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