Monday, we went to a movie
village but it was not as exciting as I like....but we took some awesome
pictures and had a good time anyway and then we had an FHE at the church and we
played scum and it was way fun :) we had recent convert Gi come and afterwards
he gave the four of us (sisters and elders) really nice pens with
an inscription on the side that said mabudachi, which means best friend and it
was so nice of him. They were like $20 pens!! It's still in
its nice box that is came in, sitting on my desk.
Tuesday we tried crane dendo and gave people paper cranes and some were confused and didn't want it and others it made them smile! Also there was this old woman who literally had to hold her eye lids open to see us! She was talking about her great great great grandchildren who live in New York who can't speak Japanese and that we knew more than them. It was sweet and kinda funny. Then we went to a family's house for dinner. The Yoshiokas are so awesome. The two daughters both can speak English and one is less active but is so sweet I love her! There they fed us and gave us HUGE plates of spaghetti and they only had tiny plate and I mean like a third of the size of our servings. We
talked about so many random things like how dad was born on leap year and my prom (which was way weird actually), and I showed pictures of my family to them and they couldn't believe Liam was only 16 he looked 21 to them they also asked if he was my boyfriend....Liam you're just too good looking. Brother Yoshioka is so cool! He's like 64 rides a motorcycle and paints on kimonos. Like the beautiful designs and patterns on fancy ones? Yeah, he does that! We talked about paint and other such things for like 15 mins! Anyway we realized at 9 we had to get back by 9:30 but it's a 45 min bike ride.... As we were leaving Yoshioka Shimai handed us a cup of hot chocolate to drink...politely
we took it and chugged it and as we were getting on our bikes one of the daughters says you have 13 mins. I told her we can do it! Needless to say we made it home 15 minutes late but it was like 45 min bike ride and got there in 20! Dekita (done did it).
Tuesday we tried crane dendo and gave people paper cranes and some were confused and didn't want it and others it made them smile! Also there was this old woman who literally had to hold her eye lids open to see us! She was talking about her great great great grandchildren who live in New York who can't speak Japanese and that we knew more than them. It was sweet and kinda funny. Then we went to a family's house for dinner. The Yoshiokas are so awesome. The two daughters both can speak English and one is less active but is so sweet I love her! There they fed us and gave us HUGE plates of spaghetti and they only had tiny plate and I mean like a third of the size of our servings. We
talked about so many random things like how dad was born on leap year and my prom (which was way weird actually), and I showed pictures of my family to them and they couldn't believe Liam was only 16 he looked 21 to them they also asked if he was my boyfriend....Liam you're just too good looking. Brother Yoshioka is so cool! He's like 64 rides a motorcycle and paints on kimonos. Like the beautiful designs and patterns on fancy ones? Yeah, he does that! We talked about paint and other such things for like 15 mins! Anyway we realized at 9 we had to get back by 9:30 but it's a 45 min bike ride.... As we were leaving Yoshioka Shimai handed us a cup of hot chocolate to drink...politely
we took it and chugged it and as we were getting on our bikes one of the daughters says you have 13 mins. I told her we can do it! Needless to say we made it home 15 minutes late but it was like 45 min bike ride and got there in 20! Dekita (done did it).
Thursday we had a four
something hour lesson without recent convert Tomoko. A few days before she texts with no explanation(slash we couldn't get one out of her before hand) to have
the elders come also. So when we came, we
talked and she expressed that she wanted a blessing. The elders had to go though but said
they would come back to give one. So while they were gone we taught about
blessings, patriarchal blessings, and forgiveness and our
good and bad choices and the tree of life and Satan and the atonement and so
much in depth doctrine. It was awesome but next thing we know
it's 7 and then the Elders get back.
Mind you we started our lesson at 4. We talked about why we get blessings (again) and then Elder Goff
and Elder Gosney gave her a blessing. It started out in English and then went
into Japanese but it was so powerful. The elder who was the
mouth piece spoke so reverently, with stillness. The spirit was so powerful and overwhelming. We talked to her after and asked if
she thought it helped and it really did. I love the power of the priesthood it's
amazing! I'm so grateful for its influence in my life! It was
long lesson but it was so worth it and full of the spirit.
On Saturday so much happened! We started our morning with a relief society activity which was fun. We made Mochi, a Japanese New Years food, but to be honest I feel like I'm choking every time I eat it. It's way thick and not very tasty...later that night we had ping pong but because there was a stake activity and a young women's activity the
missionary activity got bumped to this tiny room where we set up a table and played ping pong. It was way more fun in my opinion because we all were kinda forced to watch and because it was so tight the games got intense! In between games Yoshia, a member about to go on a mission, showed a few of us how to box. He had gloves and such and it
was way fun!
Sunday we had so much food! I was so happy!!! We had a pot luck thing after church and there were a few people moving and so we had kind of a goodbye party. Afterwards people started to leave and we talked with the youth for a bit, making jokes, eating American candy. Joey, a member who just came back from America with a bunch of stuff and the two
best candies I've missed are Skittles and Starburst. I love watching people's faces when they try Skittles for the first time in their life. It's a face of joy, amazement and a sugar head rush :). (Letter continues after the photos).
Before we went to our dinner appointment (I love those
days when I don't have
to cook food for my self:), we had people come to the church and such and we were talking to members and then Kaya, the elder's investigator came for a lesson. Elder Goff, Max Kyodai, and I were talking about Zion and such (way deep conversations) and he came to talk to us. Eventually we got on the subject of why the Bible and the Book of Mormon are important. Why did we even have them? Our discussion eventually led into the question, What did you think or feel when you read the Book of Mormon. Kaya said, "I don't think I've felt anything, I just read it to read it." I told him how we can't just read it to read it, we have to have a purpose to reading it, we have to put effort into it to get something out of it. Goff Choro asked us all then to open to Moroni 10:3-5. Kaya pulls out his English and Japanese
BOM and that was cool. We read these verses together and we told him that you can't read this book like a text book, it's not a book just filled with facts and dates, it's a record of prophets, teachers, people's lives; this book is a testimony of the Living Christ. (Okay
not that direct and in more simpler terms). This experience with teaching Kaya was so amazing the spirit was so strong and we asked him to read and pray with a true heart if it was true. He is a sweet kid and so willing to listen to our message. This lesson I think was the highlight of my week. And also when we (again) climbed up the mountain
to the Mizoguchi's house. We had fun and I the food of course was delicious!
Pray that we can find some new investigators, were bit of in a rut right now and we will take all the prayers we can get. I love you all! And I mean it! Stay safe and eat jalapeño Cheetos for me!!
Love always,
Oswald Shimai
On Saturday so much happened! We started our morning with a relief society activity which was fun. We made Mochi, a Japanese New Years food, but to be honest I feel like I'm choking every time I eat it. It's way thick and not very tasty...later that night we had ping pong but because there was a stake activity and a young women's activity the
missionary activity got bumped to this tiny room where we set up a table and played ping pong. It was way more fun in my opinion because we all were kinda forced to watch and because it was so tight the games got intense! In between games Yoshia, a member about to go on a mission, showed a few of us how to box. He had gloves and such and it
was way fun!
Sunday we had so much food! I was so happy!!! We had a pot luck thing after church and there were a few people moving and so we had kind of a goodbye party. Afterwards people started to leave and we talked with the youth for a bit, making jokes, eating American candy. Joey, a member who just came back from America with a bunch of stuff and the two
best candies I've missed are Skittles and Starburst. I love watching people's faces when they try Skittles for the first time in their life. It's a face of joy, amazement and a sugar head rush :). (Letter continues after the photos).
 |
| This Ayako, she is so sweet! |
 |
| Us at Tomokos place and we disovered that the light moved so Gosney shined it on me and it looks like I have a halo. |
 |
| This is Rie Tsukamoto and I love her to bits. She got baptized in May. |
 |
| Discovery of Skittles |
 |
| Trying to be a Sumo falling over |
 |
| This is down the road from our house |
 |
| Yoshioka Family |
 |
| Moshi |
to cook food for my self:), we had people come to the church and such and we were talking to members and then Kaya, the elder's investigator came for a lesson. Elder Goff, Max Kyodai, and I were talking about Zion and such (way deep conversations) and he came to talk to us. Eventually we got on the subject of why the Bible and the Book of Mormon are important. Why did we even have them? Our discussion eventually led into the question, What did you think or feel when you read the Book of Mormon. Kaya said, "I don't think I've felt anything, I just read it to read it." I told him how we can't just read it to read it, we have to have a purpose to reading it, we have to put effort into it to get something out of it. Goff Choro asked us all then to open to Moroni 10:3-5. Kaya pulls out his English and Japanese
BOM and that was cool. We read these verses together and we told him that you can't read this book like a text book, it's not a book just filled with facts and dates, it's a record of prophets, teachers, people's lives; this book is a testimony of the Living Christ. (Okay
not that direct and in more simpler terms). This experience with teaching Kaya was so amazing the spirit was so strong and we asked him to read and pray with a true heart if it was true. He is a sweet kid and so willing to listen to our message. This lesson I think was the highlight of my week. And also when we (again) climbed up the mountain
to the Mizoguchi's house. We had fun and I the food of course was delicious!
Pray that we can find some new investigators, were bit of in a rut right now and we will take all the prayers we can get. I love you all! And I mean it! Stay safe and eat jalapeño Cheetos for me!!
Love always,
Oswald Shimai
Hey, we love you!!!!
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