Find me on Match.com ;)

Hey guys, how are you?  I'm good.  I have been gettin' back in the grind, going to school, working, studying, and exercising.  Ok, so lately exercise means going to the gym, lifting for 10-15 minutes and then going on the elliptical for about 10 minutes then giving up and going home because I can't lift without getting sore and I hate ellipticals with a burning passion.  The bad kind of passion. 

But that is not the point of this post.  As you can tell from my rigorous exercise schedule, I have hardly any spare time and when I do have free time I don't spend it blogging.  (Usually it's spent eating cereal, taking naps, or other things important things that escape me at the moment.)  So I am just going to post a homework assignment that I did for my Media in the Classroom class.  We were supposed to use some form of social media and make a statement of some sort about it. 

So I made a Matched.com profile.

And oh, was it fun.  Way too much fun.  I would just attach the link, but after a few days they shut my profile down.  I think they realized I wasn't a real person.  And not only was making my profile fun, but reading other people's profiles was even better.  Oh my goodness.  So freaking funny.  I can't even...gahh words.  So funny.  But before you read this, I just want you to know that as ridiculous as my profile is, I got lots of likes and interested men lookin at my page.  I'm THAT irresistible.

Also, the format of this page is dumb and the pictures are small, so click on them and then you can look at them without having to squint.   Also also.  I know this may be asking a lot, but every detail counts.  Read everything because I probably put thought into everything.  Also, just so you can understand notdesperate92 better, just know that she lives in Utah, is a BYU student, and is filling almost any horrible husband-hungry stereotype I could think of.  That is all.

So.  Would you date me?

Words of Wisdom from my grandparents

I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't written a proper blog post in quite some time.  This is not because I suddenly stopped seeking attention through the Internet, but because I have been in Japan serving as a missionary for the past year and a half. I've been home for about a month and I've been meaning to write a post about how awesome and life changing my mission was, but it overwhelmed me too much.  Which is why I haven't done anything about it.  

So instead of writing an enlightening and spiritually uplifting post, I decided to copy and paste from a list I kept of the funny things that my dad's parents said when they visited over Christmas break. Enjoy.

•Grandpa Oda: (pointing to a door) "Where does this lead to?" 

Dad: "It's a cupboard."

•Me: "do you have a tissue?" 

Grandma: "Yeah I got some!" (Pulls out a gallon bag full of tissues)

•Grandpa: "Everything I'm wearing is from Costco."

•Grandma Oda: "See those tombstones over there? They say "I told you I was sick."

•Grandma: "I'll go buy the prune juice.  It's a special kind; it's the strongest one." 

Dad:"you can use my Metamucil if you want." 

Grandma: "It doesn't work fast enough."

•Me: "You got some white chocolate on your lip." 

Grandma: "Are you sure it's not snot?"

•Grandma: "That's why Sam (grandpa Oda) said he liked me compared to other Japanese girls; I had boobs."  

•Grandma: "I don't know why, but every time Sam falls, I laugh."

•(grandpa reading the obituary in the paper) "All these dead people look young. It must be the humidity."

•Grandma: "I always wondered why people get so ornery when they get old, but I guess that makes us glad when they die.  If they were sweet till the end that'd be so sad."

•Us: "Do you mind if we go to the mall?"

Grandma: "Yeah that's fine. Sam likes to sit and look at all the girls."

•Grandpa: "Debbie, we don't need dinner tonight." 

Grandma: "Yeah Sam ate all the samples at Costco." 

Grandpa: "Only the ones that looked good..."

•(Christmas Eve, eating Jerusalem dinner.) Grandpa: "is that pancake?" Us: "It's naan; Indian bread."

Grandpa:"what's that brown stuff?" 

Us: "Dates." 

Grandma: "are those beans?" 

Us: "No, they're olives." 

Grandpa: "This bread stuff (naan) is good.  It's like tortillas." 

•Us: "We don't get ready in the morning for Christmas, so don't worry about it." Grandma: "Well, I gotta draw my eyebrows." 

Grandpa: "Yeah, and put in her teeth."

•Us: "merry Christmas Grandpa!  And happy birthday!" 

Grandma: "Oh yeah, it's your birthday..."

Grandpa: "It's my birthday?  Not tomorrow?  It's Christmas?  It's the 25th?"  

•Grandpa: "what's that word for when you write on your phone?" 

Us: "Texting."

•Grandma: "When I win the lottery I'm gonna get a face lift."

•Grandpa: "I've never had a drink in my life...hardly."

•(Grandma talking about Grandpa): "don't believe anything he says.  Especially about my driving."

•Grandpa pointing to our tennis machine: "Is this a car wash?" 

Me: "No it's for tennis." 

Grandpa: "Oh, a pressure washer?"

•Grandma giving a prayer: "...please bless grandma and grandpa that they can try to be productive and busy...in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."  Grandpa: "Gee, that was so long, I almost fell asleep."

Grandma: "Yeah I know--I didn't know how to end it."

•Grandma: "Well young kids don't like talking to us old people. We talk about doctors and pain and pills; they talk about dates and boys." 

Grandpa: "I talk about old ladies. 

Grandma: "Yeah, he dreams about those old ladies at Costco giving him samples."

•(talking about the kingdoms of glory) Grandpa: "well I'm going to the celestial kingdom anyway..."

Me: "Grandma, I'm probably going to put stuff about you on the Internet..."

Grandma: "I don't care."

Hilarious, right?  Needless to say, my Christmas break was filled with good old fashioned entertainment via my grandparents.

And here are some pictures I took of my grandparents. The majority being of them eating or sleeping.

Update from Oda Shimai (she's 9 months in, 9 months to go!)

Hello family and friends!

The sun is out and shining and it's really warm.  I like the weather here.  It's really nice.

As a follow up to my birthday, it was nice.  Obviously I'm a missionary, so the day was like any other day, but I did go out to eat for dinner and ate some meat and an awesome strawberry parfait.  Birthday cards have also been trickling in through our mail, but another sister currently has four of my cards because the mission home is sending MY cards to her because our last names are similar.  I'd really like those letters soon, but it's probably not that sister's priority like it is for me.  Patience.  Oh, and the elders gave me one of those head massage things that looks like a big whisk.  Best birthday present ever.  Sometimes I just leave it on my head.  And then take pictures.  I swear I'm not as fat as I look in the picture I attached.  That's what happens when you wear a flannel with a skirt...did I mention that sometimes I really don't like dressing up as a missionary?  Also, the fact that I'm sitting at my desk in that picture is amazing. I'm not very good at studying at desks either.  

I've mentioned this before, but there are quite a few old people in the Fukuroi Branch.  But even though there are a lot of old people, they come in all sorts of shapes and personalities.  One in particular is Totsuka Shimai.  I don't know how old she is, but her daughter is probably around 50 and unmarried, so she lives with her.  Anyway, last week we met with them to teach them about how to bring up our religion in everyday conversation.  (We're also teaching from Everyday Missionaries or whatever it's called, but we haven't actually read it.  Yamashita Kaicho just made thirteen different lessons we can teach from it and then members choose what they want to learn.)  Anyway, we had them role play a situation where they could talk about the Word of Wisdom.  The daughter was the cashier and Totsuka Shimai The Older (that's what we call her) was playing the part of herself.  This is how it went down:

Totsuka Shimai as Cashier: "Oh, you bought a lot of herbal tea.  Why?"

Totsuka Shimai The Older: "Because I like it."

Then Hodson Shimai said that was good, but the point of the mogi (role play) was to tie in the church or the Word of Wisdom.  And then she asked if they could try again.

Cashier: "Why did you buy herbal tea instead of green tea?"  (fyi no one would ask that, but it was a role play after all.)

Totsuka Shimai The Older:  "Because I like it." 

Yeah.  Maybe the saying "you can't teach old dogs new tricks" is kind of true.  She's funny.  She also told us multiple times at church yesterday that we looked like we gained weight.  She might need some help with missionary work, but she's got honesty down!

This past week has been great.  And filled with miracles.  Not huge miracles, but lots of small ones that any missionary would be happy to receive.  First of all, we got a referral last week from a Filipina who recently got baptized, and she wanted us to teach her sister.  We've taught Erica three times and it's going really well.  Last week while Hodson Shimai was on kokans (companion exchanges) with another sister she talked to a girl on the train and got her number.  I then sent her a text and invited her to the game night we put on that week.  And she actually came and brought her sister!  Then we asked if we could meet with them again and they were all for it.  So we met and had dinner with them on Friday night.  But that was after having first dinner with members, and then biking 21km in 40 minutes back to Fukuroi to meet them in time for second dinner.  Sometimes missionaries eat like hobbits.  Then the next day we were housing and met a Brazilian family that said they wanted to hear our message and gave us their number.  A new student at Eikaiwa turned into an investigator and has a lot of potential, and a lady that we met on the road and exchanged numbers with finally called us back and set up a lesson with her an her friend for later this week.  There's a good story for all these situations, but I don't have time to tell them all.  Some are super spiritual and some are mostly just entertaining.  I wish I could just dump my memories into this email and you could watch them.  Actually that totally exists.  In Harry Potter.  

I am continually learning a lot by serving in a different area and with a different companion.  And I actually get to work with a lot of different sisters and areas because we go on kokans so much.  It's really fun.  Right now we have three Filipina investigators, three Japanese, and one Brazilian investigator (and dropped a handful of Filipinos).  Obviously we're working on finding more, but it's really interesting to be teaching people of all different nationalities.  It's absolutely ridiculous how different it is to talk to a Filipino or Brazilian at their doorstep than a Nihonjin.  Actually, Nihonjin just don't talk to us.  But even though I'm serving in Japan and I'm teaching so many different types of people, it's the same message.  We teach very differently to meet their needs and previous knowledge, but it's still the same message about the same gospel.  Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and He wants us to become like Him.  He gave us our bodies and families to progress in this life and hopefully return to live with Him.  This life may be like a test; it may have it's trials and burdens, but through Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can overcome these things.  And we really can be happy in this life.  I'm happy and I hope you are happy!  Kiki (our new Brazilian investigator) said that when she prays she doesn't really ask for things, she mostly just thanks the Lord for all her blessings.  And she's not the first investigator I've heard say that.  I'm so grateful that I can teach people, but that they can teach me as well.

Love you all!!

Oda Shimai

I'm leaving on a jet… train (Week 33)

I hope the title just got that song stuck in your head.  You're welcome.

But yes, I am transferring to Fukuroi in Shizuoka prefecture.  Which probably means nothing to you, but it really means that I'm transferring from the most northern zone to the farthest south I can get.  Which also means it will be warmer!!  I'm pretty excited about that.  Also, my companion is super old and is on transfer 10!!  Out of like 50 shimai, there like 5 that are above transfer 8.  I never thought I'd get a companion more than two transfers ahead of me.  And, we're opening our area. Apparently there are only like 20 members in our branch, so I'm fairly certain they've never had sister missionaries before. Which also means they'll be really excited for us to come ;)  I'm excited, but I'm also pretty nervous.  My new companion is pretty different from me, but I think I'll be fine with that.  Opening is really the scary part because we both don't know anything about the area or the branch, and we'll start off with zero investigators.  But I'm ready for the challenge!  

And even though I will be leaving Kanazawa's dismal weather, I'm really going to miss it.  I had to say goodbye to everyone at church yesterday and I didn't like it one bit.  Sometimes we get really jealous of state side missionaries because they can go visit their mission so much easier than we can.  Who knows if I'll ever see these people I've grown to love so much again.  I haven't had a break down yet, but I've teared up multiple times a day since transfer calls.  I never realized how hard it is for missionaries to transfer, but it totally is!  You put your whole heart and soul into your area, and then you just have to leave.  My heart.  It hurts.

So now that I got all my transfer blues out of the way, I can talk about 姉妹大会!  That means Sisters Conference.  I just thought I'd throw in some kanji to let you know I can actually read some things.  Anyway it was so awesome to meet together with all the other shimai and finally get to talk to everyone.  I've said it before, but I'm kind of banished up here in Kanazawa, and I haven't been able to see many of the other shimai in the mission.  And we NEED to talk to each other.  If you didn't know, missionaries' form of entertainment is eating, and talking about other missionaries and areas.  So yeah, I got to do a lot of talking and it was awesome.  We also learned how to give hand massages to our companion to relieve stress.  Yeah, that's what we do at Sisters Conference. 

Ha, but we also had training and learned a lot of good stuff.  I really did learn a lot, but mostly what I learned was not from the training, but from what I observed.  First, I'm gonna have to preface this with an explanation of how freaking hard Japanese is.  The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know, and how ridiculously complex this language is.  It's super hard.  And no missionary leaves Japan speaking like a native, or even close to that.  I could go on and on, but all you need to know is that it's a really difficult language, spoken and written.  So as a missionary, I am extremely aware of this.  And sometimes I get mad/envious of the missionaries in South America where they actually learn to speak the language well, and actually get baptisms.  I was just overwhelmed with how hard those two things are in Japan.  

But while I was at the conference, I watched a shimai (that's only one transfer ahead of me) translate to her Japanese bean.  It might sound pathetic that I was so impressed that she was translating in Japanese, but that's kind of really hard.  I was talking to Kawai Shimai about it afterward, and she said that she was actually translating the English into super super simple Japanese, but she did it confidently.  That's when I started to do a lot of reflecting.  Yes, Japanese is really hard, and yes, I'll probably never speak like a native, or understand everything I hear from a native, but that's ok.  My purpose is to bring others to Christ, and I don't have to be a master of the language to do so.  I just have to study hard, prepare hard, and then when the time comes to speak, I should do so confidently.  The Spirit can work with my weak Japanese, but it can't work with me if I'm apologetic and focused on how bad my Japanese is.  Since my time in the MTC my favorite scripture has been Ether 12:27:  

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I  give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.  

I've read this verse countless times.  I've shared it countless times, but I didn't really grasp the full meaning of humility.  I thought my weakness was Japanese, and I thought I was humble because I was very aware of how bad it was.  But that's not humility.  I was talking about this scripture with Kawai Shimai during companionship study and she said that being humble is actually being confident in the right person, and that person is God.  My weakness wasn't Japanese, my weakness was the fact that I didn't have enough confidence or faith in my Heavenly Father.  Since then I've tried my best to speak confidently.  And I've been surprised to find that I can speak much more smoothly and comfortably because I'm not focusing on how hard it is to formulate sentences or ideas in Japanese.  It's been a great lesson for me, and I'm very grateful I had that little experience at Sisters Conference to finally realize that.

I do believe that I can speak Japanese and I do believe that we can have baptisms in Japan.  I know that Heavenly Father loves all His children, and that's why we're serving in a non-Christian country.  They might not know Christ right now, but everyone was Christian before this life.  We lived with God and Jesus Christ and we all wanted to come to this earth to gain bodies and return to live with Heavenly Father.  I'm so grateful that I was born into a family that knows of this plan.  I don't know why I was so lucky to have this knowledge my whole life, but I think the people of Japan deserve to know just as much as anyone else.  

 Pictures:  It snowed a lot this week, so we took a lot of snow pictures.  I also attached a picture with Yamaguchi Shimai, our dendo coach.  I think she's 30, but she totally looks like she could be another missionary.  Love that woman!  She is also really good at singing, so we sang "How Great Thou Art" a capella in Sacrament Meeting.  Yamaguchi Shimai sang the tenor part an octave higher and it sounded so awesome.  Music really does bring the Spirit and I think everyone felt it there. 

Love you all!

Oda Shimai

Miracles

Ohayou Gozaimasu!

Today is officially the first day of my third transfer.  Which also means I am no longer a Bean.  Which also means I don't have a really good excuse for my weak Japanese.  But that's ok.  Looking back at my first two transfers, both Hammon Shimai and I have come a long way.

My good friend Jenny, who I've mentioned a fair number of times in these emails, said in one of her letters that there have been miracles in my mission.  When she said that I was kind of surprised because I didn't know what those miracles were.  We haven't had any baptisms, we don't have any of those crazy stories about conversions, or followed a prompting to talk to someone that was searching for answers.  Those are the kind of things I saw as miracles, and in my eyes, we hadn't had any.  But then I started to think, and I really have experienced miracles in these last two transfers.  I'm going to be honest, that first transfer was really rough.  Especially those first two weeks.  We had no direction, we didn't speak Japanese, and we had basically no one to teach.  Hammon Shimai's trainer had really good Japanese, but she wasn't very good at including Hammon Shimai or giving her opportunities to grow.  So when Hammon Shimai became a trainer as a third transfer missionary, she hadn't had communication with the ward members, investigators or really anyone.  She had to take the lead with a brand new missionary, when she never had the opportunity beforehand.  And to top it all off, her Japanese might have been weaker than mine.  I was kind of mad that I was put in that situation because I knew I wasn't going to know anything as a Bean, but I had always assumed my trainer would.  I even got kind of annoyed with the age change for missionaries, because if that hadn't have happened, I would have still gone on a mission at the same time, but I would have had a seasoned trainer who actually spoke Japanese.  I feel kind of bad for thinking that now, because even though my situation wasn't ideal, it must have been so much more stressful for Hammon Shimai.  

So when it comes to miracles, I'd say these last two transfers have been one big miracle.   We made it through 12 weeks of not knowing anything.  We talked to hundreds of people on the streets when we really didn't speak Japanese.  We knocked on hundreds of doors when we had no idea what they'd say to us in response.  We even found a couple investigators, and when I think about them, the fact that they were willing to hear our message was a miracle.  Even though we were completely lost, we somehow managed to be effective missionaries.  Maybe the numbers don't show it, but I know we worked hard, and I know the Lord knows that.  I've grown these last two transfers, but I'm mostly proud of how Hammon Shimai has grown.  She is much more sure of herself now.  Her Japanese is really starting to improve and she talks to people. She has become less serious, and lets herself be her real light-hearted self.  But I'm pretty sure I'm most proud of the food she ate this transfer with me as her companion;)  I'd like to take credit for the fact that she now eats onigiri a few times a week, tried raw egg and rice voluntarily because she saw me eat it once, her favorite food is now inarizushi because I introduced her to it, she eats sushi with raw fish like a boss, and she loves mochi with onko inside because I always bought it on P-days.  Yeah, I'll take credit for that.  She's very willing to try new things, and I think I'm really going to struggle if I ever get a picky companion.  

Speaking of new companions, I'm getting one tomorrow.  Hammon Shimai is transferring out, and Kawaii Shimai is taking her place.  Kawaii actually means "cute" in Japanese, so I have high expectations of that sister.  Like me, she has a Japanese last name, but she's American and doesn't speak Japanese as her first language.  She's also 1/4 Japanese, so she looks completely white.  Now I know what my kids will look like if I marry a white guy.  Anyway, I'm excited and hopefully it'll be an awesome transfer.  She came in the same group as Hammon Shimai, so she's just a 5th transfer missionary as well, but 5th transfer sounds oh so much more comforting than a 3rd transfer companion.  Hopefully she's not let down that she gets me as her companion

I already talked a little about food in this email, but it never hurts to talk about food a little more.  So far, I've liked basically everything I've tried in Japan.  Nothing has been too weird, and I mostly just worry about what I'm going to do in America when I can't get really good ramen or udon on any block.  So yeah, I like Japanese food.  Except I tried nato for the first time and that was sufficiently nasty.  It's infamous for being disgusting to foreigners...and I was no exception.  It's like beans covered in really sticky mucus.  Then later that night we visited some members in the ward and Iida Shimai served us warm milk.  That was probably the second grossest thing I've had in Japan.  Surprising, right?  People don't even drink milk here, and yet she gave us this mug filled with warm milk.  Probably because we're Americans.  Too bad I'm an American that loathes milk.  I'm fairly certain it's been over 10 years since I've swallowed more than one gulp of milk.  And I'm really hoping that it'll be another 10 years till I have to do it again.  But I drank it, so please be proud of me.  Oh, and a couple of days ago we were visiting a less active sister and she sent us out with these sandwiches.  Except they really weren't really sandwiches because they were a piece of bread with halfway melted cheese, bacon, cabbage, probably Japanese mayo, and bananas on top.  I'm am so grateful we didn't have to eat them in front of her (or even try them later). The elders wouldn't even take them.  

And for pictures.  Aren't our investigators adorable?  The first picture is with Manami San and our finished products that we made at the pottery place.  Gahh, I can't get over the fact of how stinking cute she is.  We all agreed that after our missions she's going to visit us in Utah.  And hopefully by then she'll be a member ;)  The other picture is with Kyoko San and her son Shoma.  She's actually the same age as me and married, which is pretty rare in Japan.  She's the investigator that's been taking lessons for a long time, but isn't quite willing to get baptized.  Yet.  And the other picture is of Hammon Shimai laying on our "couch" warming her feat with the space heater.  Central heating.  Japan really should think about getting it.

Love you and thanks for all the prayers.  It really does mean a lot:)

Love,

Sister Oda

Of pears, companions, and ramen

Ohayou Gozaimasu!

We had some computer problems this morning, so I have very limited time to write this email.  So it probably won't be ridiculously long like they tend to be.  Which could also be a good thing...

So Japan suddenly decided that it was fall, and now it's pretty cold around here.  I get to wear tights, and it makes me happy.  I'm also kind of scared for winter now that I'm getting a taste of what it will be like riding our bikes around for hours in the cold.  We officially turned the heat on for our apartment's toilet.  Japan might not have central heating or cooling, but their toilet seats are heated.  Which is pretty awesome.  Did I talk about toilets last week, too?  Hammon Shimai and I did a little clothes shopping last P-day, so I got a few longer skirts and winter clothing.   And for the record, I kind of love shopping here.  A lot.  Even if I am a size large in Japan...

This week was another good one.  Nothing happened that sent me through an emotional spiral, but nothing spectacular either.  We did eat lunch with Manami San (our investigator from Eikaiwa) last week, and that was the first time we had seen her in about a month.  We're not sure if she wants to take the lessons again, but at least we have contact with her again.  She invited us to go make pottery or something with her tomorrow, so we get to see her again!  Hopefully we can bring up the Gospel...

We also had lunch at Kakuda Shimai's house last week.  She's a less active member who is totally nuts (in a good way) and is super funny and talkative.  She also loves American things such as American food, and swear words.  The Japanese language doesn't have swear words, so they really don't understand how strong the "f" word is.  Haha, it was a bit of a surprise to read that in one of her texts.  So if you haven't already guessed, the picture of the crazy lady with the whipped cream can in hand is Kakuda Shimai.  She really is a hoot.

Lily mentioned that I don't really talk about my companion very much.  Don't worry, we get along just fine, I guess I just have a lot of other things to talk about.  So I'll talk about her a little bit now.  

Hammon Shimai is blonde, 19, and from American Fork.  She has a boyfriend currently serving in Norway, and I'm fairly certain she'll wait for him those 6 months after she gets home from her mission, and then they'll get married.  Hammon Shimai took classes at UVU for one semester and commuted from home, so until her mission she had never lived away from home.  In a lot of ways, she's super young and inexperienced, but I truly don't think that has set her back as a missionary.

I thought that I'd have to learn humility by being trained by someone so much younger than me, but I've really learned humility from her.  I'm sure all of you know, but I kind of like to talk a lot.  And I kind of like to be in control of everything.  Not like a dictator or anything, but this whole senior and junior companion thing isn't my favorite.  But Hammon Shimai has been so good about letting me kind of take charge in things.  She wasn't as lucky as me to take Japanese before her mission, so she kind of struggles with the language.  (Which is to be expected from a 3rd transfer trainer.)  I try to recognize the fact that she's my trainer, and I'm grateful for all the things she's teaching me, but I also tend to do more of the talking than her.  If I were to have a trainer that spoke Japanese fluently, I would've never had the opportunity to speak and converse with people as much as I do with Hammon Shimai.  Sometimes (most times) it's hard to be in a companionship with two very new missionaries, but I'm also really grateful for it.  I'm not afraid to state my opinion on things, or suggest what we should teach, where we should go, and so on.  I'm probably really annoying, now that I think about it, but Hammon Shimai is really good about letting me say and do all the things I want.  She had a trainer who was fluent in Japanese, but she felt so worthless in their companionship, and I'm so glad I don't have to feel that way.  So basically, I like Hammon Shimai.  She's much more shy, and pretty different than me, but we get along well, and we respect each other.  We're here for the same purpose, and that is to invite others to come unto Christ.  So that's what we're doing.  That's all that really matters, right?

I think I attached a picture of Hammon Shimai, me, and Uriya with our bowls of ramen at a ramen festival we went to last P-day.  Japanese people love their ramen, which is why they filled a whole stadium-like building of people waiting in lines to get their ramen.  It was crazy.  I also attached a picture of me and a nashi, which is a Japanese pear.  They basically taste like a pear with the texture of an apple.  And they're SO good.  They're about to go out of season, and there was only that one huge nashi left in the grocery store, so I bought it.  For $2.50.  I love them, and it might have been my last chance to eat one.  So I bought it.  

I love you all.  Keep being awesome and stuff.  The gospel is great, and continues to bless people's lives.  I hope it is blessing yours.  

Oda Shimai

First letter from Japan! (September 3, 2013)

My apologies.  I (Kristen's younger sister, Lily) am a terrible social media manager and have not posted much of anything Kristen's been sending in her weekly emails home.  This is from over a month ago, but I thought her first letter from Japan (after 9 weeks in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT) was a good place to start. Look on Kristen's facebook for pictures!

Konnichiwa!

 

 

Yes, I am a Bean Chan.  Instead of calling the brand spankin` new missionaries greenies,  in Japan they call them beans.  I really don`t know why.  Perhaps some beans are green?  And Chan is a title the Japanese used for children or something of that nature.  I don`t really know, that`s just what I assume from hearing it.  So for the next 12 weeks just call me Bean Chan :)

 

First of all, I`m using a Japanese keyboard, so it`s a little different and I`m trying my best.

 

I have a lot to talk about, so I`m just going to try and go in chronological order so I don`t miss anything important.  First off, Japanese people are very nice.  When I got off the airplane I didn`t realize I was going through customs because my one experience with going through customs in Russia was so different.  And when I say different, I mean scary.  But that`s another story.  So yeah, they were all so friendly and all the sudden I was through customs and I was meeting President and Sister Yamashita.  They`re really great, and their English is really good.  When Japanese people say their English isn`t good, it actually means that they can speak it 10 times better than we can speak Japanese.  And when they say our Japanese is good, it really means "Your Japanese isn`t good, but you`re cute for trying."  At least that`s what I think :)

 

 

We stayed in the mission home that night and I crashed hard.  The next morning we had some training and then got to meet our trainers.  I was paired up with Hammon Shimai who is 19 years old and from American Fork, UT.  And just like all the sister trainers but one, she just finished her own training, and became a trainer right after being a bean herself.  Isn`t that crazy?  I`m sure it must be super scary to train someone when you`re still considered a new missionary.  She`s doing a great job though, and I trust her even though we both don`t know Japanese.  

 

 

Before I left on my mission, my dear friend Sister Jenny Ansted (serving in Italy), gave me some awesome advice.  She told me that even though she was a greenie, she didn`t use that as an excuse to let her trainer do all the work.  She pushed herself even when she was uncomfortable.  Or something along those lines; I can`t remember the exact details.  Anyway, I really took those words to heart and decided before I got here that I wouldn`t use being a bean as an excuse.  Well, I`m glad that I made that decision before I got here, because that`s not really an option.  Hammon Shimai is doing great, but she`s only been here for three months and no one learns Japanese that fast.  We`re basically on the same level of speaking ability, so I have to speak just as much as her to people when we tract and teach.  It`s definitely scary to knock on a door and try to share a message with a stranger when neither of us can hold a conversation.  I really have to practice what I preached in that last email.  I have to have more faith than fear, or we`d get absolutely nothing done considering both of us don`t understand the majority of what comes out of their mouths.  We`re not in the ideal situation, but I know that the Lord won`t let us fail.  We don`t have a companion that we can rely on to do all the talking or translating, so it`s all up to us to open our mouths.  I think we`re going to grow a lot faster because we don`t have any crutch whatsoever to lean on.  Last night I was joking that out of anyone we deserve the gift of tongues the most.  Well, I kind of wasn`t joking at the same time :)

Yesterday was Fast Sunday so I bore my testimony along with the FIVE other missionaries in our ward.  There are two elders who are Japanese (and super funny) and four sisters.  The four of us live together, and only Sister Breck can actually speak Japanese.  Sister Avarell is her bean and she`s been out here for 6 weeks.  Anyway, I got to meet a lot of people in the ward and they all got super excited when they found out I was half Japanese.  People don`t shake hands very often in Japan, but apparently that doesn`t apply in church becauseeveryone shook each others` hands.  But really, I have never shook so many hands in my life.  And it was in Japan of all places. 

I really want to build a good relationship with the ward members for obvious reasons, but also because they are our best allies.  We really need their help finding investigators, but Hammon Shimai and I really need them to help teach.  At this point we can teach a very simple lesson in Japanese, but we have no idea what the investigators say back.  Basically, we need members present in our lessons if we want it to be effective.  We don`t have many investigators right now because we had to split them up between the four of us because they were a trio before I arrived.  Anyway, after church we taught my first real lesson to Ito San.  Ito San is a sweet old lady who lives in an awesome traditional Japanese style home and is extremely Buddhist.  She also lives far away, so one of the sisters in our ward drove us there and basically translated for Ito San the entire lesson.  We were super grateful Hirose Shimai was there to help.  We were planning on teaching Ito San about the Plan of Salvation, but didn`t get very far.  Ito San told us that she believed that her religion was the best and told us numerous times that she wasn`t going to convert.  That`s when we had to decide what we were going to do.  It`s hard to know when you should drop an investigator, because if she wasn`t willing to keep our commitments, etc., we weren`t fulfilling our purpose as missionaries.  We told her that we were happy to continue teaching her about our religion, but our purpose was to bring others to Christ.  She said multiple times that she`s too old now to change religions, but if she were younger she probably would.  I thought that was kind of weird, but I just said that our faith is for everyone of every age.  Haha, I don`t really know where this will go, but she said that she really liked meeting with us and isn`t sure why she let us teach her because she never lets other proselyters (sp?) in.  We took that as a good sign, so we`ll probably try to teach her again.   

Japan is a great place.  I`m constantly entertained just by looking around as I ride my bike.  The air is extremely humid, and it`s always pouring rain.  The cars look like little boxes and are in pristine shape.  The cicadas are ridiculously loud.  There are old people everywhere either walking or riding their bikes, and every single kid is adorable.  The roads are smaller, the people are smaller, the doorways are smaller, the cars are smaller, the yards are smaller (or non existent), the seats are smaller and for the first time in my life my feet can touch the floor.  Basically, everything is smaller except their rice cookers.  The elderly people may be small and thin, but the babies are chubby and dense; both are freaking cute.  

 Also, does Lily start college today?? Or is it still Sunday in the states?  Either way, good luck!  I`m thinking of you :)

So I`ve only taken like five pictures since I`ve been in Japan.  I don`t know why, but next week I`ll try to take some picture where you can actually tell that I`m in a different country.  So if you were wondering what those rain jumpers look like, I`m wearing one in one of those pictures.  We just bunch up our skirt at the top and ride our bikes in the rain while looking super attractive.  We got stuck in the rain the other day without our kappa and that`s why we`re drenched in the other picture. You can also see my obnoxiously bright orange men`s bike that I bought here.  Nothing says "quiet dignity" like a sister wearing a kappa with an ugly white helmet riding a bright orange mountain bike!   Then we took a picture with Ito San in her awesome house, but you can`t see the background because the stupid flash was on.  It`s really not a flattering picture, but at least now you have a face for Ito San.

That`s all I can write for now, but I love you all!  I can`t speak Japanese, but I still love it here and the people.  The church is true and is for everyone.  I`ve never had to exercise so much faith in my Heavenly Father, but I know he`s looking over us.  The main thing I learned while in the MTC is that the Spirit is the best teacher, and I really have found comfort in that because our Japanese speaking abilities are not good enough, nor will they ever be.  I hope all of you are doing well in the good old U S of A!

Love you!

Sister Oda