The Kiseki to end all Kisekis

8 transfers!!!! That is insane! This week I will be celebrating both my 20th birthday and my 1 year mark as a missionary. Crazy!!!!!! Thank you so much to everybody who has sent me birthday wishes! They really mean a lot to me!!!!

This week was a little crazy. It ended with some huge miracles though!

Looking at maps on the way
to the Wakabayashi family

Starting with last Monday, we went to a Family Home Evening with the Wakabayashi Family and it took us 40 minutes to bike there, along some really sketchy roads. But we made it! And their kids were adorable! We had so much fun! The funny thing was that we had eaten shabu shabu for a late lunch (so we were decently full) and then we got there and they had a ton of meat prepared to cook for us. Wakabayashi Kyoudai started cooking a lot of vegetables and meat and so we started eating, but literally no one else was eating. Apparently, they had also had a late lunch so they weren't too hungry, so there was this huge pile of food (enough to feed 4 hungry elders) for us two Sisters. Hehe. They even bought kimchi and chicken because those were our favorite foods. I felt bad that we weren't able to eat more! (The greatest guilt I feel as a missionary always has to do with not being able to eat more at members' homes.) We made a decent dent in the food though and had a really great lesson with the family.

We talked about sharing the gospel with our friends and Wakabayashi Kyoudai shared an amazing testimony. He said that even though he works in the church offices and all his friends are Mormon, he can do a better job of sharing the gospel on the trains. It is easy to talk about the gospel since his job involves working for the church, so he made a goal to talk to people on the train. His testimony was really powerful and it was a great example for all of his kids who were a little wary about talking to their friends. It turned into a really great lesson and we were grinning as we biked quickly home (to be home in time).

As for the rest of the week. On Tuesday, we had planned to do a church tour with one of our Mission School Students who had some interest in learning about the gospel. Well, she ended up bringing 2 of her friends and all three of them said they wanted to take the lessons! That brings us up to 7 new investigators from Mission School so far. I really have a strong testimony about Mission School and the potential that these people have to be open to the gospel. This is just one way that we find Heavenly Father's prepared people, but it is a very effective way. Recently we haven't been finding new Mission School Students so our Mission School has kind of plateaued so this transfer we really want to work as an area to fix that :)

With Sister Pourre (my trainer)

The rest of the week was a little weird because we didn't really have many appointments. It was a little discouraging because we had all this open time in the middle of the day, yet we also had a lot of new investigators that we weren't able to meet. I was getting a little frustrated because I just wanted to work with our new investigators, but they weren't answering our messages, so we had to make other plans and it just didn't feel productive. I just worked through it though and Heavenly Father sent us some amazing miracles.

The first one happened on Friday. At the request of the Stake President, we were planning on leaving Mission School early to go to Institute and meet this nonmember girl who had been coming to institute every week for a long time, yet had never met the missionaries. Because institute is a heavily doctrinal class, everyone was wondering why she still came. The Stake President wanted us to meet her and talk to her about taking the lessons. Coincidently, she is also the friend of a recently returned missionary who I actually met when I was in Urayasu. This return missionary came to a zone meeting while I was in Urayasu so I met her, it was really great to see her again and to be working together to help this friend. Anyway, we went to Institute, but it turned out that the friend wasn't able to come this week. We knew that our time could be used in other ways, so we said goodbye to everyone and said that we would be back next week.

We didn't really have any back-up plans, but when we went downstairs we found the Young Women having an activity and we were able to join in. This transfer we really really want to work with the Young Women more and become their friends more, so this was a perfect opportunity to talk and get to know them better. It was a struggle for me because their Japanese is sosososososososososoososo different from the Japanese I use. Haha, casual Japanese used by teenagers is way different from the super polite Japanese we use as missionaries, but I tried my best and it all worked out. :)

Mission School

This was good preparation for Sunday because we had a Mission School Fireside after church (we wanted to explain it more to the members and tell them how they can use it to invite their friends) and all the Young Women came! I know that our little interaction on Friday helped prepare them to come on Sunday. Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways sometimes, but he always leads us exactly where we need to go :) The Fireside was also really good. All the youth came and their parents really love the idea of Mission School, so hopefully more youth will be coming soon (whether or not they will be coming voluntarily is another question, but hopefully they will see how fun it is and invite their friends).

Sunday we saw the kiseki to end all kisekis. There were more coincidences involved in this miracle than any other miracle I have ever seen. But with Heavenly Father, there are no coincidences.

So, as I mentioned earlier, we are really trying to focus on the Young Women this transfer by visiting all of them and maybe doing mogis with them. Because of that goal, we were recently looking at the list of Young Women and we noticed one who was less active, with the last name Murata. We didn't know who she was, so we were going to try to find out some more information about her.

Picture from the church
We live in front of the building
with the white rectangle

Well, on Sunday, I was sitting with an investigator towards the front of the chapel because I had to give the closing prayer, so Sister Shim was sitting in the back. At the last minute, a new sister came in and sat next to Sister Shim. After the meeting, Sister Shim introduced herself and it turned out that this sister was Murata Shimai! The Less Active Young Woman's mother!!!!!! Murata Shimai is also less active and just recently started having a desire to maybe come back. What a miracle that she sat next to Sister Shim! Anyway, she had to leave church pretty quickly, but Sister Shim was able to give her our phone number and ask her if we could do a mogi lesson.

Well, she called us 3 times while we were in the fireside. :) We were really busy so we weren't able to call her back until about 5:30pm when we finally sat down to plan for the day. We were exhausted from the day already and we still had to plan what we would do in the next few hours. We had no ideas, but then we realized that we hadn't called Murata Shimai back yet. We called her and she wanted to mogi that night! It was perfect!!!!!!

When we met her at the church, she brought her husband (an active member) and her 9 year old son who hasn't been baptized yet. We were able to have a lesson with just her and it was amazing. We started out teaching the Restoration in a way that I have never taught it before. We were focusing on completely different things than what I usually focus on and it really felt like we were being guided by the Spirit. We then reached the part where it talks about the life of Jesus Christ. The pamphlet briefly mentions the Atonement and Sister Shim was prompted to share a powerful poem about the Atonement. Murata Shimai started crying and the Spirit was so strong as we both bore powerful testimonies about the Atonement. It was such an amazing feeling to be in that lesson, to really feel the Spirit being the teacher.

Ice cream and shabu shabu

At the end of the lesson, Murata Shimai really wanted to change her life. She really wants to study about Jesus Christ and come to better know him.

I a
m so grateful for Heavenly Father and all the little things he inspired us to do this week to prepare us for that moment. It was so amazing. I can't fully describe what it feels like.

I just want to share with you all my testimony that I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. In Relief Society this past week, a sister shared a beautiful version of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" in English. I'm not sure the other sisters fully understood the words, but as I listened, I felt the Spirit so strongly. I felt the Spirit testifying to me that this was true. I love at the end how it says "Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives, I know that my Redeemer lives." I truly know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that through him I can be forgiven of all my sins, all my mistakes, all my inadequacies. I know that I am no where near perfect. I know that I can't be perfect in this life, but through Jesus Christ and his Atonement, I can be perfect one day.

It really has been a great week in Matsudo. I'm looking forward to another week of miracles. I hope you all have a great week too!

Love,

ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai

Matsudo Miracles

Shabu Shabu

Well here we are at the start of another transfer. I have no idea how that happened. I swear we just started Transfer 7 yesterday.

But here is the news on transfer calls...WE ARE BOTH STAYING!!!!!!!! I'm so excited to stay in Matsudo with Sister Shim! We've been seeing so many miracles together, I didn't want to leave! Yay!!!!!

This will be an extra special transfer too since we will be celebrating both of our birthdays together!!!! Sister Shim's 21st birthday is on July 2nd and my 20th birthday is next week (crazy!). Bring on the birthday miracles!

This may have been the last week of the transfer, but we still worked hard and saw some amazing miracles.

Mission School

Firstly, on Monday we had a really great lesson with Mikami Shimai, our Less Active. She told us she is now preparing to go to the temple which is the most amazing progress ever! She has changed so much and there is so much light in her right now. I am so proud and happy for her. Just meeting with her has strengthened my testimony that this gospel really does change lives. If we let it, it will bring us more happiness and light than we could ever imagine.

Then on Tuesday we went to Tsukuba for half day exchanges. We weren't able to go last transfer, so this was my first time in Tsukuba. It was extra special for me because my MTC companion, Sister Hill, was a bean-chan in Tsukuba (she started her mission here). It was just kind of cool to imagine her dendo-ing here. <3

I was with Sister Mitchell and we went over to the college to ask people if they would be interested in our Mission School classes. One girl we stopped didn't really look Japanese and I just thought "You know, she looks kind of Thai" and so we asked and SHE WAS THAI!!!!!! We had a little bonding moment there and it was really fun. She was so cute! I love meeting Thai people!!!

Thai Curry

Speaking of Thai...on Monday we actually found Thai curry paste and coconut milk at the grocery store near our house, so this week I made Thai green curry for my companion. It was her first time having it and she liked it! It was so nice having some Thai food again. Haha, the following day she made Korean Curry for me and that was way good too. :) I also introduced her to root beer floats, except she doesn't like root beer (it tastes like Korean/Japanese medicine) so she made hers with ginger ale. Haha, lots of international food last week.

The next few days were a little rough because I got sick again. I actually ended up going to the doctors and we figured out that it's probably allergies so they gave me some stronger medicine and I am back to full health now! Yay! I did take a few days to sleep and recover though.

To end the week though, we had a couple more big miracles.

Curry package and coconut milk

We had a great mogi with Wada Shimai. She is an older member who we just started mogi-ing with recently, but she has amazing questions. We really learned a lot from each other and had a great time together. I think my favorite part though was that she asked us about our experiences with hearing from apostles. I was able to talk about the experience I had at the MTC when Elder Bednar came and I was in the choir singing his song "One by One" for the first time. There was such an amazing power in the room when we sang. I had almost forgotten about that until I started talking about Elder Bednar and all of a sudden that memory hit me. That happened almost a year ago, but the Spirit hit me just as strongly as it did that day. That was truly an amazing experience.

On Saturday, after Mission School we got a text from Kikuchi Shimai asking us if we had asked Okubo Kyoudai to offer her a priesthood blessing. (Last week at church she had a pretty bad asthma attack and we were a little worried about her and had been checking up on her throughout the week.) We told her we hadn't and she called us and told us the most amazing story. Her son had a rough week and went to his mom and said that he wanted to go to church (her son isn't a member). She was so happy but she had no idea how to make it a good experience for him. She knew that she wanted Okubo Kyoudai to meet him though, but she had no way to contact him, so she knelt down and prayed. Right when she finished her prayer, she got a call from Okubo Kyoudai! Apparently her Visiting Teachers had been worried about her and asked him to call her to see if she needed a priesthood blessing. It was the most amazing answer to a prayer that I have seen! The power of prayer is real!!!!!

Missionaries with Kikuchi Shimai's sone

Lastly, on Sunday there was a devotional from Elder Oaks (another of the 12 apostles) but if we didn't have a less active or investigator going with us, we were asked to spend our time elsewhere. We were going to do some contacting and then go out and visit a few people. The last person we contacted though, read our message and quickly responded saying that she had just been thinking a lot about death. She's a woman who has been through a lot. We quickly shared a picture from the Liahona and a quote from the prophet and she messaged back saying that she was crying. I am so grateful that we weren't able to go to that devotional because we were able to help this amazing daughter of God feel his love. Through this experience we were able to testify to her one more time that God knows her and loves her. It was an amazing opportunity.

This really was a week full of miracles and I am so glad that I get to stay here for 6 more weeks and see even more miracles! Matsudo is such a special place and I feel so blessed to be working with this ward and with the missionaries in this zone.

Time flies by so fast, but I'm trying to make the most each day. On Sunday a family from Portland OR visited our ward and we took a picture for them. Afterwards, the father came to say thank you and he told us to really make the most of our missions because its the one time when we don't have to worry about anything except sharing the gospel. I want to follow his advice and give my all every day.

Thank you all for your love and support! I hope you all see many miracles this week!

Love,

ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day! Here in Japan, Mother's Day was yesterday and we had a special meal after church where the men all cooked and brought food for everyone. However, today, I had the chance to Skype my family at home and it was so nice to see them and talk to them! As a missionary, I only get to call home twice a year, at Christmas and Mother's Day, so this was a special opportunity for me. :) I love my mom so much and I am so thankful for her amazing example every day!











This week we saw an amazing amount of progress! All of a sudden, all of our investigators just started progressing like crazy. First of all, we were able to set a baptismal date with Shizuko-San who has been investigating quite some time. Looking through her previous lessons, we noticed that there wasn't much of a pattern, so we decided to just ask her why she hadn't received baptism yet since she has a strong testimony of the doctrines. She said that she thought she had to be perfect before being baptized, which absolutely is not the case! We helped her understand that the purpose of baptism is to cleanse us of our sins and help us to repent every day of all the mistakes we have made. We are not perfect people, only Jesus Christ is perfect. If we had to be perfect before baptism, there would only be 1 baptized person. She understood and is now excitedly getting ready for her baptism!

Break off top of toothpick and
you have a rest for the toothpick

We also saw both Setsuko-san and Miwa-san progress a lot. We taught Setsuko-san the Restoration this week and she immediately knew it was true. Miwa-san has been progressing a lot on her own even though we haven't been able to meet her. We also ran into another investigator on the street the other day and it was just so amazing! So many miracles in one week! Matsudo is really progressing and I love it so much!!! I feel so blessed to be here working in Matsudo right now.

The members are also getting really excited. They are inviting us to their homes more which is perfect because we want to work with members as much as possible. This week on exchanges with Sister Phelps from Tsukuba, we did a mogi of the "Who is God?" Pamphlet and the Spirit was so strong. The member couple that we were mogi-ing with immediately had a name of someone that we could go visit because they knew that this person needed to hear this message about God.

Members are powerful. I've noticed that this past transfer, as we have focused on working with members, they have really opened up. When members open up, new opportunities open as well. Matsudo members are powerful! We are slowly, one by one, connecting with the members and its helping the overall desire to dendo increase! Yay for member missionary work!!!!!!

Clock in Mito - small dolls come out and
dance every hour

One little surprise came from this week though. President and Sister Nagano went to the Mission President's Seminar for training and when they came back they announced that we will no longer be having Zone Meetings. We had our last one last week and it was amazing. We used to have Zone Meetings once per month and now that we also have Zone Conference once per transfer (every 6 weeks) it's a lot of time and money being spent by all missionaries. We will now just have Zone Conferences. I know that Heavenly Father is hastening his work right now in Japan and he needs us out working as much as possible. I'm excited to see the miracles he has in store for us!

One thing that is talked a lot about in Japan is a prophesy that President Eyring (1st Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church) gave in Japan about 20 years ago. He said that once the members of Japan truly begin to change their hearts and stop being afraid to share the gospel, there will be no way to stop the work in Japan. He promised that the work would change overnight and millions would be converted. I truly feel like this prophesy is being fulfilled right now while I am in Japan. In Urayasu and here in Matsudo I have seen dramatic changes in the members and their desire to do missionary work. Their desire has completely changed missionary work and it is becoming much more effective and more people are coming into the fold. Double Yay for member missionary work!!!!!

Now for a few funny things from this past week.

Matsudo church building 

On Thursday we were invited by a Mission School student to her English Circle. We went, not really knowing what to expect, but the Elders have gone before and they told us that many missionaries have gone too. It was actually really fun! It was about 10 grandmas and 1 grandpa in one room all sitting (they can all sit on their heels, I was amazed!) and just talking in English. Well they had us introduce ourselves and they could not get over the fact that I was half-Thai and that my mom moved to America by herself. The funniest thing was when they asked how our parents met (this is a favorite question of Japanese people and I've gotten pretty good at explaining it in Japanese) because my parents met on a blind date. The grandmas and grandpa were laughing so so hard. Anyway, we stayed for the whole 2 hours just talking about ourselves and lots of gospel things as well. These ladies had no fear of asking about religion, missionary work, and anything else. They were so funny! They also somehow knew that next week was transfer calls (ward members don't even know that) and they said that they hope we both stay. (ME TOO!!!!)

Korean and Thai Ramen

Second thing was at Mission School this week. Ayako-san (one of our favorite students) came up to us after class one day and said "I thought you both might like a taste of your home country, so I bought these" and she hands us Korean Raman and Thai Raman. It was so funny!!!!!!!! When she gave me mine, she just said "I don't know if it's good...or real Thai Raman, but it has Thai on it." She is so funny and cute! I love our Mission School Students!!!

Anyways, next week is transfer calls and I really hope I get to stay here with Sister Shim. I can't believe how fast this transfer has gone. They just keep going faster and faster! AHHHHHHHH! But I hope you all have a great week!

Love you!

ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai

Indo Curry

What is the scariest place in Japan? Kiryu!

You can blame SIster Shim's previous dendoushuunin (Ward Mission Leader) for that terrible joke. (Kiryu almost sounds like "Kill you"). She was telling me all sorts of jokes today. She is so funny <3 (Kiryu is the Stake where I started my mission in Oizumi).

Our picture to tell people that we still have
Mission School even though it is Golden Week

This week was filled with so so so many miracles! It was crazy!

It all started with Tuesday. We were supposed to have exchanges with the Tsukuba Sisters so we had set several appointments, but then on Monday they had to cancel. No fears though, we took a look at the two schedules and figured that we could still manage to do everything even though there was only 1 companionship instead of two. This led to an insane amount of fast biking, but lots of miracles.

Tuesday Miracles:

We had a mogi with Nishikawa Shimai who is from a part-member family. She has done a ton of family history and has inspired me to do a lot more after my mission. Anyways, she has been talking to her neighbor/friend about the gospel and this friend asked for a Book of Mormon. She and her husband read a few pages of it, but found it too hard to understand. They asked a lot of questions though and she and Nishikawa Shimai had a great gospel discussion. Well, on Sunday, the Relief Society handed out invitations to Ward Conference in June and assigned everyone a few less actives to visit. To Nishikawa Shimai's surprise, her less active was the neighbor that she had been sharing the gospel with! Isn't that crazy? She asked us for some help and we were able to spark her confidence to invite her friend to church. Yay!

Misoguchi family made CTR shields

We had another mogi with another part-member family that same day. Wada Shimai was so cute! We taught her the Restoration and she had many amazing questions and we really followed the Spirit to teach to her needs and answer all of her questions. It was one of the most spiritual lessons I have taught on my mission. I really felt the Holy Ghost guiding both of us to say exactly what we needed to say to help her feel the Spirit. After our mogi, she was so excited to help with missionary work, she wants to mogi with us again and help our investigators!

This is probably the biggest miracle of all!!!!!

On Monday we invited one of our Mission School students, who has a lot of potential to become an investigator, to come take a church tour. She showed us her college last week, so we wanted to show her our church and what we do here. On Tuesday, she didn't come to Mission School, so we thought that the church tour was cancelled. We had a new Mission School student named Setsuko-san though, so we were happy. As soon as we finished sharing the spiritual message, in walks July (the one we were going to give the church tour to) and Setsuko-san actually knows her. They start talking and we ask the Elders if they can set the church up for a church tour.

Mission School

Well, both Setsuko-san and July ended up wanting to do the church tour, so we started from the gym and worked our way to the chapel then the baptismal font. The Spirit was so strong during the church tour. We were bearing our testimonies especially about how the gospel has brought us so much happiness in our lives.

They both asked really amazing questions and July even told us that she isn't happy. She just feel normal, but she wants to be happy. At the end of the tour, they both wanted to take the lessons. We were able to see two amazing investigators come from Mission School and it was such a blessing from Heavenly Father.

From there we just saw more and more miracles throughout the week. We went to MLC (Mission Leadership Council) and really got inspired to work even more with the members. After Tuesday and our mogis with 2 members, I have a stronger testimony of this. We were able to see two miracles with them and as we continue to strive to work with members we will see even more miracles. Over 10 members came to Mission School this week and they all loved it and want to come back! We have another 4 Sisters planning on coming this week to help fellowship our students and investigators too!

Caterpillar races

Then on Saturday we had an Undokai (Sports Day) with the ward, and it was the greatest thing ever! We had a bunch of Mission Students come and there were lots of games. My favorite was the caterpillar race. The Elders Quorum made loops out of cardboard boxes (mostly from when Sister Shim and I moved apartments) and the person would get in, and when they said go, you crawl as fast as possible to the finish line. It was the most hilarious thing! I loved it so much! Everyone had so much fun! :)

Yesterday both Sister Shim and I went to Ushiku. Sister Shim is so funny. Before we got to Ushiku I told her how they say Jesus Christ in Portuguese. After the meeting she told me that the only thing she understood was the words Jesus Christ. She is so cute.

I spent the meeting translating from Portuguese to Japanese. There were 2 Japanese members there who missed their own ward, so they just came to take the sacrament. It was my first time translating anything, but it went pretty well. I mean as well as it can go when you are translating from 1 language you learned on your mission to another language you learned on your mission ^^

It was a great meeting though. The Ushiku Elders have an investigator named Rebecca who is getting baptized soon and she shared the most amazing testimony! I've had the chance to talk to her a few times, and I am so excited for her and her decision to be baptized. She was literally glowing with pure joy as she bore her testimony. I love having the chance to work in Ushiku!

Korean Barbeque

Those were the adventures from this week! Time flies way too fast. I can't believe it. Today I tried yakiniku (Korean BBQ) for the first time and it was delicious. I meant to try it back when I was in Urayasu...but all of a sudden I blinked and 6 months passed and I still hadn't tried it. I would highly recommend it though.

Time continues to go by faster and faster. This week one of my former companions, Sister Bede, went home due to medical issues. She was an amazing missionary. She served with all her might, mind, and strength every day and I was so blessed to be her companion. She is reminder to me that we need to make the most of each day that we have. We never know when something will change, whether it's an investigator changing their mind, a transfer, going home, or any of the other changes that could happen. Even back in the real world, things are constantly changing. I'm trying to live every day to its fullest to make sure that I can truly give this time to the Lord, to allow him to shape me into the person that he needs me to be.

Dinner with the Sorensons

I am so grateful to be here in Matsudo right now. Big things are happening and it is amazing to see.

I hope you all have an amazing Mother's Day this week! I am grateful every day for the love and example my mom has given me. She continues to strengthen me every day and I am so so grateful for her.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Black Shimai
ブラック姉妹

Elder Banks wrote this at District Meeting on May 5th, it says Shinkou de Mayo (faith of mayonnaise in Japanese) because it was Cinco de Mayo.

Blessed with the Best (companions)

Ah we are already done with half of the transfer!!! It goes faster and faster every week! AND IT IS MAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT!!!!!!!! I am 30 days away from no longer being in my teens. That's weird.

This week was amazing because we had Zone Conference and Interviews, which are both the best.

Zone Conference

Before each Zone Conference, we are given homework to help us prepare to receive revelation through the Holy Ghost. This time we were asked to watch a video from a previous missionary who saw lots of miracles. He also taught at the MTC. In this video, he teaches about how to find and teach effectively, but it is all in Japanese. I remember watching this video at my first or second Zone Meeting back when I first got to the mission. I needed translation, I could not understand a word he was saying. This time I was extremely surprised to find that I could understand everything that he was saying and it was actually pretty easy Japanese. It's amazing how little things like that just show how much I've grown over the past year (AHH I've almost been a missionary for a whole year!)

Zone Conference

It was a tender mercy though because I've been struggling a little bit recently with feeling like my language learning has plateaued despite having a companion who speaks mostly Japanese. We talked about it and she really helped me. While my understanding of grammar is really good, I just don't know enough words, so I've started to focus on learning more words and it has already helped immensely! We are also SYL-ing (speak your language) more and she always corrects me! I'm so blessed to have Sister Shim as my companion! I love her!

At Zone Conference, I also learned a lot. We had the chance to do mogis with the sisters and it was just amazing. There is such power when we teach with the Spirit. I also got to play the investigator in some of the mogis and it was amazing to watch these sisters practice their skills. I love working with the missionaries in this zone. We also really focused on Christlike Attributes which I loved. Sister Shim recently told me about an activity she did where she studied the Christlike Attributes and looked back at her companions and wrote each of their names next to a Christlike Attribute that they really exemplified. I decided to do this too and I realized even more that I have truly been blessed with amazing companions. They each have taught me about different things.

From Sister Pourre I learned about true faith, Sister Chinain taught me about diligence right until the end, Sister Bede was virtuous in every thought and action (she always had such focus), Sister Atkinson was the ultimate example of hope, Sister Nicholes encouraged me to seek knowledge especially through studying the scriptures, Sister Barton taught me about the importance of obedience, and Sister Hill is the most patient person I have ever met.

Dinner with Inoue family

I truly have been blessed with the best companions. Heavenly Father knew what I needed to learn from each of them. And now I have Sister Shim who is even more amazing!

This week we also had exchanges with the Kamagaya Sisters and I had the chance to work with Sister Keiser. We went to visit a college with one of our Mission School students named July, and it was so fun! She introduced us to some of her friends and showed us around a bit. It was truly a miracle! Mission School brings miracles!

Zone P-day

Speaking of Mission School, so many members came this week! 2 families came to Kodomo Eikaiwa (Kid's English Class) and it was so fun! They want to come back again! Members really make such a difference. They help bring the Spirit and light of Christ into the class. While we don't teach doctrine at Eikaiwa (it's just a service opportunity), we can share the light and example of Jesus Christ through our own actions. Members really help with that.

These were just a few of the big miracles we saw this week. I was pretty sick for most of the week, but don't worry! I'm better now! And we went to Costco again and bought a cheese cake (the cheesecakes in Japan are soooooo good). Yay Japan! I love it here and I hope I get to stay forever!

Yay! Love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai

There are lots of fish made for Children's Day.  The big black and red ones represent mom and dad and the small ones represent the children

If you don't like it, like it

Easter Activity

Every week I watch the number of transfers and the number of weeks go up and it gets scarier and scarier! It hit me this week that I am Transfer 7 now and it scared me so bad! Time goes by too fast! Sister Shim then reminded me that this transfer is Mother's Day and we get to Skype home, and I just thought "Hmmm no i distinctly remember that Christmas was like 1 month ago, it can't be Mother's Day already." Time goes by too fast, but there is still so much more good I want to and can do!!!!!


AHHHHHHHHHH This week, the start of the week was pretty hard because we had a lot of appointments to finish our moving process. We had to have someone move the air conditioners (but they can't install them into our new apartment until the end of May) and our stove, and that took all day. :(

But then on Thursday we had the chance to go to Urawa to participate in a special conference with Elder Choi who is in the Area Presidency. It was an amazing opportunity! I learned so much!

First of all, he told a lot of stories about when he was a mission president. The whole time I was just thinking "So that's what the missionaries in my ward had to do..." It was really funny because I completely understood the context of his mission because I lived there! For example, it was a mission rule that all missionaries had to sing in the shower. If they didn't, their companion would call the Mission President "President, my companion isn't singing." Hahaha

On a more spiritual note, I did learn a lot from him. Elder Choi is an amazing example of following the Spirit at every opportunity. I could tell that he had prepared things for us, but that he was speaking by the Spirit to address our needs. When he first started speaking he told us that as he shook each of our hands, he gave us a little interview in his head. He was able to tell who were the strong missionaries and who was struggling a bit. His words were addressed to us specifically. One thing that really stood out from what he told us was that we must open our mouths at every opportunity and "If you don't like it, like it." (Side note, he would tell that to his missionaries in Seattle when they said they didn't like the rain haha). Talking to people can be hard, it can be overwhelming, it can feel impossible to tell who is prepared, but as long as we do our best, Heavenly Father will make sure that prepared people are sent our way. He trusts us to be talking to everyone and not miss that opportunity to help that person.

With Elder and Sister Choi

After the conference, we had a special session with just the Mission Leaders. As the rest of the sisters left the room, the Elders sang "Ye Elders of Israel" and it was powerful. The Spirit that comes with music is so powerful. That is why I am so so grateful that my mom really emphasized that she wanted me to learn to play the piano so that I could play hymns. I have seen my talent to play the piano bless many lives here in Japan and it has helped me as well. Music has a special spirit that cannot be replicated in any other way.

We had a short break and during that time I was able to talk to Sister and Elder Choi a little bit and tell them that I was from Seattle. They wanted me to say hello to the Cougar Mountain ward for them, so Cougar Mountain Ward, you are loved by the Chois! They also talked to my companion (who is also from Korea) and loved her too. After everything was over, they wanted to take a picture with the two of us, so we were able to spend a few extra minutes with them.

Exchanges with the Mito Sisters

They have such a special spirit around them. It's a spirit that you can just feel when someone has dedicated their whole life to the Lord. As a missionary, that is one of the daily struggles, to really give everything up to the Lord. I don't want to just be a normal missionary who can only give up 50%, 75% even 90%. I want to be a full-time missionary who gives it all up to the Lord. That's hard, but I know that as I strive to do that, I will be even more blessed. Now that we are done moving and dealing with all of that, I can really focus on once again giving up every minute to the Lord and making this 1.5 years a real gift to him.

After that amazing conference, we had exchanges with the Mito Sisters and it was so fun! I was with Sister Van Pelt this time, she just came to Japan a week ago! It was a throwback for sure. To think that that was me 9 months ago. I feel like time just flew by! I was telling her all these stories (and introduced her to Japanese Ice Cream YUM!) and I had to give her a disclaimer saying "It probably seems like I've done a lot, but really it feels like I just got here yesterday. Time flies so fast!"

Sister Van Pelt

We had a great time though. All of our plans fell through so we made some new plans and met some interesting people. Sister Van Pelt has amazing faith though, I loved working with her. She has so much energy and desire to learn as fast as possible and it was great to be around that again.

Lastly, yesterday I went to Ushiku for the Portuguese Sacrament Meeting again. Because of a lot of scheduling issues, I went by myself and met a member in Ushiku and stayed with her the whole time I was there, while Sister Shim stayed in Matsudo with another member. It was so weird to be alone on the trains! It was a great meeting though! I had to leave pretty quick afterwards to make it back in time for a dinner appointment, but I wanted to stay! The members did too!!! The youth and the members and the investigators ,AHHHH I just want to stay with them forever! We are trying to figure out a way to make it work so that I can go every week. I can really feel that even just my presence (as a Sister Missionary in addition to the two Ushiku Elders who speak Portuguese) helps. There are a lot of single sisters who come and young women too, and I can feel that my example is helping them. I just want to do more for them! I love them so much!

The dinner appointment went really well though. There were 5 families there and we had so much fun. I love getting to know the members because they are really the center of the work. The message we shared focused on sharing the message with our friends and bringing even just one soul to Christ. Most of the members there were return missionaries and we talked a lot about their missions which I think reminded them of the importance to continue the work. We challenged them to think of their friends that they think need this message and we could see in their eyes that they were thinking of people.

My new companion

Ah I love seeing people change so much! Members, investigators, people on the street, people in Mission School! We have one Mission School student named Ayako that we went out to dinner with this week and she is just so bright and full of light and it is beautiful to see. I am excited for the miracles of the next week!

See you all next week! Hopefully it's starting to feel more like spring where you are, it definitely is warming up here. Yay summer.


ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai

Guess what? I transferred!

To a new apartment!!!! Yay!!

Eating Shabu Shabu which you cook in the pot while you eat

Don't worry, I'm still in Matsudo. I'm a little further away from the church, but closer to a 7/11 and to one of my favorite members, so it's all good.

This week was a week full of packing and more packing and then some unpacking.

Early in the week, Sister Nicholes was doing a lot of packing because she finished her mission this week. Because her stuff was everywhere it was a little hard for me to start packing up the rest of the apartment.

Saying goodbye to Nicholes Shimai

It was so sad saying goodbye to Sister Nicholes. We had a super last minute, last lesson with Kikuchi Shimai together just 2 hours before her train left and I think that was when it really hit both of us that she was going home. It was very different to be around Sister Nicholes when she ended her mission and Sister Chinain when she ended her mission. Both were hard, in very different ways. Sister Nicholes was hard because I was taking over a huge area, a huge ward, and training a new STL when I barely knew anything about the area, Ward, or being an STL. It really hit us that she was going home and it was so hard. We walked all the way to the station together. I had to go to Kamagaya to wait for Sister Shim to arrive so we got on trains going in opposite directions and waved goodbye as the doors close.

If that sounds sad, it's because it was.

It's hard to be with missionaries ending their missions because you know you won't see them until you finish your mission and that's scary to think about. I have passed my halfway mark, I'm in my 7th transfer and I now know that time goes by so fast on the mission. Before I know it I will be going home and I'm just not ready for that. There's so much more work that needs to be done! There's so much more good that I need to do! Whew. I still have a solid 6 transfers though, so I will definitely make them count.

A traditional Japanese meal

Kamagaya was fun. I got to dendo with two of my favorite people, Sister Keiser and Sister Kunishi! Then I got a phone call from a public phone and it turned out to be Sister Shim! She got to the station earlier than we expected, but it's so funny because she is from Korea but she is fluent in Japanese and was able to figure out the payphone in Japan to call me.

Now let me tell you about my amazing new companion Sister Shim! She is from Korea but she studied Japanese before her mission because she loved manga and anime. She understands a lot of English so we speak mostly Japanese with some English in there. It's so fun! I can feel my Japanese improving so much. She has explained so much to me! Haha and yesterday I explained to her what fruitcake was, she doesn't want to try it ^^

Cones to protect the ice cream on the way home

Anyways, most of our week was spent packing up the apartment. We spent as much time as possible packing because on Saturday the Elders, the Commissarian and his companion (the Commissarian is in charge of apartments) and some people from the Ward were coming to help us move. I had to pack all my stuff in my suitcases so I joked to Sister Shim that it felt like I was being transferred.

On Friday we had to go, with a member to help, to get the new keys to our apartment...and we had an apartment orientation. Everything went over my head, it was so bad. Luckily Yukimoto Shimai and Shim Shimai understood. They would translate the questions to me (since I know the most about the apartment) then translate back. It was a good system.

Well Saturday came and we literally woke up, got ready, and started packing more. No time for breakfast! The Ward Mission Leader, Orito Kyoudai said he would get some people to help us move and he did an am amazing job, I was shocked. At 10:00 the night before we texted the Relief Society President that we needed some more boxes and at
8:00 in the morning the Bishop, the Ward Mission Leader and 3 other Brothers showed up to help us move. Add to them 4 Matsudo Elders and the 2 Elders from Honbu and there were 13 of us total in that tiny apartment packing the reminder of our things and loading up the moving truck. We got more done in 45 min that Sister Shim and I were able to do in 3 days.

Packing

As we packed we found a lot more mold so I am very glad that we have left that apartment. We had to throw away lots of old moldy futons and curtains so we have to buy new ones and it is expensive. I have a new testimony about the importance of cleaning the apartment every week.

At about 11:00 almost everything was moved out and I was mentally preparing to clean. I had no idea how we were going to do it with all these people and our limited cleaning supplies, but then I looked out the door and it was the most beautiful sight. The Relief Society was marching up the street with all the supplies and they were literally like a cleaning army. They came in, put on their slippers and gloves and got to work. I have never been so grateful in my entire life. They knew just the right sprays to use for each thing (and let me tell you, Japan has some magic cleaning sprays, there is a spray for everything and it just takes everything off) and they knew what to do. It was beautiful and so helpful because Sister Shim and I had to go to the new apartment to organize everything.

The new apartment is so beautiful. So clean and nice and it feels like a hotel. There are still tons of boxes so I'm sorry you won't get any pictures of it this week, but I will send some soon! And the Bishop bought everyone drinks and little racks so our futons won't get moldy and it was just so sweet and nice I wanted to cry.

Sister Shim

The Ward really came in and helped us and I can only thank the previous missionaries for leaving a good impression so that they were willing to help us since we are both new in the Ward. I felt so much love for Matsudo as we worked with them to move all of our stuff.

We didn't finish until 1:00 and a member volunteered to take us shopping for new curtains really fast before we had to be at an Easter activity at 2:00. We only had time to eat a little bit of potato salad that Orito Shimai made us (she brought us lunch because she knew we wouldn't have anything and it was so sweet!) before sprinting off to the store.

It was truly an insane day. We helped with the Easter activity then came home and felt no guilt about spending 1000¥ on dinner since we hadn't eaten all day. Now we are in the process of unpacking, almost harder than packing. It's been hard because we haven't had much time to really get out and visit and teach and find because we have been packing and unpacking (also we don't have a stove yet...it's still in the old apartment but hopefully tomorrow!) but we will get to soon! We have both received revelation that this is a time for us to prepare. Something big is going to happen, we can feel it, and we need to be ready. I guess that includes unpacking the bazillion boxes we have.

Today was temple p-day! It was so nice to be in the temple again. The Tokyo temple will be closing in October for 2 years for renovations so I don't want to waste a minute of being in this beautiful temple. I will only have a few more visits before it closes. I also had the chance to see several of my Kohai from the Tokyo South Mission again as well as some missionaries I've worked with in the past. It's like little reunions all the time! I love it! I can't imagine having never met these amazing people.

I have had the chance to make friends with people literally from all over the world. My mom recently mentioned that I have had very global companions, which is true! I've had companions from Brazil, Tahiti, Hawaii, California, Utah/Japan and Korea. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to work with such amazing people from all over the world. There is a one in a million chance that I would have been able to meet them if I hadn't served a mission. I am thankful every day for the guidance Heavenly Father gave me to choose to serve a mission. I have received so many blessings because of it.

At the temple

This week we have the chance to hear from a member of the Area Presidency, Elder Choi who is also from Korea. He served as the Mission President of the Washington Seattle Mission (my home mission) from 2012-2015 and I had the opportunity to hear him speak a few times then. I am excited to hear from him again!

See you all next week! I hope you all have an amazing week!


ブラック姉妹
Black Shimai