Jazmyne in Japan: Sushi for Thanksgiving

So this week was a really weird week. It started out on Monday, we had a little birthday party for Kozuma Choro, one of the elders in my district. He turned 20 years old so I am now the only 19 year-old in the district! Hahaha :) At the party the elders made this huge ice cream sunday. And I love ice cream so I ate a lot. Then on Tuesday, I woke up with a really bad stomach ache (probably from all the ice cream..... :)). So we weren't able to leave the apartment becuase I basically slept all day. :( Then on Wednesday I was feeling a little bit better, so we went and did some housing and then hung out with a member for about 2 hours, but that was just too much for me, so we had to come back to the apartment and then I slept for the rest of the day again. :(

Ok but on Thursday we actually did stuff!!! YAY for not being sick!!! We met with a couple of people. We met this lady named Sato San. She is really nice and we talked with her for about 30 minutes and just got to know her. There is a really good possibility that we will be able to teach her a lesson next week! We also had a little mini Thanksgiving feast with the other missionaries and the Single Adults from the ward........ :) The elders made mashed potatoes and stuffing. And then me and Bastow Shimai made thanksgiving cake (since there are no ingredients to make pie). Then we had to go to KFC to get chicken since they don't have turkey here. All in all it was honestly really lame. :) But we got a good laugh out of it. But the sad part was that I didn't even eat any of it becuase it all had gluten in it. So before the little get-together, we went and bought some sushi for me to eat. So I just ate my Thanksgiving Sushi. And it was really good :) It will definitely be a Thanksgiving to remember!

On Friday we had a sports activity with all the missionaries and a couple investigators: Akari chan and Koharu chan came. I think I've told you about them before. They are 22 and 23. They both moved to Obihiro for their work. And they come to Eikaiwa sometimes - they both speak very good English. We rented out a gym and we played basketball, volleyball and dodgeball. I wasn't very good at basketball. It brought back some bad memories of my last expirience playing basketball here.... :) Volleyball was really fun and we used a short net so I even spiked the ball once! Pretty amazing right? Haha :) Ok and I guess people in Japan don't play dodgeball the same way that we do in America. It's hard to explain in writting, but it is SO intense! Basically by the end it's like everyone against one person. I was the 2nd to last person out and let me tell you I was a little scared for my life at one point. Hahaha. :) The best part about Friday was that we were able to meet Agnes!!!! We were both really excited. Earlier in the week she wasn't feeling good, so we went by her house on Thursday to drop off some soup and that night she called us and asked to meet with us! It was a mini miracle! We talked a lot with her about prayer and the influence that prayer has on our lives. She really wants to teach her kids correct principles so she has been really focusing on reading the Bible with them. At one point she was asking us about our families back home and about our plans for the future. So as we were telling her she asks "Are you normal American young adults??" And me and Lundstrom Shimai just looked at each other and then together we both said, "No we are really not." :) What normal teenager would leave the fun life of college and take 18 months to go to another country to try to teach people about God and Jesus Christ? I can tell you that not many would. We just testified to her that we're the people we are becuase of the great things we have learned from our parents and from the gospel. It's truly why I am the person I am. And I know that I am so happy to have the knowledge that I do!

Hope all is going well!! Much love!

Morrison Shimai