Easter in Japan was great!

Sunday, April 20th, 2014

Hi everyone!

All cereal here is just Corn Flakes.  But, I found
Waffle Crisp...with Corn Flakes combined!

Easter in Japan was great! We were able to go to a families house yesterday for a big FHE activity with different families in the ward. The ward did a huge FHE extravaganza where different families went to a families house and had FHE together. We went to the Yoshizawa's house.

One of my favorite ward children!

Clothes swap and Easter egg hunt

Filipino and Japanese food!

My new scripture case I made

Doing some service road cleaning.  This road leads to our church.

 There were 6 other people there. We had curry, and salad and heard about their conversion stories and then talked around some weird jello dessert thing. It was great though, we were able to get to know some members we didn't know very well before. One of the people there was a returned missionary, he is fluent in English, it was so nice to talk to him! He actually understood me! ha! What a concept! It was a lot of fun though!

This week was baby english class! Since I am now the only American sister in Fukuoka I get to teach the Mommy English class and Baby English calss by myself! It was actually a lot of fun! This week after baby eikaiwa, we had "Kangaroo Club" where the young moms brought all of the the old clothes they didn't want and they all switched. I swear, they could have their own shop. They had different tarps for each category of clothes! Too bad they are all really short and belly shirts and mini skirts are totes inapro-pro. Then I explained what Easter was in Japanese, it was so scary, and we hid Easter eggs and little kids ran around finding them. Then they decorated the eggs with LDS stickers! hahahah it was fun! Japanese people don't really celebrate Easter. The members do, but since Buddhism is so big here, nobody else really celebrates Easter. 

This week we had TWO less active members come to church yesterday!! Such a miracle! We were so excited to have them come and feel the spirit of Easter! It is so hard for people to come to church because Japan is such a busy place!!

We weren't able to meet with our investigator, Ueha san because she was sick :( But we were able to meet with Michiko san TWICE! She LOVES reading the Book of Mormon! She reads it as a novel though. We are hoping she can apply it into her life somehow. She leaves tomorrow for her parents house for three days though. So we hope she can keep reading and feel of the power of the BOM! She is so great. She loves Americans. She had me teach a whole lesson in English so she could listen and try to understand English. She didnt understand anything, so we went back and repeated it all in Japanese. She's funny. She took us to a restaurant Marilyn Monroe ate at when she visited Fukuoka haha 

Oh mom, I met a lady on the street. She is 94 and she folk danced for 30 years! she started when she was 60, and was even on TV! I told her I did some folk dancing and she got really happy! She was so cute!

Well I hope you all are having a great Easter Weekend back home, and that you have an even better week this week! Thank you so much for all of your love and support! i love and miss you all!! 

Messer Shimai

my missionary shoe tan line is coming along nicely

April 6, 2014

Hello! 

Well it is warming up here in Fukuoka! The cherry blossoms are turning into leaves, my tights have been put away into my dresser, and my missionary shoe tan line is coming along nicely. It still isn't super humid. So I am thanking my lucky stars for that!

This week was SO GOOD! I think it was so good because it really ended with a bang with General Conference! I was able to watch it with the other American (and one Australian) missionaries in another room in English, so that was good! The talks were amazing and I am so sad that we have to wait another six months to hear them again! It was like a little slice of home all the way here in Fukuoka! 

a ward member went and got TONS AND TONS 

of fresh seaweed. He gave us a lot...it was so ...yummy.

We were able to teach our investigator, Ueha San. Ueha san and her husband own a barber shop that is attached to their house, pretty much on the campus of Fukuoka University, so it is fun to go a little early and find around the college. We are trying to focus on the young people as a mission, but not very many of them have time or interest in religion. But it's ok, because there are some out there, and they are the ones we are looking for! Anyway, we were planning to extend a baptismal date to Ueha san, but the spirit wasn't really there in the lesson, so we didn't end up extending it. But we are praying we can see a baptismal date before April 20. That's the missions goal for this transfer. Date by April 20, and baptism by May 11!! We hope and pray to see a miracle! 

This week we went out and ate lunch with a member from the Philippines. There are a couple of Filipino sisters in our ward, so we all got together to celebrate Elizabeth Shimai's birthday. It was so fun! The Nakagawa shimai came, and so it was a big party at this little Italian restaurant. Let me tell you, Filipino's are so fun! They all speak Tagalog, English, and Japanese. So it is kind of a mix of all three. I thought I didn't know much Japanese, but when they started speaking Tagalog, I realized how much more Japanese I know. Does that make sense? hahahah I couldn't understand a word of Tagalog, but at least I could understand when they 

were speaking Japanese! One thing I have noticed being companions with Ito Shimia is that my understanding has increased! I can understand more Japanese, but I just can't form the sentences to reply. But that is how Ito Shimai is with English, so it is usually a she speaks in japanese-I speak in English kind of situation. But if I can say it in Japanese, I try! I just need to try and then I think I will be able to see more progress!

Elders in my district

Fukuoka is so great!! I love serving here and I love serving the people! We have been street contacting A LOT! Over 200 people last week! The work is good. The work is hastening, and I am trying my hardest!

Thank you for the emails and the love and support! I love you all so much! I hope you all ate an extra funnel cake for me at the fair this week! Love you!
Messer Shimai 

We are progressing and improving!

April 6, 2014

on a bus

vendors

sakura trees in blossom!

by a pond

on splits with Sister Takahashi

Hi!

This week was good! Things are going great with Ito Shimai! We are progressing and improving! I have already learned so much this transfer, and I can't wait to see what in store for me this transfer!! We can communicate pretty well. Sometimes it gets a little frustrating because we dont understand each other 100%, so when explaining investigators situations, we think we understand each other, but then it's just a little different. But it all works out in the end!! Our Nakagawa Sisters that were living with us moved out :( Our 6 man apartment went down to a 2 man. WE HAVE SO MUCH ROOM! We have a huge room for just 2 peoples clothes, and extra bedroom with nothing in it, and our study room is so bare with only 2 desks! President surprised us to help move the shimai, it was scary. President IN OUR APARTMENT!! He told us we had to clean. It was messier than usual, just because everyone was packing and what not. But let me tell you, it is spotless now. We made sure to clean it! We still get to see the Nakagawa sisters on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. So it is always fun to see them and speak fast, normal english! hahah
We did get a little rain this week, its always just a nice mist to ruin the makeup, and make your hair damp. It's theee best. But I am enjoying it, because I know that soon it will be monsoon season and I will wish it was the awkward mist. 

This week I got to go on splits with a first transfer. Sister Takahashi, one of the sisters that was living in our apartment. She doesn't know English. It was SO FUN! She is 19, and just the cutest little Japanese girl. We just laughed and did hand signals and I did cave-man Japanese. We found a new investigator!! But he is a man, so we referred him to the Elders! We are counting on them to baptize him! ;) I will send you a picture of us! I look like a GIANT! compared to her. What's new? 

We were able to meet with Michiko san this week. It was great to have Ito Shimai there so they could talk japanese and understand each other. We met at the most beautiful part of Fukuoka! It is called Ohori-kohen and is a park with a pond in the middle and a track going around it. There is a starbucks there, so Michiko san bough us juice and cinnamon roll! hahah The sakura where in bloom and there were tons of people since it is everyones spring break! It was so nice! She is progressing, and it will be nice to be able to explain everything in perfect Japanese with Ito Shimai so that she can keep progressing! 

We didn't get to watch General Conference this week. We have to wait a week for translation. So next week, we will be able to watch it! Glad to hear no crazy announcements happened! I can't wait to hear it! A missionaries Christmas!! Well thank you for all of the love and support! I hope you have a great week and have fun at the FAIR!! 

Love you!

Sister Messer

Month 5!

New companion: Ito Shimai

March 31, 2014

by a pond on the way to church

Hello! I didnt even realize I was on month 5 until I got all these emails today! What in the heck?? I am almost 1/3 done with my mission! I think it is so crazy because I forget the MTC was part of my mission! Alas, it was, and I have to use every minute of this mission the best I can because before I know it, it will be over! Life with a new companion is going good! Ito Shimai is great!! She is a transfer 9. So she has been out for a while. She didn't know English before her mission, but she has had american companions and as a missionary, she has to study English during language study time! So her English is actually pretty good!! We communicate in mostly English. I just have to make sure I talk slowly and simply, and she replies in half english half japanese. She is great! I am going to learn so much this transfer! I already have learned a lot! She is from Nagoya, and plays lacrosse, volleyball, and softball. She is 24, and is an elementary teacher! She was less active for about 8 years, and came back to church about 1 1/2 years ago, so she is such a good missionary because she truly understands the importance of this gospel!! Yes, there are 6 of us living in the apartment right now. it is SO FUN! IT is super crazy, there are suitcases all over the apartment, but the other 4 will be moving out this week to Nakagawa! Nakagawa is still part of our ward, but it is a bus ride away, and they are opening the area! It is so exciting because me and Flake Shimai went finding there a couple times the past 2 transfers to try and get it open, and the work payed off!! So yes, the apartment is quite interesting. There is a companionship; Sister Lyles (from Washington) and Sister Jeffery (from Provo) they are both half asian and speak 100% in English. Then there is Sister Higashi and Sister Takahashi from japan and they speak 100% Japanese together. Then there is me and Sister Ito, and we speak 1/2 and 1/2 in broken-caveman speech! haha it is so funny during planning sessions because there is so much going on! Our planning always takes a little long trying to explain things to each other, but it is so fun! 

No, I do not have to hang my clothes to dry. As Fukuoka Princesses, our washer is a washer AND a dryer, so we just put our clothes in one machine for 3 hours and they come out done. It is pretty nice! 

The city of Fukuoka, Japan

This week was so good, we were able to help feed the homeless, it was so fun! You dont see very many homeless people just on the streets, but we fed them curry, a HUGE pot of rice and curry, like HUGE like up to my hip. Then with the left over rice, they added these spices things and made them into rice balls that they gave them as like a "sack lunch" they're called onagedi's, well I am not sure how to spell them, but we eat them all the time. THey are like the sandwiches of Japan kind of hahaha. 

This week I bean dendoed! Which means I took out a new missionary all by myself! I got a sister that used to be here, but went home because she was sick, but she came back out! We got to teach to practice lessons to members, and went streeting. It was scary, but it was fun! I definitely couldnt say everything i wanted to say, nor could i understand everything, but it was a great learning experience, and it was fun! 

I need to send pictures now!! I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for all of the love and support!

Sister Messer

I found Vegas in Japan!

me with sister flake, elder mabuchi, and elder iwaasa, 

on splits with lyles shimai-crossing the street

really cute kids on our ward!

                       

roommates for 3 months!

Earthquake in Japan!

Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy Monday! 

Flake Shimai's 21st

St. Patrick's Day smoothies

Another week in Fukuoka has come and gone, and so much has happened! First order of business (can you tell I go to a lot of meetings?) is the earthquake! Everybody has been asking me about it! So, I did not feel anything! Our phone has an alarm that goes off if there is ever an earthquake that happens nearby just to warn people of the aftershock. So our phone alarm went off at 2:09, we were all so confused because we were in such deep sleep, Sister Flake asks, "what is that?!" and Sister Lyles replies with just a "there's an earthquake" like no big deal. I like sat right up and was like "yes!! I am in Japan! EARTHQUAKE! I have been waiting for this!" (I am not sure why I got excited about it, give me a break, it was 2 in the morning.) and I think since I was so tired I could "feel" a little movement and I looked up and the lamp was "moving" But now that I think of it, I think i was just tired and had a little headache from waking up from such a loud alarm. There was no aftershock, we didnt feel anything. Well 2 a.m. Sister Messer felt something,but we dont rely on her. 

This was a great week! We got a reactivation! Remember that lady we met on the street a couple weeks ago while biking? Well she has been coming to church with her little girl, so she is technically reactivated! We are still going to love her, and keep in contact with her though! She is great! Unfortunately, Tamada Shimai, the one that came to church last week that we helped move couldnt come to church. Her daughter had a fever, so she had to take care of her! But she is so golden, we love her so much! 

It was Flake Shimais birthday this week so we had a week of celebrations! We went to church, we had some meetings, then went streeting and housing after church, and then studies! Quiet the celebration! hahah but we did decorate the room and she opened presents and we had lemon pie! 

This week we thought it would be a great idea to throw a "GIRLS NIGHT" For all of our, and the other shimai we live with, less actives, and ward members, and investigators that are single! We invited a lot of people, and ONE person showed up! hahahahah we played a get to know you question game, and then we were planning on watching the Testaments, but she had to go home early. #awkward So us four sisters cleaned up, and took the snacks home to eat on a rainy day! Next time, we will make sure to remind everyone to come! hahaha

The weather is getting so nice! This week I rode my bike WITHOUT A JACKET!! And today I am not wearing tights!! It is so weird, but it feels so good! We are taking advantage of it and taking "roommate pictures" today because all four of us have lived together for as long as a college semester!! We eat meals together, study together, sleep in the same room, share the same clothes room, EVERYTHING! 

Mom, you asked what we ate for meals. For breakfast I eat cornflakes and a banana. Japan ONLY sells cornflakes and chocolate covered cornflakes. Its their only cereal. and they have one brand of granola, but it is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. For lunch and dinner we usually have stir fry, or some tofu with sauce and rice (mabodofu), or make suchi rolls, or spaghetti sometimes. A lot of curry, lots and lots of curry, and rice with EVERYTHING. Rice, onions, carrots, potatoes and chicken is our main food supply! HELLO RICE CHEEKS! I am thinking when I have a baby in the far, far future, I will only feed them rice as a child because Japanese baby's cheeks are the cutest things I have ever seen! Rice cheeks are not so much cute on sister missionaries. But we shine with the light of Christ, right? So that makes up for it? That's what we hope for. 

Love you all!! Thank you for all of the prayers!! Ai shite imasu!!

Messer Shimai

Conveyor Belt restaurant-You choose your food as it rolls by...and
you pay for how many plates you get.

Part of our district

"Do I have to learn these lessons to come to your church?"

Hello!

This week was great, we are excited that it is P-day though because it has been quiet the exhausting week! We were able to see two investigators and a less active come to church yesterday!! Mom you asked about our investigators, we have an interesting situation with investigators. So one of them we met on the street and she has come to church FIVE TIMES NOW!! But she doesn't want to meet with us, or learn the lessons hahahah. We sat down with her last week to teach a lesson, and explain our purpose as missionaries, and she asked, "Do I have to learn these lessons to come to your church?" and we were like well, technically no....and she said, Ok! I will come to church everyday, and read the Book of Mormon, and call you if I have questions!! So we try to sneaky teach her little principles when we talk to her! hahah Our other investigators, the AP's found, and are turning her over to us since they go home in a couple of weeks. She is super happy old lady, that is so hyper and genki! Then we meet with other people that aremormon.org and stuff so they wont shut us down as soon as we bring up religion (a lot of people like to talk to us just for our English, so we have to make sure they know why we are here) 

Beating futon in their back yard

View of Fukuoka from the Fukuoka Tower

With Sister Tamada in front of church

Messer, Tamada & Flake Shimais

potential investigators where we just talk and get to know them and leave them with little commitments like go to

Tamada Shimai came to church yesterday!! She hasnt gone for 20, when she lived in utah!! it was so great, she is the coolest thing! I will send you a picture! She is so funny, and she stayed for all three hours and was even able to come to the relief society activity this week!! She is so golden! 

Mom, you asked if when we teach if we sit in chairs. Most of the times we teach in the church, so we do have chairs. But if we go to someones house, to eat dinner or to teach, we always sit on the ground on the tatami mats around a little table. it is so japanese-y sometimes I feel like my knee caps are going to explode. But it "hurts so good?" (not really) Ya, there are rice paper things on the windows I guess? I dont really know, we have in my apartment, I thought they were just for decoration, but who knows. All of the windows here are those foggy ones you cant see out of. It drives me insane. Windows are one of my favorite things in this world, and I can never see out of them!!!! Ya, I havent seen carpet in japan yet, but a lot of people have super comfy rugs for when you kneel around the table. I hope that answers some of your questions? Keep asking them, I forget when is weird in America!! hahahaha

But yes, this week was so great! We were able to go out and eat at a restaurant with one of our less actives. While we were eating with her, President and Sister Gustafson showed up!!!!! It was so funny, and a little scary!! We were just glad we were being good missionaries, and werent just eating out for the fun of it! We were like the only ones in the whole restaurant, so we sat by each other and would sometimes talk to each other, but then we would have our own conversations. A little awkward, but so great that we were able to see them!! 

So I was thinking there are somethings that I have not been able to yet find in Japan. I was trying to think of a list and so far I have not been able to find chocolate chips, cheese, muffin tins, and very good tooth paste and mouth wash. They have it obviously, but it is NASTY NASTY!! Oh and granola bars, they have them but they are expensive and nothing like American ones. But ya, I will keep you updated on the list!!

Thank you for all of the love and support!! I love and miss you all!! Have a great week!!!!

Ai shite imasu!

Messer Shimai

What? What are lessons?

March 2, 2014

Hello! 

I hope you all had a good week! We had a great week here in Fukuoka!! We were able to teach LESSONS this week!

What? What are lessons? We actually taught TWO lessons last P-Day, so our p-day was a little non-existant. But that is ok because we took some time off that night, and the work isnt about us, it is about the people of Fukuoka!! Michiko san took us to a SUPER fancy restaurant and bought us all "hamburgers" (hamburgers in Japan dont really have buns) it was crazy. She spoils us too much!! She even took us to another bakery afterwards and bought us more bread! Then we had to leave for our next appointment because it was about an hour bike ride away. It was at this place called Bayside which is a super cool, pier thing. It reminded me a lot of San Fran, it is pretty deserted at this time of the year. BUT it was super cool, and rumor has it that it is a pretty effective place to go during the summer since everyone wants to be by the water! IT was way cool though!

Another super cool thing that happened this week is we got to help Tamada shimai move! She is the less active member we met on the street on my way to go buy my bike! She is moving closer to her work, so we went and helped clean out her old apartment, and she made us dinner which was super good! Her dad used to be a sumo wrestler!! She is the coolest, and speaks English so we lover her even more!! She even came to the church open house we had, and it was awesome because it was the first time she was able to come to church since she was baptized in utah 20 years ago!! We have been seeing tons of miracles, we have ran into 3 less actives on the STREET! How many are there roaming around this huge city? We love meeting them, it is so fun to get people BACK TO CHURCH!! This work is good!

I have met so many great people while being here. IT is crazy to think that I have been in Japan just as long as I was in the MTC! I LOVED the MTC, but it felt like an eternity! I still feel like i got here just yesterday! Sorry it is so short, time just goes by so fast each week! I love all of you so much!! have a great week!!

ai shite imasu!

Messer Shimai

Messer Shimai's weed bouquet 

sakura (cherry blossom) krispy kreme!