Yesterday was a national holiday and the Fukuoka Stake had a bunkasai (cultural festival...but it was pretty much a talent show) so p-day got put off a day.It was super hectic and stressful, but turned out to be a blast. For some reason, I got put in charge of coordinating the Fukuoka zone's number...and it was the very last number...you know me being the worry wart I am, I was anxious until it was finally over! But it turned out really good. We did a super corny missionary skit about bearing testimony and then sang "the greatest gift" while showing a slide show of all the baptisms we've seen on our missions and the pictures of all the companionships in the Fukuoka zone. Considering my companion and I put the slide show together about two hours before the bunkasai (cultural festival)started.....I'd have to say it was pretty good! Working with the bits and pieces we had, we pulled together a really nice performance. Amazing! It was really fun because it was a STAKE activity...which means a ton of people from Kita Kyushu were there!!!! NATSUKASHIIIII!!!!!!! (It's been long time to see them) It was so fun seeing some of the old members...to think the last time I saw them, I was still a bean! Weird.
Okano-san also made it to the bunkasai and had a blast! She is truly the most amazing investigator ever. I can't remember if I told you, but when we taught her the Word of Wisdom she committed to keep it before we even asked her to. In fact, she was already keeping it before we taught it to her. The first time we visited she asked us if we wanted coffee or tea. We told her how we didn't drink either, but that we could drink mugi-cha (barley tea)and herbal tea. In our lesson about the word of wisdom she said she had never been one to drink alot of tea, but that she had been drinking coffee every morning to wake up.
Anyways, turns out that from the time we told her we didn't drink coffee or tea, she stopped too! She didn't know why we didn't drink those things, she didn't even know it was a commandment, but because we didn't drink them, she decided to stop too! So from that first visit she had been drinking mugi-cha instead of her morning coffee!!! WOW!
By the way, Okano-san is a 59 year old lady. She has the most AMAZING talents. She can make absolutely amazing kami-nendo sculptures, jewelry, and all other sorts of artsy fartsy stuff:) She loves to give my companion and I presents. She is TOO nice! She made my companion and I matching rings using a real pearl in the middle! And she makes super cute beaded key chains too! I wish the girls could come over and see her cabinet! It's full of earrings, rings, and necklaces that I KNOW everyone would love! I guess she started out doing it just as a hobby, but then one day while she was shopping at a boutique, the store owner noticed her ring and when she found out she made it, she asked her to make some to sell at the store. The little key chains usually sell for about 35 bucks!!!
She seriously is so amazing. I wish you could see! She is steadily progressing toward baptism. I don't think she'll have ANY problems with the rest of the commandments we have to teach her. The biggest thing we need to do is meet her husband. At the last lesson, we found out her husband still does not know....not good. I thought for sure she would have told him already. She says she knows he won't be opposed to her joining the church...but I still feel like we should go meet with him and talk to him in person. The tough thing is that he comes home super late at night. So, we're hoping to go visit him at work...which happens to be right close to our apartment! (He's a vice principle at a high-school...a pretty big one too. I guess he's a pretty presgious guy)So I'll let you know how that goes. My time's up. LAME Welp, love you! Have fun in the snow!
