Monday Oct. 26, 2015

So Monday we got our flu shots, Tuesday mine turned red and got really swollen and as aru-looking and Fujiki Shimai (a nurse) said she hadn't seen that (she worked in ER and HCU-like ICU I think, so she's seen much worse!) and we called the clinic again just in case, y'know since I don't want to have my arm amputated or die or something like that. Maybe I'm dramatic, promise it wasn't that bad and I didn't freak out
too much!


Also, in the afternoon/evening Ochi Shimai taught us Jodou- Japanese sword fighting, here's lots of different variations. It's very formal, like really choreographed and pretty fun! Fujiki Shimai is really good because she did something really similar in school. First practiced with sticks, then she let us use the wooden swords.

Tuesday we attempted to contact everyone from Kodomo Eikaiwa that said they were interested in hearing a message from us (on the form they usually said they were interested in family, sometimes what happens after we die). We heard from 2 people- one said they actually had no time and weren't really interested, bummer. The other is still interested and we have an appt this week WOOHOO! A scheduled appt! Those are a little rare sometimes.

Wednesday morning we went with the Watabe's and Murakami Kyodai (Brother) to Omishima to pick lemons and mikans for/with a member. So much fun! Lemon orchards smell really good! Probably not enough room to ride four-wheelers in so I still prefer Brigham City, but Omishima is the most beautiful island! The mikans are kind of on the side of the mountain and it's beautiful and you see the ocean and we decided that's what paradise will be! We went home with a TON of mikans, so everyone we visited for the rest of the week got a little bag of mikans. Basically, they are to Ehime-ken what zucchini's are to Utah, if that makes sense. Good thing these mikans are delicious!

Thursday was Zone Conference! There was a communication problem and we all showed up 1 1/2hr before Pres, Sis Welch and the APs. So we had lots of spiritual prep time! So good- lots about the Doctrine of Christ with our BOM challenge. We focused on Alma 5-40 because there's a lot of my missionary help in those chapters. Actually just a lot of help in general, I think. Anyways, really good. I sang "Savior Redeemer".

 


Friday we felt really productive when we had 3 lessons in about 1 hour! 1 member, 2 investigators that all live pretty close together. 
After, we did some slightly weird service- so next month the RS is making otedama's: basically bean bags to give to a nursing home, and there's these bean-things that grow everywhere, weeds really, that they want to stuff them with. Well we were riding along and noticed an area by the side of the road with LOTS of these weeds, so we went back to our apartment to change, and picked these bean-things in the weeds for a while!

Saturday was a lot of no one answers the door/no one is home. But in the evening we had dinner with the Scott family (Scott Kyodai is American) finishing up plans for the Halloween party since they're in charge. This is their annual party and I guess it's a big ordeal, I'll find out this week!

Sunday we really thought 2 investigators would come to Seisankai and they didn't. At least we heard from one who was sorry she couldn't come! Also, one of the Watabe's investigators said he would be baptized- that means we'll have a new family in the branch, the mom was a less-active. That gave us new drive to go visit less-actives because there are people out there ready to come back! ...No one answered all day, so maybe they weren't quite ready, but they will be!

We've got a lot of hope and ideas and plans for this next week and it's fun! Working on simply showing love to everyone, because when people feel loved-feel the Spirit, they'll want to change and then change (and come back to church!!). 

Love you all! 
Love, Wagstaff Shimai

Currently I think our upcoming Halloween party is from a certain place mentioned during Halloween. It's a ton of work that we don't have time to do/need to do and I don't know how necessary this work will be...we would love to simplify. Here's some unity problems so we actually have 2 parties- one after the other, that'll be interesting!
I'll let you know how it turns out next week! I love being with/hearing from other missionaries- we have follow ups during the week with STLs, District Leader and Zone Leader. Niihama missionaries, in our district are coming to support us with the Halloween party-seriously feeling so much love from them because we were feeling a little overwhelmed and hopeless, especially at DCS (missionary meeting with Branch president) and he told us that members just don't help with activities.

People can change! We determined to help bring some changes here, which is why we're focusing on showing love. Plus there's always hope, that's the thought that came to me yesterday during Sacrament. Welch Kaicho talked a little in ZC about how God gives us the experiences we need and that our mission isn't just about here and
now, it's preparation for the rest of our lives. That helped, just need more patience!

Also, I made tacos this week!!

No tortilla chips to be found, but they have Doritos, so that worked! Also there's hardly any cheese here, so we got a little bag of what I think is mozzarella. That was fun! No matter what, Fujiki Shimai and I are learning to just be positive and it's actually not that hard- always something good to look for, like food!

Really looking forward to TTTM this week- Trainer/Trainee Training Meeting- say it 3 times fast. Anyways, we're going to Okayama. There's so many new missionaries that they split the mission in half to do this training. Normally everyone goes to Kobe- that's what we were planning to do and I was really excited to see my MTC friends because they basically became family there. So there were some tears the night we heard we're going to Okayama, but I'll still see a few people, ) sadly not Fonua Shimai) but we'll all see each other somewhere eventually, and after the initial let-down, pretty excited again.

I love you guys so much! Continuing to pray for you, your examples mean the world to me- faithful no matter what, and really Christmas isn't very far away!

Love, Katya

Kana? Miracles

So last Monday afternoon we went to Imabari Jou: castle. So this experience was really similar to when we went to the Lourve- got there around 4:20 and found out that it closes as 5, so we had 1/2 her to see it all and it's big! We saw EVERYTHING. They have a route you take and there are different buildings within the place, so we were running from building to building and it was really cool and we got to the last place with 5 minutes and left at 4:59 - pretty sure that's got to some kind of record, right? :) Asa congrats for seeing everything, they give you a post card, though they gave us ours at the beginning as a "sorry you won't have time", but we DID, so we got 2 postcards!
Lots of fun!

Look it has a moat- I guess that's really rare for Japanese castles. Also the original was destroyed, this is the rebuilt one, but it seemed old and accurate to me!

Tuesday- Fujiki Shimai made tempura- yum! Also at Kodomo Eikaiwa: children's English class, the Scott's (member couple who teach KE) had everyone fill out an info sheet that includes missionary info like what messages would you be interested in (Jesus Christ, importance of family, purpose of life, what happens after we die, etc) and while most people said no interest, a couple moms said they were INTERESTED!! This week we're contacting them and will hopefully get a few new investigators from this!
Also for dinner we made gyoza again- we eat a lot of gyoza because it's really simple and we have a ton of ready-made dough things at our apartment. You can put anything inside- we usually put cheese and veggies (onion, pepper, edemame- like peas).

Wednesday we went over to Betsumyo- area of town we go to a lot and tried to see a bunch of investigators, but basically no one was home. But then at the end, we checked one last person, but since she's in high school and we didn't see a car in the driveway, we figured she wouldn't be there and we might drop her, BUT she answered! In high school they had a lot of big tests this week and she only had a little time, but we talked about praying for God's help. Little miracle!
In the evening we had Eikaiwa and since he branch put an ad in the local paper, we knew we'd probably get some new people. New people came!! I had 5 new students in the intermediate/advanced class (Watabe Shimai teaches the beginner). There were 2 women who have previously lived in New Zealand for a time, funny thing was they didn't know each other. Then a high school kid who's really fluent. And last a 7yr old girl and her mom- they used to live in Kobe and she went to an international school. I was a little worried about keeping them all interested and learning- not leaving anybody behind (I teach the whole class in English, so I always have to be careful and slow down when I talk).
For Tash! So we do phrases and one was "I wish I had..." So my example was "I wish I had gone to the Taylor Swift concert." Everyone knows who she is, also the new high school boy is a fan. So that was fun and I thought of you!
So Eikaiwa was really good, though the real test is if they come again this week...hopefully!

Thursday we had 2 unexpected lessons in the evening! A member called us and said she was going to go get a haircut from an investigator she had referred to us, but who's always busy. So we had a doseki lesson (lesson with member present)! I taught her very basically about Joseph Smith. She's really nice, though not very interested (kind of typical), BUT she listened and we got to teach! Then after, Ochi Shimai took us to dinner at a Chinese restaurant and we had ramen! During dinner we talked about family history (that's her calling and she really likes it). I told them about an ancestor from Grandma T.'s line who served a mission in Denmark (probably? Also couldn't remember his name), but after, Ochi Shimai said (in English- she comes to Eikaiwa and tries to speak a little with me), "Wow, your family history is just like church history!"

Friday was District Meeting and lots of focus on working with members. Also we got interrupted a little by these giant "o-mikoshi" - these big fancy things that they carry that are honestly like the arc of the covenant in the Old Testament- the Aoba's were explaining it to us (Area Authority- teaches an Institute class at the same time as our District Meeting). Really cool! Saturday we drove out with the Watabe's to the islands that are in our area! We visited a Phillipino member, sadly didn't see her LA daughter, but our visit with Hamada Shimai was really good and mostly in English. She is so loving towards everyone and is just a good example! Those islands are just beautiful and I didn't take a single picture, sorry, look on Google Earth I guess? Omishima Island! After we went and taught an investigator and her 3 yr old son wasn't there, so no distractions!! We talked about the Atonement- reviewed Plan of Salvation and how it's all because of Jesus Christ. She's really smart and thinks a lot and is interested in religion and has a LOT of potential! She just needs to try it and find out that this is true! Sunday- I spoke in Sacrament meeting. Topic : Jiai (charity) I've been working on the talk all week and Fujiki Shimai has been the BIGGEST HELP checking all my writing, helping me fix pretty much all of it to hopefully sound normal, then helping me with pronunciation/intonation. Seriously she's so patient! A part member family the Watabe's have been teaching sang "Pray in Faith" before I spoke and their 8 yr old is so cute- he can't wait to get baptized, so I was already teary before I started speaking...but it wasn't too bad, I think it went decently! Then a MIRACLE- so there was an Eikaiwa ad in the paper and a lady was interested in Eikaiwa, but also has interest in religion, so she decided to come to church. What?!?!?! Seriously we have a hard time getting any of our investigators to church. Wow. So Fujiki Shimai sat with her during Seisankai and gave her the Restoration pamphlet to read, then during Sunday School we taught her about God, prayer and who we are as missionaries. Wow. Miracles happen and sometimes people just decide to come to church, I like that! After the women had a "Sego Ruri Kai" - can anybody guess this one?? Sego Lily-Kai (meeting)! It's a get-together for the RS and they have food, talk, various things planned. This one was to watch the Women's Session of Conference. Well, right before, an older member asked us to help him with his family history on familysearch.org. He LOVES family history and has done a lot, but needs help with the computer version. That ended up taking 2 hours, so we'll watch the women's session later. Mostly I wasn't much help since old people can't understand me and I usually can't understand them, BUT part of family search.org is in English, not translated, so that was something I could help with!! After church, every visit fell through, but the girl we met and taught Wednesday? She didn't have much time but said she wanted to come to church next week and it seemed like she actually did, not just being polite! Ehime-ken is famous for their mikan's-basically clementines, pretty sure they're the same, and really really good! Lunch at an investigator's cafe! It looks like we eat out a lot and people take us out but honestly doesn't seem like it, we mostly eat at home. So little miracles this week! Seek and ye shall find! Love you all so much! Ai shite imasu! 愛しています！ ワグスタッフ姉妹 Wagstaff Shimai

So true about having things to look forward to- zone conference is on Thursday, then the next week we get to go to Kobe for TTTM- Trainer/Trainee Training Meeting. So excited to go back to the homebu-mission home/office. I think technically it means "headquarters"

Thank you for all the pictures!! Downloaded them to look at later when I want to. People, okay really other missionaries and members love to see family pictures. Of course with our family pictures it's "WOW. So
tall!"

Woohoo everyday is a bike adventure here, no charge :) (minus that I had to actually buy the bike, but...)
it.
Yeah, inherited the crying gene. Basically anytime in church you say "family" I'm teary. Shouldn't have mentioned you guys in my talk intro :) And I assumed it would be like our churches with the tissue box
next to the podium. No tissue box. So I was kind of sniffling through the rest of it. Maybe that covered my probably bad Japanese?

Oct 12, 2015

It's getting colder- samui...cold! Not sure about my spelling, I just worry about speaking. So I pulled out sweaters this week! It was kind of nice to have new things to wear.

So last Monday, after emailing we were hurrying to the post office and got into a little bike accident...with each other. Oops! Going fast, and I wasn't sure if a car had seen me, so I stopped really fast and didn't warn Fujiki Shimai so she crashed into me and we both fell. That's companionship unity right?!! Really though we're okay- Fujiki Shimai's a nurse and we went to the closest convenience store and washed ourselves off. Basically my knee got pretty scraped up and it hurts to kneel on it- thank goodness I haven't had to do any seiza
(the traditional kneeling thing) this week!

We went out to eat Okanamiyaki to treat ourselves- I LOVE Okanamiyaki! Basically think fry up a pancake thing with veggies, fish, whatever you want in it, then you put mayo and Okanamiyaki sauce on top. Don't know how to explain the sauce, it's just GOOD. Maybe they have it at the Asian Market?

On Tuesday we had Watabe Shimai's BOM institute class, normally Thursday but got moved. We're in Alma where they're talking to Zeezrom about the Plan of Salvation. Trials are part of life and it's hard sometimes! I was asked to talk about that-particularly pioneers, examples we have of enduring hard things! Then we had a lesson with an investigator before kodomo Eikaiwa! More plan of salvation! Working on helping know and feel with your heart, not just intellectually. 

In the evening, after our recent convert lesson (always so spiritual- big highlight in my week! Talked about Gift of the Holy Ghost), we worked on entering area book records into the iPad...a little tedious, but needed! Thank goodness it's going digital because the handwriting is hard- first you have to figure out if it's English or Japanese romaji (Japanese using English alphabet) and then try and decipher it!

Wednesday- NEW INVESTIGATOR! Also we did service in the morning planting seeds with the Watabe's and recent convert. Anyways, so for lunch we went to this little cafe because last week the lady came up to us and asked what we were doing, or something like that. She was very nice! It seemed like a cute little hole-in- the wall place that Dad would probably like! Anyways, taught about God and prayer.

Thursday was a little different- we taught a Family English Program lesson in the morning (30 min English/30 min gospel) to the cake shop owner. Love her a lot! After the Watabe's picked us up and we went to a luncheon/ music program with women from her English reading club. We went to one of the ladies' houses- very nice! They are all older and accomplished, well-rounded people. The hostess is an accomplished pianist and her music room wasn't any different from one in America- honestly looks a lot like Kathryn's, so that was really comfortable for me. They did their final book discussion on "The Giver"- sadly I've never read it, anyways talked a little about the importance of the arts and freedom of choice. After we all ate lunch together- traditional Japanese in her Japanese room "washitsu" - means a traditional Japanese room.

After lunch (which was delicious of course) we had the music program they asked me to sing in. Started with the accomplished pianist playing a few classical pieces. Then I sang: Italian, "Think of Me" and Savior Redeemer. After, one of them did a hula dance- she's a hula dance teacher. These women all have really cool, different hobbies! After they had a couple other various songs including Amazing Grace! It was just a nice little afternoon meeting the nicest people, not to mention their great English! We switched back and forth between languages.

On Friday we had ZTM (zone training meeting) in Matsuyama! Kouchi got put back in our zone, so we're a lot bigger! So good- lots to learn about better using iPads and working with members. So one of the new apps the church created that our mission has been testing out are "LDS Teachings for Non-Christians" they wrote new electronic pamphlets that are very basic and just what we need here! I think the standard pamphlets, while very good, seem to be written with a Christian background. I'm pretty sure anyone can download it from iTunes- see if you can! It's very basic meeting with missionaries, Who is God? Who is Jesus Christ? We've tried them out a bit with people and it's been pretty successful! The work is moving forward and iPads are a great tool!

 I'm bending down a little in these, just too tall for this place, I guess! Also obviously we have a lot of fun!

After, Watabe Shimai had a doctor's appt in Matsuyama, so we waited with Watabe Choro. Waited longer than expected so we walked around the area, which Dogo- a really famous hot springs place. We also walked up a bunch of stairs to this shrine (miracle from ballet- I still have good calves and didn't get sore!)

Here's the hot springs!

Here's all the stairs!

Saturday and Sunday SOUTAIKAI! General Conference! We watched in Imabari with the members, though only 4 people showed up on Saturday. But lots of people came Sunday and we had a pot-luck lunch which was soooo good! The Aoba's came on Saturday (Area Authority from Niihama who was talked about on Saturday). They really are SO strong and good at uplifting everyone around them.

After Conference on Saturday we did some housing and it was really successful- we were spiritually charged and
...I wrote a bunch here and it erased...don't remember what I said

Conference was great! I listened on my iPad they had it projected. I especially loved the music this time- English hymns! All hymns are great but especially meaningful when you can understand all the words. I liked the new song- "Our God is a God of Love" from Sunday Afternoon.
After conference we stayed in the apartment and reviewed (I loved reviewing- why didn't I do that very much before?!) since Fujiki Shimai's been a little sick. I'm really trying to not get the cold/cough thing!

So being a missionary is a lot of fun and rewarding and learning A TON especially at conference!
Love ya lots! 

Wagstaff Shimai

Dad sent a bunch of questions, so here's my answers!

 What are you learning from your companion?
- Lots! I love that she doesn't make me feel like a trainee- we're really in this together. She is VERY polite- that's a cultural thing and I'm trying to learn and copy as quickly as possible.

  Does she teach you much about culture?
- Lots! We do a lot of America/Japan comparison. For example they always peel apples, no skin.
 
 Do's and don'ts?
- yes...can I remember any right now? No, hopefully I'm not doing anything too horrendous!
  
Cooking?
- we cook together- honestly everything we do is pretty basic but there are lots of options! The funny thing is there are lots of Japanese foods she doesn't really like. Though we both love ramen!

This is our "oven" as you can tell it's a microwave-but it has an oven button.  Technically it work it's just difficult to figure out and hence my cookers were a sad bunch.  Gave up and had to humbly come empty-handed.  Not a problem because the members brought way too much food!

Also they were very generous with the fruit basket this week--this is what we got form members! It's nice to in "inane"- country where we have farmers who bring their goods!  Also those oranges are mikan's-this area is famous for them.

How about the miracle board-did you write any of the Japanese parts?
-I didn't write any of the Japanese! American missionaries are told to focus on speaking-so I can read basic hiragana and katakana because that's a survival skill, but not kanji.  I recognize a few of the basic church ones that I see frequently.

Is it hard riding a bike in a skirt?
-I don't think it's hard at all, not sure what other people's problems are.  Only problem is wind sometimes, but I got a clip that keeps my skirt down, so problem solved! Though one of my skirts is dirty on the bottom probably from mud-water splashing.  Sadly it's not coming clean.

Have you had to use one of the Asian squat potties yet?
Still haven't used one, I've seen them, but there's always been a Western option available!

I tried to explain all words and abbreviations this week.  Funny thing is missionary abbreviations are hard of us sometimes too--is it English? Is it Japanese? Is it missionary-only word, meaning no one else understands?

Love you all so much! Love reading your weeks.
Love Katya

I LOVED conference. Hearing English hymns was really nice- getting little familiar glimpses was really nice. And of course the speakers. I felt like a big theme was preparing for the future and how the world is getting worse and we really need to step it up, not just plateau.
Meetings...sometimes it feels the same way with the church! I'm trying to find something important, worthwhile, especially when I don't understand what's going on.
Next week I'm speaking in sacrament meeting- eek! Started preparing my talk and being with Fujiki Shimai is the biggest blessing- I can check my language with her and find out what sounds normal, not just functional.
Love you so much! I love Mondays when I get to hear about everyone's week!

Patience- Americans are very impatient! Also it can be hard to be patient with the work here- why aren't people getting baptized? Why won't they come to Sacrament meeting (that's the big project right now) Very humbling- the branch goal is to have 40 people come to Seisankai (Sacrament meeting). Kai means meeting/group- for example "godhead" is Shinkai. Very, very humbling to not speak very well, to be the minority, and to not see immediate success.

Love you so much! Sushi- burrito (can't remember if I told you- I explained sushi burritos, the food, to Fujiki Shimai and she couldn't believe it. Definitely a fat super-sized American thing.) they are very healthy. And yet everything I eat is really good and if it's not I can still chew and swallow, thank goodness!
Love, Katya
カテイア - that's my name in Katakana, which is the alphabet for foreign
words. It's nice to have it organized like that!

October 5, 2015

I'm so bad at thinking of titles for these...my creativity just doesn't stretch that far. Gomene! (Slang for sorry)

K so last P-day was so much fun because we went shopping and Fujiki Shimai knows what she's doing!! Also we had KFC for dinner :) Sometimes it's just nice to have a little American something, even if it is probably a billion calories. But we do bike a lot, so...?

On Tuesday the SGG members took us to lunch at the "Saikuringu Teruminaru"- Cycling Terminal. Great food and a BEAUTIFUL view of the water and bridge ($50 round-trip bridge that makes it hard for some members to come to church...not a huge fan of the bridge) BUT it's pretty I guess. Then after we had SGG and they had an American guest come and talk- she talked about the Shukoku Pilgrimage she's going on right now (there are 88 shrines on Shukoku). We go to SGG because I think technically it's service, helping them with English, and its just been a tradition with the missionaries here, but we're probably going to stop soon because it's not the best use of our time. Praying to figure out how to best approach this situation! 

Great view. Bad quality pic. Good food- look pasta!! Also Air Drop is the greatest feature because Fujiki Shimai takes lots of pictures and then she can just send them to me!

Anyways after we had our usual adorable Kodomo Eikaiwa- I read Green Eggs and Ham to them, which was so much fun! We kept asking them if they wanted to eat some and like usual, there's one little girl who is  very LOUD and made sure we all knew her opinion :) 

In the evening we had our Recent Convert lesson and got to teach an LA after that! I was feeling a little discouraged that our LA, Y Kyodai wasn't improving as fast as I wanted, but then he said the closing prayer and it was a good prayer, seemed fairly normal and heart-felt and that's when I remembered that during our first visit, he had forgotten the prayer houhou, method. He is improving! That was a tender mercy from God, also a lesson in patience for me.

On Wednesday we went to visit an investigator who's a hair stylist, but she was busy, which was again a little discouraging, BUT as we were getting ready to leave, her neighbor walked up to us and asked us what we did. It wasn't a huge deal and she was much less interested once she heard we were church missionaries, BUT I've had the small feeling/thought to go talk to her before and didn't, so obviously it's important that we go meet her! She owns a little cafe by the hair salon, so we're going to go eat lunch there next week and hopefully talk to her some more. 

It's in these little moments that I realize God is directing this work, and he really cares about these people.

On Thursday we had a koukon with the STLs- I stayed in Imabari and Hood Shimai came! She's from Hawaii and is almost done and is such a good missionary! 

(On a side note: everyone please notice that you can see my eyes! Yay!)

It rained like crazy and sadly she didn't bring a kappa, so the ride back to the apartment from the Eki was a little sad. Thankfully she got to dry off while we studied in the morning. Random Japan side note: the showers can be dryers! There's a bar for hanging clothes in the shower and you just shut the door and turn on he hot fan-thing. There's so many high-tech buttons here, so I just push the ones people tell me to push because I'd probably end up pushing the eject or self-destruct button if not :)

We then went to Watabe Shimai's BOM class- discussed Alma 8-12 with Alma and Amulek. This time through I realized its about members and missionaries working together! Alma is new to Ammonihah, but Amulek is from there- he's knows the place and the people. They had to work together in order to be as successful as they can be!After, we had a Family English Program appointment, or 30/30. We teach 1/2 hour of English and 1/2 hour of gospel. This was for the owner of our favorite cake shop- cake dendo! Turns out you really do need to talk to and invite everyone, all the time, even when you're buying cake (thank you Sands Shimai!). Sadly we didn't watch the time, so 30/30 turned to 50/10, but we watched "Because of Him" and Hood Shimai gave a REALLY good introduction to who we are as missionaries and why we share the gospel. Learned a lot! 

Also dropped by and helped our LA who just got out of the hospital- yo katta! Helped out in her little shop and tried to teach a lesson, but she was pretty intent on relating everything we said to a movie she watched in the hospital...we're trying to find that balance between getting to know the, and connect with them, which is important, but teaching the gospel which is really really important! All in all I learned a lot through experience. 

I love, love, love Fujiki Shimai, but it was also really nice to have a day of English! Love the STLs!

Friday was our 1st District Meeting this transfer. For J-Kaiwa we learned a bunch of Japanese automotapias? The words that describe sounds, I think? Anyways whatever they're called, Nihongo has a ton of them! Watabe Choro and Fujiki Shimai taught them to us!

Here's a few:

Pika pika- light shining

Kune kune- slithering snake

Fuwa Fuwa- soft (like Imabari towels, or cake)

Beta beta- sticky

Focus of District Meeting was on prayer and its role in preparation, since we have ZTM- Zone Training Meeting, Soutaikai (General Conference) and Zone Conference coming up! Look up prayer in BD- so good! Also Side note: Bible Dictionary doesn't exist in Japanese- there's no LDS version of the bible- the Japanese Bible Society has a copyright on it, anyways that was really sad to find out! 

Watabe Shimai brought treats as usual and then Alba Shimai brought us these amazing pastries she made! Side note: from Dad's email it sounds like Alba Choro was talked about in GC? He's the Area Authority who lives on Shukoku- in Niihama, and does pottery. I've only briefly met them, but I've heard a lot about them from the Watabe's and the Niihama missionaries! They are spectacular. 

In the evening, we had a lesson with our cute 15-yr old girls R and S! We were so ready with a full baptismal invite with a date, and they came in, and turns out from the beginning they wanted to learn English too, so there was a communication error somewhere...oops! But they were really kind and so now we'll be doing 30/30 with them. So we were finishing he Restoration lesson, talking about Joseph Smith and I was telling the First Vision, when I realized they were falling asleep!! We felt so bad- it's interesting to us, but we forgot that they're 15, and just talking isn't the best route- we've got to make it a little more fun. Also I was a bit wrapped up in myself, so proud that I finally had he First Vision fully memorized- I've been working on it this week. So focus more on their needs... This week was a lot of live and learn!

On Saturday we went and helped a member, kind of less-active, clean her house. It was pretty junky. Like I don't know if they throw things away or clean things, but that's what we were there to help with! Because of my height (ps people here notice that way more than my hair), I cleaned the light fixtures. There was one that I thought was a nice tan-color, only to find out that it was originally clear, that was just the dust! So 2 hours later 2 of the light fixtures were very clean! She is such a nice person and was really chatty with Fujiki Shimai. I've noticed that people open up with her more than before with 2 gaijing (foreigners). Yay! Then later, she can explain what they were saying to me. Gospel Japanese I can do fairly well, very basic conversation is okay, any conversation beyond that is beyond me right now! But honestly as long as I can teach the gospel very simply, I'm okay.

On Sunday, right when we got to the church, we checked lds.org and found out the new apostles! I've heard a lot about Elder Stevenson here because of his Japanese connections. Also the Watabe's are good friends. Basically all church leaders with Japanese connections all know each other! We'll be watching conference next week with the branch when their translated CD comes. I'll watch in English on my iPad at the same time. 

Thankfully the Women's Conference talks are already on Gospel Library, so I've read through a few of those. I LOVED Pres Uchtdorf's talk- Summer with Great-Aunt Rose. I made that pioneer picture my background. Can't wait to watch all of conference! 

So this is our miracles board that Fujiki Shimai started! At the end of the day during daily planning we look back for Kyo no Kiseki- Today's Miracles! It's usually little simple things, but God works in simple things and it's nice to go back and see them. I've started a little notebook just for these- an idea from Hood Shimai. It's nice to look back and see how generously God blesses us! Love you all and I would love to hear all of your little miracles! Thank you for the ones you've already shared!

Love, Wagstaff Shimai

ワグスタッフ姉妹

Love you, good to hear about this week! Yay BYU won their game! Trying to remember the other things I wanted to say...any questions? Am I writing what you want to hear about? Any random questions?

Random info:
-Garbage is super intense here: we have 3 bags and everything has to be sorted properly, but it's based on the city and I guess Imabari is just one of the crazier ones.

-Cooking is actually pretty fun! We usually don't make anything crazy-a lot of what's in the fridge? Though the other night Fujiki Shimai taught me how to make gyoza! Turns out it's really easy and you can put whatever you want inside- we put cheese and onion. We have a lot of onion- and onions here are a lot better- they're a little sweeter!
Anyways, turns out I'm capable of cooking and it's pretty fun! We just kind of trade off/do it together and that's been a lot of fun.

Fujiki Shimai! She's from Fukuoka and is 25. She's graduated from college and is a nurse. She went to a catholic university because it was associated with a good hospital that she really wanted to work at! She's a 2nd generation member- there aren't very many, at least that are active. She has 2 older brothers, both married and active. She never planned on going on a mission, but then it was what she needed to do, so she did and I'm so glad! The church is relatively strong in Fukuoka- they have a stake, she comes from a ward and they have the temple!
Something I thought was interesting is on average, wards aren't actually that much bigger than branches, at least to me coming from Utah. She said there were about 70-80 active members. The biggest ward in our mission has 120 members, I think? Very different. One thing we're heavily encouraged to not say is "The church in Utah..." Because we're all the same church.

She's pretty crafty/cute and likes to stay organized, which I'm all for! (Don't worry mom, I really am a very clean person and in that regard I don't think I'm hard to live with, at least as far as I know...! )

Conference weekend is so nice and sounds like a good time, you know I would love to be there! But now I can read about home, think about and happily be here!