07/26/2015 E-mail - There is nothing better than seeing investigators that I taught now attending the temple!!

So last week I can't remember if I told you, but when we were e-mailing here at the church, I saw the Yamashitas from Taniyama! The mom and Yukina chan were both waiting at the church to go do baptisms for the dead in the temple, which is like 5 minutes away!  It was nice actually being able to speak to her now that I know more Japanese compared to my bean chan days. She now teaches a Primary class and is preparing to receive her endowments soon as her 1 year baptismal anniversary is August 30th! It was so great see them! They also said that Mayu Shimai (we taught and baptized her) was currently in the temple! That was so good to hear!!!

Sayaka chan is doing well! She was at Disneyland in Tokyo this whole week for her birthday, but she replied to all of our texts and we have a lesson with her tomorrow!

We started teaching a member's daughter, Watanabe Atsuko san. She is 28 and never got baptized when she was little. We made a baptismal date with her, so we are really excited! She has some problems with the Word of Wisdom, so please pray for her!

This week we got a referral- the first real one of my whole mission!! Honbu gave us the name and address, so we set out to try to find them. Well, the address wasn't specific at all, just a machi number. We knew that the husband was American and that his name was Wyatt, so we kept our eyes peeled for Amercians. We saw two, and we ran up to them and asked if they were Wyatt, but sadly neither of them were. We weren't able to find the referral, but we did e-mail them. Now we have a joke where we yell "Wyatt!" whenever we see an American, hoping that it might be him!

We had a fun ward BBQ on Saturday! They BBQd so much meat, it was crazy! We also grilled squid and guess who washed all the raw squid? Me! It was a slimy inky mess, but it was kinda fun!

Today, we have been asked to volunteer at the International Airport to help Boy Scouts get onto shuttle buses. There is a huge International Boy Scout Jamboree going on, and 33,000 boy scouts are coming to Fukuoka! So we get to help them out at the aiport today and next week too. Some came to church yesterday, all decked out in their uniforms. 

In personal study I read Alma 36:24, which i love! It's one of my "mission motto" scriptures. "Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance;that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost."  I love how Alma told Helaman that he labored without ceasing! I want to work as hard as I can every single day to bring souls unto Christ and to help them taste of the joy that comes from this gospel. What a blessing it is to be a missionary and to share that exceeding joy with others every single day. I love being a missionary! I love this work! I know the gospel is true!

Love you all!

Klein Shimai

07/26/2015 Pics

Ward Pioneer Barbecue - we had to pull these "handcarts" up a giant hill; it was like a pioneer trek!

BBQ - tons of veggies & meat

View from where we had the Ward Barbecue - beautiful!

Kaicho & Shimai - so cute!

Aoshi Kun, the cutest lil' "pioneer" ever

The Bishop's little girl on her baptism day!

at Oohori Koen!

07/19/2015 E-mail: Temple Blessings

Konnichiwa!

Sorry if this e-mail is super jumbled; I don't have much time!  

(This is Addy's answer to Dad's question about where their apartment is located):  
We live in a pretty busy area.  The church is in Fukuoka Yakuin 4 chome.  Our 
apartment is in ozasa; it's like a 15-min. bike ride from the church.

This week we had two really good lessons with Sayaka chan. She is
progressing well and says that when she prays she feels like God is
lifting her up. She turns 19 this week! We are working on getting
permission from her mom for her baptism, so please pray for that! She is going to
Disneyland this weekend in Tokyo, so she can't come to church. We haven't
taught sabbath day yet haha....

We had a YSA activity at the beach and we played beach volleyball and
I was in heaven! It was so much fun!!!

We found two really good investigators this week. One is Ide San, who
we will teach today! She is 23 years old and works at a nursing home.
We are so excited to start teaching her! We also are going to start
teaching Atsuko San. Her mom is a member and has a little interest, so
we are meeting her this week. I love teaching part-member families!

Yesterday at church I had a really cool experience. A lady from
Kiribati, a small island in the Pacific Ocean, came to church, so I
got to translate for her and befriend her, because she doesn't speak
any Japanese. We were talking about temples. The closest temple to her
is in Fiji, it takes a 4 hour plane ride to get there and it is
really expensive. She went on to tell me that because it is so
expensive, she usually goes and stays for 2 weeks. During those two
weeks she goes to the temple every single day that it is open and she
does every single session each day! So she is able to do like 30
sessions each time she goes. We started talking about blessings we
have received from going to the temple and I began to cry with her. I
will never take having a temple 30 minutes away for granted again!
There are such strong members all around the world who make huge
sacrifices to go and serve in the temple. I am so thankful that our
Mission is one of the only two in Japan with a temple. I'm so grateful
I was able to meet Denise yesterday at church.

This week, I read Doctrine and Covenants 135. My testimony of Joseph
Smith was strengthened so much! Also this month's Ensign has way good
articles about the Book of Mormon and the pioneers. I want to study
church history more when I get home from my mission. The faith and
hope of those early saints is so strong! I am so thankful for all they
went through for us!

I know this Church is true and I know the Book of Mormon is true.
Every single day when I read I learn something new, no matter how many
times I've read that part before. It really is the word of God.
Have a good week!
Love you!

Klein shimai

07/19/2015 Pics

with Sayaka Chan!

Fukuoka Tower

Beach vb!

Saw the Yamashita's at the Fukuoka church!  They were waiting for a session to start at the temple; it was so good to see them again!

07/12/2015 - 3 baptismal dates set in August!

Hello!

Sorry, not much time, but we had a great week!  We made two new baptismal dates, so now we have 3 baptismal dates, all for August!  Oh san, the Chinese investigator, is still working on the Word of Wisdom. She will probably get a blessing this week from the Elders to be able to withstand the temptations to drink coffee and tea!

Sayaka chan is the one that came to all three hours of church last week (all on her own) for a school project. We made a return appointment with her and the Spirit was so strong in the first lesson. She said yes to baptism and then came again to church yesterday for all three hours. After church, we had a lesson about baptism and she cried as she explained why she wants to be baptized. She said she wants to change and get rid of all the negative thoughts that she has. She said she wants to become more happy and share that happiness with those around her. She reminded me of the people of King Lamoni who heeded unto the word and were {zealous} for following the commandments of God. Sayaka chan really is prepared for this gospel.

Alma 21:23!!  "And Ammon did preach unto the people of king Lamoni; and it came to pass that he did teach them all things concerning things pertaining to righteousness. And he did exhort them daily, with all diligence; and they gave heed unto his word, and they were zealous for keeping the commandments of God."

Since we have iPads now we have to switch all of the hand written records from the Area Book into our iPads; it's really tedious haha. But we try to make it fun!

That's all for this week haha. Love you all! I know this Church is true!

07/12/2015 Pics

Delicious American Diner - we were in heaven!

Krispy Kreme last P.Day - so good!

Junkai with Raines Shimai in Nakagawa; she was way fun to work with!

A store called VG - inside family joke

07/06/2015 E-mail - 9 new people to teach in one week!

Hello!

Sorry, not much time today to write, but the new Kaicho and Shimai are amazing!! It's cool getting to be in the same ward as them, because we get to see them all the time. Shimai jointed for one of our lessons and her Japanese is pretty good! The Egans are so fun! We can already feel their love!

Kawamura Shimai (the other stl) trained at two Zone Training Meetings this week so we were super busy with that, but it was really fun! 

We made a baptismal date with our investigator, Ou san. It is for August 13th! She basically came into the lesson, sat down, and said "I want to be baptized on this date!"  It was so amazing! Right now, she is working on the Word of Wisdom, since she drinks coffee and tea every day. This week, she only drank coffee 3 times versus 7! Each week will get less and less until she is fully keeping it. She has so much faith!

We found 9 new investigators this week; it was a miracle week!

When I was on splits with Nohagi Shimai, we found Nao san. She is a young mom we found at a huge park.  She is going through a divorce right now and said that even though she doesn't believe in God, she had been praying for some miracle to happen to her to find strength. She has a 3-ish year old son and she basically raises him on her own because the husband never comes home. We sat down right there and had a lesson with her; she is really special. We all cried because the Spirit was so strong and it was so evident that we were supposed to find her at that specific time, on that specific day. The Lord really is in the timing of everything. We have another lesson with her today!

It is amazing to see the Lord perform such amazing miracles every single day. I love my mission! The church is true!

Klein Shimai

07/06/2015 Pics

On splits with Nohagi Shimai

My comp, Stevenson Shimai!

Ohori Koen Park, where we do lots of dendoing "finding"

Beautiful Fukuoka