My Tender Mercy

I started this the week Lucy didn't write, and finally finished it tonight...

Basically, this is the first time Lucy hasn't written in her whole mission.  I've never checked my email more times in my entire life! I have missed her this week, and since it seems wrong to not have a post, I'm going to tell you a little about my sister.

Lucy is an angel sent from heaven.  When she was born I immediately adopted her as my own little baby to take care of and spoil, which I did mainly by always spending my time with her.  I didn't want to hang out with friends or do other activities,  I just wanted to hold her and sing to her and do her hair.  As the years went by she became my best friend and "mini me" as she tried to copy everything I did from the position of my pony tail to what I was wearing that day and to sleep.  She would bring me glasses of ice water then she and I would sing together every night and I would force her to memorize tons of songs, many of which were quite difficult.  Now that I have a 6 year old, I realize how amazing it was that at age 5 -8 she could hold the melody and even the harmony sometimes as I would sing the other part.  Our signature song was the National Anthem which we sung many times in front of my high schoolmates.  All the popular girls that never spoke to me would come up to me and say "your sister was so good, it gave me chills!"She has talent, talent I say!  Lucy was a superstar soccer player, tennis player as well as a star musician at a young age, gracing the stage as Belle in Beauty and the Beast and many other musical performances over many years.  She just had that star quality that lights up the stage.  I loved watching her run down the soccer field with pigtail brades, the skinniest legs ever and her arms flipping back to her side doing her signature run.  It was so cute!  One of her most endearing qualities is that she is such a kind person to everyone.  She, unlike the rest of her awkward siblings, was always well liked and popular, but she always used her popularity to stand up for others who were left out and set a good example for others who looked up to her.  She would tell me how she stood up for some cast-out soul who was being teased and she would rebuke the bullies and they would listen because they all respected and liked her.  One of my favorite past times with Lucy is when I was at BYU in my first few years and I would convince my mom to let me take her for the weekend and she and I would ride my long board all over campus, meeting cute guys and cruising the streets.  She and I would both wear pigtail braids and she got even more attention than me!  I got such a great workout as well because she stood in the front of the long board, steering, and I would hold her little shoulders and just push and push and push through Provo.  I would even manage to keep her sometimes on Monday and even once until Tuesday night saying that the ride that I had found to take her home fell through.  haha.  That was actually a lie to keep her with me.  I'm sorry for all my sins.  haha.  She was so little when I got called on my mission that I could still flip her little cannon ball body at the swimming pool with my scrawny arms.  When I got back, she was all grown up!  My only regret from my mission is that I missed watching her grow up and when I got home she had moved to Japan and wasn't next door anymore.  I missed her so much.  I thought about her so much on my mission and whenever I saw something cute, my mind went straight to her.  When I got back she was a little teenager and was living a wonderful life in Japan. During that time, she was challenged a lot academically and we found out that along with all the other talents, she was a genius, making A's in just about everything.  Writing was something that she was especially good at and she used her talent to write many amazing papers in school as well as write many beautiful songs.  She had many friends and was playing tennis and being immersed in the wonderful Japanese Culture.  I stayed in Japan for a few months after my mission and we played with our hairless rats together and laughed just as much as always.  As she skipped around the country for the next several years and I got married and moved to the east coast we didn't communicate as much as I would have liked, but whenever we got together the kindred spirit we always had was quickly rekindled and it was just so easy to be around her.  I pushed her to learn to play the mandolin and the guitar and she already learned how to sing from birth so basically she ended up being better than me at everything at a younger age, which couldn't make me more happy.  She is so accomplished and beautiful and I have such grateful feelings over her success in life.  The most significant thing she has done for me, other than serving a mission, is that when my little baby, Georgie, died, she wrote me a beautiful song that lifted my spirits and has ever since then been such a sweet memory for me during that horrible time. Lucy and I spent quite a long period of time together right before her mission and during that time I taught her everything I knew about how to cook, craft, take care of three little kids on airplanes, exercise, be an every day missionary and live life to the fullest.  We did a triathlon together, went on numerous road trips and plane trips together, laughed and elevated each other to a higher level.  One last quality I admire about Lucy is that you would never know any of this by talking to her.  She never brags about herself and would never tell you that she has songs published on Itunes! She is humble and down to earth and I doubt her husband will even know all the amazing things she has done in her life until they've been married for quite a few years. That means I get to brag about her:) My sister is my best friend and confidant.  She is my angel and I don't know how I would have survived my life without being able to love her and serve her.  I am who I am today because of her.  If I could sum up how I feel about Lucy it would be that she is my tender mercy from the Lord.  Everything from her birth to her service as a missionary has been a tender mercy in my life that I needed so much to keep me from being lonely and falling away from the Lord's plan for me.  You probably don't know this, Lucy, but sometimes I made the right decision just because I didn't want to let you down.  I thought of no one else when times were rough.  You literally kept me alive.  I love you Lucy. Work hard, have faith, gain a testimony and I can't wait to embrace you upon your honorable return.  
Love your big sister,
Annie

Baptism....kana?

 Decorated the door of a lady in our ward

 

Hello!!!

 

Komeda San got baptized on Sunday!!!!......that is I`m pretty sure she did. You see, I wasn`t there. Yep...got transferred again. Boooo.Haha. BUT my new companion and area are amazing so not a big deal. I`m now serving in a place called Fujisaki, which is about a 20 minute bike ride from my previous are of Fukuoka. Right now I`m in the Fukuoka church emailing which feels really strange...

Free cacti on the side of the road. We loaded up about 10 of these babies and gave them to all the people we visited that day. Our apartment is full of cacti now ;)

 

Anyway, the day I found out I was getting transfered I was basically in a little bit of shock but we visited Komeda san and talked to her for a good few hours. She basically bore her testimony the entire time, thanking us for everything and telling us how much her life has changed. It was awesome. I really felt as she was talking that even though i wouldn`t be there to see her be baptized, hearing her testimony and seeing the change she has undergone is really what this work is all about, and I don`t need to be there in person to feel that joy. We had a fun Eikaiwa class on Wednesday night with a record 10 people in attendance but the bad news is that the missionary replacing me in Ube is a Japanese Bean so Eikaiwa will be put on hold again. So sad. I love Ube soooooo much! I didn`t really cry until I said goodbye to Elder Fujitake on the phone. He is probably the most amazing member I`ve ever met and worked with. He helped us SO much and is one of the most Christ-like people I`ve ever met. He`s also really sick and possibly won`t be around for too much longer so it was hard having to say goodbye to him on the phone :(.

Kaneko Shimai! We haven`t taken any pics together, Gomen

 

My new companion is Kaneko Shimai. She went to BYU Hawaii so she`s basically fluent in English and she`s an opera major!! Its nice not being the only one singing around the house and in the shower now :). She is only one transfer behind me so we are both Dendo grandmas, which is awesome because we can combine all of our experiences so far and make this the best transfer ever! Our theme scripture this transfer is D&C 112:10 `Be thou humble and the Lord shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answers to they prayers,` or something like that. Even though we both have a tendency to be prideful, and both also feel like we`ve got this whole dendo thing down we want to be super humble this transfer, learn from each other, improve our teaching and finding skills, and do only the Lord`s will.

Me and Araki San at the ward BBQ

 

We have one investigator named Araki san who is due for baptism on the 12th of this month. Yayyy. We had a ward BBQ yesterday and there were like 7 non-members there so this area is basically the best ever. I already feel like part of the ward and that amazing things are going to happen from here on out. There are also a lot of Americans in the ward helping with Eikaiwa which is SUCH a relief. I cannot do that by myself anymore, haha. They all have super dendo fire and a really great vistion for increasing ward members. I`m so excited! Hopefully my body will cooperate and be able to carry out the desires of my heart. That is my biggest problem right now. I remember when I was a Bean and my trainer would take short naps during lunch sometimes and I was like, `what is wrong with you?! Why are you so tired? I`m not tired at all! Aren`t you sleeping at night?` and finally one day she said, `Sister Tingey, my body is just worn out OK!` I didn`t really understand what she meant until recently, haha.

 

Well, lets just say I`m super tired all the time no matter how much I sleep but I`m happy as a clam and enjoying the work more than ever. I feel sort of a serene, wise, calmness that might be a first in my life, haha. I can`t really explain it but this work has changed from a challenging, impossible task that is constantly taking me out of my comfort zone to something that feels natural and a part of me.  Feels good. I still have a lot to learn and experience and am praying everyday to find those waiting to receive this amazing restored gospel.

 

Love, Tingey Shimai

Sacrifice

This SUPER old lady we`re teaching named Seyama san. I think she`s 93. She`s definitely the tiniest person I`ve ever seen. Maybe even tinier than piglet grandma.

Guess what!? The computer here finally got updated with faster Internet so I can actually scroll down the page now! Yippeee!

Hello everyone!

First things first. Last Monday after emailing we made a special trip to our District Leader`s area of Shimonoseki to help them clean the house of a recent convert. They told us some stories about how disgusting it was during district meeting and I was super excited to go because I love cleaning! It was worse than I had expected. With six of us working for three hours we only made a tiny dent! It was horrible! There is no way you can feel the spirit in that kind of living condition. I`m attaching some pictures of the before and after. Sister Hattori and I spent the entire three hours  in one tiny room. We literally filled and re-filled about 30 buckets of water washing off the surfaces of her desk and bookshelf surfaces. It was all just covered in muck!! It had to have been at least 20 years since anyone had cleaned it. Her toilet was a porta-potty and the bathtub was covered in green slime. The kitchen was also horrible. I can`t even describe it to you. Luckily the Elders were in charge of those areas :). Have you ever watched the show `Buried Alive` on Discovery Channel? Yeah.

Before

Before

Before

Before

In short, we spent our entire Pday on that little adventure which might explain why by the end of this week I literally had no energy. Yesterday as Sister Hattori and I were out finding in a faraway area I felt like we were just wandering around in delirium. We didn`t find any new investigators and my patience was running short all day, so I learned my lesson about the importance of resting at least a little on Pday.

After!!! Good Job Lucy and Company!!

Earlier in the week, however we did see a LOT of success, maybe more than any other week this transfer. We found 3 new investigators in one day, one of which is the Dad of a member named Tonogouchi Shimai. He`s the referral I told you about who loves animals and whatnot. I wrote on my little profile card hanging in the church that I like bugs and so she thought I might be able to click with her Dad, but she said the only way we would be able to meet him is if we dropped by her house and he just happened to be somewhere near the door. Apparently he rarely leaves the upstairs or answers the door even if nobody else is home to answer it. On Tuesday we felt like we should go over there, and by a complete miracle when we knocked he hobbled down the stairs, answered the door and let us in even though he was the only one home! It turns out that he used to be a science teacher and has done all sorts of research on difference insects and birds. He showed us a few of dozens of glass cases he has of butterflies he has collected and we talked for a good while about that. We even showed him a picture of our pet cacoon Taro and he told us he is probably a swallowtail butterfly! He actually reminded me a lot of a Japanes-y version of my Dad, haha!  Anyway, he told us to come back again this week at the same time! We haven`t shared anything about the gospel yet but we`ve been praying all week to know how to naturally start teaching him.

Tonoguichi shimai and her dad showing us the butterfly collection

On Wednesday we had a lesson with Komeda san and part-way through the lesson Sister Hattori and I looked at each other and knew we needed to change her baptism date from the 12th. It was apparent by her faith and testimony that she was ready to take that step and enter into the gate of baptism. We asked her if she would feel comfortable with the 29th of this month and she said yes! That is....this Sunday! Unfortunately, we have transfer calls this week so there is a possibility that one of us could get transferred on Thursday and miss the baptism on Sunday. That would be a bummer but honestly I`ll be incredibly happy either way. The Branch really stepped it up this Sunday, calling US to ask who would pick her up for church, sitting next to her in sacrament meeting, taking her to Sunday school and even helping her pick out clothes that would fit for the baptism. I was so happy and comforted seeing the members take that initiative. I always have this incredible anxiety with investigators being baptized because they grow so attached to us and sometimes its hard to smoothly pass that onto the members. However, Komeda san has been welcomed into the branch like no other convert I have seen on my mission so far. I have learned through trial and error what to do and not to do when an investigator gets baptized, and as I get older in the mission the experience gets better each time as I`m more prayerful and thoughtful during the process.

Komeda san and Hattori Shimai at an RS activity

I printed out a bunch of my favorite talks from Conference a few weeks ago because I couldn`t wait until the Liahona came out. I have been reading them over during personal study and just loving it. Today I read Elder Oaks` talk about sacrifice and thought it was interesting how he said that just like Jesus Christ`s sacrifice is at the heart of the Plan of Salvation, so should sacrifice be the center and focus of our lives. I really felt while reading it that, yeah, its pretty much impossible to devote our entire lives, 24/7 to service and furthering the Kingdom, but as long as we spend a part of each day, and try our best to have that constant pattern in our lives, that is all that is asked of us. Don`t forget to take some time to review your fav. Conference talks!

I know this gospel is true and I`m so grateful for the sacrifices of the early Saints who gave everything to build the beautiful temple in Salt Lake and elsewhere. I`m so thankful for Christ`s atonement and for repentance. I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!

Love, Tingey Shimai

Sisters Conference

Hellooo! Its a beautiful Pday! Spring is in the air and it looks to be an exciting week ahead.

I feel so happy and blessed (especially now that the weather has warmed up :) ).

On Thursay and Friday of this week we made a special trip to the Mission Home in Fukuoka for a 2 day conference with all of the Sisters from the mission. I can`t even tell you how happy I was to see my long-lost companion Sister Yamada, who I haven`t seen since September since she has been stuck on Okinawa for the past 7 months. Those two days might have been the most fun I have ever had on my mission. I love all of the Sisters so much! There were 21 of us in all; 16 Japanese and 5 American. Oh my goodness it was a blast.

On Thursday we all arrived and went right into the Conference, receiving training from Sisters Kaneko, Miyagawa, Uchida and I went last. The best part of training is always `mogi` or roll plays where we can practice our teaching on the other missionaries. I received a lot of insight and had fun practicing teaching with Caroll Shimai who is a Sister I took out on her first day in the field to go finding. It was so incredibly fun to see and talk to everyone. Thursday night was insanely fun. Sister Margetts bought a bunch of pizza from Costco and we had a pizza party in the Mission home and just sat around talking forever. President Margetts gave us special permission to stay up until midnight, too! Once it turned about 10:00 all of the Sisters who were still awake (about 15 of us) played a bunch of different games for about 2 hours. Sister Mueller taught us this one game called `Clumps` where you bounce around in a huddle saying `clumps clumps clumps clumps` and then when a person on the outside calls out a number you have to get into a group with that number of people by grabbing onto anyone close to you for dear life. If there`s one too many people in the group you all try to shove someone out. It was so hilarious because most of the Japanese Sisters are pretty timid so they all would just scream as us Americans were like jumping on  top of them and being super agressive. I don`t think we stopped cracking up for about 30 minutes.

The next day we had more trainging from Sisters Kobayashi, Tagawa and Hinode, Yamada and Hattanda, and the APs. We were all beat from the night before but luckily I was able to stay awake through all of it. The testimony meeting at the end of the Conference was the best of all. I just felt such an overwhelming love for the Sisters, President and Sister Margetts, and the Fukuoka Mission. I was bawling my eyes out knowing that I wouldn`t have another opportunity to gather in that way again during my mission.

Well, I have to admit that I partied too hard during those two days because ever since then I have had a cold and been dead tired. However, I tried not to let that stop us from going out and working like normal, and I`m convinced that the miracles we`ve been seeing for the past few days are in large part due to the fact that I dudn`t wimp out and take a sick break. We ran into several people these last two days who seem really prepared to receive the gospel. They always seem to be the VERY LAST person we talk to out of about 30 each day, which makes me want to work harder and talk to more people every day because I know that if we show our faith and put in every ounce of effort that we have Heavenly Father will eventually lead us to someone waiting. We met a woman who happens to be a friend of our Relief Society President and wants us to teach her, as well as this lady yesterday named Maki san. At first she had zero interest. She said she has almost died before and has never ever felt the presence of God in her life. However, after bearing confident testimony to her that Heavenly Father is real, he is there, loves her and WILL answer her if she sincerely prays, she agreed to take a Book of Mormon, read from it and pray to know if its true. It was a really cool experience for both Hattori Shimai and I to see her attitude chance half way through talking to her. We have an appointment to follow up with that next week. Wahhooo!

Besides all of that, the good news lately is that we both feel like the branch members really trust us and have been getting more excited about missionary work. We have been receiving many referrals and members are actually volunteering, without us asking, to joint for our lessons with Komeda san and others! That is definitely a first on my mission. I couldn`t ask for anything more!

This week once at a members house for Family home evening, and once at church we were able to watch the Easter video from the new New Testament clips. They are soooo incredible! I wish I had time to just sit here and watch them all day online.

I love this gospel you guys! Its so true! I`m so glad that my vision has finally opened up and I understand the importance of this work, the miracle of the Restoration, and how everything connects. I love my Heavenly Father so much and just want to do anything he asks of me. Ok I love you and hope you have a great week!

Love, Tingey Shimai

P.S. I havent been sending any pictures lately because it seems like most of you aren`t even able to see them but I`ll try sending some today.

1. Me and all of my companions so far besides my trainer Sister McIntyre (who`s wedding announcement I just received in the mail! CONGRATULATIONS to my amazing trainer!! Yipeee!). From Left to right: Yamada, Ito, Hattori, Tagawa, Uchida

 

2. All of the Sisters partying in the Mission home with Sister Margetts.

 

3. One of my fav. comps of all time: Sister Yamada

 

4. Games

 

5. Me and Sister Uchida wearing our matching Afghani pants we bought in Fukuoka

 

6. A prayer of thanks after meeting Maki san

Pics:

1. A really scary picture of me. Look how cute my comp`s fish face is! What is wrong with me?

2. Heading to zone conference a few weeks ago with Hattori Shimai. Isn`t she adorable?

3. This is Taro, our pet cacoon. He lives on the wall where we park our bikes at our apartment. Sister Ito was convinced he was just some bug larvae but I`m pretty sure one of these days he`ll hatch and be a butterfly. What do you think? 

4. A flower from my favorite branch member Brother Fujitake

5. First Vision pose on Mt. Shimofuri

6. Taking a stroll in Tokiwa park

Happy Easter

Dear minasan,

 

This week was wonderful. Being able to listen to Conference on Easter Sunday was the best! Conference is always delayed a week for translation so it was fun to hear in your emails last week about the talks that inspired you and how you felt the spirit. I read those and then during conference remembered what you said your favorite parts were, etc. Love my family :).

 

This week started out with spending our Pday on another wild adventure with Brother Fujitake, first winding up Mt. Shimofuri and saying a heartfelt prayer all together at the tip top, then rounding it off with some tofu softcream and delicious water from the mountain springs. The lady who works at the water stop was interested in coming to Eikaiwa and we were able to talk to her a little about the church! I know that these prayer excursions up the mountain are helping our work here because even though there were typhoo-like winds blowing for half of the week we were still able to successfully find some new people and saw many miracles!

 

Right now in Japan it is sakura season where the beautiful cherry blossom trees are in bloom. Apparently its tradition to take a blanket and bento (lunch box/picnic) and go sit in the park under the cherry blossom trees with friends and family. We weren`t able to do that, but yesterday Sister Hattori and I decided to take our first trip to a popular place in Ube called Tokiwa park. I was expecting it to be just a little place but it was gigantic, with a huge lake in the middle, a giant white bridge, and sakura trees all around! It was the PERFECT place to go finding. At first we couldn`t find anyone but couples, and they are just way too in love to care about our message, so we stopped at prayed to find someone walking alone, or pondering who would listen to us. RIGHT when we ended the prayer we looked up and saw at least three women walking alone accross the bridge. It was so sweet! We talked to one of them for about half an hour. She told us just right before we stopped her she had been thinking about something that has been troubling her and she felt like we were the answer to her prayers! She took a Book of Mormon and promised to pray to know what to do. We weren`t able to get her contact info but I　know if she does that she will receive an answer to her question. Literally right after talking to her we ran into a cute older couple. The woman was Chinese and her husband was Japanese and has read the entire Book of Mormon before! He had the old version, though from about twenty years ago so we gave him a new copy and he said we could meet and talk again! Just those two contacts took up all of our time and we had to head out but we both really felt the spirit`s guidance with those two contacts.

 

We were able to watch both the Saturday and Sunday sessions of Conference, and my favorite was by far Saturday morning.  I LOVED President Eyring`s talk about building a lasting foundation of faith. I literally felt like he was talking right at me for the majority of his talk. I　also enjoyed Elder Hallstrom`s on the need for the Gospel and the Church, as well as Elder Koeliker`s talk about following righteous patterns. It was a spiritual feast! I could have just lasted on that morning session, but had 6 more amazing hours after that. Each Conference I attend on my mission I understand more and more what the speakers are actually saying because teaching the gospel everyday I`m beginning to understand it more and more. It`s a really cool feeling.  I`m sure all of you know this already but General Conference is seriously HEAVEN for missionaries! Haha. Especially if.....your investigator who you love to death comes and stays for both sessions on Sunday! Yep, Komeda an is solid. When we called her the day before to make sure she was coming she said, `I`m so excited!! I was reading the Book of Mormon right before you called me!` She had a really good time and got a little sleepy after lunch but was a trooper. She`s amazing.

 

This week we have Sisters Conference on Thursday and Friday which we couldn`t be more excited about. It only happens once a year, and last year I was just in my second transfer and didn`t know anybody but my trainer, so this time I`m really excited because I`ll know pretty much every Sister there. All of my companionsso far-Uchida, Yamada, Tagawa, Ito, Hattori, besides my trainer will be there! I was asked to do a 50 minute training on finding which I`m nervous/excited about. I love finding so I`m glad they asked me to train on that but I don`t think I`ve ever stood in front of a group for that long, by myself, teaching something besides English, and in Japanese, haha. Wish me luck! If I teach through the spirit all will go well.

 

That`s about it for this week! I love this gospel, I love missionary work, and the Book of Mormon! I know that President Monson is a true Prophet of God. As my old companion Uchida Shimai would say, `Everytime he comes on the screen my spirit does a jig!` Haha. I hope you have a great week. Thank you for your prayers and love!

 

Love, Tingey Shimai

Amazing week, as always!

My dearest family,

 

I love you all so much. This week SO many amazing things worked out. Not just in the mission but personal things with school and whatnot. I felt so much relief this week as prayers from a year ago were answered, as well as countless prayers on behalf of our investigators and Branch were answered. I have no doubt that Heavenly Father has a hand in everything that is going on around me. It is incredible. This week I was insanely grateful for my obsessively meticulous journal writing habit that I formed a couple of years ago. I always have this incredibly strong desire to write down my every thought, feeling, impression, etc. in my journal, and for a long time I`ve thought, `Why am I doing this? I am never going to want to read this in the future!` Especially times when times were hard and I felt everything around me was crashing down. However, this week I took some time to read from some past journals from a year or so ago and it was incredible how things I thought about, yearned for, and inspiration I received are unfolding at this time in my mission. I felt so much gratitude for my journals and the fact that I can look back and literally see the change in my spiritual growth through my own writing.

 

I had a cool experience this week while riding the train back from Zone Conference in Hiroshima. Sister Hattori and I made a commitment to do as much finding as possible on the train ride out and back (four hours), but by the time we were headed home we were both beat and not feeling any sort of motivation. I sat there feeling guilty for a little while, not talking to this adorable couple sitting next to us. Suddenly I felt an intense urge to open my Bible and start reading from the very beginning of Genesis, which, embarrassingly, I have never read before and as I read about the Creation the spirit just enveloped me and I thought about the temple session I had done the week earlier, and the incredible knowledge and blessings that Heavenly Father has entrusted me with. I immediately shut the Bible and for the next hour or so Sister Hattori and I talked to this couple about eternal marriage and the gospel. I felt SO happy after that, feeling like I had done my best to follow the spirit. My testimony of the Bible was strengthened. I know that it contains the Lord`s words. The rest of the way home we had no trouble opening our mouths, and even met two funny Americans named Fanny and Muffy. One was a geologist and we talked for a while about New Mexico and Utah and whatnot.

 

Right now Komeda san and Yamamoto san are doing awesome. We taught them both about the commandment of the Sabbath Day this week and the spirit was strong in both lessons. Komeda san came to church and after Relief Society said, `I loved it! I really understood more about my purpose and worth from that lesson!` She is so amazing. She mingled with the Sisters in the Branch and I think everyone got a little more `dendo fire` or desire to do missionary work from her being there. We commited them both again to be baptized, but changed the dates around a little. We think Komeda san will be baptized on the 21st or 28th of this month. Among other miracles, last week she told us she absolutely could not get baptized because her son was against it, so we challenged her to pray about that everyday. This week when we met with her and asked her about it she said, `Oh, that? He`s totally fine now. He hasn`t said anything lately and is fine with me coming here to study!` Seriously, this woman`s faith is so strong, it seems like every single one of her prayers is answered in a snap.

 

This week`s sacrament meeting was insane! Two baby blessings (one was the daughter of our ward mission leader), an engagement announcement (which I was SUPER excited about because there are WAY too many amazing, beautiful, spiritual single members in Japan- I just want them all to get married! Haha), and the entire Branch Presidency got switched around! It was very eventful. We talked to the new Branch President about a missionary fireside we`re having in a couple of weeks and he suggested that we get some of the YSA`s and Young Women together and do a musical number using guitars! One of the Young Women, Lana chan is super cute and always plays her guitar for us when we visit, so he suggested it would be a good way to get potential future missionaries involved as well as lure the members to attend. I`m so excited!

 

I think thats all for this week. I love you so much!! Until next Monday...

 

Love, Tingey Shimai