I never wanna leave this place

December 7, 2015

Hello!! Wow isn't the gospel great? Sorry it's later today, we went to the zoo with an English class student so we are later today... But wow, what a great great week for everyone! Everyone just looks like they had a blast and just are enjoying the amazing Christmas spirit.  I love all the pictures and such! I just man, k love my family and friends. I'm so blessed.  I hope you all continue to stay happy and just great people that you are. Well this week for us was GREAT! I LOVE THIS PLACE! I'll share some highlights of the week... We had a lesson with a member who needs just a little up lifting and Fuller Shimai wanted me to take control and lead the lesson. And guess what?! It went SO WELL! It felt so good to just talk and commit her and do all those things. Yes it wasn't perfect but I saw the growth in me and it was just a good experience for me. After the lesson fuller Shimai told me that's the most confident she's seen me speak. So I mean yeah it wasn't perfect but I tried and it ended up pretty good.  So we had a shoukugi (dinner) with a family who is the most hilarious/sarcastic family I've ever met in Japan. Because most families aren't like that so it's fun cause our family is so anyway. Come to find out, they leave like an hour away by bike so that was a fun experience in the pouring rain and hail.  But they live in the inaka part of Izumo (the country side) and there house was literally like by itself in the woods ha it was awesome! We are in their barn and she is like a gourmet chef so it was sooo good and she made deviled eggs... I miss those! But anyway, the best part, they have a grand piano, no one does here.. So we played all the Disney songs and sang our hearts out together because fuller Shimai is SO skilled at the piano so we just loved life with that ha that was the fun America part of the week.  So Welch 会長 gave us a challenge for December.. We are to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John this month. While we read it we are  marking 1: The gospel of Jesus Christ 2: The relationship between God and Jesus Christ 3: The way the Savior teaches. I am  so excited to get my nose into the bible. Yes, it's hard to understand compared to the amazing Book of Mormon but I have never been good at reading it very good so I'm excited to gain a better testimony of these few books and see how the Savior taught. What a perfect time to learn more about him, CHRISTMAS. Speaking of Christmas and the Savior.. HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW VIDEO?! Please tell me yes.... If not zehi, (go ahead) go watch it now. It is such a great video and the church made it just perfect. And also, PLEASE share it with friends and or strangers. Whoever... We need to remember and focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Yes it's good to enjoy the fun holiday spirit but the true meaning is an even better joy we feel. Our Saviors birth is so amazing and because ofthat day we can all be born again and live with our Heavenly Father again. Isn't the Savior just the most amazing/loving person ever? So we went on a random Koukkan this week... These like never happen but our zone leaders wanted us too so.. After zone meeting we switched. Taecheira Shimai who is a THIRD TRANSFER, yes we both are learning the language right now came with me back to Izumo haha then fuller Shimai went with her comp back to their area for Saturday. Well on our way back from the Eki (train station) I thought I would take the back way Fuller Shimai showed me past week... Well I got lost so it's 9 o'clock, freezing, windy, and we are both exhausted and we are lost.. So I finally found the way but we had to back track and it took a little longer than normal but we made it haha I fixed my mistake but the next day we had two lessons planned. Our first was with a recent convert who has been struggling with coming to church lately cause he has Shougi tournaments (Japanese chess tournaments) We just teach him with a member usually but no one could so the elders came and well I basically had to be the "leader" of the lesson and boy was it scary because we both didn't know Japanese that well but it ended up really good and I was pretty proud of what we accomplished... He agreed to followed God better and he will come to church. My short thought of the week is a quote from Fuller Shimai during our study that just stuck out to me... Hit me hard.. We were discussing hope and how we feel like hope kind of has a negative connotation too it in America. "Like oh I hope we can... But like not sure if it'll happen, probably not." Type of thing... But we both didn't like that cause hope is almost the same as faith and that's for sure not negative right? So she said "Hope is a desire with confidence." And that is perfect way to describe it. Hope is wishing for something to happen but that wish is very confident in it. And I just thought, we need to change our definition of hope. Hope is a positive thing that goes hand in hand with faith. So I've been trying to work on how I use hope and how my hope really is. This week, look at your hope. Does it portray the negative way or the faith way? If it's the negative, I challenge you to pray and work on changing the way you see hope. It'll make a world of difference in your life. It has made my life seem happier and more positive and I love it. So there is the challenge of the week to improve your life or recognize a good thing you're already doing.#RELY #HOPE
 スミス姉妹 Smith Shim

Kokkan!!

Crazy rain storm biking haha

First Christmas Present haha from a member

Our Christmas card hahaha kana? (Sorta)

Maki is the one by me and the other is her mom.  Maki isn't a member, she's an English class student who gives us tours of everything

Zone Meeting in Okayama

Our lunch today with Maki San.

That's raw fish in my chopsticks ha yup...

We went to the Zoo

More Zoo

More Zoo

Statues made out of old plates

Statues out of old plates

  

Riding on a bridge and boy was it beautiful and I posed awesome haha

Bridge view

Bridge view

BUSY IS THE WAY TO GO

November 30, 2015

Minasan, Konichiwa! (Everyone, Hello!)
Well it sounds like it was a good week of thanks I loved seeing the pictures and stuff. Boy do I miss having thanksgiving.. Haha yes we did not have one here.. But it's all good, I'm still VERY thankful for all I'm blessed with. I hope you were too and always remember how blessed we are. Especially to have the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But sounds like all is well with everyone which is always good to hear! Well this week was yes... another GREAT one! WEDNESDAY WAS THE BEST! We were going ALL day, literally every minute, every second haha I mean that can be tiring and hard but also they are the best days.  After we finished study, we had a lesson every hour that whole day. So total we taught of 7 lessons! That's a lot in one day here in Japan...When we got home, we both just dropped haha we were exhausted but also I have never felt so much happiness and joy after helping so many people that day. I won't go in detail on lessons but there were some amazing lessons that day and the spirit was strong and led us on what to say to that certain person at that time. I love teaching others and just helping them feel Christ in their life, isn't that just the best?!  One of the best days of my mission this far for sure! Man, just talking about it again puts a big smile on my face.  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!  So we have this Filipino investigator, she is a single mom with 3 kids. She is SO cute! So we met with her twice this week, Monday's lesson was amazing.  We talked about the importance of reading the BOM everyday and how it will change her life. And the spirit was so strong during that whole lesson and you can tell her faith is growing more and more. We asked her if we could help her read the BOM everyday and she said it would be nice if we text her specific parts to read and we've been doing that and she always replies these sweet texts about how those were perfect and she is recognizing God more and more everyday. Then we had another lesson with her Thursday. We went to lunch with her and also Mami Shimai came and helped SO much. Our investigator doesn't have friends here and they connected so well and are now good friends. And it strengthened her by hearing Mami Shimai testify of the BOM and how it helps her. So we are really hopeful for her and hope she can keep progressing and get work off on Sunday so she can finally come to church. PRAY FOR THAT PLEASE! She's AMAZING.  So park mountain is the old man we found at the park this past week and we met with him everyday this week except Friday.. Yeah wow! But anyway, we teach him 30 English and 30 gospel. But when we told him he wanted it to be more English then gospel. So that wasn't ever a good sign... But when we taught him gospel he is really stubborn with thinking that just one church can be true, because he thinks there are a lot good people in other religions. So we asked him to pray to know God knows him and he said he doesn't know if he can then our next lesson he just wanted to do like all English and just wasn't really into gospel.. So it was super hard.. We just aren't sure what to do to hero him. He came to church again so that was great but he just doesn't have the interest of gospel so these situations are hard. So we also have a Mongolian mom who is an investigator, she hasn't been able to meet a lot lately because she has a ton of school and research. But we finally met, and then she tells us she is going back to Mongolia for 2 months.. So she is kind of on a pause right now... I'll update you on her later I guess so that's hard. We also this week were able to visit a lot of members and up life them. I know everyone thinks missionary work is just baptizing or whatever but I've learned that being a FULL PURPOSE missionary is helping less actives, investigators, companions, strangers, and members. We must help everyone and up life them. I've seen us help members and I know and feel the Saviors approval and love for that. There is so much you can do to be a missionary. SO MUCH Sunday our branch had a pot luck.. Haha how funny to see Asians bring a ton of food and just eat and eat! But boy was it delicious and I made rice pudding for it and no one had ever tried it so they all loved it so I was happy haha I wasn't sure if it would be too sweet or not but hey they all said it was yummy so.. Thought of the week, "We may not know when or how the Lord’s answers will be given, but in His time and His way, I testify, His answers will come. For some answers we may have to wait until the hereafter. This may be true for some promises in our patriarchal blessings and for some blessings for family members. Let us not give up on the Lord. His blessings are eternal, not temporary." Waiting Upon the Lord: Thy Will be Done By: Robert D Hales I know for me some times I want to give up on asking questions or for things because I'm not receiving answers. But as I read this, I just thought wow, we should never give up on prayers because we can receive an answer anytime even if it takes years or the after life. We must trust in God that when we receive that answer, it's the right time for us. So I challenge you this week of you are struggling with trusting in God and when or how he answers you're prayers. Please be patient and keep praying to him. He will answer, it may not be what or when you want but he will answer and it will help and strengthen you. I have seen that here as a missionary. Patient and trust in our Heavenly Father. He loves all ofyou and knows you better than anyone. Trust him, talk to him, about ANYTHING! He cares about every single detail in your life, isn't that such a blessing?! So please pray pray and pray. Answers and help come, but on his timing which is the best timing.  I love you all and miss you lots! But boy am I happy doing this work, i hope you all have a great week. We will too I know it!  #RELY #TRUSTスミス姉妹 Smith Shimai 

Lunch with the Filipino mommy and Mami Shimai in our ward

Dinner at the Sato Family.  Yes I curled my hair..Haha

Sweet less active, the lady we helped that was stuck last week.  Such amazing faith in one women

My comp took this of me while shopping, haha

These girls were so excited to see Americans haha they screamed when we said hi to them, so funny how much they love Americans.  When we walked by they were like "kawaii so!"  Or like so cute! Haha

This is a Brazilian who is moving to our branch soon.  LOVE HER TO DEATH, she thinks we are so great ha it's so fun.

FHE Night

Mainichi kiseki o mimashita!

November 23 2015

Well hello yet another p day already.  Time is just going by too fast out here, it needs to not do that.. I've been out fourth months already.. WHAT?!  But let's not talk about time, it's not normal haha so well it sounds like everyone is doing fantastic! Kids are just growing up like a blink of an eye and becoming amazing kids and skilled in all they do by hard work. I love hearing all the hard work everyone is putting in what they do. Hard work brings SO many blessings Merc, cute belly and I can't wait to see that beautiful little girl. Good luck and keep decorating that cute nursery and my dad will finish that amazing crib soon and it'll be the cutest! But keep being amazing all of you American people haha oh also, I forget but Happy Thanksgiving! Eat lots for me. Remember all you have been blessed with... Never forget. So Tuesday was a little rough, we had to stay inside yet again because of sickness but the next day my companion was feeling great and ready to work! Wednesday was MIRACLE day. I can't even describe to you how AMAZING this day was. While we were studying the Yamane couple called and this less-active lady named Umetani Shimai in our branch fell off a building during work and broke like 5 bones so they asked us to come with them to visit her. Two cool things bout that, one I had a prompting to call her that morning and we did but she didn't answer and that's why but the spirit told me she needed us then the members called. It was perfect plus my companion felt great that day. The Lord blesses you no matter what! How amazing is the spirit?! Then on our way back the Kyoudai in our branch who took us had a feeling we should visit this less active named Hamamura Shimai but we had something soon and didn't wanna rush but he decided to go anyway so we get to her house and as we knock on the door we open it cause she is paralyzed on her left side from the waist down and she is like yelling because she was stuck in the shower... So yup, us two missionaries and the sister in our branch got this old lady out of the shower and dresser her and all these things But we then talked to her for a second and asked her if we could sing and pray before we left so we did and she said the closing prayer, and during her prayer she was just talking about how she had just prayed for help and then we knocked on the door. What a MIRACLE RIGHT?! She was so thankful and it was just a heart warming experience. Then the next miracle on the same day was we taught a recent convert named Hara Shimai and we planned on just talking about obedience. So I had a feeling I should share that by keeping the word of wisdom my body was strengthened so I could play all my sports. And after I shared it she opened up about how she has been struggling with wanting to drink coffee and so we then helped her and testified of things that can help her. It was just miracle after miracle and I am SO GRATEFUL for the spirit and the gift of tongues that helped me share that with her! Man, I LOVE OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN AND HIS MIRACLES So Thursday we taught Nagai Shimai this like 88 year old who was just baptized less than a year ago. She's so sweet and precious. But we shared with her missionary work and we wanted her to share the gospel with her sister and when my comp asked her she didn't want too and was nervous too so I felt I should testify of showing love and testifying of the gospel will change lives and asked her to do that. And she agreed... The spirit was so strong and I am so grateful that I followed the spirit and that the gift of tongues is real to out those words in my mouth. It strengthened my testimony of simple testimonies can make a difference. Isn't that great? So always remember that even a simple testimony or comment can change someone. So please apply that in your life and even if it's so simple, it'll change and influence someone. Friday we had interview in Yonago with President Welch. It was AMAZING.  That man is so close to the spirit and said exactly what I needed. He changed my attitude and desire so much and I can't thank him and sister Welch enough for ALL they do. Saturday we had a relief society activity. We made daifuku which is mochi stuffed with mashed soy beans inside haha look it up! It's so yummy haha it was a fun time. So the most amazing part of the week. We got a new investigator this week and he is SO prepared. So we were exercising at the park down the street and he stopped us and asked us where we were from etc and so we started to teach him the gospel and he thought it was cool and wanted to keep listening. We asked him to go to church and he said yeah I haven't been in a long time so I need too. And so HE CAME SUNDAY! The branch members were so sweet to him and showed him so much love and he loved it! He agreed to meet again on Tuesday and we also have a dinner appointment with him and a member family that know him so hopefully that'll help him as well but he was so willingly to listen comment and just participate and so we hope we can see a miracle with him. Apparently he's the owner of some HUGE company here so I mean we found a famous investigator, haha jokes! But lastly we ate this members house on Sunday.. It was SO Americanized haha like I felt at home.. It was nuts but the best haha they made us the best okonomiyaki. Look it up haha but it went well and working with members is a huge goal in our mission and it is going so well in this area. So we are excited about that! Lastly my challenge and spiritual thought of the week... So our district leader challenged us to read the talk called Rescue in Unity By Elder Chi Hong Wong from October 2014. As I mentioned earlier we are really focusing on working with members and being Full Purpose missionaries which is not just baptizing, but also strengthening less actives and bringing them back and even strong members. And of course have the members be 100% involved in the missionary work. So in this talk it just shares ideas and ways we can work together and what happens when we do so. So this week I challenge you two go and read this talk and ponder what you can do as a member to help missionary work progress. Pray to know the best way YOU can improve and become a better missionary. Missionaries aren't there forever and new/less active members need friends and loved ones to help them stay strong. "In order to assist the Savior, we have to work together in unity and in harmony. Everyone, every position, and every calling is important. We have to be united in our Lord Jesus Christ." -Elder Chi Hong Wong. I know through members and full time missionaries that this gospel will be spread even faster than it is and not only will people record baptism but we can keep people active and strong. PLEASE do your best to help this work grow. I wish I would of been a better member missionary before because now I see how important it is. So please do this this week and I promise you that He will answer and your life will be blessed immensely by becoming a better missionary and spreading the gospel. This gospel is true and brings SO much joy and happiness and everyone needs it no matter what. I love this work and will forever be grateful I am able to be a part of it. I love you all and miss you so much!  But I hope you have a great week and know someone is praying for you everyday even all the way over the ocean in Japan  #UNITY #RELY
Smith Shimai スミス姉

My favorite Reisa Chan from Ekaiwa (english class).  It was just me and her in my class this week so fun and cute

So we made daifuku (mochi with mashed soy beans inside) with the Relief Society

I HATE this picture of me so don't post it (Whoops)

Just a Sunday morning selfie haha

Dinner at the Satos Family on Sunday.  This is their sweet daughter Yuria Chan.  Adorable huh?!  Their house is SUPER American ha it felt so homey again

They told me to relax in the American chair haha so I did... That's the Elders and the lady on the ground is Sato Shimai the mom.  She amazing!

These are the vending machines EVERYWHERE.  But this one is special because it actually has good food in it hahaha, they only drinks in vending machines here haha and they never have water in them either.  But those are calorie mates, Japanese "granola/protein bars" sorta

IZUMO! RAIN EVERYWHERE

November 16, 2015

Hello Amazing Family and Friends,
First, DUTCHIE BOY!! Happy Birthday! I love you and can't believe you're getting so big, have a great day buddy!! Miss and love you! Auntie Lauren will be thinking of you all the way over here in Japan. Well it sounds like everyone is just great in America!! I'm so happy to hear that. Knowing that everyone is good and okay is such a blessing as a missionary. All the pictures were adorable, thank you SO much! Those nieces and nephews of mine are too dang cute andgetting so big way too fast! Grandma Bonnie, thanks for the love and putting forth the effort of emailing little old me in Japan. Love you! But keep being great all of you. You're the best! Well a hard but good week... So my comp got a bad cold this week so 3 of the days we had to stay inside, which is always hard but she us better and we got back to work. It's been super rainy too, like pouring rain. Haha but it makes it an adventure right? So we have a recent convert named Himo and she is just so sweet and we meet with her every week and help her with things and we just are her friend. This week we got to make paper cranes with her. It was great She has been struggling with the word of wisdom just because she grew up drinking green tea like everyone else here. But we just shared with her a message about Latter Day Saints Keep on Trying and talked a lot about not giving up and you can tell it really helped her. She is so sweet and I can't wait to teach her and grow closer to her each week! Ekaiwa was good! I teach the beginners class and my comp teaches intermediate. Most of my class is young people with a mom as well. The girl I am in a picture with at Ekaiwa is this cute girl who said I was the same age as her sister and she wanted a picture with me cause an American was the same age haha it was cute but not much else about Ekaiwa for now...There is this less active named Inoda Shimai and she is about 60 something and just is struggling with the pressures of what others think of her and also that her husband isn't a member so she doesn't have the "perfect" Mormon family so she is embarrassed to come to church. We are kind of having a hard time knowing what to teach her right now.. She is stubborn haha every time we meet with her, we have to go to lunch at this sushi place every time.. Haha she made me try eel and squid sushi! Yup, I did it haha it wasn't too bad. I quite enjoyed the eel but the squid texture, oh boy! Unique.. Haha but she is great and I hope we can help her more and more to overcome those things. So every Wednesday we teach these two Brazilian girls English from our branch. They are SO cute Cristal and Cindy, they are twins. So we start with talking about our ponderizing scriptures and share our testimonies with each other then teach them English for an hour then their older brother feeds us and it's always SO good ha they fed us Brazilian food this time. It was delicious! So we will see how that continues to go. I love them! so I don't know if I mentioned Mami Shimai or not last week but she is this adorable young mom in our ward who is married to mark Kyodai, a Philippino from America so they speak English to each other but he learned Japanese as well and they have an ADORABLE 2 year old named Mea. She is too cute. So Mami Shimai has been a little  down lately, so the other day we decided to call her and just check up on her. Well she had been having a very hard day so we stopped and bought her a treat, visited her and shared a message and you could see the difference in her day. The spirit is real, all we had was a thought to call her and it ended up changing her whole day and strengthened her. So that was amazing to see! Also this week, Mark and Mami were so sweet and brought us homemade chili cause my comp was sick. IT WAS SO GOOD! American food, yay haha but they are so sweet and just LOVE the missionaries so much. Well Friday we has district meeting in Matsue. First random fact, where we went to eat, there was a baskin robins right next to it, YUP! You bet we went there haha ah American ice cream! Dreams do come true but the meeting, It went really well... We focused a lot on faith. But I will share this one thing our district leader said about prayer that just hit me. "When you ask for specific things, you WILL receive specific answers or blessings." And for me I have been really been working on prayer lately and being sincere and such. But now I have another thing to work on. Be specific! Another challenge for prayer this week sorry haha but look at your prayers some more this week and see if you are being specific and truly asking for certain things, even if they are tiny, and I promise with all my heart, he will give it to you! So please try that this week Sunday was a good one but also hard. So our investigator, Onon (the Mongolian) said she could come this week, one of our members planned to pick her up. Well, she couldn't come... It broke my heart. I know church will help her progress so much! So I hope and pray she can come next week... But I seriously love the people in this branch so much. They just love us missionaries, but they all have such strong testimonies and sweet spirits about them. They just are so happy all the time!! Nothing is better than a happy person right?! But I just LOVE this area so much. Today for pday, Mami and mark the took us to a famous shrine here and it is surrounded in beautiful autumn leaves and water falls. It was such a great day. I love them so much and it was great to see more of Japan and just enjoy the day together. I'll send pics! But the work is going better and better, I love being here! I love these people, and I am forever grateful for this opportunity to be here. This gospel is true, it brings SO much happiness and joy into our lives. Never take it for granted, and please share it and serve others!! It'll bless your life immensely! Love you all and miss you all!! have a great week.
Smith Shimai スミス姉妹

First is Miho second is Ekaiwa (english class) student

District meeting.  The girl that I followed her blog is in my district now

A member gave us fish crackers with spicy pepper flakes haha

Our temple visit today, this is Mea Chan.  Mami Shimai's daughter

The temple

Isn't it beautiful?!

Mami Shimai