This week was probably the busiest yet. The biggest thing that happened was that our new companion, Sister Cortes, came! She's from around Mexico City. It's been fun watching her react to everything and remembering when I was the same way... a few weeks ago. Time goes by so fast I'm nostalgic already. It's been pretty easy adjusting to living with three people instead of two, but we're definitely in need of more closet space. When we cook we make a little more, and Sister Kubota showers at night now, but no huge changes. We had to rearrange our two desks into an L-shape thing to accommodate three people.
We had a full evening planned for the day we got back from Tokyo to pick Sister Cortes up. Poor thing had to teach a lesson in Spanish after being here for like an hour, then we didn't have time for dinner, then we went to Eikaiwa. Oh and she'd never ridden a bike before, so she got to try that out on a borrowed bike, in the dark, in Japan. She's been a trooper.
It's been a huge miracle to finally be able to communicate in Spanish. We have lots of new investigators already, and have taught two lessons to a Peruvian family who lives near the church. It's funny watching them learn together because the mom has a Christian background, but the husband doesn't really know anything about religion, which sometimes shocks her. When we asked him if he knew who prophets were and he said no, her eyes got huge and she shrieked, "no sei que es una profeta?!" Or something like that. I can sort of understand some of what they say, but Sister Cortes translates for us. But they're super nice, and have two really cute kids. And the dad is a chef, so we got to try some yummy Peruvian food last time we went over!
Hopefully someday we'll get to the point where we can all contribute equally in the lessons. Right now Sister Kubota does most of the teaching in Japanese and Sister Cortes does almost all of it in Spanish. I actually have my first lesson in French scheduled for tonight, with Patrique, the man we met from Congo. I'm a little scared - we never learned religious vocabulary in high school!
This week has been a great one for Oyama. We've been busy busy busy with all the new people to teach, and the Elders here set TWO baptismal dates this week! Both of them are young boys - one in high school and one in college - and they're both way cool and way nice. I'm so excited. Hopefully we'll get to see similar miracles soon! Aki really wants to be baptized and is working hard to find a new job so she can be independent and make some needed life changes. She has such an amazing desire to learn and be a better person, and I want so badly for her to feel the happiness she deserves.
We went to a cool sushi restaurant for lunch today - the kind where everything comes around on a revolving belt and you just take whichever plates you want. It was way fun, and most of it yummy - but I finally tried the infamous nato that all the Japanese returned missionaries talk about! It's fermented soybean goop and just as disgusting as promised. But besides that, oishii!
Since we had technical difficulties last night (technology hates me) I'm finishing my email now Tuesday morning, after yesterday's lessons. I taught Patrique in French. It was awesome! Sometimes between Sister Kubota's Japanese and Sister Cortes' Spanish lessons I feel a little useless, so it was nice to finally contribute. That wasn't the best part though. The best part was seeing him learn and understand, and hearing him say "I want to know more so I can decide if this path is right for me." Yay!
I'm sending a picture of me with my (short) companions, and one at the sushi restaurant. I apologize for the latter - being a missionary has changed me in some ways, but I'm still not photogenic.
Sayonara!
Love, Anna
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| New companion Cortes Shimai (from Mexico City), Anna and Kubota Shimai |
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| Anna eating sushi - Yum!! |
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