Dec. 3, 2015
I love having Mckenzie shimai as a companion. For so many reasons. She
has never seen snow before. So last week After it snowed we were
walking to the temple and most of the snow had already melted by that
point. However, there was a huge chunk of snow on the grass field that
was most likely a snowman that hadn't fully melted yet. As we were
walking she pointed out the big chunk of snow and I decided to have
some fun with her. I said "yeah sometimes when it snows huge (4 ft
diameter) chunks of snow just fall from the sky" she looked at me with
this really confused look and I proceeded to tell her how dangerous it
is because sometimes the chunks land on cars or houses and do a lot of
damage! She was so cute and gullible and it was just so funny. I had
to keep a straight face the whole time because I just pictured her
thinking about a massive snow Boulder falling from the sky. Since then
the choro tachi in the district have been sliding in little stories of
how a snow Boulder fell on their car, etc. She still has no clue. Its
so fun.
Thanksgiving was a really nice day. For thanksgiving lunch we had REAL
mashed potatoes which was so exciting (the mashed potatoes here are
normally stuff
that closely resembles cement) and stuffing, turkey, green beans,
rolls, and cranberry.
Dallin H Oaks was the speaker, but he only spoke for about ten
minutes and it was more of a thanksgiving history lesson. Not too
exciting. The best part of the devotional was the musical numbers. His
daughter is an incredible violinist (Jenny Oaks Baker) and all her
children are musical protégées. They all performed a few numbers that
were gorgeous.
But the best part of the day was definitely the service project. We
packaged meals for "Feeding Children Everywhere" and it was such a
blast. Since Mckenzie and I are stl's we helped extra with the project
(setting up, taking down, leading and teachers everyone at our table,
etc.) Look up the organization. The ceo is amazing. He's a pastor I
think but not LDS but when he spoke at the devotional today the spirit
was there. It felt a little different, but I felt of God's love and
appreciation for this man's faith and service.

Last night we had a Skype trc lesson. Trc is like an fhe lesson that
we teach to a volunteer for about half an hour. Normally it is byu
Japan rm's that come to the mtc and we sit in a little room and teach
them. Now, we are doing skype trc and skyping real Japanese people in
Japan! Last night we Skyped with Megumi San and HER SEVEN MONTH OLD
BABY GIRL. I was in heaven. I'm sure you all know how much I love
little kids and babies so it was a dream come true! I'll attach a
picture at the end of the email. It was so fun to get to teach her and
talk with her. She was so kind and it made me really excited to get to
Japan and meet all the amazing people there!
This week's tender mercy was when I got to host Reagen Alexander! It
was a crazy sequence of events that led up to it but it was so nice
seeing a friend! We leave the same day so hopefully we will be able to
travel to the airport together! I also saw Priscilla last night! She's
doing really well and is beautiful and happy as ever!
This week we taught a lesson to a sister on the law of chastity and it
was incredible. I was a little worried going into the lesson having to
teach about something so sensitive and widely unacceptable. When we
explained what the law of chastity was, she got really quiet and said
she had something to share that she was ashamed of. Before she was
married, she got pregnant. She married her now husband because she got
pregnant, and she has felt guilty about it ever since. We told her
that through repentance she can be forgiven of this thing that has
troubled her the past five years. Her face lit up. It was incredible
that we were able to share one of the gospel's glorious truths with
her. She felt the cleansing power of repentance and Christ's atonement
and it was amazing to watch.
Going along with that experience, and while we are on the topic of
repentance, there were some beautiful lyrics in the choir song this
week. The song was "Behold the wounds in Jesus' hands" and my favorite
lyrics were these: 'Empty is the heart of man when it is Filled with
sin.' I love the contrast of empty and full in these lyrics. I know
that when our hearts are full of sin, that we can repent and become
clean again and let Christ's love fill our hearts instead!
Thank you for all your love and support! I'm so excited to get to
Japan. Say a special pray that somehow the people of Japan will
understand my Japanese please! I need it.
I love you all!
Love, Sundell Shimai
Ether 12:27