We received our transfer call today. I'm staying in Chiba! Sister G. is moving! My new companion is Brazilian! I feel like I'm going to explode!
I love missionary work. Before I used to think that living out of a suitcase was the worst bit of missionary work, but now I know it's inherent and I love it. In Japanese, the kanji for "missionary work" and "transfer" have the same radical (a radical is a piece of kanji, not the whole thing).
Missionary Work: 伝道
Transfer: 転勤
Do you see it? That little triangle bit? I love transfers. I'm always incredibly sad my final night with my companion. Then I wake up and hit he pavement running with my next companion, happier than ever. If you're wondering what that looks like I think the closest image is a dog chasing cars on the highway. Tongue out, (pony) tail wagging, smiling, sprinting. That's a darn good image of what I look like on the streets of Tokyo.
That same triangle radical is also in the Japanese word for bike: 自転車
Which has been giving me a lot of heartache lately. The brake quit on me, both tires are flat, and all I can do is put my hands on my hips and yell at it: "I'M TIRED TOO, BIKE. I FEEL THE SAME WAY. YOU DON'T SEE ME GIVING UP DO YA?! THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!" Still got something like a year to go. That bike HAS to hold up.
I realized something this week. I am always hungry. You know how everyone has a mission story about how they were just fed and fed and fed until they could not eat anymore and then they were fed again? That's never happened in the seven months I've been out here. Not that I'm not fed well, I am, but I am just so monstrously hungry all the time, no one meal can satisfy me. Example: Last Sunday night we had totally forgotten about a dinner appointment we had. We had an entire meal. I'm talking potatoes, rice, loads of carbs. Then, upon remembering about the appointment, we went and ate another entire meal. Our second meal was pasta. I ate two whole meals without even the slightest problem. I could have kept on eating! But I think that's a lesson I learned that I will keep all my life: I don't need to eat as much as I do. Full doesn't necessarily mean nourished. After these seven months, yeah I have 't eaten until I was full but I've eaten enough to have the energy to do the hardest, longest, thing I've ever done in my life. I feel great. The bummer is my next companion likes to have all meals separate so I'm going to have to get used to only cooking for one from here on out...
I am so sorry that this email is all over the place. As I'm writing this I'm pausing. As Sister Training Leader, whenever there are transfers I have to look over my sisters. I have to decide who goes where and what route and even the train that these sisters have to take. The thing is, as missionaries we can't ever be alone so it's a tricky business. So I'm writing this email, making plans, receiving complaints, pausing, responding, making more plans, emailing, calling, writing this email, and it's just a mess. Really, I should only have to worry about the Sisters in my zone, but because the new sisters coming in are from different zones, those sisters get involved and then the Sister Training Leaders of that zone email back with complaints and then all of the sudden you're making plans for three additional zones and it's just a mess. Like you think that run on sentence was ugly you should see the white board at the church.
I love missionary work! This week N---- told us she wants to be a missionary. This week was also the last Mission Leadership Council with the Budges. I cried. Then I came home to Sister G. and my bike broke down a little more and I cried again. We watched "Mountains to Climb" at a party on Friday and I cried again. My mom wrote me some things that friends had written in Billy's year book and I cried again. On Sunday we got eggs, toilet paper, cereal, spam, and cherries and I cried again. I've cried throughout my mission, but this week was extra special.
Well family! Know that God loves you and wants to bless you. He's answering your prayers on my behalf every single minute of every single day. God's church is growing every day. The windows of heaven are wide open over Japan.
See you soon,
Sister Goldsberry
A dad in the Japan Tokyo mission added this picture on FB with the following caption: "Look Sister Jenny Goldsberry's parents, your kid is a missioanry"
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