Kotoshi mo Yoroshiku onegaishimasu

Happy New Year!!!

Dinner at the Fukuyama house

For the first time since I can remember I did not stay awake until midnight on New Year's Eve. Weird feeling. However, we did have a fun time having dinner with the Izumi couple eating traditional New Year's Eve soba or "toshikoshi soba" and ringing in the new year on Sunday morning with a million "Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu" (This year also, lets....have a good year) I literally cannot translate the word yoroshiku into English, haha. Anyway, it was fun.

Found Totoro in a park

 This week I also had my testimony really strengthened concerning fasting. In Japan bringing in the New year is a HUGE deal. First, starting about December 29th everyone starts going insane cleaning their houses, getting ready for guests to come, throwing away the year's accumulated junk, etc. Seriously nothing but cleaning for about 3 days. Everytime we were finding people said they couldn't talk because they were busy cleaning. After that, everyone returnes to their hometowns or gathers with family, pretty much like we celebrate Christmas in the U.S. The Holiday lasts until January 4th until school starts again.

District jog at Ohori park

When we were doing weekly planning for this past week my companion said, "It is going to be REALLY hard to go finding at this time of year because literally nobody is home, and if they are they'll be busy cleaning." However, we were determined to find a new investigator, so on Sunday we fasted that we could find someone interested in hearing our message even during this busy season. It was FREEZING cold yesterday but we rode our bikes to a nearby college, hoping to knock on the door of a sad, lonely college student who was too poor to return home for the New Year (the Elders' brilliant idea, haha). We only had about an hour to house and we knocked on every door of this apartment and not a single person answered. Literally deserted. So we went to a different complex and began knocking. One guy answered and then shut immediately. By that point sister Tagawa's feet were frozen and we said, "alright, lets go back" but then we thought, "Just one last door, and then we'll go." We knocked on the last door, and ended up talking to the man for about 45 minutes, teaching a full lesson about the Book of Mormon and prayer, and we commited him to read from the Book of Mormon and pray to know that it is true. It was seriously a miracle! What if we had decided to go home, or not to go finding. We would have never met him! He told us to come back and if he turns out to actually be interested we will refer him to the Elders. That night all I could do was just thank Heavenly Father for answering our prayers and I KNEW that fasting is real and works. Not only that prayer was answered, but we also fasted to help the Oyama family that they can all be baptized together on the 28th, and that day at church for the first time we were approached by a member who said, "Hey, we were thinking of inviting the Oyama family over for dinner, and also inviting the stake Young men's President and Primary teacher for the boys..." I can't even tell you how happy I was! We've been waiting for something like this to happen!!

Big, comfy chair

We also met a lot of funny people this week including an 85 year old lady who was sitting in a park being swarmed by disgusting stray cats. She told us she has been going to that park every other day for 20 years feeding those cats. I cannot believe what people spend their money on!! Haha. gross. But because we talked to her, we ended up meeting these three adorable little girls in the park. They were 3 sisters and when they found out we were missionaries teachign about Jesus Christ they got really excited and said they had actually recently been reading a comic book about that togther and they knew all about how we died and was resurrected after 3 days, etc. It was so cute! They have 6 people in their family....and I want to teach them so bad! We gave them our number and invited them to Eikaiwa so I hope we hear from them again! 

New years eve, 10 PM, kampai

 Our Zone theme for this transfer is "CREATE SUCCESS," which I think is very original. We were all asked to find a way to create success this transfer, and then share our ideas and experiences at the end. I decided I am going to try strengthening my relationship with my Heavenly Father through more sincere prayer and putting in real effort to receive the guidance of the spirit and personal revelation in order to create success. I'll report at the end of the transfer on how that goes!

Toshikoshi Soba

 One more story....this is kind of sad, kind of hilarious. The Oyama family's beloved 17 year old dog, Kaede chan, decided to die the night right before they were leaving for the New Year to go home, and in Japan you can't just go in yoru backyard and bury a dog. They didn't have time to take it to be creamated so they had to just buy dry ice and freeze her for a couple of days while they were gone. They put her in a little bed surrounded by blankets, flowers and pictures, and left the lights on and some music playing. They called us that night and asked us for a small favor....if we could spend some time in their house everyday for Kaede chan, so she won't be lonely and sad just laying there by herself, hahaha. So sad...but so funny. So everyday we've been just going and doing study time at the Oyama family's house, spending time with poor old Kaede chan, who is probably enjoying life in Heaven right now where he can actually walk and feed himself.

Poor Kaede chan :(

Tagawa Shimai and I are having a lot of fun together, laughing a lot, working hard and seeing a lot of miracles. She is probably a complete polar opposite of Uchida Shimai, which has been an interesting transition but change is always good and she is really just what this area and our investigators need right now. The Lord knows what hes doing :).

 

Love you lots and always pray for you!

Love, Tingey Shimai

Merry Christmas and Happy Bday Joseph Smith!(Dec 27)

It was so fun to talk to everyone yesterday!!! Thank you so much for calling and telling me all about home. It was nice to hear your voices :)

Me and my beautiful companion (Who also happens to be an amazing singer). Why do I get so lucky with companions?

With all the craziness I didn`t really get a chance to tell you about this past week, so Ill tell you a little about it in this email.

We hung our stockings by the heater with care, and even had matching pajamas!

Christmas season has felt a little weird lately because instead of finding and riding our bikes a million miles everyday to teach lessons we`ve been so busy with all sorts of Christmas events (which also, luckily, qualify as missionary work) where we met lots of new people and helped people feel the real spirit of Christmas singing hymns and such. Thus, in the earlier part of the week we spent most of our time organizing a 30 minute caroling program (that we found out about one week ago because the APs forgot to tell us...haha). We didn`t worry about it too much until we found out they had reserved a stage in this busy part of town called Tenjin, where the missionaries were basically the main event. They had prepared costumes (red scarfs and corsages) for everyone and the ward choir had been practicing every week after church. All of a sudden on Pday sister Tagawa and I realized it would probably be a good idea to run through some hymns with the Elders to see what we were working with...and its a good thing we got at least a few days head start because it was pretty much a disaster, haha. Actually, the Elders in Fukuoka right now (APs, Recorder and MSM(Elders who handle mail and funds), and the Fukuoka Elders) are all amazing singers so I thought it would be Ok. We thought, we`ll just sing like 6 hymns and everything will work out, but then we realized each hymn lasts like 2 minutes...which means we would have to sing at least 12 or so to make it last 30 minutes. Ahhhhhh. Haha, anyway, so we spent most of Monday and Tuesday getting that together while also visiting members and doing our normal work.

Rin kun's bird Toni

On Wednesday morning we had our big Oyako Eikaiwa (baby English Class) Christmas event at the church. It was a big hit and surprisingly more than half of the moms who showed up were friends of members. About 2 months ago the sisters in the ward started organizing this thing and they initially wanted Elder Stratford to be Santa Clause. He`s the mission home recorder and a big burly Elder from Brazil who is way flamboyant and hilarious so it was going to be perfect...until the night before he realized that the new missionaries were flying in that same morning and he had to give a presentation at the exact time as the Christmas party. So we were left with no Santa Clause...until it just so happened that the Fukuoka Elders (who are both Japanese) were doing companion exchanges that same day and Elder Buckingham from Australia was available to play the part. When he showed up I almost burst out laughing because he is the skinniest, scrawniest, most quiet little Australian boy in the world and I felt so bad for him that he had to be Santa. We were all cracking up stuffing his costume with all sorts of pillows. During class when he busted through the doors and did his little shpeel I was just dying because of his accent. Luckily nobody else noticed that anything was weird. It was way fun. We met a lot of new people who showed interest in our message and said we could teach them. Yayyy! That night we also had our normal English class with the adults so by the time we went to bed I was all Englished out.

Pictures from caroling: Us with the ward, the Elders rocking out, carrying the ward piano to the stage

On Thursday we literally sang ALL DAY LONG. Started off with taking a train far away to the old people`s home with the Elders where we did a portion of our caroling concert for 20 minutes. After that we visited some less active members who live in that area and did the concert again. By the time we took the train back to the church it was time to head to practice with the ward for caroling. It was FREEEZING cold and they wouldn`t even let us wear our coats on the stage! The Elders had to bring the church piano in their van and carry it all the way through town to the stage, which was quite the spectical. Tons of Eikaiwa students showed up for the concert, and a lot of people shopping around stopped to listen and mingle with ward members. After the concert all of the missionaries were talking and we all agreed it was one of the most fun times we have ever had our missions so far.  We practiced A LOT and were able to make all of the hyms sound exciting. My favorite was a remix we did of `Far Far Away on Judeas Plains`. First verse we sang all formal while Elder Triffitt was being the chorister, and then when verse 2 started in he jumped on the stage and started beat boxing into the mic and we sang like a jamaican jazz version of verse 2 and 3. We called it the Pday theme verse, haha. It was so awesome! The crowd was loving it and we probably got the biggest applause for that one. We ended with O Holy Night, and I just have to say I think I broke my vocal chords singing that last high note. I thought I was going to pass out. That night it definitely felt like Christmas and we all couldn`t have been happier. We also got the number of a lady who seemed really interested in learning about Jesus Christ!

Most delicious thing I've ever eaten

On the 23rd in Japan it was a holiday because it was the Emporer`s Bday, which also happens to be Joseph Smith`s Birthday. When we visited the Oyama family that night we had a Birthday party for Joseph Smith and played that game that he loved where you sit on the ground and do tug of war with a stick. They loved it, and half way through the night the mission home elders (Neki and Stratford) randomly showed up to give them Christmas presents so we all challenged each other. I beat Tagawa and 14 year old Yuto kun! Yatta! But the best was the Oyama Dad and Elder Stratford. The stick literally didn`t move for about 5 minutes and then we just called it a tie. After that we talked about how Joseph Smith read James 1:5 and received an answer to his prayer. It was really awesome to have the Elders there for Yuto kun because he still hasn`t commited to be baptized with the rest of his family. Its so awesome, though that he is putting so much thought into this decision. In the closing prayer he said, `I understand now that its really important for me to pray and ask about being baptized.` I was so grateful for Joseph Smith at that time and that through celebrating his Bday and playing his favorite game we were able to make progress with Yuto kun.

2. Frost-bitten feet. We were out finding and visiting people all day on our bikes and when we got home I literally couldn't walk so I took my tights off and my feet were deathly white. I was a little worried I had frostbite so I unwisely put them under scorching hot water until they started to literally turn blue and purple. I called Tagawa shimai in with a look of horror on her face ordered me to turn the water off and put my feet in front of the heater. Within about 15 minutes they were back to normal. Thank goodness they didn't have to be amputated! I wasn't lying when I said its freezing here.

Ok, lastly Sunday was awesome because the Oyama family (besides the mom) came to Church on time, got to take the sacrament, and afterward made lots of friends with the ward members!! It was the best Christmas present I got (no offense ;) ).

A giant fruit

Ok sorry this email is super long. So many awesome things happened this week I just had to tell you about it! I`m really sad Christmas is over but grateful that it doesn`t have to be Christmas to to tell people about Christ, his birth, and everything he did for us. I love this gospel and am so happy being on a mission. I love you!

Love, Tingey Shimai

Thank you for the gifts!

Teaching Saturday Eikaiwa with a guest Japanese Santa

yay for new shoes! Hahah. .........however my first day wearing my new shoes....

Oyama family

stick pull game

I co-erced Rinkun into prematurely yanking out his loose tooth

With our Nepalese investigator Anjana

The Gift of His Calling Unto Me -Moroni 7:2(Dec 18)

Hello everyone! Yet another week has passed...and only 6 days until Christmas!!

 

Serving in Fukuoka during the Christmas season has been such a huge blessing. The ward has planned all sorts of holiday festivities that have given our friends the opportunity to come to the church and mingle with ward members, as well as the chance for members to bring their friends to the church and feel the spirit.

 

One of those activities was the big Christmas fireside we had on Saturday night that they have been planning it ever since I arrived in Fukuoka at the end of September. It was pretty spectacular. It was meant to be really spiritual and of course focus on celebrating the birth of Christ. There were all sorts of performances including a flute and oboe medely, Oh Holy Night sung in English by a member, some skits, a performance by our Eikaiwa students of Away in a Manger, and all sorts of others. I was asked to sing Amazing Grace which is probably the hardest song Ive ever tried to sing, haha. Never again.

 

That night we counted how many non-members came to the fireside and it was around 25, which is INSANE! Can you believe that??!!! That included our favorite family, the Oyamas, as well as a lady we met on the street about 3 months ago who randomly showed up for kids Eikaiwa Saturday morning, watched the Finding Faith in Christ DVD after that, came to the Christmas fireside, and then also attended all three hours of church the next day. It was literally a miracle!

 

I almost forgot! We had transfers last week and I got a NEW COMPANION!!! Her name is Tagawa Shimai! She is from Shizuoka and is the cutest thing ever! I was finally separated from my eternal companion Sister Uchida when she transferred last week to Kumamoto. Wahhh. Anyway, I am loving my new companion.

 

I have the best news ever. Last night we had a lesson at the Oyama family`s house and we commited them to be baptized on January 28th! They all agreed to work hard and work together to get ready to be baptized on that day. They have come so far! Thinking back on the first lessons we taught to them a few months ago they believed in God but didn`t really know how to apply that in their lives. During last night`s lesson I was overwhelmed by how much their faith has grown. We still have a lot of work to do (Word of Wisdom problems, coming to church, etc) but we and they know that with the help of Heavenly Father literally anything is possible. Our task now is to help them prepare for that day when they`ll enter the gate of baptism and start their journey on the road back to our Father in Heaven. I feel so lucky to be serving in Fukuoka and to have met these wonderful people.

 

During this Christmas season I really feel like the greatest gift I`ve been given is the ability, desire and motivation to be called as a full-time missionary. I have never felt so much joy, sadness, appreciation, and love in my life. It has definitely been worth every second!

 

I can`t wait to talk to you all this week! The call is 45 minutes...please try to call at about 8 PM or so on Christmas Eve that it will be 12 PM my time Christmas day after church. My phone number is 080-2149-6410. Follow the instructions on the Email I forwarded you and you should be able to call me just like last time. I love you!

 

Love, Tingey Shimai

 

Pictures: 1. One of my English students has eaten 5 mikans (mandarin oranges) everyday for the past month and he turned orange.

2. Fake Christmas smiles.

3. Oyama family saying goodbye to Uchida Shimai

4. Creepy dark alleyway by the Oyama family:s house. Everyday of December we have been sneakily dropping by and giving them gifts, so we have been taking Christmas hiding pictures everyday with the stuff we give them.

5. More hiding 

6. Sayonara Uchida Shimai! Our last goodbye at the bus station

BEST SUNDAY EVER!(Dec 11th)

Dear everyone,

This week was so crazy! We had Zone Pday, where we with about 20 Elders went to this place called `Round One` which is basically the Great and Spacious building to play sports and go bowling. Uchida Shimai and I decided to leave early, though and wander to Canal City to see if we could find the puppet guy again but it looks like he went back to Brazil. Wahh. Haha. The next day, Tuesday we had Zone Conference which was just spectacular. I learned so much and was just basking in the spirit all day. We also went Carolling with some ward members, went to a baptism for an 8 year old member, went to the Energy Museum with the kids we teach English to on Saturdays, and put on about 10 mini Christmas firesides for all of our investigators, members and less active members. It was a very eventful week.

Afghan pants

The best part about this week, though was definitely Sunday(Yesterday). Uchida Shimai and I sang the Childrens Christmas hymn `Mary`s Lullaby` in Sacrament meeting and for the FIRST TIME EVER the Oyama family came to church!!!!!!!! I can`t even describe to you how happy we were!! Every week since we started teaching them they have been saying they will come to church but every Sunday we wait and wait and they dont show up. However, last week we sang `Mary`s Lullaby` to them after a lesson and the mom got up and said, `Thats it! This week we are making a promise. We are going to church!` without us even asking them! Haha. They couldn`t have come to a better sacrament meeting. The spirit was SO strong!!! Three ward members got up and bore their testimonies about Christmas, we sang, and the last speaker`s talk was exactly what they needed to hear. Oh man. The Christmas spirit was just filling the church yesterday...it was crazy. The Elders also had 4 investigators come to church so in all we had 8 there! That is by far the most investigators I have ever seen at church on my mission. That day we were also able to watch the Christmas Devotional, which was so amazing. Those New Testament clips seemed SO realistic, I got the chills! I really felt the spirit testify to me that that was probably really similar to how it really happened. I think my favorite part was when the Angel was walking toward the shepherds in the field. It was so beautiful! Gah! Also that night at 7;30 we taught the Oyama family the Word of Wisdom. The Father and two sons all accepted and said they would follow it right off the bat. The mom said she would try giving up coffee for 5 days, so pray that she has a good experience and can feel an increase of the spirit in her life! I love that family so much!

Merry Christmas

Ok so you should have received an email from the mission about calling on Christmas. Apparently you:ll call on Christmas Eve so it will be Christmas morning for me. Im guessing you should call around 8;00 PM christmas Eve, which will be about 12 PM Christmas Day my time which is an hour after church gets out. That should be a good time. I think i have one hour to talk. We have transfers this week so I wont give you my telephone number yet until I know which area ill actually be in.  

My breakfast

I am sending you a special Christmas surprise....so look for that in the mail! I love you so much and love this Christmas season!!!

Love, Tingey Shimai

My doki (same time in MTC missionaries) at Zone Conference

With the Oyama family and other kids at the Energy Museum

The kind of missionary I want to be

Happy December!

Puppet Master

Well, the only unfortunate thing that happened this week is that we got word from our district leader that the Fukuoka missionaries are no longer allowed to use the mission home computers, which  means that four of us have to share the one computer in the church every Pday. We're not sure what the reason is but that cuts email time to 30 minutes instead of an hour so my emails will be extra short from now on I guess.

Dinner at the Fukuyama family's house

This week as SO eventful! I don't even know where to begin. So many hilarious/awesome things happened but guess since I have very limited time I'll just tell you about the most memorable spiritual experiences. We were invited by a couple named the Izumis to come to their house for dinner. They liver super far away so we had to ride our bikes 15 minutes to the station, ride a train for 15 minutes, and then have them pick us up and drive 10 minutes to their house. You can see how giant our area is! Anyway, it was our first time meeting the wife. She hasn't been able to come to church because she has intestinal cancer (her intestines are literally sticking out of a hole in her stomach; she showed us!), but she has the strongest testimony of anyone I've ever met. She and her husband are planning on filling out their papers to serve another couples mission if she is able to get approval. I couldn't believe she would want to leave on a mission in that state, but she knows the blessings that come from serving the Lord full-time. Anyway, that night was filled with nothing but amazement and testimony strengening. She gave us advice about visiting teaching and they told us their conversion story. They then pulled out keepsakes from when they took lessons from the missionaries back in the 70's. As a baptism present, their two Elder missionaries wrote a book outlining every lesson they had ever taught them, what they taught, how they felt, etc. So the Izumi couple has a detailed record of that time, which I thought was so amazing. We were reading that book and the love that those missionaries had for that couple was practically jumping off the page. It was humbling to see how much the Izumi's treasured that gift they had received, and they had also pasted every single note, scripture homework assignment, etc that they had ever received from those missionaries into an album that they also showed us.

        Really happy to be holding a fake baby

We came away from that experience in awe of that couple's faith and for how deeply impacted they were by those two Elders some 40 years ago. They are even still in contact with them and showed us recent pictures of their kids' graduations and weddings. It really strengthened my resolve to never lose contact with those I meet and teach during my mission.

I found Charly in Japan! Our investigator's dog

        The Flying Squirrel

Nabe party

Ok, I've already run out of time but here are just a couple other funny happenings from this week:

1. We visited a couple for the first time who we were recently assigned to start Visit Teaching and they have a pet......FLYING SQUIRREL! It wouldn't come out of the cage but they said the next time we come they'll have it fly for us!

2. Last Pday we went to the mall looking for some new skirts and all of a sudden in the big main area this Brazilian puppet master came out and did this awesome act with all these puppets and music.We were so happy we felt like we were at Disneyland

3. I got a haircut and got bangs! When the elders saw me for the first time Elder Triffitt from Australia said, "So are you gonna be bangin' it from now on then?" Hahahahahah.

4. Nabe party with the YSA\s at the ward mission leader's house. It was a blast, and we had 3 investiators come!

5. Our investigator Mineoi san is following the Word of Wisdom this week by not drinking coffee, tea or alcohol so Sister Uchida and I gave up sweets. Probably a good thing, eh? haha

Ok, I love you and I love this gospel! Have a great week!

Love, Tingey Shima

Week of volunteering(Nov 27)

Good Morning!

I hope you all had a fun Thanksgiving! I sure did. I feel like the most spoiled missionary of all time. We were able to adjust our schedule and make just enough time to spend a couple of hours in the mission home stuffing our faces with Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, etc. The only thing missing was cranberry sauce, which Elder Stratford suffered a lot over, haha. The best part about Thanksgiving, though was after eating all sitting around the living room and watching a little video that the Elders put together for President and sister Margetts. They made these really hilarious "I'm a Mormon" videos, talking about how they're balding and getting really old from working in the mission home, but that they love Pres and Sister Margetts so much. So incredibly hilarious, especially Elder Watanabe and Neki who spoke English the whole time and said the most random things ever. After that the Margett's Granddaughter, whose family came here for Thanksgiving, got up and did this 15 minute dance to a "Once there was a snowman" remix. If you haven't heard that you have to look it up! It uses all these famous songs and just inserts the words snowman in for all of the words. It was awesome! Then we all sat around laughing and listening to Sister Rogers (the senior missionary who works in the mission home) talk about her younger years being a "Christensen Sister" and dancing and performing all over the Salt Lake valley with her three sisters Tam, Pam, and Nan. I imagine it was something like Rosemary Clooney and that other lady in "White Christmas." Anyway, it was the best Thanksgiving away from home I could have asked for!

This week we also had two rare opportunities to do some real community service! First we were invited by a member who works at an old folks home to go help entertain the old people. We went and there were these two long tables full of super old Japanese Ojiisans and Obaasans just chillin out and they plopped me in the middle of one table and Sister Uchida in the other. Sister Uchida got all of the SUPER old grandpas who could barely speak so she just sat there talking about her family and life the whole time. I was lucky enough to be put with some chatty grandmas who didn't seem that old, even though they were all about 95. I don't know If I've mentioned this yet, but it seems like all Japanese people live until they're about 100 years old. We had a good time talking about their Grandkids and such. After that we helped them make some crafts that they could give as presents to their families, then before leaving we sang "Silent Night" into a karaoke microphone, haha. It was a way awesome experience, and they even invited us back for their Christmas activity next month! Yayyy.

The other service opportunity was handing out curry to the homeless in a park. A member is also in charge of that and apparently asks the missionaries every so often to come help out. The elders were in charge of dishing out rice out of this HUGE metal bin and then Uchida Shimai and I handed it to the people waiting in line. After that they would be dished some curry and salad. They were all so nice and each came back for thirds and fourths because they were so hungry :(. I was feeling pretty bad for them until after those four rounds of curry the staff whipped out about 10 giant boxes of the most delicious looking sushi I've ever seen and handed that out to each of them! Haha. I couldn't believe it. After that we made onigiri with the leftover rice and they all got a doggie bag of that. It was a pretty smooth operation and really fun.

I learned a lot during this week's district meeting from Stratford Choro. He called us that morning and asked us what our favorite thing in the whole world is besides the gospel; something that when we look at it our whole being fills with happiness. Obviously I said hairless rats. Uchida Shimai said caves. So we showed up to district meeting and Elder Stratford hands each of us a laminated collage of pictures of the thing we told him, hahhaha. You can probably tell from the picture I attached that I got a pretty big kick out of mine. He then had us turn to the person next to us and teach them for five minutes about that thing, what it is, why we love it so much, and commit them to do something. He emphasized how easy it is for us to rave on and on about something we really love, and that's the kind of feeling we need to have when teaching about the gospel. It was a really awesome lesson and really got my mind going about where my testimony is really strong in the gospel, and what aspects need strengthening so that I could show more joy and excitement when teaching those things. I don't know what it is but every one of my district leaders has been so inspiring and awesome! I'm so impressed with these 19 year old elders (most of the time), haha.

I love this gospel and I'm so grateful to be working in Fukuoka right now! I have been so blessed in every way! Thank you for your prayers, support and love! I can't wait to talk to you on Christmas!!!!!

Love, Tingey Shimai

Pictures: President Margetts cutting the turkey.
Sister Margetts super tired from making the huge feast
My delicious plate!!
The Whole group before everyone went out to work again!

Atonement(from Nov 20th)

Dear family and friends,

 

This week has been really awesome. Recently in the newsletter we receive every transfer President Margett's assistants, Elder Triffit and Watanabe, they challenged us to study about the atonement everyday during personal study and then share what we learned with our companion during the first few moments of companion study. They promised us that if we did that our understanding and testimony of the atonement would deepen. We started last week and it has been really amazing to learn from Uchida Shimai and hear her personal experiences and thoughts about the atonement. It is so amazing to me that although Uchida Shimai and I were raised in completely different parts of the world and have had completely different experiences, we both have felt the power of the atonement and can always connect on that level. I've come to realize that thats why as missionaries we can be thrown into a foreign country and spend 24/7 with somebody we have never met doing the hardest work there is and be happy about it. We all have different backgrounds but we all have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is this testimony and the desire to share it that gives us this ability.

 

We had our third lesson last night with the Oyama family, which went really well. The spirit was strong and we talked a lot about baptism and how when we have faith in Jesus Christ, repent, and are baptized we receive the Holy Ghost which helps us to walk on the path that will bring us the most happiness. They are having some difficulties as a family right now and Uchida Shimai and I, as well as the Oyama's father feel like it isn't just chance that we met at this time. Hopefully through our message their family can overcome the challenges that they're facing right now.

 

This week we finally got out and did a TON of finding. Mostly housing, which isn't my favorite, but we met a 22 year old Chinese guy and just happened to have a Chinese Book of Mormon and Chinese pamphlet about the Restoration with us, which was a compete miracle! We both got kind of nostalgic remembering our days in Okinawa when we used to go housing all day long in the deathly heat and wishing we could jump into a freezing pool of water, and then now we are almost freezing to death waiting for people to answer their doors, haha. I love it.  I love missionary work!!

 

Some other fun events from this week:

1. We went to a member's house and made homemade stamps out of erasers. I made a hedghog (Tiggie) holding a Book of Mormon, hehe. I plan on stamping that like crazy on all of my letters from now on. (I have been telling Uchida Shimai all about Tiggiewinkle and the hairless rats before going to bed and she thinks its the most hilarious thing ever, then the other day while I was doing sit ups next to my futon I looked closer at the quilt I was using as my bed covers and it was Beatrix Potter themed and had pictures of Mrs. Tiggiewinkle all over it! Hahaah. I started laughing so hard, it was just so random.)

2. We were invited to spend Thanksgiving with President and Sister Margetts and their daughter and her family who are visiting from Utah. Unfortunately, we already scheduled 3 teaching appointments on Thanksgiving Day....so we're not sure what wer're going to do, haha. Uchida Shimai has never celebrated Thanksgiving so she really wants to go.

3. I was asked to sing "Amazing Grace" at the ward Christmas fireside on the 17th of December, which is 2 days after transfer calls...so everyone pray that I don't get transferred out of Fukuoka so I can spend Christmas here!

4. We decided this next week we're going to go to this place called "Ohori Kouen," which is this park with a huge lake in the middle where lots of people go to walk their dogs and run, and stand there and play guitar and sing to find new investigators! Dream come true!

 

Well, my time is up here! I love you and pray for you all the time! Thanks for all the letters and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

Love, Tingey Shimai

 

P.S. Peole and things I'm gratful for:

-My parents

-Annie, Will, Sam and all of my Step-siblings

-My best friend Sarah

-All of my millions of nieces and nephews.

-Stefanie and Franklin

-Serving a mission in Japan

-The Atonement of Jesus Christ!

-My talents that help me share the gospel

-President and Sister Margetts

....and the list goes on and on!

 

Pictures:

1. Playing some guitar in the mission home on Pday

2. For Elder Ushiro's Bday we went to this place called "Canal City" where there are about 10 ramen shops in a tiny area and you can pick and choose which ramen you want to eat. I got something called "black ramen" which has soy sauce as the base. It was pretty good but not the best I've had. Each of us got a different kind of ramen. Elder Ushiro ordered this GIANT bowl and the ramen wasn't even that good but we all helped him eat it, haha.

3. We had a big cultural festival callled a "bunkasai" at the church on Saturday and we had NINE investigators show up!!! There was a talent show and the Elders did a really goofy dance with a member and her son and Sister Uchida and I sang a song. I only got one way blurry picture of us right when the curtain was closing, haha. Thats what you get when you ask the elders to take pictures.