The second week of CRAZY

Recent Rice Field

Transfer calls came! And I am staying in Tokushima for another transfer with Payne Shimai! We are super excited...we were both pretty sure that one of us would transfer because we are just way too good of friends, but gratefully the area still needs us together and so we get to stay :) 

This week was crazy. And we are really hoping that the next transfer does not involve as much craziness as this transfer did. Let's just do a quick count (including the crazy things that happened this week...) of this transfer (ok I guess it was mostly the last two weeks...):

- A bike accident with a rice field.

- Multiple running injuries.

- An infected running injury.

- A trip to a hospital.

- A flat bike tire.

- A second trip to a hospital...which turned out to only be for old people.

- A third trip to a hospital, where Payne Shimai finally got surgery.

- A bike accident with a car... (that one was also Payne Shimai). 

- Oh and also my camera broke :(

So...this week we went to a few hospitals, and then Payne Shimai had to get surgery on her hand and then she also got hit by a car. Luckily her bike and herself and the car were all fine, but the driver felt really bad. 

This week was so hectic that it felt like we weren't able to get very much done in our area. We had a language test to take, and then multiple trips to a hospital...and it is amazing how stuff like that just sucks up so much time. 

Payne Shimai and Grundvig Shimai in Yukatas

But, we were able to build some really good relationships with some of the Less Actives that we visited which was great - it is just so fun to meet with them and talk with them and strengthen relationships and bear testimony and I just love missionary work. We really do have the best job ever. When do you ever have time like this again in your life? Never again is the answer to that question. Unless you serve another mission, but that is beside the point. And we also taught some really powerful lessons and I just LOVE those moments where out of the blue the spirit just tells me what to say and then I can SAY IT. In Japanese and it is a very magical feeling. We had a lesson with one Less Active this week, and I felt really prompted to share an experience from high school. So I just opened my mouth and started talking, and at first I had planned to share it very simply, but I surprised myself by being able to share the story in much more detail than I had been planning. And that moment changed the tone of the entire lesson. We really are given what it is that we need to say in the moment that we need to say it. (And if we aren't, than our companion is, and thus is the beauty of missionary work). 

With some of my favorites!

One funny experience this week. Our French speaking investigators birthday was yesterday, and so she invited us to her barbecue birthday celebration. And in Japan foreigners have a tendency to find each other. So, at our investigators house (who is from the Congo) we met people from France, Poland, Indonesia, The Congo, Portugal. Belgium, China...and I think that is it? But, there were just so many people speaking French everywhere and I picked up a ton of French vocabulary, so that was great. I have learned enough vocabulary to slightly guess what people are saying. And it is mostly just guessing - lets not all go thinking that I have picked up French here because I can't  really speak French at all - but, we had a lot of fun trying to speak French with people and having our investigator translate for us, and then learning French vocabulary words. Something that I learned - French pronunciation is ridiculously hard and most of the time I feel like there is just something dying in my throat when I try to speak French. 

So that was my week. We had a ton of super fun things happen and I will send pictures of them...and then hopefully I can get my camera fixed today...that would be ideal. But, I will send pictures home of us trying on Kimonos (actually they are yukatas) with my favorite people ever and visiting some Buddhist temples (which we did this morning during exercise :) ) and our other adventures this week. I love you all!! 

 

Love,

Grundvig Shimai

Visit to Buddhist temple