I HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT CHRISTMAS!

December 28, 2014

FIRST OF ALL, IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHY IT IS IN  ALL CAPS, IT IS BECAUSE THE CAPS LOCK TURNED ON, AND NOW WONT TURN OFF....SO SORRY IF IT SEEMS LIKE I AM YELLING AT YOU THIS WHOLE TIME HAHAHHA OH GOSH...HERE WE GO. 

Our Christmas gifts by our huge Christmas tree!

At Christmas mission party with Yamamato san

I HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT CHRISTMAS!! I dont like this, i will just hold down shift. We  had so much fun in Fujisaki!!! We first got to SKYPE and it was so fun! Our friend, Yamamoto san let us borrow his iPad and we will forever be in debt to him! that was so nice!!!! We are so grateful! It was amazing seeing all of you after 13ish months!!!! 14? who knows, i lose track! we then went into fukuoka city to eat a Brazilian restaraunt, and then wen to the church with some other missionaries and watched FROZEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was so good!! But we had to leave before it was over, so i dont know the ending. talk about a cliff hanger!! for the next 5 months!! hahah but it was super cute, i am happy i got to see part of it! then we came home and ate a really good all you can eat meat place with Yamamoto san and his two friends!! it was fun! he is so nice to us!!! he helps us A LOT! 

But this week has been crazy! SORRY, MY PINKY IS GETTING TIRED...BACK TO CAPS. WE HAVE BEEN GOING ON A LOT OF EXCHANGES LATELY. SO THIS PAST WEEK WE GOT TO GO TO A PLACE CALLED CHIKUSHINO AND YAHATA TO WORK WITH THE SISTERS THERE. WE HAVE SOME AMAZING MISSIONARIES IN THIS MSISION, I ALWAYS LEARN SO MUCH WHENEVER WE TRAVEL! IT IS A LOT OF FUN, WE GET TO RIDE TRAINS ALL OVER TWO ZONES, SEE HOW THE SISTERS ARE DOING, SPEND THE NIGHT WITH THEM, AND GO OUT TRACTING AND TEACHING WITH THEM! IN CHIKUSHINO I WAS WITH THE CUTEST JAPANESE SISTER, SISTER OGAWA WHO IS 4 FOOT 6 INCHES! CAN YOU IMAGINE US WALKING THE STREETS? OH BOY IT WAS FUN! SHE HAS ONLY BEEN OUT FOR 3 WEEKS, AND IS ALREADY BETTER AT JAPANESE THAN I AM! (IMAGAINE THAT! ;) NO BUT SHE IS SUPER COOL, HER OLDER BROTHER USED TO BE MY WARD MISSION LEADER IN FUKUOKA WARD! THEN IN YAHATA I WAS ABLE TO GO OUT WITH SISTER CURTIS FROM ARIZONA! SHE IS SO CUTE, WE HAD A LOT OF FUN, AND SAW A LOT OF MIRACLES! WE LOVED YAHATA, AND WANT TO GO BACK! (MAINLY BECAUSE THE TRAIN RIDE IS OVER AN HOUR AND WE LIKE TO SLEEP...;) BUT IT IS SO MUCH FUN GOING TO DIFFERENT AREAS AND SEEING HOW EVERYBODY WORKS! I AM LEARING SO MUCH! 

Face Timing with Sisters on Christmas!

FOR EIKAIWA THIS WEEK (ENGLISH CONVERSATION CLASS) WE TAUGHT OUR STUDENTS "DECK THE HALLS" IT WAS LIKE REAL-LIFE CHRISTMAS STORY. DONT WORRY, I RECORDED IT SO YOU CAN ALL WATCH IT WHEN I GET HOME!! FA-RA-RA-RA-RA THOSE L'S ARE JUST SO HARD, YOU KNOW? 

BU IT HAS BEEN A GREAT WEEK, WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO NEW YEARS WEEK, ITS A BIG DEAL IN JAPAN. IT CAN MAKE IT HARD FOR TRACTING, BUT LOTS OF FAMILIES ARE TOGETHER, PERFECT TIME TO LEARN OF CHRIST! I LOVE YOU ALL, ENJOY 2014! MAKE LOTS OF GOOD GOALS. REMEMBER TO FLOSS. (THAT'S MY GOAL EVERY YEAR)

XOXO

MESSER SHIMAI

JUNKAIS!!!

December 14, 2014

HEY! Happy day! Is it cold in the US? It sure is getting cold in Japan! We love living by the ocean, but boy does it make it cold!!! But it is ok, Doi Shimai and I bought matching fleece night gowns, with matching slippers, so we stay warm at nights. 

The highlight of our week was JUNKAIS!!! I think English speaking missionaries call it exchanges or splits! I got to go BACK TO FUKUOKA!! Spend the night in my old apartment, visit my old investigators, and ride the streets of Fukoka! it was way fun! We decided to ride our bikes to the Fukuoka Apartment since we are just the neighboring area, and live close the the border. We were riding as fast as we could to try to make it before 9, and we turn a corner by a college we like to street around and BAM there is my old investigators house. Wait a second...but Mori san lived in the Fukuoka area, right? Wrong, comes to find out me and my companion had 2 investigators in the Fujisaki area, and we would go streeting and housing in the Fujisaki area all of the time. We had no idea! It was right by our apartment. Surprise! The Fukuoka Sisters apartment is right by the border. Nobody even knew! hahah so we are going to go try to visit some of my old investigators who are in OUR AREA! how cool is that?

This week we got to go the busiest part of Fukuoka, Tenjin, and sing with some missionaries! It was way fun, we sang on a stage in this covered area between two super big departments stores. It was a lot of fun, and Michiko san, an old Fukuoka investigator, was able to come and I got to meet her! yay! 

We were able to meet with Yamamoto san a couple of times. We just love him, he helps us out so much! He gave us a tour around his house, well the area around his house (not inside his house) we all 3 hopped on our bikes and rode through little streets, and had a lot of fun. He also came yesterday to the church and we talked, we were even able to skype with an old missionary who just went home, Williams shimai and she followed up on some lessons she had taught him while she was in Japan. It was a lot of fun!

Try not to freeze this Christmas season! You are all amazing! 

Messer Shimai

Preparing to send family their packages

With Elder Stump at Brother Heaton's fireside.  E. Stump is from Logandale too!

Hey! 久しぶりですね

Dec. 7, 2014

Hey! 久しぶりですねit has been a long time, hasn't it? 

Messer and Doi Shimai

Well for transfer 9 both Doi Shimai and I are STAYING in Fujisaki! We are so excited, however we were made Sister Training Leaders! We are over 2 zones, so we get to go on exchanges with sisters around Fukuoka, which means i get to go to my first area and tract again! I am so excited! We are scared, but excited! 

It was a great week this week! The biggest miracle happened on Sunday. Yamamoto san came to church! It was awesome, and afterwards he wanted to go talk to our investigator who dropped us last week, Akutagawa san, just to talk to him. So after church we

walked to Akutagawa sans house and Yamamoto san talked to him. He is quite the persuasive talker. WELL Akutagawa san promised to come to church every week, but not get baptized yet. Before he could say anything else, Yamamoto san shook his hand, made us shake his hand and we were out! He is going to be the best bishop! I told him that when our Mission President goes home in July Yamamoto san can be the new President, he said "yes, yes I think I can do that" he is so funny! So we were happy. Neither one are ready for baptism yet, but we can meet with them and we feel blessed to be able to meet with them!

Yesterday all of the missionaries on the mainland came for a training from Brother Heaton, the guy over the MTC. His daughter is just leaving our mission, so he came to speak with us. It was a good training, but it was even cooler to be able to see everyone! I sat by my MTC companion Cook Shimai, and got to talk to all of my mission friends that haven't already gone home! It was fun! 

Oh, and I got my "death call" They are letting me extend to May 22! I am way excited, but sad because Cook Shimai chose the earlier transfer. But that's ok! It was a long week, a good week, but a normal week. It is getting colder, and I hate the humid cold, 寒い!　But I love you all, have a fantastic week!

Love you!

Messer Shimai

WORST. THANKSGIVING. EVER.

Doi and Messer Shimai

November 29, 2014

Do you remember that Thanksgiving when my roommate Abby came home with me and we ate so much (starving college students, right?) that it was even hard take a nap because laying down hurt? #fatkids. That stunk. Do you remember when dad was prepping the turkey and the little syringe with the seasoning squirted moms golden curtains in the next room away? That stain was a pain, right mom? (isn't is still there?) That stunk. Or how EVERY year mom wants to take the picture for the Christmas card right after we have indulged ourselves with food and still have sleepy eyes from our turkey-coma nap? That stinks (every year) Well this Thanksgiving tops all stinky Thanksgivings. 

So we had a lesson with Akutagawa san, our investigator who is 64 and has a baptismal date for December 20. He was progressing SO FAST and SO GOOD! We had taught all three lessons, and were working on the commandments. We taught the Word of Wisdom on Tuesday, and he committed himself to living it before we even asked him to! It was amazing! he understood, told us he stopped smoking and drinking 22 years ago! WE taught how Satan might tempt him before his date, and he understood. A GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR! We were on cloud nine, we were all prepped to teach him on Thursday (Thanksgiving) about Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. Easy enough, if you can keep the WoW you can keep anything. He always shows up to the church 30 minutes early, so we always go 20 minutes early and wait for our member who joints for us while we small talk outside. He comes up, and is looking very concerned over the river he has to cross to get the the church. Oh great, he is contemplating God and how beautiful the earth is, right? Well he comes up, holding the BoM, all of the pamphlets and his baptismal calendar we made for him.....ok? He continues to tell us that he went to a Christian college yesterday and talked to a professor that said if our church says no drinking alcohol or coffee then it is not a Christian church. WRONG. Akutagawa san is sick, and think he will die within a couple of years so he wants to really find the right church. So to "stick it to the man" he decides to drink Thursday morning before he meets with us, tells us he is taking a break from our church, he is going to go learn at that other church, and to never come to his house again. He left all of the material, including the other churches pamphlets, at the church so "all churches can be equal" and he just walked away. He WOULD NOT listen to us, would interrupt us before we could finish our sentence. Just rude. So we watch him walk away through our tear filled eyes of love, hate, sorrow just in time for our sweet joint to bike up, KONNICHIWA! wait..where are you going? Why are the missionaries crying? We explain, and she runs after him, they talk for 40 minutes, and she comes back and explains he might come back if he feels this is right. She was a sweet heart, kept telling us not to worry, and says at the very end IN ENGLISH "don't cry" and gives us a hug. 

I think the hardest part was seeing the one and only REALLY progressing investigator I have EVER had on my mission, A WHOLE YEAR just walk away because of Satan. But we ate at a members house that night, and it was good. Deep fried, battered Salmon stuff, avocado/tomato/crab salad, a quiche thing, and some stew. AND even a pear pie that was so dang delicious. We then handed out 3 Book of Mormon's and 4 baptismal invites in 1 1/2 hours, so we felt a little better, I think God was blessing us. 

Rubbing Buddha's tummy for good luck

Thanksgiving with roommates

Sleeping Buddha and sister missionaries  

We have been meeting a lot of people on the street that have met missionaries lately, and 3 who even have a BoM, so it is cool to have people recognize us now! 

These past two P-Days have been amazing, last week we went to a big shrine called Dazaifu with our friend Yamamoto san (the one who puts pics on facebook) and that was SO FUN! We got to see beautiful shrines, and eat at a Chinese place. He took us, and Kurume shimai, and then two other sisters, so it was fun to see them.

Today we got to go to the temple and we were able to go to a shrine after that too! It was the "sleeping Buddha" just a big, giant, turquoise Buddha lying on the ground. The grounds were gorgeous, exactly what you would think Japan would look like. I would love to explain more, but I feel bad this email is so long! But we are having SO MUCH fun in Fujisaki! We really love it here! Don't you worry about me! I love you all so much! Have a great week! Hope you all ate turkey!

Love,

Messer Shimai 

Making a deal with God!

November 23, 2014

Hello everyone!

Well to start with some good news, we have a baptismal date!! We still have to teach the commandments, so we aren't are still trying to be hopeful, but not cocky! I think I forgot to mention this though, we didn't whitewash into this area, we actually opened it. So it has been fun seeing the blessings from just going out and finding all day. Sometimes it is really long, and even if it is really cold we have to stop and eat ice cream just for our sanity, but it is fun being able to teach lessons. We taught 5 member present lessons this week, which is the most I have taught my whole mission! They were all with Akutagawa san! His baptismal date is for December 20! Please pray for him! He really has that desire to change, and even called us and said he wants to be baptized fast! We are teaching Word of Wisdom tomorrow (it might be hard to teach about a commandment I seem to have some trouble with on my mission..... ;) ) and we are scared that will be the hardest! Japanese people LOVE their tea! Oh mom, you asked if they were Buddhist. OF COURSE!! EVERYBODY IS BUDDHIST! So we start out really basic, teaching about God because they don't even believe in God! But I love being able to introduce them to God and our Savior Jesus Christ. You can just see a change in people as they show that effort to follow God! A mission is amazing!

Bad companion story of the week: this week in English class we were teaching "figment of your imagination" to our advanced class. They were so confused. So I decided to do an example, so I think on my feet, and go up to Doi Shimai and say, "WOW! Doi Shimai, you look good! You look skinny, have you lost weight?!" then I realized that was a bad example because Doi Shimai just grits her teeth and says, "nooooooo.... it's a FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION!" Poor thing, had to call herself fat! hahah. -sigh- I love fat jokes. 

So everyday we have "standards of excellence" as a mission. It is 20 contacts, 3 sudden lessons on the street, give out 1 Book of Mormon, and 1 Baptismal Invite, this Saturday we were having the hardest time to get people to listen. We had talked to 54 people and had only taught 4 lessons, with only 1 baptismal invite. It was aweful!! It was 3 minutes before we had to go home, so we decided to make a deal with God. We told him our desire to meet standards, and how we wanted to knock on just this one apartment that had a light on inside. If we could hand out this Book of Mormon, Doi Shimai would pass off a lesson mastery (a program we have to get our Japanes better) and I would practice a lesson on her since I have already passed my lesson mastery off. We make the deal, knock on the door and the guy says his tub is filling up, so he has to go. But we just pulled out the BoM and told him if he read this by himself he can learn more about our message. HE TOOK IT! He took the BOOK OF MORMON! We were so excited, we were on such a high! it was amazing! Don't worry, we kept our end of the promise as well! God always keeps His promises if you have good desires!

Well I love you all, I will probably email next Saturday so I can go to the temple, so it will be earlier than usual! love you!

xoxo

Messer Shimai

My wonderful roommates!

Making rice balls at ward activity 

Playing with children at ward activity

Breaking the Word of Wisdom Round 2

November 16, 2014

Fujisaki

Add caption

Konnichiwa! 

To start this email off, I have to tell you that my poor, poor companion broke the word of wisdom again.This time it was coffee in the ICE CREAM. If we didn't love ice cream so much, we would probably have to stop eating it due to all of the commandments we are breaking just trying to eat chocolate. But she started crying before I took a bite of mine, so I knew to throw it away. So don't worry, I have only broken the Word of Wisodm once.

This week we had a grandma ask Doi Shimai if she was my daughter. We kind of just stood there, and thought we heard the Japanese wrong, so we asked her to say it again, and she said, "your her daughter, right?" ....hmmm NO. Rude, how old does she think I am? Plus, Doi Shimai is half Tongan and a quarter Japanese. The grandma said we looked a like..what part? Plus Doi Shimai goes up to like my shoulder!! But the grandma gave us chocolate so we forgave her.  

This week Akutagawa san came to church!! Doi Shimai found him on splits last week, and he has come to church twice now! We taught him the Plan of Salvation this morning, he is 64, divorced and lives all by himself. He moved here just a month ago and really wants to change! He is awesome, he loves to talk, so lessons are kind of hard, but he really has that desire to learn! It is awesome! 

You all know Yamamoto san, he is the one that posts pictures on Facebook! We met him a couple times this week, he helps us with missionary work! He tells us what ways we should approach people on the street and how we should teach them from a Japanese investigators perspective! It is way awesome! Plus he always gives us those small oranges! They are in season right now and SO GOOD. 

White washing is tiring, I fell asleep while Doi Shimai was praying and it was so awkward when I woke up still kneeling with her just staring at me waiting for me to say "amen" but I she said it was only like 20 seconds. We contacted over 300 people again, and we are really getting unified. We try to turn every "totsuzen lesson" (sudden lesson?) on the street into a Book of Mormon or a baptismal invite. We did 6 baptismal invites on the street in one day. Sometimes with our bikes and small sidewalks, only one of us can talk to the person. We have a good system down, the one who is NOT the one who brought it up takes out the material (BoM or pamphlet with baptismal picture), the one speaking reaches their hand behind their back (while still pushing their bike with one hand), and there is the BoM or the pamphlet magically turned to the right page. Nobody has caught on yet, but it makes teaching way easier not having to dig through your basket. Sometimes Doi Shimai will jump up and down waving the pamphlet to make sure I know that she is ready for when I need the material. It's hard not to laugh, but it has made tracting a lot more fun trying to turn everything into a BoM or a BI.  

But ya, that is a little of the life of a Fukuoka Missionary. I love you all and hope you have a great week!! Ai shite imasu!!

Love,

Messer Shimai

A week full of 奇跡 (MIRACLES!!)

November 9, 2014

Messer Shimai and Fujisaki

Konnichiwa!!
How was your week? Because ours was full of MIRACLES! It all started on
Thursday when I was able to meet with Michiko san, an old investigator I
had in Fukuoka! Since the areas are neighboring, she came in and met with
us! We went out and ate lunch, I just love her! Her English has gotten WAY
good, and my Japanese has improved, so communicating with her was a little
easier this time around! But she still calls me her American daughter, and
she is my Japanese mother, so she takes good care of me! Their was a big
thing with her and a Fukuoka ward member, so the bishop told the sisters in
Fukuoka to stop meeting her. She still reads the Book of Mormon, and after
we ate lunch, she asked if she could go see our church, so we walked to the
church, and gave her a tour. When we passed a room with a picture of Jesus,
she asked if she could go inside. She stood in front of it for a couple of
seconds, the Spirit was way strong, it was way cool. She says next time we
meet she wants to bring her Book of Mormon and read out of it together! I
am so excited. I feel so blessed to be in this area that is close to my
first area!!
We had exchanges with the STL's this week too! Just so happens, my STL is
Hawkins Shimai, who I lived with for 6 months in Kurume! So it was way fun,
but we had to go to Fukuoka and help some missionaries who are preparing to
go on missions. They had a big Mission Prep class where we each got a
companion who is preparing to go out on a mission, teach a lesson with them
and then go out streeting with them! My girl was just adorable and ended up
being my favorite Fukuoka ward members little sister from Kagoshima
(another area) It was fun, but made exchanges only 3 hours, where we taught
Yamamoto san the Word of Wisdom! He says if he wants to follow it, he can!
So that was a miracle!
But the true miracle comes on SUNDAY! So on Saturday night while we were
out teaching Yamamoto san, the other two sisters found TWO new
investigators! One of which wanted to come to church! So we went and walked
with him to church on Sunday, and Yamamoto san came to church as well! We
had two people! What a miracle! Yamamoto san even stayed for lunch after
church, then he left and we had some more meetings after church. We didn't
know about these meetings, so we had to change our streeting plans, decided
to go to a big street, but when we got there, there was like nobody there,
so we decided to go to an even bigger street, but we were stopped at a stop
light and there was a big road with people, we decided to go there, and
park our bikes at a store called GU, right then YAMAMOTO SAN walked out of
the store! He has been waiting for the perfect timing to tell his wife
about us, and introduce her to us, and just kept saying the timing must be
perfect. Well thanks to Heavenly Father, this was the time. We pretend to
shop (covering our badges..NO SHOPPING ON SUNDAY!) and he "stumbled" into
us and said, "oh, hello! these are my English teachers!" introduced us to
his wife and daughter, and it was such a big miracle. They were adorable,
and when they were done shopping we took a picture outside the store, and
when they were driving away the wife rolled down the windows, smiled really
big and waved goodbye with two hands. It was amazing. A perfect timing,
miracle! He even kept saying how much of a miracle it was! It was amazing!
I still love Fujjisaki and Doi Shimai, it is a great transfer so far!
Sorry this is so long, but the Lord's hand is in our lives! He loves all of
us so much! I love you so much! Have a great week!
Ai shite imasu!
Messer Shimai

I HIT MY ONE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH it's crazy!!

I HIT MY ONE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH it's crazy!! For my one year I was able to go to my first area for zone training!! It was way fun! Back in Fukuoka like the good old days when I had no idea what was going on! I also got to go back to Fukuoka yesterday for more training from President, which is why I am emailing on Tuesday instead! But you want to hear our breaking the Word of Wisdom story? You might think it would involve tea at an investigators house. Nope it involves alcohol in our apartment!! So one thing that all sister missionaries in the Fukuoka mission grow to love is ICE CREAM (duh) and pens! So yesterday after training Doi Shimai and I went to go pick up ice cream and a new pen, we see an ice cream we had never tried before, so I decide to buy it. It said mango and chesnut, I thought it was weird, so why not, right? We go home to eat it, I open it and smell it..hhmmm Doi Shimai this smells weird. Lick the top..hmm this tastes weird. Read the ingredients, well no coffee, no liquor, no rum. Ok....here you try it Doi Shimai..she takes a bite, looks down and reads ALCOHOL .2%!! she screams and yells "I WANTED TO GO MY WHOLE LIFE!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" hahahaha it was funny. Don't worry, we repented. 

But it has been a good week, contacted almost 300 people just trying to find people to teach. Found 2 new investigators since being in Fujisaki, just talking to as many people as we can and trying not to get lost. We got lost in the rain the other day, we had been biking for 2 hours, decided to ask somebody, so we went into a store (which ended up being a liquor store...idk what was up with this week..) and the guy showed us where we were on our map...2 minutes away from our apartment. WHAT?! But we had been biking for so long! But at least we knew how to get home! But it was a fun week! Nothing cool for Halloween, we bought masks at the dollar store, and put them on as we made dinner with our two roommates. Ate at an Indian Curry place in Fukuoka for my year mark...and talked to a lot of people. Well I love you and hope you all

have a marvelous week!!

xoxo

Messer Shimai

Halloween masks at the Dollar Store

Do not eat this!  Alcohol ice cream!

Fukuoka Tower lit up for Halloween

I have been transferred!

October 26, 2014

Housing in Kurume with Hirati Shimai

inenaga san with her 2 year old riina and Shimai Hirati

Inenaga san 

 ward members dropping us off! Akiyama Shimai and Niihara Kydoai

  Eating yaki tori with Yamamoto San, and Doi Shimai

KONNICHIWA! 

Well, like you have seen on facebook, I have been transferred!! I moved to one of the closest places possible: FUJISAKI! It is right on the border of my first area, FUKUOKA! So the district I am in right now, is the same district I was in 6 months ago! I even have the same district leader! Our mission is huge, you have to take planes to some areas when you transfer, but yet I somehow have managed to stay in the same stake for my whole mission! I sure do love President Aiura (Stake President) we have even gone tracting together, and he now talks about me whenever he gives a talk in my ward! hahah But my new companion is Doi Shimai!  She is a 5 transfer (I can't believe I am now on EIGHT!) She is a quarter Japanese and 1/2 tongan! She is way cool! We get a long great, it is fun to speak in English to my companion again! 

I was SO SAD to leave Kurume!! We had that place going good, and of course I had to leave. OH! I am whitewashing Fujisaki! So the other sisters gave us 2 less actives to work with that they havent been able to meet with because they are so busy. SO we are starting from NOTHING! It will be fun, thats what we did in Kurume, and look at it now! The biggest miracle is YAMAMOTO SAN! He is the nice man that puts our pictures on facebook, and that took us out to eat yakitori last week. He works in Kurume, where we met him, but LIVES IN FUJISAKI!! So I have already met with him three times since coming here! He came to church yesterday for the first time in his life! He takes good care of us, and even took me and Doi Shimai out for yakitori again since she had never eaten it! I am so glad I am able to meet with him here in Fujisaki, which gives me good excuse to call and follow up with the sister in Kurume, and catch up with them! :) 

My last day in Kurume consisted of me saying goodbye to my favorite ward members and investigators, I was so sad to leave Kinjo san and Inenaga san, to really solid investigators, but I trust the new sisters with them! WE don't have a phone, and our bikes just arrived, so we have just been wandering the streets, talking to almost 200 people in 2 1/2 days! But the Fukuoka Tower is in our area, so that is way cool! 

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Messer Shimai

We had to stay inside all day because of Typhoon Vongfong

October 13, 2014

Konnichiwa!

Just for the record, vongfong isn't Japanese. BUT typhoon is! Don't worry, by the time it got to Kyushu (the island of Japan that I live on) it had died down! We were instructed to stay in our apartment all day! But be effective. What does that mean? We cleaned for SIX HOURS!! I didn't even know our apartment could be cleaned for that long. We cleaned and cleaned, finished, filled out records and then realized. Nobody had cleaned out the fridge or freezer. Oh well, better luck next time. hahah. But it was fun! We made nabe (really good soup that is practically Japan's chicken noodle soup) and homemade gyoza! (we at it at the Cooper's house before my mission!) It was way good! There were really strong winds, and it did rain a little. Probably the wind was the worst part. This time we got smart, and instead of putting the bikes in our living room are, we just put it them on our back porch! hahah The things you learn as you mature in mission age. The day ended with Hirata Shimai giving me a message. (after daily planning of course) Best companion award. Plus, she is really ticklish so she didn't even want one in return!

But we got to watch GENERAL CONFERENCE this week! Christmas came early!! It was way good! We had two investigators come. One of them was Kinjo san, who usually wears jogging suits to church, but he promised us to wear slacks, and this week he came in his slacks!! (still wearing his baseball cap, but he made progress!) he has already read from the beginning to Words of Mormon! Gosh I love that little guy! He is amazing! Just have to get him to gain a testimony for himself! We are praying he can pray by himself! But General Conference was way good! We got to go into the "English room" Where we ate popcorn, no bake cookies, and a ward member made us SANDWICHES! Granted, they were Japanese-y but they were good! Oh, I don't know if I have said this, they don't eat sandwiches here. They eat rice balls for lunch, or other things, but never sandwiches like we have! 

This week we were housing a big apartment complex, and there were these 6 little kids who answered the door (one kid, 5 friends), the mom was standing there, we were talking about God but she was just playing on her phone, so we ended up asking the kids if they believed in God one girl in the front did, she was so cute, probably 8ish. But the mom didnt have interest, so we left a flyer and moved on. Two days later we went to the same complex to finish housing, and knocked on this door, the same girl who said she had believed in God answered the door. She got really excited and told her mom she knew us! Hirata Shimai was behind the door, so they couldn't see her, so it was just me teaching them, but I was scared I wouldn't be able to understand their answer if I asked them any more questions. So I just asked if we could come back. The mom said yes! So we are going tonight! We are excited!! People to teach! We hope we can go back again! 

Well I love you all, hope you have a great week! And don't forget those things you learned in General Conference! I LOVE YOU!
Messer Shimai

Receiving massage from Hirati Shimai during the Typhoon lock down

Don't worry, because Hirati is so tiny, the punching actually felt good!

We got to visit Fukuoka this week!

Sept. 28, 2014

Went to Fukuoka for training this week!

Before anyone else says it, I KNOW tomorrow marks my 11 months mark!! It's crazy!! Where does the time go!! But I still haven't reached my year mark, so we are ok! 

This week was good! I was able to go back to my beloved city of Fukuoka for training!! Where I got to see COOK SHIMAI my MTC companion! We went through so much together, it is always so fun to see her! And my first area! It was so weird, I kept having flashbacks where I was freezing on my bike, or running away from members because I couldn't understand what they were saying to me! hahah I can't believe I am already on transfer 7! 

We were able to help one of our investigators at the dentist this week! The dentist is fun, but weird. They even take off their shoes when they go to the dentist!! So we put on slippers, and then the person that sits in the seat to get worked on, takes off the slippers so they are just getting worked on in their socks!! It does make it have a more "homey" feel to it!! But I am getting used to never wearing shoes, so I hope you don't judge me. 

This week we also had an open house! President has asked that all areas have an open house to get non-members to be able to come see the building in a non-scary environment (sorry, I am starting to really forget English! Even when I think hard about words, they don't come!) But our goal was to get 10 people to come!! We gave every member 10 flyers, and asked them to hand them out. We ended up getting SIX people that were members friends, ONE potential investigator (somebody that the other sisters in our area work with), and THREE middle school boys off of the street, which adds up to TEN!! We did it! we hit our goal!! We were so excited! It ended up being way good! We just set up the church like it would look at church, put some nice music in each room, and would just explain each room in 2-3 minutes! It went really well and even got to hand out a couple copies of the Book of Mormon, and got their numbers and addresses! So we were excited about that! 

I also got a package from the Young Women this week! It made me so happy! I was SO SURPRISED!! It was marvelous!! And perfect timing, I had just biked home in the beginning part of a typhoon, so i was drenched and a little embarrassed from how often my skirt kept flying up while biking in the wind! But it was so good to see all the notes that the girls wrote me! So fun! I felt the love!! 

Have a great week! I love you!

Messer Shimai

Lesson mastery accomplished!

Konnichiwa! Ogenki desu ka?!

I hope you all had a marvelous week! We are all very excited in the Kurume apartment. Yesterday, one of our favorite ward members gave us NUTELLA!! Hirata Shimai has never eaten nutella before, so we told her it would be "too sweet" for her, so that we could eat more. Oh no, that sounds bad! I think I need to repent! Companionship unity!! I can't lie! But anyways...

This week was great!! In our mission we have a thing called "lesson mastery" where we all have to teach all 5 of the lessons in a 3-5 minute lesson, a 10-15 minute lesson, and a 30-45 minute lesson. ALL BY YOURSELF! NO companionship unity there! Anyway, it is way stressful and the last long lessons you have to teach to your district leader, zone leader, ward mission leader, and a less active member. Anyways, I finished YESTERDAY!! It took way longer than I would have liked to complete it, but I can now teach any lesson, any length without a companion. (which I never want to do, law of witnesses, anyone?) But we were excited

I saw a spider the size of my HAND this week while housing! I was walking down the stairs and Hirata Shiami just gasps, the apartments here are FILLED with spiders, and we like to blow on their webs and see them scuttle away so a gasp is normal, I just deck my head ( i am taller than all Japanese people, so i frequently walk through the webs..) but then i realize she stopped, I look up and there is a spider big enough to be in the Harry Potter movies. It was insane. I just covered my mouth, and like tears just came to my eyes I was so scared. I didn't know what to do, couldn't speak, my vision was going blurry (give me a break, I'm a sister missionary, we are SUPPOSED to cry a lot, it comes with the calling) and I just snatched my bag, took a couple pictures, and then ran away. It was a scary time.

BUT spiders aside, we have a really great investigator who reads the Book of Mormon for AT LEAST 30 minutes every night!! Plus one night he was so interested in it, that he read until 3 in the morning!! We are hoping to extend a baptismal date this week! So pray for him! Kinjo san! We love him! 

Went to Nagasaki, ate some Indian curry (which i think might be my favorite food), received some training, slept on the train. And I am glad to report that my hair is back to normal. Just a little shorter, probably about 6 or 7 inches! I get to go to Fukuoka this week for a training and I am SO EXCITED!!! have a great week! I love you!! 

Messer Shimai

Lesson mastery...check!

hmm....seems like spiders and food seem to be my miracles of the week...

September 14, 2014

Maybe you all got a little taste of what Japan is like with the flood this week ;) I hope you all survived and your houses didn't float away! You will have to keep me updated with the roads, if they ever get up and running again! I hope the kids had fun sleeping at their schools, thats always an adventure! haha

This week was good! It was technically "transfer week" but since my whole district stayed the same, it still just feels like last transfer! I like it!

Remember the man we met on the street last week and were going to teach that night? Well we taught him and it went AMAZING! He had tons of great questions about where we go after this life, and why there are so many churches. Luckily, through our message we can answer those question

s :) BUT he is busy, and can't meet until next week, but we are so excited!

I am looking through my "miracles" of the week in my planner to see what to tell you...most of them are "we killed the cockroach in our house" or "Hirata Shimai killed a monster spider in our house" or " I ate chocolate banana ice cream" or "I tried to kill a spider in the church bathroom, but I chickened out, the spider faked dead and i just brushed it into the trash can and ran away" or "our English students gave us cake" or "we got delicious Japanese seedless grapes from an investigator" hmm....seems like spiders and food seem to be my miracles of the week...

Bad haircut!

But I did learn a very valuable lesson this week that I am sure most girls have learned while living with other girls. DON'T LET YOUR ROOMMATE CUT YOUR HAIR!!!! I have needed to have a hair cut for quiet some time now, but with transfers, and having to go on a p-day I just didn't want to spend time. Finally after our English class I was fed up and Hawkins Shiami has wanted to cut my hair for forever (we have been living together for 5 months now) She cut her past companions hair, and has 5 sisters, so I figured it was safe, right? WRONG! She cut it straight in the back...well diagonal. When we brought the hair up to the font not only was one side about 3 inches longer than the other, but the hair from the front of the head was about 3 inches longer than the hair from the back of the head, so her companion, Williams Shimai,  fixed it so it was a little bit better. But let's just say I have an appointment today with a ward member who will cut my hair for free at the church. Don't worry, she is a hairdresser. I have been walking around Kurume with uneven hair for like 5 days, but I think since I am an American everyone still thinks it's cool. Maybe I will start a trend? I am just hoping my hair will be normal by the time I go home! hahah! We have fun in the Kurume apartment, thats for sure! 

Love you all! Stay safe and have fun! GO MUD BOGGING! 

Ai shite imasu yo!

Messer Shimai

why is the policeman looking at me?

August 31

Good week in Kurume!! Start the email with the best news of the week: a less active member we have been working with has come to to church THREE weeks in a row! His name is Brother Inoue and in Sunday School he said his biggest hope, desire, goal right now is to come to church EVERY WEEK! That is the 5 reactivation I have seen on my mission. I would have never guessed that as a missionary in JAPAN i would see more success with less actives than investigators! But the work is good! I love seeing the gospel bless these people lives for the second time! They have already felt God's love once, and to have them feel it again is an amazing thing! 

We had an interesting experience this week while housing. We had a couple of minutes so we went housing near the church. We had housed two apartment buildings and moved onto the third building. We rang the bell, no answer, knocked "konnichiwa" no answer, but we did hear the door lock, which is a typical things. You can hear people inside, but they just dont answer. So we move on, we knock, there is an answer so I start by saying "we are missionaries for the church of...." There are 2 policemen running up the stairs looking at the door I am at...wait I don't want to be talking to a girl who is about to get arrested, step back. Wait a second..why is the policeman looking at me? Turns out the neighbor who like his door got scared that there was a foreigner outside his door so he called the cops! The police were way nice, totally understood what we were up to, I had to show them my residency card, they took mine and Hirata Shimai's name, address, birthdays. They told us to be careful, and just left. We turn. Oh shoot, the girl we just contacted was just standing in the door watchign the whole thing. She says, "are you ok?" ya, we are ok. "Are you sure?" ya we are..soooo do you believe in Go? "No, actually my family is Buddhist..but are you ok?" YES WE ARE OK. "Ok, well be careful! bye!" hahah she will accept the gospel some day... I am sure. 

Ate a bunch of raw fish this week. Thats never my favorite. But you gotta do what you gotta do. 

I love you, I am going to go try to find a kimono I like today!! Love you all!

xoxo

Messer Shimai

God really does love all of us!

September 8, 2014

Hey everyone! We got transfer calls today, and I am STAYING in Kurume with Hirata Shimai!! We are so excited! Actually, we were playing Uno with our district when we got the call from the AP's, and our WHOLE district is staying! I guess since we all have a baptismal date, they didn't want to ruin a good thing! So we are excited to stay together! We have a great district! We are all a little weird, so it's a good thing we got going hahah I will officially be in Kurume longer than I was in Fukuoka! Transfer 7 here we come!

fork?  what's a fork?

But we had a great week! Yesterday we went to the DENTIST with our investigator, Inenaga san. She was a little worried to go out with her 2 year old daughter. her daughter always screams and cries when she goes into big buildings, so we went to help her (with our District Leaders permission, of course since there was a kid involved) Then we went housing all day. On the way home I was a little disappointed. I am about to go on transfer 7 and can probably count the number of progressing investigators I have had on one hand. I had a really bad stomach ache, but still had to contact people on the way home. Getting on and of the bike every time was so painful, and to tell you the truth I was beating myself up for not being a better example to Hirata Shimai. I am her second companion, so between me and her trainer she knows nothing else. I am always so exhausted, I can barely think because all we do is go out tracting all day. I gave a little desperate prayer saying Heavenly Father, I don't even know what I am doing! Why am I not seeing any success! Right then we stopped at a stop light and a man across the road waved at me, I waved back but realized I didn't know him so, I turn around like an idiot expecting one of those "not you, I don't even know you!" waves. but there was nobody else, so when the light turned green I biked across the street and he said "hello" and then continued in Japanese...they always start with good intentions...he said we had housed into him a couple weeks about but was sleeping, he saw the flyer we left in his post box and wants to hear what we learn! You could tell Hirata Shimai was tired to because she said, "well we can meet ANOTHER day" hahah so we are meeting him TONIGHT! He has been CATHOLIC all his life, yes CATHOLIC meaning, he has s CHRISTIAN background! Can you read that? CHRISTIAN! He believes in Christ and GOD! That is magical! So we have really high hopes for him! I am so excited! God really does love all of us! Even us little missionaries who feel bad for themselves when they are tired and have a stomach ache! 

In new Kimono!

So that was the highlight of my week! That an a lightning storm we had! it was so pretty! It has been raining a lot lately, but it is cooling down! This summer wasn't even that bad!! Well everyone, have a great week! I love you, and so does our Heavenly Father!

xoxo,

Messer Shimai

We just need their help to fellowship!

August 24, 2014

Hello everybody, I hope you enjoyed the summer, look out, here comes school! 

It has been quite the week! we spent two days in Nagasaki helping the missionaries there with their open house! It is quite the town. Let me tell you, it is more hilly than San Francisco and we have to ride bikes. I thought my thighs were big from Fukuoka, just after one day in Nagasaki I think they doubled. Wish me luck next time I try to put on jeans! ;) 

We saw a miracle yesterday, one of the less actives we have been working with came to church for a second week in a row! This poor guy has depression, asbergers (no idea how to spell this), and OCD. He will wash his hands and brush his teeth for an hour every morning, so getting to church on time is hard, but he came again! and we were so excited!! 

I drank seaweed tea this week. It was gross.

We have been really assessing the people we work with this week. Doing the drop-or-baptize lesson. If they are not progressing towards baptism, there is no need to meet with them! Unfortunately, it has made our teaching pool almost to nothing. People here just love that I am American, so they agree to meet with us! BUT the couple of people we do have are strong, and we are working to get them to make a baptismal date! Sometimes Kurume can be hard. The members are convinced they are a "cursed ward" they haven't seen a baptism in 3 years. (Hey, at least it isn't 5, right?) So we are working closely with them to show them that miracles happen every single day! We meet amazing people who have interest, we just need their help to fellowship! 

Unfortunately, the lady who has a baptismal date called us and wants to focus most of her time on her studies, but hopefully we can still meet with her once a week and she can continue learning! 

Well, not much happened. We just go housing and housing all day. It is so hot that nobody walks the streets! Have a great week! I love you all!! 

xoxo

Messer Shimai

WE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE!

August 17, 2014

Found this cute little guy while housing

This week was fun! IT was a little hard to visit people because of the Japanese holiday-Obon where their ancestors who have died come and visit them, so its a family holiday. But we were able to meet with a new investigator~ Inanaga san. and we SET A BAPTISMAL DATE! She doesnt know very much about the church, but we set it so she could know what she is working towards! Septemeber 27 :) SO we will see what she thinks about it tomorrow when we go visit her! 

SO this week for Obon, since we live in the nicest part of town, we live right where they sail their ancestors off into the ocean! SO they all set lanterns in the river, and set them free, the ancestors hop on (they used to send ships, but they were causing too much debris in the ocean) and hunderds and hundreds of lanterns float off into the ocean. Which means the ancestors are gone, and the missionaries can once more come visit people ;) 

It has been raining quite a bit lately, so right before it rains it is so humid we practically swim while we are tracting! but It is fun, good thing I have rain boots! It is getting hotter! Unfortunatley, we have to wear helmets, so our hair is always in braids to try to keep cool.  Pilgrim? WE think its pretty cute. 

Sorry this email is so lame! We are just out talking to as many people as we can! We talked to over 180 people in just 5 days this week!  just trying to find people to teach. We were able to go to Nagasaki again, and we are going again this week! 

I love you!! have a great week! Ai shite imasu!

Messer shimai

riding a bike in tennis shoes and pants is SO EASY!

August 10, 2014

Konnichiwa! 

Hirata Shimai, Hawkins Shimai and Messer Shimai-roommates

Kids practicing for the Matsuri-a festival sort of thing

I just want to start off by saying riding a bike in tennis shoes and pants is SO EASY. Man do the Elders have it easy! We were able to go play tennis with a cute 77 year old ward member this morning, so I email you in the comfort of pants!

A week full of fun festivals!! The matsuri was this week! So we were able to go to the BIGGEST firework show in all of Kyushu! And it was IN OUR BACKYARD! We live in a really nice part of the town, and the matsuri was literally in our backyard, so we were able to take investigators and members to the fireworks, and get home in about 30 seconds to make curfew! It was fun, lots of little booths set up in one of the Shrines gardens, and then you walked down these OLD cement stairs to the river where they had a HUGE fireworks show! Lots of fun, lots of pictures. You all know how obsessed I am with taking pictures of fireworks, you know really important pictures that you never look at again. Yup, I need to go buy a new memory card.. 

Anyway, we have had a lot of rain lately! Rumor is there was another typhoon...but we didn't know so we just kept on tracting! We were in Saga when the worst of it hit. (Saga is were our districts Elders are, so it is about a 20 minute train ride in for district meeting) We agreed to go out and work with a ward member who has some health problems and is trying to go on a mission. That poor girl is TINY, and it was raining so much that the streets were flooding! When we used the cross walk to cross the street, our whole shoe like up to our ankle was in water. I try to be an exactly obedient missionary, but I am pretty sure with the humidity and the typhoons I break the "no swimming" rule on a daily basis. Oops, don't tell President! ;) But it was fun, I say if it's going to rain, it might as well pour, right? Either way, we have to go out and work! 

We had quite the experience this week. So everyday personal study is very first thing after getting ready, and the first 15 minutes of it is prayer time. So we were all just starting our prayers, really having a heart-to-heart with Heavenly Father (maybe some were dozing after our morning run I dont know..) and we heard beeping. Uh-oh. Beeping? Our gas, like CO2 detector was going off! We didn't know what to do! We called our district leader, but he is Japanese so we talked to his American companion to explain the situation, and he told us "oh, its ok. If you smell anything, go outside. If your companion passes out, then its probably serious" Hate to break it to you, but you can't smell gas, and if your companion passes out, you are probably pretty close to passing out as well. So we just called straight up to the AP's who told us to get out immediately. So we opened all of the windows, doors, grabbed our study stuff and studied outside our apartment for two hours. Luckily, that day was the matsuri, the parade, so the cute little kids were practicing pulling their floats and playing the drums, so we got a show! It was fun. A little hot, but fun. There was a big issue on getting people to come check out our apartment, turns out they couldnt come until the next day, so we just took one for the team and weekly planned inside, we were fine. The people came the next day and had no idea why it was beeping, said everything was fine.

Hirata Shimai is great. Poor girl doesn't know English and lives with 3 Americans. I speak in all Japanese to her, sometimes without thinking I will switch to  English and her face will go from a cute smile to this shocked look trying to figure out what I am saying, trying to connect the words (when she hears English, if it is simple and slow she can usually figure it out, but cant speak it) and then I notice her face and oops! have to switch back into Japanese! I have seen a little progress already being her companion for a little over a week! We have fun! I am slowly learning Japanese, lets hope by the end of my mission I will be able to! 

I love you all! Have a great week! Enjoy the summer! Ai shite imasu yo!

xoxo,

Messer Shimai

I GOT ANOTHER NEW COMPANION!

August 3, 2014

How are my favorite people? 

Well the biggest news of the week:

I GOT ANOTHER NEW COMPANION! That makes out of six transfers I have had five companions! Me and Johnson Shimai were so sure we were staying, she had only been here for one transfer and only has 2 transfers left of her mission! I think it's safe to say, I was her favorite companion ;) we were at a shrine when we got the call. It was a sad day. So my new companion is Hirata Shimai. She is a Fukuoka bean too! So it is fun talking about the same ward members, less active members, investigators we worked with in Fukuoka! Which means...her trainer was Ito Shimai, my BREAKER (the next companion after your trainer) So I am now Hirata Shimai's breaker! And we live with Williams Shimai who also had Ito Shimai as a breaker. It's a weird love rectangle thing we have here. But Hirata Shimai si great! She about the size of an 8 year old American. She is 21 years old, on her 3 transfer, and speaks no English! It has made these last couple of days so fun! I speak all in Japanese, she kind of stares at me, I word vomit out some Japanese, she stares of in the distance, and puts it all together and then replies with really simple Japanese. It is a lot of fun. We laugh a lot! She is fun! She just said "watashi no kokoro wa buraku desu" (My heart is black) so, she obviously knows some english, because buraku is how Japanese people say "black" in English. Thats usually how our conversations go.

This week we went and ate out with our English Conversation class! most of them are over 60, and all pretty much fluent. We ate at the same restaurant our president and his wife took us to our first night in Japan, so it was pretty fancy and they even paid for it! It was so fun! We got to talk a lot about the word of wisdom, hahah so that was fun! 

Yesterday we were able to go eat dinner at a members house with Nicholas, the guy who rolls his cigarettes using the pages from the Book of Mormon. Well, the ward members recognized him because his son is the same age as their son. Turns out he has been arrested a couple of times for criminal obscenity. Gosh Nicholas, all I wanted to do was save your soul, but you are making this so difficult! hahah so we will probably drop him......

There are a lot of festivals and parades going on this week, today there is a big parade and little stand lining the roads, and tomorrow is the biggest firework show in all of Southern Japan, right in our BACKYARD!! We have prime housing! we are excited! Fun time to be in Japan!! 

I love you all! have a great week! You are the best! 

Love,

Messer Shimai

Tomorrow marks my half way mark

July 28, 2014

Can you believe tomorrow marks my HALF WAY MARK? That is crazy!! Where is the time going? This week was fun! We have been working hard, EVEN in the hot and humidity! We love it! 

Messer Shimai and her 5L of water!

First off, I want to tell you about our miracle- RISKY CHAN! But you need a back story:

So this week a member just shows up at our house and tells us she has a referral for us! She gave us their name, but didn't know what it was in kanji, so we couldn't read the name plates on the houses, and she only knew the general direction of the house, she didn't know what the address was or anything. So she explains in Japanese all these directions, and side roads and turn right, and then left, and it should be on that small road over there. And she finally gives up and tells us just to sniff it out, the family has 43 cats. We'll be able to smell it from a couple roads away. So the next day we load up with our best noses on trying to sniff out this house. No success. So Sunday we decide we have about 10 minutes, might as well try to sniff out this house. No success, so we stop a nice family who knew them! So they walk us to their house, we visit them. (wasn't even smelly!) The whole back of their house was like their "cat house" It had big windows and fans that were constantly airing it out, and the cats were very mild, very clean house. So they become new investigators and we are visiting them next Wednesday! Oh, they have that many cats because they find stray cats, fix them up and then give them to people that will take care of them. So that night we make dinner, sit down to pray and we hear "Johnson, Messer, JOHNSON, MESSER!!" We look out our window and Williams Shimai (a shimai we live with, who is a direct descendant of Lady Godiva, and looks and acts JUST like Donna off of That 70's show, and her real name is Donna..anways) she is holding a tiny white kitten. It is meowing and moving like crazy. Turns out Hawkins Shimai and Williams Shimai had found this cat in the gutter, covered in blood and asphalt gunk, and COVERED in fleas! They cleaned it up, tried to drown the fleas with no success, so had been tracting for 4 hours with it in their bike basket. They didn't know what to do. But we did! we took her (named her Risky Chan, which means blessing in Indonesian, and well you know the English meaning) and took her to this couple we had met that day. They gladly accepted her. and that is the miracle story of Risky chan. What are the chances we were to meet that new investigator that day! We had planned on meeting her tomorrow! But God is good, and knew we had to meet them the day before! 

It is hot and humid here, but it is fun! We bought an ice cream bar the other day. Melted in the river before we could even eat it fast enough! But that's ok, because our diet is still going strong! We now wake up at 6 to go running for a full hour instead of 30 minutes. We are getting sick of cabbage, but have sworn off rice to try to get our cheeks back to normal size. Oh, and remember last week when I told you I drank 4 liters of water in one day? well I drank 5 this week, just to say I have drunk 5 liters, but then everybody was telling us that you can die from too much water, so we now went back to 2. 

But the work is going great! We found 2 new investigators this week! Unfortunately, one girl we have been working with has to go back to America for a couple of weeks, but we gave her some great church videos to watch if she gets bored on the plane ride! 

I love you all! Have a great week! Remember, God loves you! Even if you are a little kitten stuck in the gutter and you think nobody loves you!

Messer Shimai

Praying for those daily miracles everyday

July 21, 2014

Beautiful hydrangea flowers everywhere!

Konnichiwa!

I am sorry I am a little late today, we just got home from a BARBECUE with some ward members. Don't worry, it wasn't very American at all. But it was very pretty! It was in the mountains, and there was a nice little stream going down and we sat under a gazebo. Japan is cool. 

I can't believe it is already P-day!! Next week is TRANSFERS, and it will mark transfer 6 which means, HALF WAY! What? that is crazy!! 

We have had a good week here in Kurume, just melting and the real summer heat hasn't even hit us yet! It is very humid. I haven't had to use lotion since coming to Kurume. I have replaced my sweet smelling lotion, to BUG SPRAY. Oh man. So many bugs! And these spiders and get GINORMOUS. HUGE. One ward member told us they dont even bother killing them because they aren't poisonous! They keep them in the house to "eat the dust" (she said this in English, so it wasn't lost in translation, they really keep the spiders to eat the dust) 

Because it is so hot

, and we are always biking our Mission President has asked us to all drink 2 liters of water everyday. At first it was really hard, and with four girls and one bathroom, it was very inconvenient. But since we are sister missionaries, we try to go above and beyond, so I am proud to announce that on Sunday I drank 4 liters of water. ( I didn't even have to get up during the middle of the night to use the bathroom!! The various talents you learn on your mission.)

The work is going on here in Kurume, me and Johnson Shimai are just working our hearts out, sweating through our clothes, and are just praying for those daily miracles everyday. Sorry it is such a lame email. But when the weeks fly by, because all you are doing is housing and streeting...it leads to very boring emails.. But mom if you want to know our daily schedule:

6:30 arise, pray, try to be the first one done praying so you can get the bathroom first

6:30-7:00 running by the river! It is always so pretty!

7-8 get ready for the day!

8-8:15 "sacred grove" where we just pray

8:15-9 personal study

9-10 companionship study

10-11 language study 

11-12 lunch!

12:15 be out the door to either go streeting, or housing or visiting people. we stay out until 

7 dinner (cabbage, our apartment is on a diet!)

8 we practice "lesson mastery" a program we have to do to pass off our language and lessons

9 plan for tomorrow!

9:30-10:30 get ready for bed, lay on the floor trying to get the energy to write in our journal.

REPEAT!

Thanks for all of the love and support! I love you all so much! have a fun week! Don't melt!

Messer Shimai

"Nephi" NOOOO!!

July 13, 2014

Messer Shimai with Johnson Shimai in front of Fukuoka, Japan Temple

Trying the nihonjin squat like the Japanese do...

With Johnson Shimai at Baskin Robbins on Messer Shimai's 20th birthday

Hello!!

No worries, the typhoon came and went with pretty much no damage whatsoever. Wait, what? Was there even a typhoon? We got a text from the mission home telling us to stay in Wednesday afternoon and Thursday, and to bring our bikes INSIDE, and prepare and everything. So Wednesday morning we were at out flower arranging lesson with our 91 year old investigator, and she was all paranoid about the typhoon. So we hurry and arrange flowers, it starts raining (like misting, barely anything) and she goes, "oh no! it is raining, we much hurry!!"  she tells me to take pictures of my flowers, so I take a picture and my flash was on, and she goes "OH NO! LIGHTNING! LIGHTING! Hurry, I will help you finish!!" She starts stuffing flowers in the flower foam, grabs some scissors and starts cutting stems in a hurry, saying "sensei will help you, sensei will help!" (she calls herself sensei = teacher) It was scary seeing her so paranoid, so we run home (two doors down) bring our bikes into the living room. and start area book dendo. Which is just calling everyone in the area book, seeing if they will meet with us. There were times when the rain would come down at a pretty good slant because of the wind, but only last for about 15 minutes, and then stop, and then start. But it never got crazy and they even let us out of the house on Thursday after our studies. Nothing bad at all! Bit of a let down, I mean we were prepared for this typhoon. We wanted to do some service! But whatever, maybe next time. When the sun was setting the sky went a deep purple, and then changed into red, so that was cool!

Oh man, but it is getting hotter, and the spiders are coming out!! There are spiders EVERYWHERE! Just on Saturday, we were housing and talking about the movie arachnophobia (I have never seen it!) Johnson Shimai's gaze goes from my eyes to my forehead and then all the sudden *SMACK!* Then she sees the look of confusion in my eyes and realizes what she has done..."I am so sorry! There was a spider!! Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" Ya, whatever Johnson Shimai. That's why we have "companionship inventory" every week so don't go around hitting our companions... ;) 

But the work in Kurume is going on, we are kind of teaching people. Trying our very hardest! Going out and contacting everyday! Oh, GOOD STORY I almost forgot:

So we are meeting with this guy named Nicholas in the Culture Center park recently. He is 67, and from England but married a Japanese woman and has been in Japan for 27 years now. He is always smoking, and is drunk a lot of the times unless we have an appointment, then he is sober. He is very intelligent, teaches doctors at a university and loves reading! But he is very poor because they only call him into work when they need him. So he sometimes makes his own cigarettes, yesterday he was smoking and I notices on the paper "Jesus" "holy" and "Messiah"  I almost asked the guy which poor religion he was smoking, until I saw what no missionary, or Mormon ever wants to see written on a cigarette..." Nephi" NOOOOOOO he has been RIPPING pages out of the Book of Mormon after he reads them and has been rolling them. *palm to the forehead* sighhh...we will work with him.

I love you!! Have a great week, don't worry, I am safe here in Japan!! (famous last words?) 

LOVE YOU!

Messer Shimai

 

Stacking bikes in apartment to be Typhoon safe.