01/25/2015 E-Mail: Feeling Better & The Lord's Blessings Continue!

Konnichiwa!

Okay first things first, we meet like one Christian a day here and it is so awesome! I'm not used to meeting so many! Apparently there a quite a few here in Nagasaki-yay!

News from Taniyama- Mizuki chan, a girl we met on the street my last week there, is doing really well and now has a baptismal date for the 28th of February!!!! I am way excited for her and keep e-mailing Kashiwa Shimai every week to give me the updates... haha. 

So I'm finally getting over my cold. It was way bad on Wednesday thru Saturday, so Shimai told me to go to the doctor. So I went, and I have some advice. NEVER GET A FLU TEST IN JAPAN. It was the worst 10 seconds of my life!!!! They stuck like a 1 foot long bendable Q-tip thing up my nose and through my sinuses. I swear they poked my brain or something because it hurt so badly!!!! I also was in the middle of having a coughing attack, so yeah it was not fun hahaha! But it turns out I didnt have the flu, just a super bad cold!!! But I am better now, so no worries!

We visited a less active, Kristy, this week. She is half Japanese, 20 years old, and lives in her own apartment. She doesn't have a job, so she just sits around her apartment all day. So we were able to get her out of her apt and we went on a walk together, and me and her talked a ton. She is so awesome! She doesn't come to church because her parents tell like everyone in the branch all her mistakes, so she's super embarrassed. It's so sad, but we will be working with her a lot!!

So Chapman Shimai and I have really been trying to reach kaichos standards of excellence! When I got to this area last week, we decided we really needed new investigators, so we made mini goals to make sure that we found 2 new investigators and that we had 2 investigators at church on Sunday. Hopefully with these new investigators, we can get more to progress and have baptismal dates. So on Wednesday we were housing in the pouring rain and weren't having much success. We were getting kekkod a lot, and felt that it just wasn't right. We prayed at the decision point and felt we should house for 30 more minutes before leaving. So immediately after the prayer, a college aged kid answered the door and he listened to us! He has so much interest about the purpose of life! He is training to be a police officer and was so happy when we gave him a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read the intro. He became a new investigator, and we are so excited to meet with him on Wednesday. So that was our first new investigator, Hiraoka san.

Yesterday after church, we were riding and saw two gaijin, and they yelled at us and said they had questions for us. One of the girls knows a ton about Mormons and is Christian and went to an LDS church 2 years ago. She asked lots of questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She has lots of interest about religion. She was our second new investigator, Renee san!

I definitely know that this is the Lord's work. We went to Him with our goal, and He helped us accomplish it. We also had 2 investigators at church; one was a huge miracle. 

My testimony has been strengthened so much this week, I know that the Lord is with us in dendo every single day. I am so lucky and blessed to be in Nagasaki right now! I know the church is true!

I'm still trying to get Chapman Shimai to speak more Japanese. The people on the street need her testimony! Sometimes I just wish she would try a little more. I've noticed that lots of praise and encouragement is what she needs to try to speak. So I have been working on that. 

I love this work so much! Have an amazing week!

01/25/2015 Pics

PJ bottoms from Jill - Thank You!

Yukina chan, a super cute little girl that teaches me origami!!

01/20/2015 E-mail ... Please pray for us

Konnichiwa!

I hope everyone had a fantastic week! I'm not gonna lie, this past week went by really slowly! I guess its 'cause I transferred to a new area, etc! It was way sad to leave Taniyama! The people there are honestly a family to me, and I will never forget the amazing miracles and experiences that I had there. Also, all three of my companions there were literally angels so I have no complaints at all about my first 4 transfers in Taniyama. Loved it!

So Thursday was transfer day, and I transferred to Nagasaki! I was way excited because it's an area that I was secretly hoping to work in haha. My new companion is Chapman Shimai, my mtc companion. We are both Sister Training Leaders together and are so excited to grow even closer this transfer. So from Thursday to yesterday my stress level was at like 5000000%. Because of that, I got super sick. No appetite, super weak, no voice, etc. I was just way overwhelmed, in part because Chapman Shimai doesn't speak much Japanese. She's way good, just shy about it! So I have to do like all the talking on the street, call everyone, and yeah, it was pretty overwhelming. Especially since we're both 5th transfers and my Japanese still isn't fluent at all and I can't understand all of what people are saying.... I was also worried about being a good STL, when we ourselves have so much to improve on. So, yeah I was stressed haha. Sunday morning the Zone Leaders gave me a blessing and it helped me SO much! He said exactly what I needed to hear; I know that blessing was from the Lord. Also, yesterday just happened to be interviews with the Mission President, so I was able to get more help and comfort from him. He told me to just do my best! He also told me to take deep breaths haha. He also told me again that he knew me and Chapman Shimai could do this! So that was such a good interview! I love kaicho so much!

The branch members here are awesome. The branch is a little bigger than Taniyama, but not many young people. The church building is 3 stories! I gave a talk in church on Sunday and I definitely had the gift of tongues!!  I'm amazed at how the more you rely on the Lord, the more He will provide! The Branch members are awesome! Matano Shimai brought me tons of medicine and stuff and keeps telling me to relax haha. 

Cool answer to a prayer- yesterday morning I was praying during "sacred grove", where we pray for 15 minutes every morning. I asked the Lord to help me find some comfort  that day. Well, immediately after my prayer, I heard a letter drop in our mailbox. It was a letter from my sister. I read it at lunch and it was the exact comfort that i needed! I'm so grateful for this answer to my prayer, and for my sister!!!

Right now we have two investigators; we really need new ones! So this week we will be doing lots of finding! Please pray that someone will listen to us and become a new investigator!!!

One last thought! When we got training from the APs, they showed us this amazing video about missionary work and the Atonement. I was thinking a lot about this lately and one of the reasons missions are so hard is to bring us closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. I have prayed so hard these last few days and I have relied so much more on my Savior's Atonement! He knows us all perfectly! This is one of my favorite things to teach investigators! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He died for each and every one of us. I know this is the Lord's work. The church is true! Love you all!!

Love,

Klein Shimai

Nagasaki at Night - beautiful!

01/20/2015 Pics - Going to Nagasaki!

In front of our Taniyama apartment building - time to leave.    : (

The people that said goodbye to me in Kagoshima - so sad!

One of my last pics with Kashiwa Shimai - will miss her so much!

Senior Missionary Couple, the Rowe's

Me with Hiroe & Ebihara, two of our investigators

Hiroe came to see me off at 8AM!  Love her...

view from my new apartment in Nagasaki

01/13/2015 - to Nagasaki as STL

Konnichiwa!

So I got my transfer call and will be going to Nagasaki! I am so excited! And, I'm going to be a Sister Training Leader! (girl version of a zone leader).  My new companion is Chapman Shimai, my MTC COMP! I am so excited! Also way nervous to be an STL because I'm just barely gonna be a 5th transfer! I know the Lord will help me! So yeah thats the news! Love you all!

Klein Shimai

01/12/2015 - Saying Goodbye - Transfer!

Konnichiwa!

This week was such an amazing week in Taniyama with Kashiwa Shimai. We've really been working on improving our totsuzens and inviting more people on the street to be baptized. So every day we kept reminding ourselves of our goals, and not only did we exceed them, we found 5 new investigators this week! I have such a strong testimony of planning with the Spirit! It can do amazing things! I also realized this week that because we really focused on our purpose (inviting others to be baptized and come unto Christ), we found lots of new investigators. It's so simple! Also, I was surprised how many more people listened as we focused almost every totsuzen on baptism!

This week we had such a cool prompting from the Holy Ghost when we were on the street. We met this one lady, and asked her if she had made any mistakes in life that she wished she could get rid of. She immediately almost started crying and went on to tell us that she has been involved in some domestic violence. Before we could even say anything else, she quickly left and we felt so bad because we couldn't even tell her that our message could help her SO much. She turned the corner and then me and Kashiwa Shimai said at the same time, "We need to go find her again!"  So we turned the corner, couldn't find her, but kept searching! We eventually found her again and were able to give her our phone number and tell her that she could call us anytime. She didn't have any time, but I'm SO grateful we went back and found her. We told her that our message could help her so much, and it could bring her more peace and comfort than anything else!!! Now at least she has our number and knows where to turn for help! I'm so grateful for this experience!

We went to Fukuoka yesterday because Kashiwa Shimai will be getting a 2nd transfer shimai next transfer, so she needed to get training from Kaicho and the AP's. While she was at training, I got to junkei with Smith Shimai from my MTC District!!!  It was way fun to work with her!!!!

Ryou Kyodai set goals this week to prepare to go to the temple!!!!

We 4 missionaries sang "Come thou Fount" in Sacrament Meeting! I had to sing the melody alone- way scary! But it turned out way good!  Oh, we are getting iPads on April 1st; so we are pretty excited about that!

I know I am transferring (moving to another city), but I don't know where yet. I'll save some e-mail time so I can let you know after I find out!  I'm nervous, but know I'll transfer where the Lord wants me to go! I know this is His work!

I'm so thankful for this mission experience! I love sharing this gospel with everyone around me. I know this gospel is true! Have a great week!

Klein Shimai