on the sandwich and a steinway: Week 13

Hi minasan,

Hope you all had a swell week. I thought it was finally cooling off today and then I stepped outside with my glasses and they fogged up from the heat. But if that's the most I have to complain about then life is pretty good.

This week Sister Bagley and I taught a Russian girl that Sister Christensen and I found while streeting in downtown Chiba last week. It was interesting, since there was sort of a language barrier. She's going home to Russia this week after a summer of studying Japanese in Chiba, so we talked through this combo of broken English, Japanese, and stabbing at a Russian copy of "True to the Faith" that we randomly and fortuitously had in our apartment. We communicated well enough to go with her to this "American restaurant" where I ordered this interesting piece of chicken that didn't exactly remind me of home, but that's okay. Sister Bagley was pretty pumped about her chicken wings. There were cowboy hats and skulls everywhere. It was weird.

Sister Bagley and I also started teaching the sweetest couple in the whole wide world. We met the wife while handing out chirashis at the eki the other day. She walked right up to us (unusual for the typical Japanese person--they usually walk completely around us and I feel as though I'm parting the red sea) and told us she would shorten her dentist appointment because she wanted to be at eikaiwa (English class). Yeahhhh. Miracle of miracles, she came! We were able to give her and her husband a church tour, which they seemed super intrigued by since their only background on Christianity was having their wedding in a Christian Church in Guam. Random, right? We took them into the chapel, and I got to play some church hymns for them (somebody did a good job picking out that piano--a nice shiny black Kawaii grand). We asked the husband to pray, and he was so pumped! Another reaction we weren't exactly expecting. I decided that one of my favorite things about being a missionary is getting to hear people say their first-ever prayer. So humbling, and it really makes you think about all the things you take for granted. Like having the knowledge that you CAN pray, anytime, anywhere, about anything.

On Saturday I got to teach kids' eikaiwa since Sister Nagamine had a lesson. I mostly just teach them weird American clapping songs. There's nothing like having a bunch of 8-year olds point and laugh at you when you write things wrong on the board in Japanese. I'm trying to let go of my pride.

In thinking about how busy we all are (aka the Japanese population who always say "I'm sorry, I'm so ISOGASHIIIII!"), I revisited one of my favorite talks by Elder Uchtdorf, "Of Regrets and Resolutions." One of my friends once recommend that I read it when I was bogged down during a semester at BYU (I'm not sure what that says about me, but I appreciated it haha). Here's one of my favorite excerpts:

"Isn’t it true that we often get so busy? And, sad to say, we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life.Is it?
I think of our Lord and Exemplar, Jesus Christ, and His short life among the people of Galilee and Jerusalem. I have tried to imagine Him bustling between meetings or multitasking to get a list of urgent things accomplished.
I can’t see it.
Instead I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day. When He interacted with those around Him, they felt important and loved. He knew the infinite value of the people He met. He blessed them, ministered to them. He lifted them up, healed them. He gave them the precious gift of His time."

So there it is. Read the whole thing if you have time. I love it.

Have a lovely week, y'all.

Love, Magi-chan