Pics from Last pday :)
beautiful Chinese/Okinawan/Japanese garden park
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Gift of the Holy Ghost
Konnichiwa!
Yep, this week did go by way fast!! It was a really good week though.
This last week I have been able to break down walls with Kaskiwa Shimai, we have become wayyy good friends!! I love her to death. The language barrier has turned out to be the root of almost all laughter that goes on between us haha she is trying so hard to understand English, and I'm trying so hard to understand her Japanese (and after about 10 minutes of looking up words and a game of charades we finally understand each other) we make a great companionship :)
Since I have become companions with Kashiwa Shimai my love for the people has become so much deeper. I don't find it ironic that I have always been drawn to the Japanese people! I love them so much. I am sure that Buddah and I were probably the best of friends in the pre existence!!!
Miracles :)
We found three new investigators. We weren't able to meet with the lady in the blue shack but we did call her and she was busy all this week, I think we will be able to meet this week, I will keep you updated!
Shiroma San- An older man in his 70's he is super open to talking about religion but has a really hard time focusing, so we are teaching him with object lessons to help him understand and focus! I feel that with time he really will want to be baptized! We invited him to be baptized next month on the 28th but he still has no clue what the gospel even is so he said that he wants to take it a little slower and learn little by little. Which is fine :)
Akamine San- Kashiwa Shimai and I were about an hour away from our apartment housing a HUGE apartment complex, we had about ten minutes left and knocked on a door. An older man in his 70's came to the door and asked us if we were telling people to come to church. We said ummm…yeah, but we aren't a normal church. Kashiwa Shimai and I busted you the restoration and the spirit testified SO strongly of the first vision. Before we could say anything else he said "do you come and teach this in peoples homes?!" and we said yeah! That's the goal!! He said okay, come back next Monday at 3! He gave us all his information and we are going to meet with him today at three! It was such an awesome miracle! His reaction was probably what every missionary dreams of happening haha. He said I would love to hear from you guys, but i can't make any promises that I will come to church.
….famous last words :)
Fukuchi San- Last night we were out finding again and I had a distinct impression that we needed to change our plans and go to a different area than what we had planned the night before. We ended up at a big apartment that Capener Shimai and I found last transfer and Kashiwa Shimai and I have housed it a few times this transfer without any luck. However, I felt pretty strong that there must be someone inside that was going to listen. We knocked on a door and a man maybe in his 50's came to the door. We taught him about the plan of salvation and receiving baptism. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes…although he has no idea what the actual covenant of baptism is, he felt the spirit and was probably surprised by his own answer. We asked if we could come back this Wednesday but he works during the week so the soonest we could come back is next Sunday. He has a family which is so great! As we were talking to him I could see in his face that he was so unhappy. We didn't get into details, but I am way excited that the spirit led us to his family and that he agreed to meet again! Huge miracle and blessing for that family!
The gospel is true. The Holy Ghost really can be our constant companion as we live worthy of his companionship. When we keep all of Gods commandments and partake of the Sacrament each week worthily, we are then able to feel the spirits influence in our lives! I am soooo grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost!!! I wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING without him. I am so grateful for prayer too! Pray everyday. Morning, day and night. Always keep a prayer in your heart!
I love each of you. We are so blessed to be members of Jesus Christs Church!
Have a good week :)
Love, Sharp Shimai
Yep, this week did go by way fast!! It was a really good week though.
This last week I have been able to break down walls with Kaskiwa Shimai, we have become wayyy good friends!! I love her to death. The language barrier has turned out to be the root of almost all laughter that goes on between us haha she is trying so hard to understand English, and I'm trying so hard to understand her Japanese (and after about 10 minutes of looking up words and a game of charades we finally understand each other) we make a great companionship :)
Since I have become companions with Kashiwa Shimai my love for the people has become so much deeper. I don't find it ironic that I have always been drawn to the Japanese people! I love them so much. I am sure that Buddah and I were probably the best of friends in the pre existence!!!
Miracles :)
We found three new investigators. We weren't able to meet with the lady in the blue shack but we did call her and she was busy all this week, I think we will be able to meet this week, I will keep you updated!
Shiroma San- An older man in his 70's he is super open to talking about religion but has a really hard time focusing, so we are teaching him with object lessons to help him understand and focus! I feel that with time he really will want to be baptized! We invited him to be baptized next month on the 28th but he still has no clue what the gospel even is so he said that he wants to take it a little slower and learn little by little. Which is fine :)
Akamine San- Kashiwa Shimai and I were about an hour away from our apartment housing a HUGE apartment complex, we had about ten minutes left and knocked on a door. An older man in his 70's came to the door and asked us if we were telling people to come to church. We said ummm…yeah, but we aren't a normal church. Kashiwa Shimai and I busted you the restoration and the spirit testified SO strongly of the first vision. Before we could say anything else he said "do you come and teach this in peoples homes?!" and we said yeah! That's the goal!! He said okay, come back next Monday at 3! He gave us all his information and we are going to meet with him today at three! It was such an awesome miracle! His reaction was probably what every missionary dreams of happening haha. He said I would love to hear from you guys, but i can't make any promises that I will come to church.
….famous last words :)
Fukuchi San- Last night we were out finding again and I had a distinct impression that we needed to change our plans and go to a different area than what we had planned the night before. We ended up at a big apartment that Capener Shimai and I found last transfer and Kashiwa Shimai and I have housed it a few times this transfer without any luck. However, I felt pretty strong that there must be someone inside that was going to listen. We knocked on a door and a man maybe in his 50's came to the door. We taught him about the plan of salvation and receiving baptism. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes…although he has no idea what the actual covenant of baptism is, he felt the spirit and was probably surprised by his own answer. We asked if we could come back this Wednesday but he works during the week so the soonest we could come back is next Sunday. He has a family which is so great! As we were talking to him I could see in his face that he was so unhappy. We didn't get into details, but I am way excited that the spirit led us to his family and that he agreed to meet again! Huge miracle and blessing for that family!
The gospel is true. The Holy Ghost really can be our constant companion as we live worthy of his companionship. When we keep all of Gods commandments and partake of the Sacrament each week worthily, we are then able to feel the spirits influence in our lives! I am soooo grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost!!! I wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING without him. I am so grateful for prayer too! Pray everyday. Morning, day and night. Always keep a prayer in your heart!
I love each of you. We are so blessed to be members of Jesus Christs Church!
Have a good week :)
Love, Sharp Shimai
Grateful
May 11th 2014
Konnichiwa :)
Talking to you all was sooo sooo sooo great :) I felt the spirit so much, thank you, thank you! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family.
I didn't talk to much about miracles that we a saw last week, but we saw many!
My new companion came on Thursday, her name is Kaskiwa Shimai and she is from Tokyo! I miss Capener shimai, but we will see each other again soon enough :)
I could write all about the struggles I have had in the last few days with going from speaking English all the time in the apartment with my companion to speaking nothing but straight Japanese with Kashiwa, but I won't get into it haha. Ive realized that I don't know any Japanese haha…but I get to learn how to speak all over again which in the end will be a blessing! One funny thing is that I have been saying "see you again!" wrong for the last year of my mission haha…Kashiwa kindly connected me on our first day out it was pretty funny! Pray for me eh!?
I mentioned today how my mission has been going by so fast. Each new transfer has felt like a different life. I have been able to learn and grow from each new companion. I'm pretty sure having a new companion every single transfer except my 5th and 6th is pretty unheard of, but I'm grateful because I have been able to learn the most out of anyone in the mission probably!
I told Aubrey about one miracle that Capener Shimai and I had last week. In my last email I talked about the woman in the little blue shack. Her name is Nakan Dakari. Kashiwa Shimai and I were able to go and see her on Friday. Her husband was sick but she ended up talking to us for about 10 or 15 minutes outside her door. She asked us how long we had been members of this church and when I told her that I joined when I was 8, but became less active but returned when I was 17 the spirit filled my heart and I told her about my first experience of walking into my singles ward. Tears started to well up in my eyes like they always do when I tell that story. The spirit was soooo sooo strong, she also had tears start to well up in her eyes and she said " This feeling is the spirit isn't it?!" She recognized the spirit!!!! She is Protestant, so she has obviously had some experiences with the spirit in her life to know what it feels like. I was sooo happy! She kept saying how happy she was and that we could come back anytime! She wasn't able to make a return appointment, but we quickly taught her about Joseph Smiths experience, bore testimony and asked her to pray about it. We called her yesterday and she said she prayed but she prayed she has yet to get an answer. We are planning on just showing up at her house if she doesn't call us in the next few days. She is so prepared, and so nice. I felt so much of Heavenly Fathers love for her. Its an experience that I won't forget!!!
Capener Shimai and I also met a REALLY nice Korean lady last week who fell in love with us haha she is super nice. She recognized who we were right away. "Are you Mormon?!" she shouted out. She came to see the church a few days ago which was a huge miracle, she wanted to attend church yesterday but she couldn't because of work. She is so sweet and so nice. Her Japanese is super good too! When we see her next we will give her a Book of Mormon in Korean so she can understand in better than Japanese. I'm excited to see where things go with her!
We dropped one of our investigators last week, (Hirakawa San) she doesn't have interest, but that's ok she will meet missionaries again and be more prepared I think :)
I want to send some pictures and it takes time so I will wrap this up, but I love you all so much! Thank you for being so loving and supportive. I am so grateful for each of you and your testimonies. There is a quote from President Uchtdorf that I love. He said "preach the gospel at all times, and sometimes use words." (maybe I butchered that haha, probably not word for word what he said) but I love it. You are all preaching the gospel by the way you live and I am so grateful for your examples. Heavenly Father loves each of you and needs you to continue to be a shining example to those who are around you! Listen to the Holy Ghost and act on his promptings. He will guide you and comfort you ALWAYS.
Love you!
Love Sharp Shimai
Konnichiwa :)
Talking to you all was sooo sooo sooo great :) I felt the spirit so much, thank you, thank you! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family.
I didn't talk to much about miracles that we a saw last week, but we saw many!
My new companion came on Thursday, her name is Kaskiwa Shimai and she is from Tokyo! I miss Capener shimai, but we will see each other again soon enough :)
I could write all about the struggles I have had in the last few days with going from speaking English all the time in the apartment with my companion to speaking nothing but straight Japanese with Kashiwa, but I won't get into it haha. Ive realized that I don't know any Japanese haha…but I get to learn how to speak all over again which in the end will be a blessing! One funny thing is that I have been saying "see you again!" wrong for the last year of my mission haha…Kashiwa kindly connected me on our first day out it was pretty funny! Pray for me eh!?
I mentioned today how my mission has been going by so fast. Each new transfer has felt like a different life. I have been able to learn and grow from each new companion. I'm pretty sure having a new companion every single transfer except my 5th and 6th is pretty unheard of, but I'm grateful because I have been able to learn the most out of anyone in the mission probably!
I told Aubrey about one miracle that Capener Shimai and I had last week. In my last email I talked about the woman in the little blue shack. Her name is Nakan Dakari. Kashiwa Shimai and I were able to go and see her on Friday. Her husband was sick but she ended up talking to us for about 10 or 15 minutes outside her door. She asked us how long we had been members of this church and when I told her that I joined when I was 8, but became less active but returned when I was 17 the spirit filled my heart and I told her about my first experience of walking into my singles ward. Tears started to well up in my eyes like they always do when I tell that story. The spirit was soooo sooo strong, she also had tears start to well up in her eyes and she said " This feeling is the spirit isn't it?!" She recognized the spirit!!!! She is Protestant, so she has obviously had some experiences with the spirit in her life to know what it feels like. I was sooo happy! She kept saying how happy she was and that we could come back anytime! She wasn't able to make a return appointment, but we quickly taught her about Joseph Smiths experience, bore testimony and asked her to pray about it. We called her yesterday and she said she prayed but she prayed she has yet to get an answer. We are planning on just showing up at her house if she doesn't call us in the next few days. She is so prepared, and so nice. I felt so much of Heavenly Fathers love for her. Its an experience that I won't forget!!!
Capener Shimai and I also met a REALLY nice Korean lady last week who fell in love with us haha she is super nice. She recognized who we were right away. "Are you Mormon?!" she shouted out. She came to see the church a few days ago which was a huge miracle, she wanted to attend church yesterday but she couldn't because of work. She is so sweet and so nice. Her Japanese is super good too! When we see her next we will give her a Book of Mormon in Korean so she can understand in better than Japanese. I'm excited to see where things go with her!
We dropped one of our investigators last week, (Hirakawa San) she doesn't have interest, but that's ok she will meet missionaries again and be more prepared I think :)
I want to send some pictures and it takes time so I will wrap this up, but I love you all so much! Thank you for being so loving and supportive. I am so grateful for each of you and your testimonies. There is a quote from President Uchtdorf that I love. He said "preach the gospel at all times, and sometimes use words." (maybe I butchered that haha, probably not word for word what he said) but I love it. You are all preaching the gospel by the way you live and I am so grateful for your examples. Heavenly Father loves each of you and needs you to continue to be a shining example to those who are around you! Listen to the Holy Ghost and act on his promptings. He will guide you and comfort you ALWAYS.
Love you!
Love Sharp Shimai
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