Sunday, December 29, 2013

Transfer 3.1 Pictures

Washing the font and us at the baptism!! :) 

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 3.1: Great Blessings

I know, it has seriously not been that long since you heard from me last. I think all of us expect this to not be a very long post. BUT! It has been a pretty great last couple of days. Not going to lie. This has been the best way to finish out a transfer.

On Friday, we cleaned out the font for the baptism that we had scheduled for the next day. Talk about a ton of fun and talk about being crazy busy! There hasn't been a female baptism in Kanagawa ward for 3 years, so everyone was really excited for this. I definitely think we were the most excited about it. I am still excited about it, and she was already baptized! We made some cute cookie things to hand out after the baptism. They included our recent convert's favorite scripture: Ether 12:4

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God. 

Isn't that perfect?! She is the best, I am convinced. If I can be as amazing as her one day, I think I will be happy for the rest of eternity.

The baptism had it's own little miracles. Her daughter and grandchildren were able to come and participate, which was so sweet. Even President Wada found a moment of his time to come and congratulate her. He mentioned to her that Sister Hathaway was transferring... And then she started bawling. And then her daughter started crying. President Wada, the heart breaker.

Oh yeah, I guess I haven't mentioned that. I am getting a new companion! Her name is Sister Matsuzaki and I am really excited! I know that we are going to see a lot of miracles this next transfer. I know it. 

One of the reasons is because yesterday, we had a very successful day. Not only was our recent convert confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but we had two amazing lessons with a couple of our other investigators. An investigator that Sister Hathaway has been working with for quite sometime finally broke down one of the things that was holding her back from progressing. It really strengthened my own personal testimony about the importance of going to church. She had received an answer to one of her prayers from one of the speakers in church and it really created a desire in her to continue towards baptism.

With our other investigator, we were able to set a baptismal date. She is from China and literally knew nothing about any religion. But I think she really wants to believe and slowly but surely, we are getting her there. She is wonderful. I just want to be her best friend forever, haha. She works a lot, so I really hope that she will be able to come to church with us one day. We'll figure it out!

I will talk to you again soon!

Love you always!! :)


Sister Teagan Clark

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Transfer 4.6 Pictures

Some more Santa goodness, and our Christmas dinner: DELICIOUS PIZZA :D

It was seriously really delicious.

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 4.6 Pictures

District Breakfast!

Oh, and did I mention that we visited one of our neighbors dressed up like Santa? Yeah, it was pretty hilarious. 


Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 4.6 Pictures

Christmas Goodies!

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 4.6 Pictures

Santa Claus came!

And we had our Christmas in the dark... and the cold... It was certainly memorable!

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 4.6 Pictures

Pictures from the Christmas Conference we had on Dec. 24th. We had a gift exchange that was a lot of fun AND Santa Claus was there! WHAT! 

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 4.6 Pictures

We made EGGNOG!!

Our cute little Christmas tree! With lots of presents! YAY LOVE!

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 4.6: KURISUMASU!

It has been a while since I emailed last, so this is going to be an interesting update. I have a lot to talk about.

First off, bad things come in 3's. It was a very interesting day indeed. You see, it all started in the morning. We were all getting ready to go to a conference, when we got an email that was for the other sisters.... It wasn't a good email. I won't tell you exactly what it said, but it wasn't very nice... And included swear words... The other sisters weren't very happy. Not too long after that, Sister Hathaway took a pretty bad dive down the stairs. She has some big bruises from it still, and this was over an week ago that all of this happened. 'Bad things happen in 3's.' I warned.

Then we went to the conference and it turned out to be SUPER AWESOME! No really, it was great. We learned a lot and had some delicious Taco Rice (which is just rice with hamburger meat, taco seasoning, lettuce and tomatoes.)

And then we came home... To find that our bikes... Had been chained to a pole with a big sign that had some Japanese characters that neither of us knew. YEAH. Imano Shimai said the sign said illegal. WHOOPS. So our bikes kind of had to be left, because the place was closed that our bikes were parked by. So we ended up walking back home... In the rain.

We also did a lot of caroling at rest home's last week. I ended up having a very lengthy conversation with an old Japanese man about how I did not need a boyfriend. And I may or may not have put a wall in their wall by accident. AKA I totally started crying and freaking out, but it was all chill. I don't know why anyone has paper walls in the first place.

So we weren't able to go and get our bikes for a couple of days, but we would go and check and make sure that they were still there. Finally, we got some time to go and get our bikes from the place, but when we went, they were GONE. And that is when we all started to get a little worried. Sister Hathaway was like 'Ok. Okay. Let's just go back and see if they are around this building.'

LO AND BEHOLD. A miracle. Our bikes were back there and UNCHAINED. We literally just got on our bikes and rode away. It was awesome. 

I also got a lot of letters this week, which I loved! So thank you THANK YOU Sherri, Becca, Brooklyn, and Zach! Two of those people are on missions, so it isn't like they can really see that shout out anyways, but oh well.

I got a few packages as well, which was awesome! Most of my siblings sent stuff in the box that my parents sent. Which was way nice!! And then my sister Wendy sent me a package filled with many treasures. Alex sent me a t-shirt too, which was way nice!!

As for the work, we have a baptism this Saturday!! We are way excited! It is a miracle, really. So many people told me how hard the work is in Japan, but there are people here who are prepared to hear the gospel. It is truly beautiful.

Christmas was crazy fun as well! We got up and were preparing to give presents to one another wheeeeeeeen... The power went off! YAY! So we sent Christmas morning in the dark. Then we wee able to spent sometime with our district for district meeting and making breakfast together. Then I got to skype my family which was waaaaaaay fun! My siblings are hilarious, or so they thought. Kevin kept making funny faces on Skype. It was SO great to be able to see everyone. I love my family a lot! I am so grateful to be able to be on a mission right now and help others be able to be with their families for ever.

I love you all so much and I hope that you have had a Merry, Merry Christmas! 

Sister Teagan Clark
Japan Tokyo South Mission
1-7-7 Kichijoji Higashi-Cho
Musashino-Shi, Tokyo
180-0002
JAPAN

(PS. I can hardly believe I am almost Transfer 3!!)

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Transfer 4.5 Pictures

Casually making eggnog casually!

Transfer 2 at the temple! (Mitabi, Hathaway, Imano, Clark, Bickmore, Nuttall, Johnson)


Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 4.5 Pictures

Some pretty typically weekly planning
and CAROLING! :D


Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.5: Caroling Dendo

Hello, my fine friends. It is really good to see all of you this fine Christmas season. Can you believe that it is almost Christmas?? Because I really can't! It blows my mind! I am really excited to be able to talk to my family. I really pray that everything will go well with Skype and that we won't having any technical problems. Japan is really far away from Utah... Really.

This has truly been a fine week. Today, we had the opportunity to go to the temple, which is always lovely. It is always good the see the other missionaries that are not from your area. 

This past week, we had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people. It is weird to think that Elder Hill left only this past week... It feels like he has been gone for a long time. He grew into an old missionary and then flew home... I maybe cried a little bit, MAYBE. But it is weird to think how many people I am going to see do the same thing. It is the way of the mission.

We got a new investigator this week that we are really excited about. She is really cute and sweet and really pretty good at English. I am often surprised at how good people actually are at English. 

We also started a new health plan this week! Yay for being healthy! According to other missionaries, you gain a lot of weight in the beginning of January because New Years is a WAY big deal. WAY bigger than Christmas. So many food appointments. So little time. We don't really have food appointments the rest of the year, so that is good. We would eat so much. Oof. 

We had our last official lesson with our golden investigator this week. She has her baptismal interview this week, and we are really excited!! We really hope that everything works out well! 

This week, we also had the ward Christmas party, which was really great and created quite a few defining moments for people. It was certainly not an American Ward Christmas Party, haha, but it was still way good. We sang with our Eikaiwa class and listened to our members sing. Way good. Then we ate cake. Yeeeaaah, cake. :D

OH! We also went caroling! Which... Doesn't go very well in Japan, apparently. Even when we went to the Bishops house, he open the door a little bit, just enough for us to start singing and then shut it on us... We were so shocked! It was hilarious. He then came back and invited us up stairs to sing to his family. Any one else we tried to sing to, said they were too busy to listen. I was a little disappointed... I still want to try again some day. CAROLING DENDO, YEAH!

We have a lot of singing appointments this week and Elder Mitabi asked me if I would sing with him at the Mission Conference... A little bit terrifying! We will see if it actually happens. I am not the best singer... Singing makes me so nervous! I am always afraid that someone is going to make fun of me. Blech, I know. But I hope it will turn out alright. We will see how it goes!!

Thank you for everyone's kind words, and love. And packages. You are all the best! 凄くやさしい人です! 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email or write me. I am always up for those things to occur. I wish I had something amazing to tell you, but I can never quite remember like I would like to. One thing I can think of, is that I had the opportunity to talk to someone who another Elder gave a Book of Mormon too. Heavenly Father works in orbits. It is amazing to see how when a seed is planted by one missionary, and then is nourished by another, and by another, until it is finally harvested. It is truly a miracle.

I love you all. I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season. Never forget the seeds that have been planted in your own heart.

Cheers! :)

Sister Teagan Clark

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Transfer 2.4 Pictures

This picture needs no explanation.



Transfer 2.4 Pictures

Still at Landmark Tower.

Yeah, I'm tall.

Yeah, that is Sully.

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.4 Pictures

Landmark TOWER! It is REALLY TALL!

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.4 Pictures

My second transfer district!
And party pic at Endo curry! (crazy delicious!)

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.4: In Japan, People Give You Things Randomly

First off, shout out to MOMMA HATHAWAY. I know you are reading this, Momma Hathaway. Sister Hathaway really appreciates your packages and love. Just thought I would mention it. 

Second, shout out to THE FAM. Basically, I love you a lot. There is no end to my love and appreciation for all that you do for me. I can feel your love and prayers helping me and I really thank you for that. 

This week has kind of been majorly crazy busy. So busy that I can't really remember... So much of it is a blur. On Tuesday, we had interviews... My first, more officially Mission President interview. Luckily enough, President Wada is the best, so it went really well. I think. He could have a completely different perspective on that one. 

We were able to do a lot of really incredibly missionary work this week as well. We got two phone numbers while handing out flyers an the train station and we are really excited to get to meet with them again this week. On Wednesday, we found out that Sister Hathaway had to go to Mission Leadership Council that next day. DUN NUH Someone is probably going to become a leader. And it isn't me. Hathaway Shimai and I may or may not be really good at using the 'fake phone call' feature on our phone. That is a story for later. ;D

Anywho, so on Thursday I got to do some missionary work with Feist Shimai and Bickmore Shimai and it was really a lot of fun! Feist Shimai is really amazing and I am pretty sure that we are pretty tight. It is nice to have some good friends to be able to see. Elder Johnson said that we are pretty hilarious together. I am going to take that as a compliment. 

The next day I went on exchanges with Imano Shimai. There were bunnies. That is all that needs to be said about that. 

On Saturday, I exited to teenaged years. Something interesting about Japan, if you say it is your birthday, they start to try and find something to give you. You can be waving your hands like a madman saying 'really, really, it is okay!' and they will still give you some weird cookies or something. I am not complaining, I promise. It is just funny. Everyone was very kind to me. Hathaway Shimai got me just what I wanted.... CHRISTMAS STICKERS! Dreams came true that day.

On Sunday, we were able to have 2 lessons, which both went really well. We committed our main investigator to follow the WoW, which went very smoothly. She is so wonderfully prepared for the gospel. On Sunday, we also went to a family Christmas party... They kind had already eaten when we arrived right on time and we may have felt a little bit uncomfortable about it. BUT We had a good time, nonetheless. 

Elder Hill is leaving this week. Elder is Hill is going over the Hill. Heheheh, I think I am hilarious. But we are all sad to see him go! But we got to go to the tallest building in Yokohama and it was WAAAY cool and nice to send sometime with him before he leaves. We also went to dinner and lunch  with some members and some potential investigators and... Basically, we eat a lot and I don't think I will ever eat again, haha. I had my first real Japanese sushi! It wasn't too bad! Spicy Tuna! Yummy!

I hope everyone has a good week! I love you a lot! Remember to pray!

Sister Teagan Clark
Japan Tokyo South Mission
1-7-7 Kichijoji Higashi-Cho
Musashino-Shi, Tokyo
180-0002
JAPAN

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Transfer 2.3 Pictures

THANKSGIVING!

THE FOOTBALL FIELD WAS FREEEZING!


Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.3: Becoming an Adult.... IN JAPAN.

HEY, my birthday may or may not be in this week. I am excited. But kind of not excited. I don't want people to worry about my birthday. BUT. I will be 20 soon. SO bizarre to think about. Maybe people will stop saying 'YOUNG' every time I say my name.

This has been a pretty crazy week. We've had meetings almost everyday. Elder Johnson lead us in a really good district meeting this week. We are making Christmas Advent Calenders and I think we are planning on going caroling and maybe ringing some bells, maybe. It is all really uncertain on this point.

WE AND THANKSGIVING THIS WEEK. WE GOT TO GO TO AMERICA. And by that, I mean we got to go to an American base. And it was way cool and American. It was also right on the ocean and really pretty, but also FREEZING WINDY. We had delicious food and a lot of fun. I felt SO exhausted afterwards. It was delicious. I couldn't beat my mothers (of course) but it was still good. 

And then the next day we had to get up super early and go to a big Sister Conference, where we talked about sister stuff and swapped clothes and did zumba. Yes. ZUMBA. Also, I left my planner there and I am really bummed out about it because it had a lot of important information in it AND it was absolutely adorable. Super bummed.

On Sunday one of our investigators came and it was so great to be there with her! She is so sweet and kind and I am so glad to get to be able to work with her. On Saturday, there was a girl who kept creepily saying 'Sumimasen deshita.' over and over and she would walk away and then come back and say it again and it was more than a little freaky. 

Sister Hathaway says Hello.

Love you like always!!

Have an awesome week! And have some Happy, Happy Holidays!!


Sister Teagan Clark

Monday, November 25, 2013

Transfer 2.2 Picture... kind of

Basically I don't have my camera right now, so enjoy this picture of us with brooms! YEAH JAPAN IS AMAZING!


Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.2: Yeah, I Lied.

Hey.

Yeah, I said I would be emailing on Thursday, but we decided to take some P-day time and email today instead... Whoops.

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!! We are going on the base and it is going to a lot of fun. I am really excited. This week has been kind of long, but at the same time, it is hard to recall all that we have done.

On Tuesday, we had a big conference with Elder Evans that had two missions come! It was a really good conference. It was fun to see people from the other mission that I know. My companion saw a lot of people of whom she hadn't seen for quite sometime, and so that was especially exciting. We really have one of the best mission presidents to ever exist, so that helps.

We have had a surprising amount of lessons this week, which has been really exciting. Lessons are hard, but a lot of the time, I don't understand what is being said and therefore cannot help very effectively. Maybe one day it will be different. We had dinner at an hamburger place with my district and I rolled a 30-sided dice and won free onion rings. That was pretty amazing! I enjoyed those for lunch.

We have a new Sister living with us named Sister Bickmore. It is kind of fun having someone who speaks less Japanese than I do. It is weird no longer being the youngest missionary. 

We had an amazing experience this week while exercising in the morning. We were exercising in a parking lot, when a woman came over and told us that we could see Mt. Fugi from here. LO AND BEHOLD YOU CAN IT IS SO AMAZING!! The woman is super duper nice and invited us to work out with her the next morning, which we did. She gave us a little tour of cool things you can see in the area and then we went back to her house and ate breakfast. It was amazingly delicious! The couple is really nice. Really Buddhist, but really nice. They invited us to their family Chirstmas party. いいんじゃないですか?We had knocked on their door a couple of days before and they were definitely like 'Yeah, no thanks' but now we are friends! Isn't it interesting how these things work out?

We also went to a Flea Market and it got something for really cheap! Yay, cheap things! It was a really cool experience. Hathaway Shimai and I had a really great time, honestly. 

Thank you for your e-mails and thank you for your letters! I really appreciate and love everyone! People have asked me what I want for my birthday/christmas... And that is such a hard question to answer... I really like love... And Warheads....And.... Stickers? Motab CD's? Markers? Adorable cards from children? Shoes that aren't 3 sizes too small? 

愛してます!あなたがたは最古です! 

Sister Teagan Clark


Sunday, November 17, 2013

Transfer 2.1 Pictures

CHRISTMASTIME

CHRISTMAS MANIA

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.1 Pictures

Sister Hathaway got a Christmas Tree in a box! So now we have a Christmas tree with presents under it in our room! It is pretty legit, if I say so myself. (and I do)

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.1 Pictures

Yeah. It was legitimately a goal.


Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.1 Pictures

We got to make our own Okonomiyaki! It was really fun and delicious!!
(Wells, Clark, Hathaway and Imano)

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.1 Pictures

We always study really hard. 


Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.1 Pictures

Sister Hathaway and I found this really cool shrine and a took some pictures. It was a goal of ours to take me pictures this week.


Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 2.1: A Transfer Gone By

Transfer calls were this week! I am officially into my second transfer into Japan. I am staying in Kanagawa with Hathaway Shimai. Wells Shimai is transferring, however, so soon you will see what new bean-chan will be living with us.

Also, you should know off the bat that I am taking P-day on Thanksgving and so there may not be an email at ALL next week. We will see what happens. We are blessed to be able to go onto the base and have Thanksgiving with American families. We are really excited about it!

This week has seriously be a week of miracles. On Friday, our Elders got a call from a Sasaki-san, who wanted to make an appointment to learn more about Eikaiwa and maybe a little bit about our church. She were able to meet her that day and it turns out that she is really prepared. She agreed to be baptized if she came to know that this church is true. We are really excited to have another lesson with her this week. 

Another cool experience was when I was on exchanges with Imano Shimai. One house has all of these cactus' that she thought were way cool, so we ping-ponged the door. An old man came out and talked to us. We talked for about 40 minutes and he told us all about his life. He was 92 years old and grew up in Hawaii. He has been to 48 of the 50 states and has perfect English. He reminds me of my Grandfather. During the great depression, his parents sent him to Japan for education, where he was drafted into the Japanese Army and therefore lost his American citizenship. He was trained as a suicide bomber and the only reason he is alive is because they ran out of gas. He was a truly spectacular man. I shared with him the specialness that the Book of Mormon has had in my life and why I wanted to share it with him. I gave him a copy and he said that he would read it. I honestly felt like a had a real connection with him. His name was Tano Ue.

In other news, there was another 4 earthquake on Saturday. I was on the phone with one of our members and so that was interesting. Wells Shimai was freaking out. Some people say we are having a lot of Earthquakes and that it is a good thing because then we won't have a big one... Others say that these are the before shocks of the big one. Eh, しょがない really. 

I am honestly really excited about these next 6 weeks in Kanagawa. This area is seriously on fire with many amazing investigators and experiences. There are only many more wonderful experiences in store! We can really only get better and get better we will.

Listening to Japanese always makes me really sleepy... I try so hard to stay awake, I honestly do... I am just glad that our members have a lot of patience with me. In Japan, most everyone speaks a tiny bit of English. You never know who is going to be fluent in English. Also in Japan, everyone's cars are super shiny and clean. 

ALSO I GOT A LOT OF LETTERS THIS WEEK AND IT MADE ME REALLY HAPPY! Brooklyn and Reannen, THANK YOU! :D

I think that about sums it up for this week! Hopefully I will have the opportunity to email again on Thanksgiving, but I honestly have no idea what will happen. We will see!

Love you all!
Sister Teagan Clark
Japan Tokyo South Mission
1-7-7 Kichijoji Higashi-Cho
Musashino-Shi, Tokyo
180-0002
JAPAN

Monday, November 11, 2013

Transfer 1.5 Pictures

These are the most adorable pictures of me ever.
Sister Teagan Clark
 

Transfer 1.5 Pictures

YAMATE (not our area, BUT BEAUTIFUL)
Sister Teagan Clark
 

Transfer 1.5: Stopping Sweets (cont)

Sorry, I sent that a little prematurely.
 
But yup, no sweets. For her, anyways. I made no such promise, haha.
 
It has been getting a little colder, but usually it is colder in the house then it is outside. I went shopping yesterday and got some really cute things. You've really gotta love Japan.
 
I really love Japan. I am only on transfer one and I am not ever ever looking forward to leaving ever, so don't mention it. I am right where I need to be, thank you. 
 
Not going to lie, it's really hard. People ignore the dickens out of you. But I love every minute. I have been biking harder and my muscles have been becoming stronger and I know that Heavenly Father is working with Sister Hathaway and I ever moment.
 
Feel free to send letters! I love letters so much. Emails are okay, but letterss are the best! If I am lucky, I will maybe have some presents to open on Christmas morning.
 
I love you all so much! Please stay safe!!
 
愛しています!

 
Sister Teagan Clark
Japan Tokyo South Mission
1-7-7 Kichijoji Higashi-Cho
Musashino-Shi, Tokyo
180-0002
JAPAN

Transfer 1.5 Pictures

Christmas in Japan
Sister Teagan Clark
 

Transfer 1.5:

Hello everyone!
 
Another good week out here in the mission field, but honestly not too much to report on.
 
One big occurance was the large amount of guacamole that flled my diet. One of our members is really kind and went to Costco and I asked him to look for Guac and he found it!! Thank heavens for Costco. Most American you can get in Japan, I swear.
 
But if you tell the members that your favorite food is guacamole and tell them that it is avacados, onions, and tomatoes mixed together... They will make it! We went to a member shouse for lunch and we ate a lot and she was amazing an made me guacamole! It was delicious!! Also, when you in at a home in Japan... They never stop bringing you food. And you just have to keep eating. And usually we feel like we are going to explode.
 
Another big occurance from this week, is one of our wonderful investigators is trying to give up coffee... And in order to help her do this, Hathaway Shimai promised to give up sweets...
 
I dunno if you really understand, but Hathaway Shimai is ADDICTED to sweets. She always has them. This has been a big step for both of them. It gets a little crazy sometimes, haha, but I really hope that we will be able to see her baptism next transfer.
Sister Teagan Clark
Japan Tokyo South Mission
1-7-7 Kichijoji Higashi-Cho
Musashino-Shi, Tokyo
180-0002
JAPAN

Transfer 1.5 Pictures

Lunch with the Aoki's
Sister Teagan Clark
Japan Tokyo South Mission
1-7-7 Kichijoji Higashi-Cho
Musashino-Shi, Tokyo
180-0002
JAPAN

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Transfer 1.4 Pictures

Elder Suzuki on Halloween

AND

Kouhoku Elders preparing for their BAPTISM


Sister Teagan Clark

Monday, November 4, 2013

Transfer 1.4 Pictures

Sorry that there are probably a bunch of really random posts with nothing on them.

More Halloween!!

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 1.4 Pictures




Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 1.4 Pictures

Yokohama and a picture from our AWESOME Halloween Party!!


Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 1.4 Pictures




Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 1.4 Pictures

A couple of pictures of our district, which includes Kanagawa and Kouhoku

Sister Teagan Clark

Transfer 1.4: Yeah... It Wasn't Chicken

Hello, my adoring fans. I know that you have been awaiting my email. Thinking `where could she be?!?!' No fear, I am here!

This week was temple day, so we have our P-Day on Tuesday instead of Monday. Today was the first time I got to go to the Tokyo Temple! Absolutely beautiful! Nothing like a temple trip to get your spirits going!

Lots to talk about this week! This past week was Halloween, which honestly feels so far away from right now. First of all, I think you should know that I have the squeakiest bike in the history of squeaky bikes. My bikes basically screams as we go down hills, and it is a little bit of a problem. I think it is starting to get a little bit better... And by that, I mean that I usually just use my right brake now to avoid the squeak.

For Halloween, we had an amazing Halloween party! We had 88 people come, which is way amazing for an English class! I have some pictures that I will upload. We had the kids trick-or-treat and our stake president came around which a pumpkin of candy, making people say trick-or-treat to get candy. It was rather hilarious in my Advanced Class, considering that most of them are older gentleman. I love English Class! It is a lot of fun talking about Japanese culture with them! We talked about superstitions last week. Really interesting stuff. 

This week, we also had the opportunity to go to a tabehodai, which is a Japanese buffet. The difference between American and Japanese buffets, is that is you take it, you HAVE to eat it. You do not ever waste food. So Hathaway Shimai and I took something that we thought was shrimp and chicken, which some cashews and sweet potatoes.

Yeah, it wasn't chicken. 

It was oyster. I popped one in my mouth and began to chew. And chew. And chew. And slowly come to the realization that it was kind of fishy and was not being able to be swallowed. I looked at Hathaway Shimai and she said 'Yeah, I am having the same problem.' and I said 'Uhm, what if I can't swallow it?' I tried and kind of gaged and she was like 'Uhhhh.... spit it into the napkin' which I did, ever so casually. 

She cut her other oyster and made into into pieces and put into onto our other plates. Casually, as always. It was... fairly disgusting, haha. Everything else was CRAZY DELICIOUS though! Especially the cake.... Mmmmm.

Also this week, I opened the Liahona to see my friend Camery Bagley looking dramatically from the page. I may have bragged a lot, haha. If Camery reads this (which I don't know if she does) KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, GIRL!

One little boy was running around, stopped, looked at me and said. 'Obasan' and then ran away. Why yes, he just called me a Grandma. In other news, earthquakes are totally normal here and another one happened and it was a bit scary and Hathaway Shimai thought it was nuthin'!

We got two new investigators this week and things are going really well with our other two investigators!! I am so glad to see people coming closer to Christ.

Love you all,

Sister Teagan Clark

Monday, October 28, 2013

Transfer 1.3: Sweets Paradise Sickness

Well, this week has been more than a little crazy,
 
So we went to Sweets Paradise last P-Day, right? And it was awesome and delicious and everything. Not so awesome is the fact that the next morning, Sister Hathaway, Sister Imano and Sister Wells all woke up feeling very sick the next morning. Let's just say that I got a loooot of studying done on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hathaway Shimai is still not feeling 100%. Because of the Sweets Paradise Sickness, I don't have much to report on.
 
On Thursday, we had zone conference with our zone and another zone. In this conference, we had some training, some more training, some practicing and then more training. Let's just say that it went from 9 AM to 6 PM. It also included testimonies of those who are leaving this next transfer or the transfer after.
 
Some of my favorite (paraphrased quotes):
- "Sometimes we just have to wait on the Lord's time"
- "There is happiness to be found and is in the gospel"
- "Find yourself in order to find others"
 
It was a really great conference.
 
Also this week, there was an earthquake... Like, one you can actually feel and the room was shaking and it was a tad bit scary, desho. It was in the middle of the night and we all woke up, though we were all half asleep. It went something a long the lines of: Sister Wells- "Is this an...?" Sister Hathway- "Earthquake." We were all pretty calm about it. I remember opening my eyes and watching the room shake. We all fell asleep rather quickly and Hathway Shimai and I didn't even remember about it until Wells Shimai brought it up again later that day.
 
There was also another typhoon. This is just typically Japan, now, I suppose.
 
On Sunday, we had one of the best sacrament meetings EVER. AKA It was the primary program and there was soooo much adorableness going on that I couldn't even handle it. They even sung it English! TALENT! I may have cried a lot because it may or may not have reminded me about that I might actually miss my family and my cute little nieces and nephews or whatever. No big deal.
 
I didn't really take any pictures this week... Whoops. Next week. Next week there will be more picures. I promise. I will even write it as a goal in my planner. That way you know it is a super real promise, yo.
 
Scriptural Phrase from this past week:
 
"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?" Mormon 5:23
 
Stay strong everyone. If you hand in there, so will I, haha. I keep getting frustrated with myself and then I recall that it is only my 3rd week in Japan. No need to hurry. NO need to rush. I just need to have a little more patience. That's all. :)
 
Yours truly,
Sister Teagan Clark
feel free to email me at clark.kathryn@myLDSmail.net

Monday, October 21, 2013