More pictures, but not of me, sorry, Mom. (February 16, 2015)

Here are the rest of the Valentines, I think they're so funny. But the Samuraishitemasu is my absolute favorite, pun courtesty of Sister M.

So there's this man here, Onodera san, and I want him to get baptized so badly. He's a Chem teacher and has all these crazy theories, and he has a really deep faith and relationship with Christ and he believes in repentance and all these wonderful things, but he's not sure about baptism, and it's driving me insane. He has all these crazy conspiracy theories and the other missionaries don't have a lot of hope for him, but I honestly think he is so ready to take that leap and commit to it. The thing is, he's very forward and can come across as a little pushy, but I just think he's a stubborn old man and you just can't give too much weight to what he says because he's the kind of guy who just says whatever he thinks. We gave him a joint lesson with the elders and I think we gave him some things to think about. Actually, he asked Oonuma Kiyodai (our local Bible scholar guy) for a lesson specifically on baptism, so if you can, pray for him!!! I think his heart is ripe to be softened and he is ready to make the covenant of baptism. I just know it. He's stubborn but he's been investigating for two years and he treats the Book of Mormon as the word of God because the character of Christ is consistent with the Bible. It's so close!!!!

Anyway, he gave Sister M an electronic Japanese/English dictionary, and he was like, oh, I'd feel bad giving one of you something and not the other, so he gave me these adorable little light-up seal bath toys which are supposed to be great for playing with kids. It was really random and funny, but we're beginning to teach English to 2 and 4 year old brothers, so they might be useful yet. (We do a program where we teach English for half an hour and then we have a spiritual message for half an hour, so we'll teach the kids and the mother will listen. I love them, they are so, so, cute.)

We also got to do some service this week! We passed out flyers and then did aroma therapy hand massages for people living in the temporary housing from the tsunami, and it was so much fun. We essentially get to sit and talk to these wonderful people, and despite the fact that they've lost everything and are still searching for somewhere to live, they are so full of hope and love and light. I love getting to know these people and seeing how priceless each of them is. (And also, everyone loves the picture of D, R, J and I in the kimonos, it's super fun.)

Also, I had takoyaki and taiyaki for the first time. It was an egg-cream taiyaki, please tell Mother that it was delicious.

Let's see, what else? Oh, the picture of me on the hill was when we went to meet this lady Rioko san, and it ends up she wasn't home because she was at a hospital in Sendai and it took longer than anticipated, but we found her house (her address wasn't in the area book) and wrote it down for future generations. Her house is on a hill (obviously) and there's a huge jinja at the top, we didn't go see it but I'd love to go check it out sometime. (Especially because it's at the top of a huge flight of stairs, and working out in the mission field is a joke, I really just want to do something really physically challenging but right now it's not an option.) Since my trainer's almost done, I figure I'll wait until my next trainer and then make her go exploring with me and we'll get good and lost on a P-day and have a jolly good time:) I love Ishinomake! Everyone is so nice. Also, the conspiracy theory guy has this mission, he says, "gain weight mission!" Super funny. I told him it's stay the same mission. He told me about three sisters that left Ishinomaki having gained weight, but I refuse, and as Sister M says, as long as you burn more calories than you consume, it's fine. :)

And, yeah. By the way, most of my emails home consist of things that I didn't have time to write about in my journal, so if Mom's printing them like she did Andrew's, would you please print me a set, too? If not, I can deal with it upon my return 'cause I'll probably type up my journal as well. Thanks:)

Oh, and can you send me a pancake recipe? I want to use that syrup you gave me:D

Thanks! Love you!