She’s Got a Tomboy Character…..

I can’t even explain how much I love my Japanese Grammie…She held my hand and walked with me to each station at the festival. Just melt my heart woman:)

Lunch after Zone Conference.

Message

Konnichiwhaddup Y`all!? 

 

Oh man oh man, this week was ROCKIN`! Oh man, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! Oh gosh, there`s so much to write...okay, let`s just get cray! Hur I go! 

 

So Tuesday was just a good solid day of dendo! (missionary work) We worked hard and visited a lot of less actives and went finding inbetween when we just kinda felt like there was a place we needed to stop at and invited a lot of people to the natsu matsuri (summer festival) this Saturday! Just a good feelin` day! And I had the happiest song of my life stuck in my head allllllllll day long! It goes like this, `Jesus` love is like the sunshine falling gently on my face` You probably gotta hear the man`s voice who sings it to fully appreciate it but WHOO!….it`s tender. I love it!  I felt some of that love Tuesday! Best kind of love there is!

 

Anywho, Wednesday was great! We are tryin` some new things so we decided to wake up early and go to Seminary at 6! Whoo! There are only 3 kids in there haha! But they are troopers and I loved being back in Seminary! Oh man, so check out this miracle! So way way way back ago, there was a girl about our age working at the internet cafe and she was like `HEY! I want to come to Eikaiwa!` and we were like Oh man, this girl is heaven sent! And she ended up totally coming! But then after that, it was like super hard to contact her because we kept getting the wrong number and we didn`t see her at the cafe! Then we ended up seeing her randomly and getting the right number and anyways, it was a long struggle, but finally we got her to come to ping pong with us Wednesday and she is just a ROCKSTAR! I`m not even kidding you! She was totally chill, makin` friends with everybody! So while I go over to play with someone else, I look back and Steers Choro is whippin` out the Chart (about the Gospel of Jesus Christ) like a True D! haha! And at one point he goes, `Yeah, I was baptized! It blessed my life! What about you? Wilkin Choro, were you baptized?` and Wilkin Choro goes, `Yeah, man, I was baptized!` `What about you Howard Shimai?` `I got a picture!` hahaha she was just soaking.it.up! Oh man, she`s awesome! We just mentioned about comiing to church and she was like, `Yeah, I wanna come!!!` YEAH! Oh man, like everything was just working out perfectly! so anyways, after ping pong we were like, `Hey,can we just share a quick message with you?` And she`s like `Yeah, why don`t you come over to my house?` Say what? Oh snap, gladly! (And of course she lives RIGHT by the church…seriously…..like all of the investigators live RIGHT by the church or our apartment…it`s weird how that works out….haha) But yeah, and it ended up turning into meeting her whole family and they are AWESOME and her mom made us dinner! Oh man, we felt way bad because it was all sudden, but they were so  so nice! And we sat down to eat with her and her brother and we taught them how to pray and she was STOKED and was like `Can I pray!?` Why yes, yes you can! And it was beautiful and I was like `Heavenly Father, is this real right now?` And her and her brother were both like `See you at church!` YES! Ah, is doesn`t get much better than that! I was so in awe! haha! Oh, and this is my favorite part! haha! So I see her mom`s shirt and it says `Lord..` on it and I`m like Ah man, I gotta check this out. So I`m like, `Hey, can I read your shirt?` and it goes, `Lord is our Gentle Shepherd` and I just laugh! like NO WAY!? Can you say SHEEP!”? hahaha Oh man, it was so fun! Like, your shirt is quotin` scripture about Jesus and you don`t even know it!  It was an awesome experience and I`m so SO happy to share more with her! 

So THEN, Thursday was planning like a maniac! And we did some Eikaiwa chirashi kubari at the train station (passing out flyers) with one RM, Yumi Shimai, and one shimai who`s about to leave for Sapporo, Yui Shimai. It was SO fun! My all time favorite is just stopping motorbikes and just like `HEY! SUMIMASEN!!!!!!!` and they stop suddenly and I just go, “Free English Class` 🙂 and they just laugh, take the flyer, and go away! haha! I love just once you get into the bold mindset like…everything`s fair game and you`re just genki and stoppin` cars and leavin` your comfort zone and most people are rejecting you like right and left but it doesn`t get you down! Yumi Shimai straight up taught a lesson on the corner to a woman for like 20 minutes!!! It was awesome! and this man came walking back to me and asked if we taught English!!! He WALKED BACK and asked for a flyer! Ah man, that was my sweet tender mercy!

 

Oh, also funny, so we`ve decided to start calling members to wish them happy birhtdays and stuff and it was this one 13 yr old kid`s birthday so we called him up and start singing and as we get closer and closer to the part where you say, `Happy Birthday dear………….!` We both looked at each other and our eyes were getting wider and wider as we realized both of us forgot his name and we were like ahhhhhhh shooooot!!!! (granted it was a rather long one…Like `Noboyuki` …of course now I remember haha) but yeah…we just kind of ended up singing louder and really jumbled at that part…hahaha but it was funny…..but we saw him later that week and he seemed super happy so….maybe he didn`t notice? hahaha! WHOO! Japanese, I love it! 

 

Friday was like…THE BEST Zone training meeting of my life! We`re starting this whole new focus on really trying to teach by the Spirit and oh my goodness…I learned more than in one lifetime and now we`re applying it and it is way fun! Way scary but way fun! haha! But we had lunch with the shimai after and there was cotton candy and I was a happy camper! And then we had an AWESOME experience that night!!! So we have been wanting to try to mogi (roleplay) with the members and have one of us teach with them as the missionaries and the other companion be their choice friend. So this one woman in the ward has this 4 month old baby and she asked to come over and teach her baby english (haha…that just makes me laugh) but we were like, `Why not? We can build some good relationships, do a little service (again, haha) and do the mogi with her!` So she`s cool with it and we get there and she turns on this like Disney sing a long english DVD and tells us to sing a long with her and we`re just like `Ehh….is this kosher?????` but yeah…we didnt really know what to do….but we were just singing like ABCS so we were like…okay, let`s just go with it and then she whips  out all these books and so just iimagine us readying this GIANT book (litterally the size from my head to my hips hahaha) to this 4 month old baby! Ah it was hilarious! But anyways, AFTER that awesome party, we sat down and honestly I was pretty nervous because we just had this whole trainng on how we need to follow the Spirit and we were planning on mogi^ing the Restoration with her but she gets all excited and whips out these Plan of Salvation pics and me and Weigl Shimai just look at each other and just like throw everything we just planned out the window like `Yep, we`re teaching the Plan of Salvation, arent`t we?` hahaha! But I just had this calm feeling inside and said a prayer to help to know what to say, and just took it little by little……and a miracle happened! We asked her to think of someone, a friend, or family member, and she came up pretty quick with her dad, who`s not a member. And it turns out, she had been wanting to talk with him about these things,but just didn`t have the courage. And I don‘t know how..but like…somehow one thing led to another and we were just asking her some quesitons and we ended up mogi^ing a bit and she was AWESOME! She was asking awsesome quesitons and so comfortable about and it was so fun! And we were able to talk about it and she just like.got so much confidence after and we were able to talk about some of her concerns and she committed herself to pray and then go and talk to her dad! It was AMAZING!!!!! Oh man, and seriously….like…..we were just trying to listen to her and follow the Spirit! I had no idea what to say! Honestly! It wasn’t anything like we planned but it was what she needed and it was cool! 

 

So then Saturday was the Summer festival at church! Way fun! And my grammie came and oh man….i just love her! She got a little lost in the kitchen haha but when she saw me, she goes, `My heart is warm! It is warm when I see you!` ……just melt my heart, why don`t you?! Then she proceeded to hold my hand as we went place to place…..I love her so much, it`s crazy! 

We also visited my man, Deguchi Kyoudai! He`s the bomb and we just had some good heart to heart. Ah his heart is so tender, like a little baby, not even kidding you! He`s coming unto Christ! 

This weekend was like CRAZY typhoon and Sacrament meeting was canceled and pushed back to 4 because of the craziness and all the other meetings were just canceled but he came!!! So happy to see him there again! 

 

AND GET THIS SWEET MIRACLE! So Weigl Shimai and I are housing this 14 floor aparment and trying to go back to this one potential investigator/my good old man friend/he`s a Jehovah`s Witness, but I think he`s supes being prepared! But yeah so I couldn`t quite remember which door he was so we just ping ponged a couple of them and no one answered so we proceeded and like after 20 minutes and 2 floors down, I see this man walkking down the stairs and I kinda freak out, then I realize it`s him and I`M like YEAH!!! How did you find us!!?? and he was like `I heard yoiur voice!` (typical haha) and he straight up sought us out and asked if we would teach him!!! Then proceeded to lead us down like 10 floors to this secret lounge where we talked about the Book of Mormon and he is WAY WAY WAY nice and super respectful and wants to learn more and so we set up an appointment for next week and he became a new investigator!!! Whoa! out of nowhere! it was pretty rad! and definitley a blessing from Heavenly Father!! 🙂 

 

I know this is long. Just gotta get this bit in.  So Hiraoka Shimai, ( My Japanese mom who joined the church last fall in Okayama), calls the Kawachi church like 14 times looking for me! (crazy haha) and finally Steers Choro gets the phone and takes the funniest message of my life to pass on to me. It goes something like this, `Howard Shimaii is a tomboy character but her mind is beautiful and God-like.` hahahahahahaha I died. I have no idea where she got that, but do you see what I love this woman!? Oh man…she`s the bees knees. 

 

So that was my life story! High fives to all of you who stuck through it and read til the end! Love you! I had a ton of awesome scriptures/spiritual stuff I wanted to share with you but….this is already pretty long. So I just wanted to share this quote from Kaicho, `How do you know the Lord loves you? He asks you to do hard things.` I LOVE that. Truly, our challenges and trials are gifts from the Lord to make us stronger and better than we were. Just like Lehi and Nephi, the Lord will lead us into the wilderness and He will lead us out into the Promised Land! But just remember, don`t be afraid to live in the wilderness! It`s the grow zone! Where we can come closer to the Lord! 

I love this gospel! It‘s true! 

Ai shite iru yo!

Howard Shimai

Konnichiwaddup!

Funny text…”Amen”

 

 

 

My BFF Shimai…I just love her!

Some people are all “Dang! I’ve lost like 40lbs on my mission or “Oh Snap I’m biking so much my legs are giant. An I’m just like “My head turned into sushi!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m getting pretty good at making Japanese Food!

Me, my new comp Weigl Shimai and of course me Japanese Grammie and her granddaughter:)

Message

Konnichiwhaddup!!!

 

Oh my goodness, IT`S AUGUST!!!?? Where did the year go?? Life`s cray, but what`s new?  This week was rockin! I have a new companion now!!!!!!!!! and her name is Weigl Shimai! and I LOVE her!!  So she`s from Virginia, but she went to the Y too! And we`re pretty much like the same person…EXCEPT SHE DOESN`T LIKE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!! oh.snap. I had a mind blown moment. Like she told me before that she didn`t like chocolate or peanut butter (or smiling or rainbows either..(jk)) hahaha but it didn`t click how insane that was until she was like, `yeah i don`t like choco chip cookies` and I just threw it alllllllll down! WHAT!? hahaha! She`s a real otsukaresama though (hard worker)  and shoots my dendo fire through the roof! I`M STOKED FOR THIS TRANSFER! We pretty much planned like crazy all day Saturday, but we really felt like we need to just……focus on some balance this transfer. Including focusing on just showing love like crazy to the ward and members and trying to strengthen them as well! We have some really fun plans and new ideas in the works and we just sat down and talked with the bishop yesterday about his vision for the ward and missionary work. And he was saying how we wants to try to get 100 people coming to church (there`s 80 right now) whether that be through less active work or baptizing. But basically, we just had the same vision and I`m STOKED to just……..work with Heavenly Father and seek some revelation and find out what it is we need to get movin` on to help that happen!! Small and simple means, great things are brought to pass, right? So…that`s exciting!! 

 

P.S. Weigl Shimai likes to run. I`m so happy. 🙂 haha!

 

So this week was seriously SOOOO busy! Especially because we were trying to visit/meet with like EVERYONE IN THE WORLD before Wiseman Shimai left! hahaha! oh man….it was nuts! But I loved it! 

 

So Tuesday…lately our BFF Shimai has been pretty busy taking care of her newborn great grand baby so it`s been a little hard to meet. But we just felt like we should stop by in the middle of the day and try to catch her. And we ping ponged her and she happened to be sleeping. We felt super bad, but she always let`s us in and so we just talked for a bit and kinda learned some things that sounded like she needed help with and were able to set up an appoinment for the next day! So that was great! And then we walked with her to take her to her granddaughter`s house. I just love spending time with her! She`s a sweetie! We had another lesson with an Eikaiwa student that night…oh gosh, that was crazy…haha! I guess you gotta have those every once in a while!  

Eikaiwa was SUPER fun teaching about holidays though! 😀 haha Wilkin Choro and I were trying to act out trick or treating! Then Bahr Choro was the Easter bunny! And I was Rudolph/Santa all in one! hahaha lots of laughs that night! 

 

Oh my gosh, Wednesday was CRAZY busy, but we had the BEST NIGHT EVER!!!!! We had a dashimaki/pan/tsubumi party with our BFF Shimai!!! She`s the best! Ahhh! So much love shared! So much love felt!!! It was just….a really tender night! So like she taught us how to make dashimaki (it`s just like …an egg dish) and then we brought some bread (pan) and the grape juice I love! and then we shared a message with her about how we can trust God and He helps us in our trials. And we can`t ever give up on Him or lose hope – He can see the greater picture and everything is in His timetable. The Spirit was just so sweet in that lesson. 🙂 And she just told us how much she wanted to try to come to church. She really needs someone to love her and take care of her and just…show her kindness. She`s had a hard life. This gospel can bring her so much happiness! I love how open her heart is! As I was testifying, I realized…I have SO much to be grateful for. Sure, life`s not always a piece of cake…..but no matter what kind of time it is – everything smooth sailin` or the boat`s rockin` a little or a lot – we can be happy because we know God is with us. And He is who He says He is. He will lead us to safety. Always. He doesn`t always take away the trial, but He does strengthen us and grant us the power, that we may be able to bear it. That night was one of my more treasured experiences 🙂 

 

Thursday was just INSANE! hahaha! Oh gosh….`*deep breath* So we had like appointment/meeting after meeting! But I love those days! Keeps ya going! One of the more tender moments was being with Deguchi Kyodai at the end of the night, saying goodbye and he goes to Wiseman Shimai, `I`ll never forget your love` and I hear that and my heart just….is happy. That`s what it`s all about. Look at you Wiseman Shimai, astonishiing the world! I think something I`ve come to learn is that success as a missionary is manifested in various ways, not just baptisms….I`m thankful for Heavenly Father`s tender mercies He grants us daily and the strength and hope He gives us to keep going and be happy and know that…no effort is ever wasted. 

 

Transfer day was interesting! It was basically me flying solo in a giant group of choros for like 3 hours, waiting for Weigl Shimai….someone didn`t plan that out quite right hahaha! but you know, it`s cool, we saw some crazy stuff! for example, this one choro starts contacting this man on a bike and the man has beer in his basket and the police come up behind him and arrest the man and we`re all like `uhhhh…..` and he`s like, `dang it…they totally messed up my contact!` hahahaha! gotta love Osaka! 

 

Anywho…it was overall pretty great! OH MAN! I almost forgot! I have to tell you about this woman we picked up! She`s pretty crazy….oh man..that`s an understatement! hahaha she talks LITERALLY a MILLION MILES AN HOUR! And she texts like she talks!  But the funny thing is like….she came to church once and now she thinks that we say amen after like…every sentence hahahaha! So I get this text the other sunday and it goes `I went to church in Mikunigaoka! It was fun! *smiley* amen.` bahahaha! I just started busting up! And since then, like every text is like that! `*smiley* amen.` haha she says it when we just talk on the phone and stuff and in lessons too…..ahh..kills…love my Nihonjin brothers and sisters! 

 

 

I woke up and thought I heard a million birds singing this morning, but it was just a ton of bugs…Grody!

Hello Familia!

BIG NEWS! I`m staying in Kawachi again!!!!! WOOOO! But Wiseman Shimai`s off to Tottori! (above Okayama) And my new doryo is Weigl Shimai! She`s the same transfer as me and I think one time I saw her wearing the same shirt as me….so I`ve decided we`re just gonna be twinsies! 😀 Stoked! I really am super excited! I`m ready to learn from her! And ready to ASTONISH THE WORLD and BAPTIZE THE NATIONS! Woo!

So that`s my life! This week was full of glory….and heat stroke! Just kidding! Although, I cannot tell you how many people have expressed serious concern about us getting that…..always reassuring! 😀 Fear not though…there`s vending machines on literally ever corner, so we stay VERY hydrated! I`m super grateful though that we don`t have a thermometer to tell us how hot it is, cuz shoot, if we did….that would just totally psyche me out! But I enjoy living life ignorantly with my little sweat washcloth and 3 water bottles! 😀 Don`t yall be gettin` jealous now! haha!

So again, my life! It`s a party! THE DENDO IS MY SUBCONSCIOUS! Last night I had a dream and in it, I was just contacting with my zone! And people were rejecting me hard core, but we were all Army of Helaman-like and just kept goin! 😀 Feels good dreaming about that! hahaha!

Alright, Tuesday! We streeted for a while (when we don`t have less active work to do, we just dendo as usual) ah man…rejection didn`t used to hurt this bad. I`d just be like, `Well, your time will come! On to find the sheep!` but now I understand people more and more and we get into conversations and they say stuff like, `I don`t need God` or `He`s not real` and it hurts…it hurts deep. But you just have to keep going. We did have a really interesting conversation with a kid about our age. He had a friend who was Mormon but he was of a different faith. I don`t know if you know what Sokkagakkai is but that`s the one. And I have spent like a year trying to understand what people say when they say that the god is inside them. It just has never quite made sense but after talking with him, I finally get it. Most Japanese people have the belief that the Buddha is sleeping inside of them. So they pray to like…awaken that energy. So they rely on that energy. And I asked him if he ever felt that before. and he said yes and asked me if I ever felt power from relying on my God. And I`m like yeah! *whip out personal experience on the fly!* it was really interesting. we invited him to go home (lives somewhere in tokyo) and talk to his friend more about the church and try going sometime. But anyways, when we went to leave, he reached for a hug and I was like WHA???!”!! hahaha Japanese people do NOT hug EVER! So basically I panicked and didn`t know what to say so it turned into the AWKWARDEST ELBOW PAT OF MY LIFE! can you just picture that!? don`t try, you will cry from awkwardness!! hahaha! Yeah, so I walked away laughing so bad! 😀

Wednesday we finally found some awesome service to do!!! We get to play games and talk to old people at a nursing home!!! Ah, it is the BEST! We started out listening to this tape from probz like the 70s that said like, `flex your fingers! lift your right leg! now your left!` and all this funny stuff! Probably the only work out where I haven`t broken a sweat but I gotta be careful not to jinx it! Or who knows, next week they`ll be like, `Okay everybody! We`re gonna try and wiggle our toes!`Woo! Now THAT would be a tough one! haha!

Okay, Ima just jump to Saturday. So check this out! The Hashimoto Shimai had a baptism on Saturday that we went to. But we didn`t invite our Japanese grammie because if you just say the word she flips! So we`re standing there, watching the baptism and after, Wiseman Shimai grabs my arm and goes, `SHE CAME!!!!!` And I looked around and saw her just as she was leaving the room and I was like WHAT!!!!?? So this is the story: the bishop`s family was hanging out at the church and Yoshikawa Shimai (the bishop`s wife/my grammie`s daughter) knew about the baptsm but didn`t say anything to her mom and was just like, `Hey mom! Let`s go into this room for a sec!` And she saw her get dunked and that was it! hahahaha! She didn`t tell her a word until after and was like `That was a baptism!` And my grammie goes, `Oh…..nice..` like no big deal! hahaha I was like WHAT!? Are you seriousl!!! Oh man, it was a miracle she came!!! And she stayed for the rest and was super chill!! Oh man, I`m hoping this was a step in a giant direction towards baptism for her!!!! haha! But seriously! Next week, the elders have a baptism so we`re plotting away how to get her to that one too! 😀 We had a good lesson on repentance with her this week and some dots to God and Jesus Christ are connecting I think so that`s good!

THE COOLEST MIRACLE ON SUNDAY TOO!!!! Oh man..I can`t even explain the joy…..it`s too great…So Saturday we had just enough time to visit our less active brother, Deguchi Kyoudai. We`ve been working with him a lot. He has the most tender, pure heart of like anyone I know. And he`s been reading a scripture a day from the little jar we gave him and remembereing to say his prayers this week! And since we first started meeting back in April, he`s been saying things like he wants to come back to church but he just doesn`t know when. And like, he has some memory issues, so you cant really put dates on things. But we`ve tried to invite him to ward meal partites and some lower key stuff, but he won`t come. But when we visited him Saturday he made a coment about how if we transfer, he wants to try to come to church before. and he didn`t even know transfers were coming up. but we just told him at his own pace is good and to not worry. but as we left he was like, ` I expect missionaries to still come take care of me if you leave. I need God. I need His help.` and it was so tender. I was like, `oh man, we have to prep him incase one of us goes!` so I just told him we were gonna find out Monday and we would let him know so he didn` have to worry.
So Sunday comes and we get out of a meeting and someone comes down stairs to tell us that HE CAME!!!!! and seriously, we asked like 50 times WHO!? Deguchi Kyoudai. WHO!? Deguchi Kyoudai. WHO!? hahaha seriously though, WE WERE SO SURPRISED!!!! Oh man, we were like RUNNING! and then I remembered we had to be reverent but like….oh man….I was SO HAPPY!!! HE CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! I know that must not seem like a big deal but truly….oh man…we have been working with him for so long! So long for him to come to church!!! It feels like……the equivalent to someone committing to be baptized! Maybe even being baptized! Ah! It was a miracle! He came all by himself too, all dressed up! Happy day 🙂 I think he`ll be making big progress from here!!! Much easiser to come again, right!?
So thankful to my God. 🙂

I just wanted to share something that`s been on my mind. There`s this song on my ipod that I never really liked cuz it was super cheesy hahaha but I`ve been learning about repentance more lately and yesterday when it came on, the words just kind of caught me. They go, `Picture a place where the sum of all grace is extending a hand to erase all the shame from this worn out face` It`s really beautiful. This week almost all of our lessons were focused on how we can be forgiven and cleansed from sin through the Savior`s Atonement. A lot of people don`t believe we need a Savior. or they don`t understand why. But I want to share my testimony and personal witness that we need a Savior. We absolutely need Jesus Christ. And His grace and His mercy. I`ve been thinking about how Christ feels when we sin. And when we repent. And I relate it back to the time where they brought the woman before Him and asked Him what to do to her. And He showed her mercy. He forgave her and simply said with far greater love and understanding than I can imagine, `Go and sin no more.` And I`d like to think that He says the same to us. I think of the burdens we each carry and the sorrow that comes when we sin. and sometimes you feel like `I`m not worthy. I`ll never be worthy of His love and forgiveness. I can`t go back now.` But if we remember those words, `Go and sin no more` we can take comfort in knowing that the Son of God loves us. He forgives us. He delivers us from the weight and sorrow of sin and we can move on and become better. No mattter how many times or how long it takes. I love my Savior. It says in 2 Nephi 28:32 ` I shall lengthen out my arm unto them from day to day, …I will be merciful unto them…if they will repent and come unto me; for my arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts.` I am so grateful for that promise from God. I`m grateful for daily repentance and the Atonement that makes that all possible. The gospel is beautiful!!!
So are you!
Ai shite imasu!
Howard Shimai