Highs and Lows in Kofu

5 0ct 2009

Okay, so I have a MILLION things to write. I wish all the time that you could just be here or watch a movie of the stuff that goes on. A week feels like a year because so much stuff happens. Everything can just change on a dime. Even the weather is changing. It is getting cold now. It reminds me of how frozen I was last winter and I am thinking how I have to go through it all over again, but at least I know what to do this time.

For fun stuff we have an ALL mission conference on the 30th and we will all get flu shots. So fun. I am 100 percent excited. We also have an all sisters conference next transfer.

We get transfer calls on Friday and transfers is Monday then we have P-day on Tuesday like regular. So, I will email next week and from here or out at transfers. Yeah! The elders said they heard from the ZL there will be big changes in the mission next transfer. I think the elders here in Kofu will go down to 2.


Okay so seriously. Here is what is going down in Kofu.

Wednesday.

Got the going home letter! ( Em will be released March 30). We dropped a letter off in the mailbox of the RS President. We couldn't find her house for 30 minutes and then we read the neighborhood directory sign. Go geniuses. Anywho...when we were riding out we saw 4 little kids playing. We said "How are you?" in English as we rode quickly by on our bikes. One little girl thought for 5 seconds and said "I'm happy!" It was so cute. She was maybe 7 years old. We had a lesson with Mei-chan that evening. She brought her friend who was the same age. We taught the Plan of Salvation. Mei-chan, like the last time we taught the POS, didn't grasp the meaning of Resurrection, but her friend understood it all. Mei-chan has yet to talk to her parents! We just got a new YW pres, Sister Natori. She and her husband and 3 little boys got back from living in American for 8 years. Anywho, she is a totally great lady. We are gonna see if she and her husband will go out to eat with Mei-chan's parents.


Thursday

We had district meeting. So great. The elders were putting new tires on my comp's bike so we decided to walk over to Izumi's, the lady we found housing who is returning to the same apartment to live for the 3rd time. She speaks perfect English and is kinda sad. We were about to go up the eelvator when she came to the bottom of the stairs at that exact moment! Whoa! She told us about a fun jewelry place to see, to which we are going with Hosaka Reiko Shimai today.

After chatting with Izumi we walked a bit and saw a grandma dumping a pot of food into the river that ran along by her house. It was one of those sewage type rivers. We were like what the? She just dropped that in there! We said hello and she said she was feeding the fish. She said there were about 30 who lived there, those big Japanese fish. Carp, right? I dunno. She was hunched over and really cute. We walked across the cement walkway bridge that went to her house (all the houses along this sewage river thing had bridges to their houses). She had us kneel in her genkan and gave us little mini yogurt drinks. She lives with her son and daughter but they were at work. She said to come back any time. So cute!

We were gonna have a lesson with Takano san and Sano san but Takano couldn't make it. Hosaka Reiko Shimai jointed. We were gonna watched Finding Faith in Christ, but there was a mix up and we didn't get it from the elders. So we watched The Lamb of God. It was kinda a graphic movie and Sano san was shocked. So we kinda ended the lesson. It was an ok lesson, but just way intense for her.


Friday

Took the train to a place we had never been, 36 minutes away. It was raining. The first inactive we went to visit was tough to find so we asked the neighbor and ended up having a conversation with her. We could all feel the Spirit even though she had no interest. Then we visited the inactive. Turns out it was the wife. She thought her husband's family might be a member. She and he taught piano flute and cello. She said this was her studio and she actually lived 30 minutes away but from what her neighbor said she actually lived in the camper that was parked in the front yard. We are still not sure. She lady didn't really want to talk.

Then wen went to the 2nd less active.We were looking at the map in front of a house and the figure of an old woman was seen in the second story. She had white hair. Then she closed the blinds. It was a big window and you could see 3 fourths of her. Long story short, we asked the neighbor, and it was HER! The lady in the window. So we went back and she didn't come to the door.

Then we had diner with Mei-chan and Risatio-chan at the church. We made them spaghetti and dessert. Dessert was American pudding with a broken up oreo and 4 corn candies from America. It was too sweet for Risat- chan. I ate her corn candies. At the end we briefly shared the message of the Restoration in 5 minutes and read from the intro of the Book of Mormon. Turns out Mei-chan didn't know what a keystone was so we drew a picture. It totally made sense with her!

Saturday

Went to share a message with an inactive, Ishikura Shimai. She is the one who gets her blood changed. She was busy so we shared a scripture and made a return appointment.

Then Hosaka Reiko Shimai drove us up to the facility where Fukai Shimai is. I have mentioned this lady before. She has no use of her hands and it is hard to walk. She is alright in her mind though except for after living here for almost 20 years I think it is getting to her. She lives about 25 minutes away by car up in the mountains. We shared a scripture as planned but then found out it was okay for me to play the piano. So I played the arrangement I always have on hand. It was in the main hall. It is actually a facility for handicapped people. There were about 6 of these handicapped people in the room when I played. My companion said you could tell they were listening, even though their bodies had problems and they could not think well.


Got a lesson from Noel, Chiaki's daughter. It was so cute. You could heard the mom telling her what to say. They had to cancel their appointment but said they could come to part of Conference on Saturday. Yeah!

Lastly we met with Chosen-san. Nakamure Shimai jointed. She is 21 and from Sendai, here for school. She only comes to Sacrament meeting cause sometimes she travels etc. I have never seen her before though. It was a good lesson. Nakamura Shimai taught simply and I was very amazed. We reviewed God and Families and taught prophets. Chosen-san was kinda confused but she listened.

Sunday.

In Gospel Principles they went around asked everyone an impressionable event from their childhood. I Said when my mom and dad used to sing to me.

We met a girl named Kimiko while dendo-ing in the sports park after church. We shared a passage from the Book of Mormon and then gave her the Book of Mormon. She wasn't comfortable giving us her phone number but said she would call. We also saw the Yuasas in the park playing frisbee. They ignored us. I was completely heartbroken. We will have to drop them now. For sure we will occasionally go and post something if we have an activity though. Luckily we met Kimiko san after the Yuasas so it got my spirits up again a bit.

Monday.

It rained all day. We visited a less active and she pulled up right as we came. Out of her car she said "shimai senkyoshi?.... yadda." I think yada means "aw man!" in English. But anyways, we chatted and made a next appointment.

We were gonna have a lesson with Nakazato san but the canceled cause she had to go to the doctor for her son. So we housed a ton. It was raining though so it was pleasant.

A phillippino lady invited us in. Her name was Amelia. She had met the Mormons before in the Phillipines. She spoke English, Japanese, Tagolog, and another dialect of the Phillipines. She started smoking right in the middle of talking to us. She gave us some mango roll things, kinda like those chinese rolls. Anyways, she didn't have interest cause she said the way we hold church is different that what she is used to. We stayed for 10 minutes.

Then we made our way over to the Sejas for FHE and housed a nearby apartment in their apartment place. Then we got a missed phone call. My companion called back and it was Chosen-san. It was the most devastating phone call. She said she read a bit of the Book of Mormon and, long story short, didn't want to meet. It was kinda hard to understand the exact meeting because she said "muri" which means impossible and she is also speaking a second language. Anyways we assumed the meaning to be this "I read a bit but I just can't believe it and I prefer not to meet anymore." So, there you have it. I was so incredibly crushed.

The FHE picked me up though. It went well. We shared a message about families. I had xeroxed some stuff in Spanish (2 quotes) from the Spanish Family Home Evening Book. The grandpa, mom, and her son were there. We played "don't eat pete" for the game and they LOVED it. The cousin Frank came and played. We are glad we invited him. He enjoyed it. I think he might join the church. He is 15. I caught his eye once and he smiled at me. He has been in Japan for 5 years. I dunno why he is here but I can just imagine it would be weird. His mom isn't even here. Anyways, it was a really good FHE. Seriously, they were all just in love with "Don't Eat Pete."

And, there you go. The longest email ever!

OH. Funny story. This week we went to put our trash out and everyone had yellow trash bags with their names written on it in sharpie. So get this, they switched over to special yellow trash bags that you have to get from the city. The next day we got a not in our door mail box, in KANJI, saying info about the new trash thing. We were wondering how they knew it was us, the foreigners, who put the bag out and we thought it was funny the note was a language we couldn't read. I remembered last transfer I had read something somewhere, in an English trash info thing, that they would switch over to a new bag but I had totally forgot. So, we have to go find some of these new yellow trash bags.

Thank you for writing me!!

I love you!!!!!

SIster McMahan