August 22, 2016

Transfersssss! And I get to stay in Iwakuni!!! Can I just say how much I love iwakuni. This week I had a little freak out that I would be white washed out and I just started crying. But I get to stay, so all is well :) 

This week had a nice assortment of lows and highs. Lows being so exhausted and defeated halfway through the day that we just sat down and took a moment to watch a Mormon message and convince ourselves that we can actually make it through another day and do this missionary thing. Highs being a lesson we had yesterday with a beautiful young family. We have had a few lessons with them, and the spirit is always tangible in their lessons, it's so incredible. It was interesting, we had a lesson with a lady early in the day and it just felt like a flop. We didn't know how to teach to her needs and we didn't really understand the situation. Then later in the day we had a plan of salvation lesson with the young family and wow was it a world of a difference. The just absorb everything we teach them and are both so sensitive to the spirit. Being around them is just so personal and special, and I feel so privileges to be able to learn together with them. We closed the lesson with a kneeling prayer and it was perfect. I'm so excited for their future in the church. 

Also this week we got a solid new investigator for the first time in like three months!! It was so miraculous. It's a mom and her seven year old daughter and we love them so much already. 

This week was elder Agnew, sister butikofer, and sister healeys last week of their missions so we got to do a lot of fun stuff together. Eikaiwa this week was the best ever and we are so blessed with incredible students. Eikaiwa is such a stress relieving time to just get to sit and talk and laugh with our students. It was such a blast. I don't know how I got so lucky to be called to Japan. 

Sunday was the Sapporo Japan temple dedication and we got to watch the broadcast of it. Nearly needless to say, I thought of Robi a lot of the time. It was a tender mercy to be able to witness the dedication of a temple in his mission that I know he is so excited about. Japanese saints are so dedicated and devout and it's incredible seeing the work progress here with the dedication of the third temple in Japan. Big things are happening here! 

Writing out this email and being reminded of all the miracles we saw this week makes me feel lame about complaining that it was a hard week at points. This is no easy work, but the Lord blessed our efforts more than we comprehend. 

I get another new companion this week and she's younger than me! Which means I don't have to kill another missionary! It's been incredible seeing so many missionaries their last transfers and learning from so many of their experiences. But I am excited to be a little more disconnected from the end of mission thoughts. I'm so excited for this next transfer! 

All my love, Sundell Shimai 

Our devout relief society president and his stalwart companion Yes they made the cake.

Mourning our three dying missionaries.

Making friends wherever we go...aka justifying our ice cream breaks. But really I firmly believe you can make ice cream breaks missionary opportunities by just talking to those around you.

Kids Eikaiwa

I wish I could explain how much this captures everyone's personality perfectly.

Figs are finally ripe! Plucked this baby off a random tree in the middle of dendo. Fig trees are everywhere here.

We had a juice party with some of our favorite Eikaiwa students yesterday.

August 15, 2016

This week we were able to get in contact with most all of our investigators that disappeared for a while! Very miraculous. My favorite lesson was with shomin chan and she shared an experience she had while praying that week. She said "when I prayed, I felt a really strong close watchful protection feeling, but when I opened my eyes no one was there!" Her prayer experiences make everything worth it. God is so present in our investigators lives!

Another memorable moment this week was in district meeting. We have all been in a little dendo slump lately, and our district leader took action into getting us out of it! Together we planned the 'twelve days of summer' which is twelve different themed days with topics like count how many people you can make smile, or how many scriptures you can share in a Totsuzen. It's been so refreshing to have different focuses every day this week and has made dendo fun again. 

At the end of district meeting he also gave each of us a piece of paper and told us to write down our testimonies to then keep in our scriptures and read when we need to be reminded of what we know. The spirit flooded the room as we all started to write down our personal testimonies and it was such a special experience. 

That's about it from this side of the world. Keep the faith, friends! 

All my love, Sundell Shimai

Spiritual enlightenment: found this quote this week and absolutely loved it. "We must be careful that we don’t resent the very things that help us put on the divine nature." It's so easy for me to get grouchy about things that are difficult and challenging, but this reminded me that it is through difficulties that we develop our divine nature. See full talk--- 'More Than Conquerors through Him That Loved Us' by Paul v Johnson 

It won't disappoint! 

Hiked up to a castle this morning.

Funny story: we went to a yakiniku for district lunch after DM and may have ordered a little too much meat. I had just finished saying how full I was, then the waitress brought out three more trays of meat...YEAH. And since it's all you can eat, you have to finish what you order...somehow one of the Japanese sisters at our table literally downed three quarters of the meat by herself. We were amazed ! And now we are all a little scared and keep a safe distance from any yakiniku restaurants that we see.

No clue what this is but it feels like the inside of a dogs ear and looks like a brain.

A nice sassy lady invited us into her genkan yesterday night and served us juice.

Biking selfies (following in your footsteps dad)

Japanese devil mosquitoes

August 8, 2016

Nothing too new to report. We had a sweet short lesson with mayumi San this week and the spirit was so soft yet so present. Getting to see and feel the spirit testify to our investigators is the sweetest, most rewarding feeling. There's nothing like it. 

We have been praying so hard lately for our investigators to begin progressing, answer our calls, meet with us, etc. During weekly planning I got a little frustrated with our lack of 'success' lately. Butikofer Shimai asked me, "well what do you consider success? How are you going to measure your success this next week as a missionary? To me I think success is simply helping people become more prepared than they were before to receive this message. That is what we do with every person we talk to no matter the outcome." It was exactly what I needed and I'm very thankful for her reminder of what success truly is in this work. 

This weekend was a firework festival at kintai bridge and we got to go with some members! Kintai is super famous and the members love right next to it, so we had dinner with them, then ran over to see the fireworks and it was incredible! I just couldn't believe I was in Japan, at kintai, watching fireworks, with an incredible family that I've learned so much from and grown to love so much- we are so blessed! 

We shared this quote with some members this week and I loved it. 

"The journey of discipleship is not an easy one. It has been called a �gcourse of steady improvement.�h As we travel along that strait and narrow path, the Spirit continually challenges us to be better and to climb higher. The Holy Ghost makes an ideal traveling companion. If we are humble and teachable, He will take us by the hand and lead us home."

I'm thankful I get to spend a year and a half of my course of steady improvement, with the people of Japan. I'm handful for these people, for the incredible branch i get to serve in, and for the experiences Heavenly Father blesses us with. 

Till next week, Sundell Shimai 

Thank you, Japanese sunshade, for warning us of the heat we hadn't before noticed.

Hitomi Chan

Sakamura Kyoudai our Asian Jack Black mission leader

Yeah it took multiple hours to clear out all those vines