Fwd: Transfer 9 Week 1

From: Lindsay Sanders <lindsay.sanders@myldsmail.net>

Date: September 27, 2015 7:10:34 PM MST

Subject: Transfer 9 Week 1

Transfer 9 Week 1

First off, WHAT?! I am 9 transfers old? Geez. I feel like I just got
to Japan... But I am really close to hitting one year of living in
Japan, so that's exciting. My body is breaking. Apparently 9th
transfer is when it starts to get bad for Shimai, and then you just
suffer and die slowly till you go home. This week I was riding my bike
and then my legs gave out so I just fall off my bike. It was so sudden
and luckily I didn't get scraped up too bad.., so I was sitting in the
street laughing. It was one of those "you're either going to laugh or
cry" moments. #happensalot
My companion comes back and kind of scolds me for laughing (she is a
hard core Nihonjin) but then she says the same thing happened to her
last week! Haha! Our goal is to keep each other alive!

I can't seiza (sitting with your feet tucked under you) for very long
anymore. I used to be able to sit for a full lesson! But now I can go
about 10 minutes until my legs fall asleep. Haha I am an old
missionary! It is polite to seiza until the host gives you permission
to relax. We visited a member, and she forgot to tell us to relax. I
was dying!! My legs hurt so bad! But I couldn't look like I was in
pain, because that is also impolite. So I just prayed in my heart for
strength. And then right before we stand up to leave, she says "oh I
am so sorry, I forgot to tell you to relax!" This area is used to
having all Nihonjin missionaries. よし！

Speaking of being old, I became a grandmother. Ogawa Shimai, my
beloved daughter, is going to be training Luczak Shimai!! She was
really scared to train an American companion, but I reminded her that
when I was comps with her, I was basically brand new :) she just
laughed at me and says "well, we sure tried hard that transfer!". We
cried a lot this week. it was really hard to say goodbye to her. And
to Thompson Shimai. She really helped me genki up!

I transferred, big surprise! Sister Thompson is going to be training a
bean chan, so I am moving to... Ube! Up in Yamaguchi! One of the
coldest places in the mission, just in time for winter. It is known
for being a hard area to find people/do work, but I am way excited for
the challenge. It has a lot of rice fields and old people and it is
really beautiful. Ube is kind of close to the ocean, I will probably
go on Pday! Since I am the American, I am in charge of English class!
We teach kids and adults. It is way fun :) we are going to make this
area explode!!

My new companion is Akuta Shimai!! I love her! I am so happy to have
another Nihonjin companion! She is on her last transfer, so we are
making sure to have lots of fun! Akuta Shimai is way good at English.
When we read the White Handbook, she reads in English! It is awesome!
We made a goal that in the apartment, I will only speak Japanese and
she will only speak English :) we work really well together. We are
going to see lots of miracles!

Ube is a branch of about 60 people. There are some young families,
some young single adults, and lots of old people! I think there are 3
youth, and two of them are young men. They all LOVE the missionaries.
It is crazy. They take us places on Pday, have us over for dinner,
bring us food all the time, and one family goes on a trip to Utah
every year to visit the missionaries who served in this area. Believe
it! These are such long people. I am excited to be able to be able to
serve here.

So during my last week in Kumamoto, I felt like I needed to be really
bold with some people. We dropped a lot of investigators. I hate doing
it, but they weren't keeping commitments. Our Chinese investigator
Alex hadn't been reading the Book of Mormon... But I knew we shouldn't
drop her quite yet...So I challenged her to read it. I promised that
she would feel in her heart that it was true. That night she texted us
and said that she felt warm and happy when she read it! Ahhhh I was so
happy! Sister Thompson and her bean will take good care of Alex!

Fast forward to this week... My first night we found a new
investigator! A young single mom who wants to know if God is there and
if He can help her. The next day, we were housing at night, and a man
answers the door. He sees me and shuts it right away (happens a lot
here... People don't like gaijin in this area) so Akuta Shimai speaks
up and he opens the door. After a minute, he says "it must be very
difficult for you to do this job... Can I buy you some coffee?" We
said "we don't drink coffee, but juice would be fine!" So we walk
across the street to a conbini and he buys us some yogurt-flavored
water. He finally makes eye contact with me and asks me why I came to
Japan. I told him exactly why- we started teaching the Restoration
lesson. Akuta Shimai bore a powerful testimony of how she knows God is
there. I shared how I knew that we can pray to God no receive answers.
We talked for about a half hour. We gave him a Book of Mormon and
taught him how to pray. We are meeting with him this week! Lots of
miracles, and I haven't even finished unpacking!

This transfer, the Christlike attribute I am working on is obedience.
In Japanese, it is Juujun. 従順 It translates to obedient, gentle, meek,
submissive, docile. The kanji (character) meaning is "to submit".
Obedience to God's commandments is 1) an act of faith and 2) an
expression of love. Christ said "if he love me, keep my commandments".
So it really should be that simple. I have been hearing the phrase "is
obedience an irritant or is it your quest?" I am making it my quest!
How much do I love Heavenly Father? Enough to keep working when I am
tired. Enough to wake up on time. Enough to serve with all I have. God
love us and always wants to bless us. I know that when we try to do
things His way, we are more happier, and in the end it is easier Than
doing it on our own!

Have an awesome week! Please send me pictures and tell me what is
going on at home! Love you all! 愛してまーす！

サンダーズ姉妹より

Me and Akuta Shimai

At a member's house for a welcome to Ube party.