Cloud nine :)

The sea wall

Sister Capener and I at the sea wall.

The sea wall

The other day we were looking at the map (a regular occurrence) and a man stopped to see if we needed help.  He was from Mississippi.  It was weird to hear that accent in Okinawa.  I'm doing really well!  I'm on cloud nine because 1) I love missionary work and 2) our sweet primary president (the lady in charge of the youth ages 3 to 11 in one of our congregations) gave us a jar of peanut butter, life couldn't be better. 

I've realized that lots of people recognize that you're a missionary far before you introduce yourself.  If they don't know specifically who you are they know you're different so they take notice of what you do.  It is so important to be a good example at all times.  I love meeting kids!  When you shake their hand or give them a high five they just look at you like you're super cool :)  All the kids in our ward (local congregation) are hilarious.  I get called.... Sister, Sister Hawks, Hawkins, Hawkins Sister, Sister Hawkins Shimai, and Miss Missionary :)  The other day I asked 4 year old Marshall Widiken a question and his eyes got really big and he looked disappointed.  He shook his head and sighed, "Well I thought missionaries knew everything, but I guess you're not a smarty pants like me."  It was a rough day having to let down a four year old and tell him even missionaries have questions :)  

Marshall Widiken, Mr. Smarty Pants

We met with the Kojya family the other night.  It was an appointment Sister Watanabe made before she left.  She just left us a note about it with only their phone number.  Well I knew their wasn't a Kojya family in our ward and they weren't in our area book so they weren't investigators.  We called and got directions to their house (turns out their son had to show us the way from the nearest family mart because we couldn't find it... oops!).  Our Japanese is OK, but it's still hard to get the small details.  So we had a great evening with them and shared a good message about how Heavenly Father is aware of all of us and then testified about it.  Turns out that the family are not members of the LDS church.  They have a son who converted 5 years ago though.  He went on a mission and just got married in the Tokyo temple.  The family had called Sister Watanabe and asked her to come over because they just liked having members of "the Mormon church" in their home.  I am so grateful that their son is such a good example to them.  You never know what's going to happen, but being a good example never hurts.  

Family Home Evening with the Scotts!

We played soccer on base this past Saturday.  The branch president invited us over because their are lots of non members that go.  I am so sore I can't laugh.  Who would have thought?  I guess you use lots of different muscles while playing soccer than when you're riding a bike.  Also I spoke in church this Sunday!  In Japanese!  It was nerve racking.  I usually don't mind speaking, but I didn't want to embarrass myself up there!  It went pretty well, I think.  Lots of people were really nice afterwards and they told me they loved my talk and that my Japanese is great (I was tempted to tell them that lying in church is a sin :)  But it's over!  We had two investigators come to sacrament meeting.  Yuho San and Mikiko San.  I was so happy to see them there!  Mikiko San was crying during one of the talks.  She said she loved coming to church!  And I noticed Yuho San open up her copy of the Book of Mormon and follow along with the speaker!  Yippee, it was fantastic! 

And lastly for some entertainment!  Every Monday and Thursday the garbage truck comes by.  Well it comes by at 8 in the morning and we sometimes forget, like last week.  Well, this morning we were in the middle of personal study when, BAM, we heard the garbage truck song!  We sprinted down 4 flights of stairs to get the garbage in the bin in time.  Success!  :)  Exhilarating.  Life is great!

I love you guys!  Thanks for all your support!  Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Hawkins

We met the lady who owns this garden...she has been working on it for 50 years.

Even in Japan!

Same garden...different view.  It was beautiful!