Transfer 11, wow! Christmas season transfer!

November 14, 2016

Hello American Loved Ones! 

How are you all? Hope all is well over there and the gratitude month is going well. Thanksgiving is next week, that's insane. Haha but I'm sure it'll be delicious as always with our family. Also this week, Dutch Boys Birthday! I can't believe it, wow! Happy Birthday Bud! LOVE YOU! You're getting to be such a little kid now in your pictures, hope he has a fun good day. Love you Dutch!

This week was an emotional, hard, miracle filled week. First just a fun fact about today, we got to go to Costco! It was amazing! I felt like I was back in America again and just was seeing all the yummy foods I like etc. it was a good preparation day. A member took us there and we got to buy some things. It was a good happy afternoon! 

This week we had a lesson with Kim, it was tiring yet so spirit filled. First, we helped her study for her Japanese test and boy my head hurt cause she is better than me and she can read a lot of the writing here, I can't do as much as her and she kept telling me to read for her and wow it hurt. I tried my best but it had some hard ones. But then we talked about her having the opportunity to pray or not recently and she has been every night before bed. Yay!! But she still feels like she hasn't felt anything, she finally opened up to us about how she knows she felt something special with the old sisters a few years ago once when they prayed but that was it. We tried talking more about the spirit and she can feel that more if she prays, trust god, is baptized etc. and the spirit was there, she just needs to open her heart and feel it again. But what the miracle was that usually when we testify of God or that spirit she felt she brings up a new thing or tries to fight it but this lesson she agreed and just listened. It was amazing! She's feeling it again, we know it. 

We also had another miracle, so Saturday we went and visited this PI that we haven't met in a month or so and she wanted to come to church but hasn't so we thought let's go invite her and we went, she came to the door and we talked for awhile and then her husband came and talked. Well at the end, they both agreed to come to church. We were so happy and overjoyed! Then Satan was tough on them, and we waited and waited but they didn't come which was hard but during the day I prayed to feel comfort and god let me know today wasn't the day they needed so I hope next week.

Last but biggest miracle of the week. It strengthens my testimony SO MUCH. So we had an exchange this week but we went to their area cause they need new investigators, I went with Taguchi Shimai and she's been having a hard time this past transfer. She also had some health problems, well we had a lesson with a LA at the church. Well before the LA came Taguchi Shimai said I need to sleep smith shimai, (ah no I want to help haha) but I said okay. So we had the lesson but during that lesson we read 1 Nephi 7 and talked about how leman and Lemuel forget all that god has given them etc and we related it to our baptism and how we are lucky to have the sacrament to help us remember. The spirit was so strong and she agreed to come to church, but the best, after the lesson Taguchi Shimai gives me a hug and says Smith Shimai I'm better! I haven't felt the spirit like that in a month or so, and then we went and worked all day and saw miracles and found new people. But go back a little, I had been praying all week what to do and how we could help her and I prayed hard and god is just the best and knows his children. He helped her feel that he was there and now she's doing amazing! I love my Father in Heaven. 

Last is the thought, short but simple. History, or HIS STORY. Yes it adds another S but I heard this at church Sunday and just loved it. Especially with Christmas coming, all the past is important but especially our Savior and his life. His Story is the most important history. I love history and knowing he died for me and I can rely on him when I feel no one understands or no one is there. Isn't that the best? I love my Savior and He lives. Love you and miss you all! 

#RELY #HISTORY

スミス姉妹 Smith Shimai

"Exchange, the Japanese girl by me made rolled cabbage:)"

"Smores for her birthday"

"Ummmm"

"Love these ladies"

"Christmas Card"

"My cute companion drew this for me ha"

"No comment"

"Ha"

"Dinner"

"Christmas story for that investigator we are talking to ha Japan is way fast with Christmas.."

Sick,lots of traveling, but still miracles!

November 7, 2016

Dear Loved Ones,

How are you? How was your Halloween? All the costumes are so cute and looked like a blast. I hope it was a good week and now it's a new month and a month of gratitude over there isn't it? Wow we have a lot to be grateful for  that is for sure. 

Well this week was so busy, and me and my companion got sick too, it was insane but oh so fun. Plus filled with miracles of course.

This week we had a chance to go do an exchange in the other sisters area. I went with Gibson Shimai. She is the most loving, joyful person you'll ever meet. I learned so much from her. But while we were finding a investigators house we said hello to this girl and she came over and asked where we were from and said she lived in Canada and studied English and wants to keep studying. So we told her what we do and her mom was actually Christian (so rare) and so we talked to her a little bit and exchanged numbers and she is meeting with those sisters again this week. Yay miracles! 

We met with Kim again, the one from Korea and we teach her half English and half church. Well this week she just said she wanted to read from the Book of Mormon so we did. We read the introduction together and we explained baptism, the spirit, etc. and she said I've felt something like that before. The sisters she met with a while ago taught her about prayer and they prayed together and it was a warm good feeling she said. We were able to testify that was gods love and the spirit but she's still having a hard time with fully grasping it with all the things in the world. But we know she's felt it before so now we just have to work to bring it back.

Another great thing was we went to visit a LA mom who has listened to missionaries before but got bad health and hasn't met with them in awhile so we decided it would be good to visit. So we did, and she opened the door and said I'm busy but I'll let you come in for a minute. So we came in and she says actually, could I ask you a favor if you have time? And we said of course and she needed help packing her husbands clothes away and breaking down the boxes. YAY! Service, that is so rare here. But we did it joyfully and we were able to talk to her more and build a great relationship and even more about church and she has a BOM and such so we are excited to go back soon. But also she gave me a KIMONO. The famous dresses they wear in Japan for special occasions. That's a dream of mine to own it so I was over joyed.

Arimoto Shimai is a member in our ward and she came up to us on Wednesday at ping pong night and said I have a great person from my work who wants to meet you. She loves English and said she would do the half English and half message program. We were like uh what? Okay we will be there. Well Friday we got to meet her. It was amazing. She was a little overwhelmed with the gospel because she has never learned anything about religion but we got numbers and hope to meet with her again soon. We talked a lot about the simple thing of God and he loves us. She had never thought about it before so she wasn't quite sure. But we love the members desire to share the gospel here and it was a blast. 

We had MLC Tuesday which was amazing as always. So then Friday we had Zone Training Meeting, which gives us a chance to train as STL's. So my spiritual message of the week comes from our training actually. So at MLC President and Sister Welch wrote up this formal.

Me + More = Christ-like and then he said, wrong. Which I was kind of shocked and first. I thought it was a good one but then he wrote up the next one.

Me + Christ = More 

And it all made perfect sense. We use our strengths and the atoning power of Christ and more and miracles always come. So we wrote some one Christlike attribute for everyone in the zone and asked them to use that talent a lot these last week of the transfer and see how those miracles come. So I thought I would do the same for all of you. I can't write all of you an attribute but I challenge you and your families to write each other an attribute they have and work on that and focus on using it this week and see what blessings come to your life. I know God and Christ will bless you so much. I've seen them bless me more than I could ever imagine. Always remember that it's us and Christ and the rest comes not all us. Christ is our savior and he lives. He suffered for us so we can become more. I'm so grateful for that knowledge. So please strive to do that this week and I promise you will receive blessings. I love you and miss you all! Have a great week!

スミス姉妹 Smith Shimai

Happy Halloween! Welcome Cold!

October 31, 2016

Hello Loved Ones! 

How are you? Happy Halloween! Tomorrow you have Halloween, how fun! Mom I'm sure bought the king size candy bars and the kids have cute costumes. Can't wait to see! Hope it was a good week and everyone is well and happy. 

Well this week was so busy it was insane ha as you could tell Monday we had zero time and then Tuesday we had our Halloween Party which was a blast. Monday we had a lesson with Kim, a women from Korea who I've talked about once before. It was a deep lesson, she has so many questions and just wants to know but it's been a little difficult to have her just have faith and trust in god. She wants to see proof. But the spirit led us so much in that lesson and I felt the confirmation of God being our father so many times in my heart as I testified of knowing he lives. So we will continue to meet with her and hope her faith grows and she can trust in god. 

At the Halloween Party actually a referral we received from a member, Kyoko San, I talked about her last week and she came to the party. It was so great. And her member friend didn't even come, so that was like a huge miracle. But we had about a total of 90 people at our party so yeah it was crazy but what a good experience it was and the members were so awesome and helped a lot. 

We also had interviews this week. Those are the best but I only have more with the amazing President Welch, how sad that is. 

Friday was Rei Kun, (a less actives grandson I've talked about before I think) birthday. He turned 8 so now we are really pushing to teach him more and more because he loves missionaries, church, praying etc. so we hope we can teach him more. We always teach him and his neighbors on Saturday's. 30 minutes English and 30 minutes of a message. It's been going well. We just teach little by little and all of the kids are really loving the message time and always volunteer to pray and want to come to church etc. 

Saturday we had the talent show. It was so busy and so much fun. The first part was like showing things you made, blankets, clothes, paintings, etc. Well while that was going on we had a missionary room that introduced us and what we do and how church works etc. It was great. We had a few members bring some friends as well and we were able to explain about our gospel and it went so good. Then to the performing part, and well I'll just say me and my companion rocked it ha we did the cup song from pitch perfect but to I am a child of God and I hope they call me on a mission. It was actually decently good haha 

Sunday we saw some great miracles. The referral that came to the Halloween party, Kyoko San, came to church! And stayed the whole time, it was great. The ward was awesome with fellow shipping and did all they could to help her it was awesome. During third hour we had a lesson with her and our relief society president because it was combined and they were talking about Christmas and other things and we wanted to start from the beginning with her so. It went so well. She asked so many questions and was even saying I just have interest and want to know. It was so great. Our relief society president share such a strong testimony and related to her so well and she kept talking about how meeting her friend and now coming here has been a huge blessing and she thinks it's fate. 

We also finally met a less active we have been trying to meet since I got here. Nitta Shimai is her name and her dad just passed away so we wanted to go show her some love and be able to talk a little about the blessing of the Plan of Salvation. Then she said she was in the middle of cleaning up so we asked if we could help and literally we have been wanting to do service all week and she agreed. Yes! As we cleaned we talked more about her testimony, experiences, etc and she has such strong faith, we are so excited to try and work with her more and get her to church. 

Yes I have time to do the thought of the week. It's from the October Liahona and it's from an article that a member shared with our investigator and so I went home and read it after and loved this paragraph. Especially today I've been thinking about loved ones at home who are going through hard times right now with hard things.

"Let us realize that we all need to rely completely on the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement as we seek to do our part. In that humble recognition, let us seek to understand our families and neighbors in distress, reach out to them in love, and cultivate together greater faith and trust in the Savior, who will return and “wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." 

I know as we rely on the Saviors Atonement we can overcome any hardship whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual. Christ is the only person who knows how we feel and when we truly rely on that one person who understands more clearly then anyone else then we will find the way out of that hardship. 

I love my Savior and I'm grateful for his sacrifice for me. He is the reason life is possible and joyful as we live it. I love Him. I love you all and miss you. I know God is watching over you and he loves you. Thanks for all you do. #RELY #SACRAFICE

スミス姉妹Smith Shimai

"Thanks Aus and Devs family"

"You know what I like"

"Just another beautiful Japan sky"

"Our investigator birthday"

"Party Food"

"Main eikaiwa party"

"Halloween Party time"

"Halloween eikaiwa"

"Cont...."

"Getting ready"

"Cute little one"

"Happy"

"Halloween"

"Dancing"

"Witches"

"Nice ones though"

"Best member ever haha"

"Oh thanks Aus!"

"WOW!"

"Visiting teaching"

"Visiting teaching"

"hummm....."

"More visiting teaching"

Missionary work is the best!

October 24, 2016

Hello Hello Family Friends! 

How are you this week? I can't believe October is almost done already, it's just not even possible how fast this time is going. 

Well this week we saw miracles for sure. God is providing us with so many awesome things right now. 

So first we had a fun koukan this week with Taguchi Shimai and Gusman Shimai. I had the opportunity to go with Gusman Shimai. It was so fun! She is from Hawaii and just is full of joy and love. We did a lot of finding and it was so good. We knocked on this house and the usual in Japan people just talk to you through their door bell but this lady says hold on I'll come out. We were both so shocked. We start talking to her and tell her about eikaiwa and our purpose and she said actually recently I've been wanting to teach my kids English because I studied it. So after that we said a few things to her in English and she is like fluent so we got to know her better and turns out she's familiar with Christianity and was very interested that we taught free English and she wants to bring her friends kids as well so we were way excited about that. She was so sweet and way excited. 

Then next was Nishio Sans lesson. The lady with a date in December. She is progressing little by little every time we meet with her. We taught the whole restoration lesson and we watched a 20 minute restoration video and wow the spirit was so strong. As I had an opportunity to testify of the restoration I just felt in my heart a confirmation of how true the restoration is and what a huge blessing it is. And yes being a smith, tears were brought to my eyes and I just know we all felt the spirit during this lesson. She's working on word of wisdom daily and reads daily as well. She's changing a lot as we continue to meet and teach her new things. 

So recently we received a referral from a member and we had an appointment to meet with them Wednesday. So we got there and the member says "okay we don't have a lot of time but if you want to share the gospel go!" Out loud haha little awkward but we just started to talk to her friend and see things she knew about our church and her background. She had so many questions about missionaries and also how we are all so happy and don't have weaknesses etc. so we had a awesome lesson about the blessing of the gospel and our Father in Heaven. The member also shared such a strong testimony of the gospel blessing her because she actually was baptized like 4 years ago so it was so amazing and the spirit was there testifying for sure. 

So Saturday was amazing. We had planned to go visit two referrals and one was from my sweet amazing Miller Shimai. She met a lady in her area and the lady said to have her friends who live in kawachinagano go visit her mom cause her mom lives there. So we had the address and went. Well we get there and the girl my sweet Miller shimai met was there!! It was a miracle. So we were able to talk to both of them about what we do and it went awesome. We invited them to our activity this week so we will see if that'll work out good. Then after that we went to a friend of a members apartment and knocked she came out, she had such amazing thoughts about life and the world. We had a great lesson about our loving father in Heaven and he helps us do anything. She wanted to know how the member was always happy even with 7 kids and we were able to testify of God and we get to go back next week. I love this work! It's so amazing.

That's all the time I have sorry.. no message this week.

I love you all and miss you! God loves you! 

Smith Shimai スミス姉妹

"Service"

"Service"

"Happy Birthday"????

"Exchanges"

"At the church"

"Pretty place with members"

"Beautiful"

"Great Trees"

"So green"

"Vegetable all you can eat place"

"It was awesome"