Aug 15

Hello family and friends!

 

This week has been a bit crazy, due to transfers and everything. Of course I didn't move, or anyone in our district because we are all green beans being trained by trainers... but lots of people came to stay at our apartment and we had to change a bit of our schedules to accomodate. Our little apartment, usually fitting 4 to begin with, now with 5... but with the transfers we fit 10 people! yep, our little room fit 10 people where people slept on the floor. We sleep on the floor normally, but it was more like the room was one giant pillow... and by pillow I mean tatami mat.

 

Just want to say whoever said it was cold in Sendai.... AHA! it hasn't been cold since I've gotten here. Of course there have been rather suzushi days, but now that we've hit august, it is blazing humid hot :D might cool down by October and get really really cold, but for now i'm not convinced. It's so hot that probably most of the pictures I will send to the fam will have me being a sweaty mess.

 

Other than the weather, i've been having a hard, but fun time. Riding bikes is always tough because of my area, being only massive hills and narrow roads. However I get to see so much of the beautiful Japanese countryside that everytime I go out all I say is "wow, that's beautiful" We didn't teach too much this week. It was a lot of just going around to less active houses and seeing how they are doing. We are working with this one loving investigator Baa Chan who is so close to baptism. I'll keep you posted of course, however we need to get permission from the husband. It's a hard and scary task, but with our Heavenly Father's help, anything is possible.

 

It is President Rasmussen's birthday this wednesday, and on that day we are going to a SMYC somewhere in Japan. I think it's like an  EFY (especially for youth)  kind of deal. I had to memorize two songs and we are going to sing it there and teach from PMG (preach my gospel).... Memorizing things is a lot easier when you know what you are saying. XD haha, that's for sure! but that's ok! It sounds pretty. I'll do my best.

 

No more bike accidents! Not even close encounters. Everything is going well there, so I thank everyone for your prayers. They really mean more than the world to me. ^-^ wish to hear from everyone soon, so if you have time please email or write me. Thank you for all your hard work, and for your love of the gospel. Share it with those you know. It truly is the best thing for them. I know that through this gospel I have found happiness in my life. The spirit can touch anyone's hearts, just do your best to bring the spirit.

 

I love you all! have a good week!

-Money Shimai

August 3: I can ride my bike with no handle bars.

**NOTE: Alicia's email didn't come through last week, so here are two emails from the last two weeks***

Subject: I can ride my bike with no handle bars.

Except I can't in Japan... because i have a basket with lots of Morumon shos in it.

Konnichiwa! how is everyone doing in the hot hot sun of July/August? Me? oh you know, just biking in the rain almost everyday. Honestly I think it's fun! my companions don't... awe well. It's quite cool over here actually. I'll enjoy it while I can because in August I found out it gets horribly hot.

This week has gone by very fast. Let's see if i can recall a few things. Yesterday is what comes to mind first. We had sacrament meeting as always, and because I'm still a new missionary they like to pick on me a lot to say the opening prayer. We also sang I love to see the temple. I thought it was going to be in Japanese, but they wanted to sing it in English. ee hee, so much for Japanese practice. After we were going to visit a members house. It was a very long bike ride, so we were going to hitch a ride in a members car. Though... there wasn't enough room because our companionship has 3 people. SO WE BIKED ANYWAY! and holy cow if i sent a picture of where i was at the end of it, you would ask, how? Yes, we biked for about 2 hours up a hill. It was very hard, however I got to see a lot of Japan, and the visit was great. On the way up, i prayed to one: not crash on my bike (when we just got started i ran into a man and went flying into some bushes, it was fun. Don't worry dad... the bike is ok) and 2: to let this be a wonderful spiritual experience for the Imano family. I got to talk about how God doesn't just send us here to fail, that he always provides a way for us to do the things we must. I shared my 3 favorite scriptures. Ether 12:27, 1st Nephi 17:3 and DC 112:8? (oh shoot) I'm getting the language better. So I was able to say all that i wanted to say. Also found out that the family's daughter is into archery! If there is one thing I ever wanted to take up... it was Japanese Archery.

we went to a Gym activity and got to talk to a lot of non members. I got to play Frisbee, and played some soccer with them. It was so fun! All the Japanese people were very into it, and got excited whenever we would score a goal. I got to eat my favorite type of bread this week. Melon bread! Tastes sort of like a sugar cookie. I also ate some... I think it was squid, but it was purple. It was very good.

Earlier in the week I was able to volunteer at an old persons home and massage hands... haha! I wasn't very good so they taught me how pretty much the whole time. Maybe next time I can help. It was great talking to people... couldn't understand much however.

I have a few investigators and all are on different levels. There is a woman who believes all religion is true, however is feeling a bit different about our church. Not that it isn't true, just the spirit is touching her heart differently. She is studying the book of Mormon and loves to learn more. I hope I can help her see the difference.

We were studying a bit on effective study, and i figured out that before my mission I wasn't doing a very good job at it. I can see now how Joseph's smith's example in JSH, really is the key steps. Read, Ponder, Pray. Just think of the power of Faith works in the scriptures, and how we can strengthen our faith through our studies. Joseph smith's prayer changed our world today, Even though experiences say you can't change what is, Faith always over powers fear and disbelief.

Thank you everyone for your love and emails. They mean so much to me. I'll send pictures... when i figure this out and have more time.

LOVE YOU!
money shimai

 

ok, so last week's didn't send, so there is that!

 

Now for this week! Today's topic: SPLITS!

 

This week 3 sisters from Akita came to our apartment for 3 days so we could go on splits. It was amazing because 2 of them were from America ^-^ I got to be able to speak like a normal person and actually make sense. With one sister (the sister training leader) we got to do a lot of streeting and housing. I was scared to death. I literally just walked on the street and talked to as many people as I could. At first I was scared, but then It got easier as time went on. Oman shimai gave me some pointers and now I'm able to progress even more. Since these sisters are from Akita, I got to try to find my way to one of my appointments at a members house by myself. I got to ride the subway and make my way through the bigger city of Sendai. I didn't get lost! It's a miracle! I have the sense of direction of a 12 year old, who gets distracted at everything and turns a wrong corner, usually not realizing that they are going the wrong way till it is too late.

 

Last week was Luk shimai's birthday! so to celebrate we went to a sushi restaurant. Let me tell you, sushi is REALLY different here than it is in America. It's just rice and a piece of raw fish on the top. Which... surprisingly is very delicious! I got to eat Takoyaki as well. Which is just raw octopus inside a breaded cake ball. Super good.

 

Time for some random facts about Japan. Not sure If I mentioned this at all. They aren't any garbage cans anywhere, so you have to carry your garbage. The garbage trucks play ice cream truck music as they go about the streets. You can't read while you eat or else that is very rude. I think I've seen about 10000000 spiders here in Japan just walking around housing. :U eeeeee....  Everything is self automated! The sushi place we went to as well. You just pick what you want, and the cooks send it to you via a transportation device right to your seat.

 

It rains like... everyday XD However this makes the mountains beautiful. This week was actually very tough for me, because I got into another bike accident (don't kill me dad! it's hard riding a bike in Japan!) There was a man walking in the very narrow way, and I slowed down to go around him, the ground was still very wet, and I slid and ran into a sign. Because of my helmet my head was perfectly fine, however my face got banged up a bit. We went to the doctors and he didn't say I needed stitches. Just two little cuts on my cheek and eyebrow. If I get scars... well then, it will be a constant reminder and how important it is to listen and FOLLOW the spirit. Heavenly Father wants his missionaries safe, but if they don't act on the warnings they get, it can become a problem. I heard the spirit warn me to stop, and not to try to get around him, but i didn't listen. They really are very subtle. If the prompting you receive is a good prompting, don't take time to ask if it's from the spirit. Everything good comes from God.

 

I love it here in Japan. I'm getting the language better than I did before! (still doesn't mean I can speak like a native) but I can try to wing my way around the lessons. Everyone has trials in this life, but I've learned that if we do as much as we can, God really will help us the rest of the way. That's what makes life so beautiful. I may not know everything there is to do with the gospel, but I do know that it is the best thing for our lives, and for our family's lives. When we go to church, we get to remind ourselves of that beautiful gift and blessing. We get to feel peace, and clean through the Atonement of Christ. This is why we are on earth. To prepare to one day meet God. I want the people of Japan to know their purpose, and to give them hope in this hard life.

 

Thank you everyone for your love and prayers! (maybe more bike specific ones are needed XD ) I'll see you all next week, and hopefully this one sends...

 

apparently i need a separate thing to post pictures on this old computer. We'll get it next week! So stay tuned for some amazing pictures!

 

I LOVE YOU ALL!