April 3, 2016

Congratulations to my incredible parents on their mission call to West Virginia! I don't know much about senior missions, but if they're anything like regular ones, you guys have a lot of incredible experiences in store. 

This week we had a lot of activities and events that didn't leave much time for dendo, so it was a slower week in that sense, but we did have a lot of fun experiences. We had junkai (splits) this week and I got to junkai with Horio Shimai! It was so strange being with a nigonjin again after being away from komatsu Shimai for so long. Dendoing with a Japanese companion is so different than an American. I feel like people more quickly reject Japanese missionaries. I was able to learn a few really good examples from her that I can use in teaching and I'm really excited to practice them. 

Though there weren't a lot of big events that happened this week, there were a few small moments that left me thinking about the Lord's timing. I feel like I have spiritual promptings very often, and I try my best to always act on them, but they rarely turn out the way I expected or hoped for. Anderson Shimai and I have felt prompted multiple times to go to a former investigators (10 ish years ago) and try and contact him again. We had ridden out to his house, pretty far and definitely out of the way, three times and each time no one was home. We decided to try again this week and when we got there his wife and kids were playing outside, though he wasn't home. We talked with her for a little bit, but she quickly rejected our invitation to hear our message again. We were able to build a small relationship with her though. As we biked away, I felt a little disappointed that nothing resulted from the visit that we had been having promptings about the past couple months. But I realized that we had done what the Lord had asked us to do, and that was all that mattered. That brief contact was what the lord had planned and somehow that fits into His grand plan for this family. Missionary work is filled with a lot of those little moments. It's difficult not seeing huge grand miracles every day, but we get to see the little seeds and events that eventually lead up to people's miraculous conversion. I'm so thankful for the Lords precious, perfect timing. 

Yesterday after church Anderson Shimai and I were talking about all the incredible members here. The bishop and his wife hold an especially special place in our hearts. They live an hour drive away from the church building, yet they never miss a Sunday, an activity, or a chance to serve others. We are so blessed to be able to learn from these members, and I know I will never forget their example, or the things I have learned from simply watching them. My favorite quote from Anderson Shimai yesterday as we were talking about the bishops family is "the celestial kingdom is going to be full of Japanese people." I couldn't agree more. 

Lots of love, Sundell Shimai

Here's Horio Shimai! She taught me an incredibly useful word during junkai- 'shirome' white eye or eye roll. Apparently I roll my eyes a lot (mom I think I get it from you). So we took a picture to commemorate it.

We had zone pday and a picture contest. Anderson Shimai and I decided to try a sick headstand picture which failed multiple times. And resulted in me landing on her and slight wounding her jaw for a couple days. The best part was that there were a bunch of people on the hill to the right watching us the whole time. We gave them some good entertainment and their commentary was hilarious. 

Anderson Shimai was struggling 

Then I clobbered her 

Anderson shimai's mom sent her an Easter package with the stuff for an Easter egg hunt so we did it at moms eikaiwa and it was a blast! 

I remember watching videos of Robi with little Japanese kids on his mission (see his Facebook video of him riding his bike down a slide), and now I'm getting to experience the same thing. I feel him so closely sometimes and feel so lucky to be blessed with these experiences.