Sister Elisa Brown: Japan

Well well well

I am finally here in Japan. It doesn't seem real at all. I am very excited to be here. Thank you so much for all the emails it really meant a lot to me. I miss you all and I love hearing from you.

Alright so now all the good stuff:

So the flight from LAX to Japan took like forever!! I am not even joking I almost held me breath so that I wouldn't pass out. I had the seat next to the window which was nice but it was really hard to get up. the person sitting next to me, I think was recovering from a hang over. He slept the whole time and he smelled gross haha but someone told me that is how Japan smells... so great.. haha but then the lady sitting next to him was pretty nice. She asked me what all of us were doing so we talked for a little while. She was going to Thailand to teach English or something I can't really remember. Those days are kind of a blur. When we landed it was raining, of course but it's all good! The mission president and his assistants picked us up and then we had like a 2 hour car ride to the mission home. The mission home was right next to the church so that was pretty cool! It was fun being so close even though we were only there for like 1 day. I was so tired when we got there. I almost fell asleep in my dinner haha I then went straight to bed. The mission home was pretty big there were enough beds for the sisters but not room for the elders so they slept in the church on futons. I was lucky and I got the room where the General Authority's sleep when they come so I had a huge kind size bed to sleep in. SO the food we had on the airplane was really good it was just like normal American food and the food that I ate at the mission home was really good to it was like normal American food also so that was nice.

The first day we just did training. Nothing really exciting. The mission president is a great guy he seems really awesome. I am very lucky to have him as a mission president. You could say he pretty much spoils us so that's really nice. So Thursday came the day of finding out where you are going to be going. They had us all in the gym and then all the trainers and companions all came into the gym as well. It was like being in harry potter like everyone cheered and stuff. It was pretty cool. They would say an area and then the companions would come up and then they would call a name. I was one of the last sisters to get called! So I am in a place called Kiryu. It's like the country side. It is cool here it is very green and I am sure it will get cold this winter. It's not really hot here but it hasn't been too cold. It's been a little raining today so that kind of sucks but oh well.

So in the ward here there are maybe like 20 members that go every week. It is really small here but the members are very strong so that's really cool. The bishop is cool he has a wife and three little girls they are like the only kids in the whole ward so i bet that is probably a little hard. I don't know. It really breaks me heart seeing how few people are here and how many are back home in our ward. Its just crazy. I bore my testimony yesterday. I don't think anyone understands a single thing I say so that is really hard. I hardly understand anything anyone says to me. I really miss home haha I miss our ward. Seeing the Bishop here just made me think about dad and such. I know that the Gospel is the same no matter where you are so that's a huge comfort to me.

I bought a bike its like a pretty legit bike I think it cost me like $500.00 I am not really sure. I wish bishop Goddard was here I would have loved to buy a bike from him! So every meal we eat here we eat with chop sticks and lets just say I am terrible at them!! haha like it takes me forever to eat anything but oh well like last night we ate soup with chopsticks!! WHAT THE HECK!!! Who does that. IT was soooo hard!!!

There are some really awesome investigators here that i really am hoping can be baptized!! This transfer we have a goal of baptizing a family. So please pray that we can find a family that will be baptized. We have a few that are investigating so i am keeping my fingers crossed. We also teach Eikaiwa. that's English lessons which those are always fun. I love speaking English. hahah I am really good at it.

My companions. I am in a trio. Sister Taketomi. SHE IS LIKE MY HERO. She is the one training me. She is from Okinawa. I am really glad that I have her. WE get along so well. She speaks pretty good english too. She also really loves David Archuletta. She almost fainted when I told her that I was friends with him haha I think she almost cried!! It was really funny. So both of us are new to this area. She came from Shibuya. that's like the time square of tokyo. SO its been lots of fun trying to get to know this area together.

Sister Cheney. She is very kind. She is really nice. I am tyring my hardest to love her. I have to pray about it everyday. I think its hard because we have NOTHING in common like I am telling you nothing. The only think we have is that she is from Alaska and thats where Mike is serving. Other than that there is nothing. Bless her heart. She like really makes fun of my japanese and doesn't really help me with it haha but whatever I am trying my best. She is really good at cooking so thats really nice too. She is really good at art...

I miss everyone so much. these past days are really hard. I have a hard time being here. Its really hard because we sit inside a lot during the day. We do the companionship study then language then lunch for an hour and then 12 week program study and then we can go out and do work. It is really nice being able to go outside that's when I feel the most joy. That's when I know I am doing what I am suppose to be doing. I love studying but sometimes i find my self distracted thinking about things and that's when I think negatively. I think of reasons why i shouldn't be here and why I should go home. I find lots of doubts and mistakes in myself. Its really hard and frustrating but i know that that it is just Satan trying to tempt me. However it is awesome because in just a few short days I have already seen so many miracles here I am very excited for the work I am going to be doing!!

I know that this is where I am suppose to be even though it is really hard. I love the gospel and I just want everyone else to love it tooooo

OH yes please send me mail!! I LOVE LETTERS!! Even if they are just short and sweet. Send them to the mission home and then the mission home will send them to me and with packages if you ever send any just send them through the normal mail. that's what they told us to do.

I LOVE YOU SOOOOOO MUCH

XOXO
SISTER BROWN