The Hakodate and Atsubetsu Week!

Hello everyone!

I am not super confident in my writing skills right now (can't focus here at the mission home at all. The Elders are way too entertaining), so I'll jump right into the pictures and use that as a frame!

We started out by going to.. Willy Wonka's chocolate factory on last p-day!! Ok, maybe it wasn't Willy Wonka, but it is the cutest chocolate factory ever -- everyone always says it is like Disneyland. It is the company for the Shirokoibito cookies that are way delicious (when I was in Asahikawa Ludstrom Shimai and I both got a big box of them with like thirty packages and ate them ridiculously fast). It is all made up like a European village or something with cute little houses and such out front, and then you can go inside and see where the cookies are made and stuff too. The four Odori Sisters all went together and it was the best!

There were all sorts of famous people there too, like Mona Lisa. You know, she was just chillin' there.

Our meal on the way to Hakodate! Hakodate is a three hour or so train ride from Sapporo... and it is down in the Penninsula of Hokkaido. Since it is a penninsula it has the ocean on both sides, and is just a super cute seaside city! I've wanted to go there forever but was never transferred to there, so going there for this exchange was a real treat!  We went down on Tuesday night, did the exchange on Wednesday and then left first thing Thursday . But I wanted to stay way longer! It was just way too cute. I'll have to plan a vacation back to there ASAP...

First glances of the ocean!

At the top of a mountain overlooking the bay! We did housing up it and found a park. It was so gorgeous that these pics don't do it justice at all. There are also a ton of really cool old churches from when European settlers (maybe they were Dutch or something?) came.

It was kind of funny though because Hakodate is known for being like the warmest area in Hokkaido... but the day we were there was the first day it rained all transfer! Peterson Shimai (who is way awesome and from Canada. Working together was a blast!) and I may have gotten really wet. But it was still fun!

The rain may have destroyed our map...

But it didn't keep us from waking up a little early the next day to do morning exercise (which missionaries have for 30 minutes first thing every morning) on the beach! We borrowed a bike from the elders so we could all make it out there. It was like a monsoon (that cleared up as soon as we were on the way back to the apartment, haha), but that just made it even better.

Left to right! Kise Shimai, Peterson Shimai, Smith Shimai (who is also super entertaining, as I am sure you can tell) and me!

Ah and only like three seconds left to mail! Um, maybe I will do Atsubetsu next week? I have to work on my time management skills. But Atsubetsu was so awesome! It was my first area, and I got to work with Parker Shimai and see a lot of my favorite people, including my favorite family! Ok, I will see if I can send a picture or too...

But first, Hokkaido shaped bread from the Sapporo Eki!

We had dinner with my favorite family at night...

and then went to their school's undokai (it is like a sports competition that all of the elementary school kids do every year, and it was so much fun to see! A cool cultural experience too) the next day! We got to have a bento lunch too.

Aren't they the cutest kids in the world?? I love this family so much. Masuda Shimai and I met them when we were going door to door last year.

And then on Saturday night we had a dinner at the Moiwa Bishop's house... with an impressive amount of missionaries! There were 8 elder and 4 sisters, and then some ward members! Good times.

And I am way over and everyone is waiting for me, so until next week!!

Wishing you all the best of luck!!!

The Obihiro Week!

This week's exchange was in Obihiro, which is a 3.5 hour bus ride from Sapporo. There are two companionships there right now, so we were there from Tuesday night to Friday morning and it was a ton of fun! It was my first time going out there. The highlight was... meeting my trainer Masuda Shimai! She is married now and living there so I got to go to her house with the other sisters. It was a party. But more on that in a sec! I shall tell this story with pictures.

First ones are from last week's p-day! We had another music fireside this past week (did I remember to tell you about that?), so last week was our last practice. And we had a special guest of Kawasaki Choro, who was in my first district but then went home only a couple of weeks after I got here to Japan. So it was fun to see him again! These are from the room where we practice upstairs in the mission home. Yep.

In front of the Obihiro Eki! (This makes it look like pretty big city, but it is actually more of an agricultural area other than the main downtown. It is super pretty with lots of flowers!)

Travel!

And there were super adorable kittens at one of the members houses that we visited. That is important.

And dinner with Masuda Shimai (ok, now it is Hashimoto Shimai) at her apartment with her husband! It was sooo happy! And delicious! She made all of my favorite foods we ate together because she is so wonderful -- pizza and crispy little apple pies.

Making dinner at the Obihiro apartment for the six of us. It was pretty packed with futons practically on top of each other to get us all in, but way fun!

From the group pictures left to right: Kise Shimai, me, Furue Shimai from Kagoshima Japan, Yabutani Shimai from Wakayama Japan, Sugihara Shimai from Washington, and Coyne Shimai from all over (most recently Oklahoma? But she lived in Germany for like five years too and is super super fluent, which is awesome).

View from the bus back.

The four Odori Sisters in front of the old Hokkaido government building on the day of the music fireside. It was a our meetng spot to go out to lunch with a member and it was just so pretty that we couldn't resist taking pictures while waiting!

And pics from DTM lunch last tuesday! And a road stop on the way to Obihiro. A little out of order.

And that is all I can do today! Love you all! Things are going great, and the weather is finally getting nice! I am going without tights for the first time today. Freedom!

Ok, until next week!

The Kotoni and Ebetsu Week!

As my highly creative title suggests, this week's exchanges were in Kotoni and Ebetsu!

Ebetsu was especially fun because I got to meet pretty much all of my investigators, and then some members too! It was actually pretty crazy how many people we were able to meet -- there are definitely miracles that come with exchanges!

And here are some pics from the exchanges of the week (I am still way behind on pics from the past transfer of course, but I figure it would be good to keep at least a little up with time. If I have some time after I'll send some of the old ones!)

Oh first, a pic from a way fun member dinner last week! They are in the Kotoni ward.

And last Monday was Osterloh Shimai's birthday! She is living in the same apartment as us, so we all went out to dinner.

#1 is me and Amada Shimai in Kotoni during a rain storm. The cherry blossoms have finally started coming out!

Me and a favorite person from Ebetsu.

Me and Miyamoto Shimai, who I worked with in Ebetsu.

Plus me and Kise Shimai in front of the Ebetsu church!

Ebetsu members!

All of us.

And the Nopporo Eki (the train stop we always use in Ebetsu).

And that is it for now! We've been super busy, running from place to place and it is crazy, but there are definitely a lot of great things that have been coming along with it. I am excited to see what happens!

Love you all!

STL Adventures begin!!

Hello everyone!

I am officially in Odori, my new area, with the new sisters training responsibility, and I feel like we've had a running start!

It was kind of funny because almost nothing about this transfer was normal -- to start off, we always have transfers on Thursdays but because of a mission president conference in Tokyo this week we had it on a Saturday. And then because we have another music concert this month, instead of going to the normal transfer spot at the Sapporo train station we all went to the church in Kotoni for music practice. Then Kise Shimai and I ended up going on a split of sorts so weren't even together our first official day of our companionship  haha.

I went out to dinner with one of my favorite families ever that I met housing with Masuda Shimai just over a year ago and a bunch of the missionaries that they've become friends with in between then. It has been so wonderful to see the relationship that they have made with so many missionaries and the members too, even though only one small daughter has joined the church-- it has really become a part of their lives.  Then we actually went to Atsubetsu for their ward FHE. It was so much fun to see all of the members from my first area! Such a blessing. It was kind of funny though because since it was transfers I lugged my red suitcase with me the whole time, from Asahikawa to Sapporo, then the church, then the other end of the subway line and then on the street car... and it was raining the whole time so it got soaked, haha. But it was a team effort. Even the kids helped!

And without further ado, since I am now going to be at the mission home for emails (at least most of the time, I think) I can send some pictures! Let's see what I can do... (I may be super behind)

Puricura (korean style awesome pictures) with Lundstrom Shimai! I'll have to scan some of those gems in when I get home...

Lundstrom Shimai's bean shower (welcome for new missionaries)!

Picture on our balcony for Ai Chan's birthday card -- it was deceptively cold...

Lundstrom Shimai's first day on her new bike!

Trying out some natural dendo in Asahikawa's Kaimono Koen

The snow was finally gone! It was time to celebrate (I saw some of my first cherry blossoms this week after coming to Sapporo!)

The ward potluck with Ai Chan ans her sister before her baptism!! (They are so awesome!!)

The lunch group pic! It's a little off center... don't worry about it.