Wow! It's Monday Already?

22 September 2014 Sanjo

This is an old picture, but it was so pretty, I wanted to include it

Next week we have transfer calls! WHAT?! Where is time going?

I wore tights almost the entire week. The ocean is close so there is an ever present breeze that is quite chilly. Nitta shimai was pretty bundled up all week. She broke out her winter jacket and has been talking about getting gloves. The nihonjin find us pretty funny. They don't think it is cold at all, because they have winter to compare it too!

This week I'm sure we did lots of great things...but I'm having trouble remembering them. I think this might be a rest of my mission problem...so I apologize in advance. The days are just blurring into weeks and the weeks into months. Weeks feel like months and things that happened a day or two ago feel like it was done in prior weeks. What a strange experience!

This week we contacted so many less active members. Wow! Ogura Shimai and oono shimai are really progressing! We had some really awesome lessons with them this week. We were also able to meet a less active who hasn't been visited in a few transfers. She was very excited to see us! 

There were lots of little miracles happening all around. We also found a few less than excited to be found less active members, and one who had passed away years and years ago! But, finding both were miracles in their own way too. We went with a church member, Nakagawa shimai to find them. They lived in an older part of Kamo so the addresses and houses make no sense at all. Their town was at the bottom of a mountain and it was like stepping back into time, and into a jungle. Everything was green and all the shrines and cemeteries were mossy and had little waterfalls from run-off water, the houses were all a little crooked and had these beautiful and very wild gardens and plants growing. And the people spoke their own kind of Japanese! We wondered around for a while until we finally found who we were looking for. If we hadn't had Nakagawa shimai with us I don't know if we would've found either of them though!

Is week has been quite the week! I started the week off planning to find more joy in the work and ended up becoming a little more miserable each day. Funny how that works...but, after a much needed talk we my wonderful companion I can say I am really happy now. I've found a little more joy. And I feel reconnected to my purpose. And we are more united too. We both had gotten pretty caught up in the fact that we don't have a lot of time left as missionaries and we aren't where we want to be at all. So together, we are working on that. I'm so grateful for Nitta shimai. She is a blessing. And together we get to help Heavenly Father get things moving here in Sanjo. And we've been able to watch it happen! In little ways now, big ways are yet to come..

My nihongo has taken off this week! Wow! I feel like i understand soo much more. I kept having these moments all week where I would either walk away from a conversation or be in the middle of one and just be hit with this "wow! I know exactly what is going on! " feeling. It's great! But, don't be too impressed. This morning our gas man stopped by and I had no clue what he was saying...haha little steps. My speaking is also slowly getting better. Nowhere near where I want it. But I'm getting there.

Yesterday in church I shared an experience in Young Womens. I started talking and my nihongo came out faster than I could think! I was so shocked I was silent! And then everyone else was silent cus they thought I had more to say. But I just didn't say anything..the teacher was very kind and finished the thought for me though and me and the young women got a good chuckle out of the whole thing. Well. More than a chuckle; we were all snickering pretty hard about it.

The other day Nitta shimai and I were talking about how our mothers eating things that have gone bad. I told Nitta shimai that my mom drinks milk after the expiration date! Gross! Well, the next morning I grabbed my milk out of the fridge and noticed it was expired. Darn! I opened it, sniffed it and decided it was ok and drank it. I found the irony in that moment too funny not to share.

Sorry, another short letter. I love you all! 

Here is a video to make up for it. It's the newest one. And a much needed message for a lot of people out there! You never know how much good you really do. I love it. Can't wait for it to be translated into Japanese!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-008-you-never-know?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014&lang=eng&cid=HPFR091914425

It's Getting Cold!

15 September 2014 Sanjo

Well, this week, it changed from summer to fall over night. The air is chilly now and while the sky is as blue as can be, it is far from warm! But I am grateful for the change. The air feels so fresh and crisp. When it changes from fall to winter over night...that is when I will start to complain haha. Winters up here in Niigata are quite the experience too! Snow isn't measured in inches or feet (not that it would be anyways..since it is Japan) but in METERS!!!

This week we taught Yasuko San about repentance and the atonement of Jesus Christ. During personal study that morning I really wanted to find a better way, for me personally, to teach the atonement and repentance. Well, after reading quite a few Christmas ensign articles and talks I noticed that Christ's birth is quite often coupled with hope. The anticipation of His birth and His birth brought hope to the world. And his atonement gives each of us hope to. And so does repentance! Richard G. Scott said this about repentance; "remember, repentance is not punishment.” It is the hope filled path to a more glorious future." This is true! When I was younger the word repentance used to scare me. It had such an ominous sound. But, repentance is a blessing and it is wonderful. It means we can change and become the person we want to be! While at times it may be hard, it is not scary at all!

At eikaiwa we played Simon says. I was Simon for the last round. I said "Simon says jump on one foot." Everyone jumps and continues jumping except for our district leader, he just jumped once. I told him keep jumping. That's when it started getting confusing. While debating whether or not that meant everyone should stop jumping the nihonjin continued to jump. And jump, and jump. Poor Tamura San was getting tired and could barely jump! When I realized what was happening I started laughing. And couldn't stop long enough to say Simon says stop jumping so everyone jumped for way to long. And they were all laughing too. Oh it was pretty funny. Finally I got them to stop. And we ended there because they were too tired to continue hahaha.

During weekly planning we created a giant plan for the Sanjo members. We dubbed it “project feel the joy!” We want to help the members feel the joy. And through that, I know that the work here will hasten. It won't just be the missionaries doing missionary work; it will be the members also. Their families will notice the difference and there will be changes in the part member families too. And I am also going to work to make sure I feel the joy. Can't help others feel the joy if I'm not. It's gonna be big!

Other highlights of the week; I got to go see fireworks again this week. And I made a new member friend; Hattori shimai. She lived in Utah for a long time, and came back to Japan recently. I love her! We have a lot in common and soon we will be making crafts together!

We also had zone conference. It was really good. We talked about Christmas and President and Sister Budge kissed in front of us! My face turned bright red. I think it's a sign that I've been out on my mission for a while now. Also, we've started meeting regularly with the Relief Society (ed. note: women’s service organization) president. We are visiting those she feels we need to visit and helping her be a Relief Society president! Right now I think she feels a little useless. It's already been amazing watching her bloom!

Ok sorry this is short. I have no time today. But I love you all!

Sister Molinari

Merry Christmas!

08 September 2014, Sanjo

Hello everyone! This week flew by, but it also felt like multiple weeks all piled into one. It's one of the weird phenomena of being a missionary I guess.. It is officially cold here! But I am not complaining. Bring on the tights and scarves and sweaters..oh how I have missed them. And goodbye to the sweating...I will NOT be missing that!

Ok here were the highlights of the week:

We had a talent show this week and it was a SUCCESS! We had 27 people all together. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot to all of you, but let me tell you, that is a lot for a Sanjo activity! It was a lot of fun. One member did very cheesey magic tricks, another told a story in a traditional Japanese way, there was lots of singing and a few poems in between to mix things up. The missionaries sang “Arise.” If you haven't heard it here is the link: 

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/2012-theme-song?lang=eng.

It was pretty decent.

We didn't have nearly enough time to practice so there were a few rough spots, but I think everyone enjoyed it. Nitta Shimai and I had planned to do something as well, but we ended up running out of time (something we did not expect to happen) and so it, along with Elder Sugawada's talent got cut. Oh well.

We all had a lot of fun! And everyone there did as well. And the elders now have a new investigator too! One of our eikaiwa students came and started talking to one of the members. Turns out he knew a Christian when he was younger and really admired them. He took a Book of Mormon and I think the elders are meeting with him this week! Very exciting!

So every Friday we have ping-pong night. Is Friday instead of playing ping pong we got to sing! It was a very special night. A while back, some missionaries met this lady who loves the gospel but, due to learning disabilities can't really study. Because of this she has designated herself as a missionary for the cause! She loves church music and so she orders hymn books and CDs and gives them away! Well, we as a district sound pretty good when we sing so for over half an hour we sang song after song for her. We were all exhausted afterwards but she was so happy, it was so worth it. And everyone could feel the spirit. It was fantastic.

Once a week we do service at an old folks home..well, two actually. This week we got to do taecho (ed. note: “tai chi”, I think) with old people! Taecho..if I'm spelling it right, is a national exercise here. Everyone knows it and everyone does it. Even the old folks! Well, the much younger women who were leading it would take brakes in between to talk and make little jokes.

 
Everyone was dying to know of we had boyfriends/girlfriends and what our favorite foods were haha. At one point I got asked what I was looking for in a man, or what kind of character I wanted...I had no idea how to answer that in Japanese so instead I said, motioning to one of the old men sitting by me, "someone like Michi San" . Everyone’s reaction was priceless! Especially his! He didn't know how to take that! Oh it as so funny! The whole time we were there was pretty great. To my right was sitting one of the elders and a very old lady.

Well, that lady did not let age get in her way! She was pretty frisky!

When she would talk she would put her hand on the elder's leg!! He looked soooo uncomfortable. It was sooo funny! This week we also had exchanges. I was with Sister Hanashiro who is nihonjin! I was a little nervous! But it ended up being ok! And according to her, my Japanese it pretty good. I don't sound like a foreigner trying to speak Japanese either! But she did say I need to have more confidence when I speak. Something I completely agree with.

The highlight of exchanges had to have been when we were heading to Nagaoka to switch back to our regular companions. While waiting at the station we struck up a conversation with a lady waiting for the same train and after talking to Hanashiro shimai for a few minutes tells her her nihongo is amazing! I busted out laughing. Of course it's good! She is nihonjin! The lady realized her mistake and became very embarrassed and apologetic. And I couldn't stop laughing. We all laughed together about it actually.

During our district meeting this week we talked a little bit about Christmas. We are talking about it in our zone conference this week, so it was in preparation for that. Nitta shimai said something I really liked. It was in response to what I had said. We were asked why we like Christmas. I said I liked the atmosphere; everyone is happy, they are kinder and more willing to help and serve. And the happiness and joy is everywhere and it is contagious. She added that it is because, even if we don't realize it, we are centering our lives around Christ. That is, after all, what the holiday is all about. We are celebrating Christ's birth. Top she continued to say imagine if we really had Christ in our hearts all year round. That's how it would feel all the time. Heaven like. I really like d that. So, I am sharing it with all of you. Merry early Christmas!

We visited so many members and less active members this week. It is amazing and such a blessing to get to be in the front row seat of watching Heavenly Father change lives. I'm lucky! This week is going to be even better. I'm excited to see the miracle that we will have.

I read the following story this week. I liked it so much, that I wanted to share it with you. 

"A few weeks ago on a day when this area was experiencing one of its worst snowstorms, and that is saying quite a bit because we had plenty of severe weather this past winter, a handsome young serviceman and his beautiful bride-to-be encountered extreme difficulty in getting to
the Salt Lake Temple for their marriage appointment. She was in one location in the Salt Lake Valley and he was to come from another nearby town. Heavy snows and winds had closed the highways during the night and early morning hours. After many hours of anxious waiting,
some of us were able to help them get to the temple and complete their marriage plans before the day was over.

"How grateful they, their families, and friends were for the assistance and concern in their keeping this most important appointment. My friend, we will call him Bill, expressed his deep
gratitude with, "Thank you very much for all you did to make our wedding possible. I don't understand why you went to all this trouble to help me. Really, I'm nobody."

"I am sure Bill meant his comment to be a most sincere compliment, but I responded to it firmly, but I hope kindly, with, "Bill, I have never helped a "nobody" in my life. In the kingdom of our Heavenly Father, no man is a "nobody" "(in Conference Report, Apr. 1973, p. 20; or Ensign, July 1973, p. 24).

I love this gospel and I love you all!

Sister Molinari

It's Rice Harvest Time!

1 September 2014 Sanjo

Nitta Shimai and I (uh, me)

 Wow what a week! And can you believe it is already September???? Where is time going? I hope everyone's first days of school were or will be awesome! All the kids here in Japan are back in school-they went back a week or two ago.

With September starting the weather has already cooled down. I broke out my tights last night! During the day it is still pretty warm, but as soon as the sun goes down it gets chilly! It's a welcome chilly...for now. Probably after a week or two of cold I'll be longing for summer again though haha. If I stay up here in the winter it is gonna be cold! Very, very cold!

I loveeeee my companion. She's an inspiration! She works hard and loves it. And I love working with her. We've already seen so many miracles this week. It's great!

This week we were chatting it up with some ladies and I accidentally told the lady I had been in Japan for almost 8 years...instead of 8 months. She was very impressed and proceeded to talk to me in VERY fancy Japanese. I couldn't understand why she was doing that...until she referenced me being here for so long...we had a good laugh about that after we walked away.

Fujita San gave us gold to drink! Because we don't drink tea she gave us hot water with gold flecks in it. What a deal! Too bad gold doesn't have any flavor... Because Nitta shimai is from Hawaii, Fujita San wanted to show us her trip to Hawaii picture albums. My favorite moment had to have been when, while on a page of her on a tennis court, she said "I don't actually play tennis, I just wear tennis clothes."

Skabelund shimai gave Fujita San a Book of Mormon as a goodbye present. And miracle of miracles she is reading it! We are very excited for our next lesson with her!

We've been doing a lot of work with less active members. There are QUITE a few of them. It is crazy how easy it is to just stop going to church but how ridiculously difficult it is to come back. We've been having lots of fun with them though. Tosaka shimai has to be one of my favorites. She is great! And she loves crafts! Match made in heaven!

We are currently making really cool paper crafts with her. They are stenciled flowers...mahh I don't know how to explain it...I'll send a picture. Anyways, you cut them out with an x-acto blade. I made mine very, very intricate...it will probably take a long time to make...so, we will be spending lots of time with her! Ogura shimai was able to come to church again this Sunday. That is two weeks in a row! What a miracle!

We also got to meet with her and we made a new goal we her to work towards: go to the temple! It's great. Being up here in Niigata we don't get to have temple p-day. I never realized how much I could miss going to the temple. It is such a special place. When I go I'm always reminded how much God really loves each of us. Its great. We are actually planning on inviting quite a few less actives to make the temple there goal. I'm excited for them.

This week biked to Kamo! It's probably around an hour bike ride. We missed our train so decided we might as well bike instead. We had a top secret mission to complete. Our entire mission (so every missionary in Tokyo) heart attacked our church leaders doors. We were in charge of heart attacking Nakagawa kaicho's door. It was really fun. Their two boys, Yusuke kun(pronounced koon) and Tatsuhiro kun caught us though！ but we told them it was a secret and it was all good. They ended up being very good helpers.  

Yasuko San rode her bicycle to church on Sunday! It's probably a twenty-ish minute ride. What a champ! Next week we are going to try and pick her up though. I think it was a little harder and longer than she expected. But, she loved church! Before church we sat and I tried to tell her about temples...I ran out of things to say in Japanese pretty quickly. The background on my iPad is the dc temple and she asked me of it was a church. I told her it was a temple. And that my parents had been married in that temple. And that, when we get married in the temple it is not just for this life, but for eternity. And through temple marriages we are an eternal family. Who doesn't want that? After that I ran out of nihongo so I started showing her pictures of temples around the world. It was really fun.

We have a brand new missionary in our district this transfer. Fryzel choro. After church we had the nihonjin equivalent of a pot luck and he was talking to a member..or trying to...at some point he turns to me and asks me to translate something for him. I turn and look at the member, Tanabe shimai, and she bursts into laughter...because yup you guessed it.She is peda peda in English! What a goof! It was pretty funny.

After church we got to meet one of the members daughters, who has been less active for a while. It was totally. Miracle and It was love at first sight. She is the cutest thing ever! I can't wait to get to know her better. She reminds me a lot of myself. We had been trying to figure out when we could meet her and hadn't been successful all week. And then she ends up coming to us!

This week has been really awesome! I've gotten to see Heavenly Father's hand in the work. He is preparing people and helping us every step of the way. I am so lucky to be a missionary and to get to serve a mission in Japan. I love this gospel. And I love how it has changed my life. I am so lucky!

Love you all,

Sister Molinari

This week was crazy!

24 August 2014 Sanjo

Good-bye Skabelund shimai

I think transfer week always is crazy actually. We spent the first half of the week scrambling around trying to see everyone Sister Skabelund wanted to see. Then on Thursday we took the train to Niigata and she got on a bus and left me! I was really sad to see her go. I miss her a lot!

While I waited for my new companion, Nitta Shimai, to get to Niigata I got to dendō with Dunn Shimai. I'd never worked with her before she is amazing! She only has a few transfers left. We had a lot of fun in the few hours we spent together. We had a fun time handing out chirashi at the train station and then we ran off to an appointment. Back story: a lady received a eikaiwa chirashi somehow and called the elder missionaries to see if some missionaries could come to the Eikaiwa class SHE teaches. She wanted native speakers there. So we went! The lady ended up being really young and she spent a few years in America. In Utah. at Snow College. Chance? I think not! We had a really fun eikaiwa class. She teaches six or so kids. Usually they aren't very well behaved but for us they were haha. As a thank you we got McDonald’s gift cards. Everyone here thinks we love McDonald’s...

After a fun day with Dunn Shimai we headed back to the bus station to wait for the bus with all our new companions to get there. It came early! Nitta shimai and I had to run to catch a train so we could make the hour ride back to Sanjo.

The rest of the week has been really great. It took us a couple days to get into 'our' own groove. It made me really nervous! But it's all good now. We both want the same things for Sanjo and Sanjo group and I am really looking forward to doing it with Nitta Shimai. She is an amazing missionary! And her nihongo is soo good. I'm really excited to improve mine. I understand so much and I can write and read a little. Speaking is my biggest challenge and so this transfer that is what we are going to work on. I can't wait. I know I just said this, but she is seriously such a good missionary.

Sunday at church: Ogura Shimai, Yasuko San and Momoka Chan! Yasuko San loved church! It made me so happy! And she fit right in! She made comments and talked to everyone. And when she left she said she'd be back next week!

Me, Yasuko san and Skabelund

I love her. She has this light in her eyes and every time we visit I leave feeling happy. She emanates light. She learns things so quickly. It just clicks for her. It's so amazing watching her develop a relationship with Heavenly Father and feel the spirit. It's so special. I feel so lucky.

After sacrament meeting Momoka Chan and Ren Kun (elder's investigator) left. Then later, as Nitta Shimai and I were about to leave, they came back to church! They didn't have any plans so I suggested we watch a movie. We fed them pancakes (we had had a pancake breakfast that morning) and then Momoka Chan, Nitta Shimai and I watched the restoration video. After it ended Momoka Cham was just silent. And she wouldn't look at us. I'm thinking "oh nooo, what did we just do?!"

Finally we started talking. We asked her how it was, she couldn't answer. It looked like she was going to cry. More silence, then we asked what she felt. She didn't know it, but she felt the spirit! And when we asked, she told us she had interest in learning in learning more! She answered very quickly too! Ah! I'm so excited.

Also, I loveee the restoration video. It was in Japanese so I didn't catch everything but, I absolutely love it. I love Joseph Smith and I'm so grateful that through him the gospel was restored. I love the Book of Mormon and I love studying it and the Bible every morning. It's just a blessing. I feel like my knowledge has exponentially increased since I came on a mission. I don't know where I'd be without the church in my life!

Funny story of the week: Ren Kun and Momoka Chan have crushes on each other...I think...typical high school romance. But, on Friday Momoka Chan came to ping pong night. Ren came running into the church saying I brought a pretty girl, I brought a pretty girl! Yuji Kyodaii, thinking it was a girl for HIM, came running out of the church and upon seeing a high school girl became very disappointed. He said his heart was racing hahaha.

Sanjo is still beautiful. It is finally cooling down...I think and I am looking forward to wearing fall clothes again! And not sweating all day, every day! I don't think I've sweat so much in my life!! But, it is totally worth it! Being a missionary is so good. It's hard. Really hard. But really good. So worth it.

I love you all!

Sister Molinari

Cows and kaus

11 August 2014 Sanjo

This is our last full week of the transfer. Transfer calls are next week! Ah! It has flown by. On Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat. Again. We will see how long this one lasts...


Tuesday went to an old folks home for service. Its name translated is frog house. Haha. They are a bit surreal here. Everything is so clean and everyone is so smiley and a little robotic. And they lock everything! I was a little put off by that. I understand it's for the old peoples' safety..but still. We would walk through one door and it would lock behind us, go through a hall, unlock next door, walk brought then it’d be locked behind us. What if the people working there hadn't wanted to let us out????

We sat with a bunch of old ladies who were very sweet but a little senile. They just told us over and over how beautiful we were, how kind it was for us to come, and after a few questions about church the
conversation would loop again.

The climax of the visit was probably when I started coughing. I couldn't stop! I just kept coughing and coughing. My eyes were watering and everyone was staring. And I just couldn't stop coughing. I felt soooo bad! All the workers were probably wondering why the heck I was there. All the old people were gonna catch a cold from me!

Wednesday was a super day. During district meeting Sugawada choro and I both got to do trainings. I really liked Sugawada choro's. I felt like mine was a little scrambled. It's amazing what being sick does to
your ability to think. I talked about how God has a plan for each of us. We each came to earth to accomplish certain things.  He gives us trials as a way to prepare us to accomplish those things.

We had another amazing lesson with Yosuko San. And guess what!? She is getting baptized in September!!! She is just so prepared. On Thursday we had taught her how to pray and then invited her to do so. She told us Wednesday that after she prayed she felt calm. And then she told us she had been thinking about church and decided this was the best church for her and she wanted to become a member. Ahhhh!

She wants to learn everything from the beginning. And so that's what we did. We talked about how God is our Heavenly Father, that he has made a plan so that each of us can return back to Him one day. That Jesus Christ is essential to that plan, and how when he was on earth he taught the gospel. We told her about the great apostasy and the need for a restoration of the gospel. It made perfect sense to her.

One of my favorite moments in the lesson was when we were talking about prophets and why we need them. As missionaries we use this object lesson to show the need. We hold our fist out and say it represents God. Then we have someone else hold their fist out. It represents them/ other people. You ask them to follow your fist with theirs. Usually they can do it. Then you tell them, "we can't see God. Close your eyes!" And they need to try and follow again. It's much harder to do it this time. Then we take a pen and say it represents a prophet. Then we stick the pen in each fist. They are connected! And It is easy to move and follow "God" even though your eyes are closed.

Well, we didn't make it that far with Yasuko San. We told her to close her eyes and asked her if she could still follow God. She answered with so much confidence "yes." She didn't get it. So we explained it to her again and then asked her the question again: can you follow God? Once again she answered with a confident "yes." By the third time (with a reminder that her eyes were closed) and another yes we had all
started giggling. It was pretty funny.

The whole lesson was pretty surreal. She wants to be baptized! And she is so excited and ready to learn. She even invited herself to church before we could. And told us she would read and pray every day. We
didn't need to invite her to do much!

One of the funny moments of the week: I had done something..I can't remember and Skabelund shimai looks at me and says "mischievous cow." I was sooooooooo surprised and taken aback that she had called me a cow! "Cow????" As I said it I realized it wasn't cow it was kau; which is Japanese for face. She was commenting on my mischievous face. We got a really good laugh out of that one.

Today we went to Yahiko mountain. At the base there is a shrine. It was a beautiful place!! I adore Japanese culture. It's so rich and spiritual. And beautiful. I'll send some pictures!

This week has been wonderful. I love Sanjo! I love the miracles we are seeing. And my companion is pretty great too.

Love you all!

Sister Molinari

Wow, What a Week!

4 August 2014 Sanjo

こんしゅ！

I love the sky in Sanjo!

I feel so blessed and incredibly lucky to be here in Sanjo! I haven't gotten over how beautiful it is up here, miracles continue to happen and despite the hot weather and inevitable sweating that comes from it sister Skabelund and I are having tons of fun. I've gotten in the bad habit of riding my bicycle with my mouth open. In part because it's hot and I'm often panting and in part because I can't help but smile/ my jaw drops open because of the beauty here. I've had one too many bugs fly into my mouth this week though...so lesson learned.

My favorite miracle this week was a lesson with one of our investigators, Kobayashi San. She suffers from depression and has known the missionaries for a very long time. We met with her, and this lesson was going to determine if we should keep meeting with her or not. Well, after the lesson, I'm excited to say we will keep meeting with her. We started the lesson by singing I am a child of god. She really liked it. We were planning on re teaching her that we are all children of God. He loves us and he wants us to succeed in this life. In order to do that he has made a plan for us! So I am a child of god is a perfect song to lead into that.

But, what Kobayashi San likes from it was the chorus :
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.

She said she really wants that help and guidance and direction in her life. She wants courage and she wants to stop being a burden on others. We told she could; through Christ and his atonement. Our lesson plan was quickly derailed and we talked about Christ instead. But it was perfect. During the lesson both Skabelund shimai and I had a strong impression to invite Kobayashi San to baptism. So we did. She didn't say yes, but she didn't so no either. I'm excited; I think we are on the right path. The gospel could bless her life in sooo many ways, and I think she understands that. She also understands baptism is a big deal. And that is more than ok with me. At the end of our lesson she told us she felt so much better and happier than when she had come. She walked out of ready to face the world.

After the lesson was over, sister Skabelund and I decided Kobayashi San should be a priority. The next day during district meeting we got a call from Kobayashi San. She was headed to work and was really nervous. She called us because she knew we could make her feel better.

This week we had exchanges. I got to go with sister Clark to Nagaoka. Sister Clark was companions with Dopp shimai a few transfers ago! We had a lot of fun. Sister Clark knows the perfect balance of work and fun, and understands that having fun isn't a bad thing. I love her Japanese too! It's very simple, nothing fancy, but she uses it well.

It was inspiring. It was a good reminder that I don't need have fancy Japanese to have an

effect on others. Sister Skabelund has fancy nihongo and i realized I've become very self conscious of mine. But, I don't need to be! I made a goal to speak more. And so I've been trying.

Right after we split for exchanges we hopped on the train and found what we proudly refer to as a kinjin; someone who is excited and ready to hear our message. She was college aged girl who was soooo excited to go to church. She was even willing to pay to get in! I'm excited to hear what happens with her. The nagaoka sisters have an appointment with her this Friday!

Last Sunday we found Yokoyama shimai (An inactive member who hasn't been to church in 60 years). She told us who she remembered from church there were two names. One was a Takizawa shimai. On Saturday we found her!  She doesn't want to go to church because there is no one her age. I'm really hoping we can get her and Yokoyama shimai together and then they can come back to church together. Each of their husbands have passed away, and they are living all by themselves. They'd be great for one another, and the gospel would be great for them again.

After visiting Takizawa shimai we left ready to go to the fireworks in Nagaoka. It was a ward activity and we were catching a train with them to go. Well, sister Skabelund hops on her bike, ready to go and looks back at me, who is rifling around in my bag looking form the key to my bike. It wasn't there. And there was no way my bike lock was coming off. Sister Skabelund didn't know what to do. I picked up my bike, lifted it over my shoulder and said let's go. My bike is a beast of a bike, it's huge! And I carried it for about a mile, from where we were to the station. It's what we call the walk of shame. It was a very, very long walk. I have bruises all over now, but, I did it! We had told the members and other missionaries to just leave without us, we would meet them there, but when we go to the station they were all waiting for us! I love my district and church members. They are the best. I was a very grateful but sweaty mess. On our way to the station sister Skabelund and I joked about how I just needed to one up her bicycle story. It was funny. Hopefully the one-upping in done though...I don't know what could happen next....

Fireworks were amazing!!

The show in Nagaoka is one of the largest in the world and five hundred thousand people come to the festival! It was packed! It as fun looking around  to everyone gathered. A lot of the girls were all dressed up in their yukatas and all the old women and men were in traditional ones as well. There were quite a few couples who went dressed in traditional festival wear as well. I loved it. Sadly, It was the most drinking I'd seen in Japan and there were some characters there too.

We watched the fireworks from the bridge. They were HUGE; so big and so colorful. It was one of the best ward activities I'd been too. It was fun. I'm really grateful that we got to watch them.

Sunday we had another miracle lesson. We surprise visited an investigator of ours and ended up teaching one of the most unique lessons I've ever had. We sat outside, she was on a Chair and sister Skabelund and I were on the ground on little rugs. The wind was blowing a storm in, and we were surrounded by rice fields and the sounds of cicadas. We were also accompanied by her very large cat. It was picturesque and we felt the spirit so strongly too. She is the sweetest little old lady. She has a pure heart. She believes in god and when we asked what she wanted to learn on Wednesday she said the commandments so she could be more obedient! We talked about soo much and she believes it all.

I still love my companion. I just feel so lucky to have her. I'm so grateful to be here and work with her. And I love the miracles Heavenly Father is blessing us with and allowing us to be a part of. It's fantastic.

I love Sanjo!

I love being a missionary!

And I love you all.

Sister Molinari