Dec. 10, 2015
 Last pday in the mtc! We fly out on Monday morning and leave the MTC
at around 4 am. It's really unreal that we are all finally breaking
out of the mtc bubble and will be teaching and finding real people.

I am practically fluent in Japanese now- here is my reasoning. You
know when people say that once you dream in your mission language,
you've made it and are fluent? Well I one upped that. Apparently I
sleep talk a lot at night and my roommates hear me. A few nights ago I
sat up in my bed, started slapping the wall like I was looking for
something, abruptly stopped, then said "ちょろうたち、たすけてください" which
translates to 'elders, please help!' So instead of dreaming in
Japanese, I sleep talk in Japanese!

One night this week, Mckenzie was sick so we went to the residence
early so that she could sleep. I was able to just sit in the hallway
and read scriptures for a few hours. The two main things that stuck
out to me were missionary work and Angels. There are so many amazing
examples of missionaries in the scriptures, they are really our
examples to follow! (Alma 26:27 is my favorite missionary scripture
right now) ((don't just read that verse though, read Ammon's entire
story)) Angles aid missionary work and I know that heaven is behind us
in this work. I'm especially lucky because I have an angel on my side
that likes Japan quite a bit, and I'm sure he will take good care of
me!

The devotional speaker this week was Bonnie L Oscarson, the general
young women's president of the church. She shared a lot of inspiring
life experiences from when her and her husband lived in Sweden as he
was a mission president. During the devotional I received a lot of
comfort and peace. I've been pretty nervous about going to Japan.
Sister Oscarson shared how much she loved her time in Sweden and the
people and missionaries she got to know there. I all the sudden
realized that I don't need to be worrying about going to Japan! In
three days I get to go to a country that will always hold a special
and sacred place in my heart. I'll have so many amazing experiences
there and I get to share this perfect gospel with the amazing people
of Japan. Also, I get to escape the mtc food and eat Japan's delicious
food instead- that's what's getting me through these last few days!
I'm convinced the mtc shortened Asian language's mtc stay from 12 to 9
weeks because the food was killing people off.

Well, the next email I send will be from Japan! I'm so excited to
serve the people there and I can't wait! This gospel is perfect!

All my love,
Sundell Shimai

My four favorite people! We all have so much fun together and have
grown so close over the past nine weeks. The two elders on the right
are serving in Nagoya so we will have to say bye to them on Monday.
You bet there will be tears. Besides that the rest of my district is
serving in Fukuoka!

Mckenzie and I reenacting the nativity on our Sunday temple walk