Transfer week!

Well, transfer calls happened. I'm staying in Chosei, but Sister Sticht is leaving me. I was pretty bummed but excited to find out that she's staying close by and transferring to Togane, our next-door neighbor! And she'll be my sister training leader along with Sister Willden - I love them both dearly and am looking forward to splits. I have been honorably discharged for now as STL, which is kind of weird because I've now been one for longer than not. But I won't miss the 2-hour long train rides to Honbu! My new companion is Sister Jones, from Australia, who I've met briefly but don't know much about. She came out about the same time as me so it should be fun!

This week was kind of crazy because it was O-bon, some big Japanese holiday where the spirits of dead ancestors come back to visit. So, everyone had work off, but was either traveling or refused to make appointments with us. We relied a lot on Skype, Facebook and surprise visits. One cool moment was when we visited Su, whose husband apparently doesn't like us because he thinks we're witchcrafting his wife. We knew he'd be home so we made a homemade puzzle for them (they LOVE puzzles) and came to drop it off. He was outside when we got there, shining his sweet-looking car, and Sister Sticht tried to bond with him by talking cars but we don't exactly have that vocabulary. I was zero help. So hopefully he could calm down and see how un-threatening we are.

Last P-day was awesome! We went to Onjuku, a famous surfing beach, and hung out on a giant towel and wrote letters. We also got to talk to Sue, who lives there, and she told us some cool stories about local traditions and history. It was a pretty windy day and we were covered in sand all week. Every once in a while we'll find more sand in our apartment or purses and say "Onjuku lives on!"

We got to spend more time with Kasu this week, which made me so happy. She's been really sick and will move away for about a month to be with family, and I just want her to get better so badly. She is an angel. I also got to meet her infamous dog Hope, who is completely psycho and totally spoiled. She's getting old so she has to wear diapers at night - see picture.

Another fun thing was going to ping-pong night with Ami Shimai. She hasn't been to church in a long time but was able to make some friends at the church (we very slyly invited one of the single men in the ward around her age and grinned all night as they went off in a corner and talked forever). She also kicked our butts at ping pong. Japanese people are all so much better at ping-pong, it's not fair. Also Elders are always really good. I swear they practice.

Other adventures this week... We flooded our apartment while trying to fix our washing machine. All the instructions are in kanji, and we spent a lot of time trying to look them all up and decipher them but still couldn't do it. We called some members and they came over and fixed it in like five minutes.

We did a lot of "pass-off lessons" this week with people we'd met who live in other areas, to introduce them to the missionaries who live in that area. One of the fun parts of riding trains all the time is meeting people from all over. I think dad asked me if navigating trains is easy - it's not, but you get used to certain stations and certain routes. We just use asking for help with trains as conversation starters, which sometimes helps but we've also been led astray a lot. If you ask a Japanese person for directions and they don't know, they will never just say "sorry I don't know." They'll lead you on a wild goose chase forever, often involving other people, until you either find your destination or pretend to find your destination to let them off the hook.

I would ask you to pray that I don't get lost without Sister Sticht to guide, but last time I asked that it didn't work so I won't bother. When I get lost I'll just try to make the most of it.

We had dinner with some awesome members last night - here's another picture. I don't have anymore.

Love you all! Have a good week
Anna

Hope, the psycho, spoiled and diaper-wearing dog

Dinner with awesome members of Chosei Ward

August 10, 2014 (Subject is the image of a surfer?!?)

Hey all,

I don't think I've ever spent so much time on trains in my life. Sometimes you meet super cool people on trains and have awesome conversations, and sometimes the people just really don't want to talk to you and it's extremely awkward. This week I met an awesome girl named Mi who lives near the beach, and we might see her today. I also got rejected hardcore by a lady who told me she had "an appointment with a friend in the next car over." Please, at least make up excuses that sound halfway credible.

But now, time for the miracles!! We had THREE baptisms in the Chiba South zone (consisting of Chosei, Togane and Kisarazu) this weekend. So awesome and happy and a great way to end the transfer (although we still have one more week). One of the Elders' investigators, So, got baptized here in Chosei. It was a lovely service except for the all-missionary choir singing A Child's Prayer that was pretty awful. Sort of nothing you can do about it - our schedules don't allow for much music practice time.

Also, do you remember the funny Kisarazu Eikaiwa student I was talking about a few weeks back? I met him on splits, and he kept referring to other nonmembers as "guests" while insisting that although he hadn't been baptized, he was basically a member. Well, he officially took his name off the guest list and was baptized over the weekend! He's so nice and will be a great addition to the branch there.

We also had a pretty sweet day at church. Su, the lady who couldn't come to church because her husband didn't like it, told us that he had work this Sunday so she wanted to come. She also came to the baptismal service beforehand! She continues to puzzle us and we're not really sure why she wanted to come to church, but happy that she did. Homu San also came for the second time, and loved it. She's so ridiculously sweet and loves everything that we teach her.

One of the best things that happened was when Tomi came to church. We met her through a mutual friend, and had talked a little on Facebook about Eikaiwa but nothing church-related yet. But when we invited her to church to see Sister Sticht sing, she said she'd come! So she showed up with her daughter, and they had a great time. I was playing the piano, so I couldn't see anything, but Sister Sticht told me that halfway through the second verse of the song ("I'm Trying to be like Jesus" in Japanese) that tears were running down Tomi's face. She messaged us afterwards and thanked us, saying that she felt something really special at church and that she'd been going through a really rough time. She said she felt healed. I think we were led to Tomi right when she needs it the most, and am so excited to continue to meet with her.

Other cool things this week: splits with Sister Willden (more MTC reunions!) and getting suuuuuper lost out in the middle of nowhere while it was dark. A policeman pulled us over and scolded us for not having bright enough lights. Sorry I'm poor and buy all my safety gear at the dollar store!

Picture: sometimes we make cake pops to give to people, and stick them in a cabbage head so that the chocolate can harden without touching anything. Creative geniuses.

Have a good week! The "typhoon" passed yesterday so we're fine. Maybe rained for 20 minutes. Japanese people are experts at freaking out about the weather.

Love, Anna

Sister Sticht excited about cake pops

Sorry it's late it's temple week

Hello again,

Today we went to the temple, then various other fun activities in Shibuya, so I'm pretty exhausted and am having trouble remembering what all I did last week. Currently we are sitting in a cafe, using their free wi-fi to finish up email while occasionally talking to Taz the barista. He read the plan of salvation pamphlet we gave him and said he'd pray but hasn't yet, so we are lovingly reprimanding him for that.

Lately everyone's been leaving us - Yu went to Kisarazu for the month with her kids, Iza is in Niigata for two weeks, and Shi left today for America. Thank goodness for Facebook and Skype - how on earth did missionaries do it back then? It was way sad to say goodbye to Shi - she's been one of our best friends here in Chosei. We got to go out for sushi with her and another very Americanized Japanese guy we met when we accidentally mistook his house for one of our investigator's. It was fun and we're hoping they fall in love.

We need some new friends. Fortunately we got to meet Ami Shimai this week, a less-active member who got baptized about six years ago I think. Both of the Elders felt like she should be visited while they were weekly planning, so they asked us to and we went over twice. The second time she was home, we were able to become friends, and she came to a barbecue at a members house with us that week! We were so happy. Another investigator came too, and we had fun watching the fireworks with them.

Speaking of fireworks, apparently it's party season in Japan right now. Every weekend there's a different summer festival going on with plenty of decorations, food, and girls walking around in yukatas (which are way cute but make you sweat to death). We were biking past a huge festival on Sunday and a man came out to tell us, in English, that everyone was welcome and it was all free. He explained a little bit about what was going on, asked if we had questions, and invited us to participate and told us what time it would be going until. Super nice! Afterwards we realized that he sounded kind of like us when we invite people to church.

We've been teaching Su san a lot recently, and she's causing us a bit of a headache with all the hard questions she asks. I'm glad she's a deep thinker, but find it difficult to stick to the basics during lessons like we want to when she always asks random questions (why is God a man, why there are so few women in the Book of Mormon, isn't it disrespectful to pray if she doesn't believe in God, etc.) Maybe the first feminist I've ever met in Japan (however, still says she can't come to church because her husband doesn't want her to). I've become very mistrustful of husbands.

One huge miracle this week was that I got to meet Kasu! She is the most angelic person I've ever met, and one of the main investigators in Chosei, but has been so sick this month that I hadn't gotten to see her yet. But she texted us Saturday night saying she could come to church the next day, and I finally got to talk to her. She is so sweet and lovely. The members all adore her, and were coming up to her all day. I love her so much already.

Funny thing spotted this week: a snack thief at the train station who snuck up behind these two guys and grabbed at the cookies they were holding, asking if he could have some while just going ahead and doing it at the same time. He then chewed for a while and talked about how delicious they were. The guys were struggling to keep straight faces and were basically waiting for him to leave so they could laugh.

Which happens to us a lot, by the way. Being a missionary just tends to lead to weird experiences. We were trying to find the house of a girl we met last week, biking out around the area, and sort of came across an old dairy farm. First time I'd ever seen cows in Japan. The few people out there seemed pretty suspicious of us and didn't really want to talk so then we left and started knocking on doors in a nearby neighborhood. Met a really funny old lady who, after we introduced ourselves, yelled for her husband to come and also called her sister-in-law next door to tell them that two foreigners had come all the way from America to give them a message and would they please listen. Not much interest and mostly talked to us about her ancestors but a very nice grandma.

This week has lots of train rides in store so we're buckling up for that. Trying to talk to people while battling motion sickness is a little tough but eh, whachagonnado.

Pictures: sushi, and the best purchase of the week. We got these neck towel things with ice packs inside that we wear on long bike rides, and they're awesome. Really go well with our helmets and crocs and other fashionable accessories.

Love you all!
Anna

Sushi goodbye meal for Shi

Anna and Sticht shimai with ultra-cool neckwear

Tokyo Zone Conference from June 2014 just published on mission blog.  Anna (front row third from left) is sitting next to her companion Yamauchi shimai (fourth from left)

It's hottttt

This week was great - maybe not as great as last week, but it's okay.  I guess when you're on a high you have to come down at some point.  Really it wasn't that bad, but yesterday was kind of a disappointment.  We had 8 investigators confirmed to come to church and none of them showed, making for a very stressful sacrament meeting spent looking over my shoulder every time I heard a rustling or the squeaking of door hinges.  It was also 84% humidity that day, so we melted all the way out to a less-active's house which took an hour to find.  She wasn't home.  Sister Sticht and I decided that things had been going too good, so we must have needed to be humbled or something.  I'm just grateful that Pday comes right after Sunday because Sundays are extremely mentally taxing.

Does anyone have suggestions for making the Sabbath day an actual day of rest? I feel bad because we tell people all the time how church is like rest for the soul - which is how it should be, and how it is as a non-missionary, but it's hard for me to feel rested when I'm so high-strung and worrying about where everyone is.  You definitely have to live the gospel before asking others to live it.  We ask our investigators to read the scriptures and pray every day, so how can we not do the same?

We did get to do tons of cool things this week!  Last Monday we went exploring at an old shrine next to a HUGE Buddhist graveyard, and since it was a national holiday the place was completely deserted.

We also had our first zone meeting in Togane, about thirty minutes away by train, and I went on splits afterwards with Teruya Shimai.  It was really fun - we visited a family of seven and everyone was home except the dad.  Probably some of the most polite and well-behaved children I've ever met.   I'm always amazed at how people manage to raise so many children and not go crazy, especially in Japan where it's really rare to have over three kids.  We met Yu this week at the church with her four children, and it was one of my most favorite lessons I've ever taught.  The kids were all paying attention, and participating, and it was so touching to see Yu go from the role of investigator to teacher as she explained things to her kids.  She's an awesome mom, and she's only 25.  With four children.  Again, don't know how people do it.

Trying to remember what else we did this week. Teaching... Biking... Eikaiwa... Bugging people on trains. We've been using Facebook to teach a lot, which is cool. It was really hard for me to figure out how to use it effectively for a while but it's really helpful now.

We also went to the summer festival! Shi came with us and we browsed all the food vendors (some delicious and some weird) before watching Iza perform with her hula group. Right afterwards two of the kids that go to our Eikaiwa danced with their hip-hop group, which was really cute because they were the youngest ones there and didn't really seem to know what they were doing and their gangster outfits were way too big.

Not as much to say this week so I'll just add lots of picture.  Pictures.  I'm turning Japanese.

Us eating snow cones with Shi, trying on yukatas (summer kimonos), and exploring the back part of a shrine where I'm not sure if we were allowed to be.

Love you all!  I'll try not to melt this week.
Anna

Anna visiting a shrine in Chosei

Anna & Sticht Shimai trying on yukatas (summer kimonos)

Sticht Shimai, Shi and Anna eating snocones at the summer festival

Hello!

Well, I'm back again. This week was so fun and awesome and crazy, I'm not really sure where to start with my email. We somehow ended up eating out/being taken out almost every day so maybe I'll organize it by what I ate (there are some interesting things).

Ramen - we went out to lunch for the first time with Shi, who goes to college in San Diego but is home for summer break right now. She is super cool and actually has some Mormon relatives, even though she's never really thought much about religion. Mostly she's bored and likes hanging out with us - but she came to church! Every person that comes to church is a success in my book. It's such an important experience for everyone to have.

Cow tongue - this is not a joke. We had Mission Leadership Council on Thursday at the Honbu (took three hours by train to get there!) and afterwards met a girl and her friends for dinner. I'd met her on the train last time I went to Honbu, became Facebook friends, and said I'd hit her up if I came back. So that was cool! We told them to pick anywhere good, and they picked cow tongue - it's pretty much like small steaks. Kind of weird but tasted good I guess? I'm a monster. I'll attach a picture.

Ramen again - I went on splits in Kisarazu, which is famous for ramen, so we got some for lunch. Kisarazu is cool, but I didn't see too much of it because the sister's bike I was borrowing was broken so we stayed close to home, on foot. Got to teach Eikaiwa in Kisarazu which was really fun because they have some hilarious students. There's one man who comes to church every week and had sort of decided he's a member except he hasn't been baptized. He actually goes out knocking on doors with the missionaries sometimes, and rags on the members for not bringing enough "guests" to church. It's awesome. We actually got to have a really good discussion with him about baptism and asked him to ask God what to do. He said he would.

Vegan food - we got taken out by a new investigator and a bunch of her friends to the most hippie place I've ever seen in my life, including all of Eugene. The restaurant is called Sweet and Peace and is like walking into an Alice-in-Wonderland type dimension with all earthiness of home and cutesy-ness of Japan. They had a wish tree, where you can write down wishes and hang them on the branches (with the rule that it has to be a wish for other people) and also the desserts were covered in fruit sauce hearts and edible glitter.

Ice cream smoothie thing - it's the one drink on the entire menu of the cafe where we meet Sue that doesn't have coffee or tea in it, so we order it every time. We also made a personalized Plan of Salvation pamphlet for Taz the barista, marking sections we like and writing notes, so hopefully he'll read it.

Every single drink in 7-11 - we had a really cool, funny experience when we visited the To family. We'd met the mom before, and talked to her for maybe five minutes, but she said we could stop by again whenever we were in the area. So we went, expecting to maybe talk to them for five minutes and invite them to church or Eikaiwa, and were really surprised when they were delighted to see us and invited us in. We weren't really sure what they expected - teach their kids English? Explain the church? - but the first thing that they did was have the dad run out to a 7-11 to buy drinks because we said we didn't drink coffee. We insisted water was fine, but away he went, and came back with 8 bottles of various juices and flavored waters so that we could have our pick. As we talked to them, they...

• said they wanted to come to Eikaiwa
• offered to take us to Costco and buy us anything we were missing from home
• said we could teach them about eternal families
• told us they'd buy us kimonos to wear to the upcoming summer festival and asked what kimono size we were
• said they wanted to become Christian
• promised to take us to the beach and also like 5 other local restaurants
• said we could come back anytime, made a next appointment
• sent us off with fresh corn, pineapple, ice cream and pellegrino

Have you ever seen the movie Road to El Dorado, when the Spanish guys show up in South America and the native people immediately assume that they're gods and shower them with gifts and praise? That's kind of how I felt this week. It's gonna be a shock to come back home and not have everyone make a huge deal of me. I tell you, Chosei people will always have a special place in my heart.

We saw so many miracles this week. A lady we met on the street and talked to for five minutes, Homu san, came to church! She loved it, took a Book of Mormon, and said she'd be back next week. We barely did anything.

We also got to teach so many cool people, including Yu, a mother of four. She is so sweet and just wants her family to be happy forever more than anything. Also Iza, the lady tearing through the Book of Mormon, is awesome. She notices tons of Sunday School principles by herself and tells us about them - like the pride cycle, modern-day application, and other things. I think she understands the Book of Mormon ten times more than I do.

I love Chosei and its people and beautiful landscape - here's a shot of part of our bike ride home from church. Also Sister Sticht rescuing snails on the side of the road. The bugs here are huge and plentiful.

Hope all is well at home! Talk to you next week.

Anna

Cow Tongue restaurant in Tokyo

Bike riding home from church in Chosei

Sticht Shimai rescuing snails from the road side.

Hello from Chosei!

Greetings loved ones. What a crazy week. Transfer weeks are always nuts of course - there's just never enough time to see everyone you want! I'll take you through the week.

Monday I mostly spent packing, so that wasn't actually too exciting. Once again, marveled at how much junk I'd managed to accumulate during the last four months. In the evening we visited the less-active nocturnal family and found out that they're currently in the process of shifting their sleep schedule! They said they'd be able to go to church the next week.

Tuesday we went out and tried to squeeze as many lessons as possible into the day. The last one of the day was with Kay, at his house. It was the first time we'd been over. In Japan it's kind of a big deal for someone to invite you to their house - a lot of the time when we teach people they only talk to us at the doorstep - and he said he wanted to because he was grateful for all that we were teaching him and helping him understand. It was a really cool experience.

Wednesday was, like all last Wednesdays are, amazing and full of love and really sad. One small miracle that meant a lot to me was that I'd been really bummed about not being able to see Ru and his family before we left, and then they all showed up to Eikaiwa. Ru didn't have too much interest in English and spent most of the time running around and playing games on the iPad but I was so happy to see him and everyone else. Lots of other members came too, including all the ward missionaries, and they had a goodbye party for the four of us missionaries transferring out. I'm sure you saw the video on Facebook, but basically all the students and members secretly wrote out little notes on heart-shaped sticky notes and came and stuck them on us. At first I didn't know what was going on and felt a little freaked out (they had us shut our eyes) but it was so sweet. You never know how much your Eikaiwa students care until it's time to leave. I'm really happy we're using Facebook now because it'll be so much easier to stay in touch with people!

On Thursday we taught in the morning and them came home to eat and study a little before it was time for me to leave. I said goodbye to Yamauchi Shimai and then me and Sister Hall took the train to Honbu [mission headquarters]. Actually on the train I met a nice university student who lives near there, and we have an appointment to meet her again next week after we go to Mission Leadership Council. So that was cool. At Honbu I met Sister Sticht and we went back to Chosei together, and met one of their Investigators Sue at the station. Sue is a surfer from California who came to Japan to get away from America and currently teaches English. She is a very deep thinker, curses like a sailor, and one of the more interesting people I've ever met. But she's reading the Book of Mormon! She's been meeting with the sisters about a transfer now for weekly "Metaphysical Hour." Later in the evening we went to the church for music night, where I got to meet some of the members.

A little about my new area: it's beautiful! Being in Tokyo for so long, I'd forgotten what plants look like. Biking out among the rice paddies and flowers is almost surreal. Definitely very rural - Chosei is technically classified as a village, not even a city. But the church building here is pretty nice and good-sized. About 60 people come every week, I think. My companion Sister Sticht is from Montana and she's awesome! We laugh all the time. There are six missionaries in Chosei - two Elders and four Sisters - so we share an apartment with Sisters Cheney (from my MTC district) and Chandler (fresh outta the MTC). We're so blessed to be working with lots of great people right now. This is the first time I've ever been transferred that wasn't a whitewash, so it's nice not having to start from scratch.

On Friday there was supposed to be some big typhoon but, like all other typhoons I've experienced here, it didn't really hit our area and was way over-hyped. But it DID make it unbearably humid. We met one of our neighbors in a nearby park for a picnic lunch, and she surprised us by showing the plan of salvation pamphlet the sisters had given her earlier. It was completely marked up and covered in questions she had written. Another lady we taught that day, Iza, is also a big studier. She's reading like 15 chapters of the Book of Mormon a day! Super awesome. She also gave us homemade cake to eat, sent us off with carrot salad for the road, and made our next appointment for us when we forgot to ask. I was on cloud nine. I could get used to this country hospitality!

Unfortunately not everyone is so willing to learn. On Saturday both of our appointments cancelled, so we had a full day of biking out to "surprise visit" people who weren't home. At least we met some really cool people on the way - I'm learning to always stop people you pass by! It's a little hard in Tokyo, with so many people everywhere, but here we try to stop everyone if we have time.

Sunday I got to meet all the members, and they're awesome! Very willing to help out. The speakers went a little short, so in order to take up time, the Bishop asked me and Sister Chandler to get up and introduce ourselves and share testimony. There isn't a gospel principles class in this ward, so I went to regular Sunday School for the second time in a row. I've been learning a lot about David! Interesting to study the Bible for a change. After church we went out visiting investigators and ended up unexpectedly getting invited to dinner at a members house - homemade tenpura! Mmmm.

Hopefully I'll get the chance today to take some pictures of all the nature here. Here's one of me and Sister Sticht hanging out in 7-11 to email. I wonder if they ever get annoyed at us for using their free wi-fi all the time?

Love you all!
Anna

Sticht shimai and Anna

Elder Kawamura (who baptized Ru in Tokyo) with Kathy and Ben the night before he flew home.

Transfer results:

I'm transferring to Chousei! It is in Chiba, across the Tokyo Bay from where I am now. My new companion is Sister Stitch, who was in my zone two transfers ago, and I'm excited/nervous/stressed and all the range of emotions that come with being transferred. I've loved Senzokuike so much, but Sister Stitch says that they are teaching really amazing people in Chousei so I'm excited. We'll be STLs together. Apparently Chousei is sort of country-side-ish, so after my short stint in Tokyo I'm back to country livin'.

Wow I can't even think what to write... I have lots of packing to do and people to call and letters to write. Crazy.

I guess this past Sunday was my last in Senzokuike, and it was a good one. The Izus both came to church and had a really good time - they especially loved the gospel doctrine class where we studied about David and Saul out of the Old Testament. I didn't really understand anything. They both insisted on going to the "most difficult" Sunday School class after trying Gospel Principles last time and insisting it was too basic.

We also got the opportunity to go to church with Kay! We've been asking him to come for months, and he finally agreed - although it was in English. He has work on Sunday mornings, and the English ward starts at 1:30, so it's what works for now. Kay had a really good time and even stayed for all three meetings, including Priesthood (with some very helpful fellowshippers, including Elder/Brother Kawamura). I swear like half of our ward stays for English church after ours in Japanese - they like the practice. Six hours every Sunday. Anyway, Kay really liked church, just like we knew he would. It was interesting going to gospel principles class in English, where the teacher is a voice actor (who does the Aflack duck among other characters).

Actually, I had a lot of interaction with the English ward this week. On Tuesday I went on splits with Sister Ipson, in my same area but English speaking. It was fun and I got to practice "gaijin hunting" which is basically following and talking to anyone you see that isn't Japanese. Sort of awkward sometimes, but it's really easy to start a conversation - where are you from? Why are you in Japan?

Then, on Saturday, we went to a 4th of July BBQ (technically on the 5th, but Japan is ahead of American time) hosted by the English ward. Whenever the English ward throws a party all of our Eikaiwa students go, so it's a good dendo opportunity for us. We got to teach Kay (who made good friends that he saw at church the next day) and also Tomi, who goes to every church event known to mankind except church. Can't quite figure it out. She told us she's not ready for church, but loved the fireside she attended last week.

Other cool miracles:

Having our first lesson with a really sweet less-active family. Going to church now is difficult because they are currently living on a nocturnal schedule. I guess he youngest child kept waking up and wanting to play in the middle of the night, and the whole family adapted to it. First time I've seen that. They said they'd start adjusting their schedule gradually in order to get back to normal, so hopefully we can help them with that.

Having our first after-baptism lesson with Ru and seeing him act like an angel. It was so sweet the way he was hugging his cousin and showing love to everyone. His whole family is so happy and things are going great.

Well, time's up but I'm sure I'll have lots of cool stories next week! Love you all and hope you have a good week.

Anna

Ru with congratulatory letter from Kathy

5/12 ths of Anna's original MTC district at lunch

Chosei in Chiba Prefecture