Classic Mission Experience

 

Me and Sister Ito today in front of our apartment. Its pouring rain!

 

 

Ohayougozaimasu!

 

This week was so busy and I`m SO tired! But Sister Ito and I had a lot of fun and talked to a ton of people. I FINALLY had the classic mission experience of being harshly rejected while housing, which I was weirdly happy about, haha. We housed an entire building and had just finished talking to a very nice Buddhist lady when we knocked on the door next to hers. We waited for a couple of minutes but nobody came so we knocked again and while I was standing there smiling, happy as can be, so excited to talk to this person a mean old lady swung the door open and yelled, `Bakayarou!!!!!!!` and then slammed the door in our faces. I`m not even sure what that means but I was so surprised that I literally screamed bloody murder (If anyone has ever watched a scary movie with me you know exactly what I`m talking about) and Ito shimai started laughing her head off. It took me a few minutes to get over the shock, but after that I was so smiley all day because I finally can say I had a door slammed in my face! Japanese people are so polite and nice that I thought I would never have the pleasure of experiencing that. Yayy!

My hilarious companion telling me about her tape collection

 

A little more about my lovely little are of Ube: I realized this week that Ube is actually an old Hiroshima Mission area. A couple of years ago the Hiroshima Mission closed so the areas around here became part of the Fukuoka Mission. While we were talking to a man the other day he showed me some post cards he had received and apparently Mika Sawada, an old Tokyo friend served here as well as my trainer Sister McIntyre. He also had been taught by a sister missionary who was teaching at the MTC when I was there, so it was cool to be teaching him and know that a lot of my other friends had stood in that same spot teaching him. His name is Fujino san and he has been really good friends with the missionaries for a long time.

YSA party at Nakamura kyodai`s house. We`re showing off the game we played

 

We received a referral from an Elder the other day who used to serve around here for a man from Yuganda. An English speaking sister hasn`t served in this area for a couple of years so he was excited that I could go talk to this man he met. We tried calling and visiting him but no contact, and then after District Meeting on Tuesday we went shopping for batteries and randomly ran into him in the store! We had never met him before but the chances of meeting more than one tall, black man in Ube are pretty slim, so we figured it was him, haha. His name is Jacob Ssenkuma. He actually approached us first and we stood in the grocery store for a good half hour talking about religion. He is a very devout Catholic but is open to learning about all religions so he told us that if he has any time he`ll call us. It felt really weird talking to a 23 year old man in English for some reason....haha. I haven`t done that in about a year! I was super nervous! Phaha. I`m getting a little worried that I`m giong to be that super awkward RM who can`t talk normally to people my same age. Haha!

Obandoned fairgrounds near a less active member. Looks like where the zoltar machine was found at the end of the movie `Big`

 

During district meeting our zone leaders told us about how they had received a challenge from their ward mission leader to go finding right around the church and that if they did they would probably find a lot of new investigators. They took his advice and found three the next day, so Ito Shimai and I decided to do the same. We knocked on the door of the person living literally right next door to the church and she was this super nice lady who said she had never met the missionaries before or heard of the Church. Can you believe that! Right next door! She told us she is interested in hearing more so we`re going to visit her again this week!

Cute YSA named Rana playing her guitar for me

 

I still haven`t met our Vietnemese family, but I did meet a lot of our other investigators this week and everyone is so nice and also progressing in the gospel! I am loving serving in Ube and getting to know Ito Shimai. She is an amazing missionary, so willing to sacrifice her time for others. For instance, there is an older man who calls us here sometimes three times a day because he is lonely and every time she hurredly picks up the phone and talks to him about the weather, work, etc. She is such a great example of a disciple of Christ doing what he would do if he were here. I am learning a lot from her and cracking up all day long.

  Our ninety year old investigator Seyama san showed us all of her photo albums and I found this gem. This is her and her daughter probably about 45 years ago

 

I love you so much and appreciate your mail and emails. Keep them coming! I know that this gospel is true and was restored to the earth by the prophet Joseph Smith. I also know that through the atonement of Christ our weaknesses can be and are made strong, allowing us to further his work on the earth. Have a great week and be good!

 

Love, Tingey Shimai

 

P.S. Matt 10:39 is awesome.