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.

Supposed to have a TYPHOON this Wednesday!

July 6, 2014
It has been a fun week this week in Kurume! It is crazy it's already P-day. Wasn't is just Monday yesterday? It is starting to be really rainy!! Supposed to have a TYPHOON this Wednesday. So pray for us! The rainy season is supposed to be over with...but it seems to just be starting! uh-oh! It's fun. We look cute with our white helmets OVER our bright blue rain suits. Yes, me and Johnson Shimai have the SAME rain suit, we bought them in our last areas. So I think people think we are weirdos but that is fine!

We have had a good week this week! We were able to meet with an investigator, Athena who is way cool. She is from North Carolina, and is a member referral. Member referrals are the best. Go refer all of your friends! Anyway, it is so fun to be able to teach somebody with a Christian background!!

I don't have much time this week, but I want to tell you that I am embracing the culture more. There are a few reasons how I realized. 

1. I already had my rain shoes on, and was about to leave the house when I realized I wanted my waterproof watch, so I yelled "DONT LOOK!" and ran in the house WITH MY SHOES ON. It was weird. Oh it was so weird. I never thought walking in a house with shoes on would be weird. But it made me feel like a dirty person.

2. we were eating at a members house last night and I was sitting in seiza (like on my shins....uhmm how japanese people sit) and she told us to collapse, so we did and I went to sit in criss-cross. I did for a while, but it started to HURT. WHAT? All i wanted to do was sit in seiza! Since when does sitting criss-cross hurt? I was shocked. So I just went back to sitting on my shins. 

3. Since we teach Athena in English, the prayers are in English. I haven't said a prayer in English for like 8 months now!! It was super awkward and I got to the end, and couldn't remember how to end it! In Japanese the order is: Jesus Christ's name, through, I pray, amen. SO i go to say, Jesus Christ....oh wait uhmmm In the name...... it was awkward. 

Well I hope you all have a great week! Keep being so cool and awesome! I LOVE YOU!! Pray I don't die in these typhoons!

Ai shite imasu!

Messer Shimai

It's official. This is a twenty year old typing this letter

June 29, 2014

Messer Shimai on her 20th birthday, in front of rice fields in Kurume, Japan

It's official. This is a twenty year old typing this letter. EEKKKK I am so old! I think I need to call President and tell him I am too old to be riding a bike everywhere.. ;) I love my bike, we all know that.

This was a great week! It is so fun to be serving with Johnson Shimai! We have been asked three times already to have our pictures taken since we are American! hahaha so that's always funny. Look for us on random Japanese blogs! 

So for my birthday we spent exercise time OPENING PRESENTS! It was perfect because I opened up Aus letter first which had tons of confetti in it and sprinkled all over and made the environment very open-presents friendly! Until we realized our vacuum broke and have had random glitter all over our house for a week now! hahah but it made things fun! You guys are the best, all of the presents were PERFECT for a missionary!! So awesome! That day we just did the norm, went housing, and streeting, stopped by a members house and prayed with them, had studies and what not. It was fun. But this week was EXHAUSTING!! having traveled for p-day on Saturday, so we havent had a p-day in over a week, so i was dead on my birthday. But I blame the old age.

We got to go to Nagasaki this week again from a conference! that is always fun! We always get to sleep on the bullet train, so we dont mind!! But in order to get home in time for our English class we had to leave the conference early. But President didn't want us to miss the last part, so he ended up DRIVING us home! It was about a 2 hour car ride with President and Sister Gustafson, and the AP's. It was fun! until President got pulled over for speeding! hahaha Poor guy, it was raining so they made him get in the police car and fill out papers. It took about a half hour with six of his missionaries just crammed in his van waiting! We took pictures.. don't tell him! hahah You could tell he was a little embarrassed when he got in. He get's in, and goes. "Well, kids do you know what this is? This is a speeding ticket. I am glad you saw this happen so you know that nobody is perfect." hahah I feel like our relationship blossomed even more after that two hour car ride. Unfortunately the ticket happened right at the start of our journey. We felt pretty special to be in the car with him. There are 250 missionaries in the mission, and you know missionaries come, they go, so in the end the Gustafsons will have had tons of missionaries, and we got to ride with him! Holla! 

This week the scariest things of my mission happened. We were housing an apartment and found THREE potential investigators. The last house we knock on, the 30 year old guy opens the door, sees me mumble/screams and slams the door, so we put in a flier and walk out of the building. We hear him rip the flier out of the box and unlocking the door. Johnson Shimai says "run!!" So we run to the back of the apartment where our bikes are, we are hiding right up against the wall and we hear him yell like "hara!!" or something crazy. We are just like talking, calming down, get on our bikes and when I turn around to where his apartment was (second story) His face is squished up against the screen, mesh cover that keeps birds out of the aparment complex and he starts yelling again. I just say "johnson Shimai, he is staring at us. go go. GO!!!!" so we bike. He had the crazies eyes I have seen in my whole life! scariest thing ever!!! WE couldn't feel our legs so we had to sit for a while and calm down..we were paranoid all night long! But we are just glad he didnt follow us! ew!

But now that I left you with that lovely story. I LOVE YOU thanks for all of the love on my birthday!! I love you and miss you all so much!!! Ai shite imasu!!

Messer Shimai