Tower of Cats; Small Pleasure

When we went to the store today I bought a new journal. Well it's actually basically just a notebook because they didn't really have real journals. But on the front of it it says : Tower of Cats; Small pleasure. And then there's just a tower of cats on it. And the back has a tower of bears. It made my day :) Japan has some of the funkiest stuff. And there is ALWAYS weird English written on stores, shirts, bags, signs, and everywhere you go. I don't know where they come up with it. I guess it's probably the same as when people in America wear Chinese or Japanese characters on our clothing. As if we have any idea what it says. Anyway, this week was great! this past Friday and Saturday we went to Kurume to do a companion exchange with the sisters there. Let me just start off by saying that I'm convinced I became a Sister Training Leader because I just need to go learn how to be a good missionary from everyone else. I am certain that I learned much more from them than they learned from me. And it was SUPER weird going out and streeting in somewhere that isn't Nagasaki. I've never ever gone finding anywhere besides Nagasaki! Goodness I've been here forever. Kurume is much more rural than Nagasaki and they go finding on their bikes which was a little different. We almost always walk when we go out finding in Nagasaki because there's just always people around to talk to. But in Kurume there are quite a few less people. Of the 4 sisters that live in Kurume 3 of them are Japanese. That was a little weird too because my language skills are still coming along slowly but surely. I can understand probably like 95 percent of what is being said these days, but when I have to talk, I still sound super simple and American. And I've come to discover that when an American and a Japanese missionary go out finding together people tend to either only talk to the American because they're fascinated by the fact that you're not Japanese and trying to speak their language, or they only talk to the Japanese missionary because they assume the American doesn't understand anything that is being said. It's a bit of a hard balance sometimes. However, it was so much fun. It was great to experience something different and learn some new Japanese ways to talk to people on the streets! Anyway, the weather in Japan is beautiful these days. Finally starting to warm up. This week we've been challenged by our mission president to be sure that we fit at least 3 hours of finding into our schedule each day. I'm excited to start seeing some miracles! Hope everyone is having a wonderful March! Wells Shimai