Maryandra and Sister Tachibana received some yummy fruit from the ward members this past Sunday! Maryandra has been missing grapes!  They had a busy week, but it somehow didn't seem like very much happened, in Mayandra's opinion!

Here is a little bit from Maryandra's e-mail to home:
Wednesday:

Eikaiwa (English conversation class) was really

interesting. I had so many people in my class that I had to shorten
our conversation time to three minutes each instead of five. I had ten
people In Attendance! What a record! But the funny thing is, I went
from lowest to highest, or most, attendees this week. Advanced class
usually only has four or five people total, so I was flabbergasted,
especially when I was the only who had numbers like that. But yeah, it
made eikaiwa very interesting today.

Thursday:
Well, theres's no doubt that I've definitely caught something. I think
it's just a cold, but... Yeah. It's not fun. Still, it could be much
worse, huh? I'll take advantage of my vitamin-C's, and try to stay
asleep more at night, and things like that, and I hope that this blows
over soon! 
Wow, today sure packed a wallop! The one day I would have been okay
taking it easy, and we end up having four visiting appointments. Sure,
it was great, of course. We just had to ride all the way to hashimoto,
then to kamimizo, then back to hashimoto again, and then tpreturned to
sagamihara. I'm bushed. And I can feel myself getting more sick.
That's not a good feeling. Yeah, we have zero conversations so far,
but we met with four people! That's a record! I really want to go out
and talk to people, but I'm not feeling that well. I'm wondering if it
would be a good idea to at least try and take a nap first, even though
that never works for me, or at least hasn't thus far? I don't know.
But I really feel like I don't deserve to rest yet. I committed to
president Wada that I would keep it up, and we would get more contacts
together, and work as a team! Ahhhh, torn...... But I forgot we have
to eat dinner before we decide anything. Man, biking from 9:30am till
4:15-ish sure beats the snot out of a person, not to mention how hot
and sweaty you can get. And sunburned. I forgot about that too. But
thankfully, it's mostly just my arms this time around. I need to
remember and think before I go outside to put on my sunscreen. But
hey, what's done is done. Worst case scenario, I'll just get more
freckles or an even worse farmers tan. Whoo! But it felt good to be
outside more than inside for once, the first time all transfer!
Sunday:

We got ahuge load of fruits and vegetables on our fruits basket this week,
which I find frankly amazing! And guess what? A big tub of grapes was
included! YAAAAAAAAY!!!!  And they're the normal American kind from
Costco, not the ones you have to peel!!! Yaaaaaay!!!!! We had a bit of
a rough time carrying potatoes, lettuce, grapes and peaches all to the
apartment, and fitting it all into the fridge 

Whoa. While
waiting for our ride just now inside the church, a mini earthquake
happened. It was over in less than two seconds, but it was really
weird. I couldn't feel it with my feet because the church has a strong
foundation, but I saw the walls shake all the way down the hall. Now
THAT was a weird sensation! To not feel the ground move, but
everything actually IS moving, and you see it, but don't feel it!
That's the exact opposite of motion sickness. And one of the weirdest
messages my brain has ever sent to me. Wow.

I'm feeling the beginnings of a sore
throat coming on. But other than that, I feel fine...... Wheeee! The
time spent at the ward members'  home was very fun! 
It was great. We showed them a Mormon
message about forgiveness. It's called "forgiveness: my burden was
made light." And then we shared the scripture Moroni 7:45-48. I
recommend you all watch that video as well! It's great! Anyway, now we
are finally back at the apartment. That was a long car ride. It took
about the equivalent of going from Orem to Lehi, except that there
were a lot more twists and turns, hills of ups and downs, and since
it's been so long since I've been in a car for more than twenty
minutes, I got that feeling that reminded me I sometimes get carsick.
Haha, but I was okay. We had somen for dinner... HAHAHAAAAA!!!!!
Whenever I tried to write somen, the auto-correct in my iPad always
changed it to women!!!! It thinks we ate women for dinner!... Yikes.
Anyway, yeah we had somen for dinner. It was delicious.

Monday:

It started raining as we came
back from doing shopping, and it now sounds like it has become rather
heavy. Yikes. Well, what better time than now to finally take a
picture of the view from the apartment? 

Maryandra got to experience some refreshing rain on the evening of doing splits with another sister from Tama.  They also went to the entrance of Hello Kitty Land.  Yes, it really does exist!!!

In the meantime, she is getting along pretty well with her companion of 2 weeks, Sister Tachibana.

Apparently the missionaries have a goal to make at least 13 contacts per day of proselyting. Here are a few excerpts from Maryandra's e-mail. 

Friday:

YES! YES YES YESSSSSSSS!!!!!! WE FINALLY DID IT!!!! 13 people! And almost all of them were amazing! Yes! I'm so proud of tachibana Shimai for gambarruing (hanging in there)! She's been working really hard since she got better, and we have done a good job today! It's been great! It was really hot though, unlike yesterday, which made it difficult and unpleasant, but we still did it! It was soooo great! I'm so proud of her! Yay!

However, I do have a concern/question. Seeing as I still haven't received the package from Curtis, there are two possibilities. One, they are holding it for some reason at the honbu. Two, the package never reached Japan because it didn't meet certain requirements and they threw it away. So, I have a few questions. Was the package in an envelope, or a box? Did it have a return address written clearly on it?

Anyway, we have a zone blitz tomorrow! I'm so excited! I'll explain more about that later. Bye!....

Saturday:

Okay, forget my worries of yesterday, because...... IT CAME IT CAME IT CAME IT CAME IT CAME!!!!!!!!!!!! IT FINALLY CAME!!!!!! I haven't opened it yet, but I will after I tell you a little bit about my day. First off, the zone blitz as a whole was amazing! We got 20 contacts per companionship! But before hat, on the train ride to Tama, I talked to a lady and I started the conversation by complementing her fan, and then saying that because my Fuji fan from Daiso is a little old and about to rip, I'm always complementing people on their fans, and before I knew it, she thrust it into my hands. It was just about the most awkward moment ever. But I didn't know how to refuse it, so I still have it. Whoops. I vowed that when ever that happens, I'm going to trade it for something else if they won't take it back, because it was soooo awkward. Yikes! Anyway, so yeah, lesson learned there. But at the zone blitz, we got split into pre-assigned groups to do a certain part of dendo ( housing, streeting, or kubari) with our family history papers and packets. I first got to go and house with my dear oldie companion, Funakura Shimai! It was great catching up on old times! She said that my Japanese has gotten so much better, and she said I have a lot of confidence! It was so great to hear that from her, because she was always getting after me for it in Hachioji:)

Then Maryandra told us about how much she loved the gifts from her brother Curtis!

Sunday:

We got to go to a member family's home, and we had a great time, as expected. For our short message, We shared 1 nephi 3:7. I talked about how at first when I was thinking of a mission, I was really really scared, but through reading the scriptures and finding verses like this, I was able to gain the courage I needed to come here to Japan, and how it's a good thing I did, because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have met them, etc. and how even though we don't know everything, Heavenly Father does, and He knows what's best for us. It was a great time! They are just a great family! Love them to death! But the return bike ride was a little scary at first, because we legitimately got lost, and it was dark, and we had to ride on this highway-like road for a while. Thank goodness there weren't many cars, but it was scaaaaaryyyy! And I was sweating so hard when we finally got home that my hair felt like it had just come out of a thunderstorm. Naaaaaaastyyyyyyyy!!!! So I took a good long shower as soon as we finished daily planning. But yeah, that's pretty much all that happened. Well, see ya tomorrow y'all!... 

Tuesday:

Well, okay. I've been wondering since yesterday if I have a sinus infection coming on, and now my stomach has become rather upset. And there's all these itchy bumps on my legs from I don't know what. I hope I'm not getting one of those random sicknesses again, like with the hives or hat throat thing I had one time. Great. But I'm still going to go to the temple! Nothing can keep me away! Im probably not feeling well because of stress or something. But it's not been an easy time lately, dendo (proselyting) wise. In most other aspects of life, everything is fine. Just the most important part is struggling like none other. It's the weirdest thing ever. But I hope we make it on time to the ten o'clock session! I always hate when we just make it. I've never yet missed one, and I never intend to. . . But I hope you guys have been enjoying your week! I can't wait to see all of your emails! Love you all! See you next week!

Miller Shimai

Here is Maryandra and her new companion, and a ward member!  It was a long, hot week!
She is slowly but surely getting to know her companion better, but they sometimes don't agree
on how to spend their proselyting time.

Wednesday:
Well, so far we managed to talk to 7 people before tachibana Shimai
needed a break. That's almost a record! :s anyway, I found that she
doesn't like housing, kubarikai, or any other method of outside dendo
besides streeting. And this season is not a streeting time, because
it's so hot and everyone's inside. So, logically, it would be a good
idea to house. We go and look for a good place to dendo. I get the
feeling we need to house, and so I say so. I gently persuade her
that it's a good idea, because NOBODY is on the street, they are all
inside, so it would be good to at least try... I'm keeping her happy by
mostly letting her count the contacts today. Meh....
... I enjoyed myself with her all day right up until it
was time to go and dendo. We talked about all kinds of stuff, from
studio ghibli to the bones we/our family members have broken, and it
was really fun. So, I think we would be good friends.

Saturday:
Actually, yesterday went pretty well after that. Tachibana Shimai felt
well enough to go and do more dendo, and we managed a total of nine,
so that's good, and after that, we went and had dinner with bishop
toriumi and his family. His three rambunctious boys are a combination
of our boys and the Mickelson boys, so it was a very enjoyable
experience. Maybe a little uresai, but still, quite fun. Oh, and I
forgot to mention that a bird pooped on my shirt just as we were
heading out of the church to go and do dendo. So we headed right back
to the church to fix it. I'm just glad it didn't poop anywhere else on
me:/ but I did take a few pictures, so I will send those to you. I
think that bird must have been constipated or something, because it
didn't splat like it normally would, so I was glad.






..... Wow, I am actually really physically exhausted! We managed to
work really hard today, and we have 11 or so meaningful contacts.
Unfortunately, none of hem were as meaningful as we would have liked,
but we did a lot of shop dendo, because it's rainy today, and neither
of us wanted to be outside. We went to a shopping mall in hashimoto to
get a birthday gift for a sister who just had a birthday. We got her a 
teeny tiny little totoro toy. Man, I can't
tell you how tempting it was to buy a big one for myself, but I was
smart, and didn't. You would be proud of me, I'm actually learning to
budget money Anyway, I'm glad we worked a lot. In only 3 or 4 hours,
we talked to eleven people. Yay! But I really do wish some of those
contacts were actually meaningful. A lot of the time, we're just
running around so we can account for our stats, which kind of stinks.
I can see why we have it, but it's really annoying sometimes, and
sometimes I find myself thinking more of the numbers than the people.
Yikes! But I'm always trying to work on that! Well, we

may be getting another typhoon in the next few days, since all the
rain that's been happening the last two days off and on, so I'll hold
on and be safe. I was gonna say I'll let you know, but you won't even
get this till Monday, so I'm just gonna stop right there before I make
myself look like an idiot But if anything else fun happens, I'll be
sure to let you guys know about it! Love you all! Bye!...
Monday:
Whoa, I can't believe it! My eight month mark as a missionary, and my
six month mark since coming to Japan! Whaaaaaaaat?!?! Honestly, I
never really thought I would make it this far. But I have, which is a
tremendous relief for me, and I feel like I can keep going. In one
month, I'll be....TWENTY?!?!?!?!?!?!? 0.0 what the heck? I sure don't
feel like it. But it stinks, because my birthday just happens to be on
transfer day:/ poo. But we will see what happens on that day. So, what
with today being pday and all, we are going to Kunitachi area, and we
will be having a birthday party for a ward member, with eating
tonkatsu, and making jewelery, and such. I hope I can make a lot of
fun jewelery. Tachibana Shimai showed me the really cool ones she
made, which made me really excited! I can't wait! Well, I don't think
I have anything more to say until the actual event, at which we will
also do emails, so I will see you later! Bye!
..... Kay, now we are in Kunitachi, about to start our jewelery making
party! I'm excited to see how this is done, because it's way cool,
mom! I want to try and do it with you sometime! It's the funnest! If I
end up making anything hat actually looks good, I'll send you the
photo, along with the other ones I'm sending! Love you! 
Miller Shimai

Maryandra had to say good bye to Sister Evans (the one in the blue dress), and hello to Sister Tachibana, of whom we have no photo yet!  She is thrilled to stay in Sagamihara, and loves the members and investigators there!  Some talented members drew these fun mini we's of the missionaries after conversation class this week, and everyone got a kick out of them!!!  Here are some excerpts from Maryandra's e-mails this week!
Tuesday:

We did a lot of visiting, today,

and went to that cute little pink clinic for the last time! I tried
not to focus on it of course, but the show on the big screen there was
about the different kinds of ancient Catholic Churches, and I noticed
that one of them is built exactly like he kingdom in Tangled! It was
way cool! Just slightly less colorful, because it's so old. Anyway,
random facts aside, we are now back safely at the apartment so that
Evans Shimai can do her packing:( Sad day. But oh well. Anyway, hope 

y'all are having a great time over there! Love ya! 

Thursday:
Sorry, I didn't get a chance to tell you more about yesterday, but we
had a goodbye party at eikaiwa for all those who were leaving, and we
all got a cool surprise when these nice artistic sisters turned the white
board around, and we saw that they had drawn all of our faces on the
board, so we took pictures with our "mini we's" and I will send them
to you. After that, we returned to the apartment, and we got packing
done and stuff.

Sunday:

Well at least Tachibana's a hard worker. We already have two or
three appointments with members set up because of her. I'll admit, I
don't like her cleansing of the area books and such, but it's just
gonna take some adjusting, I think. But anyway, the rest of the day was
better. I think the only thing that caught me by surprise was that a
nihonjin(Japanese person) has the capacity to be more sarcastic than an American. I
have never met anyone so sarcastic. 
But oh well. Oh, and I forgot to tell you this, but tachibana shimai's
dad served in the Fukuoka mission, and her mom served in the Sapporo
mission! What an interesting switch up, huh? I doubt that you or dad
ever met her parents, but if you did that's cool. Inoue Shimai and
tachibana choro? Ring a bell at all? Probably not, but still a cool
coincidence, huh?

And Maryandra closed her letter still trying to get used to her new companion!