After all this time..

All I can say is at least I'm consistent.

Why am I consistent? Well. I forgot the scriptures for y'all again. #classic. So sorry bout that. I had some good ones this week too. GOSH DARN IT. It's okay. Just promise me you'll read your scriptures on your own, okay?

In other news I have finished journal #2 (shoutout to Liza for that one) and am now starting journal #3 (shoutout to Talise for that one). I feel like that's how you know you're getting far into your mission; when you have to start writing in a third journal. Crazy stuff, right?

Anywho.

Bowling with the elders on Monday was very much fun indeed and I was just very awful indeed. So there's that. Tomori Shimai's only gone bowling twice in her life and she beat me. Isn't there a saying that goes something like "whatever you're good at, there's an Asian that does it 10 times better than you"? I can testify that that statement is true.

On two separate occasions this week we went to visit potential investigators and they were just definitely home (we could see their lights and such) and they just definitely did not answer the door. So that was a real bummer. Why does no know want to talk to us?😞

Tomori Shimai went to the dentist twice this week and I think all the people there were wondering why there was a random gaijin sitting in the waiting room. It was also funny when a lady sat down next to me and I complimented her Hello Kitty bag and she was so shocked to hear Japanese come out of my mouth. No one ever thinks the gaijin can speak Japanese. Ever. Hahaha but I like to say what little I can and amaze them with my mad skillz (that's a joke, I don't have mad skillz).

As for the investigators: no one likes us anymore. No one can meet (or they don't show up to lessons. Rude, right?) and our one investigator who can meet won't accept the baptismal invitation sooo.. yeah. Not much news on that. Also, no one EVER wants to exchange contact information when we meet people on the street. WHY, PEOPLE!? WHY!? Wait. I know why. They're frightened by the amount of frizz that is on my head. Seriously. The frizz is real bad and it's becoming a problem.

There is a family here in Hachioji that is semi less active and their son turns eight next week so we've been working with them to help get him ready for baptism. He really wants his dad to baptize him but the problem is, I have never seen his dad at church. Ever. Until yesterday! We visited them earlier this week and we're leaving right as he got home from work and asked if he'd be able to come to church on Sunday and she said probably and he came!! Yay!! Things are starting to look like he'll be able to baptize his son!

Hahahahahahaha again with the #classic. We were heart attacking a family last night that we always have dinner appointments with and as we were about to tape the last thing (a picture) on their door THEY FREAKING OPEN THE DOOR. So naturally the first thing Tomori Shimai and I both do is run. Just sprint. But then at the exact same time we both stop, turn around, and just smile at the dad. Hahahaha he was like "uhh.. what are you doing?" Hahaha so we gave them the picture and acted like we weren't doing anything suspicious at all. And then they gave us apple juice. Nice.

Thank you to my fambam for the package and the letters for my year mark! Well, thank you to everyone except Macrae because dweeb didn't write a letter. But I still love him. He just doesn't get any thanks. Anywho, so many treats! I think I'm going to make the no bake cookies tonight and take some with us when we go visit some members tomorrow. Give them some of that authentic Fishburn love through a Fishburn favorite. I'm excited. Also, I'm hoping that when I make the brownies, I don't mess them up this time.. because I was so sad last time..that's my life.

Well, fam. It's been real. Have a good week!!

Stay safe. Stay classy. Stay sassy.

Love you!
愛しています💕

--フィッシュバーン姉妹🐟🔥

Ramen with the district🍜

Bowling with the district and our beloved Misu Kyoudai🎳

Bowling with the district 🎳

I feel like this picture just makes me look like
even more of a giant. I know that's not what it's
meant to do but I feel like that was the outcome..

Zone Conference picture from last transfer (yes, I'm a little behind. So sorry).

Week 52-- who knew I could even count that high?

I would like to start today by reporting on the trip to the zoo. I'm sorry to all those Hoogle Zoo enthusiasts out there buuuut Tama Zoo is like 30 times better than Hoogle Zoo. I'm sorry. But it's true. It was so cool! We were there for like 3ish hours and didn't even see everything. They have a butterfly building where butterflies are just free and fly around and land on the elders and it's magical, y'all. Also, I saw a koala bear sleeping and nothing will ever beat the cutest level of that. Ever. I'm glad to report that it was a good trip and I highly recommend it to all (fam, when we come back and visit Japan, we're going, okay?).

Tomori Shimai's tooth is kind of like breaking off in little pieces (yeah, no bueno) so we went to the dentist this week and it was real fancy. Like real fancy. Japan never ceases to amaze me with it cleanliness and level of fanciness. Just in case y'all were wondering. We're also going back every week for about a month so I'll be spending much time there just soaking up the fanciness and hoping it rubs off on me a little.

One thing that I think is hilarious is that in basically every church in America there is a basketball court. In Japan, only stake centers have basketball courts and even that is iffy. BUT without a doubt, every church in Japan has a ping pong table. It kills me😂 and because of that of course we invite our friends and neighbors to play ping pong with us once a week and I would like you all to know that I'm still absolutely awful and will never take ping pong as seriously as the average Nihonjin. But I enjoy watching them get super into it haha it's the best. This week we had a new friend, come and she is adorable. She also came to eikaiwa and I've decided she's actually an American in disguise because she definitely does NOT act like a Nihonjin. At all.

On Friday we had a lesson with an investigator and taught the word of wisdom. As we were teaching she said some beautiful words. Those words were "oh, I don't do any of these things! This is easy! Of course these things are bad for you". Well. She's kinjin, y'all. But she still won't commit to baptism so that's frustrating but whatever. After her lesson we were walking her out of the church and it was raining REAL hard. And then it started to hail. Yup. BIG hail. So naturally Tomori Shimai and I both ran outside to play in it😊 Ogawa San and two other members that were there thought we were hilarious haha I'll send some pictures and videos for y'all to enjoy.

On Saturday we were able to go with quite a few ward members to a retirement home and sing some traditional Japanese songs and talk to the people there. It was so fun. I'm convinced Nihonjin are much cuter when they get old than Americans are when they get old. Old Nihonjin are my favorite. SO CUTE. Every time we finished a song or something one lady would always say "ohh jouzu" meaning "so good!" Haha she was so darn cute. I was in heaven. I want to be Nihonjin just so I can be as cute as they are when I'm old. That's my life dream.

Yesterday (Sunday) was Tomori Shimai's birthday so happy birthday to my beloved companion, Tomori Shimai! She hates that she's now 21 and I think it's slightly hilarious how much she hates that hahahahahahaha

PAPA FISH. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, PAPA FISH. I HOPE IT WAS GOOD AND YOU
WATCHED LOTS AND LOTS OF MOVIES AND ATE BUCKETS AND BUCKETS OF POPCORN AND MILKDUDS AND HAD YOUR BLACK AND WHITE PUPPY DOG BY YOUR SIDE THE WHOLE DAY. LOVE
YOU💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕😘💕

This week there's a lot of scriptures.. just think of it as making up for the weeks when I forgot or only had like 2😬 Alma 26:14, 32-33, 37, Alma 29:9-10, Alma 31:5, Alma 32:37-38, Alma 33:4-11, and Alma 34:38, 40-41. Again, remember the love💙

In other news this week, I have reached transfer 8. Gross. That's what transfer Porter Shimai was when she trained me. That's crazy to think about. This week on Thursday I will hit my year mark. That's also disgusting.

Well.

Stay safe. Stay classy. Stay sassy.

Love you!
愛しています💕

--フィッシュバーン姉妹🐟🔥

Elder Languidly made a friend that stayed with him for like 10 minutes.

Squading up for that district photobomb✌🏻

Representing the beehive state all the way in Japan

I love the zoo😻

You know you live in Japan when your first instinct
when taking a picture is to throw up the peace sign.

"When you take a missionary to the zoo.." am I the only one who thinks
this looks like a bunch of private school kids on a school field trip?

The freak hail storm we had.

Field trip🐻🐼🐨🐯🦁🐷🐒🐸🦇🦄🐢🦋🐙🐡🐊🐘🦍🦃

Yes. It's field trip day here in Hachiōji. That means that I get to go to the zoo today! We're going as a district to the Tama zoo and we're all pretty excited☺️

This week was crazy busy, as usual. We had another lesson with one of our investigators and I love that woman. She's not really progressing right now and it breaks my heart. She thinks what we're teaching her is good and true but she doesn't really pray. She has so much potential but it's just not happening right now for her. Maybe right now just isn't her time.. but we'll continue to pray for her and try to help her progress.

Hahaha we visited a member for her birthday and took her some banana bread (because we're poor missionaries and that's all we could do..) and she ended up giving us some little cakes she got for her birthday from a friend and driving us back to the church so we weren't late for curfew. She's the best hahaha we just wanted to let her know we were thinking of her and we ended up leaving with more than we came with. Gotta love her!

This past week was MLC (mission leadership conference) so Tomori Shimai went to that since she's a STL and I went on splits in Machida with To'angutu Shimai. It was a good time. We taught a lesson to one of their investigators and we basically just taught about Christ and testified of Him and His Atonement. At the end, To'angutu Shimai wanted to invite the investigator to be baptized when she receives an answer that this gospel is true but she couldn't remember how to say it in Japanese and she frantically looked at me so I ended up inviting their investigator to be baptized haha but she said yes (in a very roundabout way but it was still a yes)! So that was good!

We had a lesson with the always adorable Mahiro chan and she is so funny hahaha I love her. Last lesson we gave her her own Book of Mormon and asked her to read the introduction, Moroni 10:3-5 and pray about it. She read from the Book of Mormon but didn't read where we asked her to so when we asked her where she read she was just like "uhh.. I don't know.. I just opened the book" haha so we clarified this time and read Moroni 10:3-5 with her. She also said she prayed!! Yay!!! Tomori Shimai also invited her to be baptized and we were expecting her to basically say no to us but she actually thought about it a lot. She didn't give us an actual answer but it went waaaaaay better than we thought it would so we're pretty happy with her right now haha. One day she'll be baptized. I know it:)

Okay. We have found a kinjin but said kinjin is insanely busy and can only meet one Friday out of the month. But as we were teaching her on Friday she was SO focused on us and asked so many good questions and took notes (really, haha she is so cute) and you could just tell she wanted to truly understand the message of the Restoration. It was so great. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with her more frequently and help her continue to draw closer to our Father in Heaven and our Savior. It was so good!!

Okay. The transfer is coming to an end. That's so weird. Transfer seven ends this week for me. Where did the time go? And with the transfer coming to an end, transfer announcements also happened last week. Aaaaaaaaaand. I'm staying in Hachiōji with Tomori Shimai! So we'll be together again next transfer which actually makes life a whole lot easier. Also, that means I'll be in Hachiōji for my year mark! Haha kind of funny how I was here for my 100th day and now I'll be here for my year mark. Crazy, yo.

Scriptures!! Please enjoy and remember the love💙 Alma 13:22-25, Alma 15:6-11, Alma 16-17, Alma 17:10, and Alma 19:23.

I will stop bothering y'all with my incessant ranting and let you get
back to normal life now.

Have a good week!!

Stay safe. Stay classy. Stay sassy.

Love you!
愛しています💕

--フィッシュバーン姉妹🐟🔥

Splits in Machida with my Kiwi,
To'angutu Shimai.

 To'angutu Shimai and I actually went on splits twice this week so these pictures are from Saturday. The first one we were trying to look like we weren't melting from the humidity and heat of Tokyo in the summer and the second one we just accepted our fate for what it is. I like her. She's my favorite Kiwi.

I wish I was Poly.

Some weeks fly by and I'm like "wow, this week was so fast! There's no way it's Monday again and I'm emailing family!" But then there are other weeks where it feels like Monday is never going to come and I'm stuck in "Groundhog Day" mode living the same day over and over again. This week unfortunately fell in the latter category. It was a long week. But that doesn't mean it was a bad week! It was just long haha.

This week we had splits again with the Kofu sisters buuuut Tomori Shimai really wanted to go to Kofu because she's never been so I got to stay in Hachioji and Cranston Shimai came here. We didn't get to actually do anything super productive because we had district meeting and then after had to go catch the train to Ōtsuki because it takes forever to get there. So yeah, not much happened during that split but it was still a good time. I've also realized that when I'm with people who speak English as their first language I never shut up and I feel so bad for Cranston Shimai having to deal with that. Oops.

I have decided that the Hachioji members are probably some of the best people in the entire world. We had dinner with one sister this week and she made SO much food. So much food. I really did think I was going to explode I ate so much. She just kept giving us more and more food. I also decided I don't like wasabi. Not my thing. We also had a dinner/family home evening with the Tsukada couple and their daughters family, the Nakazawa's. The Tsukada dinners are always so fun. I love them. This one was kind of smaller because normally a lot of other members come and such but for some reason this week people were sick or had to do stuff for school or what not so it wasn't the same but still fun and I love the Tsukada's and the Nakazawa's.

On Saturday some of the missionaries put on a Polynesian Night in Kichijoji and we got to go with two of our potential investigators. On the way to Kichijoji we were able to talk about prayer and just kind of start to get them thinking about prayer and how we can talk with God through it (I think that's the coolest thing to teach). It was a good time. And Polynesian Night was so much fun. Oh my. Seriously, I want to be Polynesian. We have missionaries serving here from New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii and missionaries who have Samoan, Tongan, and Niue(?) heritage. So they all talked about their cultures and did traditional dances and shared how the gospel was first introduced into their cultures. It was so cool. Not going to lie, the thought of transferring to BYU-Hawaii crossed my mind. Just so I could
be surrounded by Polynesians and their culture.

Well. That's all folks. I hope you all have had a good week and have a good week this week!

No, don't worry. I did not forget this weeks scriptures. Mosiah 29:20, Alma 5:7-9, Alma 7:7, Alma 8:10, Alma 9:26, and Alma 11:27. Remember the love💙

Stay safe. Stay classy. Stay sassy.

Love you!
愛しています💕

--フィッシュバーン姉妹🐟🔥

I saw my beloved Michiko Shimai at Polynesian Night!!
My heart was filled with so much joy in this moment.

Tomori Shimai drew me while we were waiting
for an investigator to come (she never came😢).

Miyu Shimai. She's so cute. She's the former
bishops daughter and I quite like her.

Raw eggs won't actually make you sick, mom. It's a myth. 🥚

The whole "raw things make you sick" thing is either a myth or all the raw cookie dough I've eaten in my life has built up my immune system in preparation for living in Japan where they use raw egg as a dipping sauce. Or they just process their eggs differently here than they do in America.. I'm going with one of the first two options, though. The cookie dough theory is probably the most correct🍪

You may be wondering why this is on my mind. Well, it's because I ATE RAW EGG AS A DIPPING SAUCE, Y'ALL. YUP. It happened. This week is the year anniversary of Choyo's baptism  (my male Chinese bff) so last week we went out to shabushabu to celebrate. Since it was for him we let him pick what we ate (because everyone at the same table has to eat the same thing. Sorry, it's hard to explain in email. Google it haha) and he picked sukiya which involves using raw egg as a dipping sauce. So I ate it. And it was actually really good. But the steam from the boiling sukiya kept coming RIGHT to my face and I was just like "wow, I'm sure this is really great for my skin" and I definitely smelled slightly funny for the rest of the day. But oh well. That's life in Japan.

We visited this lady that the elders found and she is a member in a Christian unification church and while we were talking she disappeared into her house and then brought out this book for Tomori Shimai to read about what her church is and believes and what not hahahaha and Tomori Shimai and I were like "hey, let's trade!" So we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said we can come back and study it with her haha so that was a funny but good thing, right?

We finally got to have a lesson with an investigator that has been really busy! And this time it was at the church and not at McDonald's! Yay! It was way good. Last lesson we had we taught the Restoration but that was almost 2 months ago so we decided to reteach it. Good call. She remembered somethings but a review was definitely needed. And she seemed to understand it waaaay better this time and kind of better accept it, I guess? Yeah, anywho, it was good. And when we gave her a Book of Mormon she was like "really!? But isn't this an important book!?" Yes, that's why we want you to have it, silly girl. I love her. Hopefully
we'll be able to meet with her again soon.

We have Zone conference this week which actually ended up being stake conference because in each stake there are two zones and both zones had Zone conference together so there were a toooon of missionaries. So many. But it was a good, good time. And I got to see Kawamitsu Shimai and Harmon Shimai so my heart was extra happy. We talked about prayer🙏🏻and oh my. So many good things come from prayer and prayer has so many good things and basically my brain was fried after from all the deep thinking that happened (because we all know that doesn't happen much for me). Everyone, please pray! It's good for ya!! Maybe study about prayer a little bit too! That's also good for ya!

I went to Kofu again. This time it wasn't as exciting as last time.. sadly.. today Tomori Shimai will go to Kofu and I'll stay here in Hachioji with Cranston Shimai. Yay, bean chan power! I'm excited.

We had three meals this week with members. Three. That may not seem like a lot to missionaries in other parts of the world *cough* Utah *cough* but it's kind of a lot in Japan. But I think that just goes to show how great the members are here in Hachioji. They're the best! We also got to hear some of their conversion stories and I love hearing them. It's so cool to hear them testify of the church and how they came to know it's true. They all always testify hardcore of whatever finding method they were found through. For example; one member came to eikaiwa because she received a flyer through her friend and this other couple started taking lessons because the elders offered to teach them about family home evening. It just makes ya want to do all types of finding as possible. Gotta find all the kinjin!!

I have a classic Haley moment for y'all (btw that's really weird typing "Haley"). I forgot my name tag when we went to eikaiwa on Wednesday. I had changed my shirt while I was making dinner so I didn't spill on it and when I changed back I forgot to put my name tag on and everyone made fun of me all night long. That's my life. I've been a missionary for 11 months and this is the first time I've forgotten my name tag. Gosh darn it! Whatevs. It's in the past.

Every time I type the scriptures I want to share I always sing "scripture power" in my head and picture little primary children screaming it and holding up their scriptures haha it warms my soul. So please enjoy these scriptures and their power Mosiah 16:8, Mosiah 18:16&21, Mosiah 19:12, and Mosiah 20:11. Remember the love!💙

Well, as always, I've rambled on for too long so I'll stop now.

Have a good week!!

Stay safe. Stay classy. Stay sassy.

Love you!
愛しています💕

--フィッシュバーン姉妹🐟🔥

The district and Choyo enjoying some shabushabu

The Hatanaka's. I love them. They fed us yummy noodles and told ustheir rocking conversion story last night.

Fun fact: if you wear a black shirt, your hair in a bun, stand in the same spot for an hour and a half while giving out eikaiwa flyers, and have a tendency of frying like an egg you WILL get sunburned. But the good news is it's so humid here that it didn't peel and now I have a rad tan line on the left side on my neck. But the bad news is my right side of my neck is still whiter than white. I also have a pretty nice tan line from my watch🤘🏻

Tomoko Shimai. When I was here as a bean all she did was make fun of my Japanese. But despite that I still love her. She is hilarious. Seriously. We asked to take a picture together and she told us only if we make funny faces. So this was the outcome. 

I ate Cap'n Crunch for breakfast💛

Yup. In celebration of 11 months of being a missionary I treated myself to some Cap'n Crunch. 'Twas a good decision.

I feel like as I get farther along in my missionary life I should be getting better at managing time and planning when we'll have lessons and stuff so that everything isn't as frantic but man, I feel like I'm just getting worse. It's always a crazy time around here and I feel like Tomori Shimai and I probably look something a lot like chickens running around without their heads. But I think we're making it work!

Can I just express the frustration I feel when we have an investigator who believes everything is true but won't come to church or commit to baptism? It's insane. It boggles my mind. Just come to church!

We met with my home girl investigator again this week after a bit of a break and she was good! Last time we talked about the word of wisdom buuuuut she didn't really keep that commitment so we talked about it some more but this time we had a member there with us, Furui Shimai, and she shared her own experience of how when she was an investigator she was not too keen on the idea of giving up coffee but she tried it for a week and because of the reaction of complete joy the sisters showed when she told them she did it, she kept following it. I think it was exactly what this investigator needed to hear because it come from
someone who had been through what she is currently going through, not from two 20 year old girls who haven't ever even thought about having a problem with the word of wisdom. Member present lessons are the best!

On Saturday we went to Takao to their ping pong "party" because there were a few girls who said they were going to come and they did! Yay! It was a good time and they are probably going to go to the Polynesian night in Kichijoji with us in a few weeks! After we decided that since we were in Takao we might as well try and visit some people from the area book (which is a complete mess right now). People either weren't home or actually didn't have interest.. but we tried! And we talked to a few nice people and gave out a few pamphlets and a copy of the Book of Mormon so it was a good day if you ask me! But man, it was real hot. Real hot. I'm already starting to get a tan line from my watch and I don't know if that makes me happy or sad.. yeah, I don't really know.

Yesterday in an effort to clean up our awful area book we went to visit a few potential investigators that live in Kita-Hachiōji (a place I myself or my companion have never been before) and as we were walking to the second lady's house I looked over and saw a member! Hahaha my beloved Mori Shimai was at the apartment building of this lady! Mori Shimai's mom lived in the same apartment and she was there cleaning it out because she passed away a few months ago. But she was so happy to see us and even introduced us to almost all of the people who live on the first floor of the apartment building hahaha she's the
greatest. Again, no one really had interest but we were definitely happy to see Mori Shimai and we're grateful she was willing to help us try and find God's prepared children! As we were walking back to the train station we decided to house a random apartment building and we found a potential investigator for the elders who was super nice and seemed to be decently interested in our message. Yay! That's all we could ever ask for haha so we gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and asked if the elders could visit him again and he said yes! A woot woot🎉 yup. Good time, indeed.

Guess who actually has scriptures to share! I have slacked on my missionary duty to share scriptures. I'm very sorry. Please forgive me. But here are this weeks scriptures for y'all! Mosiah 3:20, Mosiah 4:15, Mosiah 5:7, Mosiah 6:7, and Mosiah 7:19. Remember to think about love!💙

I hope you had a good week last week and have an even better week this week!

Stay safe. Stay classy. Stay sassy.

Love you!
愛しています💕

--フィッシュバーン姉妹🐟🔥

Temple pictures last week

Living that contacting life✌🏻

Here's the cherry blossoms for ya!