Some background information on Okinawa...be sure to read the following post with the letter

Okinawa is in red at the bottom.

The name Okinawa means "rope in the open sea", a fairly apt description of this long stretch of islands between mainland Japan and Taiwan. Consisting of 49 inhabited islands and 111 uninhabited islands, Okinawa has a subtropical/tropical climate. During World War II, when heavy bombardment and suicidal Japanese tactics, including the use of civilians as human shields, killed 120,000 Okinawans or one fourth of their population at the Battle of Okinawa. Post-war they remained under U.S. occupation until 1972, and there remain several large American military bases on Okinawa Island. There have been a number of protests against the presence of the US military, usually after a high profile crime committed by a service member. However, the US bases contribute to the economy of the Okinawa main island. 5.3% of the Gross Prefectural Profit of Okinawa comes from the business related with the US bases. 

Okinawa-jima

Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. The island has an area of 1,201.03 square kilometers. It is roughly 640 kilometres south of the rest of Japan.  The island is 7 miles wide at its widest part, but most of the island is only 2 miles wide.  

The island is 70 miles long.

A map of the island of Okinawa

Population: 1.385 million (2009)

Coral reefs

White sand beaches

Climate

The island experiences temperatures above 20 °C (68 °F) for most of the year. Okinawa and the many islands that make up the prefecture contains some of the most abundant coral reefs found in the world.  Rare blue corals are found off of Ishigaki and Miyako islands as are numerous species throughout the chain.

Food:

Okinawan cuisine is distinctly different from that of mainland Japan and bears notable Taiwanese influences. Okinawans too proudly proclaim that they use every part of the pig except the squeal and pork makes an appearance in almost every dish, including bits like ears, trotters and blood which are generally disdained by the Japanese. Even Spam has a distinct following.

Other Okinawan ingredients include vegetables rarely seen on the Japanese mainland such as bitter melon (ゴーヤー; gōyā) and purple yam (紫芋;murasaki-imo). Okinawan tropical fruits including mango, papaya, pineapple, dragonfruit and the sour lime-like calamansi (シークァーサー; shīkwāsā) are delicious when in season. Dark cane sugar (黒砂糖 ; kurosatō) is also a popular snack, eaten both as is and made into a vast variety of candies and pastries.

LANGUAGE:

Okinawa has its own language group, known as Ryukyuan (琉球語 ryūkyūgo in Japanese), which it shares (along with much of its culture) with the Amami Islands in Kagoshima prefecture. These languages are related to Japanese (together, they form the "Japonic family"), but are generally incomprehensible to Japanese speakers. The largest of these languages, the Okinawan language (Okinawan ucināguci, Japanese 沖縄語 okinawago), is spoken on the main island of Okinawa and the surrounding islands, and is not used much these days. Most people under 20 can't speak it, the most common exceptions being people who were raised by their grandparents and people who grew up in rural areas. To further complicate things, each of Okinawa's major islands has its own distinct dialect, some of which are different enough to be considered their own languages by some.

1st week in Japan!

I'M IN JAPAN!

Could someone teach me how to rotate this picture ?:)

Thank you for all the mail.  I really appreciate it.  I'm going to try to combine all the answers to your questions into this email.  Don't think that I don't appreciate you!  I'm just trying to be efficient :)

Did I mention I am in Japan?!?!?!?!?!? :)  I am so excited!  I have no idea what is going on and I LOVE IT :)  Guess where in the Fukuoka mission I am?   Okinawa.

Look it up.  It is the absolute southern part of Japan.  The hottest and most humid part of our mission and usually sisters and elders don't leave this area for a while.  For example, my companion has been here for 6 months.  It is so beautiful here.  People speak a different language than what I was taught in the Missionary Training Center.  No really!  It's called okinawabin and the older people speak it.  Native Japanese speakers can't understand them.  What an adventure!  It is hilly, it is hot, the bugs are bigger than life it's self!  Futons, fancy bathrooms, military branches, buying a new bike (or trying to find one at least... bike season is over so it was a challenge.), attempting to ride that bike in a skirt (there is no graceful way to do it, I've resorted to putting shorts on under my skirts.  Poor passersby were getting a funny show), eating whatever my native companion decides to cook, etc.  There is so much I want to tell you!  So i apologize in advance for the randomness.

First off, when I arrived in Fukuoka, I stayed in the mission home for 2 days.  Then I left early in the morning to catch a plane for Okinawa.  Okinawa is an island so we have to fly here and we could only have one suitcase on the plane.  It was kind of annoying, but it made things interesting.  My other suitcase was just shipped here so that's a relief!  I love my mission president and his wife they are extremely nice.  

Sister Watanabe and I in our small apartment.

It is hot and humid.  The ocean is on all sides of us.  

My companion's name is Sister Watanabe and she's from Japan.  She is the cutest thing that has ever been squeezed into a 5'2' frame! I LOVE HER.  Watanabe Shimai (Sister Watanabe) is fun and she has been here for awhile so she knows what's going on.  She loves throwing me under the bus to challenge me!  :) There isn't a single street contact where I don't get nudged to saying something :)  I love it!  She is 24, before her mission she was going to school in agriculture.  She is really good with people.  She is from somewhere in Japan... it starts with a K :)  Ha Ha!  She is an angel.  And her English?  Well... let's just say I'm learning Japanese really fast :)  She is teaching me lots and I'm working her to death :)  I say "hokori ni omoimasu" often to Watanabe Shimai.  It's Japanese for I'm proud of you... she died laughing the first time I said that.  She asked (or at least I think she did) what my teachers in the MTC were teaching me!

Our apartment is the size of a shoebox, a very cute shoebox.  The door frames are meant for tiny tiny people.  I saw the biggest bug of my life this morning on our way out of our apartment.  It was gone before I could take a picture, but it was huge, it had a million eyes and it could have eaten me.  

The view of the city of Okinawa from our apartment.

I am exhausted!  The heat kills you here.  I sweat constantly.  It's attractive.  I just got a new bike this morning.  It should last me all my mission.  It was one of the last small framed bikes on the entire island!  Super lucky.  But I look horrid riding it.  There is no way to ride a bike modestly in a skirt.  Your skirt can't be too long or it will get caught in the chain!  Sister Missionary problems!  And Dad, no cars in this area for the missionaries.  I'm fine with that.  I will be ripped when I come home :)  and so will all my skirts!  The roads here are non existent.  They have them but they are so small.  If I die during my mission it will be in a bike accident.  It's scary riding in a car here too.   The cars drive on the opposite side of the road (than the US)!

Yesterday I went to 2 baptisms... IN THE OCEAN!  Cool!  See the pictures.  Isn't it beautiful!  They were from one of the military branches here.  I'm in the actual city of Okinawa.  I didn't realize how many military bases there are here!  It's insane.  The two military "branches" here are massive.  but it's really difficult to keep track of everyone.  Especially in the summer.  The kids are out of school, people are on 2 month long breaks, they're moving bases called "pcs"ing, etc.  There are 2 English speaking branches (military) and a large Okinawa Ward (Japanese speaking).  Tell Ken and Krisy Nelson that I thought of them this week!  There are senior couples that serve on the bases and the Nelsons would be perfect for the job.  In fact there is a fun couple here that reminds me of them.  You have to be retired military or active duty to get on the base.

Japanese is hard.  But I have jumped head first into this experience.  I have no idea what's going on, but I haven't let that stop me.  On Saturday there was a ward activity at the beach.  Lots of our investigators came and it was a great experience to introduce them to the bishop and to members of the ward.  It went really well!  Sister Watanabe left me!  Well, she was in eye sight and sound so there was no breaking the rules, but she basically told me to go make friends and get to know the ward while she did the same thing.  We divided and CONQUERED!  The kids love me (I'm not being conceited).  They love it when I try to speak to them.  They laugh a lot.

My new friends!

The beach party....white sand beaches.

So I embarrass myself to make friends.  It's really working out great :)  The biggest blessing of the week was that beach party.  I talked to every single person.  And not a shallow conversation either.  I think it went really well!  If I didn't know a word, those kind ward members helped me figure it out.  And after a while I completely forgot that I had no idea what I was doing.  I went 2 hours forgetting that I can't speak the language. :)  It was a huge tender mercy to be able to communicate.  I love these people!  They are so kind!  But as soon as the party was over and we den do-ed (Note from "editor"...I don't know if that is a typo or a Japanese word) I went back to my normal poor Japanese-speaking self.

The Kamijo Family...I love them!

We have an hour each Thursday that we teach English class.  AKA... the foreigners teach the English class.  It is hilarious.  There is a pretty big American influence here.  There are over 30,000 service members and their families on the bases.  Don't worry, everyone I run into speaks Japanese and usually only Japanese so I'm getting plenty of exposure to the language.  I love looking at the English translations on signs.   For example, at the beach party there was a sign that was translated to English also, it read:  "Don't use the money after the wet."

Mom, it is 4: 30 pm right now if that helps with the time change stuff :) (It sure did help....McKenna is 16 hours ahead of us in the Pacific Time Zone.)  I have no idea what time it is at home... or day for that matter.  

I got a blessing at the MTC from a member of our district presidency before I left.  I was really nervous about coming.  I don't speak the language that well!  (Well I kind of do, but my accent it so thick!)  He blessed me that I would be able to adjust to new areas and new companions.  I haven't missed a beat!  No jet lag, no nothing.  I love it here!  I love the people!  I love the bugs!  I love the weird food they feed me!  My only complaints: riding a bike in a skirt, and getting a million bug bites!  If thats all I have to worry about my entire mission, then I'm set!

Life is great!  I am exhausted!  I am working my tail off and I love these people!  The food is a little weird, but I'm eating it all with a smile (be proud mom!).  Our investigators are great, but we had a hard time meeting the Fukuoka missionary standards of excellence (the goals set by our mission president).  That is going to change.  I am excited to just be outside, meeting all the people!  I love this gospel.  It is true.  If it wasn't I would have given up long ago.  No one in their right mind would relocate and learn a foreign language in humidity and heat that is out of this world, for fun.  This message brings peace and happiness that you can't find anywhere else.  I love it.  I love being a missionary and I love the beautiful people of Okinawa.

Ai Shite Imasu!

Hawkins Shimai.

This address is for while I'm in Japan!  

Sister McKenna Lain Hawkins
Japan Fukuoka Mission
9-16 Hirao-josuimachi
Chuo-ku
Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka
810-0029 Japan 

Week 9 - last at the MTC

I AM SO HAPPY!  :)  Life is wonderful, challenging & I am dying to get to Japan. 

 

But first....

 

Ok in TWO DAYS I will be flying to Japan!  Japan!  Crazy.  I am so excited.  Packing looks like it destroyed our room with all three of my roommates and I attempting to get something done here and there.  I cannot wait.  Mom thanks for telling me about Justin's mission call!  Singapore!  That is so exciting!  When does he leave?  Please tell him congrats for me!  And if he has any questions about the MTC to write me.  I know this place like the back of my hand.  Almost too well.  

I've been studying lots in PMG (Preach My Gospel) about what I can do to help the ward (individual congregations) and one of the suggestions is to encourage good activities.  I can't wait until I'm in Japan!  I can't wait to meet my Bishop and all the members!  I want to shake every members hand and be their best friend :)  Ok so that's probably a little overzealous but I definitely remember only so-so missionaries that would be in our ward and no one would trust them.  That will not be me!  

 

Lynsey White is getting married!  I'm completely heart broken that I won't be there, but I will be in spirit!  Lyns was like my adopted older sister.  I miss the White family! 

 

Last zone soccer match.

Ok so it's a little sad leaving the MTC.  Not really....I'm dying to go, but I love the friends I've made here!  Our district is incredible and so is our branch presidency (that is a term for the three men who are our districts ecclesiastical leaders).  They are fantastic.  The branch presidency wives are like our temporary moms.  They are so sweet.  One looks and sounds like Betty White.  So this week was full of a lot of lasts... Our last zone soccer game (Dad~I scored a goal.  I know you secretly think I'm not coordinated, but the mission has done wonders for me).  We taught our last lessons, had our last class period, said goodbye to our sensei Tachi (it was really sad, our teachers are incredible), and had our last TRC.  It was also filled with firsts.  Yesterday we had in-field orientation.  It's basically like cramming for a final exam.  You realize that you still need to learn a lot the day before the test.  We learned lots!  I was taking notes so hopefully I can remember everything!  Also, Lewis Shimai (Sister Lewis) and I were asked to help train the new missionaries.  So Wednesday in front of them (there are tons of them by the way!) we demonstrated how to begin teaching.  It was lots of pressure, but it went really well.  We were a little sad initially because the time for our "how to session" and our opportunity to Skype Japanese members overlapped.  But somehow we were able to do both!  We didn't plan a lesson, because we weren't planning on teaching but it went really really well.  I was so relieved.  That was the biggest miracle of the week.  Not botching our "how to begin teaching" and then somehow managing to "Skype Japan" (without a lesson plan or being prepared) too!  We have come SO FAR.  You don't realize it until you see where you started.  Those new missionaries have tons of fire and enthusiasm, but they're just lacking in focus.  You are able to learn so much here and I am so grateful I got to spend these last 9 weeks in the MTC. 

 

New Missionary tags!

We got our new missionary tags!  We'll wear them in the airport and in Japan until we get our official tags.  It was really exciting.  Oh funny story about that.  Lewis Shimai opens hers up and we're looking at them.  I recognize that my character for sister and her character for sister are different.  Well after some detective work we realize that Lewis Shimai's tag says Elder Lewis :)  Lucky she's a good sport.  We both ended up laughing really hard about that one.  Luckily these are just temporary! 

 

One of the sisters in our district had to go to the health clinic and while she was there she ran into a lady named Wendy who said she knew me.  I couln't figure it out.  She said she was my sister-in-law's niece and her that her parents are in Tokyo working for the church.  I couldn't connect the dots until I realized it had to be Emi's sister, which makes her my mom's sister-in-law's sister!  Well I had just figured that out when another sister who is also going to Japan came up to me and asked if I knew a Sister Mckenna Hawkins!   She had a package for me!  It was so cute.  Wendy helped "smuggle" in something from Jared, Emi and the kids!  It was adorable and it made my day.  I loved seeing their pictures and the candy lae/lay/lai was so cute from the kids! 

 

So some numbers for the week... there are a little over 1,000 missionaries leaving with us Monday.  We are flying off to over 500 missions around the world!  That's A LOT of 18 and 19 year olds who don't know a whole lot about what they are doing ..... yet!  It is one of the biggest groups ever but the numbers are increasing dramatically over the next 6 months.  I chatted it up with the cafeteria workers and they go through about 80 gallons of cholcolate milk... a day here in the MTC.  Wow.  There are districts made up of entirely sisters here at the MTC.  That's usually unheard of.  The fact that our district is half and half is so cool too.  I was looking at pictures from Sister Clark (one of our teachers)'s album and she and a Nihongin (Native Japanese) were the only sisters in their district.  Our district of 12 will be broken up as we enter the Fukuoka, Japan mission.  The mission will have its own districts and zones (comprised of multiple districts) where we will be a part of about 220 - 230 missionaries that make up the Fukuoka Mission, one of 6 church missions in Japan.  There are only about 130,000 members of the church in Japan and missionary work really started in Japan about 3 years after the end of WWII.  We have our work cut out for us and my immediate concern is mastering enough of the language to just get along.  Our primary focus in the Mission Training Center has been to learn Japanese primarily as it relates to explaining Christianity and the tenets of our faith.  "Normal" conversational Japanese is not a strength of mine and I am hoping to fix that problem with a lot of study and faith over the course of the next 9 months to a year.  Hopefully, I can be at my best, in terms of communication by my one year mark.  That will be a tough road for me, but I look forward to the challenge.

 

I'm off to go pack!  I am SO EXCITED!  :)  AND SO HAPPY! 

 

The next email you get will be from Japan!  :)

 

Love!

 

Hawkins Shimai

Elder Kunz and I

I got my travel plans! My last week at the Missionary Training Center!

Ok best week ever!  Buckle your seat belts because between the Forth of July, getting our travel plans and GETTING OUR TRAVEL PLANS, it has been a wonderful missionary week.  

Sister Hawkins with her travel plans!

First things first... As a missionary you are always exhausted.  Constantly!  Every morning when I wake up I remind myself that in about a week I will have the ultimate nap on the plane!  

That is one LONG nap!

Did I mention I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS!  I am pretty excited about them :)  But even though I am so exhausted physically and mentally (it is hard work!)  I wouldn't trade this experience for the world.  There is nothing better than being a missionary!  I live, breathe and eat this stuff!  I love the opportunity I have to study the scriptures everyday!  I am learning so much. Sharing the gospel is so incredible.  No one is perfect and no one lives a life without hardship, worries and death.  The gospel is for everyone.  And when you have such a great blessing in your life how could you not share it!  I love it!  

We finally had a great TRC!  TRC... is when a Japanese-speaking member of the church volunteers and we teach them a lesson as we would a real, recent convert.  It's always a lot harder for us than teaching an investigator lesson, because it's not the usual stuff we do.  But it is super important!  Typically this is our least favorite part of the week.  It's on Saturday usually right after p-day (preparation day where we shop for our food and do our wash and write/read emails to/from home once we get to Japan) and I don't know why, but we always struggle with that teaching.  Well not this week!  We spoke, our wonderful volunteer understood, and it was actually really fun!  We taught a lesson and he had some great comments.  I loved it!  

Guess what?!  We had someone from the Skype department come to our classroom and tell us that we would have the opportunity to Skype members from Japan!  So on Wednesday we made the trek over to building 18 M and put on these massive headsets and Skyped a native Japanese church member!  It was so COOL!  Way challenging, but I LOVED it.  He was so sweet and we had a great discussion.  It was a little challenging to hear but we went with it.  Lewis Shimai's (Sister Lewis's) headset's mic wasn't working so it was pretty comical to watch us switch headsets every time a new person wanted to say something.  It was a little annoying, but we took it in stride.  I think it gained us some sympathy and every time it happened our sweet volunteer laughed pretty hard.  That is one thing I am VERY grateful for, laughter!  Laughter crosses all language barriers.  And if there is one thing I can do well, it's laughing.  Anyway, the highlight of that lesson (besides having the opportunity to teach him) was at the end he asked if he could take our picture.  Of course we said yes!  He pulls out his i-phone and snaps a picture.  Then he asked if he could put it on "Facebooku" (no mom, that's not a typo, it's really how they say it), so funny!  Wait for it... it gets more interesting.  So Sheehan Sensei (Teacher Sheehan) comes back the next day and asks us how Skyping members in Japan went.  Then he confessed that he saw that picture of Lewis Shimai and I on "Facebooku".  We died laughing.   I forget that real life exists outside of these walls and that people continue to go on Facebook.

Sheri Dew spoke to us in Relief Society Sunday.  She is the CEO of Deseret Book.  It was really interesting to listen to her.  Sundays really are the best here, because we get to have so many devotionals by wonderful people.  The MTC also records the talks so every Sunday night we get to take a pick of a recorded talk that we want to watch.  We watched one by Elder Holland, one of the 12 apostles,  when he came to the MTC a couple months ago.  It was so interesting to hear him speaking directly to the missionaries!  It's like a personal conference rather than a General Conference where the entire, world-wide church gets to listen and watch via satellite TV or BYUtv on Dish or DirectTV or the internet.  That will be one of the saddest parts about leaving the MTC is not being able to watch those anymore because we won't have time.

We met the Nihongin who are flying with us to Fukuoka!  Exciting!  I will be in Japan very soon.  Which means I will only be speaking Japanese.  Only!  So in preparation we have been having "Japanese only days".  And for an entire 24 hours, I only spoke Japanese (some of it was mangled, but I got my point across!).  So crazy!  I thought it was going to be relatively quiet in our classroom, but it wasn't!  It gave me a little confidence that I can at least say the really important things.  I'm starting to dream about Japan. I have made sure I have the really really important words down like: doctor, directions, etc. :)

The Forth of July was interesting in the MTC.  We watched the fireworks from campus.  They had tons of fireworks from the "Stadium of Fire" that we could see so it was fun.  Everyone in our district dressed up in red, white and blue.... even Nigh Shimai (Sister Nigh, she's from Canada!)  and Poole Choro (Elder Poole, he is from Austrailia)! :)  We got out of class early and got to watch the movie 17 Miracles.  I hadn't seen it before and it was really good.  Then they gave us an ice cream bar and shipped us outside to watch the fireworks.  We stayed up past 10:30 (our curfew) which was pretty exciting.   It was fun to remember a year ago, I was watching fireworks with Fabi and then raced home to watch fireworks with the family at the Slope Orchard.  Crazy how things change in just a year.  I learned the word for firework.  It's "hanabi" which translates into flower and fire.  So it's like flowers that are on fire in the sky!  Japanese is so cool.  

Fun cultural fact for the week.  The Japanese people are super polite.  I tried to give one of them a book and they said "It's ok if you don't give me the gift" (in Japanese).  I was completely offended.  Take it and then throw it away for goodness sakes.  But I came to find out that Japanese people when they're given a gift turn it down a couple of times and then when they finally take the gift they say something along the lines of "I'm so sorry, thank you very much" a million times.  No wonder some Japanese people think our culture is so rude.  Oh and they are all about their personal space.  That will be fun to remember.  I'm going to hug them regardless. :)  I'll pretend like I don't know what's going on.  That won't be hard to do. :) 

I saw my friend Aubreyann aka Sister McClune!  Love her!

Well that's my week!  I have one more p-day left when I will be frantically packing for the trip to Fukuoka.  

Love! 

Hawkins Shimai (who will be in Japan very SOON!)