August 12, 2013

Hello!

 

This week I left Urawa.. it was so sad saying bye to everyone. I love them so much! At my last Eikaiwa (English class) everyone brought treats and made a big goodbye card. I love Urawa so much. I'm convinced I'll get called back there someday. So... Kumagaya is.... great... ha. Me and my companion are completely white washing this place. There are zero investigators and only a few potential investigators. Plus my companion speaks zero English..ha. It has been a long 4 days. But I'm happy I was trained by Kuwahara Shimai. She is a really strong missionary so being here and having it be so slow has given me a lot of motivation so find people! I'm determined to flip this place around! Plus things are just so much better when you're teaching lessons rather than knocking on doors all day. Also, this place really is the hottest place in Japan. It's insane! Like it has gotta be hotter than Arizona. Plus the humidity. I burnt pretty good my first day here. I always wear sunscreen now. Yeah, the heat is crazy. The ward is good though! Its really small. Only 40ish people were at church yesterday. My last ward had 100 something people. It was pretty big but I thought it was normal. Apparently, it's huge for Japan. They usually have more like 50 people. So yeah, that's pretty much all we did this week. Oh, I did teach Eikaiwa in Kumagaya and it was hilarious. These two older men were being such creepers. ha One was trying to dance with me because it was his birthday. That was rough to get around, haha and another one kept telling me movie stars I looked like and then said I looked like "Maria" Mother Mary, haha so funny. Anyway... that's about it. not much to tell about Kumagaya than that.. Hopefully this week we'll get things moving! I miss and love you all! Have a good week!

Love, Amy

 

 

August 5, 2013

We got our transfer calls this morning.....

I'm leaving Urawa! I'm so sad...!! I thought for sure I would stay. But good news. I am getting another Japanese companion! That's kinda a miracle these days so I'm super happy! I'll get really good at Japanese! I'm excited. Also she doesn't speak English... I'm gonna need your prayers! But she is super sweet I've heard, so it should be good. I'm going to Kumagaya. It's apparently the hottest place in Japan. All of Japan. At least everyone keeps telling me that. I've spent all day packing and calling my friends and I'm going to try and meet everyone in the next two days before I leave. Its so sad! I love them all so much! But this week was awesome! We went to the Temple (I heard there is a new endowment movie..? is that true and how long will it take to translate into Japanese?) I went on splits twice and on Saturday was a huge Japanese festival. There were SO many people. About 100,000 in one area for fireworks and the festival. Tons of venders with random Japanese food, like straight fish on a stick. Maybe they plopped it on the grill for a minute and then they put it on a stick.... 0_0. But all the girls were in kimonos and it was so fun!! We watched the fireworks they were awesome. We went with our investigator M and saved our spot for fireworks at 6:30am that day. ha so fun! I loved it. Well I'm sad to leave but next transfer will be good. I'm excited. We are opening the area so I'm a little nervous for that. Lots of finding.. hopefully the Elders there have some girl investigators they can hand over. Pray for my Japanese so we can communicate!! (we as in me and my new companion.) Okay, I'm out. Thanks for reading! Love you all!! Praying for you all! I'll write next week! LOVE YOU!

 Peace out from J-town

A. Davis

 

From the festival

Kuwahara Shimai always calls me "day service" because when you say it like a Japanese person it
sounds kinda like Davis. So, this sign says "Day Service". We laughed for awhile when we saw it today.

During our mogi lesson (practice lesson) before our investigator got to the church.
Super random picture but whatever.

 

July 29, 2013

Today was temple pday! So every 6 weeks we go to the temple on Tuesdays and we don't get to email until we get home from the temple on Tuesdays which is Monday night for you or maybe Monday morning..? I don't know. But we went to the temple today and it was awesome! Sorry I didn't really have time to write much today but this week we had some cool miracles. On Saturday we went to this English speaking society (a bunch of old Japanese people who are obsessed with English) party and it was so fun! They invite foreigners to practice English and right when we walked in we were talking to this girl who read my badge and she goes "ah! I want to go to your church!!" she had been looking for a Christian church in Japan for a year. (she lived in New Zealand and went to church there) so she came with us and her mom the next day! I was so excited! She's 24 and I became best friends with her so fast at that party. Also, everyone at that party loved me! ha I felt like a celebrity because people were taking pictures with me and wanted to talk to me it was awesome. haha. Also young Japanese people are obsessed with white girls and American culture! It helps a lot. haha Okay love you! Out of time! sorry! hopefully next week I'll have more time!

Love you all!

 

 

It is Japanese festival season here! So awesome.

This was in Shibuya this morning after the temple.
Temple p-days are the best cause we see the whole mission!

Lunch! ピーザ食べ穂代

  Here are some pictures from last week.

This is H. She is the cutest sweetest girl.
Alex- I told her you were coming to Japan and then you guys can get married.

The N family. They took us to Costco. I love them so much!!
(there are two more girls in the back. ages 17,15,13)

Costco trip. They had quite a large section dedicated to fish... haha



 

July 22, 2013

Hello everyone! This week was good! I feel like im finally starting to understand the language! I mean mostly I don't.. But in lessons and when we talk about church topics I can pick up a lot! I still can't really speak but its coming. So right now the majority of our investigators have some pretty weird beliefs about God. My companion said its really rare that this many people all believe these things in Japan. Usually they don't really have religious background or its totally different, that God is a new concept to them. So its kinda weird.. ha yeah I dont even know.. But some are progressing! We have a few baptismal dates and hopefully our investigators will be ready. Pray for them! Our investigators names are Yumi, Kaka, Miyu, Takeda, Livia, Kuroda, Midori and then we have tons of potential investigators. Its fun doing missionary work! I live in Japan and I just make friends with people all day and teach the gospel which would make anyone happy. Its fun! Even though its super hard sometimes, its worth it. I feel like I finally know what I'm doing so its gotten a little easier. I don't have any really cool stories this week so that about sums it up... I'm going to Costco today so I guess that's pretty exciting. I really am super excited though. haha. Okay thats all. Love you all!!! Thanks for your prayers and support!! Have a good week! LOVE YOU!

 

Love, Amy/ デイベス姉妹

 

Dad,

 

I'm so jealous of your New York trip! And that you got to go to Justin Timberlake's new restaurant! I love him. I found a place here that has really good Italian pizza. its not quite the same but its pretty good and one of my favorite things in Japan. The Italian food here is so Japanesey! Something fishy about it.. I'm also jealous you're going to California! Next summer we can house swap with them when I'm home :) Don't plan it without me! thanks for the update! love you!

June/July 2013

July 14, 2013

Everything is going here. ha There's not much cause we do the same things everyday. But we have some awesome people and hopefully have a baptism next week! Okay love you!!! Also, family, I prayed a LOT that you wouldn't move, so you can thank me. haha But really, don't move. Okay love youuu! So.yeah. I'll send some pictures.

 

We do sports day every Saturday and we find tons of people who
want to join and lots of investigators and other missionaries come. Its super fun!!

 



 Me and Bishop Uchida. His family is the BEST!
Greg (Olsen) signed that picture to the Urawa ward. We had to take a picture.

 

4th of July. We made burgers!!

 




 

 

July 7, 2013

 

Hello Mom! So... I don't have time to write you today... or tomorrow... so maybe I will on Wednesday.  To answer your questions... I definitely know how to slurp noodles better. Its not only about the slurping. You always have to use the chopsticks to scoop it while you slurp. I watched my companion very intently. That's a bummer about the hot weather but I bet our weather tops yours. Its like 95 degrees but SO HUMID! Really like nothing I've ever felt. Maybe hotter than that day in DC a few summers ago. Way more humid than that. You don't even have to go outside to be sticky. I am alwayyyys sticky and once you go outside you are instantly dripping sweat from every pore. It's really fun haha. Plus we ride bikes in it at mid day. I'm determined not to burn so I've been lathering up in sunscreen. I probably sweat it off quick though.

Okay, so you cannot move. Its my number one cause of anxiety... not coming home to our home. Really. I didn't write about it last week because I forgot so I was so worried all week you would just get up and move without knowing that I need our house. :) really. .... That's fun for Alex though. I almost don't approve because I'm a die hard Timpview fan but I guess if he really wants to go to Orem then I approve.

 

The Watanabes brought me a huge package last week!! So awesome! Tons of food and treats. tell Kiyoshi to thank them if he gets the chance. They are not in my mission anymore so I'll only see them if they come here. Which he did. He came to my church building and gave me the huge package. so nice. Anyways, I am out of time. Hopefully I will be able to email this week... We have training at the honbu (mission home) and I'm so excited to see my doki (people in my MTC district) half of them went to the south mission though... sad. Okay I have to go! Love you!!!

 

Love, your favorite daughter :)

 

July 1, 2013

 

Helllo everyonee! Sorry that I'm a day late. Don't worry I'm fine here! haha  I can only think of one good story this week. We had level checks at English Class this week and one of the students said that she came to the church for eikaiwa (English Lessons) to learn about the bible and was sad we don't do that. So! Obviously I was excited to tell her that we would teach her personal lessons about the bible in English. So we met with her yesterday and she is amazing! She was going off about all the bible stories she loves and how much she trusts God and how money and worldly things don't matter and how she can't do anything without God. It was awesome! So we taught her about the restoration and she was so excited about the Book of Mormon and about Prophets. She said she got baptized when she was little so she didn't want to get baptized again. (bummer) so yeah we're hopefully gonna work with her on that! I'm so excited about her! She's so cute! Her name is L*** and she is Chinese. She's almost fluent in Japanese and English though. So yeah the rest of the week was full of long bike rides, lessons where I had no clue what's going on, Japanese food, and church. haha Just your regular mission in Japan.

 

Thanks for the updates Mom! Will you say "HI" to grandma and grandpa Davis and grandma Biggs? Thanks. I miss you! Have a good 4th of July without me. I'm kinda upset I'm missing it. ha Send me good vibes. Okay I'm sorry that's all, have a good week!! Love you all!

June 23, 2013

Hello everyone! One transfer down! I'm staying here with the same companion. and its official, I'm in the Tokyo Mission(North)! The mission splits today so the Tokyo South mission is officially in business.  We had Temple pday and it was awesomeee!! I got to see all of my MTC district! I love them. This week we got in touch with two old investigators and they both commited to baptism! It was awesome! We have a few strange investigators though.. hah they have some weird beliefs but they're super open to the church and come all the time and stuff so thats good. We just need to set some things straight for them... hah This week we went to an Italian restuarant and it was 99% Japanese. haha All of the pizzas and pastas were like fishy and weird. sea weed, fish eggs, some pizza had Japanese noodles.. I dont even know. There was one Margarita pizza. That's the 1% Italian. haha I was so excited and then it totally let me down. We also went to Denny's this week and that was also a fail. TOTALLY different from our Denny's! Everything on the menu was just your avereage Japanese meals. They had one order of pancakes. and it came with carmel and no syrup. haha It was funny when I opened the menu expecting pancakes and hashbrowns and they only had things like ramen, katsudon, and fish. Yesterday we went to the hospital to visit an investigator who got surgery. Her name is L*** and she is from Nigeria so she speaks English but it turned out to be a 40 minutes bike ride. We had no idea. When we left, it started raining and 2 minutes into our ride home it was absolutely pouring! It was so fun! I was so soaked. I was just laughing and waving at people and they were all laughing it was funny. This morning we watched a broadcast that was from the Marriott Center. You all probably heard about it. All of the MTC got to go! Not fair. But I saw Blayke Piggot in the choir!! I was so excited to see her! hah But yeah thats pretty much the news this week. Language is coming slowly.. but Im understanding more which is good. I love you all!! Have a good week!
 

Tokyo Skytree Pday with our investigator M***. She's my best friend here. She's fluent in English.

 

 

 

Three pictures in June

Mmm...good food

More good food...

Three Letters in June

June 17, 2013

 

Hello! This week has been good! a few key points I want to share. This story is good and if you don't feel like reading this email, you probably should.. haha

Friday: We had a super awesome Zone meeting and we were on our way home and I'm just riding my bike all happy in my rain coat and skirt and helmet with my umbrella hanging from the handlebars of my bike. (I look just look totally stupid. haha) So I make a right turn onto our street when my umbrella swings in between the spokes of my tire..... You can probably guess what happens next.. haha so out of no where my bike comes to a pretty quick halt and i fly forward only to find myself laying on the road yelling "girl down! girl down!" so that my companion stops riding her bike ahead. haha I just laid there and laughed while these two girls who saw the whole thing came over and were all worried. I was like no its fine! I'm fine! haha I was so embarrassed. I'm fine though. I just got a few scratches on my legs. none that bled. It was pretty funny. so yeah. bike crash #1. no one ride with a long umbrella on their bikes!

Other story: on Tuesday we were riding the train and we talked to this girl named M***. I was so hot so I was fanning myself with a pamphlet and she wanted to see it. So then she opened up and started talking about God and she wanted to know all about our church. She told us that she knew God was going to give her something soon and that she thought this was it. So we made an appointment with her and on Friday we taught her a ton and answered her questions. When I say we I mean my companion and my two sentences.. hah But she came to church yesterday and She is coming back next week and we're meeting again this week as well! She loves it and I'm so excited for her! We have a few other awesome investigators that are definitely on their way to baptism!

 

My first transfer ends in a week! I'm kinda scared. There are a few 2nd transfer girls who were training this transfer. Scary. A*** is training an American! How scary! They both don't know Japanese. Except A*** is probably awesome so it doesn't matter. haha Okay that's all.. LOVE YOU ALL! Thanks for your love and support!!!

Love, Sister Davis 

June 10, 2013

Hello!! This week was so good! at the first of the week we went to IKEA! I loved it. I layed on a bed for a good 5 minutes pretending my futon was as comfy. We went with our investigator. on the way home she decided she would finally decide a date for her baptism. She has been taught every lesson and every commandment and comes to church everyweek. along with every other church activity. I may or may not have fallen asleep on the car ride because I dont understand anything yet so Im not 100% percent sure what was holding her back from baptism. but i was awake for the rest! haha I also went on splits this week to Kiryu. I went with Sister L*** (my MTC comp) and her companion Sister W*** (Shields cousin). It was super awesome. It was good to be with two Americans. hah but it was cool because I could really tell how much I've learned when I went there. The work is a lot slower out there because its country side. I just wanted to go go go! But we did area book dendo which is looking up old investigators and the first one i picked we called and got an appointment with him! Well I got an appointment for the other sisters... ha But it was cool. As missionaries we really do have power from God even when we dont realize it. Friday we had a zone conference. Elder Ringwood came. Hes in the 70 and over some of the asia missions (IM IN ASIA?!) He was amazing! It was so good. I got to see some of my MTC Doki too! I loved it! He helped set a good picture of the missionary I want to be so that was good. After that we went to this BBQ and it was classic. It was this work BBQ and we went with two elders and just made friends with literally EVERYONE there. We handed out so many eikaiwa (English Class) flyers and taught some lessons. It was awesome. This lady asked us to come because we are american and BBQ's are american. haha it was all work people and us 4 missionaries. It was fun.  Today we went to Tokyo Skytree. (mom and dad we will go when you come) It was fun! Lots of shops and eating crepes (the best part) its fun. I love sight seeing on pday. lastly, we have these fliers for FHE with the E*** family on it. hahah what?! I flipped. Do they know? haha I thought it was so funny. I still laugh every time i see it. Its their christmas card picture that A*** took. classic. okay I have no time today so sorry but thats all! I love you all!!! Have a good week!

Love, デーベス姉妹

 

June 3, 2013

 

Im half way done with my first transfer! Crazy how fast it goes. This week was good! nothing too crazy happened. My birthday was awesome! All day I was like "okay birthdays suck out here but it's fine, I knew it would." Then we had english class that night and my companion called some church members and our investigators and they brought cake and food and we had a little birthday party. it was so nice!! I loved it. The member here are awesome! and I LOVE our investigators! I LIVE IN JAPAN! seriously its so weird. It just hits me sometimes. Sometimes I zone out when my comp is talking to people cause I have no idea whats going on and I just listen to the conversation and think, "how in the world do they know what each other are saying? that is straight jibberish" haha really its so weird. the longer i listen the weirder it sounds. Sometimes I think people are translating to english in their head and then I remember that that language is what they hear and know. ha I dont know my mind thinks too hard about it but it always makes me laugh. A member took me and my companion to this place called Sweets Paradise. It is a dessert buffet. Never. Again. actually i totally could again but i was so full after. haha we went out to eat a lot this week. People love to meet us by going out to lunch and dinner. Food Dendo we call it. Dendo means missionary work. Okay. Everyone LOVES anime. what? like its super normal here. We talk to some of the cutest most normal looking girls and then my comp asks about anime comics and they just go off talking about the ones they love and stuff. it always weirds me out. I dont get it. haha My comp is always telling me I have to read them when I get home. haha no thank you. its funny. Things are good though. Our area is setting some records in our mission the last few weeks! Its awesome! My zone and district are the best!! Its always nice to see American people too.. haha The Elders probably keep me sane. okay thats all. LOVE YOU ALL! have a good week! until next time,

デービス姉妹

 

愛していますよ！