Nichiyobi (Sunday) was a little busy since Fonua Shimai and I taught District Meeting (Aganai - soo good!), then I got called on to speak in Sacrament, plus our district sang in Sacrament. So that was fun!
District Meeting - everyone watched "Testimony of Gordon B Hinckley" - short video put together that's so good! We've been hearing a lot of Pres Hinckley quotes lately! Also "Lifting Burdens" - the Mormon Message with the testimonies of the 12 + 1st Pres. Our district leader, Miles Choro made a really great comment/analogy that stuck with me: sometimes when you're in the car with siblings they want to sleep on your shoulder, but you think it's annoying and push them off (guilty sometimes!), but Christ not only will let us lean on him, he'll also carry our burdens. THAT's how powerful the Aganai is. It doesn't sound as good when I write as when he said it, but point is, it's powerful!
Thankfully this Sunday was my best prepared talk (we prep one every week in case we get called on), though seriously I couldn't remember what half of what I wrote down meant...need to work on that! My district sang "Nearer My God to Thee" and I soloed the first verse. Putting the number together was a bit dramatic...there are some very strong opinions in this district, but honestly it was fine because we all understand that it's not actually that big of a deal, as long as it's good and brings the Spirit!
I think I've said this before but honestly one of my favorite times of the week is movie night on Sunday after the devo, which is also good! This week we watched The Testaments in Nihongo! Thank goodness it had English subtitles - plus I was able to pick out a few words, woohoo! There was a RS devo in the morning with Sis Edmunds - RS board, or former board member...don't remember. Anyways, she's crazy!! Older single who served a couple missions - all Asia/ Pacific areas and she was so funny! Just a really wacky sense of humor, reminded me of Sarah - British acting professor 1st semester! She was also very spiritually powerful. I really liked how she said, "You are accountable for your influence on others" point being do good things, careful how you act, etc. She also talked about finding comfort in the hymnbook.
Tuesday devo the choir sang Praise to the Man - Mack Wilburg's arrangement that MoTab always sings. I was 1st Sop and that's a high arrangement. It was nice to sing G and A5...aka high notes.
Wednesday - my district finally got to HOST!! We've wanted to for soo long and finally we got to! Minus that standing at the curb was actually a little sad to watch lots of familes saying goodbye. There were so many elders. Seriously stood there for an hour waiting for a sister at the beginning. 744 New Missionaries! There's a big spike in elders since high school's out. After that 1st hour I was pretty busy helping, which was a lot of fun! There are 70 new Japanese missionaries! Now our building is really packed, no more empty classrooms.
Also on a sidenote totally unrelated: LAURA OSNES CONCERT WITH MOTAB IS ON THEIR WEBSITE AND I'M LISTENING TO IT RIGHT NOW AND FREAKING OUT. I love it so much! Dad you were right: Come Come Ye Saints was a good version. Mom: her 2nd song is really good! That's what I'm listening to right now.
K, back to my week! Lots of new missionaries, spent my afternoon sweating and moving suitcases and I loved it! Practice for Japan, though seriously 3 suitcases are hard to move...oh boy.
Wednesday night we had TRC - we Skyped members in Japan! We were pretty scared before but turned out really well- Fonua Shimai was soooooo happy that we talked to a Tongan girl and apparently they have mutual cousins! Kind of crazy and definitely a tender mercy for her.
Everything else is same old here - lots of class, more Nihongo. It's nice that I actually feel like I can make sentences and start saying what I want to (relatively) in lessons. We learned some new grammer thing: Plain Form Noun that was supposed to blow our minds and make everything easier. Sad to say it didn't shatter my world. Just that verbs describe nouns - really weird but helpful.
Also apparently I snore/breathe weird at night and have the routine when I'm unconscious that involves a lot of getting adjusted and sighing...Rees Shimai and Carr Shimai both said they can't go to sleep until I do now. Oops? They both laughed it off and said it's not a huge deal, just that it's the same every night... at least I'm not talking, right?
Also I'm so embarassed to admit this, but there's a scale at the gym and I checked it...I've gained about 5 lbs here. AND I TRY SO HARD TO WORK OUT! I even get up at 6 some days...life's not fair. We just all say it'll be fine once we get to Nihon and have to bike everywhere and eat healthier. NOT that I"m not eating healthy! Promise I'm not a pig, mom. :)
Love you all, especially all the news I hear, prayers, Dear Elders, cards, emails, updates, etc. I love it all!
Love, Wagstaff Shimai
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