#1 Falsehood: "It doesn't snow that much in Ishinomaki and when it does it is only about 1-2 inches."
Well, last Monday it began snowing and didn't stop until it looked like this:
I guess this was the snowstorm of the century (I can say this because we are only into the century thirteen years) that everyone is talking about. There ended up being about twelve inches of snow! Bicycle riding has come to a standstill (unheard of) and everyone walks carefully (not many sidewalks except on main highways--of which there are two or three!).
#2 Falsehood: "The snow melts here after a day or two." Well, one week later and the snow is still here! In fact, the main roads are mostly clear but all of the other roads are pretty much snow-packed and icy (as in 2 inches of ice everywhere):
#3 Falsehood: "It gets cold here but rarely in the teens." Well, this week we had a couple of days in the SINGLE digits! Hence, still snowy:
Our Church:
Gifts from Miyato English Class
So last week I said that we got some gifts from our English class in Miyato. So we were given a banner with owls (symbol of happiness) on it:
AND two tubes of oysters! Each plastic tube had about 30 oysters in it. They had already been shelled and so we ate oysters all week. And to make the deal even sweeter, they had been harvested THAT DAY! Here is what they looked like:
Some of you will probably not think these look so great:
But I must tell you what they tasted like because most people probably aren't huge oyster fans. They were really good! We were told how to cook them (rinse in salt water thoroughly before cooking). We were given several options of soup, grilled, fried, and raw. Calvin tried the raw and thought it was really good. I tried cooking all the rest of the ways and they were really delicious. They also gave us a bottle of soy sauce/vinegar mix which was good as a sauce. No strong taste like oysters usually have. Of course, I am the shellfish lover so go figure!
And who knew that fresh dried seaweed was a treat?! We were given some dried seaweed that had been processed recently:
Can I just say, I didn't notice that much of a difference in taste (!)
Relief Society Activity
Yesterday we had a Relief Society activity (we have them once a month!) and I have to admit I was a little skeptical about who would show up. It was a "stained glass" activity which you used "stained glass" paints that you get at the dollar store. I did them before at our children's English class on plastic you may remember and our branch did them at our Christmas party but because we had so many people turn out to the Christmas party, the members didn't really get to do the activity. So they wanted to use the leftover paints and let the members do some painting.
Basically you outline in black beforehand (so it will dry) and then the day of the activity you let everyone use their imaginations in adding color. The activity was held on Saturday afternoon which is sometimes a problem because a lot of people work then. But, lo and behold, the sister missionaries worked hard to get their investigators to come and guess what?!! We had FIVE INVESTIGATORS come to the activity! That is amazing since they really only have one or two real investigators on their list. But everyone had a great time and it became a great missionary activity.
The sisters also worked hard beforehand outlining some fun pictures for their investigators to color. Here are the photos from the activity:
And Finally . . .
Yesterday we were able to do service (once again) at the handicapped temporary housing unit. We learned that the plan is to do this once a month for the next several months. I did not get a picture of this but I have posted photos before. Mostly we do arm/hand massages and yesterday I took some oatmeal bars for everyone who came (they were impressed!).
Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that I have always felt a little uncomfortable about giving these massages because most of the people who do this are TRAINED at this and seem to know what they are doing. Me, I just basically massage the arms and hands and hope that I am doing what I am supposed to do. (There is a CERTAIN WAY you are trained to do it!) Anyway, yesterday during a lull in the action the director said to Sister Usui who was there to give me a massage. She did. Then she asked if I would give her one. I was a little hesitant but what else could I do?!
As I gave her the massage, she began RAVING about how good I was! All those years of sewing pillows gave me strong finger and thumb muscles! And she couldn't believe that my thumbs were able to massage so well. Afterwards she said it was so relaxing she felt like going to sleep!
I can't even begin to tell you how relieved and encouraged I was! It was as though I was being told that I was being blessed for the service I was giving. I think the lesson I learned (and everyone can learn) is that when you are giving of yourself you can bless the lives of others as well as receive blessings yourself.
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