Typhoon Season!

September 26, 2016

こんにちは愛する家族と友達！元気？(Hello everyone! How are you?)

How was your week? Seems all is well and life is just flying by isn't it? First, COLE JENSEN! Happy 3rd birthday. Wow, time is flying, getting so big! But have a good day tomorrow bud! Love you!️

Well this week was a blur ha time is just, I don't know ha but let's see some of the good things that happened this week. Well Tuesday we had an exchange, I stayed in our area with Taguchi Shimai and Kawamura Shimai went to their area with Carr Shimai. We get to our area and a huge typhoon hits! We weren't allowed to go outside for 3 hours and it was like shaking our apartment ha it was crazy! First experience of a typhoon for me. But we wrote our testimonies in Book of Mormons, made flyers for our next event, and studied together. It was a good time but finally we were able to go outside. So we had a PI we wanted to visited so we went to their apartment and well they weren't home so we were bummed and were gonna leave then I felt like we should visit the LA that lived in the same apartment. So we went and I haven't met her yet, we've gone like 3 times but she's never home. Well we knock, and she lets us in and we were able to share a message with her and her son who comes weekly. The spirit was so strong as we talked about the importance of family, love, and service. I love those small experiences. The spirit led us there and we were able to share a message and build a great relationship with her

Next we went and did visiting teaching with some members and after on our way home we saw this lady and thought we should talk to her, so we did. And she was from the Philippines (love them) and she has been her for years with her husband. Her name is Hashimoto and has such strong faith in Christ. So we talked about the special thing in our church of eternal life and restoration. We exchanged numbers and will meet again soon. We really hope she can meet often, she lives far but we built such a fun good relationship so we are excited about her. 

Next we we had a lesson with Takehashi San. I might have mentioned her before but she is an old investigator and she called us two weeks ago and wanted to meet so we went and it was awesome. Her husband came to eikaiwa a few years ago but he recently passed so we talked a lot about eternal families so she wanted to meet again and do 30/30 which is half English and half gospel. So we had a member come with us this time. We helped her translate her email she wanted to write to a friend into English then we were able to share a message about gods plan for us and eternal families. She thought it was such a neat knowledge we had. She is still timid to pray but she said she wants to wait till she has a desire to pray then she isn't being disrespectful to God, which I thought was awesome. We committed her to pray to know God is there for her and his plan for her and she said as soon as she felt she had that desire she would. 

Well Saturday we had a service opportunity. Yes! Ha it's been so long. Well we got to go to this park area and clean up all the weeds and trash etc. it was a lot of fun with the members and we got to talk to lots of people and show the light of Christ. We didn't find anyone who was willing to meet but we will keep doing that to show the light and touch someone's heart. 

Last cool thing of the week, so we were biking home from an appointment when this lady just yells "Sister Missionaries!" We we're both so taken off guard. Her name is Noshio and she had met with the missionaries before and wanted to get baptized but some things came up. So she said she's been looking for sisters and wants to meet Monday night to learn again. Wow! That's a miracle right there. So we will meet here today with our ward mission leader. So it's taking time yes but the work is coming along. 

My thought of the week is from my atonement challenge we are doing as a mission. We read the Book of Mormon focusing on the Atonement. Well I was reading Alma 43:2 and it just stuck out to me so big this time. And it says "2 Now we shall say no more concerning their preaching, except that they preached the word, and the truth, according to the spirit of prophecy and revelation; and they preached after the holy order of God by which they were called." 

And I just loved that. I of course thought of my calling as a missionary but right now we are trying to work a lot with members and so I thought of how important members job is to "mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort." Yes missionaries are here doing it 24/7 but with members preaching the gospel the work just sky rockets. God called us to share this gospel. Whether we have name tag or not, we all were baptized and that was the promise and calling for us to share it. So please, go deep, think hard about who you can share this light too. I promise there is someone. Members help changes this work, even in Utah. So please go pray and receive that revelation for who you can help change their life. Oh also, please enjoy conference, go into with questions and help and I promise through prophets and apostles of god that you will receive what you need. Maybe not what you want, but what you need. I love you all and I'm so grateful for your example, love, and support. Have a great safe week! 

スミス姉妹 Smith Shimai

"I've been in Japan a year (on my mission 14 months)so my cute comp made me sisters ha"

"We ate Sushi for my year mark in Japan ha"

"Treats"

"Yum"

"When it's a full moon you eat this stuff"

"It poured rain on the way home ha"

"Interesting looking car"

"Our investigator threw a Halloween party for us ha"

"Its still September"

"Service Opportunity!"

"Love doing service"

Splits with members=MIRACLES!

September 20, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!

How are you all? Seems from what I've read that everyone is good. I'm glad everyone is happy, healthy, and doing good. I pray for you always and hope you're staying close to your savior to receive the blessing of being well. Well this week, so busy and lots happened. Haha first off we had Zone Conference, which is where President Welch, Sister Welch, and the AP's come and train us and also us and the Zone Leaders train. So that was scary because first time training in front of President Welch but it went so well. We trained about hope and it was so so great. We did a little activity where we wrapped a small amazing present in a billion boxes and had one of the missionaries open it and it took time but he finally got to it and we asked him why he did that and he said because you said there was something at the end so we related that to god promising us success if we have hope and work hard. It was just a great discussion and went awesome.  Friday we went as far as we basically can in our area to visit some less actives and such. We had no idea if they would be home or not but we felt like we should go. So we did, met two less actives we planned to meet that really were so over joyed we came out there then we also met an awesome cute pregnant mom named Nomura who listened to our message and told us to come back. It was a long bike ride but a great successful day!! Saturday we were going to visit a less active and we stopped and talked to this cute mom and her daughter and she was from Toyooka and moved here. Yeah Toyooka my last area. What the small world ha so we were able to teach her and invited her to activaties and we are hoping she comes! She was so cute and we built such a good relationship. So we will see what happens with her. So Sunday is what I mainly want to talk about. We have been planning this splits activity for a month or so now and it was yesterday. We did a lunch with then YW, YW, and YSA of our ward and also our zone missionaries in our area. Then practices teaching and taught a small lesson about missionary work and then split up and went our way. So I was with Erisa and she's 21 and wants to serve. We went and visited an investigator I have yet to meet because she's never home and well we knocked and she was there. She came out and had been praying still and felt god help her in her tests. Then we were able to talk about church and the importance of it and invited her to come and at first I wasn't sure what she would say then the member testified of why she likes church and well she said yes. And let me tell you the member testifying made that whole lesson work out right. Then all the other missionaries found prepared people, met awesome LA etc. it was such a great experience to work with the youth and help them prepare and love missionary work. So please, suggest this to the ward or stake in our home ward area I promise it'll help youths desire to serve.  Last is the thought of the week from a talk called "Living the Abundant Life" By President Monson and he talks about three points. The ABC's; Attitude, Believe, and Courage. Attitude: "The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.” Believe: "He does not believe that does not live according to his belief.” Courage: "Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’ Everyday please remember these ABC's and I promise you that life will be so much happier. I'm not saying there will be no trails or hard times but facing them will be different. I've been trying to always apply the ABC's daily and it's been awesome. So go read this talk and then personally apply it in your life and I would love to hear experiences from changing and strengthening those three things. This church is so true. God loves of all us and Christ suffered for each of us individually. I know that it is true. I love my Savior. I love you and miss you all! Thanks for all you do! #RELY #ABC's スミス姉妹 Smith Shimai

"Zone Conference"

"One day on transfers us three had to wait for three hours and it was awkward, so yeah"

"Split day with the youth and single adults!"

"She hit half way so we had to eat sushi:)"

Busy busy life!

September 12, 2016

Hello Loved Ones! 愛する皆さん！こんにちは！
How is everyone? Sounds like a fun long weekend with swimming, BBQ, etc. I'm glad you're all safe happy and well. I love you and pray for you daily. Well sorry another busy day today because we have zone conference tomorrow and we have to do a training as STLs and stuff so way busy today but I will write about the miracles as fast as o can. Because we are working hard and seeing some for sure. So we have an investigator named Nirei San. He's been so hard to teach, just very stubborn I guess a lack of better words. But this lesson we had was a miracle. So we've been focusing on prayer a lot because he just says he doesn't pray until he sees a miracle. So we have been trying to teach that we have to first open the door of miracles and then we can see them etc. he just wasn't having it. So I decided to do a simple example of God is wind. We can't see him but always feel him. We testified from our heart that God loves him and boy did I feel the love and spirit there. We ended with asking him to pray right there, he just sat there awkward for about 5 minutes then yes... HE PRAYED! It was two sentences but wow I just felt God telling him he was there. It was so spirit filled. Also this week I had my first MLC experience. All the STLs, zone leaders, AP's and the welchs have a meeting how to help out missionaries. You think after conference you feel like spiritually high, this was insane! Haha I loved this meeting so much and received so much revelation for myself and others. So this week we had an exchange. It was so fun! I worked with Carr Shimai. She's a tenth transfer so one above me and is just such a good teacher and loves instantly. Me and her went and visited this family we've been trying to visit for weeks but haven't been home and they were home. We were able to teach about prayer to them and they agreed to pray as a family. We were so stoked. Then in the same apartment we went to visit another PI and I haven't even met her yet but she was home. She didn't have time so we just prayed with her and boy did we feel the spirit as she allowed us to pray for her and after said we can come back. Exchanges, the best. So this week I had my first opportunity to train at Zone Training Meeting. Boy training is scary and intimidating but it was fun! We trained about working with members. We did the trust fall activity and talked about how is and members need to have trust in each other to be able to work together. It went great! Last the biggest miracle of the week, so we are teaching a LA grandson and also she has invited her neighbors to listen as well. A family of 3 (mom and 2 daughters), we teach English and then gospel. So we shared a message of prayer and how we can pray anytime and how he gives us comfort, love, peace, and etc. Well we talked about we can pray anywhere, home, school, church etc. and we said actually tomorrow at church we will pray. And Rei, the two daughters all said I want to go to church tomorrow. Wow, yes! So the LA and the mother of the two daughters agrees to go. So Sunday came and as missionaries you're stomach is sick till they walk in. We'll 9:53 they walk in. YES!! Oh the joy I felt was crazy. It was testimony meeting for us because of stake conference so even better, everyone sharing their strong testimonies. But the best part, Rei (the grandson of LA) and the LA both got up and shared their testimony of the joy they felt at church. Oh my, I just felt so over joyed. My heart was pounding. I love this work so much. People growing and changing is the best feeling ever. Last, a short thought. So it's a quote that I'm using this week on Zone Conference Training. We are about what a successful missionary is and hope. So we found this quote and it says "Sometimes the adversity tempts me to discouragement in the face of seeming failure. But I take courage and press on anew, as I remember God doesn't hold me responsible for success but for faithfulness. Jesus said; well done thy good and faithful servant not well don't thy good and successful servant." Isn't that amazing? We aren't judged on success in life but in our faithfulness. So I challenge you all to ask God of your faith is doing enough not the success you see. And I promise he'll let you know. This gospel is true, Christ lives, and God loves all of us. Have a wonderful week. LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU! #RELY #FAITHスミス姉妹 Smith Shimai💕

"Sushi from members"

"Crepe shop next door to our apartment"

"Also takoyaki (deep fried octopus balls) I didn't eat this ha"

"MLC"

"Eikaiwa campaign picture haha"

"Samurai Sword"

"Exchanges"

"Yup..."

"Zone Training Meeting"

"Lunch, the ZL's had no money so they didn't go with the Elders and so they ate with us sisters..."

"Dinner with Eikaiwa student"

"Investigator drew me sad, we were learning emotions ha"

"I don't know why we took this?"

"Close up of the same picture, mom did this:)"

First koukan, miracles, and loving it here!

September 5, 2016

Hello Everyone!
Sorry this might be a little short, we have MLC tomorrow so today has been crazy busy. But I'll do my best to type fast. So this week was an awesome busy week yet again. I love this area, my companion, and being able to serve the sisters of our zone. It's so fun doing exchanges and learning from so many sisters. So this week we had a exchange with the Sakai Sisters. My first one and boy was it fun! There is actually three sisters there right now and I got the privledge of working with two. It was fun, one is American and one is Japanese. It was just a new experience, my first exchange and in a three people companionship. But we learned a lot and had fun. So we went to visit this LA up this HUGE hill ha and we were kind of lost cause k don't fully know this area with it being city and etc. but we are biking around and this lady asks who we are looking for and so we tell her and she knew her and our church. So we stopped and talked to her and told her about what we do and what we believe. She has been to English class before but she didn't know much so we asked if we could come back and she said yes. We were so excited. So that was awesome plus we met the LA after. Then that night we had Eikaiwa. A lady we found the first week here names Nakao came and wants to meet at her house and do the 30/30 program. Which is half English and half gospel. Yay! She's like a 85 year old grandma who is more healthy and perky then most teenagers. Kind of like grandma Bonnie, haha it's awesome!  So we meet with her this week and I'm excited for that, she is just precious as ever. Okay so Sunday we had stake conference, which was amazing. But the best was we got back and were doing some knocking and such and we knock on this older couples apartment door and the wife comes out and is just so happy to see us cause we are church people. So we taught her about our purpose and families and she loves family and just being around kind people so their invited us to come back next week as well. We are just getting lots of second appointments this week, it's been so fun and good! Okay then after that we get a random call and this lady says I met with missionaries before and did 30/30 but I haven't met recently, could you come visit today? Wow, miracle. So we went to visit her and turns out her husband passed away and she needs help with some translating into English to some of her husbands friends. But what a good opportunity to teach about the plan of happiness right? It was such a good time with her and we have another appointment soon. Yeah for miracles. The best miracle of the week. So we had an appointment with this investigate who never makes set appointments so we were excited. We are waiting for a member to come with us and she arrives late then the member said I said her walking back home right now so we decided to go meet her and walk back with her. As we start walking back it starts pouring rain and she's like 85 and holding groceries so we run to her and had our umbrella and were able to help her. If it weren't for the member being late it wouldn't have worked out that way at all. God is so aware of all of our needs and moments of need. I know that is true. My short thought from President Welch at Stake Conference. "Study until you feel the spirit, plus 5 minutes." Everyday we should study, but the amount doesn't matter, just study till you feel the spirit touch your heart and then keep going a little more. Some days may be 5 minutes, some maybe 1 hour. But don't stop till you've felt that spirit in your heart. I know it'll change the way you study. I love you lots! I'm grateful for all of you and miss you lots. God loves you and Christ suffered for you, personally. Never forget that. #RELY #STUDYTILLTHESPIRIT
スミス姉妹 Smith Shimai

"Exchanges"

"Continued"

"And even more"

"Origami"

"Awe, such a cute face"

"Isn't he the cutest"

"English teaching"

"More Origami"