Konnichiwa!

1 June 2015 Kumagaya

We had an amazing week this week. Lots of miracles. I love Kumagaya! And sister Kubota. We have so much fun Together. I'm so sad I don't get to stay in Kumagaya longer. I feel a little jipped. The ward members are so great! I love them. But there is also so much to do here. It's not fair I have to leave!

On Wednesday we had district meeting. So much funny. The zone leaders came. One of the zone leaders used to work at Abercrombie,as we were talking about that it came out that he used to be one of the guys who stood out shirtless in front of the store. As he is telling us this his companion says " you know, when I walked by those guys at the mall, I never thought hmm he could be my companion some day." Everybody cracked up. It was soooo funny.

Then, as we were walking out we said hello to this old man. For whatever reason he decided he just wanted to talk to sister Kubota, who could not understand his old man nihongo. I kept answering his questions but he insisted on only speaking to her. Finally he got frustrated with her being unable to understand him and told her to go home and practice her Japanese and then dismissed her. We got a good laugh from that too.

Friday we had a zone blitz. We got together and ate lunch at one of our friend's restaurants. We broke ordering records. Her boss was very excited. And it was so fun to see how happy she was because we had come.

During the blitz we visited some members who have not been coming to church. This week we were able to get a hold of/ meet with two who sister Kubota and her last companion could not get a hold of. I love both of them. They are really wonderful girls. I'm excited to get to know them better is week.

On Saturday there was a giant earthquake. Everyone was talking about it. Everyone posted about it on Facebook. But Kubota Shimai and I....we didn't feel it. Hahaha. We were biking home. And had absolutely no clue it happened until the next day. So if you were worried about us, or me...no worries we are safe, we didn't even feel it!

Sunday was super awesome! It was our big Sunday challenge day. We didn't have anyone showing up...we sure tried though. Then one of the members who haven't been coming to church came A little late. She had missed her train and had walked at least two miles to get to church! I was so happy to see her! So happy!

We had a delicious meal after church with all the members. Went home made some calls, made paper swans and then headed out to dendō! We both felt like we should go in the same direction, so naturally we did. We rode a bit, locked our bikes up and set out to do some housing! Well, we didn't get very far when we saw an eikaiwa student.

She hasn't been coming recently. But, she drove by us, saw and then started telling us how she had lost her dog during the earthquake the day before. He'd been missing for almost a day and a half. They couldn't find him. After telling us she took off again. I decided we needed to find that dog. Luckily, Kubota Shimai had decided the same thing. So, we said a prayer and started wandering around. There was a large cemetery so we decided to look in it. No dog. I felt like we should get back on our bikes so we went and got them, and then I took a few turns based on what felt right (followed the promptings of the spirit) and we biked past a lady walking a corgi. Sister Kubota stops and asks the lady if that's her dog. It wasn't, it was the dog we were looking for! Ah! So we took the dog and reunited him with his mother.  Who was soooooo happy. Soooo happy. It took a little bit to find her house, we didn't know where she lived, just general area. But luckily the corgi knew so it was all good. She couldn't believe we had found it. Today we are going back with her to the lady's house who found the dog. I'm glad. The lady seemed a little heartbroken to say goodbye to Ketchupu. I don't blame her. He is the sweetest dog ever.

So what lesson can we learn from this story? Ask the missionaries. They can help.

I'm so grateful our prayers were answered. It made my day and a lot of other people's day too. Heavenly Father loves us and he is just waiting to help us.

After that we went and had dinner with the Ruichi family. I love that family. They are amazing! They are such a happy family. We had so much fun with them. And then as we were leaving they gave us two bags full of goodies. They will receive lots and lots of blessings for sure. They are always helping the missionaries.

I love you all!

See ya real soon.

Sister Molinari