Pterodactyls in the park

well hello again all!

i still dont like japanese keyboards...but maybe by the time i get home i will be used to them.

anyhow, this week a lot happened so i will try to get it all in my email.

first off...WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?! A TEMPLE IN GILBERT!?!?! why was i not informed?! I heard it second hand from elder darner who was told by his mother. that is crazy! and another one in thatcher!? what happened to arizona after i left?!

ok moving on.

i myself just returned from the temple. ^_^

it was tons of fun! we are only allowed to go once per transfer and today was the day we chose. all of the shimai that i came into the field with were there so it was a grand reunion...since you know...we havent seen each other in 3 whole weeks =p

but yeah. no allen, brown, or harris choro though. i really miss harris choro. where is that kid?! i cant even remember where he was assigned. oh well. he probaby saw howe choro at his zone conference...maybe...and is probably baptizing his 6th investigator by now so he has no time for silly things like p day.

speaking of howe choro, i am in his home ward that he grew up in when he lived here. how about that. small world.

anyhow the temple was amazing. the pictures are one hundred percent photoshopped cuz there are power lines all over the place. but its still pretty and SO quiet, even though its in the middle of the city.

i have pictures to send home by the way. sorry its taken so long. i keep having to print copies out for people and gone are the days of my missionary discount at the bookstore. it costs a lot to print pictures now. *sigh*

k moving on. this week.

this week we had SO many lessons. on tuesday we had 4 lessons plus we still had to go out proselyting. lessons are far more tiring than proselyting. we committed tanii san to baptism but the date is still shaky. she is really having a problem with some of the committments but the point of committing her to baptism wasnt to get a baptism but to keep her moving forward. she wants to get baptised but always its `i will get baptized someday`.

no. that is not how it works. sorry.

she is still really struggling though so we are keeping the date on the down low and only informing the necessary authorities because she is very afraid she wont make it. so just pray for her k?

as for our lost less active...still no news. but she is progressing. she has gone from atheism to she 70 percent belives in God. we have taught her all the lessons so far and she is doing well. she prayed with us in our lesson last night and it was a very good prayer. before she was very shy and if she prayed for us at all it was like my prayers. short and sweet and often she never asked for anything. last night she asked for help with her studies...so she has much improved in pretty much every aspect.

we want her to come to the shibuya institute so she can start making friends with members her age but she still is scared. she is like me...and goodness know i wouldnt want to go to the shibuya institute even if the missionaries were with me. do you KNOW how many people are in shibuya!?! so we are trying to figure out what to do.

she hasnt been to church but we belive that she would come if she could...she has cram school every weekend. *sigh* the life of a japanese teen. they are going to die. all of them.

but long story short we have much hope for Motoi chan.

our other lessons were with new investigators. monday was interviews and that took up most of our day. we went to the park for some finding but everyone was too busy for us. the last lady we talked to was very nice and listened to us. we started (and by we i mean sister yasutani) started to introduce joseph smith and before sister yasutani started to recite the first vision, i thought to ask her if she belived prayers could be answered. (back up...she belives in god already. score!) anyhow, so i asked and she said no. then sister yasutani goes into the first vision and i notice that its completely silent. so i payed closer attention to the surroundings and noticed that sure enough, just as she finished with `kare ni kikinasai to iwareta` people started walking by again and making noise.

sister yasutani hadnt noticed any of this of course and probably neither did the lady we were talking to (satokawa san) but we were able to set another appointment to see her the next morning.

her lesson went well and we committed her to pray and read the book of mormon. once again i felt compelled to ask her about prayers and once again she said she didnt believe her prayers would be answered so we assgined her to read enos and pray. we meet again with her tomorrow.

tuesday...yeah we are back on tuesday again. after all our lessons we had about 10 minutes to proselyte before we met with a recent convert for her weekly lesson so we went out around the church and at the very last second we found a sweet girl who was willing to hear us and meet with us again for a lesson. yay!

tuesday was a good day but alas...there must be opposition in all things and we had to let one of our investigators go... Midori kawa san. the old woman who came to church on the day of zone conference. i dont know if i talked about her or not. anyhow, this was our third lesson and she kept making excuses not to take the book of mormon and its always difficult to set an appointment with her. so finally, i told her that our message came from the book of mormon and that if she couldnt commit to read it, we couldnt help her.

she said she wanted to learn from us but didnt think she could keep commitments because her mind was elsewhere.

we had to let her go and we are still sad because of it. we sometimes feel like maybe we could have kept her and maybe someday she would have taken the book of mormon but its too late now because she never would give us solid contact info so we may never see her again. but she has our number and the church meeting times so, if she is prepared and we made a mistake, the Lord will lead her back to where she can learn. thats all we can do really.

it was really hard though because she is such a sweet lady. shes 60 but full of life and energy. she always gives us cards and candies when she sees us... we really will miss her. v.v

moving on. wednesday was mostly finding. we tried a new park...the pterodactyl park. so called because the elders are always going on about a pterodactyl that lives there. they say it is dangerous and not to be trifled with but of course that always piques our curiosity. so we located the park and went yesterday. its a beautiful park and much quieter than inokashira park so the people are all very relaxed and nice.

we found the pterodactyl...which is actual some kind of goose that someone abandoned at the park about 3 years ago and now everyone that goes there takes care of it. its not dangerous at all...its cute and nice...but loud. we actually talked to the lady that takes care of it most of the time. she loves animals and owns a rabbit hotel because rabbits are her favorite animal. she is very friendly and is our newest contact! we are meeting with her early next week. elder darner tells me we are forbidden to teach her because she is the pterodactyls owner and so she must be dangerous too...but elder darner is a dork face. =p

also, i got my hand sucked on by the koi yesterday as well...which all the japanese kids though was the most fun ever. it was a very fun day yesterday. and conveniently enough there is a christian womens college near the park so we will be going back often.

that is my week. soooooo busy! now for the small things that people will probably find amusing.

i have been here for 3 weeks and have eaten curry udon 7 times. lucky for me my comp loves noodles.

sister yasutani wants to come visit arizona cuz of all the stories i have told her about our family and our house. the sheer size of our house is fascinating to her. hee hee. i also promised her that if she comes to visit we can take a road trip together cuz she likes road trips but none of her friends can ever go. i told her i am an expert at making time for road trips in my ever so busy schedule. =p

i got asked out by a japanese guy today...that was awkward. actually he sent his american friend to talk to me cuz he was apparently too shy...but in the end we got a referral for the elders so as awkward as it was, it worked out.

yes, i love my mamachari and i am so happy that i can bring it home!

today i got packed onto the train like a sardine. i was tempted to lift my feet up and hang there...but then i realized that i am too tall for that to actually work. yay rush hour!

oh yes! there was an earthquake last night. it was pretty long i am told. it was just enough to wake me up but i didnt know why i woke up until sister yasutani told me this afternoon. *points to herself* beanchan...that pretty much equals heavy sleeper =p

today i bought a pair of socks that say `i want mail please!` hee hee

and finally, the moment you have all been waiting for...phone calls!

this sunday is mothers day so you can call me! 042-252-6936 is our number. call at 6pm sunday night and it will be 10am monday morning here. (thanks brittan for figuring out the time difference and setting up an easy calling schedule for me =p i am a cheater ^_^)

mom i am sure you can figure out how to call...i dont know.

gotta go!

love,
halliday shimai