Three weeks Until my Birthday!

Helloooo Family and Friends! こんにちわ！お元気ですか？

みんなさん、すばらしはなしが　ありますよ！今週はほんとにおもしろかたです。
Wow, what if I had to write a whole letter like that!! :) Maybe someday I can. But for now I'll go easy on you ;) Yes, well it says I have some great stories, this week has been very interestings. So yes, lots to tell.

Of course, it's only been a few days since I last e-mailed, since transfer week P-day is on Wednesday we still have P-day the following Monday (which is nice because Transfer day is not really a P-day much at all, lots of tiring train riding and eating with the other shimai and it's fun but you don't have shopping and mending and resting time (the neccessaries of a great Pday apparently. ;) So, what has happened since then? Well let me tell you it feels like forever ago... My new companion, Sister Sakamoto, is very nice and has been here in Maebashi only a transfer before me. She speaks basically no English. Some phrases and words are good, like this week's phrase is 'shoot, I got a mosquito bite' but basically everything we do is in Japanese !.. :-s The first day it seemed really hard and made my head hurt to focus so hard trying to figure out what she was saying. The second day was better. And I think I'm really getting used to it now, but it's not like we can have deep heartfelt conversations.. yet.. so I gotta keep working. Plus, when we talk to members and investigators, etc., if I don't understand then I probably won't later because I can't turn to Perkins shimai and say "ok, what happened?" and have it explained in English. So... it's been good motivation to pay closer attention and try to stop and ask for words I don't understand (while before I kinda nodded and smiled) so it feels like my language learning has really picked up its pace. :) Hopefully I can keep it up and not plateau out again like I was kind of feeling in Kofu.

Anyway, enough about Nihongo. Things that have happened in this last week: We do mostly housing. Basically only housing. So there's been a lot of door knocking. But we did have one good lesson with a previous contact and they became new investigators. I guess they've had contact with members before, esp thru Eikaiwa maybe (English class) so they knew all about the Word of Wisdom :) But they said next time they really want to hear more about what we believe and why we're missionaries. That'll be fun preparing for that! :D Oh yeah! Did I say it was hot before?? Well I was lying. I think, THINK, it's starting to get hot NOW. Yesterday was 34 celcius? kana? But add that with humidity and it equals me sweating like crazy... Last week in Kofu there was one day in particular that was super hot too and it felt like that one time we drove thru Arizona and stopped at the gas station and as soon as you stepped out of the car it was a heat wave. Well, it was something like that effect... but Arizona had been 110F........ and we weren't riding our bikes.. anyway, shinchau gurai kamoshirimasen... (It's so hot I might die ;) demo! It is also very rainy these last two days in Maebashi. Yesterday I got to see my first show of Kaminari, or thunder/lightning. Apparently Maebashi is famous for it's kaminari... and now I see why! We were going to a lesson at the church from a 30min bike ride place and the sky started dumping! It was like someone turned on a shower. Some points it almost hurt the drops were so big! But then it would just stop suddenly for a minute and then turn on again! sheesh! And all the while there was lightning in the distance and thunder so strong you could feel it. It was about the whole ride home, at least 20 minutes the thunder lasted strong. It was beautifully terrifying :) But definitely a moment to remember.

Anyway, other than that we made lunch on Saturday with the YW (all two of them and their two leaders) for their YW activity (they're finally on natsuyasumi--summerbreak), and then on Sunday I got to meet the ward. There were 30 people there. There are three kids in primary, all 8 and up. And probably 10 of the people came alone. Soooo there's a lot of part members and less actives... I think that's going to be a big focus this transfer. I don't think I ever realized how important every member is, and why visiting teaching, home teaching, and all activation efforts are so neccessary until I came on a mission (well there are a lot of things I didn't realize before :) But really, our mission president even told us to consider proselyting, reactivation, and activation efforts of the same importance. And it's true, it's not like a soul that has already been baptized is of any less worth than one that is ignorantly living life their own way... everyone needs the opportunity to be guided by the Spirit of God to become the best they can be, so they can stand before their maker and be worthy of Christ's mercy. We need the Holy Ghost's help. We need Christ's help. And sometimes, we need each other's help.

If whoever is reading this is wondering what they can do for missionary work this week, look to your ward! Look to see if there is someone who needs a friend, someone who needs an invitation, who needs to hear your testimony. Member missionary work is not just by members, but like it says is Member-Missionary work. Go dendo those members (including your family!!)! We can all serve and learn together :) Ok well that's all I have time for this week so Aloha to you all.

Ok well everyone Have a Great Week and Remember: God made you special, and He loves you very much :) Bye now!

LeFevre Shimai
Transfer 3 Week 2: Maebashi