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

New companion and visiting Fukuoka temple

Sunday, June 22, 2014

こんばんは！

How is everyone?! I am back in FUKUOKA for the weekend! It is so great to be back! So weird, let me tell you!! First of all, YES I got Sister Johnson as a companion! She is great!! She is 21, from South Jordan, and is on transfer 10. So she goes home in October!! She is amazing. It is weird to be with an American! hahah It was SO FUNNY when we were saying goodbye to Suzuki Shimai at the station on Thursday, a lot of ward members came to say goodbye to her and Oi Shimai who was also going home. We were running a little late, so Suzuki Shimai had to run to get her train. To get to the platform, you have to go down an escalator, we were all waving, yelling, saying bye and then she gets out of sight and we hear this crashing noise! Her suite case had fallen all the way down the escalator. We all kind of just go silent, look at the security guard who is watching the cameras, he runs over, looks over the edge and gives us a thumbs up and says "daijobu!" Which is like "OK!" hahah it was so funny! We all just looked at each other and started busting up laughing...that is so typical Suzuki Shimai! hahah perfect last impression!

But yes, I am in Fukuoka! We woke up, rode the train to Fukuoka, rode a bus to the temple and got to go through a session there. It was such a small temple, the baptismal font is on the same floor as everything else! There are four of us Americans now in Kurume, so it is an adventure! The temple workers had to give us the biggest sizes of shoes and dresses they had just to be long enough! Luckily, the biggest shoes they had were 9, so they fit fine. The dress was still a little short...but what are you going to do? hahah It was interesting, I had to have a headset, neat experience! 

After the temple we walked to my favorite Indian curry place, caught a train to the shopping place in Fukuoka and then went shopping in Forever 21, and H&M. It was pouring rain, but so fun! None of us even got anything though!! And who said Americans cant read kanji? We made it all around Fukuoka!! On the way to the station a miracle happened. We met MICHIKO SAN!! I had emailed her I was going to FUkuoka, but we never decided a time. She had been waiting all day in the shopping place for us, but when we never showed she left. We met her on the way home!! it was SO GOOD TO SEE HER!! She is the cutest! The missionaries don't meet with her anymore..:( but hopefully soon. 

Well I hope you have a good week! Next time I email I will be 20! CRAZY!! I dont want to be old!

Love you!!!

Have a great week! 

Ai shite imasu!

p.s. I was so excited to email pictures this week...but we dont have time! booo!!

Messer Shimai

Crazy crazy Kurume

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Crazy crazy Kurume. That is all I can say. It has been a crazy week.

Unfortunately, Suzuki Shimai is going home :( There are some things that need to be worked out, which means I get a new companion :( I am so sad!! President actually called me on Thursday (scary scary scary) and when I answered he said, "Awee Messer Shimai, is this my girl? I am so sorry. This is your dad. Your sergeant dad. How are you?" It was so sad, but so nice to hear from him. He told me he would be sending my companion home and my new companion would be great. He promised me an amazing companion. I said, "Do you promise?" and he said "Well ya, actually it's Johnson Shimai" ahhh! He told me a whole week early!! We still haven't gotten transfer calls, but he said as long as nothing changed I would be staying in Kurume with Johnson Shimai. An American! can you imagine?! That's going to be really awkward if something did end up changing....

This week something horrible happened (bad news first) I GOT TWO FLAT TIRES!! I was about 25 minutes away at a less active members house, and when I was biking home, every time I would turn a corner I could feel like a slipping feeling. I realized, duh! You need air! We were going to the train station about 45 mintues away by bike. Oh shoot! It got all the way flat, to the point where I couldn't even ride anymore! So we walked to the station, ditched my bike there. Went to our appointment and took a bus home. The next day we had to walk to the station, went and got it fixed, and then on the way home I was so happy that my bike was fixed I got off of it and went to hug my tire. When I was embracing the tire...I heard a horrible "ssssssssssssss" noise. NOOOO LITTLE MIKEY!! So I said "Suzuki Shimai we have to go back to the bike shop!!" I biked like the wind, we got half way and it was completely flat again, walked back to the shop and this time they fixed it for reals. FOR FREE! yay! They said I have to go back EVERY week! Pshh..maybe every month. Aint nobody got time (or money) for that! But no worries. little Mikey is all fixed, and if anybody reading this thought I was weird for hugging my tire, it saved me, so I don't want to hear it! 

Now for the miracle moment!! This week we were eating at a members house, she said she was bringing a FRIEND!! This member is an English teacher from Washington! An RM! She is so cool! Her friend was AMERICAN too! She speaks ENGLISH! Her name is Athena, from North Carolina. SO COOL. So cool. We gave her a Book of Mormon, were able to eat dinner with her at the church on Saturday and she showed up to church on Sunday with her member friend!! She says she just plans on coming every week, except next week since we will be in FUKUOKA for stake conference! Oh ya, so I will email Saturday (your Friday), and wont email Monday. So like 4 days! hahah By then I will know who my companion is!

Riding on train to Nagasaki

Sunday we met a TOTALLY WASTED British man! We were in these beautiful rose gardens with a member, and a drunk man walks over and starts talking to us. He is so drunk, but so funny. He is like a super genius. We ended up talking for like 1 1/2 hours. He teaches doctors (ok, so he was drunk, but not lying..) he speaks like every European language. He is a super genius, which I think makes him a little wacky. We followed him home, so we know where he lives, so we can visit him when he is sober! hahah. Nice to talk in English! Plus, the member was fluent in English. holla! 

Well, crazy week. I wish I could send you pictures! We got to go to Nagasaki again, and I stayed awake for the train ride home! that's a first! Took tons of pictures! Maybe my next area I will send you everything! hahh 

Have a great week! Thanks for letting me ramble to you! I love you all! Enjoy your summer!

Ai shite imasu!!

Messer Shimai