Oct 8th,
2012
Well. It is the
start of a new transfer! It`s weird to think I`ve been
in Japan for only a transfer. It kind of has felt like forever.
in Japan for only a transfer. It kind of has felt like forever.
Quick update on
the week.
On Tuesday we
taught a really great lesson to our investigator who is
a young mom. We both really felt like we needed to watch the movie,
`together forever` with her. We did and I think it went really well.
She seemed to understand it and was wanting to hear more, which is
always a plus! The only problem is that her baby was having a surgery
soon and so she didn`t know when we could come back. That was kind of
a bummer. On Sunday we went with some members to the hospital to visit
her and her baby. The surgery went well, but once they go back home
they are basically quarantined for 3 months. Her and the baby aren`t
allowed to leave, and they can`t have any visitors. They are worried
about germs leading to infection, especially because her baby is so
little. So even though she is still interested, we aren`t exactly sure
what we are going to do with her...Is she an investigator if she`s
interested but can`t meet for medical reasons? We`ll have to figure
that out this week.
Our other investigator, who did have a baptismal date, really doesn`t
want to talk to us anymore. We only called him once this week. And
that was to ask if he was coming to church. I made the call, so it was
REALLY short. (I can`t carry on a long conversation in Japanese,
especially on the phone.)
But as we were meeting with our ward mission leader on Sunday he said
our investigator called and said we were talking to him too much and
he was too busy. Basically that we were bothering him. The ward
mission leader said that he will call him to set up and confirm
appointments from now on...
a young mom. We both really felt like we needed to watch the movie,
`together forever` with her. We did and I think it went really well.
She seemed to understand it and was wanting to hear more, which is
always a plus! The only problem is that her baby was having a surgery
soon and so she didn`t know when we could come back. That was kind of
a bummer. On Sunday we went with some members to the hospital to visit
her and her baby. The surgery went well, but once they go back home
they are basically quarantined for 3 months. Her and the baby aren`t
allowed to leave, and they can`t have any visitors. They are worried
about germs leading to infection, especially because her baby is so
little. So even though she is still interested, we aren`t exactly sure
what we are going to do with her...Is she an investigator if she`s
interested but can`t meet for medical reasons? We`ll have to figure
that out this week.
Our other investigator, who did have a baptismal date, really doesn`t
want to talk to us anymore. We only called him once this week. And
that was to ask if he was coming to church. I made the call, so it was
REALLY short. (I can`t carry on a long conversation in Japanese,
especially on the phone.)
But as we were meeting with our ward mission leader on Sunday he said
our investigator called and said we were talking to him too much and
he was too busy. Basically that we were bothering him. The ward
mission leader said that he will call him to set up and confirm
appointments from now on...
Basically we don`t
have any investigators right now. Bummer.
BUT on the bright side! We still have some awesome potential investigators!
We have been trying to meet with that family I`ve talked about, but
they are super busy and aren`t really home. Like ever.
BUT on the bright side! We still have some awesome potential investigators!
We have been trying to meet with that family I`ve talked about, but
they are super busy and aren`t really home. Like ever.
They said they
were going to come to church, but in the middle of
sacrament meeting yesterday we got a text from her saying she had an
appointment and wouldn`t be able to make it. Also a bummer. But she
did say we can visit this week. Hopefully we`ll finally get to start
teaching them!
We met with the Chinese potential investigator this week. It was a
really funny story actually. She asked if we wanted to go to lunch.
She said we could meet at this place called the shotengai. It is this
GINORMOUS strip mall basically. It just has a bunch of individual
stores and restaurants that are covered by this dome roof. It takes up
a couple of blocks and has different branches that go off.
Sometimes we go street contacting there. There. It has a lot of people
in a concentrated area which is nice. But because it is so big...we
have definitely gotten lost a couple of times. But those are stories
for another day.
sacrament meeting yesterday we got a text from her saying she had an
appointment and wouldn`t be able to make it. Also a bummer. But she
did say we can visit this week. Hopefully we`ll finally get to start
teaching them!
We met with the Chinese potential investigator this week. It was a
really funny story actually. She asked if we wanted to go to lunch.
She said we could meet at this place called the shotengai. It is this
GINORMOUS strip mall basically. It just has a bunch of individual
stores and restaurants that are covered by this dome roof. It takes up
a couple of blocks and has different branches that go off.
Sometimes we go street contacting there. There. It has a lot of people
in a concentrated area which is nice. But because it is so big...we
have definitely gotten lost a couple of times. But those are stories
for another day.
So we were running
late from our lesson with our investigator with the
baby and we were franctically trying to find the place she said she
would meet us. We talked to her on the phone the night before and
asked her where she would be. She said she`d be at `Albies` it was
really big and you couldn`t miss it.
baby and we were franctically trying to find the place she said she
would meet us. We talked to her on the phone the night before and
asked her where she would be. She said she`d be at `Albies` it was
really big and you couldn`t miss it.
Well we got to the
shotengai and had no idea where to go. We started
asking people if they knew where `Albies` was. No one knew. They were
so nice and would try to look it up on their phones or help us ask
other people, but no one knew what we were talking about. We were
feeling panicked, she had an appointment right after we were supposed
to meet for lunch and we were afraid she wouldn`t be able to meet with
us anymore. We didn`t want her to slip through our fingers. She`s too
awesome for that!
asking people if they knew where `Albies` was. No one knew. They were
so nice and would try to look it up on their phones or help us ask
other people, but no one knew what we were talking about. We were
feeling panicked, she had an appointment right after we were supposed
to meet for lunch and we were afraid she wouldn`t be able to meet with
us anymore. We didn`t want her to slip through our fingers. She`s too
awesome for that!
We kept calling
her and asking her where she was. She was trying to
direct us but it`s super hard to communicate when the person you`re
talking to knows as much Japanese as you, can say a few phrases in
English, and I only remember like 5 words in Chinese.
direct us but it`s super hard to communicate when the person you`re
talking to knows as much Japanese as you, can say a few phrases in
English, and I only remember like 5 words in Chinese.
After much praying
and running we ran into her. Quite ‘accidentally’.
She was standing outside this big clothing store. We asked if that was
`Albies`. She had no idea what we were talking about. Come to find
out, she was trying to say, `I`ll be at...` not Albies. After we
figured that out we laughed pretty hard. (Not with her of course,
after our meeting)
Anyways we ate some great `udon` noodles. They are famous here in
Takamatsu. They were delicious! We talked a little bit about her, she
is also 21 which is fun. We talked a little about God, but then she
had to go. She is super busy with work so we couldn`t get a return
appointment with her. Hopefully we can meet with her this week. We`ll
be praying and crossing our fingers.
We haven`t seen General Conference yet. They translate all the sessions
into Japanese first, then they mail it to all the wards and branches.
So we will watch it this weekend which I am SOOO excited about.
Although, we did hear about the big news. Crazy! There will now be
lots of young missionaries, including sisters, which is awesome! I can
hardly believe that!
There are two other cool little miracles I wanted to share before I finish.
First. As we were going through the area book last week we found a
great potential investigator (PI) who was interested in the gospel,
but for whatever reason they didn`t go back and visit her.
We felt like we needed to go find her. We set out one day with her
address in hand. We were optimistic and hopeful. But...then we got
lost. She lives in a relatively new building, so it wasn`t on any of
the maps. We spent forever trying to find it. We did do some
contacting inbetween that time, but we were still frustrated. We
really wanted to find her.
Well, it was time
for us to return home andShe was standing outside this big clothing store. We asked if that was
`Albies`. She had no idea what we were talking about. Come to find
out, she was trying to say, `I`ll be at...` not Albies. After we
figured that out we laughed pretty hard. (Not with her of course,
after our meeting)
Anyways we ate some great `udon` noodles. They are famous here in
Takamatsu. They were delicious! We talked a little bit about her, she
is also 21 which is fun. We talked a little about God, but then she
had to go. She is super busy with work so we couldn`t get a return
appointment with her. Hopefully we can meet with her this week. We`ll
be praying and crossing our fingers.
We haven`t seen General Conference yet. They translate all the sessions
into Japanese first, then they mail it to all the wards and branches.
So we will watch it this weekend which I am SOOO excited about.
Although, we did hear about the big news. Crazy! There will now be
lots of young missionaries, including sisters, which is awesome! I can
hardly believe that!
There are two other cool little miracles I wanted to share before I finish.
First. As we were going through the area book last week we found a
great potential investigator (PI) who was interested in the gospel,
but for whatever reason they didn`t go back and visit her.
We felt like we needed to go find her. We set out one day with her
address in hand. We were optimistic and hopeful. But...then we got
lost. She lives in a relatively new building, so it wasn`t on any of
the maps. We spent forever trying to find it. We did do some
contacting inbetween that time, but we were still frustrated. We
really wanted to find her.
we started riding back. We saw this cute little yellow apartment
building and decided to just trying housing it. We were knocking on
doors and people either weren`t home or weren`t interested. When I
knocked on the next door we looked at the name and realized it was
her!! The PI we had been trying to find all afternoon! She was
actually home and came to the door. Her name is Maria, she is from the
Philippines, and speaks about the same amount of Japanese as I do. So
there is definitely a language barrier there, but she said we could
take her a book in Tagalog. So we are doing that today. I am super
excited! I don`t know exactly how we will teach her, but the Lord will
provide a way.
Last miracle.
Yesterday after church we decided to go do some housing up in a
specific area that we both felt good about. We started heading up
there and we both thought that we needed to go to this apartment
complex that we saw. So we start biking out there, excited to find
some people to teach. We get to the apartment complex, and it is all
abandoned. We thought it was strange, but we were going to turn back.
I kept thinking, `why would we feel like we needed to go here, if the
Lord knew that no one lived there?`. I was thinking about it, and I
really felt like we needed to go to this other apartment complex that
was behind that set of buildings. We couldn`t have seen it from the
road. We talked about it and headed over there.
I was got there, there was 3 buildings. I felt like we really needed
to go to the second one. We went and at first weren`t having any
success. BUT then we met this amazing woman! She is probably in her
late 40`s. She has 3 sons. Ages 21, 19, and 14. She is married and
really loves her family. We started talking with her and the Spirit
was instantly there. After we taught her a little bit we asked her
what she thought. She thought for probably about 30 seconds and then
said, `I think I want to hear more.` We didn`t even get to that point
of the contact yet! Then she asked us when we could come back. Those
are beautiful words. I actually didn`t know exactly what she was
saying at first, because I`ve never had someone say that they want to
hear more and ask us for a return appointment! Yay! So we are going to
meet with her on Thursday. I am SO EXCITED!!!
The Lord really does direct this work. His hand is evident in every
aspect. He wants this work to move on. Why would He not?
This work will move forward, it`s been prophesied that it will sound
every ear. We just get to choose if we are a part of it or not.
I am excited to see what miracles will happen this week!
I love you all!!
-Dobson Shimai
Here are some funny things we've seen around Takamatsu
 |
| This is a Hair Salon |
 |
| "Maybe we should come check this place out after our missions :)" |
 |
| At least it's better than MTC food |
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