CAN YOU SAY TOKYO!?!
That's right I am here is ze wonderful land of asians!! They are everywhere! When I got on the plane one of the Elders gave me some Dramamine to make me drowsy. It did not make me drowsy. IT KNOCKED ME OUT COLD. I dunno if that stuff should be legal. But thas okayyy. I could only pry my eyes open long enough to bear my testimony to this lady from Iran next to me who doesn't like the mormons. When we landed we went to customs and I understood everything the little japanese lady said to me. SCORE. I'm not feeling cocky.....I just felt realllly gewwwwd. I met my mission president who is the bomb!! He is hilarious and is an amazing leader. We started to drive in a big bus to Tokyo and OHMYGOSH. I'm serious people Tokyo is not of this world. I feel like I am on a completely different planet. It is so unreal! We drove by Tokyo Disneyland and it was RIGHTEOUS. We went straight to the mission home and met Sister Budge who had homemade soup and homemade bread ready for us. Oh my goodness her cooking is almost as good as mom's!! I love this woman! Just so you know mom, she is taking care of everyone and makes me feel so loved. I hug her as much as I can. I can almost feel you everytime I hug her.
We got trained for a whole day and that was exhausting. I love these people!!! On Thursday we finally got to meet our new companions! All of the trainers walked into the room and I noticed one of the Shimai was just glowing and I thought, "Her, i want her to be my companion. Yes. I pick her. Thank you very much." President Budge was reading off the names he called the sister I really wanted to be my companion up and he said, "Vail Shimai, this is your last transfer and you need a trainee with a lot of faith." and then he looked at me and called me up. Everyone was cheering and I was fanning my face like I had won an academy award. No seriously, I won an academy award. It was awesome!! I love Vail Shimai. She has helped me grow so much!!
We got all settled into our apartment and I asked Vail Shimai about how often natural disasters happen in our area. She said that she has only felt 3 earthquakes while she has been here and that we are out of the tsunami zone. She said not to worry about them. Ha ok. We went to bed that night and I was dead tired. Then all of a sudden in my dream I hear this really loud rumbling sound. I wake up to my companion grabbing me to get up. Yeah uh. Can you say EARTHQUAKE?? Yeah, it was an earthquake and it kinda rocked my world. The whole room was getting moved around and I kinda felt like a rag doll. It was so wierd. It lasted about a minute and when it stopped Vail Shimai was like, "Whoa, that's the biggest one i've felt here." Me: "Welcome to Japan Sister Staples" and then I passed out on my futon as soon as it was over. I was THAT tired. But all is well. Buildings here can totally take earthquakes. Like cake.
The miracles we are seeing are amazing!! I am in Utsunomiya which has a country/city feel to it. It is lovely. I wish I could tell you all about my experiences but there is so little time! I will tell you about two! We taught Yamazaki Kyodai is is married to a member and has a beautiful daughter named Lily, she is 1 1/2 years old and kills me everytime i see her. I just want to grab her so bad. We went to his home on friday and we knelt down on the floor in his japanese dining room and we taught him about the importance of prayer. Little Lily was trying to sit on my lap and have me read a book to her the whole lesson. WHY? WHY? WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO BE SO FREAKING SWEET? Man, it bought killed me picking her up from my lap and sitting her down on the ground next to me. The no holding baby rule has got to go. But exact obedience brings miracles, so what'er. Anyway, we taught Yamazaki Kyodai about how personal his relationship is with heavenly father and the way he feels about Lily is the exact same way God feels about him. That seemed to really resonate with him. He is trying to pray with his family now. :)
While we are riding our bikes all over the streets of Utsunomiya we get amazing impressions to stop and talk to people. We met maria on saturday and she is amazing! She is so prepared for our message and she is sooooo excited to listen to the lessons. We tried a different way of dendo (streeting) last night. We sang hymns. Yeah I know I don't sing. At all. But for the Lord, I will do anything. So i was busting out "Lead Kindly Light" like is was High School Musical 4. Mhmmm. This man stopped and asked us why we were singing and we got to teach him about the Restoration, Book of Mormon, and how God is our loving Heavenly Father. The best thing is it was all in English because this man spoke perfect English! It was lovely! He said, "This is the kind thing the Japanese people need in their lives, they have been following the traditions of their fathers for thousands of years. They need to have a firm foundation." I whooped out Helaman 5:12 right at him after he said that. Oh my gosh! Elder Eyring's prophecy is coming to pass and it is miraculous! I can't speak... really, but the Lord speaks to the Japanese's hearts. I love this work and even though most of the people look at us like we are wierdest thing since Signs but when you do find those people who have there hearts open. It is totally worth it!! I love the Lord and his miraculous work!! I love you all and wish I could write more, but just know this church is true!
Alma 26:15-16 "I cannot say the smallest part which I feel"
I love you. The Lord loves you. Staples Shimai
P.S.
I answered some of your questions in your little section so look for those!
· Tell us details about your companion. Where is she from? How long has she been out?
Her name is Vail Shimai and she is wonderful! She extended her mission another transfer to stay in this area! I am her last companion. She is basically Miss America and I love her. She majored in Peacebuilding at BYU-H. Yeah. I said it.
· Are there more than two of you living in your apartment?
Nope just us. We are the only shimai in our area. We just barely got elders in our area! Yay!
· How far do you have to travel to get to church?
It's about a ten minute bike ride. Beautiful bike ride
· How far away are you from the mission home?
About a 2 hour train ride
· What was your first interview like with the mission president?
It was really good. I told him about how I had a hard time with reading growing up and how after hard work I became an amazing reader. I told him I hoped the same would happen with Japanese. :)
· What kind of counsel did you get from him that you know will influence your whole mission?
DONT YOU WASTE A SECOND BEING SORRY FOR YOURSELF.
Liftoff!
This is our day in Tokyo! We went to Ryoguko which is a sumo wrestling town! One of the pictures is of a samurai temple that was built forever ago. it's in my area. We take our morning stroll around it everyday. NO BIG DEAL.
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