Thursday, November 28, 2013

Count all your blessings!

November 25

Hello! I have no time at all I am sorry, so here are some quick updates!

I am still in UBE!!! I was NOT expecting that at all…for some reason President really trusts me with all these beans…if he only knew how much i was corrupting them maybe he would stop sending them! ;)

She is sooo great! She is 26 (looks 18 though) she was born in Columbia and moved to Tennessee with her whole family about 12 years ago.  She knows perfect English but she has a Hispanic accent and I love it.  She got a degree in Asian studies and lived in Tokyo doing study abroad for about 4 months 6 years ago. She studied Japanese for about 2 years as well and can read a little bit of Kanji which is the best thing ever!!!  She isn't fluent or anything, but she similes ahead of where I was when I was a bean!  She is so sweet and cute.  We get along great, i think it is because of her age.  She brings a maturity to the work that I have desperately been needing to feel I think.  Heavenly Father knows me :) Her name is Sister Pinzon!

Miracles:

We did meet with that new investigator last week! Her name is Muranaga Akami.  She is soooo great, we are meeting with her again tomorrow!  We taught her about the nature of God and taught her how to pray.  Sister Pinzon and I both bore strong testimonies on the power of prayer and we feel confident that she will start praying on her own. She works a lot this upcoming month so coming to church will be difficult, but we know God is going to perform some miracles!  We are meeting with Kaneyasu in about 90 minutes, I am way excited for that, we are going to teach her about the holy ghost a little more and talk to her about coming to church and baptism.  Hope she commits. We saw her at the grocery store today and it was great :) her mom is getting really sick, I guess and she takes care of her each weekend so coming to church is a problem, so we'll see what happens.

WE GOT ELDERS IN UBE!  there are now 6 of us! The elders last area was Okinawa, and he is on his 4th transfer.  The other one is brand new and has no idea what he is doing…but that's ok…hopefully he'll adjust quickly.

Can't believe I only have 11 months left…ahhh don't remind me!  Its going too fast :( I talked to Buhler Shimai on the phone the other day and she is going home after this transfer!!  THAT IS SO CRAZY!!!  Gosh, I love her.

I have to go meet with a member right now and then go to Kaneyasu's, but I love you all! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, count all your blessings!  Thank the Lord that we all know the truth about his beautiful plan of Salvation :)

Thank you for your prayers, they sustain me and keep me going I am sure!  Love you all. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (we are having a zone party this thursday but we won't be Turkey, oh well, next year!)

Love, Sharp Shimai

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Right places at the right time!

November 18

Hey!

Don't have much time I'm sorry!  But today is transfer call day and I will be getting a phone call at some point telling me whether or not I'm staying in Ube or going somewhere else.  Last week was crazy, Smotherman had to go home because of her foot.  She didn't meet the missionary physical requirements anymore so she left last week.  Since Thursday Sister Nelson and Sister Southworth and I have become a threesome.

We saw soooo many miracles last week.  Too many to write about.  I have time to write about one!  The three of us were housing an apartment building Sunday night and we met a really nice woman who had been to a catholic church and was a little bit familiar with christianity.  She  talked about how she loved hymns, and so we asked if we could sing a hymn for her in her genkon (doorway) and in the middle of singing she stopped us and said "there is a woman who lives directly below me on the next floor who has interest in hour church!  Im going to go call her right now!" Whhhhaaaat??????? SO CRAZY!!  She called her and two minutes later this woman came up to the floor we were on, and gave us all her information.  She said she met missionaries a long time ago and received a Book of Mormon form them and had some pamphlets.  She talked about watching movie about Christ.  She has four kids and is married!  We talked with her for a little bit and she said that we could probably come back this friday.  We left and I couldn't believe what a miracle it was that that happened.  Heavenly Father never ceases to amaze me, he really does place us in the right places at the tight time.

I know the work is true.  I am a little anxious to see what this transfer holds, I don't really have any idea
what is going to happen but next week you'l all know if I have transferred or not!

Sorry  its so short this week, all the missionaries in my district are traveling to Ube right now and they will all probably want to use the computer too so I'm making it short!

I love you all!

Love, Sharp Shimai