Okinawa week 3 :)

I am SO HAPPY!  We had an absolutely wonderfully fantastically super duper week :)  Miracles, bike wrecks (the bike is fine and I think the post I ran into should make it), a new investigator and an adventure on one of the bases!  :)  I'll fill you in.... It's been GREAT!  

Remember how I'm really bad with directions?  Well it hasn't gotten any better in a foreign country and in a foreign language.  It's gotten worse!!  But luckily Watanabe Shimai (Sister Watanabe) is a pro.  I'm trying to learn a lot from her before she leaves me (she only has one transfer left before she goes home.) :(  Mom things are great.   I'm adjusting and working really really really hard.  I'm exhausted.  I never knew the meaning of tired before I got here.  The humidity and heat really kill you.  And we bike everywhere and are outside constantly.  But I love it :)  

The newest phrase I taught Watanabe Shimai in English this week:  "I think I'm going to die."  We biked up the longest, biggest hill for a solid 8 minutes.   There is no exaggeration there.  I had Frank Phelps' voice in my head from basketball season.  I wanted to crawl over and die, but Frank got me through it :)  Hence when we finally made it to a less active (unless active is a term that members of the LDS church use to describe someone who is a baptized member but who for whatever reason doesn't attend church very often or at all) member's house Watanabe Shimai quickly learned the phrase "I think I'm going to die."  :)  But I'm alive and we got a great work out and taught a lesson!

The more I am out here the stronger my testimony gets that God is not distant.  He is involved in the details of our lives.  He knows us individually and by name.  And above all He loves us.  Acts 17:27 is my latest favorite scripture.  (Verse 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:) I love the scriptures!  I was reading D&C 100 the other day and I felt like it was written just for me. 

We had miracle after miracle this week.  On our way home the other day I stopped a woman and started talking to her, gave her an Eikiwa pamphlet, etc.  Well, I turn around to hop (stumble) back on my bike and some cute little lady starts rapidly firing questions at me in Japanese.  When I finally had her slow down, I realized that she was asking me if I was a Mormon.  Well you bet I am!  She had a ton of questions about the church and I did my best to answer them.  Watanabe Shimai was caught talking to someone else.  This lady had met a member about 2 years earlier and saw the missionaries every once and awhile on their bikes, but hadn't been able to talk to one until now.  It was so neat to see what can happen when someone is simply a good example.  Now we have a new investigator :)  

Sydney wrote me a letter and it had a tons of ?'s so I'll try to answer them for you :)

1.  So missionaries can use Facebook now and ipads? When is your mission getting that?:  I have no idea :)  But I would love to have an ipad to show pictures!  Lots of people here have no concept of God as a God with a body that looks like us (we were created in His image).  It would be a great teaching tool.  But I don't know when we're getting them.  I'll keep you posted!

2.  Where do you live?  In an apartment.  Missionaries don't live with church members here because for the most part every one's home is very small.  

3.  Are you in a big city?  I think I am :)  Have Dad google it.  It's not rural that's for sure.  (Note from "editor":  Okinawa City has a population of approximately 139,000 people, 2650 people per km2.)

4.  Is the food  disgusting?  Well It is interesting that's for sure.  THIS WEEK I ATE:  fried squid (it wasn't bad,  it was a little gross to look at though), peanut tofu (bad bad bad decision, did not taste good), octopus (the name for it here is tako, ("taco") that is a totally deceptive word.  It's pretty chewy and well I'll leave it at that.  After that....well, I stopped asking what the food was and just ate it.  

5.  Are you currently teaching anyone?  Yep!  We've got our hands full.  We have about 7 (+a family) of investigators.  

We have Eikiwa (English) class every Thursday.  It's been kind of dying with the same old people attending, but this week we made some big changes and it payed off.  We had a huge turn out and lots of people said they were excited to come back next week.  After class we had a talent show. It went really well!  Until the very end when we had a food eating contest... with the new American missionaries (and two marines joined in)... we ate nato (fermented soy beans).  That was the grossest thing I've eaten yet.  I took my spoon to put it into my mouth and IT'S GOOEY!  I let the marine win.  He looked like death afterwards.  No update on his condition :)

Watanabe Shimai and I have had a great P-day(Preparation Day)!  I'll fill you in... We went and did service for a couple of hours on base.  There is a cute family that is "pcs-ing" to the states.  They have 5 girls and 1 boy.  Cute, cute family!  Well, it was the mother in the family's birthday today and she was in the house cleaning so we came and joined her with a married missionary couple, the Williams.  It was a lot of work and mom I wanted to thank you for teaching me how to clean.  We got a lot of work done!  Afterwards, the Williams couple took us to Subway!   I ate a sub :)  It tasted like home!  So weird to be on base and feel like I was back in the states.  But the family we served are somewhat recent converts and they're getting sealed together as a family for time and eternity in the temple in about two weeks!  I am so excited for them.  I wish I could be there! 

The Williams

Eating at Subway!

Oh, so I crashed on my bike on our way to a baptism.  I think the sidewalk and bike will be OK. The worst part was I did it in front of an auto shop.  Tons of people rushed to my aid.  So EMBARRASSING!  Thank goodness for helmets!  I'm a danger to the people of Okinawa.  Keep them in your prayers :)  

The Kardina sisters had a baptism!  Jessica (she is a "halfu" as the Japanese say), her dad is American and her mom is Japanese.  She is a wonderful girl!  Her parents are both not members but they came to her baptism and are extremely supportive.  I want to teach them!  :)  Wonderful family.  At the baptismal service we had an extremely less active member come... Mr. O.  He was in the big gang here.  He is missing some fingers.  He never lets us share a message and so I wanted to drop him from our "visiting" list.  We are so busy that we just dont' have time to meet with people who don't want to see us and who are so uncooperative.  So I was praying and trying to figure out how to tell Watanabe Shimai that I didn't think we should visit him anymore.  But I couldn't do it, so we visited him again.  I decided that I was going to pull a stubborn, foreigner move and just pretend I couldn't understand him when he said he didn't want to hear our message :)  That doesn't sound like me at all, right?  Well, I ended up praying and sharing a short message.  Then in broken Japanese, I invited him to the baptism.  (This was about 2 weeks ago).  Well......He came.  HE CAME!  I could have died.  I did a double take at the baptismal service.  Best day ever!  Never saw that coming.  I could have hugged him!  (I didn't).  It was great.  I still can't believe it! 

Well, I loved this week!  I still "think I'm going to die", but I am so HAPPY!  Eventually my body will catch up with my plans for this wonderful area.  I love you so much!  So so much!  Thanks for your letters and love!  Have a great week!