Feb. 28, 2016

Today's email is going to be all about our new investigator! She's absolutely incredible. We met her housing on Thursday, talked for a while in her genkan (she invited us in! So rare) gave her a Book of Mormon, and set up a return appointment for Saturday at 3. We showed up and she invited us into her living room (NEVER happens) and she had a table perfectly cleared off with her Book of Mormon, highlighter, notes, etc, all placed perfectly on the table. We asked her if she read the two scriptures we gave her on Thursday and she did! We asked if it was hard to understand and she said, "the first time was a little confusing, but the second and third time I read it it made more sense. Verse 37 was still a little tricky though." Oh and did I mention yet that this girl is 9 YEARS OLD. Yeah. Nearly all adults we have read from the Book of Mormon say it's too confusing, or difficult and this little girl is nine and read the scriptures multiple times to understand it. Now I know you're probably all thinking what're Sundell and Anderson Shimai doing meeting with a nine year old alone? Her grandma is also at the lessons too! We taught them together the first time we met and it was beautiful. Her grandma was mainly who we were talking to at first but then it kind of switched over to Hinata chan. At the end of the genkan meeting we asked if she would want to hear more, she looked at her grandma for approval. Her grandma said it was completely her choice, so she looked back at us and said yes! That's how her grandma is all the time, completely neutral, just letting Hinata chan decide for herself. Parents or grandparents are normally very controlling over their kids listening to us, but her grandma is completely open! It's a miracle! So when we set up a return appointment she ran into the other room and grabbed her planner to pencil us is for Saturday! It was the sweetest thing and after we left the house I just started bawling! Being rejected by so many people just made me appreciate our sweet Hinata chan so much more! But back to the lesson on Saturday. We taught her about Christ, God and prayer. We give her another scripture to read, and a small picture of Christ and a baby. We asked her to pray every night when she looks at the picture and she said she would! Her grandma sat in on the whole lesson and helped a little with explanations when our Japanese was a little rough. She even brought us out strawberries and ice cream halfway through (see picture)! We asked her if she wanted to hear more again and she said yes again! So our next appointment is Tuesday. She once again wrote us into her planner and wrote down the commitments we gave her so she wouldn't forget! 

Then yesterday we were dendoing at an apartment next to her house, and out of nowhere she and her friend show up at a little park outside the apartment and start playing! We called down from the third story and when she saw us, she and her friend ran up the stairs to say hi to us! Then about four more friends showed up and she introduced us to all of them! As we were walking back to finish at the apartment complex, we heard her explaining to all her friends how we are volunteers, and she explained prayer to all of them! She is an absolute kinjin (golden person-golden investigator) and already sharing the gospel with all her friends! When we left we asked her if she had been praying and she said "yes! It's fun!" It's just miracle after miracle with her, and we are so blessed to have housed into her! I think I love her even more because she reminds me of my sweet nieces, Ellyse and Livvy. She's so smart, kind, reliable and sweet!

I love this work more and more every day and couldn't be more blessed. These people are incredible and the time I have here is so sacred. 

Anderson Shimai shared Alma 17:11 yesterday in church and I loved it. We can all be instruments in the Lords hands in bringing others to the gospel. Even through hard times, I've felt so much safety and peace in being in the Lord's hands. 

I love you all! 

Love, Sundell Shimai 

We housed into a lady and her daughter and talked to them for a little while. They were really interested in eikaiwa and just so sweet! They were the last house we dendoed at, so when we finished with them, we went and got on our bikes to bike home. When we were almost out of the cul-de-sac, this lady runs up to us with two juice boxes, hands them to me and says "bread, honey, sugar, hold on...' And runs into her house. We were so confused because we didn't recognize her at first but it was the lady we had just talked to! Her and her daughter rushed back out of the house with hot honey bread they made for us! She had run out of the house trying to find us while her daughter made the bread! THESE PEOPLE ARE INCREDIBLE. 

Feb 21, 2016

My beloved Mckenzie Shimai

What a week! On Tuesday we had splits with our sister training leaders, so we were in a different area for a day and a half. Then on Wednesday we had tons of new students at eikaiwa! Eikaiwa has been really struggling here, like one and two students, but this week we had six kids and four adults! Miracles! Now we are just praying about how to share the gospel with them too!
I want to talk about how important member involvement is. We had so many students in kids eikaiwa this week because one of our members brought her daughters, and her daughters friends. Then at eikaiwa the member talked to and became friends with another kids mom who isn't a member. Now that lady has a friend in the church, and if she converts she will already have a support group! And joints for lessons are so important. Before my mission I never knew that member joints in lessons were a thing. Having a member in our lessons with investigators brings such a powerful spirit and builds a relationship between the members and investigators. That's one of the reasons I hunk Shigeharu San is doing so well. He and Chris kyoudai were already friends, so having Chris kyoudai joint is so comfortable and natural. Shigeharu San trusts him already and gets to hear of his experiences in the gospel. Moral of this paragraph: get involved in ward missionary work! Talk to the missionary's investigators at church, volunteer to joint for lessons, and just become friends with them!
This week we had a huge mission conference (taikai) at which elder Yamashita spoke! The mission tour was three days, so the mission was split up into three parts for the three different days. We had six Shimai from way up north come and stay with us the night before, and uses who one of them was..... MCKENZIE SHIMAI!!!!! I just love her. She was sweet as ever and made me feel wonderful just the way I am. It's so incredible that through this mission experience, I get to build friendships that will last forever! Getting to see Mckenzie Shimai again made me even more grateful for her friendship and example. This is such a life changing time, and getting to see how each other grows and change is incredible.
At the taikai I learned a lot about how to increase my faith to find prepared people to teach. Sometimes it's easy to get into a rut of just expecting to be rejected at every door we knock on, but I'm now really trying to strengthen my faith that the Lord will guide me to people who are ready and willing to accept this gospel!
This week we got a new investigator! We had been praying to find a young family to set baptismal dates with to really strengthen this area and ward. We have met with this sweet couple a few times in their genkan (entryway) and they are incredible! We have talked to both the husband and wife, never at the same time though, but they both were so willing to listen to us! And let me tell you that NEVER happens. We are so so excited to keep teaching them and hopefully have a formal lesson with both of them this week. They have two adorable kids who love us. The last time we came they rushed to the door with their school pictures to show us! It was so precious and definitely strengthened our relationship with them and their parents. This family is such a miracle and we are praying so hard to be able to continue teaching them!
Funny moment this week: So yesterday we had a lesson with Shigeharu San about the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this life we have two main problems we have to overcome, sin and death. Because of Christ's atonement, we will all be resurrected and overcome death, but in order to overcome sin, we have to have faith in Christ, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.  I was drawing a visual to try and simplify the lesson, and so I labeled these two valleys, or problems that we have to overcome, death and sin. Death in Japanese is shi, and the shinu is the normal or not conjugated (I think)  form of the word death. But as I wrote it out in hiragana, I accidentally wrote shine. In Japanese there is 'command form' which is very harshly commanding someone to do something. So when I wrote shine I was basically commanding Shigeharu San to die. Whoops! Chris kyoudai and Shigeharu San both looked at the paper a little confused then Chris kyoudai started laughing and corrected my mistake. So that was a nice laugh. Luckily Shigeharu San is very patient with my Japanese!
I love you all! Remember to rejoice and be happy! 2 nephi 4:28
All my love, Sundell Shimai 

Feb. 15, 2016 
 This week flew by! We have a special moms eikaiwa class that meets Friday mornings and they all bring their little babies. It's a couple of the members that initially suggested it and they bring their cute mom friends. So this week for Valentine's Day we had a party with them! It turned out so well. The party day was actually a holiday here so all the kids had school off and a couple husbands came also! I asked people why it was a holiday and none of them actually knew why the day was special. But it worked out perfectly that they could all come! We played games, made valentines, learned some songs, and ate. Anderson Shimai and I shared a spiritual thought and video (what matters most by president monson) in hopes that some of them would be interested in taking the lessons. It was a little hectic with all the little kids while we were sharing and my Japanese certainly didn't help the situation, but we are praying that they felt something and will desire to know more about the gospel.
Yesterday we had another lesson with Shigeharu San on the godhead. We needed to review it again with him and really have that as a solid foundation to build off of with the other lessons. I think he now has a better understanding of the separate roles of God Christ and the Holy Ghost. Chris Kyodai, the American who served in Japan then married a Japanese girl and they are now living here with her parents, was our joint. He and Shigeharu San are great friends which is wonderful because it makes the lessons and information seem less overwhelming I think. It was so helpful having him, and another man from he ward, there to help us explain things. I certainly don't know what's going on a lot of the time in lessons and am not much help. Anderson Shimai is such a champ. She is only transfer five and is already a trainer and senior companion. She does so well teaching lessons and just communicating with people in general. Naturally though we can't explain things as well as we would like, both being really young missionaries. So joints are very important. During the lesson I was feeling a little overwhelmed and inadequate with my minimal Japanese skills. I didn't feel like Shigeharu San could very easily understand my explanations and I certainly didn't feel like I was making things easier on Anderson Shimai. But we finished the lesson and gave him a commitment to read a certain scripture from the Book of Mormon and write down any questions he had. As we were leaving the lesson Chris kyodai pulled us aside to talk to us, and we thanked him for his help explaining things. He said 'I know it seems like I explain things really well and that Shigeharu San really gets it when I'm talking, but that's not the case. He can understand everything perfectly when me or Fukuyama kyodai explain things, but he FEELS it when you two speak. He really feels it. And that is what is important.' As he said that he got a little emotional and teary (and I love when people get emotional about the gospel). Anderson Shimai and I were just doing everything we could to keep it together and not start bawling! He said exactly what we needed to hear and it was so simple, but meant so much to us. He then talked about how this is interesting for him because he's never been the member in lessons, he's only been the missionary before. He knows exactly how we feel because he's been in the exact same position, just a few years ago. Babcock Shimai, one of my MTC teachers, said something in the MTC very similar to what Chris kyodai said. You can hand someone a pamphlet to read, and they can understand it perfectly, but feel nothing. But when we testify of this gospel with all our hearts, albeit in broken Japanese, they can feel it. And that is really all that matters. If they feel the spirit and the special feeling that only comes from this true, restored church, that is what they will remember and ultimately desire to always have.
Before my mission, When I was on a bike ride with my dad and team 04:50, I talked  a little bit with a guy who wasn't a member. I told him I was going on a mission and he asked where and I said Japan. He responded "Do you speak Japanese?" And I said, "nope! Not at all." And he said "Then why are you going to Japan?!" The tone in his voice was so funny and I've thought about that little conversation a lot since then. It is nuts that this church sends 18 and 19 year old guys and girls to different countries to preach the worlds most important message in a language they don't know! It's not logical! But not knowing the language really isn't important. Teaching with the spirit is what is important, because the power of the Holy Ghost transcends all language and culture barriers.
And with that I leave you all Moroni 10:5 to read and ponder about.
"And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things"

I love you all!
All my love, Sundell Shimai

Valentine's party! (That American isn't Chris kyodai)

Feb. 8, 2016
This week was exhausting! Our mission president has five rules that we live by, and they are
1- work hard
2- work smart by the spirit
3- be strictly obedient
4- have fun
5- come home tired
We have definitely come home tired, which means we have really been working on the other four rules! Anderson Shimai is just a ray of sunshine and she is always pleasant. I've been so blessed with companions so far and she is no exception!
This week we had zone training meeting and it was incredible. It really re-energized me about the work and gave me many things to work on and improve. One of the main commitments from the training was to make a list of five things to give up in order to consecrate ourselves. Consecration has to be the most important, difficult thing to do as a missionary. At this point we have all turned our money and bodies over to the work, by physically being here in Japan and wearing the name tag, but it doesn't stop there. Now is the most difficult part, devoting all our heart might mind and strength to the Lord. Consecration is not necessarily giving up bad things. One of our companionship consecration goals is to only talk about family on pdays. Is family bad? Certainly not! My family is my greatest blessing! But when we are focusing on and talking about home all the time, our heart might mind and strength are not centered on the Lord and His work. Consecration is giving up something, both bad and good,  in order to receive something infinitely better. The Lord knows exactly what we need and is waiting to pour out his richest blessings upon us, but if we are filling all of our time thoughts and actions with other less important things, there is no room for us to receive His blessings. So, when we consecrate ourselves and give specific, restraining things up, the Lord blesses us more than we could have imagined.
Anderson Shimai and I have definitely seen blessing and miracles this week because of our effort to better consecrate ourselves. As we have housed, we've met many people with interest and previous connections to the church that are incredible! We housed into a former eikaiwa  (English class) student who was good friends with a couple members, two other former eikaiwa students, a lady who accepted a Book of Mormon, and a man who absolutely needed to hear the message of the plan of salvation. We have a lot of potential investigators right now and are so excited to develop relationships with them and hopefully begin teaching them!
This week we had a lesson with Shigeharu San on the plan of salvation. When we invited him to baptism he said he needed more time, but we are making progress little by little. He is praying and reading the Book of Mormon though which is incredible! And he still says the most incredible prayers at the end of lessons.
This work is truly the Lord's work! As we follow the Savior's example and turn to Him in all things, we can become more like Him and partake of His joy.
All my love,
Sundell Shimai

In eikaiwa this week, shin San asked us if we could draw Japan on the board. We definitely failed, but another student did an amazing job at it! Hers in the bottom drawing. We then made shin San draw America. Not too bad!

Here's the Fukuoka zone after Zone training

Anderson shimai's mom sent her a cinnamon streusel muffin/cake mix, but Japanese ovens are basically toaster ovens. So me made it in the rice cooker instead! Worked like a charm.