student. It was our first time having a lesson with her and she was an hour late so we thought maybe she wasn`t coming. But she did and the lesson went awesome! We asked her to get baptized in March and if she thought what we were teaching her was true. And she was like, ya I do, and yes I will. But March was going to be busy for her so she wanted to do it earlier. Earlier?! I was surprised, but pleasantly so. She is kind of busy though and needs to attend these next couple sacrament meeting in order to meet her baptismal date. But I know with the Lords help it will all come to pass according to his plan for her. So we are gonna work to get her to church. Speaking of church. I spoke again. They asked me to do 10 minutes, then 5 because they thought I couldn`t do 10. Please! I did 10 and then some! Just kidding by the grace of our Father in Heaven I was somehow able to find the words to speak to these people and it went pretty well.

Finally yesterday we did a bunch of housing, met some pretty scary people. But also some really awesome people. A lady who kekkoed (no thanked) us, but gave us oranges. And another young family who said we could totsuzen (sudden streeting lesson) them if they had time. And an older drunk guy who was way nice! When he answered the door we asked him if he believed in God. And he told us he was God. We later found out that the kanji for God is in his last name. Soooo he wasn`t completely crazy. He was way nice, but we couldn`t really do anything because he was a little drunk. But we gave him our chidashi (flyer) and he called us that night apologizing for not telling us his name and said if we ever need anything to call him. He was super nice! And we`re gonna go visit him again, hopefully not drunk this time.

Anyways that was my week! I love you all and hope that you had a fantastic January! 

Johnson Shimai

P.S. No pictures this week. We were locked out of the church computer so we had to come to a store like place where you can`t send picture. Sorry!

Blog: Lost Track Of The Weeks

Ya, I stopped counting weeks on my blog because now I don`t know what week it is :)

To be honest this week I don`t remember much. And I feel like I just emailed a blog post. Because of transfers things got pretty crazy. Before transfers it was just running around like mad men because my companion was going home and two other shimai in the apartment were transferring. So we were just all over the place trying to say goodbyes and pack. But I just said goodbye to my trainer!! I`m so sad! She was the best trainer ever! I can`t believe she`s back in America. And our goodbye was cut short because I had to hurry and leave to get on my bus. It was a 5 hour drive to Taniyama. And I was the only missionary on the bus transferring down there. So about an hour before I had to get off I started panicking because I thought I had missed my stop because the names sound the same on the intercom, and I can`t read anything here. But I said a prayer and stayed on until the time I was supposed to get off and I made it safe and sound :). But merely by coincidence I met a girl from the U.K. who was on the same bus as me. She was pretty cool. She was visiting her friend before she goes back and said that she went to school with a Mormon. We just chatted for a short time and we were thinking of hanging out again, but she didn`t have a phone, and neither did I and she was only staying for a couple days. So maybe I was just a stepping stone for her, maybe she`ll want to hear more from the missionaries in the UK. Except I kept calling her Abbie. Ya, her name was Emma. Maybe I just ruined her whole image of the church. But it was such a blessing from God that I bumped into a foreigner in the middle of nowhere！

But since I got here not much has happened. But my new comp is way awesome. She is from Tokyo and speaks pretty good English actually. But we try to mostly speak Japanese in the apartment, so hopefully I　will improve. We have taught two lessons so far. One to a member who has troubles with gaining a testimony. And one to a new investigator who is really busy. If he wasn`t so busy I would consider him a kinjin (golden investigator). He seems like he really wants to know the truth and understand God`s plan for him. But right now he wants to be a doctor so he is so hard to meet with. But hopefully we can find some time to meet with him. 

And then Sunday was fun. We just kind of chilled with the members. It`s a branch so there aren`t very many members here, but they seem nice. Taniyama is actually not that countryside. It`s more suburban. I haven`t been here that long, but I`m excited to meet some more crazy Asians! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic January! Stay warm!!

Love,

ジョンソン姉妹

Outside Fujisaki apartment! The last time I saw it :(

Saying goodbye to Southworth-sama.

Saying goodbye to Messer shimai who transferred to Okinawa

Doi-sama and me. She was the only one that stayed :). I`m gonna miss our 4-man in Fujisaki!

 Blog: Saying Goodbye

So this week was waaaaay crazy!

Because my comp is going back to America and we visited a whole bunch of people. Which worked out great because I`m transferring to Taniyama!!! Which is like 5 hours away from Fujisaki. I am way excited, my new companion is Nihon-jin! (Japanese) Everyone says she`s the greatest so I`m pumped!

Anyways this week just lots of biking around our whole area!

So on Wednesday we visited some less actives and they fed us lunch, which was so delicious. Then they started to karaoke in their house and wanted us to sing ave maria. He wanted us to just sing it acapella And his nonmember girlfriend was like, ``You`re Christian right? So you should know how to sing this.`` So they brought out a blank tape to record us and when we told them that we couldn`t sing it they put some music to it. But it was in Dutch or something. So we kind of... made it up? We would just like try to pretend like we knew, but neither of us can sing to begin with, so it was terrible. And I couldn`t stop laughing. But it was way fun! Then on Thursday we met with a former investigator who fed us until we were about ready to pass out. We had a big lunch, then she bought us ice cream, then we walked around to some temples that she visited during new years and then we stopped and had juice and cookies. I thought I was going to die! But she was super nice and an awesome lady. But she likes being Buddhist and kept trying to get us to tell our full names and address to Buddha. I just said a small prayer to Heavenly Father, haha. But then she had us drink some fresh ground water as part of the Buddhist culture, maybe? I am not actually sure if she drank it, but I was expecting something cool and refreshing, but it was salty and warm and very nasty. But the experience was photographed :). Then on Saturday we celebrated the birthday with like the only high school girl in our ward. She has a hard time with self confidence, but when we spend time with her I can see the light of Christ in her. We went to the local mall and ate at subway and bought her crepes and surprised her. She was very surprised. I don`t think she understood that we did these things because it was her birthday because she bought us presents too, haha! But that`s okay because they were cute! 

Then on Sunday I had to give a talk. It wasn`t so bad, but I read the wrong scripture for like 5 minutes. I also did it in a kimono as well, because an older woman in our ward does kimono stuff for a living so she brought some and we wore it all day during church. They were way pretty, but quite uncomfortable. And we undressed at the church, which was very strange. But it was a cool experience and the ward member is the cutest obaa-chan (grandma) ever! I wish I could write more details, but maybe the pictures will explain it better! It was just a crazy and fun week! Also we were pretty sure I was transferring because no new sisters are coming in so they brought our area down to 4 man. It`s pretty crazy at our apartment with 3 of us leaving! Wish us luck!!

Two miracles that happened this week though. So at our zone meeting they talked about talking to the younger generation. And the next day we happen to be riding around on our bikes when my companion said we should house this one apartment (I`m so glad that she is so in tune with the spirit). And a high school boy answering the first apartment we go to! And he said we could come back! So we`ll have to see how that goes. Then on this last Sunday we had two less actives come to church! It was amazing! But yep, the church is true. Spirit guides me everyday, if he didn`t I probably would`ve been hit by a car by now! Crazy city drivers! Love you all! 

Love,

ジョンソン姉妹

We took a selfie at the karaoke people`s house, いけだ兄弟 and 山口姉妹　house

Me praying at the Japanese temple

My face right after I drank the salty water at the temple with Miyamai-san and my comp

Us at a shoukuji ( meal ) with Mori shimai. She made us fancy sushi and cake for her friends birthday who the other shimai (sisters) taught a message to

Us standing outside a shrine that we found one night. But we got too scared to go in. It was really creepy.

Us putting on our kimonos at the church

Me and Southworth Shimai on her last Sunday wearing our kimonos! She looks so cute!

Us at the bishops house for a shoukuji. It was SO far away and up a mountain, but the food was so delicious and their daughters are so cute!

Our last kodomo eikaiwa ( English class) with (left to right) Hikaru, Aiki, and Asahi-kun

We went out to eat with yamamoto-san for Southworth going back to America, we ate at a chanpon noodle shop, which was very good. But I was so stuffed. After we ate I just wanted to stand up and cheer because I was able to finish mine

We went kimono shopping with Westover shimai and matsuura shimai and had mandu afterwards. Matsuura shimai is just the cutest in her kimonos

Blog: Happy New Year 2015!

Hey. It`s me! So this week was basically completely taken over by New Years. It`s like the biggest party in Japan. Except I have no idea what people do, and when I ask nihonjin they can`t really tell me either because they don`t know. But it was pretty hard to dendou this week because everyone said they were busy because of New Years. It`s like if someone came to your door on Christmas trying to preach Hinduism to you. It just didn`t really work out. But they were pretty polite about it for the most part. But because the streets are basically desolate on New Years and New Years eve we get invited to a lot of shokuji`s. On New Years eve we were invited to a mochi suki. Which is where they pound the rice and make it into mochi and then they eat it in warm sweet anko soup and they also have a big bowl of miso soup, too. It was really fun. Like half the ward came! It was great! But then as we were walking home this crazy lightning/rain/hail storm came out of nowhere and broke both mine and my comps umbrella`s. There was a lot of screaming and trying to duck for cover, but we made it home. Wet, but alive. It was a great new years eve! I know what question is really on your mind, though. Did we stay up until midnight? No. No we didn`t. But we did set an alarm for 11:59 and we all got up and gave each other high fives. But we didn`t tell my comp that we set an alarm so she was mad when she first woke up, haha! Then on New Years day we went to two members houses to eat.

There was a huge snow storm while we were riding our bikes to our first shokuji. It was crazy! But when we finally arrived we helped make it and then they like basically just watched us eat. When you eat at Japanese peoples houses they just basically shovel food into you until you look like you might explode. Don`t get me wrong it was super delicious, but we started off with like crepe wrap things (crepes, but with like meat and lettuce and stuff) and I had like 4 because we had to at least finish off the crepes. Then we had desert crepes. Then we had mugicha and snacks. We were there for like 5 hours! But it was really fun we played a Japanese card game with their son and read scriptures with them. But then we had to book it to our next appointment on our outrageously full stomachs and go and eat more food. Luckily this was with an american family so it was self serve and we had pizza, so it was good. We played card games at their house, too and that was way fun! But ya, that was basically new years for me :)

It's Snowing

Lunch on New Years with the Okumura`s

Us at the mochi making bowl! We arrived late so we didn`t get to hammer any, but cross your fingers for next year!

Us during the crazy rainstorm hiding under a building with our broken umbrellas! Me and Southworth Shimai

Eating Mochi balls. OISHI !

Brother Shiki who invited us over to the Mochi suki. He`s hilarious!

This week has also been awesome spiritually. It`s 2015! I can`t even believe it! But I am going to finish the Book of Mormon today, so I am super excited! Finished it in three months which is like the perfect amount of time to remember still what happened in past chapters, but I don`t feel like I have to read half of Alma in one day. And I think that through reading the Book of Mormon consistently I have received many other blessings. Like yesterday we had a less active who told us that she now gets two Sundays off a month and we told her to try and make some goals for the new year, and she said she wanted to make a goal to come to church this Sunday! It was so cool to see her make that goal herself! I know that the spirit works through many people in many different ways. I`m so excited to see the many miracles God has for Japan in 2015! I love the gospel and am thankful for the people who got me on a mission this past year! Have a great 2015 everyone!

Love,

ジョンソン姉妹

Christmas week!:

This week was literally so crazy that I can`t remember where I left off on my last blog! But thank goodness for journal writing. Really I am so grateful that I have kept a journal up until this point. Such a blessing that I got into the habit of journal writing before I came on my mission. 

But this week was Christmas week! It was so fun and exciting. On Tuesday night we had district meeting and then we sang at Honbu for another open house. And something that I have realized is that there is no reason for me to be scared of not being able to speak Japanese. Because Japanese people are usually so patient and nice. So I went up to a girl who was kind of standing off in the corner, and it was in all sense of the work awkward. But I trusted in the Lord that it would just go well. And we just chatted about her hobbies and stuff. I just threw out any question I knew how to say, and she answered and sounded like she was having a good time. Turns out she wasn`t a member but a members friend who came to the open house with her. So it was exciting to talk with her. She was so nice!

Then it was Christmas eve. We just rode our bikes around for three hours delivering cookies to some investigators and members who lived alone. It was so fun! I love riding my bike around, even if it is really awkward to stop and talk to people that way. But people usually stop because we have our bikes, so that`s awesome. We met with one of our investigators and her daughter for a little while before they were getting ready to go to a Christmas party. And her daughter gave me so many sticker! She is the cutest, though. And as we were riding away she watched us go until she couldn`t see us anymore! It was so cute! But we were able to set up another appointment with her Mom, and we were thinking of asking her to eat out with us so that she won`t be able to cancel this time. Hopefully she will feel genki enough to come and meet with us.

Another small miracle is we were looking for this members house. And we couldn`t find it. Because:

1. Japanese addresses are impossible to find, half the houses don`t even have addresses on them.

2. He apartment number wasn`t even written so even if we did find the building, we wouldn`t know which apartment to give the cookies to.

But right as we were thinking about what to do. We turned and she was coming up the street, which was so cool! So we gave her the cookies and she seemed so happy!

Then the next day I called my family which was awesome! Then we went and ate out with the missionaries and then watched frozen. Ya, like the Disney movie. It was so weird, But fun. Then we went and looked at the lights and met a lot of crazy people. But it was fun. And we found a place that had a snow machine! So there was all this fake snow around and we had a snowball fight! It was super fun!

So Christmas was basically just awesome. We also met a new investigator and set up an appointment, but she didn`t show up so that was sad. But then we met another girl who said she would meet us again on the street that we met her on her way to work. So hopefully we can meet with her again. 

It`s pretty hard to meet with people now because of new years. Which is the biggest holiday in Japan. But we will continue to look for those people who aren't busy and can meet with us and continue to work on the people we have already found. 

I`ve also just finished Helamen in the BoM and am going to try and finish it before the year is up. 3 day reading dash! Wish me luck! And Have a Happy new year everyone! 

Love from japan,

ジョンソン姉妹

 

Fancy restaurant we ate at with a less active and his girlfriend.

us on the Ferris wheel

Us on Christmas in our matching pajamas, haha! That`s about sums up our companionship!

Us walking around looking at the lights. And photo bombed by some elders.

Looking at more lights

 

Blog:Pre-Christmas 2014

Okay this week we got a call from someone in another area saying that someone in their ward wanted us to make Christmas wreaths with her for our investigators. So we were trying to find the place and got lost of course :)! And obviously we had to climb to the highest mountain in order to get lost. But it was beautiful so no regrets. But the actual place was like this neighborhood of model homes. They were really nice, but the whole block was like abandoned so it was a bit creepy. So that was fun! 

And I`m never telling anyone I have ever glanced at an instrument ever again. I have already played for a sister in our ward for a Christmas program, on stage, at a mall. Lead the music for a fireside. And been asked to play the organ for sacrament meeting and piano for relief society. For some reason when I tell them I barely play they think that means I can play any song in the hymn book. Ya, lesson learned. But even though our ward is crazy they are way awesome. 

This week we also had our first meeting with someone. He is a less active and he lives with his non-member girlfriend. We just went and visited, but then it turned into a lesson after we showed them the Christmas movie. She was asking so many questions! And the less active started bearing his testimony, the spirit was so strong. She told us that she could feel the power coming from us, which was awesome to hear because sometimes I feel very powerless. Especially when people run away from me on the street. I really can`t help but laugh at that though. 

Then the next day we decided to visit a kind of investigator. Right when we pulled up though she was going to go somewhere with her daughter and she told us she thought about calling us because she wasn't busy, but then she thought maybe we were busy. And we were, visiting her. We ended up going inside her apartment and talking for like an hour. I was mostly entertaining her daughter since it was hard for me to understand what they were saying, but it was fun! She kept giving me little gifts, like stickers, and pages out of her books. She was so cute!

Then we sang at a mall type thing with all the missionaries in our zone. It was so cold and fun. I also think I found the next Josh Groban. He is a missionary from Brazil. Time stopped when he started singing, it was very unexpected. I am still amazed.

Then yesterday we had church again and I got to know the ward better. And we have this really hilarious chorister who gets super into the music. I wasn't singing half the time because I was watching her. Then we had kodomo eikaiwa (children`s  English class) They were hyper as usual, but it was fun. The family whose house we have English class at kept giving us mugicha (herbal tea?) which I don`t like that much. So I ate my companions mochi, because she doesn`t like that, while she drank my mugicha. We thought we were being sneaky then we looked over and saw that one of our students had totally witnessed the whole thing. But he didn`t tell, so I guess he`s playing for team senkyoushi (missionary). Then on our way back we met a woman who said she respects Christians and wanted to come to our Christmas party. She had a lot of kyoumi (interest) so that was good.

It was an awesome week, and Christmas time is busy, but I am so excited. We have our ward Christmas party this week! And we are meeting with a few people again. I am so excited! Hope you are all doing well and having a great holiday season!

Love,

Johnson 姉妹

I coincidentally met one of my Mom`s friends at the train station! Crazy!

The ocean!

Our investigator and her daughter

Us at the wreath making model home

Me and my bike, Chuck.

My companion and I at kodomo eikaiwa (English Class). The baby on my lap can`t talk. He was just the families youngest son. Mhmm, we got along well. Neither one of us knew what was going on. We`re not supposed to have kids on our lap, but his brother placed him on my lap. I couldn`t just push him off... so I didn`t :)

 

 

Week 1 of Japan:

This keyboard is different than American ones. The space bar is very small. So it is taking me a lot longer to type. So bear with me, haha!

Anyways! Japan desu, ne?! (right?!) I wish I could remember what happened! But I didn`t even remember my camera or address book, so I really feel like I am losing my mind! But things have been really crazy since I left the U.S. which feels like forever ago now, but was actually exactly a week ago. So I arrived on Tuesday night, even though I left Monday early morning. So there was a bit of a time warp. But basically I was sick on the whole plane ride, it was awful. But when we got to the mission home, we were all just zombies at that point, and it was literally like walking into heaven. The mission home is underneath a temple. That`s right, you heard me, under a temple. There was a christmas tree, american style classic home with some Japanese touches. And she had food laid out for us. Real food! We all just ate and passed out. It was the most beautiful dream ever. The next day was basically orientation, it was good, I don`t remember what it was about really, except they showed this really graphic video on bike safety. It was interesting. Then the next day I was brought to the station and shipped 15 minutes away by train to my area. I am like one city south of the honbu (mission home) in a place called Fujisaki. My companions name is Southward shimai. This is her last transfer, and this is my first. She is really an awesome trainer, though. It`s four sister in our apartment. And we actually have no elders in our are at all. It`s just the four of us sisters, which is weird from going from a district of all elders to just sisters. But it is still awesome and fun.

All we really did that day was weekly planning, and then we went to bed. The next day was so cool, though. Although missionary work is like exactly what I thought it was, but it is so different experiencing it vs. like actually being out and doing it. It is kind of dejecting when people don:t want to listen to your awesome message. And Japan really needs this message. I can tell that even in just the week I have been here. But anyways, we had one of our investigators volunteer to come to the church so we could teach her, because she thought it was going to rain. So that was a miracle, apparently she had never volunteered to do that before. But it was an awesome lesson. Basically all I did was stare at her, and shut my companions fingers in the baptismal font doors. Whoops. She is the nicest lady, though. She made us bookmarks for our BoM and she gave me a big hug the first time she saw me. I was surprised, but it was awesome! Then we taught kodomo eikawa (childrens english class), ya they were off the wall. But they were so cute! It was so funny, though, one of them was doing a puzzle and he dumped the pieces everywhere and he couldnt find the last piece. I saw it was behind me and handed it to him, and he basically said along the lines of, ``Ah, so you were hiding it from me.`` I just laughed, like really hard. But Japanese kids really talk fast, I can:t understand anything they are saying, but still awesome.

Then the next day was sunday, the members were nice and I had an interview with the bishop which was... good. It gave me a lot to think about. But while I was bearing my testimony (because it was fast sunday so they asked me to do an intro) I told them I like to each Japanese people, not Japanese food. Haha! Luckily I caught myself and the members laughed with me. The members are nice, but I still haven:t met most of them yet. Then on monday brother Heaten, who is the person who runs the MTC, came and did a training meeting with all the missionaries in Fukuoka mission except Okinawa. Apparently it was a big deal, but it just seemed like another day at the MTC to me. So I got to see everyone that I said goodbye to on Thursday, so that was nice to see people I actually knew :).

I really do love it here, and am learning a lot. I have come to realize that this mission is very much not about me at all. Although sometimes I like to make it out to be. But I am here to invite, which is my success. But it isn:t about my success it is about the people of Japans success which is them choosing to come closer to their savior. And that:s all that I can really do. And it`s frustrating at times, but still so humbling and cool! 

Also a small miracle (there are lots of small miracles, but) so I was riding my bike to like the other side of our mission in the rain, and it was uphill. I was so tired I just wanted to stop peddling and lay on the ground and cry. So I said a little prayer in my heart. And I kid you not, I look up and on the side of the building in huge letters it said, ``You can do it, don:t give up!`` I have no idea if it was an advertisement for something, or I was delusional at that point. But it was really a sign from God. And I did make just fine.

I will continue to do my best. I`ll never have the opportunity to do something like this again! So gambarimasu (I will do my best)!! Have a great week everyone. I don:t think my emails will be as long as this one from now on, but it:s week one so kamaimasen (I don`t care). Love you lots!

ジョンソン姉妹

（johnson shimai)

 P.S. Something interesting I`ve noticed about Japan. Is that they get surprised easily. Like on the streets it makes sense, because it`s weird for someone to just come up and talk to them. But I`ve also noticed something else that is strange. When I knock on doors. They answer, jump, and say, ``oh! Bikuri shita!`` Which means, Oh, you surprised me. So I don`t know what they usually expect when people ring their doorbell or knock on their door. But ya, just thought that was pretty funny.