Hello Kazoku, (Family)
How is everyone?! It sounds like everyone is having a good end of the summer. I can't believe school is starting soon.. Like wow does time fly! I feel like we just finished and summer just began but here we are another school year and here I am, on a mission:) Thanks for the letters, emails, and love you guys show me! It means so much to me. I never realized what missionaries meant when they said getting mail is the best thing.. It really is! So thank you very much and I hope everyone is doing well. Oh, Jenny Happy Birthday on Wednesday, I hope Hawaii was a good early present and all is going well:)
Okay so for the second week, so much to say! I forgot to let you guys know about our first investigator last week so I will tell you now.. We taught our first Kuydosha (investigator) the third day here at the MTC. It was seriously so scary haha and yes we had to teach it in Nihongo (Japanese) hi name is Fujita San and it was a little rough so I won't go into much detail about him but turns out he was a teacher the whole time acting and he talked with us after we taught him 4 lessons and told us things we did well and needed to improve on so that was ya know, interesting! But now we have two new investigators, Aoyagi San and Yonaha San. They both were budhist and are both looking for the correct church. Yonaha has had some hard times with family and just wants to know about Christ. Aoyagi is frustrated with life because he has bad health and doesn't understand why he was the one who has to deal with that. So we were able to teach him about the Atonement and how the Savior knows how he feels and through the atonement he can be made perfect in the after life and he agreed to pray about our message and wants to know more so that was exciting! And Yonaha is very interested in Christ and how she can get rid of all the bad things she has done. So we will keep working on them. I have already learned to love them so much and can't believe how much I want them to know what I know.
Sunday was yet another great day, we have study time, Relief Society/Priesthood, then sacrament and then around 3:30 ish we go on a walk to the temple and it is the best. You just walk, talk, take pictures, and see a lot of people. Just a fun time:) My doryo and I had the opportunity to teach RS this Sunday on Baptism and the Holy Ghost. It went so well:) I really learned so much and felt the spirit. I was proud;) haha (humble right?) so that was fun and exciting. I have met so many amazing people here. Our sister training leader name Anderson Shimai is like my new best friend. Oh how i love her and she has been such a help for me through out this. Sadly, she isn't going to Kobe but hey I got to serve with her a little so that is good enough for me. Her sister is actually the girl who is marring Nick Gubler.. Small world right? So the people I am surrounded by are the best:)
Oh quick funny story, so we have an Elder in our Distrcit named Yardley Chorro (Elder Yardley) and he is from Enterprise. So he came to class one day and he had this zit the size of like mount rushmore I am not kidding.. Biggest zit I have ever seen and through out the next few days it kept getting bigger and finally made his eye swell up so he went to the doctor and turns out it was infected and it started spreading throughout his body and if he would of waited a few days longer it could of caused his vision to go away in that eye and brain damage on that side of the brain!! Crazy huh?! From a zit!!! Wow.. haha so that's now an inside joke that he almost died from a zit.. wow:)
So Tuesday nights are always devotional nights and this Tuesday was being broadcasted to all the MTC around the world. AND GUESS WHO CAME?! Elder Russell M. Nelson: President of the Quoram of the 12 Apostles... AAAHH:) How amazing is that? It was amazing, I was like 8th row. When he walked in and we all stood up, the spirit in the room honestly rose by like 10x and I just started crying like us smith's do... and right then and there, I just had this overwhelming feeling that he is truly an apostle called by God and he is part of the amazing process of me being called to where I need to be. I'll share a few quick other things that stuck out to me. He said if you only have one convert your whole mission, I hope it to be yourself. And that hit me hard because I hear of Japan not being way successful and that is okay. I can plant seeds in people but also I can become truly converted unto Christ. Then another thing he said was, "With God, NOTHING is impossible." And that hit me like a million bricks.. As i sit here and struggle to learn this language, I need to trust in him and know that I was called here and I can learn this language even if I am a little slower than others or it takes my whole mission. The spirit that night was amazing:) I will never ever forget that.
But p-days are swell, we wake up work out, get laundry done, go to the temple (which is THE best) and e-mail and hang out till dinner. It is great to have just a little bit of a normal day even though you're still busy as ever! But all is well here in the Provo MTC.. haha
I'll end on this thought that my teacher Olson Kyodai taught us the other day. He had a friend who was studying the church and the missionaries were supposed to meet with him but it snowed that day and they decided not to show up and never told him why or anything so.. he became uninterested.. and our teacher said "BE THE MISSIONARY THAT YOU WANT TEACHING YOUR BEST FRIEND OR YOUR FAMILY!" And wow, I never thought of it that way.. Be a missionary everyone. Be that person that you want around your family or helping your friend. NEVER FORGET THAT:)
This is the hardest thing I have ever done, and not gonna lie it's kind of going slow right now but I love it! It is such a great work and there is no other place I would rather be. My testimony has grown so much. Especially for my savior Jesus Christ. He is there for you always and the atonement is so real. I know that to be true and the Book of Mormon is the truest book on this earth. I love this gospel I love being a missionary!
AI SHITTE MAS! (I LOVE YOU) Miss you a lot but I am working hard to make you all proud:) Have a wonderful week and remember to be a missionary:)
-Smith Shimai
First Day
MTC companion Pickell Shimai
Sister Smith, Sister Smith, Sister Smith all in one zone
Thanks mom for the doughnuts!
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