Bringing world peace one cup of water at a time

I know what you're thinking, "Oh, Fishburn Shimai, you're so great trying to bring peace to the world!" Well, it wasn't me. I was on the receiving end of the cup of water. Tomori Shimai and I went to the Takao area on Friday and spent ALL day walking around there and since it was blazin hot. We were taking a break at this like department type store that has a food court called Ito Yokado. While we were sitting there trying to cool off a bit before heading back out this random guy walks up and sets a cup of water in front of me. What? And then he starts going off about how he believes it's important to respect people no matter their race, faith, gender, etc. I was so surprised. Especially because he was Nihonjin and he was saying all of this in REALLY good English. He also may have accidentally spit in my eye during his speech but I forgave him because of the nice water he gave me (but didn't give to Tomori Shimai😂). He told me to come back for the olympics and that I am always welcome in Japan. How nice, right? Tomori Shimai told me at first my face was that of "what the freak?" Hahaha that's my funny experience of the week.

On Wednesday after kids English class we were leaving the church and a member, Kumiko Shimai, walks up to the church with all this food and is like "You ready!?" And we were like "Uh.. for what?" We had asked her before to message and become friends with our potential investigator, and she was able to set up an appointment! She had messaged Tomori Shimai on Facebook but we didn't look because it was a crazy day but luckily we were there when she came! So we had dinner with Kumiko Shimai and our investigator and then were able to teach some of the Restoration. And she asked sooo many good questions. She was really opening up to us and we think she really trusts us! It was way good. But this week she's moving to Yokohama😭 Once she moves we want to get her set up with the missionaries there so she can keep learning:) she also loves English and comes to eikaiwa every week so we want to help her figure out which church is closest to her new apartment. But she said she googled it and they're all far from the train stations so she's just going to come back to Hachiōji for eikaiwa and to see us 😂😂 I love her.

After eikaiwa we always teach a short gospel discussion in Japanese and English for those who are interested and Tomori Shimai and I taught English this week. The "Obon" holiday is coming up in Japan and it focuses on ancestors and such so we taught about family history. I showed the class my family tree that I have on the "FamilyTree" app that the church has and they were all so impressed haha. So hopefully we can help them learn about their families and start their own family trees! It was cool to see them all be so interested in family history. Family history is cool, y'all. Do some. Do it for the fam.

Hahahahahahahaha recently Tomori Shimai asked me what "What the heck?" means and I died laughing when she asked me hahahaha. She was like "all the gaijin missionaries say it ALL the time and I'm just like "What mean!?'" Hahahahaha so funny. So now she uses "What the" and "What the heck" and it's the best. I also taught her "We fly". When she was looking at pictures of us and said we were cute and cool. She uses that quite frequently now as well. She has the best vocabulary ever. I love it.

Next funny story: we visited this potential investigator who's name in area book is literally "obaasan" meaning "grandma". She is so cute hahaha we didn't actually get to talk too much about the gospel but she gave us a bunch of corn on the cob and edamame. I think she likes us! She was just randomly like "Here, take this! I want to give it to you so take it!" Hahaha so funny😂 We want to go back soon and try and
really talk about the gospel with her.

Hachiōji knows how to put on a show. Wow. During the summer there's all these festivals and what not in Japan and on Saturday here in Hachiōji they had fireworks! For AN HOUR AND A HALF. So long. It was great. We went to a member's apartment with our investigator and watched them from her balcony and ate some yummy food. Fun fact: "firework" in Japanese is "hanabi" and it literally means "flower fire". I like that🌸🔥

Yesterday we had two investigators come to church! One hasn't actually started taking lessons yet but she seems to really want to know about the church. She's just really busy but recently she's had some free time! She is so funny haha she texted us before church and was like "I bought a bunch of candy and I want to give it to the kids at church". So that's what she did haha and then after church all of the primary kids came up and thanked her for the candy and she was soooo happy haha. She also asked a lot of really good questions during Sunday school and she told us "I am sad we ran out of time because I have a lot more questions" so we told her that answering those questions was why we're here and we'd love to answer them! So hopefully we can set up a solid appointment soon. We're also going to family home evening in Kichijoji with her tonight:)

Wow, I'm sorry, this is a really long email.. so here are some scriptures that I hope you read and enjoy and find some love in them! 3 Nephi 12:44, 3 Nephi 22:7-8, 4 Nephi 1:15-16, Mormon 3:3, and Mormon 5:23.

They changed when we get transfer emails so I still don't know if I'm transferring or not.. I should find out today so I'll email y'all when I know:) but it is kind of blowing my mind that I start my 9th transfer this week. Gross. I'm getting so old. WHAT THE!?

Well. I'll stop now.

I love you!!!

Stay safe. Stay classy. Stay sassy.

愛しています💕
--フィッシュバーン姉妹🐟🔥

The Tsukada family home evening😊 I love them!

This is our dehumidifier.
So not very missionary of me but,
I died when I realized what it has written on it😂😂😂😂

While we were climbing mountains and walking alllll over Takao all day on Friday.
I have become very Nihonjin with my fan and my Hello Kitty water bottle cover.