September 19, 2016

So many exciting things this week! The senior couple finally got here!

Their names are the Struemplers and they're a hoot. They honestly have more energy than I do and are so fired up about being missionaries.

They're going to do so much good here! It's fun getting a little taste of what my parents are probably doing in West Virginia!

This week we had a few really good lessons with one of our investigations and she's doing so well. She's coming to church, and LOVING it. It's such a special experience getting to partake of the sacrament with our investigators. The spirit is so powerful each week in church and i have a newfound love and appreciation for the sacrament. I don't know if I just never really payed much attention during the sacrament before, or if this iwakuni branch just has a special spirit about it, but every week during the sacrament I feel the spirit so strongly. It's such a sacred time to get to ponder on our Savior's atonement.

Really terrible experience this week: sitting in relief society and a sister with a newborn baby volunteered to play the piano and as she got up, turned to me, starts handing me the baby, and asks me if I can hold her while she plays. I awkwardly said no and I'm pretty sure my heart just shattered. I forgot how much I love holding babies. Had to keep Reminding myself 'obedience to mission rules brings blessings, obedience to mission rules brings blessings, obedience to mission rules brings blessings.' So this is a call to all friends and family at home, have all your cute babies lined up and ready next May when I get home so I can hold them all! Please and thank you.

There's a couple in the ward who invites the missionaries over for dinner every fast Sunday, and last fast Sunday we were talking about transfers and how some of us won't be here for thanksgiving. So they said, "how about we do thanksgiving together before you leave! We will cook it all!" Amazing, right? That's a lot of work! But get this, this couple is also doing 'whole 30' right now so they wouldn't even be able to eat 95% of the stuff they made! But they did it all anyway! So yesterday we got thanksgiving dinner in September. They're so incredible and are saints. Two of our investigators were able to come to the dinner also and it was such a fun, special time. We shared a message at the end and started playing telestrations, basically telephone with pictures. We compared how the pictures drastically changed as they went from person to person to the great apostasy and restoration of the gospel. We shared the first vision video and the spirit was so strong. It's such a blessing getting to share the message of the restoration!

My companion is a champ and such a blast to be around. We are blessed with many incredible investigators and the best area and branch in the world! We love missionary work!

All my love, Sundell Shimai

Welcoming the Struemplers! If you didn't notice, we love Japan. We also love the Lamptey family.

And Colton

AND SISTER ROSALES AND THE THANKSGIVING SHE PREPARED

and all our friends!

and Smith Shimai leaving wet clothes in her laundry basket ALL WEEK and then finding this beauty on the tatami this morning.

and I love McCuen Shimai

And my companion?

September 12, 2016

Another week in missionary paradise! Okay here may be a few rough points in every week, but there are so many moments that are surreal and heaven feels so close. My favorite point in the week:

But first, scroll to the bottom of the email and see the picture of the little boy so you can picture him as you read this... Okay proceed.

We were riding home Friday night and had a little time left so we stopped a mom and her ten year old son. We had an amazing totsuzen with them, gave them a Book of Mormon, and prayed together. When we asked if we could meet with them again they said yes and we scheduled a return appointment for the next morning at a close 7/11. We show up to the 7 and the little boy is waiting for us on his bike!  He jumps off and runs over to us and asks if we want ice cream and starts walking inside. He has his own little wallet and is so excited to buy us ice cream. We convinced him to let us by him a donut instead (because it's 9 am) and he lets us. We were a little confused and kept asking him where his mom was and if she was coming, but he said she was sick and couldn't come. We decided to ride to a nearby river and still share a message with him and talk with him. This is the sweetest boy on the planet. Talking with him was so pure and fun and we just fell in love with him. We asked him if we could share a little message with him and he happily said yes. We showed a video and talked about God and Jesus Christ and he had the sweetest descriptions of God and Christ. We closed the lesson in teaching him how to pray. We wrote out a little instruction sheet on prayer and asked him what kind of things he would want to pray about. He answered that he wants to pray for his moms health. (Insert me holding back tears here). We told him that was a perfect thing to pray for, and then asked him if he would say the closing prayer. There's no way to put the pray into words. It was one of the most spiritually powerful experiences of my mission. This little boy woke up on his own, remembered out appointment time and place, came even though his mom didn't, tried to buy us a treat, listened to our lesson, and then prayed straight from the heart. It was such a tender mercy from the Lord. After he prayed we committed him to pray with his mom and he was so excited about it. It was amazing seeing the spirit so naturally and powerfully testify to this sweet boy. I don't think his family situation is conducive to becoming a member right now, but I know someday the missionaries wills top him on the street and he will remember the first time he prayed and it'll all fall into place from there.

Missionary work is full of miracles and it's humbling to see the Lords hand daily.

I still live with three Angels who teach me every single day about love, service, and devotion to their missions. I could not be more blessed right now! I love iwakuni more than ever and hope to get to stay here for the rest of my mission :)

As always, all my love, Sundell Shimai

Mom, our Book of Mormon flower pictures match this week!!!

Beautiful, overpriced, rather tasteless Japanese fig dessert. McNaughton Shimai wanted to take a "blog" picture.

How mission life actually looks.

Dinner with Dustin, a marine, who got baptized a little under a year ago.

September 5, 2016

Hello family and friends that I love! Things are going well. I live in apartment with three angels and love every second I get to spend with them, my companion is so genki and a joy to serve with, the members here are amazing, we had an incredible zone training this past week, and being a missionary is still the best. 

This weeks miracle: we met with a less active! I met with him a couple times my first transfer here, but then the past three months he's been ignoring us. In fact we had called him a few times and his friends answered the phone, and when they handed it over to him he hung up on us. BUT, this week he answered! And we met with him!!!! It was so good to be with him again and get to talk together about the joy at the gospeL brings in our lives. 

This week we also had two lessons with an amazing mom and her seven year old daughter. The mom had such a desire to learn the gospel and is progressing so well! A member has jointed I'm both get lessons and they've made friends and it's just all going well. It's such a joy getting to share a the message about Jesus Christ that brings clarity into a persons otherwise confused and difficult life. 

Good news: I've started crying more (In the good feel the spirit cry kinda way) May not sound like good news but I was getting worried because my normal abundant tear production had nearly entirely ceased. But this transfer has just been really sacred, and the spirit is so tangible in church, our apartment, and in our lessons. Our mission president started a new morning schedule a few months of reading the Book of Mormon as an apartment. We finished that challenge this past week and now we get to move on the DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS! We are all so excited to read it together. Before we read together each morning we sing a song, and pray. Sister McCuen, smith, and mcnaughton all have beautiful voices and it's really like angels are in our apartment. I can't say enough about the sisters I am serving with right now. 

I'm thankful for these life shaping experiences I am getting to have, in a country that I love.

Have a beautiful, spirit filled week! 

Made cookie dough for our Eikawa and they freaked out. They were astonished that we eat the raw dough before cooking it, but all loved it in the end!

My sweet companion McNaughton Shimai

ZTM

Went to sushi and this was as American as it got, mini cheese hamburger on top of rice - (dad this may be what you live off when you pick me up)

Sunday fast break dinner with the Bridges!

We were told a typhoon was coming and that we had to secure our bikes. This is the following morning when no typhoon came and we had to untangle our bikes.

Typhoon safety measures