Fishing!

It`s been a great past few days!! We went again to the mission office in Sendai (a 2 1/2 bus ride away) and picked up our new companion, Dotson Shimai! She`s from Seattle, Washington, and is so sweet and works super hard. She`s a head taller than us, loves basketball and reading books--she was an English major at BYU before she came. She`s got `dendo fire`--she`s excited to do missionary work, and we`re excited to work with and help train her!

Sunday Kaoru chan and Naoki kun were baptized! It was so wonderful! The water in the baptismal font wasn`t very high, so they ended up each being baptized 2 times before they were fully immersed by the water. Afterwards Kaoru chan(age 13) said she felt `ureshii`--super happy, but Naoki kun (age 11) said he felt cold from his dripping wet clothes:) They are the cutest, and have amazing testimonies of Heavenly Father and the Book of Mormon. We`re so excited for them, and what being baptized will mean for their future--receiving so much love, guidance, and direction when they need it, and eventually being able to live together forever with their family, and Heavenly Father!

Today for p-day we went with some branch members, the elders and some of their investigators to go fishing...I caught a fish but was too afraid to pick it up with my bare hands afterwards...Semba Shimai helped. Then it was cooked by the people in charge of the mini pond/lake, and we ate our catch! It was quite the experience--at least the fish wasn`t raw:) Sorry dad, I still don`t really like sushi...
A little bit of sad news--our investigator Iizuka san called us and said that she doesn`t want to be baptized any more. We talked to her for a long time on the phone, expressing God`s love for her, as well as the need for baptism, but she`d made up her mind. Ultimately, it is her free agency, her choice--but we`re praying and trust that at the right time she`ll get another chance to accept the gospel, and realize what the atonement of Jesus Christ can do for her! I know that God loves her and is watching out for her!

Thanks everyone for your prayers, love, and support!

Love,
Swain Shimai