As you can see, Maryandra is in a fun missionary setting, with several other fun-loving sisters in her house!  Here are some excerpts from this week's e-mail, which came a day late because on Monday they had Temple P-day!

Tuesday:

Well, the morning started out great with me busting my companion's bike. Yep, you heard me. I basically killed it.

We were riding early this morning to kichijoji for zone conference, and this guy suddenly pulled in front of my companion, and she had to stop suddenly, and I didn't realize soon enough, so I couldn't come to a stop, and I hit her rear tire at nearly full speed with my bike, which loosened the tire and snapped two of the spokes. Yeah. Of course, my companion wasn't happy, but she was kind enough not to yell at me, though I would have felt less guilty if she had. I will pay for all needed repairs, of course. Shoot, right? We were able to ride slowly the rest of the way to kichijoji, after semi securing the spokes to other, stable ones, with a bobby pin and a hair tie. I can't tell you how bad I feel! But, as you'll find out later, it turned out not so bad after all.  

As for zone conference, it was great! It was focused on helping us get ourselves better and in the right condition to where we can be effective tools in the hands of the Lord, rather than just a bunch of trainings on things we already know how to do. But that means that we got to talk about physical health and disease prevention, and guess who came to give that presentation?! The elder and sister who came to see me at the hospital so often! It was so great to see both of them again, and I think it was a relief for them to see me looking normal, and it made me feel happy just to see them. They're so great! Even though they live in the north mission boundaries, I think they come to our things more frequently, hehe. Anyway, it was great!  

Wednesday:

Well, in I believe six weeks from today, I will have been in Japan for exactly one year! How time flies, am I right? Holy cow! And, it's the last day of 2014! Yikes! I can remember thinking back in the mtc to what it would be like a year from then, and thinking things like "wow! It's going to be so weird to have been away from home for more than a year!" Among other things.  .  .  .

After coming back, we made our way to the church, re-attached my companion's tire to her bike, partly, at least, and then walked our bikes home. It could have been better, but hey, I can't complain. It's my fault that it happened, anyway.

We didn't do much after that, besides go and get something to go from the bakery. Then, we talked and enjoyed ourselves on the way home, to do weekly planning. Or try to. It didn't end up happening, because we talked too much, and had a blast, like we hadn't had in a really long time. I think it was good, though. Aaah, it was so nice! We talked about our MTC districts, and how much fun the MTC was, etc. and it was incredibly refreshing. For some reason, it alleviated some unknown pressure that had been on my shoulders, and I'm sure on my companion's as well. It felt soooo nice!

So, despite the change of plans, today ended up being pretty good after all! Happy new year!

Thursday:

Wow! Today was coooold!!!! But I k ow it's only going to get colder for, here. But do you want to know what indicated just how cold it was? For about half an hour, teeny tiny snow flakes fell from the sky, so small you could barely see them. It was craaazy! But it was at least really pretty, and thankfully nothing stayed long. Phew!

Sunday:

We wanted to take a district picture, so we asked a random guy to take one of us I front of the steak house. But as it turns out, the lighting wasn't very good, so the man told us to move across the street instead, which put us right in front of a gigantic pachinko (gambling hall). Whoops. So we all tried to grin and bear it as the man took a photo that made us look like we were endorsing gambling. To make it worse, we just happened to be standing in front of a large picture of scantily clad women. Double whoops. Not something we are remotely proud of. It was an accident, so we can't really claim any kind of guilt or fault, can we? Still, perhaps we should have used some logic. Oh well....

Maryandra hasn't sent us a copy of that photo yet, but we'll look forward to it for next week!