Konnichwa!
Well another week gone, it went wayy fast! I CAN'T believe its almost general conference weekend in AMERICA!!!! It stinks that we have to wait to watch it here because of translation into Japanese. I get to watch it in English but the wards here don't broadcast it until its been translated for them too. I hope you are all just as excited out of your minds as I am to watch it!!! I have been listening to the last conference every single day for the past month probably! I LOVE CONFERENCE!
Yes, transfer calls are TODAY- I have talked to the AP's a TON this transfer about random stuff/problems that have been going on in our zone, and last week on one of our phone calls they were asking about a few things regarding this weeks transfer calls and I said something along the lines of "feel free to send me to Okinawa!!" and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get my wish, haha. They called this morning to ask a question about some of the sisters that we are over, and Iwasa Choro (AP) was talking to Heaton Shimai on speaker and he said "tell Sharp Shimai that all her dreams are going to come true today!" For some reason they like to torture all of us with not telling us what our transfer call is until its our turn to know. They spend hours calling each individual missionary, so it takes forever sometimes. But yeah! We still haven't gotten the call, but I'm pretty sure that is where I'm transferring too! I have heard ALL about Okinawa my whole entire mission from lots of different people and word on the street is, that its paradise. Ha, I hear the people are way different there than they are on the main islands so yeah it will be interesting to see if I end up going there or somewhere else. Sister Heaton and I will for sure no longer be companions though, I do know that much… :\ I don't think I will be a Sister Trainer Leader down there, but who knows? I guess you will have to wait and see next week :)
I feel SO blessed to be on a mission at this time, its sooo true that we are hastening the lords work. Its a miracle.
SPEAKING OF MIRACLESSSSSSSSS
Kojima Shimai is just way busy so I don't think she has ever had time in the past to give tons of referrals. She has four kids and they are all under the age of ten I think. But things are going to start exploding there.
Marina Chan
I LOVE THIS GIRL SO MUCH!!!!! We had a lesson with her yesterday and taught her a little more in depth the role of the Holy Ghost. She told us that the main reason she isn't committing to be baptized is because she is way worried that she is going to be made fun of for being Christian and that she won't be able to keep all the commandments. Which is obviously a huge road block, but we are making HUGE break through with her about keeping the sabbath day holy and I bore one of the most sincere testimonies I ever have. I was able to share my own conversion with her and what a huge, huge role church has played in my life and the spirit really just took over the lesson. She reminds me a TON of how Hayley was when she was taking the missionary lessons. So I brought a few pics of Hayley and told her, her conversion as well and it was just a way powerful moment. The story got even cooler when I told her that she is currently serving a mission in Europe! Gosh, I love Marina soooo much! I know that I came to Shimizi specifically for her. We are asking her to be baptized tomorrow. She is leaving for New York in one month and I am probably transferring so I won't get to see her baptized if that s what she chooses to do, but I know that I created an eternal friendship here with her. Love her to death! Tomorrow will be the last time I see her if I transfer and I'll probably cry me eyes out, but I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to teach her. She met missionaries over a year ago and I know that we have planted a deeper seed in her than any other. We love her so much!!
Seguchi San
Well…WE FINALLY SET A BAPTISM DATE with her!! Every single lesson she said that she really wanted to receive baptism, but she would NEVER commit to a date. So I decided that we just needed to bring a calendar and set a date no matter what!! She chose 7/2/2014 haha….so not anytime in the near future but HEY its a date and that's all I care about!!!
OKAY- I JUST GOT THE PHONE CALL……………………………………………………………IM GOING TO OKINAWA!!! Naha East is the area!! And guess who my companion is….CAPENER SHIMAI from the MTC!! And GUESS WHO ELSE is going back to Okinawa?!! KWAK SHIMAI!!!!!!! :) :) I am going to be STL with Capener Shimai so I'm WAY excited!!! YYAAAY! Im so excited!! I will also be living with Burgon Shimai who I lived with my first transfer-WOOOO!
I am running out of time shoot, but I love you all so much!!!! I will be leaving for Okinawa on Thursday. SOOOO EXCITED! I need to go pack!!! I love you all!!!!!
Sharp Shimai
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Little by little…
Monday 17th, 2014
Konnichiwa,
Well the sad news is that Fujisawa San cancelled our appointment last second and we haven't made contact with her since. She said that she was at the doctors, but I'm not so sure that was the truth. That's what everyone in Japan says when they don't want to keep a commitment. Plus people go to the hospital here for no reason. I think its out of boredom…ha. But anyways she said she would call us when she could meet again, we'll keep her in our prayers.
The GOOD news is:
We found two new investigators last week. One of which we met with today who doesn't have a TON of interest in the gospel yet, but we met her on the street last week and said she really wanted to become friends with us :). She is in her 30's, married with no kids and super nice! We went to a park with her today and ate cake and strawberry mochi (Japanese dessert) it was way good. Heaton and I took pictures of our families so she could see that we were normal people, and bore testimony through the way we live our lives and what we are doing as missionaries right now. We were able to talk about God a little bit which was good, we are going to call her this week and invite her to eikaiwa, she has interest in that, so I think as we continue to build a relationship she will want to know more about the gospel.
Fukushima San!
We found her housing yesterday! She is SOO nice!! She was the last door that we knocked. of course :) before we rang the doorbell Heaton Shimai said "this is the one!" and before she even said that, I was feeling the spirit on her doorstep. I looked at the house and the one next door and I said "yep, if its not this one, its going to be the next one." Fukushima San is in her 40's with two kids! She lives in a beautiful home, and accepted a Book of Mormon. We know that she is prepared because neither of us could get a lick or understandable Japanese out when she came to the door and somehow she still said we could come back. We are going to her house tomorrow to follow up on the Book of Mormon and explain more of our purpose with her. I'm excited to see where it goes. she has a family so I am WAY HAPPY! Something that has been really interesting lately is that everyone that has allowed us to come back to their house has said that they have already seen us on the street before. Fukushima San said she saw us in her car on our bikes just a few minutes before we got to her house.
The woman we met with today said that she sees us all the time on the street. Another woman that we met last week that is a potential investigator said that same thing. SO many people are being prepared :) Little side note that I needed to add!
Hiroko Chan-
We met her about three weeks ago on the street, she had already met missionaries (not surprised) and received a pamphlet. she is 18 and busy, but she is meeting with us tomorrow for the first time :) super excited!
Kojima Shimai- (the bishops wife) is going crazy and is introducing us to all her friends. One of her friends and her three kids came to eikaiwa last week and we taught all her kids in our kodomo (children's) eikaiwa class. THEY ARE ADORABLE. We will probably have the opportunity to teach them the gospel with a little more time. We have four other families that we need to go contact that are all referrals from her. ITS A MIRACLE!
Kumamoto was way fun! I was on splits with a Sister named Andaca Shimai, she is from the Philippines, and a WAY good missionary. I was able to learn sooo much from her, it rocked!! We found a new investigator for their area so I was way pumped about that! I got there Thursday night slept over, and then came back Friday night. I biked there, its only 30 minutes away from my area. Little side note, experienced my first earthquake HA it was SOOO crazy, first one I've ever been in. Came in the middle of the night when I was in Kumamoto and I hope it was my last- It wasn't way big, but definitely wasn't fun! All the Japanese people are so use to them, they just sleep right through them. Crazy!!!
Ummm what else…transfers are coming up! Not this week but next Tuesday is transfer calls…so crazy. I feel like I might be transferring but maybe not, I have no idea. Our mission is about to hit maximum capacity so they will probably give some other Shimai a chance to be in various leadership positions so I'm not really sure if I will stay a Sister trainer leader or not, but ill keep y'all updated.
Life is good, I pray that the mission will slow down so I can actually take in all the new things that I'm learning. Not a day goes by where I don't feel like I'm learning something new. I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life, I want the Japanese people SO baby to accept our message. Little by little hearts are opening here, I pray that the Lord keeps guiding us to the prepared hearts.
Thank you for all the love and support!! Stay positive, stay obedient, and remember to pray.
Love, Sharp Shimai
Konnichiwa,
Well the sad news is that Fujisawa San cancelled our appointment last second and we haven't made contact with her since. She said that she was at the doctors, but I'm not so sure that was the truth. That's what everyone in Japan says when they don't want to keep a commitment. Plus people go to the hospital here for no reason. I think its out of boredom…ha. But anyways she said she would call us when she could meet again, we'll keep her in our prayers.
The GOOD news is:
We found two new investigators last week. One of which we met with today who doesn't have a TON of interest in the gospel yet, but we met her on the street last week and said she really wanted to become friends with us :). She is in her 30's, married with no kids and super nice! We went to a park with her today and ate cake and strawberry mochi (Japanese dessert) it was way good. Heaton and I took pictures of our families so she could see that we were normal people, and bore testimony through the way we live our lives and what we are doing as missionaries right now. We were able to talk about God a little bit which was good, we are going to call her this week and invite her to eikaiwa, she has interest in that, so I think as we continue to build a relationship she will want to know more about the gospel.
Fukushima San!
We found her housing yesterday! She is SOO nice!! She was the last door that we knocked. of course :) before we rang the doorbell Heaton Shimai said "this is the one!" and before she even said that, I was feeling the spirit on her doorstep. I looked at the house and the one next door and I said "yep, if its not this one, its going to be the next one." Fukushima San is in her 40's with two kids! She lives in a beautiful home, and accepted a Book of Mormon. We know that she is prepared because neither of us could get a lick or understandable Japanese out when she came to the door and somehow she still said we could come back. We are going to her house tomorrow to follow up on the Book of Mormon and explain more of our purpose with her. I'm excited to see where it goes. she has a family so I am WAY HAPPY! Something that has been really interesting lately is that everyone that has allowed us to come back to their house has said that they have already seen us on the street before. Fukushima San said she saw us in her car on our bikes just a few minutes before we got to her house.
The woman we met with today said that she sees us all the time on the street. Another woman that we met last week that is a potential investigator said that same thing. SO many people are being prepared :) Little side note that I needed to add!
Hiroko Chan-
We met her about three weeks ago on the street, she had already met missionaries (not surprised) and received a pamphlet. she is 18 and busy, but she is meeting with us tomorrow for the first time :) super excited!
Kojima Shimai- (the bishops wife) is going crazy and is introducing us to all her friends. One of her friends and her three kids came to eikaiwa last week and we taught all her kids in our kodomo (children's) eikaiwa class. THEY ARE ADORABLE. We will probably have the opportunity to teach them the gospel with a little more time. We have four other families that we need to go contact that are all referrals from her. ITS A MIRACLE!
Kumamoto was way fun! I was on splits with a Sister named Andaca Shimai, she is from the Philippines, and a WAY good missionary. I was able to learn sooo much from her, it rocked!! We found a new investigator for their area so I was way pumped about that! I got there Thursday night slept over, and then came back Friday night. I biked there, its only 30 minutes away from my area. Little side note, experienced my first earthquake HA it was SOOO crazy, first one I've ever been in. Came in the middle of the night when I was in Kumamoto and I hope it was my last- It wasn't way big, but definitely wasn't fun! All the Japanese people are so use to them, they just sleep right through them. Crazy!!!
Ummm what else…transfers are coming up! Not this week but next Tuesday is transfer calls…so crazy. I feel like I might be transferring but maybe not, I have no idea. Our mission is about to hit maximum capacity so they will probably give some other Shimai a chance to be in various leadership positions so I'm not really sure if I will stay a Sister trainer leader or not, but ill keep y'all updated.
Life is good, I pray that the mission will slow down so I can actually take in all the new things that I'm learning. Not a day goes by where I don't feel like I'm learning something new. I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life, I want the Japanese people SO baby to accept our message. Little by little hearts are opening here, I pray that the Lord keeps guiding us to the prepared hearts.
Thank you for all the love and support!! Stay positive, stay obedient, and remember to pray.
Love, Sharp Shimai
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
The Church is True!
Konnichiwa!!
Okay, well where to even start?! I don't have much time, I will try to remember everything if I can-
MIRACLES!!!!!
1. Today we had a lesson with Marina at the church and it was SOOOO dang good! She is progressing so much, I am soooo happy! We gave her a commitment to read Alma 32 and Moroni 7 before we met again. Our original plan for today was to have a lesson on Faith, but we started by reviewing the proper nature of God and Jesus Christ and our relationship to both of them, and it was like a HUGE light bulb went off!! :) So we kept going on that track and talked more about prayer and did a way fun object lesson! The spirit was super strong, and she was asking some of the best questions!! GOSH it was so good!!! She is progressing :) its a MIRACLE!! We are meeting her again this Friday but I unfortunately will be on exchanges with another Sister in Kumamoto so I won't get to see her until next monday but I am way pumped about her progression, she is going to get baptized I can feel it.
2. Seguchi San- We met with her last week and showed her a movie clip on baptism and eternal families and it was SOOOO good! The spirit was SO strong!! She keeps saying that she needs more time to prepare for baptism but really she is just terrified to commit, so we are still working on how we can commit her, but we know that she will soon!! We are meeting with her this wednesday and I am super excited. We got way closer with her in our last lesson and I talked to her a lot on Sunday so I feel like she is trusting us more. We took a pic with her but I can't send it because this computer is dumb, but I will find a way to send you pics of these people! Love her too!!
3. Evangeline- She is the Filipino that I talked about a while ago (she is having an affair with her boss and has a 10 yr old daughter) she is WAY prepared to accept the gospel. We met with her yesterday and taught her the plan of salvation and it went SOO well. She learned so much, and really felt the spirit. The only problem is Satan REALLY has her deceived right now, and ending her affair is not going to be easy and repentance is not a fun process so she is having a hard time deciding what she wants to do, but I know that the Lord brought us into her life NOW so she can learn how to overcome this situation that she is in. We are meeting with her again on Tuesday. Gosh…I am praying way hard for her, and her poor daughter. Nevertheless I know Heavenly Father loves them SO much! I could go on and on about the love of God….
4. Fujisawa San- NEW investigator :) We were supposed to meet with her Today but she had family coming in and she wasn't sure when they would be getting in so she had to reschedule for Wednesday. I have a WAY funny story about her, but don't have time to tell it…I will try to remember to make time next week so I can share it. Its a funny and way embarrassing story, I'm sure you will enjoy it. ha…to be continued.
5. Kojima Shimai- This is the bishops wife! And she is on FIRE right now! She took Sister Heaton and I to one of the FIVE referrals that she gave us and a new less active last week and it was super good! She is sooo excited about missionary work right now! We are meeting with her and one of her friends on Friday (but I will be in Kumamoto) but I'm super excited! She is a huge miracle for us right now I am soo grateful for her!!!
This last week was way good I love you all I have two minutes left, I have to go but this work is so true, things are really starting to pick up, it is such a huge blessing.
The greatest miracle of all is that Ube had a baptism last week :)
Yoshioka San got baptized. Yep. Its a miracle. The church is true!
Love, Sharp Shimai
Okay, well where to even start?! I don't have much time, I will try to remember everything if I can-
MIRACLES!!!!!
1. Today we had a lesson with Marina at the church and it was SOOOO dang good! She is progressing so much, I am soooo happy! We gave her a commitment to read Alma 32 and Moroni 7 before we met again. Our original plan for today was to have a lesson on Faith, but we started by reviewing the proper nature of God and Jesus Christ and our relationship to both of them, and it was like a HUGE light bulb went off!! :) So we kept going on that track and talked more about prayer and did a way fun object lesson! The spirit was super strong, and she was asking some of the best questions!! GOSH it was so good!!! She is progressing :) its a MIRACLE!! We are meeting her again this Friday but I unfortunately will be on exchanges with another Sister in Kumamoto so I won't get to see her until next monday but I am way pumped about her progression, she is going to get baptized I can feel it.
2. Seguchi San- We met with her last week and showed her a movie clip on baptism and eternal families and it was SOOOO good! The spirit was SO strong!! She keeps saying that she needs more time to prepare for baptism but really she is just terrified to commit, so we are still working on how we can commit her, but we know that she will soon!! We are meeting with her this wednesday and I am super excited. We got way closer with her in our last lesson and I talked to her a lot on Sunday so I feel like she is trusting us more. We took a pic with her but I can't send it because this computer is dumb, but I will find a way to send you pics of these people! Love her too!!
3. Evangeline- She is the Filipino that I talked about a while ago (she is having an affair with her boss and has a 10 yr old daughter) she is WAY prepared to accept the gospel. We met with her yesterday and taught her the plan of salvation and it went SOO well. She learned so much, and really felt the spirit. The only problem is Satan REALLY has her deceived right now, and ending her affair is not going to be easy and repentance is not a fun process so she is having a hard time deciding what she wants to do, but I know that the Lord brought us into her life NOW so she can learn how to overcome this situation that she is in. We are meeting with her again on Tuesday. Gosh…I am praying way hard for her, and her poor daughter. Nevertheless I know Heavenly Father loves them SO much! I could go on and on about the love of God….
4. Fujisawa San- NEW investigator :) We were supposed to meet with her Today but she had family coming in and she wasn't sure when they would be getting in so she had to reschedule for Wednesday. I have a WAY funny story about her, but don't have time to tell it…I will try to remember to make time next week so I can share it. Its a funny and way embarrassing story, I'm sure you will enjoy it. ha…to be continued.
5. Kojima Shimai- This is the bishops wife! And she is on FIRE right now! She took Sister Heaton and I to one of the FIVE referrals that she gave us and a new less active last week and it was super good! She is sooo excited about missionary work right now! We are meeting with her and one of her friends on Friday (but I will be in Kumamoto) but I'm super excited! She is a huge miracle for us right now I am soo grateful for her!!!
This last week was way good I love you all I have two minutes left, I have to go but this work is so true, things are really starting to pick up, it is such a huge blessing.
The greatest miracle of all is that Ube had a baptism last week :)
Yoshioka San got baptized. Yep. Its a miracle. The church is true!
Love, Sharp Shimai
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Hold up your light!
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
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
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
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
All things possible!
Monday 17, 2014
Konnichiwa!
More Miracles:
Last night Sister Heaton and I were out housing and we found a 16 year old and an 18 year old that accepted a Book of Mormon and said that we could come back to talk with them tonight. They didn't seem WAY interested, but they accepted a return appointment so that was a huge miracle! Teaching people this transfer hasn't really been happening…people always cancel or we just haven't found someone who will accept a return appointment. With the other two sisters gone, we have taken 3 of their investigators. Ones name is Seguchi San, she is in her 60's and waaay sweet. She comes to church every single Sunday. She wants to be baptized and had a date, but backed out because of the pressure, (and I don't think she has any idea what baptism really even means) so once we get all that cleared up I think she will probably accept baptism within the next few weeks. The other investigator that we have is from the Philippines, her name is Evangeline and she has a 9 year old daughter. We went out to lunch with her last week and I taught her with Sister Smith. She speaks English, so its way nice being able to communicate to her. She also had a baptismal date but she too backed out. She is having an affair with her boss at work…its a really sad situation. We aren't really sure why to do with that, she has to stop before she can progress but she is having a way hard time…so yeah, I'll update you on that as it unfolds. She is waaaay nice and prepared in many, many ways, so i hope that its her time and that she can repent and be baptized within the next month or so.
I was also going through our area book the other night and called up a former investigator whose record said that they had a baptism date set, but never got baptized. I'm not sure why they didn't, but I called the number and they agreed to meet us at the church for an appointment! Huge miracle! So hopefully something happens there also.
We are also working with the Murakami family. They are members but the husband and 2 kids are less active. The husband isn't following any of the commandments right now it sound like, and the two kids are WAY busy with school. HOWEVER, Sister Heaton and I visited the mom and two kids last week and taught the daughter the Restoration and it was waaay good. The spirit was way strong at the end. For the first time in a long time she came to church last sunday! The daughter is 15 or 16 years old, so we were way excited! She is the only baptized young woman in the whole ward. We need to build up the youth here SO bad. But it was a big miracle that she came, her son came too! I haven't met the husband yet, but hopefully with time we can meet him and start teaching him again too. Miracles :)
Tomorrow we are going to Fukuoka for MLC (missionary leader coordination/correlation?…) and getting a training for this new transfer from President and the APs. Im way excited to start the new transfer and get to WORK! I came up with something called 'All things possible' and we will be implementing it into our whole zone. The zone leaders liked it so they want all the elders to do it too. It was originally something we came up with just for the Shimai to do, but now everyone will be doing it. By the end of the transfer all areas should have a baptism or a baptism date if they follow what we have set up for them to do each week. I pray that we can get the work going here. All areas are really struggling. At least in my zone. Its going to be good, lots of miracles await!
I love you all, thank you so much for the love and support, I really do need it and it keeps me going!
Love,
Sharp Shimai
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Gods love is always there
Tuesday 11, 2014
Konnichiwa,
I feel like time is running out and I haven't been reaching my potential or like I am missing out on something. I think my companion and I are used to different ways of doing missionary work and I have struggled way hard with seeing things from her perspective. I hope it gets easier. I knew my mission wasn't going to be easy, but I wasn't expecting it to be challenging in the ways that is has been. There are many times that I want to give up and forget it. But then I think about the Savior…and think about how blessed I am to have the gospel in my life. Keeping that in mind has been the only thing that has kept me going at times. I know I am supposed to be here, and I am grateful for the strong impressions that I received before my mission or who knows if I'd be able to keep pushing through.
I am learning that missions are like a lifetime of emotions and experiences all packed into 18 months. You experience SO much JOY, so much sadness, so much frustration, so much peace, so much anger and so much laughter, so much fatigue and so much enthusiasm.
There are days when you really wish that it could just end, and then there are other times when you hope it never does. People come and go, and friendships are made that can never be forgotten! So far my mission has been an unforgettable experience.
I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us so deeply that he lets us wade through tribulation so we can taste of the sweet joy of the Atonement when its all over. How grateful I am that because of the Savior there is ALWAYS joy, peace, love and happiness at the end of each trail that we go through.
Thank you for all your love and prayers, I am striving to become the person and missionary the Lord needs me to be. Its taking a long time, but I'm getting there. Please remember that Gods love is always there, and that he lives and so does our Savior. He knows our heart and our struggles and he is ready to bless us if we turn to HIM in all things.
Stay strong, and continue to choose the Savior in all things
Love, Sharp Shimai
Konnichiwa,
I feel like time is running out and I haven't been reaching my potential or like I am missing out on something. I think my companion and I are used to different ways of doing missionary work and I have struggled way hard with seeing things from her perspective. I hope it gets easier. I knew my mission wasn't going to be easy, but I wasn't expecting it to be challenging in the ways that is has been. There are many times that I want to give up and forget it. But then I think about the Savior…and think about how blessed I am to have the gospel in my life. Keeping that in mind has been the only thing that has kept me going at times. I know I am supposed to be here, and I am grateful for the strong impressions that I received before my mission or who knows if I'd be able to keep pushing through.
I am learning that missions are like a lifetime of emotions and experiences all packed into 18 months. You experience SO much JOY, so much sadness, so much frustration, so much peace, so much anger and so much laughter, so much fatigue and so much enthusiasm.
There are days when you really wish that it could just end, and then there are other times when you hope it never does. People come and go, and friendships are made that can never be forgotten! So far my mission has been an unforgettable experience.
I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us so deeply that he lets us wade through tribulation so we can taste of the sweet joy of the Atonement when its all over. How grateful I am that because of the Savior there is ALWAYS joy, peace, love and happiness at the end of each trail that we go through.
Thank you for all your love and prayers, I am striving to become the person and missionary the Lord needs me to be. Its taking a long time, but I'm getting there. Please remember that Gods love is always there, and that he lives and so does our Savior. He knows our heart and our struggles and he is ready to bless us if we turn to HIM in all things.
Stay strong, and continue to choose the Savior in all things
Love, Sharp Shimai
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