First Week of Transfer Nine

Us teaching Komeda san in the park the day before Ito shimai left

 

 

Hello everyone!!

 

This week was amazing! Although we had transfers and my beloved companion, Ito Shimai, was transfered to Hiroshima to an area called Yasufuruichi, we saw SO many miracles the week before she left!

4. Singing Ito Shimai a farewell love song at Eikaiwa. (Can you see my horrendous drawing on the whiteboard?)

 

Remember Komeda san? Well we met with her on Wednesday, the day before transfers and she had read all the way to 1 Nephi 13 in the Book of Mormon and said, `It is very interesting!`. Even though we taught her about the Ten Commandments (as well as the Law of Chastity and Sabbath Day) and were planning on commiting her to follow those commandments, she told us that she had seen something about something called The Word of Wisdom in the Gospel Principles book we gave her on Sunday, and had a lot of questions about that. Without us saying anything she told us she had already commited to stop smoking and drinking coffee after reading that because she has a strong desire to follow Jesus Christ and become Christian by being baptized!! Helloooo. Hahahaha. We talked with her and decided together that she would work toward being baptized on April 14th. I have never met someone during my mission so prepared to receive the gospel. She has incredible faith and humility. She has a super strong desire to repent and change her life so that she can have the Spirit with her. We have been contacting her every night and she hasn`t used tobacco since that day! Keep in mind that we haven`t even properly taught her aboutu the Word of Wisdom yet! We are so excited to see what is in store for her! Ito Shimai was so happy spending her last day in Ube seeing Komeda san progress and learn in the gospel. I will miss her so much!!

Last district meeting of the transfer! From Left to Right: Ito, Me, Shima, Lyon(District Leader), Thomas, Peterson

 

My new companion is Hattori Shimai from Nara! She is without a doubt the most adorable person I have ever met! I know you`re probably sick of me telling you how amazing my companions are but I seriously feel like the luckiest missionary in the world having been able to meet and work with these incredible Japanese Sisters. Hattori Shimai was pretty shy and reserved at first but once she opened up I found out she has a super funny sense of humor and is just a very enjoyable person to be around. She is also a very dedicated missionary and hard worker, and we are already planning our attack on Ube this transfer ;) . The second day of this new transfer we met with Yamamoto san, a 70-year-old-ish man we recently started teaching and he also expressed a strong desire to continue learning and grow in his understanding of Jesus Christ`s teachings. Through that we scheduled a tentative baptism date with him for April 28th! Hopefully with that goal in mind he will have a desire to read from the Book of Mormon and attend church.

A delicious  looking chicken

 

Sister Hattori and I have been literally working to the point that I literally have about 10 minutes before bed to just sit and relax. What with planning, calling and following up with our friends, writing in the area book, etc. by the time everything is done its about 10:20 and I finally collapse on my futon and feel like I`m going to die of exhaustion, haha. Luckily we`re forced to get eight hours of sleep every night no matter what, or else I would probably stay up writing in my journal or reading, which would make me even more tired. The amazing thing is that even though I feel so exhausted at times I am feeling just an outpouring of the spirit and blessings from the Lord, and a very strong desire to work as hard as I can to find and teach those in Ube ready to receive the gospel. I feel like the Lord has just been leading and guiding us constantly here. Even though we seemingly have NO time to find, what with having a lot of appointments and people to visit, we somehow keep finding new people to teach. For instance, yesterday we decided to visit a referral we received from the ward mission leader. The address was really confusing and there were about three buildings that could have been the place where this person was living. We decided to just knock on each door and eventually would find him. The first door ended up being a 20 year old guy who was really excited to talk to us and even ran back into his apt to grab the Bible he had. We taught a full lesson, prayed, he commited to reading from the Book of Mormon, and also told us to come back again! He was not the referral. The next door was an older woman who we ended up talking to for an hour and even made a return appointment for the next lesson. She was also not the referral. After all of that time had run out and we had to get back to the church. We hadn`t even met the guy our ward mission leader told us about but had found two new investigators! Miracles like that are happening every day here!

 The 98 year old man we`re teaching. He ALWAYS says during our lessons, `I went to war THREE times!!!` and then he does a jabbing motion showing us how he used to stab the enemy with the skewer on the end of his gun if they got too close. His daughter, who is a member, always yells at him when he does that. Its so hilarious. He also has some wicked funny stories. One of them is about how he once was held up at gunpoint by a man on the street who asked him, `If it would be alright, could you please give me some money?` Hahah. He has the exact phrase the man said to him written in calligraphy hanging on the living room wall. He said he gave him enough money to buy three onigiris (rice balls) and ever since that day has felt guilty for not giving him more. Haha, what a nice guy. I love him SO much!

 

I know that Heavenly Father blesses us when we keep his commandments and do our best to live righteously. This week I felt such an outpouring of the spirit on this area and those we are teaching. Even though it could have been a very stressful and hard week, what with getting a new companion and leading the area, I felt Heavenly Father answer my prayers as I sincerely asked him to help me know where to go and what to do. I`m so grateful to have a knowledge of the true Gosepl of Jesus Christ and to have a strong relationship with my Heavenly Father. Thank you for all of your prayers and support!

 

Until next week!

 

Love, Tingey Shimai

 

P.S. I totally had no idea it was St. Patricks Day yesterday....haha