Leave It All In The Pool

I'm getting to email a bit with Jordan this week although it's shorter than I'd like because she is going to lunch at a ward member's house. She really likes the members and this one is the Ward Mission Leader so she likes him and his family a bit extra. I really LOVE all of her weekly emails but this one meant a bit more to me because it made me think of all the meets I went to at the various pools in the Vegas area, Nevada, and even in California during the nearly 7 years that she swam. There are a lot of great memories there. Enjoy the email.

こんにちは、

Before every race I swam, my dad use to tell me to "leave it all in the pool." I've been thinking about this phrase a lot this week. Sister Domino (who is near the end of her mission with only one transfer left after this) and I were talking about where we want to be at the end of our missions and what we want to say we have done. I immediately thought of the phrase my dad told me countless times: leave it all in the pool. That's what I want to have done on my mission; I want to say I've done my absolute best and left everything in the mission field. I love my mission and just want to do the best I can do for everyone in it.

Kiriko:

So she didn't get baptized on her scheduled date, but do not fear!! She's still going to get baptized. We had a great lesson with her this week on baptism. She told us that she didn't want to get baptized and at first we were a little concerned because she said she doesn't have a testimony of anything, but after talking to her, we realized that she does have a testimony, she just can't see it. She reads the book of mormon and prays everyday and sends us what she learns that day and her favorite scripture of the day. She also loves coming to church and said that even though Sunday is her only day off, she would never miss church because she loves it so much and that's her time to thank Heavenly Father. Sister Domino and I are going to start re-teaching the lessons and set a new baptismal date with her. She's going to be okay.

My Japanese Obaachan:

It was transfer day on Wednesday and Gorner Shimai left at 8:30am and Domino Shimai wasn't supposed to get here until 4:30pm so I needed to have a member be my companion for that whole time. The first member I thought to call was Ishida kyodai (the ward mission leader, ie the missionary lifesaver), he said, "just come over to my house and you can hang with Obaachan all day!!" How could I turn that down?!

I thought Obaachan and I were tight before this, but now we're just on a whole new level. We showed each other our family albums, I helped her do her laundry - she started leaving the room we were in and I started following her because it's a missionary rule that you have to stay with your companion at all times and she said no no no, you stay, and then Ishida kyodai explained that we had to stay together haha, so I went with her and helped her hang up her laundry outside - I taught her how to play tic-tac-toe and and she loved it, so we played it for an hour, she sang me some Japanese songs, and she taught me how to write the kanji for their last name, 石田.

The miracle of Junshin:

On Friday we went to junshin (an all girls junior college) and we were a little nervous because sometimes missionaries don't have the best experiences at colleges. We went in and we're immediately welcomed by the whole staff. The principal came over and talked to us and even gave us junshin goodie-bags. He then called the whole staff over and they made a circle around us while we gave our self-introductions. We got a tour of the school after that and then we're introduced to the English teachers. We helped out in two English classes and made friends with a ton of the girls. One of the teachers said how thankful he was that we came and how it was a special experience for all the girls.

Talent show:

On Saturday, for our mission school activity, we had a talent show! It ended up being so much fun. One guy did a stand up comedy routine and it was funny, we learned how to do some karate, we learned some yoga, and everyone had a ball.

Word of the week:

Word: nihonjin

Pronunciation: knee-hon(long o)-jean

Meaning: Japanese person

Thank you all for your love and support, I feel it all the way in Kumagaya, Japan!!

愛しています、

Wunderli Shimai

Pics:

1. Our Eikaiwa just keeps getting more lit

2. Obaachan turned into Wunderli Shimai for a day :')

3. Domino Shimai and indo curry, two of my most favorite things

4. Gorner Shimai and Sakura, also two of my most favorite things

5. Fukaya station

6 and 7: just can't get enough of the Sakura

8: Gorner Shimai is a pro photographer

9. We had a picnic under Sakura trees!!!

As I say every week, we appreciate all of your thoughts, prayers, email and snail mail. As you can see from the end of her weekly email - she really does feel it. Here are some bonus pictures for this week.