Hi family and friends!
Happy Golden Week! Hope the
family is doing well! Haven't heard any bad news, so thats good. I have some
news! Well kind of haha. This week we got a phone call saying that we now have
Coordinating Sisters, which are the equivalent of Zone Leaders. So that's
exciting. I joked about sisters being APs [Assistant to the President] before I left, but seeing how much they
do, I dont want that responsibility anymore haha. I also got a call from
the AP this week. They are just checking up on all the bean-chans [new missionaries] and seeing
how we are doing. They also told us that by August, we are getting 20 new
sisters, most gaijins [foreignors]. Right now 2/3 are Japanese sisters but Sister Evans said
its going to switch pretty soon. We have 21 shimais [sisters] right now and between
the next two transfers (next week and in June), 6 are going home. So if you do
the math right....I'm not going to stay a bean [junior copanion] very long. And by the time
transfers come, Nanjo Shimai will have been in Atsubetsu for 7 months
so I will probably be staying. The thought of being a senior companion is slightly terrifying, but other
than the initial heart attack, it's been good for me to know this is what's coming.
It's giving me motivation to work harder and pay attention to where we going,
planning, names, etc, because I could potentially be in charge of all of that
sooner than I thought. The Kobe mission is getting 80 sisters by October, so
thats crazy.
Mission life is fun. Nanjo
Shimai hit her year mark this week! The weather has been terrible (rain, wind,
more rain and wind) so that's been a bummer, but everything else is great. I love
district meetings! (There's an elder in my district from Bellingham!) As weird
as I thought role playing was before, I like it now and find it really helpful.
This week we have a zone training meeting so that will be fun. I'm excited to
meet more missionaries since I don't feel like I really know anybody.
Finding/housing/streeting hasn't
been our top priority this week (although we had 5 new investigators..!) but I
like it. Funny story from streeting: we had just biked up a hill and the wind
and rain were crazy. We stopped a girl and started asking her questions, but I
couldn't hear her responses over the wind and my own wheezing haha. But I just
kept talking to her anyway and offered a pamphlet. She eventually walked away
but I couldn't help but laugh at the situation of being so out of breath I
couldnt hear haha. I've started running in the mornings so that should help with
the whole cardio thing. The weather is supposed to warm up soon, but some of the
members were saying sometimes is rainy and blah until June. So I might invest
in some rainboots. I also had the naive lofty goal of not wiping out one
time on my bicycle during the mission....already didn't make it haha. It
didn't hurt and my bike is fine but Nanjo Shimai was like, "There isnt even ice!"
haha.
We haven't been teaching a whole
lot of lessons lately (then again not really sure yet what the normal
amount is) but I'm still trying to work on them in Japanese. Progress is
slower than Id like but at least a little progress is good. I'm also working on
the whole not being awkward when getting to know someone. It's really easy for
me to be quiet and let Nanjo Shimai do the talking but she wisely suggested I
join in, too. Lots to learn!
Sorry for the short email. I'm
trying to think of all of the great things that happened this week but
nothing is really coming to mind...we have met a lot of great people
and I love getting to know them. Everyone has their own story and something to
offer. Oh! We went shopping last P-day [Preparation Day] at a recycle shop near our
apartment...it was beautiful. I love the clothes here right now. I ended
up buying more skirts and a few summer shirts, so that was fun. We had dinner
at a member's house and that was really fun. It was so nice to eat homemade food
that I didn't make. Our recipe list is a little short (especially with so little
time) so it's nice to get some variety :)
I think thats about it... Thank
you all for your love and prayers! They're appreciated more than you know!
Love,
Sugihara Shimai
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