Getting Colder in Chosei....

11-2-09
How was the mission conference? Super! We got up at 4am for the 5am train to get there. But, we ended up walking into the church at 7:30 and the program didn't start until 9. I was the pianist so I did prelude and before that I read some music while Yamashiro Shimai sang to it. So, I was really tired and had a headache the whole time. That was a bummer. We all got flu shots too. President Albrecht has some big changes in mind for the mission. During the Conference, at different times, he had three pre-chosen Elders come up and share an experience that pertained to what he was talking about. He skipped over where the slide show said Elder Morris was supposed to come in, but he had him come at the end instead to share about following the Spirit. He shared the story about how he referred Chiaki. Everyone gasped at it. (note: Chiaki is the woman that Emily and her companion found last August, after Elder Morris contacted them. See the blog entries in August for details) Everyone, starting next transfer, will prepare a musical number by zone. Needless to say I am 100 times excited for that. Did you know Elder Morris plays the violin? Two of my MTC senpai also play the violin and and elder plays the cello. I decided they should find a violist and get something together. Wouldn't that be great!?
How's it going with Emily and Emiko? Well, Emily's parents are in town. She might come to Eikaiwa tomorrow. We have only taught her once thus far. Emiko has set a baptismal date. She is in the Togane ward though. Her neighbor is a member and they have been working with her along with the elders. She has only been to church once or twice but the bishop said she can get baptized. The last time she had a lesson on baptism was August and I don't think it was in detail. I am a little worried about that, but she has the ok to be baptized. We will work with her on the AB lessons and help her to read the Book of Mormon. Did you find out how things are with your sweet investigators back in Kofu? Are their baptism dates still on? As far as I know, yes. Sister Green said that one of the brothers at church, Natori Kyodai, met Mei chan's dad after eikaiwa. That is a huge step! They are still working on fellowshiping the parents and helping them know about the church their daughter wants to be a member of. Does Yamashiro Shimai speak any English at all? Yep, she does! She wants to learn English so she can go to BYU Hawaii after the mission. Did you know that she doesn't have a license and has never ridden a car? In Japan, it is not extremely unusual. Licenses are expensive and most places can get gotten to by train or bike.
Does it continue to rain and rain and rain? Yes, amazingly. The rainy season ended, but now is when the rain is coming. Today is the first blue sky day in a long time! Are you biking more in Chosei than ever before? Is it at least flat terrain, since it's all rice paddies? Yes, tons of biking. On the way home from an appointment the other day we rode a long the beach. It was pitch black so we could't see, but it was wonderful anyways. The nights are so dark here and it is getting cold. Today is unusually nippy. My ears are the kind of cold where it hurts when you go to a warm place. My hair is long now and I have a scarf so that's always good! I will be find for the winter. Don't worry about sending me clothes. We are going clothes shopping last week. I have worn out all my shirts and they have lost their crispy-ness. I think it'll be cheaper to have me buy whatever here. Oh, and the bishop lives an hour away by car. We usually go about 2 hours out by bike at the most.

This morning we went over to sister Yamagata's. A student of hers was there for a lesson on... the tea ceremony. We just watched. It was amazing. I was trying not to get teary-eyed for some reason. First she practiced, which took about thirty minutes. Sister Yamagata critiqued her movements and actions. During the practice the girl served me an my companion "tea" or just hot water. Then she did it through again, still being critiqued, but more fluid. This time she put the stuff in and made the actual green tea. Sister Yamagata said she usually wears her Kimono but she didn't have time. The lesson was in Sister Yamagata's house, in the room with the tetami mats. In the middle was something I had never seen. It was about a 14 square inch hole in the middle of the floor, lined of course. In it was a cast iron pot with a lid and filled with water. In the old days homes used to use this as a heater. Nowadays she had it plugged into a wall to get it heated up. There was some sand in the bottom of the hole, and the sides were a golden brass so as to make the head reflect it seemed. During part of the ceremony is the treat eating. I guess it is usually more on the cracker side of things, but today we had the pink mochi with the anko in the middle wrapped in one of those leaves. It is a famous Japanese sweet. And by treat eating I don't mean all you can eat. We just had one and the tea presenter gave it to us on a piece of what we would call Japanese paper (thin yet sturdy) along with what was a cross between a big toothpick and a single, half length chopstick. It was neat to see all that was involved in order to present the tea. It was just so cool. Watching it online couldn't compare, but I think you'd be able to see if you wanted to. (You can see a video on the Japanese Tea Ceremony at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOCiOOJoWXk) This particular girl, about 30 I would guess, has been to church once (or twice?) before and heard from the missionaries once. We didn't set up a return appointment or anything but we did give her a CD with Sister Campos singing on it. Sister Campos served her about 2 transfers ago and everyone loved her voice so they made a CD and made lots of copies to distribute.

This week we are having a power week. Remember the three elders who spoke at conference? One of them said his sister's mission did a power week where every day they got up at 6, and took only 30 minutes for lunch and dinner. We are doing that now. We ate curry today cause it is quick to make. Needless to say we will not be eating the halthies this week. This elder also suggested giving up something. I tried giving up chocolate and treats but that didn't go over well. Ha ha. I am also going to make an effort to be super focused on the long bike rides even though there is nothing going on and it's just you and your bike.

Last eikaiwa the oldest grandpa brought an old folk tune of sorts and a recorder. I played the song for him after eikaiwa. He barely even understands a lick of English but he comes because he likes it. I think he attends another church nearby. He really likes music and he keeps the hymns we xerox and pass out. He was elated after I played for him and had me sign the music. He was beaming so brightly and it really touched me. Tomorrow for eikaiwa we are having a Halloween party even though it is after Halloween. Sister Sugimoto returned from America. She is the eikaiwa supervisor. She is helping run things and decided on a Halloween party.

Yesterday at 9 a sister in the ward called and asked if she could take us to visit two referrals. We said yes. The excursion went until three and included lunch with her elementary aged son at a restaurant. I did mostly listening the whole time. The conversation was fast and changed subjects quickly. I don't zone out on conversations even if I don't understand because it's hard to and consequently my brain was quite tired at the end of it all.

Oh, and I called Ann last week, the lady from the ward harvest festival. She watched the Finding Faith in Christ video with her husband. She was confused and thought that Christ appearing in America was something he did before he was resurrected. She didn't have too much interest in actually meeting but she said she had a lot of questions and expressed interest in coming to the church Christmas party. Also this month over in the Tokyo area there is a performance of the Messiah by church members. I am thinking it would be a good idea to invite her to that.

Last Sunday the 26 year old return missionary in our ward brought a buddy of his to church. We taught him a lesson during church, short notice. His friend's name is Yuta. We found what we think is his old record in our apartment. He came to church initially six years ago but hasn't come regularly. The return missionary said he had heard lesson one once or twice but that's all. Yuta thought, when we asked, that his earthly parents were God. We have a lesson with him again tomorrow. He has big eyes, smokes, is rather short, and plays with kids well. Later that Sunday the return elder called us an invited us over for dinner at a member's with Yuta. The dinner was good but it felt weird being there with the two guys. We followed them on bike afterwards towards Mobara eki at which time we gave the RM our name cards. He had asked for them because he was moving the next Monday. Thing is, it had started raining and my companion didn't have her kappa. So, we went a ways after the guys left but then had to go home. We got home only a half hour earlier than planned because the dinner had gone over time.

Anywho. Yesterday we had dinner with Emiko and her neighbors. The neighbors are a young couple with two little kids and a baby on the way. She had a her baptismal interview and then we had dinner afterwards. The interview and the dinner were at the house. The elders couldn't stay for the dinner but we shimai did. The conversation went long and we ended up leaving without a message which really isn't good. Her baptismal date is set for the 15th, the same as Chiaki's. On the train there I talked to a girl who was 30 but looked 20 and she lived in Yokohama about 15 minutes by train from the church at Hakuraku eki, my bean area. She wasn't shy at all about speaking English so we spoke in Japanese and English. I was able to get her name and number and then call Shaha Shimai over in Yokohama with a referall. Yeah! It was fun to talk to Sister Shaha. On the pamphlet we give people are some questions. I asked Hiromi, the girl, the question she had the most interest in. She said the purpose of life. So I explained we lived with God before, we are here now, and we will go back again. I then explained how my friend Sister Shaha could explain in detail and also give her information about eikaiwa. The girl had come to chiba-ken to visit her friend and surf.

Oh, and sad news. Our investigator Sugiura san, the older man, came to eikaiwa last week and return the Book of Mormon to Sister Sugimoto. She told me afterwards about it and how he said he couldn't believe in God, or something to that effect. She then explained something about his childhood and his parents, in English, but even still I don't remember exactly what she said.

So, we haven't had lessons lately. It is really hard to not teach lessons.

From here are are gonna house! Yeah! It has been a while with our schedule lately. Then we are gonna visit and active member unannounced, go to the dollars store, do grocery shopping, and then go on home.

Thank you for being such a strong family in the gospel. It helps me and blesses others. I love you so much!

Sister McMahan