Monday 3, 2014
Konnichiwa!
MIRACLES!
Fast Sunday of COURSE always, always brings the miracles!!! First, last week we met with our investigator Marina and she came to sacrament meeting YAY! (she has been meeting with missionaries for over a year now. She basically knows everyone in the ward but isn't getting baptized..) I can't remember how much detail I have given on her, but she 18 and is going to America in May to go to school in New York. Sister Heaton and I KNOW that now is her time to receive the gospel. She needs it sooo bad before she goes to America. We are teaching her today with the young woman's president who is AMAZING. The yw president speaks fluent English she is a huge blessing, except she is moving to Tokyo next week!! :( :( Her and Marina are really close so I pray that today's lesson we can see some major progression. We are inviting her to be baptized for April 5th. I really think she will accept! She knows that the church is true…something is holding her back, and we aren't sure what exactly it is, she's super cute though! Love her :)
Seguchi San-
We taught her last week with a member who is also way awesome. We taught the restoration with a really good visual aid and she LOVED it. She understood everything and knows the church is 100 percent true. She comes to church every single Sunday but is refusing baptism right now…really weird…we ask her how much she is progressing each lesson and we finally made a break through with her in the last lesson…slowly but surely she is progressing to getting baptized. I think she might have a really deep fear either of water or men…I'm not quite sure. The yw president told us that she thinks she was abused as a child so there are a few things that aren't quite right with her, but she really wants to get baptized but for some reason the ACT of baptism itself is not something she wants to do…little by little we'll get it figured out I think. She's way cute though, I need to get a picture with these people so you can see who they are :)
NEW investigator- Kowazaki San! We found her last night. She has two kids, age 3 and 4 and she is super nice! I really don't know if she even remembers anything we said to her on the door step?? Her daughter was jumping all over her but when we asked to come back she said 'sure!' so we made an appointment for this Tuesday at 3, hallelujah we found a family!!! :)
Right before we housed into her, we stopped two high school girls on the street and gave them both book of Mormons and invited them to our English class (which is getting HUGE by the way. Its getting so big we are now teaching a beginner, advanced AND just started a children's class this last Saturday! I LOVE JAPANESE KIDS!!!!!!!) Anyways, they weren't way interested in the gospel but there was something about them that I kept being drawn too…we talked to them for maybe 5 minutes, left, found Kowazaki San and then were getting ready to leave the area, I was saying a prayer before we got back on our bikes and those two young girls came back to us out of nowhere..my first thought was 'great..they probably are giving back the book of Mormon', but we realized they wanted something else…they were both saying a word in Japanese that both Sister Heaton and I had never heard before so we were like uhhh?? sorry! we don't really know what you are trying to say?! And then they said 'we never get to meet Americans' (in Japanese) and then grabbed my hand to shake it.
In Japanese Culture when first meeting a person you bow, its weird for them to shake hands, but because we were Americans they really wanted to shake our hands.
To Sister Heaton and I they kept saying 'You are so beautiful!!' So I took a picture with the both of them and then again told them to come to Eikaiwa (English class) I felt the love of God so strong for the both of them as we left to head home.
Heavenly Father is preparing the hearts of SO many people. We are his hands. I can't count how many times I have come to realize that its not really me they are talking about…I know its the Love of their Heavenly Father and Light of Christ that they are seeing and feeling when they speak to me, and that is the only thing they know to equate it with, Christ said:
Hold up your LIGHT that it may SHINE unto the WORLD. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up-
As we live worthy of the Holy Ghost we are filled with the light of Christ. Others see this light in our faces and they want what we have. I know this to be true because I have seen it time and time again on my mission. Truly, it is a beautiful thing that can visibly be seen! Let us hold up the light of Christ each day and bring our brothers and sisters home.
I thank Heavenly Father each day for all the trials, heartaches and disappointments that come each day. I know that its through the challenges that we face that we are able to more fully rely upon the Atonement of our Savior.
Hold up your light. Hold up the light of our Savior.
I love you all! Keep fighting against Satan in this very real battle that is going on all around us. Stay united as a family and don't let the little petty things in life become more important than a person to be loved.
I love you all,
Sharp Shimai
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Sunday, March 2, 2014
The Lord lives and Loves us
Monday 24th
Konnichiwa!
Well, this last week was packed full of miracles!
MIRACLES:
1. Sister Heaton and I gave our training on the Atonement last week with all the missionaries in our zone, (about 30 people or so?) and it was such a powerful spiritual experience. I was sooo grateful for the spirit that I felt there. With out fail every time I have an opprtunity to testify of the Atonement the spirit testifies to me so strongly that its true.
Sister Heaton talked about her youngest brother who is 14 and has down syndrome, and testified about the power of the Atonement in being able to overcome our weaknesses. I wish I could write all the word that she said. It was such a wonderful meeting!
2. We met with a woman last week named Iwamoto San (she was given to us when the other Shimai left) and she is SO PREPARED. Oh my gosh, we walked into her home and saw a picture of the last supper hanging up on her wall and I was SOOOO EXCITED!! Its only been the second time on my whole mission where I have seen someone with a picture of Christ on their wall. (except for members of course). But right away I knew she was a prepared person. She got her Book of Mormon out right away along with her Bible, when we sat down in her living room! (oh, she has a couch, its a miracle!) I was SOOO happy to see that she reads from the bible!! It was all sorts of marked up! She told us that she studies Christianity because it all about love, she loves Buddhism too. That is what she is claiming to be right now, but when we read the introduction of the Book of Mormon together I asked her if she had a desire to know if it was true. She said that she did have a little bit of a desire to know and we committed her to read the first two chapters and pray about the thing we had talked about. She accepted the invitation no problem! She was soooo kind to us. She fed us multiple times while we were at her house and she sent us home with two cans of homemade jam! She is diabetic so she pawned off all her sweets on us :) We love her and are so excited about how kind and prepared she is! We will let you know how her lesson goes this week. Please pray!
3. Marina San. She is 18 years old and has been meeting with missionaries for years. She went to EFY last year and had a waaay powerful experience but has yet to commit to living the gospel or getting baptized. She kind of lost interest but recently has shown SO much interest and wants to start meeting with missionaries again. We have taught her once and it was a way powerful meeting. She comes to our free English class and we have set up an appointment with her this week for 30 minutes. I am not sure what we are going to teach her yet, but we need to start talking about baptism again I think. She is going to America to go to school in a few months so I think the lord is preparing her before she goes! She is super cute and I feel like she is going to start progressing really quick after this week :) Its a miracle that she wants to meet with us!
4. Eri San. We met her last week on the street at night! She is SO cute! She is 18 and will be going to college soon also, she has lots of interest in English. But the thing that stood out to me the most is that she kept saying over and over 'I am SO HAPPY that we met!! I feel so happy!!' She said that at least three times. She said that she would come to church but she didn't come, but committed to come to the church Wednesday for a little lesson, she said she was going to bring a friend too, so we will see what happens!!
5. This one is crazy.... :)
Yesterday Heaton and I have been wanting to go housing in an area that is maybe 30 minutes away from our house. We didn't really have a specific place that we wanted to go, we just biked and stopped when we felt good about an area. As we started housing we weren't meeting people that were very nice. We housed into a man who knew what the church was and didn't want anything to do with us, but when we walked away from his house I said 'good, I know we are in the right area now...he knew exactly who we were.' ( I always take that as the sign that we are in the right place. If someone we run into knows exactly who we are, has met missionaries, has a book of Mormon already but rejects us I know we are close to finding a prepared person in that area). We housed for about 15 more minutes and came to the end of the neighborhood. We had maybe 5 houses left and saw a little old woman outside her house as we were walking by she was taking care of her garden. She gave us a smile and we complimented her garden. We approached her in her driveway and I asked her what her favorite flower was...she pointed to one close by and said 'I have told Smith Shimai all about my flowers.' Sister Heaton and I looked at each other and said 'What?? You know Smith Shiami??' And she said 'yeah! I went to church 2 weeks ago when they gave their talks, before they went back to America...' Turns out this woman is Yatsuhashi San and she is a less active member and her whole family is baptized. We have been wanting to visit this family for the last two weeks but haven't been able to get around to going. Neither did we know where they lived. The Lord directed us straight to their home. It was SUCH a huge miracle!!
From this experience, along with many, many others, I now that the lord lives and loves us and is more involved in this work than we have ANY idea. I know I sound way surprised that such a thing would happen...out of ALL the streets we turned up we turned up hers, but I'm not surprised at all. This is the Lords work. He is hastening it and its as simple as that. I just fortunately get to be apart of it. Please remember that the Lord knows us and is aware of each of us in a very personal way!
The work and church are true! I love you all!
Love Sharp Shimai
Konnichiwa!
Well, this last week was packed full of miracles!
MIRACLES:
1. Sister Heaton and I gave our training on the Atonement last week with all the missionaries in our zone, (about 30 people or so?) and it was such a powerful spiritual experience. I was sooo grateful for the spirit that I felt there. With out fail every time I have an opprtunity to testify of the Atonement the spirit testifies to me so strongly that its true.
Sister Heaton talked about her youngest brother who is 14 and has down syndrome, and testified about the power of the Atonement in being able to overcome our weaknesses. I wish I could write all the word that she said. It was such a wonderful meeting!
2. We met with a woman last week named Iwamoto San (she was given to us when the other Shimai left) and she is SO PREPARED. Oh my gosh, we walked into her home and saw a picture of the last supper hanging up on her wall and I was SOOOO EXCITED!! Its only been the second time on my whole mission where I have seen someone with a picture of Christ on their wall. (except for members of course). But right away I knew she was a prepared person. She got her Book of Mormon out right away along with her Bible, when we sat down in her living room! (oh, she has a couch, its a miracle!) I was SOOO happy to see that she reads from the bible!! It was all sorts of marked up! She told us that she studies Christianity because it all about love, she loves Buddhism too. That is what she is claiming to be right now, but when we read the introduction of the Book of Mormon together I asked her if she had a desire to know if it was true. She said that she did have a little bit of a desire to know and we committed her to read the first two chapters and pray about the thing we had talked about. She accepted the invitation no problem! She was soooo kind to us. She fed us multiple times while we were at her house and she sent us home with two cans of homemade jam! She is diabetic so she pawned off all her sweets on us :) We love her and are so excited about how kind and prepared she is! We will let you know how her lesson goes this week. Please pray!
3. Marina San. She is 18 years old and has been meeting with missionaries for years. She went to EFY last year and had a waaay powerful experience but has yet to commit to living the gospel or getting baptized. She kind of lost interest but recently has shown SO much interest and wants to start meeting with missionaries again. We have taught her once and it was a way powerful meeting. She comes to our free English class and we have set up an appointment with her this week for 30 minutes. I am not sure what we are going to teach her yet, but we need to start talking about baptism again I think. She is going to America to go to school in a few months so I think the lord is preparing her before she goes! She is super cute and I feel like she is going to start progressing really quick after this week :) Its a miracle that she wants to meet with us!
4. Eri San. We met her last week on the street at night! She is SO cute! She is 18 and will be going to college soon also, she has lots of interest in English. But the thing that stood out to me the most is that she kept saying over and over 'I am SO HAPPY that we met!! I feel so happy!!' She said that at least three times. She said that she would come to church but she didn't come, but committed to come to the church Wednesday for a little lesson, she said she was going to bring a friend too, so we will see what happens!!
5. This one is crazy.... :)
Yesterday Heaton and I have been wanting to go housing in an area that is maybe 30 minutes away from our house. We didn't really have a specific place that we wanted to go, we just biked and stopped when we felt good about an area. As we started housing we weren't meeting people that were very nice. We housed into a man who knew what the church was and didn't want anything to do with us, but when we walked away from his house I said 'good, I know we are in the right area now...he knew exactly who we were.' ( I always take that as the sign that we are in the right place. If someone we run into knows exactly who we are, has met missionaries, has a book of Mormon already but rejects us I know we are close to finding a prepared person in that area). We housed for about 15 more minutes and came to the end of the neighborhood. We had maybe 5 houses left and saw a little old woman outside her house as we were walking by she was taking care of her garden. She gave us a smile and we complimented her garden. We approached her in her driveway and I asked her what her favorite flower was...she pointed to one close by and said 'I have told Smith Shimai all about my flowers.' Sister Heaton and I looked at each other and said 'What?? You know Smith Shiami??' And she said 'yeah! I went to church 2 weeks ago when they gave their talks, before they went back to America...' Turns out this woman is Yatsuhashi San and she is a less active member and her whole family is baptized. We have been wanting to visit this family for the last two weeks but haven't been able to get around to going. Neither did we know where they lived. The Lord directed us straight to their home. It was SUCH a huge miracle!!
From this experience, along with many, many others, I now that the lord lives and loves us and is more involved in this work than we have ANY idea. I know I sound way surprised that such a thing would happen...out of ALL the streets we turned up we turned up hers, but I'm not surprised at all. This is the Lords work. He is hastening it and its as simple as that. I just fortunately get to be apart of it. Please remember that the Lord knows us and is aware of each of us in a very personal way!
The work and church are true! I love you all!
Love Sharp Shimai
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)