こんいちわ^ ^あいしていますよ！
hello! I love
you! hi from japan! so... super cool. our mission is actually not the trial
mission for laptops... every missionary in Tokyo south actually has an iPad. way
crazy. and it always has me typing in Japanese so it's sometimes confusing.
anyway... I have been here for almost a week now. and I love it! the traveling
wasn't too bad except the head rests on the seats were ginormous so we all felt
like we were leaning forwards haha. The flight was like ten hours and it
actually went by pretty fast. we were just so tired and excited. the flight
attendants spoke both Japanese and English so it was だいじょぶ (OK)。we got through customs pretty quickly. there
weren't too many people in the airport. we were met by president and sister Wada and the APs. we had to drive an hour and a half to get to the ほんぶ (mission home) and I had to pee soooo badly. haha maybe
my new nickname will be おてあらい しまい (sister bathroom)。we ate soup and had a quick thought and
went to bed. first night sleeping on a futon and the pillow is literally full
of beans instead of feathers or cotton or whatever. awesome. we woke up at six
and went running through the koen (park). so fun! japan is rad. lots of training and
our first でんど (missionary
work/proselyting) experience! lots of good food too in the mission home. we ate
dinner out and I chose a fun sushi place where the sushi is on a conveyer belt
and you just pick up the plates you want. really cheap sushi... like 100 yen
for a plate which is pretty much one dollar. afterwards we taught English
class. so fun! next day woke up early to run again.. more training... this time
with the trainers... but none of us knew who our new companions were until
right before lunch. yayyyy it was so fun. my companion is sasaki しまい (sister)。she is Japanese and little and adorable.
she is really good at English and so sweet! I love her. she has trained tons of
missionaries so I've heard I have the best trainer.
my area is called kichijoji and it's the same place as the mission home. I am so lucky to see president wada all the time and be so close. it is also the most city-like and has tons of malls and shops. the sisters in our apartment are way cute and nice. sister wells and sister feist. our apartment is tiny. there is a freezing bathroom, kitchen, room with closets and our futons and a room with desks. We have a washer but no dryer. I heard we have one of the worst apartments in the missions but being being in kichijoji makes up for it. the first night we went to sports night at the church. volleyball and badminton. what an experience. I am terrible at sports... it's another thing to have terrible jet lag and be in a foreign country...
definitely what you would call out of the comfort zone, but it was sorta fun and completely embarrassing. haha I think sports night is every Thursday night.... :) first couple days of dendo were soooo hard. I feel like a complete idiot because I am literally the only gaijin (foreigner) anywhere and I don't understand or speak the language very well at all. but the people here are so sweet and not judgmental at all. always saying I'm so じょず (skilled)。which is just out of politeness, but that's okay! it's hard to imagine that I will ever understand the language or feel comfortable, but I'm studying lots and I have an awesome comp who will teach me lots. I like to teach her fun English words too like gangster and peace out and what's up. our first day of dendo, we visited Asai shimai. she is the tiniest lady ever. everyone thinks I'm so 大き (big)。she is so cute and nice. She knows some English. we helped her to clean her house for a guest who was coming... we had a lesson planned but she needed help organizing. that is one of my favorite activities! but... she didn't heat the house and it was an extremely cold day and snowed alllll day. Sister sasaki and I were freezing. also in japan you never wear shoes inside so my feet were killing until I couldn't feel them anymore anyway haha. we talked with her briefly about the book of Mormon. she likes to read the bible with her grandchildren. she wants us to help her make dinner next time, but we also want to invite her to have a family home evening with her daughter and grand kids. it has snowed soooo much. we made a huge ゆきだるま(snowman) in the church parking lot. everyone says it's really unusual for Tokyo to have weather like that. today the weather is really nice! yesterday was my first day at church! よかった！(YAY!) i couldn't understand like anything, but the members are so sweet. Sunday school was easier to understand... the teacher had me introduce myself and even had me make a comment in the lessons scaryyyyy. haha. there are lots of missionaries in our ward. and they are all so nice. I felt so much happier after church. it was wonderful to feel the spirit and take the sacrament and just be uplifted and ready for another afternoon of missionary work. I smiled so much more and participated a lot more in the conversations we had with people we met. we most often hand out fliers inviting people to えいかわ。English class. everyone is so cute andすてき (classy)。I want so badly to be able to talk and communicate with them. We do lots of dendo on the trains and in the parks. there are literally people everywhere and everyone rides bikes. I get to buy a bike later this week! today is p day and so we were able to go to the grocery stores. it was so fun. they have lots of food that I can't identify but there is tons of fish and really awesome and affordable veggies and fruits. Yummy. sorry if this email is all over the place. iPads are hard and I'm cold cause the church isn't heated either (but the church toilet seats are). Haha being a missionary is such a humbling experience but I am so grateful to be here. keep praying for japan! :) love y'all so much. きよすけてください！(take care!)
my area is called kichijoji and it's the same place as the mission home. I am so lucky to see president wada all the time and be so close. it is also the most city-like and has tons of malls and shops. the sisters in our apartment are way cute and nice. sister wells and sister feist. our apartment is tiny. there is a freezing bathroom, kitchen, room with closets and our futons and a room with desks. We have a washer but no dryer. I heard we have one of the worst apartments in the missions but being being in kichijoji makes up for it. the first night we went to sports night at the church. volleyball and badminton. what an experience. I am terrible at sports... it's another thing to have terrible jet lag and be in a foreign country...
definitely what you would call out of the comfort zone, but it was sorta fun and completely embarrassing. haha I think sports night is every Thursday night.... :) first couple days of dendo were soooo hard. I feel like a complete idiot because I am literally the only gaijin (foreigner) anywhere and I don't understand or speak the language very well at all. but the people here are so sweet and not judgmental at all. always saying I'm so じょず (skilled)。which is just out of politeness, but that's okay! it's hard to imagine that I will ever understand the language or feel comfortable, but I'm studying lots and I have an awesome comp who will teach me lots. I like to teach her fun English words too like gangster and peace out and what's up. our first day of dendo, we visited Asai shimai. she is the tiniest lady ever. everyone thinks I'm so 大き (big)。she is so cute and nice. She knows some English. we helped her to clean her house for a guest who was coming... we had a lesson planned but she needed help organizing. that is one of my favorite activities! but... she didn't heat the house and it was an extremely cold day and snowed alllll day. Sister sasaki and I were freezing. also in japan you never wear shoes inside so my feet were killing until I couldn't feel them anymore anyway haha. we talked with her briefly about the book of Mormon. she likes to read the bible with her grandchildren. she wants us to help her make dinner next time, but we also want to invite her to have a family home evening with her daughter and grand kids. it has snowed soooo much. we made a huge ゆきだるま(snowman) in the church parking lot. everyone says it's really unusual for Tokyo to have weather like that. today the weather is really nice! yesterday was my first day at church! よかった！(YAY!) i couldn't understand like anything, but the members are so sweet. Sunday school was easier to understand... the teacher had me introduce myself and even had me make a comment in the lessons scaryyyyy. haha. there are lots of missionaries in our ward. and they are all so nice. I felt so much happier after church. it was wonderful to feel the spirit and take the sacrament and just be uplifted and ready for another afternoon of missionary work. I smiled so much more and participated a lot more in the conversations we had with people we met. we most often hand out fliers inviting people to えいかわ。English class. everyone is so cute andすてき (classy)。I want so badly to be able to talk and communicate with them. We do lots of dendo on the trains and in the parks. there are literally people everywhere and everyone rides bikes. I get to buy a bike later this week! today is p day and so we were able to go to the grocery stores. it was so fun. they have lots of food that I can't identify but there is tons of fish and really awesome and affordable veggies and fruits. Yummy. sorry if this email is all over the place. iPads are hard and I'm cold cause the church isn't heated either (but the church toilet seats are). Haha being a missionary is such a humbling experience but I am so grateful to be here. keep praying for japan! :) love y'all so much. きよすけてください！(take care!)
Look at how cute they are together!!!!
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