'Twas the day after Easter...

 Well it's still Easter for all you in America. I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and feeling our Savior's love especially strong today. Yesterday was the most incredible Easter. We had THREE investigators come to sacrament meeting. It was an Easter miracle! Hinata chan, Keiko San, and Takahashi San all were able to come! On Saturday we had a lesson with Hinata chan and nakamatsu Shimai (Chris kyoudai's mother-in-law) was our joint. In our last lesson we had committed her to pray every night and write down how she felt and when we asked her if she had done it she said yep and pulled out her notebook to show us. This angel had really written at least a line every night with dates and everything! She is absolutely incredible. Anderson Shimai and I are always amazed at how reliable she is And how well she understands everything. When we invited her to church again nakamatsu Shimai offered to give her a ride and she completely wanted to come! So yesterday Anderson Shimai and I waited outside the church for our sweet Hinata chan to show up, and sure enough we see the nakamatsu drive up and Hinata chans beaming face in the back seat of the car! She stayed for all three hours, and the Shokuji after church and everyone just loved her! We had told all the members how amazing she was, but I don't think any of them really believed a nine her old could be that incredible, but now they all know for themselves. During primary the teacher was asking Hinata what she remember about baptism, prophets, etc, and she had incredible answers for every question! We knew she was always listening but we didn't know she understood everything so well! Chris kyoudai invited us and Hinata chan over to their house after church to dye eggs and she was so excited to come. We had a great time and she now has a strong relationship with their whole family.

Dendoing the past few days has been so special. Yesterday specifically I was overwhelmed with gratitude for this opportunity to share the gospel. Hopefully you all have seen this years two minute Easter video put out by the church, but if not check it out now! When we contacted people we asked them if we could share a two minute video about Christ and Easter and a few people agreed. The spirit was so powerful in each viewing and my love for the Savior grew each time. How incredible that we got to share a message about Christ on the day of his resurrection. The video talks about how because of Christ's atonement, we can all be 'made alive' in Him. Through Christ we can be both physically and spiritually made alive. It made me think of a part in the living Christ that reads, 'He rose from the grave to become the firstfruits of them that slept.' Christ is truly our risen Lord. He atoned for our sins, was crucified and was resurrected. He is the firstfruits, and because of Him, we too will be resurrected into perfect, immortal bodies. How glorious will resurrection morning be when we will all be reunited with our loved ones. This gospel is a message of hope and peace, and I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ who desire for each one of us to find that everlasting peace.

This gospel is true, God and Christ's love is real, and they love each one of us individually. There's no happier message than that

All my love, Sundell Shimai  

This is Keiko San! She took us out to a super delicious restaurant for lunch after a lesson we had with her. She's a hoot. She's slightly obsessed with us and our first names. She calls me Abby chan all the time. 

Our sweet Hinata chan's first time at church! How lucky are we that we got to share that experience with her!

Egg dying with Mia chan too. On Hinata chans egg she chose to write 'Jesus' resurrection day' Good choice, Hinata, good choice! 

March 20, 2016

This week wasn't quite as eventful as last week, but I guess every week can't be pure success! Having the down weeks/days humbles us and makes us even more thankful for the miracles we do see. 

Days here are filled with lots of housing, streeting, praying, and interpretive dancing on our bikes. 

We had a lesson with Keiko San this week and taught her the restoration. She stayed focused pretty well the whole time and I definitely think she felt the spirit strongly at a couple points. But how could the spirit not be there when teaching about the restoration of god's priesthood power and church upon the earth again? What a miraculous message. 

We asked Takahashi San, the lady who came to church last week, if we could meet her for dinner this week and she invited us to her work place for dinner. It's a teeny place that's only open for dinner and it was incredible. The owner and Takahashi San both speak a little English so we just sat and talked with them both as he cooked. I'll include a picture of one of the dishes he made us- he was a hoot! Last week after church Takahashi San texted us and said how much she loved our eyes and how beautiful they were. It was kind of a strange text but as I thought about it I realized it was the spirit that she saw in us and loved. The first thing she said to the owner of the store after she introduced us was 'look at their eyes! Look into their eyes! Aren't they beautiful' It was the sweetest thing. I don't feel like we have a particularly special look about us, but she was sensitive to the spirit enough to recognize the spirit. She has a very special kind spirit about her, and I know that will just be magnified as she continues hearing the lessons and progressing towards baptism. 

I want to share a little quote from Brigham young about missionary work. 

"Go in the name of the Lord, trust in the name of the Lord, lean upon the Lord, and call upon the Lord fervently and without ceasing, and pay no attention to the world...This is the way to go; and if you do not do that, your hearts will ache."

For me, one of the hardest things about being a missionary has been completely focusing on the work and not getting distracted by memories of home or the past. It's sometimes very difficult to 'pay no attention to the world,' but the times that I have been completely immersed in the work have been the happiest times. It's a constant effort to not let my mind wander to my family and friends. However, I have felt the Lord patience, loving kindness, help and grace as I strive to center my mind on my mission. I know that as I, or any missionary, pay no attention to the world, that our hearts won't ache with regret. 

All my love, Sundell Shimai 

A gorgeous lake we dendoed by. Japan is stunning, and it's about to get more stunning with the cherry blossoms booming soon! 

March 14, 2016

This week was miracles galore. We had a lesson with Shigeharu San, hinata chan, Keiko San (a new investigator we found housing, she's in her 50s) and we had a lady come to church! 

Takahashi San is a sweet lady that komatsu Shimai and I met streeting back in January. We talked with her and her daughter about baptism and gave them a Book of Mormon and swapped numbers. She said she'd be busy for the next couple months and to call in March or so. So Anderson Shimai and I called her and she said she still had interest and that she would come to church on Sunday! She invited herself to church. And we didn't have to plead. And we understood what she was saying. Over the phone. In Japanese. Miracles my friends! And then she actually came! The second and third hour the ward mission leader taught a lesson about God and Christ and this life's purpose and she intently listened the whole time. He also went off on a little tangent about the word of wisdom and I was just terrified it would scare her away, but it didn't! We are going to have dinner with her this week and she is so excited to meet with us again and learn more! She knows a little English and when she texts us it's half in English and half in Japanese. It's the cutest. The lord is truly blessing us with the most patient, kind investigators. Between her, Hinata chan, Shigeharu San, and Keiko San, we are being so so so blessed. 

Yesterday in our lesson with Shigeharu San we talked about faith. We read from alma 32 about a seed of faith being planted and how, like plants, we need things to be nourished and grow. Those things being scripture study, prayer, and church. When we started meeting with Shigeharu San, he did not understand the scriptures. But last night as we asked him to read a few verses, he completely understood and then shared his feeling and thoughts about them too! He is making so much progress, we just need to help him realize his faith! Chris kyoudai was our joint again and he was wonderful as ever. He's just a powerhouse of simple, powerful testimonies and explanations of the things we are teaching. We talked again about baptism with him and a little about his concerns. He said it was a little scary that it was in water. We were a little confused but figured he probably just wasn't a fan of water. Turn out he thought he had to be baptized in a river like in the picture we showed him of Christ being baptized by John the Baptist. Luckily we were in the church for the lesson so we walked over to the font and opened it up to show him! He was much less concerned after that, so at least we were able to dispel one of his concerns. 

This week I've been thinking about how much the Lord is in the details of our lives. One day this week we had picked a place from a map to dendo, and got there to find a big empty field. We decided to just do some apartments close by, but it was a really slow time of the day. I was kind of bummed and just questioning if we were really where the lord needed us to be because our initial plan was a dud. Then miraculously we housed into two of our eikaiwa students, one being a little girl who was home alone, and the other being a mom and her two kids who we just adore. The mom invited us in and we looked at her photo albums, she fed us, and we just talked with her. She doesn't have interest in the gospel right now, but being able to strengthen our relationship with her was so incredible. So, I'm realizing more and more that the lord really is guiding us every day even when I don't realize it at first. Because after all, this is His work.

Please pray for all of our incredible investigators! They are all miracles and are so dear to Anderson Shimai and I. 

Thank you all for your love and support! 

Love, Sundell Shimai 

Here's picture proof that the Lord is patient with us, despite our imperfection (mine being struggling though morning studies sometimes and zonking out) ((at least I have the grammar book cracked open in my hand, right?))

The relief society had a spring vegetables cooking class this week! Deeeeeeeelicious. Not sure if I could even find half these ingredients in America though. 

March 7, 2016
Dear family and friends, 

This week is transfers, but we haven't gotten the call yet, so this could be my last email from Maebaru! Hopefully not though because I love it here as much as ever and I love Anderson Shimai as much as ever. 

This week we definitely a slower one, but things are still good here. Shigeharu san has been really busy with school so we haven't been able to meet with him. I think it finishes this month though so hopefully he will be able to meet again soon. We had a lesson with sweet Hinata chan about baptism and the Holy Ghost that went pretty well. It was a little hard to explain things, but she was a champ as always and committed to keep praying and read another scripture from the Book of Mormon that we assigned her. We had another appointment set for Saturday, but she got the flu so it was cancelled. So hopefully this next week will be more successful as far as lessons go! 

There wasn't really anything big that happened this week, just many little things that made me love it here even more. People here are incredible. Really everyone is so kind. At our district meeting our district leader said something to the effects of 'if you ever feel down about not being able to speak Japanese, just remember how blessed you are to live in a country that loves America and English.' We have so many fun little moments inviting people to eikaiwa. Everyone is always so excited to speak a little English to us and it really is a blessing being able to communicate and make friendships that way! Just yesterday Anderson Shimai and I were biking and were stopped at a light. A huge group of high school kids on bikes came up behind us and we asked them if they like English. They all said yes so we gave them fliers and had a simple little conversation with them and it was just so sweet. Then later we biked up next to three teens on bikes and I handed them all eikaiwa fliers, as we were still biking,  (my bikes skills are getting pretty good, friends) and they just got a kick out of it. Then after talking to them for a minute we rode away and we hear one of the boys yell 'tanoshii! Tanoshii!' Fun fun! It was so cute. So yes even though my Japanese is still very rough at least I can have simple English conversations with most people! It's still weird to me though when I ride by someone and say konnichiwa and they reply 'hello!' Or 'herro' with the Japanese English accent li love so much. I sometimes forget that I don't look like everyone else here!

I'm just very thankful for this opportunity to be a missionary. There are many times that I feel inadequate, discouraged, weak, and just kind of like I cant make it to what I want to become, but the joyful, hope filled moments trump the bad ones. I'm constantly reminded of our Savior's perfect patience and love. He is truly in the details of our lives and has a perfect plan for each of us. Now just always having faith in that plan and never doubting is what I'm working on ;) 

Anderson Shimai and I read 'The Living Christ' yesterday in our companion study and I was reminded of how much I love it. Give it a read this week and then just take a moment to let it sink in. If you're anything like me, it'll make you bawl. But then again what spiritual thing doesn't bring me to tears? 

I love you all! 

Love, Sundell Shimai 

Our suteki district 

We were excited to dendo by the ocean 

Japanese ramen shops have my heart