Transfer calls! And the results are...

I'm staying in Senzokuike! And so is Yamauchi Shimai! This will be our third transfer together, which is the longest I've ever been with one companion. I'm way relieved - transfers aren't my favorite thing - and we currently have six investigators with baptismal dates in this next transfer so we have a lot of work to do. The thought of not being here for that/having to do it without her was a little scary. This area didn't have much going on when we got here, and we've been so blessed to watch the miracles happen one after another.

Well, I'm not sure what to even write about anymore. We've been really busy teaching and visiting lots of members, which our ward mission leader asked us to do. There's been a lot more talk lately about member-missionary work, and I really hope things are finally going to change. Our bishop changed a few weeks ago, and the new one is young and wants to put a lot of focus on missionary work. Our ward is great with helping us when we ask, but we still don't get too many people coming to us with referrals, which is the best way to find investigators who are really ready to hear this message. Of course, I can't really say anything because all the people I've ever referred to the missionaries total to zero, but I swear I'm going to be better at reaching out when I go home. Watch out, friends.

Funny thing this week: we were talking with some of our Chinese friends at Japanese class, and somehow we started talking about Chinese food, and fortune cookies came up. They didn't know what we were talking about so they Googled it, and it was their first time either seeing or hearing about one. I mean, I knew Panda Express wasn't exactly authentic, but still!

Big awesome miracle this week: We didn't have any investigators come to church this week (Ru went to a different ward while on vacation with his family), which was kind of disappointing, but then right before the third hour FOUR people showed up. One of them was Shi, our investigator who might get baptized this month, and then a grandma with her daughter and grandson, who had come to Eikaiwa a couple times. The Izu family. They loved church, and without us even mentioning it they started asking about what would happen if they got baptized and joined. They also said they'd be coming again next week. Sometimes it takes an arm and a leg to get someone we've known forever to come to church, so to see people come on their own free will and enjoy it so much was awesome.

We're still really trying to get more people to come to church. Other areas in our mission have been seeing huge miracles - one ward had 50 investigators come last Sunday! I think there might have been some special event. But 50!! Incredible.

Something interesting is that this week we've taught a lot of people who are/were Protestant, which is unusual. It's fun to get to actually use the Bible when teaching, which is something we almost never do here. It's kind of confusing for people to learn to study the Book of Mormon, Old Testament, New Testament, D&C, etc., so we usually just focus on Book of Mormon.

Love you all! I'm excited that this week doesn't involve a lot of goodbyes. Two missionaries from my district are leaving, which is sad, but a lot are coming in from my old MTC district so it'll be a happy reunion.

Until next week,
Anna

Here's a picture of some skirts an investigator gave us. When all your clothes start to rip and fall apart, The Lord provides.