New Area!

Heyo minasan! 

Transfer calls came last week, and I'm now in Ibaraki, Osaka with Ashikari Shimai, my awesome, beautiful, wonderful nihonjin companion! We're fresh starting the area so neither of us really knows what's going on, but that's the fun of it I guess! 

But guess who just set a baptismal date....... THAT'S RIGHT ITS SHINJI, KATSURA'S BEAUTIFUL KINJIN WHO WE ALL LOVE AND ADORE!!!! He's gonna get baptized on April 1st! Easter Sunday!!!! We love him he's a miracle. I'm so excited. 

Since we just got to Ibaraki, not a ton has happened, but what has happened has been awesome! We got college dendoed (missionaried) by a couple guys when we went to the Ritsumeikan campus, but then they let us dendo them for a while as we drank smoothies in Starbucks and now they're potential investigators so heyo that was cool. Updates with that next week. 

We also got to meet with Cleary-san, the former shimai's investigator who's an awesome pianist who lives in both Japan and America! We called her and she was like "yeah come to my house in half an hour" and it was great!! She's a way cool lady.. 

Then on Friday we got to meet with Rena and Akasaka-san, former investigators who haven't met with missionaries since last year! They have interest too and it's way exciting! I hope we get to meet them again. Also,  I melted a bowl in the toaster oven because I'm dumb and forgot that microwave safe doesn't mean toaster oven safe as I tried to cook potatoes. I promise I know how to adult! (that's a lie don't believe me Idk what I'm doing ever) 

Saturday we had Sport's Night! And I got half good at badminton! It was way fun! The Takatsuki Ward mission leader is the Most Jouzu(TM) at badminton and he helped me serve the birdie better. It was great. Also we got to meet Hashizume-san! He's way nice and likes both the gospel and English! We're really excited to work with him. 

Sunday was way awesome though. We went around trying to find less-actives, and we met a guy who was way nice and willing to talk about the gospel! He even doesn't have work on Sunday! It was so awesome cos we went to try to find his house, and while we were in front of the door, wondering if it was actually his house he pulled up on his bike and started talking to us! He even gave us his number so we can set up an appointment with him! It's been miracles only! We're so blessed here. It's so much fun. 

Love you all! また来週！

Sherwood 姉妹 💖

19歳 20歳

1. Japan trains!

2. A statue performer we saw last week! You never see these guys here!

3. It's sakura (cherry blossom) flavor season now and it's delicious

4. I'm really good at cooking. Plastic Bowl Flambé anyone?

5. It me

6. The Book of Mormon: the Manga 笑

The Week of Love

Konnichiwa!

So this week, as you all know, was Valentine's!!! Because of that, we went and heart attacked everyone we know in our area all week and it was so awesome! On Valentine's Day itself, we went and ate sushi with Katou Shimai and Komori-san! It was so much fun. I ate lots of shrimp nigiri (rice with a shrimp on it) and it was super yummy. It was just love love and more love! And now we wanna keep doing it because it was such an awesome thing! The ward was so happy and when the ward is happy, we're happy. 

On Friday, Yamashita Chourou, the area seventy in charge of the Asia North Area, came for a mission conference! He emphasized showing love to our investigators and showing faith by inviting investigators to be baptized in two weeks on the first or second lesson. It's really intense, but I feel like we're going to see an awesome change in the pace of the work because of the changes he's made. 

Also on Saturday we got to volunteer at the Kyoto Marathon Expo! It was so much fun! We met fun nihonjin and got to hand out race packets and numbers and we got cool jackets too! It was awesome cos we rarely get to do service projects like that here. Nihonjin generally don't like to accept help because they're so self reliant, so it's really nice to be able to serve people. 

And then! On Sunday Shinji came to church! It was a literal miracle because he's been sooooooooo busy editing thousands of job interview videos for work. But he came! He has so much faith it was so amazing to see! He's such a sweet, gentle person. We all love him so much. 

Well I'm off to have more adventures in Kyoto! See you next week! 

1. Volunteering but cute form

2 - 5. The Kiyomizu-dera 

Kamogawa is the River of Kinjin

Konnichiwa minasan!

Sorry for the late email, but it's been a busy day! 

This week has been quite the adventure. We met with a couple new investigators and even found a Mexican restaurant in Kawaramachi! It had avocados and everything! Speaking of which, I've repented of my sins and realized that avocados actually are oishii. Eaton Shimai was very happy because she loves avocados.

The coolest thing though was on Friday after district meeting we dendoed some gaijin! We were walking along Kamogawa (a river that runs through Kyoto) and found this guy reading 1984 on the riverbank. We started talking to him and found out that he's from Switzerland and traveling for a couple weeks through Japan. Then we started talking about the gospel and two hours later he committed to reading the Book of Mormon and meeting with the missionaries in Switzerland!!!! It was awesome! Also Eaton Shimai learned why I was sent to Japan (Spoiler Alert: it's because my mouth needed the hardest language in the world as a handicap) It was a really good day. Kyoto is awesome because you can talk to the whole world here!

Also heyo this week is Valentine's Day!!! In Japan, Valentines is a little different. All the girls buy fancy chocolates for the boys they like, and then next month on White Day (March 14) all the boys return the favor with either chocolates or some other nice present or thing. It's way fun. (I bought Eaton Shimai Snoopy chocolates because she loves Snoopy more than life itself but you can't tell her cos it's a surprise shhhhhhh)

This week, Yamashita Chourou (the area seventy in charge of the Asia North missions) is coming to do a mission tour! He gave us homework to love our investigators and ward members so hard! Hug them all the time and tell them how much we love them. His third challenge was to find a new investigator every single day and we're working so hard to do it! I'd like to extend that same challenge to you guys! This week, love everyone so so much! Love them too much! Hug everyone and tell them how much you love them! And while finding investigators for the missionaries in your area may be a little much, I bet you can all share something about Christ's love for all of us with someone every day. 💖

Let's all do a week of love this week!!!!!

愛していますよ!!!! 💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖

Sherwood 姉妹

1-3. We went to a Buddhist shrine in Sannomiya it was awesome

4-5. Proof we found a Mexican restaurant

6. A Thomas the Tank Engine bus. Kyoto is wild

7. Eaton Shimai next to some Buddhist pilgrim statues in Kyoto 

Sister Eubanks is a Queen

Konnichiwa minasan!

We had a way cool week this week! We had several lessons and our investigators are progressing way fast!

Tuesday we met with Tawarazaka-san and taught her about the celestial kingdom. She's doing really well and understands a lot, but she's so humble it's a little hard to teach her about blessings sometimes. But we got to see her repent and come closer to Heavenly Father right there in the lesson and it was really awesome. She's great we love her.

Then on Wednesday we got to go to a conference with Sister Eubanks, Sister Oscarson, and Elder Yamashita! Sister Eubanks is awesome and I love her. Everyone talked a lot about the little things in dendo being what really makes the difference and it was great. Earlier that week they did a women's broadcast devotional to all of Japan, and they talked actually quite a bit about marriage. Sister Eubanks gave some wonderful insight for the women who aren't married because she herself hasn't had the opportunity to get married. It was beautiful and edifying, and listening to her speak as a missionary, I realized that talk about marriage and stuff still applies to us, even though we're dendo dake (only missionary work) right now, and not in the "well you're gonna be home at some point" kind of way. The principles that govern a healthy and celestial marriage are the same principles that govern our relationship with Christ and Heavenly Father. Furthermore, in the sealing ordinance itself, God is an integral part, so the relationship and trust built with God is just as important as the relationship you build with your spouse. Even in the scriptures, Christ is referred to as the bridegroom, and when He declared himself as the Messiah to the Samaritan woman at the well, He symbolically healed her sad situation of having six husbands in her life and when she became a disciple, He became her seventh "husband," significant in that seven is a number that represents perfection and completion. In this way, all of us, married or not, can hugely benefit immediately when listening to talks about marriage. The principles taught, if followed, can bring us so close to Christ, and strengthen the relationships we have with others.

In other news, lots of awesome things happened with Shinji this week. We did a Bible study class with him and he really liked it. We talked about different parables in the New Testament, and it was a really awesome and spiritual night. Then in our lesson yesterday, we taught him about the Spirit, and he said that he's felt the Spirit help him become a kinder and more patient person. He's even committed to praying about when to be baptized, and next week we're going to try to set a date with him!!!! He's our beautiful kinjin (golden person) too good for this world, too pure. He came to dinner with us at the Shibatas home, and they taught him a little bit about the Word of Wisdom and now he knows about D&C 89 so welp that lesson is probably going to be fairly straightforward and easy when we get there. He's growing up so fast! *brushes away tears*

Also!! On Friday we went and dendo-ed with Kaizaki Shimai (the Relief Society president) and it was awesome! We visited lots of less actives and brought them cookies. We even got to go and eat at Sushiro together!  (so yummy!! 🍣🍣🍣🍣) There was a way good melon sherbet in a cute melon container and now I have a cute melon shaped container to hold all my pennies. It was a good day. Kaizaki shimai is the bomb. Love her so much!

See you all next week! 愛しています！

Sherwood 姉妹 ❤️

1-3. Cool Buddhist Japan shrine stuff we found near a kyuudousha's house

4-8. The chouroutachi randomly had a yukata in their apartment and it's mine now. Not sure if I can really pull it off though.

9. More Japan shrine!

10. My companion is an alien