Simple Prayer

Konnichiwa!

Today is the castle day, our day is packed full of fun stuff. Sister Heatons dad served in this same mission like 30 yrs ago and so a lot of people know him…he is also the director of the MTC right now. Anyways a man who is now a member of the 70 here in our area called us up last week (he served with her dad when he was here) and wants to take us to lunch today with his wife. So that should be fun!  Afterwards we are going to the castle with our district! I will take some pics of everything!

MIRACLES:
I just heard from my old companions who are still in UBE and guess who has a Baptism date?! Muranaga!!  Another girl named Tsugumi has a baptism date too, she is way cute and was being taught the whole time I was there also. Sister Pinzon and her companion made contact again with Kaneyasu but she is still having a hard time committing to anything, but I was just so happy to hear that she was letting them back in the house! YAY!! MIRACLES! I guess Muranaga and her friend Yoshiaka both went to church yesterday for the first time. I'M so HAPPY!!!! WOOO!

Last week Sister Heaton and I went to Kumamoto on junkais (exchange) and we had a blast with the sisters there!!! Two of them are nigonjin (Japanese) one is a philipinjin (Filipino) and the other is amerikanjin (American) I absolutely love them all! I haven't lived with a Japanese person on my mission yet but just for the two days we were there, they taught me SO much about humility and how to treat others if they are a guest in your home.  Form the moment we walked in the door they were serving us and making sure we have everything we needed to sleep well.  They pulled out brand new futons and sheets for us, made our beds for us and gave and us all their extra padding so at the end all they had was one thin futon without any padding under it and one thin blanket.  Sister Heaton and I were so touched by their love.  They cooked every meal for us and always offered us to eat first and have seconds…they were amazing and I love them so much!!!

Sister Heaton and I still feel like brand new beans in our area, we don't really know anything that is going on or where to go because its all so new and the boundaries for our area haven't really been explained to us so we just go out and start finding…turns out we have been finding in the wrong area (not our assigned area in other words) for the last week.  The work has been a little slow, nothing to amazing but we have been meeting really prepared people on the street who are way interested every time we talk about Joseph Smith and the first vision, but they won't ever commit to meet with us on a specific day so that has been hard.  We WILL find a new investigator this week!!  We are determined!

I do feel that there are many people here who are prepared but its going to take some time, lots of prayer and reliance on the spirit to find them.  The other sisters who are here are seeing miracles, they are about to have a baptism with one of their investigators Seguchi San, so that is exciting!

I have been learning a lot about honest communication the last few weeks.  I think I am afraid of starting a confrontation with my companion so I don't really say anything at all thinking that I am going to be avoiding the problem, but it only gets worse.  Sister Heaton and I shed a lot of tears this last week together and I THINK we are just about on the same page as far as communication goes.  There are still things that drive us crazy of course, but we are more united in our willingness to swallow our pride than we were a week ago which is progress.  Basically, amazing things are going to happen and Satan always tries to ruin a good thing so I think that's why this transfer has been so difficult.  I think about the first vision and Joseph Smith…

He was seized upon by the adversary.  SO much that his tongue was bound and he couldn't speak…He felt as though he was going to self destruct by the power of an unseen, but very real being.  I know that the key to the story is that he, 'called upon god' in his moment of complete despair.  That is the key.  He called upon God and he was delivered.  I have relied so much on prayer this transfer and I know it has gotten me through the hard times.  If we can train ourselves to turn to the Lord in prayer in ALL trails, the burden and suffering that we go through will become so much lighter. I challenge you all to humble yourselves and in times of anger, frustration, sadness or confusion, STOP what your are doing…shut your eyes, and say a simple prayer and tell Heavenly Father exactly how you are feeling (good, bad or worse) and ask for his help for the feelings to pass.  They will and you will once again be able to have the influence of the spirit in your heart.  I know this simple principle is true :)  I have come to learn that its the most simple thing in life are the things that can give us the most joy.

I love you all so very much!  I am so grateful for the doctrine of eternal families!
Until next week!
Love, Sharp Shimai