こんにちは!
This week went by so fast! Nagasaki is as awesome (and hot) as ever! We got warnings of a typhoon and apparently it hit other parts of the mission but it passed over us. All we got was some strong winds so that was nice. We were saved from the typhoon!! What a blessing! Also, on Wednesday, it is the anniversary of when the atomic bomb dropped in Nagasaki and there are so many decorations up around town. Not like they're celebrating it, but there are pictures of symbols of peace and things. It's really kind of cool. Nagasaki has such cool history!
Anyways, so things that happened this week:
We are continuing to work hard on hunting down all the less-actives the branch gave us. We found this one less-active right next to Peace Park (the place where the bomb dropped). She let us in and she gave us this plum juice that literally tasted like gasoline or something. It was way funny because she was watching us drink it and she said that she hated the taste and so she gave it to us. We were about to leave and we didn't finish it and then she was like "please drink all of it" so I just downed it because it was so nasty and then Sister Steed was sipping it and then she just downed it too. Haha, the lady got a kick out of it though. After we left, we drank some water and washed our mouths out.
Another less-active adventure: we hiked through literally the winding mountains and hills of Nagasaki. We had to park our bikes down the street and then we walked through these little paths up the mountains. We literally were in the middle of nowhere. At one point we were walking through ancient Japanese graveyards and we turned around and saw all of Nagasaki behind us and it was a beautiful view. Every single day is an adventure!
This week were some way あぶない (dangerous) ((but not actually dangerous)) situations. We were coming back to our bikes to go home for the night when a policeman came out of nowhere and asked us where we were coming from and then we pointed in the direction and then another police car pulled up and this other policeman sprung out and was like "だんせ? だんせ?" which means "man? man?" and then the other police man was like "Have you seen a strange man around?" and we were like "ummm.. no?" and then they started running in the direction we came from and me and Sister Steed were like let's get out of here! So we booked it home. Haha, honestly the most unsafe I've ever felt in Japan ever.
We also talked with this one sweet old lady who actually was a survivor of the atomic bomb! She was 92 years old!! She seriously looked like 50 years old and still looked so healthy. Anyways, we talked to her for forever and she kept calling us "bijin" which means beautiful woman and she was so sweet. She lives totally alone in her old house because her husband died 20 years ago and she has no kids. We told her that families are forever and that she can see her husband again someday and I think that made her really happy. I love sharing the message of the Plan of Salvation and eternal families with everyone we meet. We asked her what her name was and she asked for pen and paper and she wrote her name down in Japanese and was like "don't ever forget about me!" It was a really sweet moment!
Lastly, we had zone conference in Fukuoka this week. It was really incredible and it was all about faith, hope, charity, and love. These attributes are the most important in this gospel and you can't have one without the other. We must have faith that things will work out and with faith we are able to accomplish anything according to the Lord's will. Also, we must have hope for the future and in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We need to have charity for our fellowman and love one another because love really is the most important thing.
Anyways, I love you all so much! さようなら~
-アトウッド姉妹
-Sister Atwood