03/29/2015 - Transfer 6, Week 4 in Nagasaki

Hello!

This week was really great! Last Pday, we went to the planetarium with Shiori chan and the Elders. And today we are going to a park to see all the beautiful cherry blossoms. They are everywhere here; they're so gorgeous!

Super awkward door contact- we were talking to this guy, and then we asked him if he believed in God. Right after we asked him he said, "God?" and then lifted up his shirt to show us a giant tatoo of God on his back!! It was disgusting and I looked away super fast ...haha. Chapman Shimai and I were trying so hard not to laugh!

Anyway, we had junkais (splits) in Sasebo this week, which was really fun!

Mari San is doing really well! We had two lesosns with her this week and she came to the YSA activity, which was such a blessing! She doesn't really like big groups because she is shy and is just used to staying home with her mom. But she had fun and was able to make some friends! She is starting to really warm up to us and she always brings us food and treats to our lessons. This week she made us donuts and onigiris! We love her so much! So we taught about the Restoration and she said she prayed about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. She said she hasn't received an answer yet, but she doesn't think they are false. She said they are easy to believe. So, we are helping her to recognize the Spirit right now so she can receive that solid answer for herself! She has so much faith and since we started the lessons until now, she seems so much happier and more genki. The gospel is already helping her so much! Please pray for her and that she'll be able to recognize the Spirit!  Also pray that Chapman Shimai and I will be able to find new investigators!

This week we had a pretty cool experience housing. We found a new investigator, Akane chan. She is 15 and said yes to the baptismal invite we gave right then at the door. She agreed to meet again, so we went back yesterday to meet with her. Well, her sister came to the door and said that Akane wasn't home yet. We were bummed and wanted to kinda leave, but decided to be persistent and find out if the sister had any interest. Well, it turns out that the sister also said yes to the baptismal invite and became a new investigator. Her name is Haruna and she is 19. We will go back this Sunday to meet with both of them together! Please pray that they are actually home! Their family is just their dad and then 3 girls and 1 boy. I can just see their whole family getting baptized!

Well that's about it for this week. I am so excited for Easter next week! And for General Conference! We have to wait an extra week here to watch Conference, so I hope it is good! May we all remember our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His Atonement! I know that He lives and that He died for each and every one of us. This is His church! I know this church is true! I love you all! 

Love, Klein Shimai

03/29/2015 Pics

Super fun YSA activity - we played minute to win it games & made milkshakes

Merrill Choro, one of our awesome ZL's; he made milkshakes with chopsticks when the blender broke!

With Maiguma Shimai, the cutest lady ever!

A cute couple we met on the street.  The grandpa speaks 5 different languages; he spoke to me in German & to Chapman Shimai in Russian & to both of us in English.  We were so surprised!  Pretty sure I forgot all the German I knew ... haha!

Splits with Stevenson Shimai in Sasebo

03/22/2015 - Visit from an Apostle!!

Hello! 

This week was crazy busy, but super fun! So, the weather is starting to get really nice! It's not too cold anymore and it's not too hot quite yet. The cherry blossoms will be blooming in like a week or two, so we are really excited!  Spring in Japan is so beautiful! 

This week as we were riding to visit a former investigator, we totally got lost. Well, it's a good thing we got lost because we met a really cute 20 year old named Minami san and she became a new investigator! We are meeting with her on Wednesday so please pray that she will show up and feel God's love! 

We went to Kurume on Friday to go on splits with the shimai there. We had a lot of fun and really learned a lot together. 

I gave a talk in church yesterday and of course started crying when I told of a cool experience I had in Taniyama about the Lord answering prayers. I have such a strong testimony of prayer!!!

So Mari san is progressing well and came to a Relief Society activity that was on Saturday. We were in Fukuoka, so we thought she wouldn't go, but it turns out that she went alone and told everyone there that she is super excited to get baptized! She is such an amazing investigator and we just love her so much!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK- I got to shake hands with Elder Nelson of the Quorom of the 12 Apostles!!! It was basically a dream come true. He is so adorable and is quite funny. Sometimes we forget that the Apostles are like us, just normal people. Except that he had a huge bodyguard with him! So he and his wife and Elder Ringwood and his wife all spoke to us. Elder Ringwood is the Area President. They prepped us for iPads, which we still aren't getting for a couple months apparently. They really want us prepared! But it was really interesting. Sounds like one of the many reasons they want us using iPads now on our missions is so that when we go home it's not a huge shock using the Internet and stuff like that again. They want us to learn how to deal with temptations/manage time, etc. Never really thought of it in that way before. They really want to help us here on our missions, but prepare us for our futures as well. The best part of the conference was at the end when Elder Nelson testified of Jesus Christ. There is no way you could deny an Apostle of the Lord testifying of our Savior! The Spirit was so strong and my testimony of apostles and prophets was strengthened so much. I know that we have a prophet and apostles on the earth today, and that they are called of God! Elder Nelson encouraged us all to "engrave the doctrine on our hearts". I've really thinking about that lately and how I can be better. 

I know this Church is true! I know the Book of Mormon is true and that it is the word of God. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer; that He died for each and every one of us. I just love this gospel so much!

Love you all and pray for you!

Love, Klein Shimai

03/22/2015 Pics

saw kashiwa shimai at the mission conference!

we went out to eat with the zone leaders and shiori chan today; then we went to the planetarium!

saw my MTC district at the Elder Nelson Zone Conference!

made truffles with Kristy, a less active in the branch

03/16/2015 - Baptism challenge accepted! : )

Hello! 

This week was so awesome, I don't even know where to begin!

Okay, on Pday we went to the bomb musuem which was way interesting and sad. It wasn't as big or fancy as I thought it would be. I heard the one in Hiroshima is cooler haha. Tuesday we had Zone Conference. I love Zone Conference because we get to see all the missionaries in the Zone, especially the shimai, and kaicho and shimai and the awesome APs! It was a great training- Kaicho is so awesome! I don't want him to leave in July; we will miss him & his wife so much!

So, at Zone Conference I earned my Lesson Mastery Award! You get a Japanese PMG (Preach My Gospel manual) and a cool little pin that you can put on your nametag. So, to get the award you have to teach all 5 lessons three different times. Once for 5 min., then 15 min., and then 30-45 min. It was a lot of work but it has helped my Japanese soo much! On days when I feel like my Japanese stinks, I just tell myself, {hey! you can speak Japanese for 45 min straight!} So yeah, I'm way happy I finally earned it!

We had a really fun YSA activity with some members and our investigators. Sadly, Mari couldn't come, 'cause she has to drive her mom to the hospital every Saturday for her treatments. Her mom has leukemia. We went to Kristy's house like 3 days before to invite her and then she called the day of and said she had a stomach ache, so she couldn't come either. But, it was still fun and we played ping pong and made waffles!!

There is this cool couple in the branch, the Akbari family. He is from Afghanistan is a less active member of the Church. His wife is from El Salvador and she is not a member. She recently had a baby, so we visited their house a few nights ago and she is sooo nice! It's weird talking in English sometimes, I've realized how bad I am at small talk in English haha. We are looking forward to visiting her again and hopefully we will end up teaching her! 

We were streeting the other day and we met a mom and daughter from Taniyama!!! It was so awesome reminiscing about good old Taniyama. Gosh, I miss it sometimes! Oh, speaking of Taniyama, Kashiwa Shimai, my last companion, just e-mailed me and said that one of the new investigators Kuroki Shimai and I found referred a friend that now has a baptismal date!!! I was way excited to hear that!!!  It is Ryu san, the Chinese guy's friend! It's crazy to see how all things work out on the Lord's timing. I have a huge testimony of that!

We met with Urakawa shimai, a less active member, this week and she prayed in the lesson!!! It was such a miracle, because the last 3 weeks she has been avoiding praying in the lessons. So this time, the whole lesson was focused on prayer and the Spirit must have touched her because she prayed!!!

Another less active we have been visiting like every other week that is never home was finally home last night! It took us like 8 weeks to finally meet her, but it was so good to talk! I'm glad we didn't give up on her. She apologized and thanked us for all the little notes that we had written her. 

Highlight of this week- MARI SAN NOW HAS A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!! We had our second lesson with her yesterday! I forgot what I've told you about her, so here it goes. She's 34, single, and lives with her mom and dad, who are both members. Like i said, her mom has cancer, but Mari has seen this Gospel bless her family so much throughout it all, that she decided she wants to take the lessons. She comes to church every week with her parents, its so awesome! So yesterday was our second lesson and we talked about God and prayer and the Spirit. We watched the Mormon Message "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father" and she said she understood finally what God is like and she said she felt warm and peaceful. She felt the Spirit bearing witness to her that God loves her. Then we went on and felt like we should make the baptismal date right then. Right now it's for May 23rd. It's kinda far out, but she can only meet once a week if we're lucky. Please pray that she will get an answer when she prays about God and baptism! Thanks! I'm so grateful that Kaicho always tells us to give the baptismal invite no later than the second lesson. She was so ready for it! Also, we have been praying for baptism in literally every single prayer (yes food prayers too) and it's such a miracle to see the Lord bless us with a baptismal date. 

I know this Church is true and I love bearing my testimony to people every single day. I am so grateful for Mari san and the faith that she has. I know the Lord is with us every single day here in Nagasaki!!!

Love you all!

Klein Shimai

03/16/2015 - Pics

Waffle & Ping Pong Party w/YSAs (young single adults) & investigators

Nagasaki at nighttime - beautiful!

Cute candid!

Thanks for the new scarves, Mom!

Clock that was in a church when the bomb exploded - 10:02

Model of "fat man" the bomb      : (

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03/08/2015 - Transfer 6 Week 2

Konnichiwa!

I hope everyone is doing well! On Tuesday we got to go to Fukuoka for MLC, which is Missionary Leadership Council. All the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders get together and get counsel from the APs and Kaicho (Mission President). We have 11 zones right now! It was great to talk with the 8 other Sister Training Leaders and see how we can all better help the shimai! And the best thing from MLC..... Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles is coming to our Mission on March 21st. And we will probably get to shake his hand! We are all so excited! He is coming with some other general authorities to train us for iPads. 

We visited a member referral this week and it was really good! Also Elder Tashiro of the Seventy came to our Branch last night for a fireside. It was with just 6 missionaries and like 10 members so it felt like a Sunday School class or something. He talked about the Atonement and the different meanings the word has in different languages. It was way good!

So we stopped teaching Shiori chan this week; she really has no desire to get baptized and I think just takes the lessons because she likes the missionaries. She needs time to just figure out what she really wants, so we are taking a break from the lessons right now with her.  She still reads the Book of Mormon by herself and comes to church every week though, so that is good! Once she thinks things out, we will see where to go from there. We really thought a lot about this and the Zone Leaders really helped us in the lesson! It's always hard "dropping" investigators, but we know it's what should've been done. Now we have more time to find the actual "elect" who are ready for baptism!

This transfer, I've really been focusing on using the power of the Atonement to change. I have such a strong testimony of the Atonement. I know this Church is true and I love working here in Nagasaki! I am so grateful to be a missionary right now and for all the experiences we get to have. The Lord is always there by our side! I love this Gospel!

Klein Shimai

03/08/2015 Pics

Sato san and her daughter, Karen san

Having fun with Kristy

03/01/2015 - Please pray for our investigators

To clarify some of the Japanese terms that Addy uses:

shimai = means "sister"; the female missionaries are called shimais & also the female members of the Church

san = like Mr. or Mrs.

chan (used for a girl) = more informal, friends

kun (used for a boy) = more informal, friends

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This week was transfers, but I will be staying in Nagasaki with Chapman Shimai and we will continue being the STL's for our Zone! We are super excited to get even closer this transfer!

Last P. Day was super fun! We made origami and brownies with our investigator Shiori chan and Honami Shimai. They were able to become pretty good friends, which was perfect. Then we all went to the Lantern Festival which was so pretty!

We had a cool miracle this week when we prayed at a decision point. We were housing and just not seeing the success we wanted to see, so we prayed and felt like we should go street on the main road for a while. Like 10 minutes after we started streeting we ran into Kristy, a less-active member in the branch. We have been trying to make an appointment with her for this whole past transfer! We were able to make an appointment right then and it was such a blessing from the Lord! 

So Haruka san, the new invesigator from last week... we went to her house and saw lights on and heard peoples voices inside and even saw someone come to the door, look through the peephole, and then turn away. It was such a bummer! I really thought she was going to start progressing. Sometimes it's frustrating, because we find all these new investigators but they never show/ don't start progressing. 

We were able to meet with Urakawa Shimai, another less-active. Her testimony is struggling, so we are going to have her pretend to be an investigator and we are going to role play all the lessons to her - one each week.  We just need to help remind her that her testimony is still there!

Shiori chan is seriously so confusing... haha. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she said she wanted to go to the Terrestrial Kingdom, not the Celestial Kingdom to live with Heavenly Father & the Savior. She thinks it's weird how we believe there is only one way to salvation (Ephesians 4:5)  We talked about how many chances people would have to accept the gospel and we had an amazing member help us with her concerns. Shiori chan comes to church every week and reads the Book of Mormon every single day, but isn't really wanting to change. We've been praying hard for guidance about what to do with her. We'd stop teaching her, but she is progressing in so many other ways; I don't know how to explain it!

So the Nakamura's, a couple in our Ward, said their non-member daughter had some inerest about our Church. They brought her to church this Sunday and we taught her a lesson! Her name is Mari San and she's 35, and she wants to take the lessons! It was such a huge miracle! Maybe now is finally her time. Her mom has leukemia, and Mari San has seen how much this gospel has blessed her mom's life. Please pray for her to keep our commitments and to have her own spiritual experiences!

It's crazy how I hit my half way mark this week. I've been thinking a lot about my goals for my mission and how I'm doing at accomplishing them. I've been able to see my testimony grow so much! I just want to keep getting better and better. It scares me that I only have 9 months left! I love missionary work and I know this Church is true! Sorry I'm out of time! Love you all!

Klein Shimai

03/01/2015 Pics

Chinese Lantern Festival!

Daiki kun & his little brother

Newer version of the "Bunny Mobile" - my car back home

Brother Koire's B.Day cake

Brother Koire's B.Day Party.  He's an amazing recent convert & is a great Ward Missionary 

Origami Cranes

A B.Day cake we made for a member sister - she always joins our lessons