Week 70 The Month of May hahahahaha...... I'm so sorry.

I hope THIS email warms the cockles of your heart because it actually
has heart warming content haha 😘

I'm so sorry for missing the last two weeks! Literally when I miss
email time it makes me feel sick to my stomach! So this one will make
up for it!
We have been working really hard to find new investigators, we've been
talking to everyone on the street, praying, fasting, and working more
with the members, and this week we saw some crazy great miracles!

Monday (16th)- Sunday:
We took a trip to Costco! We bought some more food that I can consume
haha. I was literally eating salmon and salad for like every meal. I
daisuki salmon, but for every meal it is kinda hard to eat the same
thing...でも大丈夫。So we got corn chips, salsa, avocado, and edamame and I
am in heaven! Also when we were saying our night prayers we had an
earthquake! It was only a 5 BUT it still shook us pretty good for like
10 seconds haha! Everyone says Tokyo is the next place to get hit with
a huge earthquake! I don't know how I feel about that...

I danced! We went to hula with the relief society sisters. It's been
so long and I miss dancing soooooooo much! I also went on splits with
my favorite Obayashi Shimai in Hachioji! It was so fun! We found
pretty flowers. I said, "Wow those are so pretty they look like
hearts!" And Obayashi Shimai said, "Those flowers are flipping me
off!" Hahaha what!? I'll attach the picture below. We were laughing so
hard!

We were doing a district kubari kai and right after we set goals, had
prayed together, and started, I walked straight up to a woman walking
towards the Eki and asked if she could speak English. She stopped
right there and said she wanted to learn English! We had set goals to
get two people's phone numbers and ask 5 people to come to church, and
she ended up giving me her phone number and setting an appointment to
meet with us next Tuesday! Gah! I was beaming and was soooooo happy!
Her name is Hasegawa San. Just like like my investigator in my last
area! And get this, she is a dancer! Yes! We will get along so well!
Setting goals and talking to everyone is so important!

We had a super Zone Meeting in Sagamihara with all the missionaries
from the Machida East zone. Me and Elder Johnson gave a training on
Iron Rod Planning, there was music, revelation, lots of spirit
feeling, and it was so good! We have super stellar missionaries in our
mission! Later that night we visited the Kyomen family and shared a
small message. We are learning where the members live, their names,
and more about how we can help them with their missionary work so that
they can feel more comfortable introducing their friends to the
gospel. Today was also Claudia's birthday so I called her on the phone
and told her I loved her! She is the best! Ah! I miss my old
investigators! I'm going to visit Shonan next month when the Gaitau's
baby arrives!

We made orange chicken with Nishi Shimai before ping pong. Tasted like
Panda Express. It was awesome! And I could eat it because we made it
from scratch. I got the recipe don't worry!

Monday (23rd)- Sunday:
I took the two hour nap during the day which made us late for all of
our other things we had planned... So I didn't have time to
email...but the nap was awesome! Also had FHE with a member family! We
ate taco rice! It was yummy!

Recently we have just been hurting because we want so badly to find a
new investigator to love and teach the gospel to! I felt prompted to
focus on reading more of the Book of Mormon during study and during
free time. This last week I read the book of Mosiah and a little bit
of Alma. During my studies one thing kept popping out to me day after
day and it was fasting and prayer. The Nephites prayed and fasted so
much! There are a bajillion examples! So that's exactly what we did on
Tuesday. We had a 24 hour fast for the people of Tama. And the
blessings were tons! We had a killer first lesson with Hasegawa San.
We found out she has been battling cancer and we talked about saviors
in our lives and introduced God and Jesus Christ. Then we felt
prompted to call an old investigator (Kiyomi San) on the phone and ask
if she wants to meet again, and she said yes! Then one of our mission
couples, the Slades from my bean area, came to our apartment to check
it for safety, and that was a miracle for me because I love them so
much. They got me though the beginning of my mission. God is good and
God answers prayers and fasts.

On Thursday we had a zone conference with President and Sister Wada.
It was our last one together because they are leaving the end of June!
It was really spiritual. We read in Ether together and wow. I took
good notes and so ill teach you what I learned when I come home. The
Book of Mormon is the word of God folks. It's incredible.

We got transfer emails! I'm staying with Sister Zylks in Tama and I'll
probably be here for my last two transfers. I also became a sister
training leader which is a lot of responsibility, but I'm grateful the
Lord trusts me. Especially because I'm over Hachioji area which has my
bestie Obayashi Shimai and two new missionaries haha. Pray for her.

Sunday was Zylks' birthday! We sang in sacrament meeting which was
terrifying especially because Zylks Shimai is almost as good as an
opera singer and I sound like a parakeet. But people felt the spirit
anyways! Wahoo! We brought our friend Ami from Eikaiwa to a YSA
activity. We taught them the Oreo game, the gargle a tune game, and
the game where you stick a ball in women's stockings and knock over
pins hahahha! I've never laughed so hard in my life!

Monday (30th)- Sunday:
This week we did more hula! I took a movie! Next week we might go to a
rest home for old people and perform! Yay! The sisters in our ward are
obsessed with Hawaii! It's so cute. They all do hula together on
Tuesdays and two of them just purchased ukuleles. I fiddled around on
the ukulele a little bit as well and I regret not learning more when I
was home because I totally wanted to learn! Oh well. We're also
planning to make a music video as a ward haha! They want to plan it
and film it before I go home! Haha this ward is soooooo great! I'm
going to take hula classes when I come home! My best friend Carter
plays the ukulele so we'll be an awesome team! 😊

This week we also did a lot of finding and fasting for lessons. It
helped us see more miracles because we were expecting more miracles!
If you have a righteous desire and faith the Lord helps you with it! I
love being here and I love being busy! We are slowly seeing more and
more success here in Tama and I can't wait to see what the Lord has
planned for this area!

Love,
Sister Fordiani

 These are the flowers that flip you off.

  I made this on my missionary planner 😍

QWeek 68 I hope this email warms the cockles of your heart...❤️

I learned the word cockles this week!
We really spent our time unwisely this p-day and now we have no time!
But I took a nap and slept for 2 extra hours today! It was awesome!
Found a new investigator who reminds me of Michael Jackson and dances
hip hop like a boss!

We're going to start teaching Nobu Kun who is 8 and he'll get baptized
in 3 weeks! Yay! Miracles! He belongs to a part member family and the
bishop asked us to teach him! I'm so happy!
I love that I get to teach little boys who can potentially grow up to
serve missions and become awesome missionaries! The sweetest blessing!

Love you all!
Sister Fordiani

Also we went to hula dancing class this week with an investigator! It rocked!
Japanese house
Us and Nishi shimai
Tama area on the 11th floor of an apartment building!

Week 67 Hello!

Hi everyone!

This week has been good!
Yesterday we were invited to a Philippine birthday party! It was
awesome and everyone was speaking Tagalog and English! All the food
was so tasty! Our hosts were members of the church in the Philippines
but their daughter is not a member. She is really sweet! She has two
little boys and a teenage daughter who just passed away last year.
It's been really hard for her, but she is getting a lot better lately.
We met a lot of their friends and talked to them about missionary
work. They thought we were like nuns and when we finish our mission we
go to another country and serve another year and 1/2 until we become
old! Haha! It's so funny how often we get that here actually! So our
host kindly explained to me all of the ingredients of all of the
dishes she had made, but she got a bit mixed up on the ingredients in
some of the little rolls. She said they were made from rice flour, but
then came back later and said they are made of actual flour. Oh shoot.
So since then I have felt pretty crappy. But don't worry! Sicknesses
don't last forever!

We made a new goal as a companionship to give out English flyers for
one hour everyday from 12-1. We found a new investigator and taught a
man the entire restoration lesson and have seen so many miracles!
Right now we don't have any investigators because they all dropped us.
So we are working on finding new people! We have Yayoi San who studies
English with us and we found Miki San this week too! We met them both
during kubari kai (the time we pass out English flyers) this week!

We also went to the Tokyo temple this last Tuesday! It was awesome! (I
think I mentioned that in my lady email but it was so good it can go
another week right?) The power from the temple is the best. It just
fires you up for the rest of the week! We are working on using all of
the means we can muster to find the prepared people in Tama! We are
talking to everyone haha! For example, I was literally dying one
afternoon because I was so tired, so we stopped by this little shop to
get DP out of a vending machine outside. In the window the shop owner
had two cats haha. Zylks loves cats so she was freaking out and then a
lady walked by and of course we talk to everyone, so I pulled out my
neko chan dendo (using cats to do missionary work because everyone is
obsessed with cats in Japan) and we were like, "Do you like cats?" She
was a fushigi lady herself so she stayed and talked to us while we all
drank DP together. It was one of the more finer moments in life.

Love you all! Have a good week!
Sister Fordiani

Me!
Kubari kai and teaching lessons!
Looks like Las Vegas right?
Track meet!
Heart attack!

Week 66 Happy Mother's Day/ Skype Day!

Hi!

Didn't April just go by so fast? I'm freaking out! Japan is getting
hotter and more humid every day hahaha oh no! And I'm getting ready
for the intense everyday rain of late May and June and then the
death-heat wave in July and August! Way pumped to bust out my fan and
sweat towel haha! Not.

Right now I'm going to the temple in the train and I'm squished up
against like 4 Japanese men... Ew haha.

Yesterday I talked to my beautiful family though skype! It was the
last time before I come home! WEIRD! Talking to them was so amazing! I
love all of them so much. It makes me more and more grateful every day
for the blessing that as I'm in the field they are protected and
blessed. And if I die in the next two-ish months, we'll be together
eternally as a family! Haha just kidding mom! They are so killer
though! I love you.

But Japan is literally the best mission in the world! I love it!
Here's some miracles from this last week:

On Saturday we had a Music Concert! We decided to bike the 5 miles
there instead of taking the train because it is cheaper and faster,
but man it was steady uphill 45 degree incline like the whole five
miles... If you've ever heard me talk about biking, I'll always
explain this one concept. So, in the world there are two kinds of
hills: super steep short hills and 45 degree long hills. So the first
one is easy, you just dismount your bike and walk it. But the second
kind is flat enough to bike, but too long to make it up the entire
thing... So that's what we dealt with haha. Our less active member
Nishi Shimai came and had a really spiritual time. My companion sang a
solo too and did really awesome!

We had dinner with the Tomita family. Their son just got home from a
mission in England. He's a CLASSIC returned missionary! It's soooooo
funny! You can tell he was just killer in the field though. The family
heard that I love sushi, so they went to Costco and bought us sushi
for dinner and cooked delicious veggies, salad, steak, and gave us
fresh gigantic grapes for dessert! I was in heaven. Soooo yummy!

Yesterday after skyping, we had an appointment with a woman named
Yayoi San. We were feeling pretty reluctant to meet her because the
missionary's teaching experiences with her in the past have been hard.
When we met her, she was dressed up all fashionably (had the cutest
shoes and hat!) and had such a cute, sassy personality to match! We
went out for tea and oh my gosh! I fell in love with her! She is so,
so, so, so, so awesome! She has two daughters and the cutest hobbies!
As we talked about our lives I taught her more about what we believe
and why. She has no solid interest to take sit down lessons, but she
has English interest and I can work with that!

I was also invited to our mission's MLC (mission leadership
conference) this last week. It was an incredible experience to be
trained by president Wada and all of the missionaries in this mission.
We have stellar missionaries my gosh! I was blown away by how awesome
they all are! And completely overcome by how incapable I am haha. Just
kidding. It's a little challenging being in a new area that needs lots
of work, BUT Tama is really awesome. And it's so beautiful, the ward
is great, and there are super cute people here!

Okay last thing! On Saturday night we were looking though our area
book and we found some names that we thought looked good to visit.
When we looked up their addresses the next day, we realized these
three P.I.'s live on top of a mountain... Haha sweet! So after church
we biked the mountain and it took like 2 hours and it was way hard and
awesome! On top of this mountain we couldn't for the life of us find
this p.i.'s house. I was getting nervous because it was getting dark
and we hadn't talked to a whole lotta people yet. So we asked a family
playing in their yard nearby if they recognized the address. They
pointed us to the apartment. We went and tried to contact the P.I. but
she wasn't home... I just got a feeling that we need to talk to the
family again, then I got really nervous which is a tale tell sign from
the Spirit that this is important. So we prepared something quick to
share with them and walked back over to say thanks for helping us with
the address. When we started talking to the husband we told him we
lived in Tama-center and he says: "Yes! I know you! I've been to your
church and I've read your bible and Book of Mormon before." Uh! WHAT!?
Turns out he was meeting with the elders 4 years earlier, but stopped
because he was really confused and couldn't understand what they were
teaching. BUT HE'S STILL INTERESTED! Oh my miracle! I was sooooooo
happy! And we found him on top of a mountain. Haha so crazy. The best
part was coming home. It took us only 30 minutes because it was all
downhill!

I love being a missionary!
Love,
Sister Fordiani

I ordered squid!
Two panoramas of Tama when we were on top of the mountain!
The music concert!
We rode past Squirrel Park on our way to Machida. (You feed and hold
squirrels there)
Avocado shrimp salad and fries. So Good.
My family on skype! My family is so beautiful!

Week 65 Tama!

This week was good! We got in contact with more people and yesterday
we had a girl named Misaki Satou come to church all by herself
yesterday. She said she would love to learn more about church! Our
ward mission leader is really awesome and taught a way cool lesson
yesterday about Christ's church in the ancient times and then bore his
testimony that the same church is restored today! It was awesome. All
of the YSA were super excited to see a new face at church!
I've now met our RC and less active people phew! Meeting and getting
to know everyone can be so stressful sometimes! And yesterday we had a
lesson with Akiko where we discussed baptism. She is our closest
investigator to baptism. She wants to be baptized with her little
brother who turns 8 next month in June. Her concern is that we won't
be able to find a day where she has time to be baptized... but I think
it might be a bit deeper of a concern than that. She is very
knowledgeable about all of the gospel concepts, she has had powerful
experiences in the past where she has felt the spirit and recognized
that the spirit is what she was feeling (which is huge!), her father
and mother support her, but she still seems super concerned.
Today we climbed Mt. Takao! It was really beautiful! We went with
members from surrounding area's wards. Most of my pictures are on my
camera... But I have some pictures of my area and the trip too!
I can't wait to call my beautiful mom and family next week for
Mother's Day! Last call before I come home...

Love Sister Fordiani

The movie is an exercise you do to get rid of rice cheeks!!!

Week 64 Pictures! New Area--Tama

The first couple are from my new area Tama. And the last are goodbye

pictures and movies 😭

This picture was posted by one of Anna's investigators on Facebook.

Silvia Peredo de Nishime "Thank you sis for his work in shonan ward"

Elia Gaitau We hope you get to meet our little one before you finish! Sister-Anna Fordiani smile emoticon
Thank you for serving here for 6 months! 

Ali Assadi thank you our dear sister ,we dont forget you. today we miss you .thank you for all things .our nice teacher and good sister.

Week 63 Odawara Castle and Transfers!

Hi!

No time! Like literally only 20 minutes! So two coolest things:
Went to Odawara Castle today and dressed up as a samurai--see awesome photos below.
Got transfer calls! I'm leaving Shonan! I've been here for 6 months and I am going 1 1/2 hours away to Tama! I'm so excited for the new adventure and it'll maybe be my last area! Ahhhhh!

Love Sister Fordiani