I'm in Yamaguchi, Ube

Yes, I am in Yamaguchi, Ube right now. No, I didn't transfer. It's companion exchanges! Well, after church on Sunday we jumped on the Shinkanzen and headed for Shinyamaguchi station. That was about 30 minutes. Then we took a normal train all the way down to Ube City.

Good luck looking that up on Google. So, Yamaguchi is to the west of Hiroshima. It's the next prefecture over. Yamaguchi is 山口　and Ube is  宇部. I trust you and your Google map skills.

We are hanging out with Nakano and Tagawa Shimai. Then tomorrow morning we are heading down to Fukuoka for a Sisters Conference. This mission covers quite a bit of land, so sisters hardly see each other. I'm especially excited to see Sister Fluckiger, my MTC companion. I've only seen her once during my whole mission at the last sisters conference during my 2nd or 3rd transfer. Crazy! We just kept missing each other in our transfers. So Tuesday is Sisters Conference, then on Wednesday there is some 'activity'. We aren't quite sure what that is, but I'll let you know next week. I think they figured that sisters need to talk.

And isn't that just so true? So we will head back to Saijo on Wednesday afternoon/night.

This week...

We headed over to Mihara 三原(to the east of Saijo) for a baptism. The Mihara branch is small. Their church building used to be a toy store.

I laughed at that. It's been remodeled, but they are only using half of the building. When their branch grows more then the church will renovate the other half of the toy store. You just have to wonder if there are still toys hiding in the nooks and crannies of the church.

I didn't see any. Well, this church doesn't have a font. It's a giant blow-up swimming pool that they filled one bucket at a time.  Sounds like a pain, but also a ton of fun for two elders to do in an afternoon.

So I am buying my last bit of Japanese stuff, AT THE DOLLAR STORE! I plan on doing today, at Ube's dollar store to see if they have anything different. I'm buying cute Japanese lunchbox things, and my favorite pen. I got a letter from the hombu that said I get 400 dollars worth of goods that I don't have to pay customs on. Ha ha.

That's 400 things from the dollar store.

Our investigator has been telling us for a few weeks that we need to ride our bikes through Kinki University. It's close to his house. He built it up and said it is sooo beautiful, etc. He also said to eat at the cafeteria because it's cheap and good food. We checked with one of the members, who is a Kinki University student, and he said that the food is absolutely terrible. He said in the best English I've ever heard, 'do not go to the cafeteria'. Ha ha. Why, is it really that bad? Apparently it is because he continued to say that the lunch ladies are terrorists. We checked with our investigator, and he laughed. 'Well, at least it's cheap' Okay, well, maybe the campus is still beautiful, right? So we drove our bikes through this tiny university, and it wasn't really anything special. I mean, there were trees, but there are trees everywhere out here. We went back to the investigator, and he just laughed. He still thinks its beautiful.

At least his wife gave us real good food, straight from their garden.

Nishiyama Shimai quit her job, right? So the stress is gone, right?

Well, she intended to go live with her mom next year, but in the end her mom said no. Not quite sure what's wrong with her family's relationship, but something went sour along the way. So she called us and said she needs to quit the church because she cannot pay tithing.

I laughed in my head, rolled my eyes, and continued to listen. There is always some drama that pops up with her, despite the fact she is 61. Little does she know the masses of members that come to church and follow every commandment except tithing. Yeah, I didn't let her know that. We just sat there, listened and promised her blessings.

If you pay tithing, God will help you. Of course it may not be the way your like, or in the time you want, but if you follow God's commandments you will feel that peace until your answer comes. I wonder if it sunk in or not. I guess I'll see next week.

Oh, I can't believe I haven't written this yet! Our other favorite LA (not the mold LA) (editor's note:  LA = Less Active  Member) is a 60 year old man with perfect faith, but because of work things, he hasn't come to church in the last 10 years. Yeah, he walked into church this Sunday. Half the ward remembers him, and come up to greet him. And here is the part that really got me. He did not partake of the sacrament. This is a man that truly understands the sacrament. I mean you can't just expect showing up to church once to make up for 10 years of not coming. He knows he has sinned, and until he feels like he has repented, he won't partake of the sacrament. I wonder what God has in store for him in the future.  It's something great, so I can't wait to find out what.

Sorry, no pictures this week. I forgot the SD card adapter in the apartment.

>-< ごめんなさい。



Until next week,

レモン姉妹