Trip to Sendai!

The internet`s working again!! It`been a great past few weeks, I can hardly believe how fast time goes. Next week is transfer week...and then, I`ll be in my last transfer! It seems like yesterday that I had just gotten to Japan.

It`s gotten pretty cold, but still no snow. Last Thursday was Thanksgiving--we didn`t have pumpkin pie, but Dotson Shimai made mashed potatoes and pork, and we had a great time! If I have time there`s half of a pumpkin in our fridge that I may try to turn into pumpin pie, thanks for the recipie dad!

We spent half of this past week in Sendai--I went to the honbu (mission home) for training with the other zone leaders/trainers, and Dotson Shimai got to go on splits with the Kamisugi sisters--she got to see our old companion, Semba Shimai again!! There are 4 Japanese sisters right now in Kamisugi, and she actually went on splits with the other companionship, including my old companion Murase Shimai! I was able to see Murase Shimai at the bus stop for a few minutes, it was so good to see her again and see her doing so well. Dotson Shimai had a great time with 4 Japanese sisters, and I also learned a lot from the training at the honbu.

Our investigators Kokubun san and Kazue san are doing great--Kokubun san is keeping the Word of Wisdom! We just have to help her break the news to her husband, then she`ll be ready for baptism. We practiced the baptism interview questions with Kazue san, and we`ll probably do it again next week because she doesn`t have the best memory...but her heart is definitely in the right place. Yesterday she told us how lately she felt that God is protecting her, when she almost got into a bike accident but didn`t, and when she prays and feels a warm feeling. She`s been coming to church almost every Sunday for about a year--we definitely feel like this is her time to be baptized!

I`m loving every day and minute left of my mission, and I`m striving each day to become the missionary God wants me to be. I know that this is God`s work, and that He loves each one of us! He hears and answers our prayers, and knows the desires of our hearts, and what we need. I have felt His love for me, and for these wonderful Japanese people!

Love,
Swain Shimai

No Snow in November!

It`s been another great week here, and during the day, when the sun is out, surprisingly warm for November! As soon as the sun goes down it gets windy and cold, but no snow yet--I heard it doesn`t snow here in Koriyama until December! I`m counting my blessings.:)

This past week nothing super big happened, except that our investigators are doing well, and I taught my Eikaiwa (English) class about Thanksgiving--now they all want to eat pumpkin pie and have a stuffed turkey! I haven`t seen any canned pumpkin puree since I`ve been in Japan, so I guess they`ll just have to come to America to experience it.

Today I`ll introduce one more of our investigators. Her name is Kokubun san, and she`s in her 60`s (?). The elders found her when they were talking to people on the street. She`s a cute obachan (grandmother), who loves coming to the Ping Pong activity we have every Saturday. She`s faithfully reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day to know if it`s true or not--she doesn`t feel like she`s gotten or recognized an answer yet, but we know she will as she continues to seek to know. Kokubun san came to church this Sunday and had a great time. She wants to be baptized next month, so that she can return to live with God! Her only obstacle is her husband, who apparently doesn`t like religion; but he know`s she`s been up to some religion lately, and hasn`t said anything about it yet. We`re praying and hoping he`ll understand her desire to come to church, and hopefully one day he too, will want to hear our message.

On Saturday night we met with the Elders and a man from Peru, who we found streeting two weeks ago. He`s been in Japan for 20 years now. He was born Catholic, but since he`s come to Japan, he hasn`t really been to church. When we met him, he said that `God` part of his life has been missing lately, and he wants to come to church again. We shared about the Restoration of our church through the prophet Joseph Smith, and he agreed to read the Book of Mormon (in Spanish) and pray to know if it`s true. I know that he will, as well as anyone who prays to know the truth of it, will receive an answer from God. I know that this church is true!

I love and am praying for all of you!
Love,
Swain Shimai

Rain...

It`s been just a few days since I wrote, but it`s getting colder here. Saturday there was a typhoon and it rained hard the entire day! :)

Since Semba Shimai transferred, Dotson Shimai and I are doing our best, as two gygienes (foreigners) here in Japan, but everything has worked out, and I`m even getting used to reading the maps here (which are all written in kanji--I can`t read all the kanji but I can figure out the locations/where things are.) It`s been an adventure doing all the things my Japanese companions used to do, but definitely a learning experience. And the Lord has been strengthening us to do it.

This weekend was District Conference (like Stake Conference)--the Koriyama district consists of three branches, Koriyama, and two neighboring cities, Iwaki and Aizuwakamatsu. The theme was on bringing people unto Christ, and centered on missionary work. It was wonderful, and our mission president President Tateoka and his wife both spoke. During the Saturday session, President Tateoka had everyone in the audience practice with the person sitting next to them on inviting their friend to the Christmas Party/giving them an introduction DVD to our church. It was so great! As missionaries, we do `mogi`, or practicing what we want to say, all the time, and it`s super effective, I highly suggest it!

All the recent converts, Yamaguchi Shimai and the Kato siblings, are doing great! The oldest Kato daughter, who first joined the church, gave a talk on her conversion story and meeting the missionaries at District Conference. It`s so wonderful to see everyone progress.

One of our investigators, who I don`t think I`ve mentioned yet in my e-mails, is a sweet, 69 yr-old grandmother who lives alone. She was a member referral from her daughter-in-law`s mother, who lives nearby (they share the same grandchildren). She`s been coming to church almost every Sunday this whole year, but has been worried about being baptized, because she doesn`t know as much about the gospel as she sees her relatives do. But lately, as she`s kept her commitment to read the Book of Mormon every day and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true or not, she said she sometimes feels a warm feeling in her heart when she prays! At first she thought it was because she`d just eaten, and she took her sweater off...but we were able to tell her it`s the Holy Ghost, God`s messenger telling her that it`s true!! We`re continuing to teach her and help her realize that it`s her answer, and she hopes to be baptized before her birthday in December. While maybe a lot of things are hard for her to understand, she`s really progressing at her own pace and gaining a conviction of her own.

I love missionary work! Thanks all of you for your love and support.
Love,
Swain Shimai

Transfer Call

This morning we got our transfer calls, and Dotson Shimai and I will stay here, but Semba Shimai will be transfered to Kamisugi and become a trainer of a new Japanese sister missionary who`s coming in tomorrow! We`re sad to see her go and will miss her here, but know that she`ll see miracles in Kamisugi and help her new companion. It`ll be the first time I haven`t had a Japanese companion with me here in Japan!


On Sunday Yamaguchi Shimai was baptized!! The baptism service was at 8:30 in the morning, and she was confirmed during Sacrament Meeting the same day. Everything went smoothly, and it was so wonderful and filled with the Spirit! I played my violin for the musical number, with the other missionaries singing 2 verses of `I Need Thee Every Hour.` Yamaguchi Shimai shared her testimony after her baptism, about how she`d felt God`s love during the music, and how she felt so wonderful after being baptized!! I can`t express adequately in words how happy we were to see her whole conversion, and baptism--it truly was one of God`s miracles that we found her!

Saturday was the Branch Halloween Party, and it was a lot of fun. We helped set up and run some of the games/activities, and our investigators had a great time.

I`m out of time today, but love all of you and pray for you!
Love,
Swain Shimai

Not By Accident

Guess what? Yamaguchi san passed her baptism interview and is going to be baptized next Sunday!!! Lately she`s felt like she isn`t ready for baptism because her daughter, who is a Jehovah`s witness, kept asking her questions about the church that were hard to respond to, and also because she doesn`t understand everything in the Book of Mormon. We told her that the most important thing was her testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that Joseph Smith restored Christ`s church on the earth--she believes this and has this testimony! And she wants to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized and following his commandments for the rest of her life--she is truly ready for baptism. After she passed her interview, she came out and hugged us all and was so excited, and said, `I can be baptized!!` We all were so happy--I think part of the reason me and my companions were so happy was because Yamaguchi san was so happy and excited for baptism! Also, Yamaguchi san saw the poster for the branch temple trip and wants to go with them to the Tokyo temple, just two weeks after her baptism. She has so much faith, and we don`t believe it`s an accident we knocked on her door at the end of August. This is definitely the Lord`s work, and he directs us to those who are ready to hear and accept our message.

This past Tuesday, all of our appointments cancelled and fell through, and although we talked to everyone, no one really seemed to want to listen...but then the next day, Wednesday, was filled with so many small miracles! I believe that the Lord, according to His timing, rewards us according to our faith, and hard work. On Wednesday, we went to the church to do a mogi (practice lesson) with an amazing couple in the branch (who always helps the missionaries), the Mizumoto couple, when we walked into the church, and with them was a man who we hadn`t met before. We found out that he was standing in front of our church, looking at the sign of our church `The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints` when Mizumoto Kyodai came outside the church to look for us...the man, Sato san, asked if he could go inside and see our church, so Mizumoto Kyodai took him inside and was giving him a tour of the church when we found them. We had a lesson with him right there, and he told us that he`s wanted to learn about Jesus Christ for a long time! He really wants to make changes in his life and follow the example of Jesus Christ--now the elder missionaries are teaching him, and preparing him for baptism! Sato san is another testimony that God knows and loves each of His children!

I love all of you!
Sister Swain

First Bike Crash...!

Wasn`t General Conference wonderful?! My companions and I, and our investigators who came all loved it! It`s so amazing that we could listen to a broadcast of it all the way here in our branch in Japan--and feel as we heard our living prophets speak through a staticy t.v that they are truly called of God! I loved all the talks, but especially liked President Monson`s talk about being grateful, and Elder Holland`s talk about how they were grateful for the faith and good works of everyone. We`re so blessed to have the guidance of living prophets!

Our investigator Yamaguchi san is doing so well! This past week she`s really changed, and her testimony has become so strong--we think part of it is definitely because she`s reading the Book of Mormon and praying everyday. She attended 3 of the 4 General Conference sessions, and loved it, and even cried during some of the talks. She`s most likely going to be baptized on October 24--she`s so ready!

I crashed my bike for the first time on my mission, but it wasn`t that big of a deal--when we were going to get off our bikes and stop to talk to someone on the street, I decided I`d try and get off my bike a different way (the way Semba Shimai does), but accidentally put my brakes on too soon and lost my balance, going down with the bike. I only had a few scrapes and bruises on my hands/legs, but the lady who we were going to talk to had seen it happen, and came over and looked at my hand. She pulled something out of her purse and lit some wood thing on fire and put it in a lead pipe and applied it to my hand, saying it`d help my hand not hurt the next day! Afterwards we found out she`s a therapist that does things like that. We talked to her about our message and she said we could share it with her again, and gave us her contact information. What a way to get a potential investigator! (And she was right, my hand didn`t hurt the next day!)

I`m loving each day serving as a missionary, for the little while I have left. I don`t want to stop being a missionary! I know that this church is true and led by living prophets!

Love,
Sister Swain

A Rainy Week

I`m so excited to watch General Conference next weekend! (We watch it a week later because of the time difference.) We`re going to teach all our investigators this week about how we have a living prophet, and the importance of following him, and then invite all of them to General Conference to hear our prophet speak!

Our investigators are doing pretty well, although many of them have caught colds this past week (it`s rained a lot) and couldn`t come to church. Yamaguchi san`s body condition hasn`t been the best lately, so we haven`t been able to meet with her for about 2 weeks...but we`re praying that she`ll get better soon and be able to come to General Conference. Even though she couldn`t meet with us or come to church, she`s been reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day!

We had specialized training this past week, where the mission president came and taught us. It was great, and I realized that even though I`ve been a missionary for a while (almost 1 yr. in Japan!) I still need to improve my dendo skills and seek to become a better missionary.

We had several small earthquakes this week...they`ve pretty much become normal for me now:)

Last Tuesday, some of our appointments cancelled and our plans changed, and we ended up going somewhere besides where we`d planned...as we were riding we came up to a stoplight, and I felt like I should talk to a lady who was waiting at the stoplight. As we started talking to her, she told us that she used to take lessons from the missionaries 30 years ago, but her family didn`t have good feelings towards the church, so she couldn`t join our church then. As I talked to her and bore my testimony to her of how God lives and loves her, and wants to help her through her trials, her face expression really changed as she felt the Spirit, or God`s love! We exchanged phone numbers and hope to meet with her this coming week. I`m grateful that our appointments were canceled, so that we could meet Miyashita san--the Lord truly placed her right in our path!

I love serving the Lord every day! And I love all of you! Thanks for everything!

Love,
Swain Shimai