Oh my it's finally, Pday
again!!! And boy, do I need some laundry!!! hehe jk. but forreals
though..... WELL, I made it! I got your cards and things sent to LV. What
a surprise!!! But it was a super nice surprise! :))) yay! I felt so
speciallll heehhe. SO WOW so much to tell!!
First of all, my area is one of the few out of
Valley---so I'M NOT EVEN IN NEVADA ANYMORE hahah! I'm in ARIZONAAAAA how
exciin!!! I've never been in AZ before and now I'm in an area called
Kingman, AZ. I don't know exactly where that is but yeah. its cooool! SO
DIFFERENT. Like a legit desert. ohh my GOSH! I SAW A TUMBLEWEED. IT WAS
SERIOUSLY THE COOLEST THING EVER!! ... and there's cactus everywhere and
there's rocks instead of lawns and there are JACKRABBITS! I didn't even know
those existed! I thought those were some myth thing or something... Someone told me that... probably Travis -_____- haa. jk but anywayyyy. It
was pretty crazy. Like it gets suuuuuper hot here! I thought UT was hot.
nope! It's over 100 every day here! But then the last couple of days
it was BOOOM MONSOON!! AND THUNDER AND LIGHTENING. It was sooooo
coooool........like literally monsoon. Remember in those movies where
people are outside for like 10 seconds and are SOAKED! I was always like
yah.... that doesn't happen. but no. it does. We ran from the car to the
house we were half drenced already. OMG. hahahaha and the streets are
flooded and everything. So crazy. Now its back to super hot. Bipolar.
weather. but its so cool! i love it. It's sooo pretty. There isn't a lot of
green, but the sky is HUGE. It just goes forever. If we had time to
admire it, I would :) haa
My companion/trainer is Sister Jensen-Coon from
Montana. Small town. 12 people in her home branch. ahahaha. But she's super
nice and really cool. She's only JUST finished her 12week training so
she's been out about 3.5 months. So we're both pretty much newbies haha.
but its fun. We're learning together! Since she is so new, too, I'm just learning by watching and
asking questions a lot. which is fine! :)
Its only been a few days and I already feel like the
MTC was a dream. It was so weird cause when I got out here. I was
seriously homesick for home, but also mostly for the MTC and my
district..... so weird haha. but I think I'm better now. as we say, the
cure for homesickness is WORK! So we are gettin' to work! It has been
verrrrry busy lately! It's definitely hard for me to get used to this
change. teaching in English--who'da thought THAT would be hard. I'm so used to
explaining things in portuguese or whatever. So basically I'm in this
awkward stage between Portuguese and English where I'm losing my English because I'm thinking in Portuguese, but I can't speak Portuguese yet either.... so
basically I can't speak. ): haha but I'm praying I'll be able to keep Portuguese up until I get my visa.
Its been a suuuper hard adjustment just trying to get used to this new lifestyle. We get up at 6 here instead of 6:30
and dont usually get to sleep until like almost 11 cause we have to
update the area book. Since neither of us know what's really going on ... we are sometimes late for things but we're working on it! Hopefully we can sleep more
soon ): haha but yeah its also kind of hard cause I feel like the sister
who just left (my gramma I guess they call it here, haha my trainer's
trainer) was really good and everyone loved her. So I'm basically coming
and replacing the one they all loved ): So hopefully I can gain their
trust and be able to fill those shoes! The ward here is really great
though and super welcoming. So it should be okay.
MAN WE GET FED EVERY NIGHT THOUGH! WOW! I FEEL SO
FAT! So spoiled!!! I am enjoying it now until I go to Brazil! haha. It's so
crazy!!!! It's so cute cause one of the recent converts met me and then
the next day there was a ward bbq thing and he said he made sure to bring
vegan burgers cause he (he was telling someone else about this who told
me) knew I was Japanese and probably didn't eat meat. haha!!! SO CUTE!
and we're having dinner with him and some investigator and another member
this Friday
cause he wanted to make sushi for us! hahahahah sooooo cute. omg. But yeah its always fun to run into people like that! or those who speak Japanese to me. Then I blame it on dad :) JKKKK hahahaha. I'll learn it
someday.. maybe. :)
So there are 2 extremes here in
Kingman, Old Kingman--SUper old and ghetto and very poor and run down. Many slightly disabled people live here and its very small and rundown and
everyone's house smells like Jack the Crossing guard ... Which I now realize
is just smoke haha. but yeah and then there's the areas of a lotta of
the people in our ward--the doctors--the SUPER rich areas. and I mean SUPER
rich. like insane. Pool. Waterslide in the front. LEGIT tree house.. not
like a housesitting in a tree, like a mini HOME connected to a tree. its
insane. They have a fridge the size of my room. and acres of land. I
just can't explain it. The door to their bathroom looks like a normal
persons front door.... anyway. its crazy. but yeah we get fed real good
here hahaha. OH AND EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG HAS A DOG! OMG! It's crazy!! Even in old kingman they all have dogs. DogSSSS PLURAL! Soooo cute but
sometimes I don't feel like they should have so many when theres no room
and its soooooooo hot with no AC! ): idk. But they are so fun and cute an
there are a ton of cats tooo. Oh my. I'm scared I'm gonna get fleas cause
while we're talking to people on the street the darn things will just come
and rub against you and like rub its head all over you and I'm like OMG what
is touching me! And it runs away and comes back a minute later. It's
weird. haha but its cute. :)
soooooo WOW the first few days of teaching. it was
pretty tough. I don't know... I think the first couple of days were super
overwhelming. Just like Travis said it would be like. haha. But I really just felt SOOO
inadequate. I would always talk and at least bare testimony or
something, but I really had no idea who these people were or what their
backstory was. Just a really brief sum up from Sister Jensen Coon. Plus I
felt like they dont know me either. I was super overwhelmed. It's really
tough out here, but it's really humbling me and teaching me to rely on the
Lord more. I pray sooo much more meaningfully. I know it will take time
and I gotta go easy on myself sometimes, but I JUST WANNA BE ABLE TO DO
IT ALREADY haha. I think it's gotten a litle better. Yesterday was a
little better, but hopefully I'll be able to really get to know those
people.
One woman, a 93yr old has the mind of a 30yr
old!!!! We got to teach her and it was amazing. when we listen to her
and talk to her I can just FEEL how much I love her and how much God
loves her. She's so scared of dying--not death, just how she'll die. And
she is so not trusting of others and she's scared. and I just want to
make her see how much this gospel can help her!!!! She definitely felt
something and understands sooo much but she 's just so scared and doesn't
want strangers everywere. So we're slowly going to build trust. She
keeps wondering why she isn't dead yet and I KNOW its because God knows she
needs this and wants her to have this before she leaves. She was never
married, never had kids. idk. It was a really good day. It just really
reminded me of WHY I'm out here walking in 100degree weather and being so
tired all the time and being tried so much physically, spiritually,
emotionally. THIS is why! Because people like Helen need this hope and this
joy that only the restored Gospel can give. It was a SERIOUS
tender mercy, for which i am soooooo grateful!
OH BTW! soooooooo basically at the Airport, the AP's
came to pick us up with the President and his wife and GUESS WHAT!! TWO
of them were in my freshman ward! One was a good friend! omg! Sooo
random! hahaa It was awesome seeing them and seeing just how crazy much
they changed and matured. ALREADY! It was so amazing to me. I was
seriously so proud hahaha. They were teaching training
stuff and it was so amazing to see them as such grown representatives
of Christ. You could just see they knew the importance of this work and
they loved every minute of it. Also, there's another guy from my
freshman ward, another old friend in this area. DL in Vegas and my other
friend from freshman ward came here with me and is serving in Vegas
area. SO RANDOM AND COOL! haha. But yeah so that was super fun. wow!
Anyway I had a lot to write today. and now I'm out of
time ): I still gotta write to the President my weekly letter. Well I'll send letters to everyone!
To sum it all up: I'm
doing real well here! I'm getting the hang of it, still figuring it out
but it's coming. I'm loving the work even though its VERY hard. The desert
is hot. but beautiful. Can't wait to get my visa and get to the REAL
hot part hah. hah. hah... but yea I'm super excited to be here and learn
so much already. I love and miss you all sooo much!! I pray for you
always! The church is SO true and this work is so important. Its amazing
the miracles we see here. The big and the little. LOve you all so
much!
Ate a proxima segundafeira!
Sister Yoshimoto!
Ps thanks for all the birthday wishes and Birthday stuff i got!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL
PPS:
HAPPPPPPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU HAPPY BIRTDAY TO YOUUU HAPPY BIRTHDAYYY
DEAR MARY ANNNNNN!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUU!!!! LOve youuuu!!!!!!
PPPS: I am sending a letter soooooo CHECK THE MAIL ON FRIDAY!!!!!!!
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