Basically I don't have my camera right now, so enjoy this picture of us with brooms! YEAH JAPAN IS AMAZING!
Sister Teagan Clark
Monday, November 25, 2013
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!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
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
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
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: 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:
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
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
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