Well I knew things were going to be quite different for Jordan in Kumagaya since it was a much bigger city and she would be in an actual ward instead of a tiny branch. Things are definitely different with TWO English classes (one for kids and one for adults) and the fact that she got to teach a whole bunch of lessons. I'm excited for her. She's already meeting lots of new people and having meaningful interactions with them along with seeing new things. Can't wait for all the new pictures every week. Here's her account of this past week.
こんいちは,
Transfer week has been so busy! And Sister Gorner and I have been so busy!! We taught so many lessons this week and had a ton of appointments with the ward. It was amazing. I'm loving Kumagaya and the ward is so so nice!!
Monday:
We had transfer calls on Monday where I found out I was going to be transferred from Sado to Kumagaya. We had to leave the next day instead of the actual transfer day (Wednesday) because Sado is so far. We were so busy on Monday!! Since there was so much snow, we weren't allowed to bike so we spent a lot of time walking to and from places, we called all of the members to let them know I was leaving, we met up with Yamaji Shimai (now our recent convert) and Josefina Shimai and had dinner with them, then the Iwasaki's wanted to take us out to dinner (branch president and his wife) so we went with them to dinner. By the time we got home, it was 8:15pm and I hadn't started packing!
Wednesday (Transfer day):
Kema Shimai (my MTC companion) and I were travel companions and got to ride a 5 and a half hour bus together so that was fun. We had to say goodbye at the train station and then I had to ride a train alone (weird because as missionaries we aren't supposed to be alone, and then Sado didn't have trains so I didn't really know how to navigate around the stations). I got to Kumagaya and Sister Gorner picked me up! Boy, was it good to see her.
Joy:
Joy is an investigator and she's from the Philippines. Her husband and her have been taking the lessons for about a year. She wants to be baptized, but has been a little hesitant to set a date or anything. She is so nice and really has a lot of faith; we're just trying to get her to see that. Her and her husband have a smoking problem and they really want to quit so we taught her the Word of Wisdom. We then compared God giving us the word of wisdom to her not wanting her little 2 year old play out in the street. We asked her if she could give up smoking for just 24 hours and so she wouldn't feel alone, we would give up chocolate for 24 hours (those who know me know how big of deal this is for me). She told us that she would talk to her husband about it because she wants to do it with him, so we are going back tonight to hopefully commit them to both do it.
I'm still trying to get to know everyone, so hopefully more details on everyone next week. But here's a little about our life in Kumagaya:
-We teach a cute little grandpa and we're trying to get him to come to church because right now he holds his own little service in his house.
-The Eikaiwa is popping here! We teach a little kids Eikaiwa and an adult Eikaiwa.
-We had 8 member lessons this week (where you practice teaching with them) and they were so helpful and nice.
-We teach a 10 year old boy who has been coming to church on his own since he was 4!! We just do short little lessons with him and this week we did an object lesson with baptism.
-Surprisingly, there are a lot of people that speak English here. There's at least 4 ward members who are basically fluent in English, we teach Joy in English, and we have a potential investigator who we speak English with.
Have a wunderful week! Don't forget to thank your Heavenly Father for the little things.
愛しています,
Wunderli Shimai
Pics (going across):
1. The kumagaya church is a little bigger than the Sado one
2. The view from our apartment
3. After Eikaiwa feast with our eikaiwa students
4. Me and Sister Gorner!!! She's amazing!!
5. Car selfie with our grandma and her 3 grandkids
6. Joy's little boy. He said "peace" as I took the picture
7. The Takahashi family! He's the 2nd counselor in the bishopric and they invited us over for lunch and a mogi (practice) lesson
As always, thanks so much for your support. She appreciates all the thoughts, prayers, letters and emails (jordan.wunderli@myldsmail.net).
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