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
Konichiwhat? 