Maryandra went to the Tama Zoo this P-day, and had a great time, even if she was talked out of buying the tiger stuffed animal, AGAIN! Here are a few excerpts:

So the zoo was pretty fun, and this time, I actually have things

I can send you guys, and it's pretty cool! I got to see some animals
that I couldn't before, due to all the snow. It was nice! I got
irritated, though, when the other sisters told me not to buy the
stuffed tiger at the gift shop. I'd been planning to for months, but I
think that, because everyone was kind of tired, and their remarks were
kind of blunt, I let it get to me. But gosh, I've been missing my
stuffed animals. Of course it's difficult to carry one around at
transfers, and yes this one was 23 dollars or so, but it was a good
sized, soft and cuddly little tiger, and I've packed things more
difficult than that before, so whether or not it was unreasonable, I
really just wanted to sleep with a stuffed animal. Is that too much to
ask for sisters? Really? But I semi-sort of consoled myself by buying
two really cool elephant journals for really cheap. I'll send you the
picture of them.

Also, to give you an update. I barely noticed the typhoon. 

And there is no sign that it even came except that everything is wet
outside. It came sometime in the middle of the night, and it didn't
even wake me up. In short, I'm just fine. No worries here! :) thanks
for all of the prayers on my behalf, everybody! I was aware of them,
be assured, and I am very thankful for so many people who care. Love
you all!
Oh yeah, so there was an earthquake the other night, and we felt it...
Well, actually, only Evans Shimai did. For the first time ever, I
actually slept through an earthquake! And it was apparently a good
one, too! Lasted about two minutes, according to Evans Shimai. I
really wonder why I didn't wake up? Usually, I'm a really light
sleeper, so either I was so exhausted for some reason, or I really did
notice it and I just don't remember. But yeah, it happened.

Anyway, we have zone conference today,Zone Conference was amazing! 

We heard from the missionaries who

will be going home, and they both shared really good stories and testimonies 

about why we are here, in Japan, right now. It was without a doubt a bit of a
defining moment for me. I've seen reasons here and there of course,
ever since I came to Japan, but this made me think about lots of
things, such as how much my mission will affect the rest of my life,
and the things I came here to do. I can't slack off. I can't not do my
job. It's just mind blowing to think about that, and about other things
like it. My whole life will almost certainly pivot around this period
if 18 months. Honestly, if I wasn't on a mission right now, what would
I be doing? I don't know. College, probably, but I would be such a
robot, and a lazy butt, and who knows what could have happened had I
made a different decision? But, if I do my job well and remain a
faithful, sincere and obedient member of the church, I'll receive
wonderful blessings that I can't even comprehend right now. It's
just... Amazing! I can see both roads, and, honestly, even though I
was a little but reluctant and mentally rebellious at first, once I
made the necessary adjustments, I'm just so glad that I chose this
one! It's given me such growth and perspective, I cringe at the
thought if going back to normal life. 

And, another fun fact, today marks my seventh month as a missionary!
Wow, the time goes by so fast! At the moment, nothing fun going on,
but, if we can we are going to go to a questions of the soul in Tama,
given by president Wada. Those are always fun. This time around, it's
about faith, and president Wada will show clips from Indiana Jones
that relate to the topic, such as when he steps onto thin air and the
bridge appears. It's always cool how he makes those analogies. Our
investigators, PIs, and ward members love it, because it relates to
every normal person, and ties back to a principle from the gospel at
the same time. It's way cool!

Love you guys! Till next time!
Miller Shimai

Here is Maryandra at her new favorite restaurant after Temple P-day, called Homeworks!

Aside from her companion getting a broken finger playing basketball, nothing too adverse to report this week!  Here are a few excerpts from Maryandra's latest letter:
Man, it's July already? We're did the time go? Holy cow! I'll for sure be home in a year from now. That's the weirdest thought ever! *mind blooooooooooooooowwwn!* anyway! today we had a weekly zone conference. It may sound weird that we are, for the now, holding zone conference every week, but it's necessary. We are doing what's called the ten week turnaround, and it involves a weekly super training on a specific aspect of missionary work, such as finding, or doing how to begin teaching, which was what we did today. This is to help us improve our work ethic and rekindle our dendo fire as a whole mission. It's awesome!
So, you know that picture my companion posted on Facebook at the eikaiwa activity? We have that again today, only this time we are learning how to make origami! I'm so excited! Maybe I'll begin to have some skills in that department! I've got pretty paper, and I'm ready to learn! I just hope these cute middle aged women can survive learning how to make origami in English. A lot of the time, they make funny jokes in semi-correct English the whole time, or do things like name the fly they just killed with their bare hands Georgey. It's one of their favorite jokes. Anyway, I'll tell you more about it when it's actually happened. I can't wait!...
Well, I didn't learn how to make as many things as I thought, due to the absence of the main skilled origami lady, but it was still really fun, and I did learn how to make a paper bag. I should send you a few samples sometime. Only this time, the fly tht buzzed around, due to the passing of Georgie, was named Billy.

Well, first off... HAAAAPPYYYY FOOOUUUURRRRRTH OOOOOF JUUUUUUULYYYYY!!!!! I wish that I could celebrate it her in Japan. でも、それ は ちょっと むり ので、あまり できないですね? Oh well. I'll just celebrate it in my mind.
Okay, well sports night was good, with it being Independence Day and all, and therefore having American snacks, and petting someone's random new pet gecko, except that Evans Shimai jammed two of her fingers while playing basket ball. Oooouuuuuuch! However, after returning to sagamihara and making a tiny detour to our pi's home so she could give us this special cold tape for Evans shimai's fingers, I saw-- don't get too excited, Curtis--a young, small cat, hiding in the bushes, just staring at us. It hid when I approached, but I put a piece of a Pringles left over from dinner on the wall, and backed up. As it smelled the alluring scent of Pringles, it inched forward, picked up the pringle in its mouth, and slowly retreated back into its shelter. . .I felt happy to help the little kitten. It's just too bad that at that moment I had nothing healthier than Pringles. I hope it doesn't get sick because of me. Well, that's my favorite part of today.

Man, more rain. This stuff is more like mist, though. Usually, that's better, except that it's not necessarily bound by the laws of gravity, so an umbrella is totally useless, and you get soaked without even noticing it. But it feels really good when it's hot out. And it's really cool to watch the tiny droplets float around in the air as you walk, until they stick to your face and hair, but it kind of tickles.

...okay, a small update on Evans Shimai and her finger. Turns out, it's broken, not jammed. We went with a member to the nearest clinic today and got an X-ray. There's just the tiniest piece of bone broken off at the second knuckle. We have to go back to the clinic on Monday, so that they can put on a more permanent cast once the swellings gone down. They say her recovery time should be three to four weeks, so she'll be like this for the rest of the transfer, pretty much. What fun:/ But oh well. She's still pretty genki, which is good. But at least the rain stopped. I should tell you about the two things that happened today, one cool one at the clinic, and then an interesting one or two at the less active lesson we taught right after. So, we'd planned to surprise visit a less active sister today, but because we were taking so long at the clinic, we were pretty sure we couldn't do it, so we were a little disappointed. But, lo and behold, while we were waiting, who should walk in but none other than that very sister, the very lady we'd planned to visit! WHAAAT???? O.o O.o!?!? So, we got to talk with her, and catch up a little on what's going on, and she met another sister, the member, which was really good, and they talked while we went in for the X-rays. It was really good!

So. We just got back to the church from a very rewarding experience. We went to visit a woman who is Taiwanese, and very kind. I really enjoyed going to her house. She speaks pretty good English, because she went to school in the states for a while. You'll never guess where she went to for her first three months of school. Yup! BYU Provo! And she went to church some with her roommates! Isn't that the coolest? Small world, deshou? That was...what, maybe 25-30 years ago. She's really nice! And she believes a lot of things about our church, too, and she is perfectly happy to learn more! It's just too bad that she's so busy. We won't be able to meet with her again till almost the end of the month! Sad day! But that's okay.

Unfortunately, missionaries are no longer allowed to handle fireworks, so I did nothing for the fourth except for sports night, which was actually pretty fun, I guess. I sang the national anthem there with all the other American missionaries for the first time in... How long? I'm ashamed to think about it!  Anyway, love you all, keep it up!
Miller Shimai  

Maryandra is really enjoying her 2nd area, Sagamihara! Here are a few excerpts from her last letter:
Okay, and in short, we had the craziest day ever! I mean, really! After teaching an pi, we experienced a typhoon! The only thing it lacked was ridiculous wind to the scale it was ripping away umbrellas. But it sure had enough water, thunder and lightning! The 3 minute walk to the church resulted in us both being soaked and wringing water out of our skirt hems before proceeding to enter the church. Needless to say, this made finding a little difficult. We only just managed to talk to the ten we needed, in fact, though, we were able to get a pi by helping this women retrieve her laundry from where it had fallen in a place where she couldn't get to, finding out she was catholic, and giving her a Book of Mormon. I think that that makes... Five? I don't know, really. But she was sweet. We didn't ask her name, though, so we just call her the pink pants lady in honor of her laundry, which is what helped us to find her in the first place! The last miracle of the day was as we were walking home, discouraged that we had missed the ten by just one, only to find a man as he found a dog that wouldn't stop trying to make friends with everyone it met, and thus striking up a conversation about where the heck this dog came from. It was the coolest day ever, I tell you! Don't let me forget to send you the short typhoon video(s) that I have! It's crazy crazy crazy! Well, gotta go. Now. Bye!

We had a gyouza making party at the home of a pi and her friends that we go to every week. It was a blast! Then, we did park dendo, and we got to talk to a lot of people. It was way fun! The only troubles as that, I'd eaten lunch before even going to the gyouza party, and I'd had to eat a lot of gyouza, down to the very last one, so I was full to bursting. It was on this slightly uncomfortable occasion that we had dinner with the district, at an udon restaurant. I had to eat a bowl of curry udon. I seriously don't remember being so full. And then, right after that, a healthy, if slightly uncomfortable, ten minute walk to the church for district meeting. Yay.

I must close for this week. I will, however, tell you what we plan to do for today. We are going with the Tama sisters again, only this time, we are going to get foot massages... From fish. I will tell you more about it after it's happened, when I understand it better myself.... Actually, it turns out that the plan changed, because nobody knew where the place was. So, instead, we ended up going to Chinatown! It was a blast, I tell you! It's ironic how we all felt more touristy going to Chinatown when we live in Japan, isn't it? I'll be sending some really cool pictures soon, and maybe all the others I haven't sent before, so I can make space on my iPad. But we'll see. In Chinatown, I got a few key chains and some shoe inserts that massage your feet while you walk. They feel GREEEAAAT!!!!! I love them! And I also got a dragon ball z fan at a conveni before actually going to Chinatown. I saw some shirts there as well that I could get, but they weren't very cool.

I am now riding the train back home, and I will send you this email, along with as many pictures as possible, as soon as we arrive at the church and can receive wifi. I will send you pictures of the cat knick knack shop we went to, just for the sake of dear old Curtis! He would have died of happiness if he had been there! I almost did myself, In fact! I loved going to Chinatown to just look at all the cool stuff! I especially loved looking at the gigantic, intricately designed Chinese Buddhist temple! Oh, my gosh, it was so gorgeous! I wonder just how long it took to build something like that back in the ancient days, in both china and Japan? The colors, and the decorations and carvings, are just insanely ornate! Dad would go crazy with excitement!

You know, we should visit as many traditional Japanese and other such temples and castles and other places and buildings as possible when you guys come to get me in less than a year.... Man, I can't believe how fast that's thats coming up! I've almost been a missionary for seven months! Holy cow! I hit my halfway point around my birthday. Man, what a rotten birthday present that's going to be. Sad day... And, on that note, I bid you all a very fond whatever is left of your Sunday or Monday... Oh. Actually, you're all asleep right now. Well, sleep tight! I must be off. Bless your face. If you sneezed during this email, bless you! Peace out! See you next week!

Lots of love,

Sister Miller

Maryandra enjoyed her last week in Hachioji, especially children's English conversation class!
Then she got her transfer notice, and was in Sagamihara by Thursday!

 Here is Maryandra and her new companion, Sister Evans!

They enjoyed some "pirikura" photos, which are photos that enlarge your eyes and that you can add stickers to!  They are with the sisters from Tama in this photo! Here are a few excerpts from Maryandra about her new area:

Thursday:

Yesterday was the hardest day of my mission. I had to say goodbye to
many friends!  I cried so much after saying goodbye to one sister, and 

gave her a ctr ring. One of our favorite investigators, came to the church 

with her husband and little girl, to say goodbye. She gave us each a 

photo book, and a pair of chopsticks,
and a cute handkerchief. When she started crying I just wanted to die.
I didn't want to leave Hachioji! It was so hard. Brown Shimai and I
stayed up till after midnight just talking about the experiences we'd
shared there. I'm really going to miss it.  I'm really going to miss 

brown Shimai as well. If she goes to
BYU Provo, feel free to meet her sometimes. She's awesome!
But I can tell that this transfer will be good. Sister Evans seems
like a great person, and I have heard only good about her, so this
should be great! But I am anxiously looking forward to Stake
Conference this weekend, when I will get to see many of my Hachioji
friends once more, and then to June 29th, our friend's  BAPTISM DATE! I
really am so glad she moved her date up from Christmas! I will do
everything in my power to go there and support her, because she asked
me to come, and I know it would help her to at least see me there. I
don't know why, but I just feel like it would be a good thing if I
went. Brown Shimai is going to try to go too, if she can. Well, time
for language study! See you later!
Okay, so now time for a few more details. This morning, funakura
Shimai and I left at 6:40 am to get to the eki by 6:55. Only a few
minutes later, our respective companions arrived, and we made the
separation. I rode for about ten minutes with sister Evans to the
sagamihara eki. It's lucky that I just moved next door, basically. It
would have been harder if I had moved far away. But anyway, I at least
feel relatively comfortable here. I know that I will have a lot of
good experiences here. But please, when you come here, can we go to
Hachioji, and you can meet all my friends!
Friday:
Well, the first day was actually really fun. I met a lot of new
people, and learned of even more. And I met my new district. There are
only six of us, like there were in the beginning in Hachioji.(there
are ten there Now. O.O) also, I received an early birthday package
from the Spriggs! I really appreciate it! They are so nice! I loved
it!

Sunday:
I'm pretty sure there was a bit of an earthquake this morning, but
it's kind of hard to tell since we live on the first floor, and this
apartment is way more solid than the one in Hachioji. But I think I
felt one! Anyway, the Sunday session of stake conference is today! I'm
sure it'll be fun!
Yes! I was right! It was the best! I even got to see my friends again!
 It was awesome! And we saw a broadcast all the way from
Salt Lake City! Too bad it rained, though...





Monday:
Right now, we are in Seminary, and I am surprised by how many people
are here! It's about five times as many as who attended in Hachioji.
Later, for pday, we plan to go shopping in Tama with the Tama sisters,
Sister Wells and Sister Hapbibor. Well, it's early, but I hope you guys
enjoy this week!
Love,
Sissy

And here's the Fuji fan I got today at Daiso, the 100 yen shop! 
Daiso is the best!

Maryandra will be transferring to an area called Sagamihara, and sent a very short e-mail, probably because she is busy getting ready to that transfer! Here she is with her companion and the other sister's in their apartment!  They are at a place called Sweets Paradise!  Here is an excerpt from her letter to her dad for Father's Day:

I received my transfer call today. I will be going to the sagamihara
area. My new companion is Evans Shimai. I met her once before, and I
think I will like her. I'm sad and kind of nervous, but it am excited at the
same time, and I want to do a good job.

Here's an excerpt from her tiny letter to her mother:

I think that for the most part, we won't be getting a lot more rain this month, and next month is supposed to be broiling! Yuck!  Evans Shimai is transfer 8 or so, so she will be senior companion. Actually, half he district is transferring! Brown Shimai is going to Kanazawa, and Hurlbut and funakura shimaitachi are staying here.  It seems that everyone is changing. We all needed a change. I will be transferring on Thursday morning! It's a good hing thy Sagamihara is a close area. Love you!

Sissy

Hopefully we'll have more news next week!

Maryandra is trying to survive the rainy season this week!  Here are a few excerpts!

Oh boy, has today been interesting! Rainy season is here all right, unless this is just a precursor. If so, I hate to think what the real rainy season will be like!

Also, I am happy to announce that our friend has a desire to get baptized! She said yes to the soft commitment ( if you don't know what that is, ask and I'll explain next week.) and it was amazing! We just need to help her keep that desire now! She is amazing!

Guess what today is? More rain. And also, we have a two zone meeting for Facebook rollout! Yay! I will be able to see at least one of my MTC friends again, New Zealand brown Shimai! Woohoo! President Wada himself will be coming, and the Assistants....

Well, it was a fun Facebook training meeting! Yay! After that, we proceeded to go housing in the pouring rain. I swear, Link must have played the rain song about a thousand times today and then lost his ocarina! It's bizarre how steadily it rains here! It's been going since last night, and I hear that there won't be a real break in the rain until the 14th of this month O.o! Whoa! So, pretty much, streeting is out. Looks like housing all day, every day from here till the 14th! Well, at least no one has gotten sick in our apartment. That would be pretty bad...

Or, perhaps the reason the rain has gotten worse is that it's actually Curtis (Maryandra's brother) who's gotten so good at the ocarina that he affects the weather conditions on the other side of the planet. If that's the case, I wanna hear it! If only that were possible. But yeah, today's been pretty.... Wet. I've never been so soaked up to my knees in a skirt, unless it was back in February and I just forgot about it. But man, it was gross. And somehow, these flower blossoms got into my shoes, and now I have these black spots on my feet were they either rubbed off their colors or they burst or something. And they don't want to come off all the way. It looks like I have a skin disease:/ But that's okay.

Saturday:

Still raining. And that means more housing. I guess that's a good thing, because we get to explore the area more. But I just really wish it wasn't raining! On the plus side, it always reminds me of either Totoro, or Spirited Away, or any other ghibli movie that has a lot of rain in it. Anyway, we will just... Do dendo stuff, I guess, as soon as lunch is finished.

... Well, it's still raining. I'll probably say that a lot over the next month or two. But hey, at least we talked to about 14 people today, so that's good. Lots of old people were home. Anyway, I don't know what else to say at this point. This week has been pretty slow. Let's hope something fun happens tomorrow!

Monday:

Actually, yesterday was pretty uneventful, except that, for a few glorious hours, it stopped raining! Woohoo! 

In Maryandra's e-mail of June 2, 2014, she was happy about a new journal she'd just bought!  If you know Maryandra, you can appreciate her excitement!  Here a few excerpt about other things:

We had a temple pday, so that's why I couldn't send you
any emails on Monday, and that's why it took so long for me to send
the last email. So, what happened was that we had a mini emergency
transfer. Literally no sooner did we leave the station from coming
back from the temple, expecting to enjoy the rest of our pday, than we
got a call from none other than President Wada. He told us that
another nihonjin sister had become really sick and needed a nihonjin
to look after her in kichijouji while he and sister Wada went to the
mission president training conference located in the other Tokyo
mission somewhere. They will be gone for probably 4 or 5 days.

Then Maryandra proceeded to have a rough week because she missed her Japanese companion, Sister Funakura. But all returned to almost normal by the weekend. Here's a little more:

So, today is fast Sunday, which means we are all going to be very
thirsty today, because it is hot outside, and only one room in our
apartment as AC, and the rest of he apartment, literally as soon as
you walk through the doorway, is hot and almost muggy. Blech! But I
think we'll be okay when we get to the church. The temperature today
is probably close to thirty degrees Celsius, but I don't know hat that
means in Fahrenheit. I'll give you an update when I can actually look
at the weather app, which won't be until I get internet at the church.

I can finally take a much needed breath and relax. Everything
is going to be fine! It feels like all this took a whole lot more than
one week to go through, but it will seem really short, especially to
you guys, since it's all in one email. But it feels like weeks, if not
months, have passed since that day exactly one week ago. I can't tell
you how tired I am. But it's been a good learning experience. I just
need to learn to trust in The Lord. Everything will always turn out
for the best, just give it time. But I'm so very tired. At least
things turned out all right, all just in time to welcome the incoming
typhoon season. I hear that's supposed to be pretty interesting.

So, this family

in the ward invites the missionaries and their investigators over for
dinner and family home evening every fast Sunday, and so we went
there, ate, played a game, did a lesson, and played, you'll never
guess what... OCTPUS 8!!! Only of course, it was in Japanese, so it
was called tako hachi. But it was a really fun game, especially when

elder sawyer couldn't remember what he was supposed to say when it was
his turn, so he yelled NIHANA!!! really loudly with this big awkward
face, and predictably was one of the first people to get out. But it
was hilarious, I can't even describe how much it made us laugh! Well,
anyway, I think that's it for today. Bye!