Star Wars, NOT Sheep

Konichiwa minasan! (Hello Everybody!),

Here's a brief overview of the happenings of this week:

Star Wars not Sheep

Hope everyone is enjoying Halloween festivities in America! Here in Yamagata we had a ward halloween party. You'll never guess what we dressed up as - Star Wars characters! (very creative yes). Bean Shimai and I went as tacky versions of Princess Leah and Padme. My costume consisted of a white sweater, snow boots, brown kangaroo pouch and my bath towel. Everyone thought we were sheep (haha!) I guess there's only so much you can do on a missionary budget ;)

The sheep of Yamagata with the Mario crew (Princess Peach, Bowser and two baby ghosts)    

The district and a couple of our other favorite people!    

What is Japanese

As far as language goes, I guess you can say it's going! I gave my first talk in church on Sunday! Meaning, I barely managed to get across a short spritual message consisting of all the gospel related vocab words I studied repeatedly on the Japanese Drill App. The one thing I count as a success is not a single soul fell asleep while I spoke. Meaning, they either felt bad for me, or were entertained by my 50 attempts to muster out a single sentence. All in all, it was a much needed experience for me! I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Konyaku: Zero calories and has the texture of a bouncy ball. Highly recommend!

Miracle finding moment

This week we had splits in Sendai city. I'm an Idaho girl at heart, but I can't help but feel excited everytime I go to places with so much energy! My companion for the day was Savage Shimai (STL). We were out streeting for a couple hours without any luck. A bit disheartened, we decided to call it a day and started heading back to our bikes. There was a lady who was parked right next us and I had the prompting to try one more time. I approached her and asked what she thought about the purpose of life. Her eyes got big and she responded, "I don't know but I've been looking for an answer." We then testified about the Book of Mormon and how she can find her purpose through reading it. She gladly accepted a copy and gave us her phone number so we could contact her again in the future!

The mission just keeps getting better:)

Church is true.

Until next time, I love you all!

Matsuura Shimai

Isaiah 41:10

 District p-day at Yamadera!