Well, everyone, that was my mission. I have successfully served a 18 month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints. Did I think I could do it? Well, at the beginning I figured if some of the other return missionaries I saw could do it, then for sure I could to. In the middle there were times when I wondered, but it was easy to power through the end. I feel like I can check that off the list of life accomplishments.
The plane ride home was a pain. I don't know what was worse - the 6 hour layover in Tokyo or the 10 hour plane ride across the Pacific. Either way I somehow managed to stay awake for about 3 days on about 4 hours of sleep. Thursday was transfer day, with the lovely bullet train (I will miss that), exit interview with President, and the temple. Of course, as it was our last night in Japan, several of us stayed up all night Thursday. I kept thinking I was going to go to bed, but Sister Fluckiger kept coming up with reasons to stay up. In the end, I slept for 2 hours, and still had to wake up for the early plane to Tokyo. On the plane to Tokyo I was out like a light. We left Tokyo in the late afternoon and arrive in SLC in the late morning. Don't think about it too hard, or the time dilation might explode your mind. So of course I stayed up all Friday because I had family to see and things to do.
So jet lag? Well, after sleeping 12 hours it hasn't really hit me yet. If you stay up for 3 days in a row I think your body goes into a hard reset. Well, I did fall asleep exhausted today for a 2 hour nap, but I think that's pretty mild for my jet lag.
Oh, and to fight airsickness I used Bonine. And it totally worked. I probably should have taken that today since we went to Park City to ride the summer rides and I got a little sick on the alpine coaster.
I will be heading down to school on Wednesday, to start the life of the returned missionary. I expect that it will be full of Japanese popping out, forgetting English, having others proof-read my reports, and other problems. My purpose as a missionary was very simple. It was written on page 1 and we repeated it every day in companion study. Unfortunately, my purpose now is not so clear. It seems I must balance school, work, friends, and family (and not exactly in that order). It was so much earlier to just focus on the salvation of souls.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Trunky trunky trunky trunky
Honestly I'm not that trunky - it just feels like a normal transfer, but this time I don't have to fuss about whether I'm transferring or not. It's supposed to be a secret, so I passed out the business cards they use here in Japan, and just said that I have a feeling I'm going to transfer, but it won't be decided until Wednesday. Well, the Bishop and some of the members I'm closer to kinda figured it out.
Not surprised. Anyway, I'm not really that trunky - until I read your emails! My dear parents, you are trunkier than me! Dad, I appreciated all the details. I can tell you and mom have really talked them out. As a missionary, every Thursday I have Weekly Planning Session, where we plan out our next week. I feel like you did that with my return. Ha ha.
Oh, before I forget, I have 2 suitcases and my Lemmon backpack. They have to be under a certain weight since it's an airplane, and there are certain things that have to be checked since American airplanes are crazy crazy strict. Anyway, these suitcases have fit into tiny Japanese cars; I doubt there will be a problem with our big American car. (I'd like to point out my proper use of the semi-colon. Aren't you proud?) I think the suitcases will be okay since I'm planning a shirt-burning activity on Wednesday to take a break from packing. It might be all talk - I'll see if I can convince my conservative Japanese companion that it's not against the law in Japan.
This past week... let's see. We got a new investigator. Kishimoto Kyodai, a recent convert of a little over a year, is a college student here. For Obon (a Buddhist Festival that you'll have to look up on Wikipedia) his little brother, 18, came to visit. He came to church yesterday and the little brother is a perfectly great investigator.
Too bad he's going back to Hyogo-ken next week. In his home ward there are no missionaries right now. I warned him that church might be kinda long. 3 hours isn't normal. Well, at the end he said it was okay. It kinda seemed short. Huh? Really? Well, okay! The priesthood lesson was on eternal marriage, so I kinda suggested that he go to the young men's class, but in the end he stayed with his brother in the big-kid class. Ha ha. Oh well, maybe he has that in mind or something. No 18 year old boy is thinking of marriage. It's like a rule.
This week---
Tuesday - district meeting, a meal appointment with a member.
Wednesday - Transfer Announcement Day. I'm packing. That night is FHE (since we cancelled English Conversation Class).
Thursday - Transfers! I'll take the Shinkansen (yay!) to the mission office, where then me and Fluckiger Shimai will do something fun - though we never really figured out what. There is an interview with the mission president, and at night we all go to the temple. Then we sleep because Friday - they shove us on planes. There will probably be a layover in Tokyo where I will spent the last of my Japanese money. he he.
I do think it's funny that I leave Friday night and arrive Friday morning. No wonder jet lag is a pain in the butt. I will try to sleep on the plane. Actually, that's all I can do because of my airsickness. Thanks for the medicine! I hope it works! Well, I take an hour train each way twice a week. Maybe I got used to it....maybe?
There are no pictures this week because... well, the truth is I just copy the pictures each week from my companion. She is one of those people that take waaaaay too many pictures. So every week I copy hers. Well, she is currently mourning the loss of her camera that she left at a member's house yesterday. Ha ha. She wants to pick it up, but we are an hour from Hiroshima. So, she'll have to wait until Sunday. She is so sad. I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. He he.
Dad, thanks for all the school stuff. He he. You really pulled some strings. Thank you! Hey, when I can play with my new phone, and computer? He he. One thing I've promised myself is not to spent all day on Facebook trying to catch up on everyone's lives this past year and a half. That's impossible - I just need to cut my losses. But I do want to catalogue all my mission pictures, carefully copied from each companion. Ha ha.
Okay, don't know what to say, but see you in America! Wow, that sounds kinda weird. If you could all tell me how skinny I am, that would be great. If you could ignore the pimples that started appearing when I started sweating and wiping my face with my (dirty?) hands, that would be great. If I only speak in Japanese, you'll just have to learn some Japanese.
Love you!
Sarah
Not surprised. Anyway, I'm not really that trunky - until I read your emails! My dear parents, you are trunkier than me! Dad, I appreciated all the details. I can tell you and mom have really talked them out. As a missionary, every Thursday I have Weekly Planning Session, where we plan out our next week. I feel like you did that with my return. Ha ha.
Oh, before I forget, I have 2 suitcases and my Lemmon backpack. They have to be under a certain weight since it's an airplane, and there are certain things that have to be checked since American airplanes are crazy crazy strict. Anyway, these suitcases have fit into tiny Japanese cars; I doubt there will be a problem with our big American car. (I'd like to point out my proper use of the semi-colon. Aren't you proud?) I think the suitcases will be okay since I'm planning a shirt-burning activity on Wednesday to take a break from packing. It might be all talk - I'll see if I can convince my conservative Japanese companion that it's not against the law in Japan.
This past week... let's see. We got a new investigator. Kishimoto Kyodai, a recent convert of a little over a year, is a college student here. For Obon (a Buddhist Festival that you'll have to look up on Wikipedia) his little brother, 18, came to visit. He came to church yesterday and the little brother is a perfectly great investigator.
Too bad he's going back to Hyogo-ken next week. In his home ward there are no missionaries right now. I warned him that church might be kinda long. 3 hours isn't normal. Well, at the end he said it was okay. It kinda seemed short. Huh? Really? Well, okay! The priesthood lesson was on eternal marriage, so I kinda suggested that he go to the young men's class, but in the end he stayed with his brother in the big-kid class. Ha ha. Oh well, maybe he has that in mind or something. No 18 year old boy is thinking of marriage. It's like a rule.
This week---
Tuesday - district meeting, a meal appointment with a member.
Wednesday - Transfer Announcement Day. I'm packing. That night is FHE (since we cancelled English Conversation Class).
Thursday - Transfers! I'll take the Shinkansen (yay!) to the mission office, where then me and Fluckiger Shimai will do something fun - though we never really figured out what. There is an interview with the mission president, and at night we all go to the temple. Then we sleep because Friday - they shove us on planes. There will probably be a layover in Tokyo where I will spent the last of my Japanese money. he he.
I do think it's funny that I leave Friday night and arrive Friday morning. No wonder jet lag is a pain in the butt. I will try to sleep on the plane. Actually, that's all I can do because of my airsickness. Thanks for the medicine! I hope it works! Well, I take an hour train each way twice a week. Maybe I got used to it....maybe?
There are no pictures this week because... well, the truth is I just copy the pictures each week from my companion. She is one of those people that take waaaaay too many pictures. So every week I copy hers. Well, she is currently mourning the loss of her camera that she left at a member's house yesterday. Ha ha. She wants to pick it up, but we are an hour from Hiroshima. So, she'll have to wait until Sunday. She is so sad. I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. He he.
Dad, thanks for all the school stuff. He he. You really pulled some strings. Thank you! Hey, when I can play with my new phone, and computer? He he. One thing I've promised myself is not to spent all day on Facebook trying to catch up on everyone's lives this past year and a half. That's impossible - I just need to cut my losses. But I do want to catalogue all my mission pictures, carefully copied from each companion. Ha ha.
Okay, don't know what to say, but see you in America! Wow, that sounds kinda weird. If you could all tell me how skinny I am, that would be great. If you could ignore the pimples that started appearing when I started sweating and wiping my face with my (dirty?) hands, that would be great. If I only speak in Japanese, you'll just have to learn some Japanese.
Love you!
Sarah
Sunday, August 7, 2011
9 days of work... not that I'm counting.
Yeah, 300 dollars in my checking account to buy presents! That's 300 ties at the dollar store. Well, with the exchange rate, maybe 240. See, with all the clothes I plan on burning next week, I have a lot of room in my suitcases - I think.
I heard that there is a mold that grows in clothes in Japan because of the humidity and you can't wash it out. Gross. As I did my laundry today I was thinking, 'well, this shirt isn't coming home' and 'if my mother saw my very un-white whites she would cry.' My winter clothes are okay, except half of them are too big too. Oh well, what are we going to do? SHOPPING SPREE!!! (I hope I remember my PIN number).
I got a sacrament meeting talk assignment from the Bountiful Ward Bishop. If you see him, you can let him know that I wouldn't mind giving a talk. If I can give a 10 minute talk in Japanese then I can be sure to give a 15-20 minute one in English. Kinda figured I would give a talk. Does this Bountiful Ward see a lot of missionaries? For some reason I have this image of newly-wed or nearly-dead, so my age group doesn't exist.
Dad, I have heard about your correspondence with my Bishop here in Hiroshima. That's weird! He says you're funny. I said that you're the only one that thinks you're funny. He laughed at that too. Then he took a picture to send to you. Weird! (see post below from her Japanese Bishop).
Let's see, what happened this week?
Sisters Conference was a lot of fun. It ended up being 2 days. We all slept the night at the president's house. It was like a sleep over. Only I woke up at 5 o'clock in the morning to get there, so I went to bed. I heard later that there was a wrestling match in the living room. They laid down all the rented futons, pushed the couches to the side, and then had a wrestling match before bed. I heard it from the room I slept in, but I slept. Thank goodness. The best part was Sister Margetts (Mission President's wife) cheering them all on.
Then Sister Fluckiger (Flu-kicker - in case you meet her parents at the airport, don't say her name wrong) asked Sister Margetts for lip stick and at 1 in the morning marked every one's face with lipstick.
Red lipstick. Everyone woke up and was really confused.
I was her companion during April Fools Day. I was fearing for my life that day!
Anyway, there was also a fight with the men's perfume stuff in the General Authority's shower, which made the room smell like men during the training.
As for the training, the 5 dying sisters (those finishing their missions), and another few that are about to die, each gave a one hour training. I trained on extending commitments. I was the very last person on the last day of the training. People were really tired, and were very quiet. Ugh. But I think it went well?
I gave an example on how we can't commit people to anything. We can only invite them. If we commit them to things then we are taking away their agency, and that's bad. So for my example, I had the mission president hold a picture of the Savior, and had my companion stand on the other side of the room. I invited her to come unto Christ. She said no. I promised blessings. She still said no. In the end I picked her up and dragged her across the room to the mission president. Ha ha. It was right after lunch and she was way heavy. :)
Can I do something like that for my sacrament talk? What are they going to do? I'll be gone by the next week. He he.
This week my companion is the senior companion. It's part of her training. It's even written in the little packet of the new training the Missionary Department has released. She takes the lead in all planning, teaching activities. I also gave her the phone everyday, the house/church key, the train schedule, and let her set the pace. She freaked out and said she can't do that! Then she picked up the slack and is doing just fine. Something is different. It's like we're equal partners and I'm not dragging her to work harder.
Maybe I'll make her do this next week too, since I'm tired! Bwahahaha.
She is Japanese, so she likes to say negative things about herself. It's part of their genes. Well, I really don't like that. It just rubs me the wrong way. I thought of a thousand ways to make her stop. But no change. Then I started doing push-ups every time she said something negative. Like marching band (remember that, J-man?) Yeah, she has stopped. Thank goodness!
Okay, I'm trying to get my companion's pictures off her card, like I do everyweek, but with Sisters Conference and Companion Exchanges at Ube, she has a lot. I hope I have enough time to send them.
Until next week!
レモン姉妹
I heard that there is a mold that grows in clothes in Japan because of the humidity and you can't wash it out. Gross. As I did my laundry today I was thinking, 'well, this shirt isn't coming home' and 'if my mother saw my very un-white whites she would cry.' My winter clothes are okay, except half of them are too big too. Oh well, what are we going to do? SHOPPING SPREE!!! (I hope I remember my PIN number).
I got a sacrament meeting talk assignment from the Bountiful Ward Bishop. If you see him, you can let him know that I wouldn't mind giving a talk. If I can give a 10 minute talk in Japanese then I can be sure to give a 15-20 minute one in English. Kinda figured I would give a talk. Does this Bountiful Ward see a lot of missionaries? For some reason I have this image of newly-wed or nearly-dead, so my age group doesn't exist.
Dad, I have heard about your correspondence with my Bishop here in Hiroshima. That's weird! He says you're funny. I said that you're the only one that thinks you're funny. He laughed at that too. Then he took a picture to send to you. Weird! (see post below from her Japanese Bishop).
Let's see, what happened this week?
Sisters Conference was a lot of fun. It ended up being 2 days. We all slept the night at the president's house. It was like a sleep over. Only I woke up at 5 o'clock in the morning to get there, so I went to bed. I heard later that there was a wrestling match in the living room. They laid down all the rented futons, pushed the couches to the side, and then had a wrestling match before bed. I heard it from the room I slept in, but I slept. Thank goodness. The best part was Sister Margetts (Mission President's wife) cheering them all on.
Then Sister Fluckiger (Flu-kicker - in case you meet her parents at the airport, don't say her name wrong) asked Sister Margetts for lip stick and at 1 in the morning marked every one's face with lipstick.
Red lipstick. Everyone woke up and was really confused.
I was her companion during April Fools Day. I was fearing for my life that day!
Anyway, there was also a fight with the men's perfume stuff in the General Authority's shower, which made the room smell like men during the training.
As for the training, the 5 dying sisters (those finishing their missions), and another few that are about to die, each gave a one hour training. I trained on extending commitments. I was the very last person on the last day of the training. People were really tired, and were very quiet. Ugh. But I think it went well?
I gave an example on how we can't commit people to anything. We can only invite them. If we commit them to things then we are taking away their agency, and that's bad. So for my example, I had the mission president hold a picture of the Savior, and had my companion stand on the other side of the room. I invited her to come unto Christ. She said no. I promised blessings. She still said no. In the end I picked her up and dragged her across the room to the mission president. Ha ha. It was right after lunch and she was way heavy. :)
Can I do something like that for my sacrament talk? What are they going to do? I'll be gone by the next week. He he.
This week my companion is the senior companion. It's part of her training. It's even written in the little packet of the new training the Missionary Department has released. She takes the lead in all planning, teaching activities. I also gave her the phone everyday, the house/church key, the train schedule, and let her set the pace. She freaked out and said she can't do that! Then she picked up the slack and is doing just fine. Something is different. It's like we're equal partners and I'm not dragging her to work harder.
Maybe I'll make her do this next week too, since I'm tired! Bwahahaha.
She is Japanese, so she likes to say negative things about herself. It's part of their genes. Well, I really don't like that. It just rubs me the wrong way. I thought of a thousand ways to make her stop. But no change. Then I started doing push-ups every time she said something negative. Like marching band (remember that, J-man?) Yeah, she has stopped. Thank goodness!
Okay, I'm trying to get my companion's pictures off her card, like I do everyweek, but with Sisters Conference and Companion Exchanges at Ube, she has a lot. I hope I have enough time to send them.
Until next week!
レモン姉妹
Email from Bishop Kei Kiribayashi in Hiroshima Ward, Japan
******************************************************
Yesterday I took a picture of your daughter again at the church.
I heard a good story from her companion, Sister Furusawa at the Sunday School.
She says that she had a tendency to say negative things in her daily lives. Sister Lemmon taught her not to do so, but it was difficult for her.
So Sister Lemmon decided to do five push-ups each time when sister Furusawa says negative thing. When she saw her companion doing push-ups because of her bad habits, sister Furusawa gradually could stop saying negative things as she felt sister Lemon's love. The love she saw was just like the love of Jesus who atoned our sins to be better person, to be saved.
Sister Furusawa is so much grateful for your daughter's love and good examples. Her positive mental attitude must be taught by you!
She's doing fine, working diligently without thinking about going home.
She is a great missionary.
Regards,
Kei Kiribayashi
******************************************************
Yesterday I took a picture of your daughter again at the church.
I heard a good story from her companion, Sister Furusawa at the Sunday School.
She says that she had a tendency to say negative things in her daily lives. Sister Lemmon taught her not to do so, but it was difficult for her.
So Sister Lemmon decided to do five push-ups each time when sister Furusawa says negative thing. When she saw her companion doing push-ups because of her bad habits, sister Furusawa gradually could stop saying negative things as she felt sister Lemon's love. The love she saw was just like the love of Jesus who atoned our sins to be better person, to be saved.
Sister Furusawa is so much grateful for your daughter's love and good examples. Her positive mental attitude must be taught by you!
She's doing fine, working diligently without thinking about going home.
She is a great missionary.
Regards,
Kei Kiribayashi
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