11-16-09It has rained most every day since I got here it seems. My back has been hurting lately. I have noticed how my right arm and right leg are longer than the left side. Yesterday we walked a lot. My companion was fine but my back was very painful. That is how I know it is not usual.
Last pday we did not have our bikes yet so we walked around and shopped for clothes. I bought 2 sweaters. It was a long experience. We met a 24 year old school teacher on the street named Morita-san. We exchanged numbers and she said she would come to church on Sunday. To our dismay she did not show up. We also ran into Saori-san, a 23 or so year old girl who was an investigator in my first area. She recognized me. She is still investigating but has gone to church once or twice recently. Although she attended a Christian woman's university in Kichijouji, she goes to the Kohoku/Kanagawa building because that is where she lives, so she knew Sister Shaha! She gave me 3 copies of a thing for me to fill out. It was for a paper she as writing and she needed English speakers to fill it out.
On Wednesday we ran into Morita-san while streeting again. We also taught a kids's eikaiwa. Perkin's Shimai(one of Em's old companions) and her companion at the time while serving here found a woman on the street who desired English lessons for her kids, but with the stipulation that church was not involved. That was in January. It is November. We didn't have our bikes yet so we took the train. We planned on teaching them about body parts and had drew a person with labels to put on. However, they were very young and luckily they had a keyboard in their apartment so we did body parts for a bit and then I taught them "The days of the week" song. They had no idea what they were singing about and were too antsy to hear and explanation, but we had a good time and they caught on extraordinarily quickly. I really love teaching children and I am thankful to mom for showing me how to work with kids during school and primary and for raising us kids so well. When we were singing, like I had done when I taught kids in Kanagawa, I had then sing loud, soft, slow, and everything in between. They had fun imitating.
McMahan Shimai and Yamashiro Shimai On Thursday we taught the regular eikaiwa at 7 at the church. I was surprised to see they did not open or close with a hymn. The other two sisters taught the beginner class. We sat in. There were 3 students in that class. Two were an 11 and 15 year old boy. The lesson was on jobs. The little 11 year old said he wanted to be a teacher. You should have seen him. He had his pencil and eraser out and was writing and really paying attention. I prepared the game for everyone at the end. In order to include all levels of English I put famous people's names on everyone's back and you had to ask around to find out who was on your back. We had played it in Kofu and I thought it went over very well. Luckily right after lunch the district leader and his companion came over and put our bikes together. My brakes are a wreck. The back wheel left brake is permanently stuck to the tire so it is like my brakes are semi on. We dunno how to fix it. Also, during the day I accidentally stopped the same lady on my bike twice. It was getting dark and I was kinda tired and I guess I wasn't paying 100 percent attention to who I was stopping because we stop everybody.
On the Friday the 13th.... literally no one would talk to us. We did stop a lady who had a corgi whose name was Momo though. Momo means "Peaches" in Japanese!!!!!! (note: this is a picture of our Corgi here at home, named "Peaches"!)
Guess what? I was reading the Oct 2006 Ensign and I saw an article about Jenny Sattley, that lady in our home ward!! The kichijouji apartment has a lot of Liahonas in it. I love reading them for comfort.Saturday for dinner we had all apple. We have so many apples from the Chosei ward and of ones that were in Kichijouji when we got here that we must eat then all quickly. We had apples by themselves, apples in yogurt, and then apples with tuna. (I learned about that from Aunt Barbara a long time ago, except she put raisins in it to, but we don't have any of those). During the afternoon we attended the BYU-Hawaii produced speech contest. It was held at the church. 13 high school girls and 1 high school boy from various places in Japan participated. They had prepared and memorized 4 minute speeches on the family. We had planned to stay for half but I wanted to stay for all because it was so good. I loved hearing their perspectives. I think only one was a member of the Church. They were all so good I even took notes...
We have a much bigger family than we think. One girl said her tradition is to always have dinner with her family. The living family; it can come from within and heal itself Structure is not as important as content. It is never too late, too soon, or too often to say I love you.
Even though the people we talk to on the street might not know what they are saying no too, I liked hearing how important family is to the Japanese people. Some of them had been Buddhist way from from the Edo period, or so one person has said to us. One other person said that he might be interested in our messages but that his family has been the same religion for generations and so he cannot change. I really admire how they respect their family.
Okay, 15 more minutes. On Sunday we went to the Suginami ward. The other sisters went to the Kichijouji ward. Sister Yamashiro and I went out to house after church. We are housing an apartment complex and everyone had a talk box. My comp rang it and a voice said hello or something. My comp went to the door to listen more and the voice said hello again. I realized it was coming from the box so I said hello back. My comp realized what happened and then started laughing. Then I did too, so bad that I could not talk.The lady on the talk box hung up. It felt good to laugh. We had been at it a long time with the proselyting that day.
So, we just bike, post a note in the mail of a less active or active ward member, house, bike, post, house, bike, post, house... I like to keep the intervals short so I don't get a cold heart, as me and my companion like to say. By that we mean that we get kinda zombi like and are not really putting 100 percent care into what we say. We say cold heart because we realized that in Japanese they say samukunaru... or become cold. Same as in English! Sometimes, being different languages, there are different ways of expressing, but this was the same!
Well, today it is raining again. We passed out eikaiwa flyers by the eki this morning for a bit. Then I copied and entire cookbook that I found in Chosei. It is incredible. I had never seen it before in any apartment.
Sister Yamashiro does not drink milk or eat bread.
Oh and yesterday my comp and I returned at 7:50, a little earlier than usual to write our presidents letters cause we didn't make time on Sunday. We came back and the elders called and said they wanted to take purikura, those picture stickers. Well, we did,and finished at 9, the curfew. My comp and I went home right away.
We have been sleeping on an old futon (old, meaning old and .... flat) with no pillow while we are here cause the pillows are super nasto. Usually you sleep on 2 or 3 futons. The other shimai each have three. I am ok with one though. It was like sleeping on the floor at first, but it is really not so bad.
Well, I must go. Thank you for all you do and for sending me letters. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I love you sooooo much!
Love, Sister McMahan
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