I'm not a 'bean' any more!

November 19, 2012 

Hello to my dear family and loved ones! 

Yay!  It`s the start of transfer 3. I am no longer a `bean` or greeny. We normally receive transfer calls Monday morning and then transfer on Thursday.  But for some reason we are receiving the transfer calls tomorrow and still transfer on Thursday.  

So next week, who knows where you`ll be getting an email from!   Maybe I`ll stay in Takamatsu. (I`m crossing my fingers). 

Where to start with this week? 

Well first to start off with the cool experiences we had last Monday.

First. We were teaching I*** San and we asked her how she was doing. Last time we taught basically the whole restoration and she seemed pretty confused. We left her the pamphlet and asked her to read it. Well on Monday we asked her how she did with the reading. She said that she read the pamphlet, still didn`t understand it very well but that she read from the Book of Mormon. That was nice since we hadn`t asked her to. We asked her where she had read. She read from the very beginning, (testimony of Joseph Smith) up to chapter 8! She said whenever she has time after work she likes reading it. She says it is interesting, and she wants to learn more!! Wahoo! We are so excited about that. She really is progressing so well!! Today we are re-teaching the restoration to her and her boys. We have planned for a long time. We really want to help her understand. And I think she has real intent and is genuinely interested. We are excited to see her continuing to progress! 

After our lesson with her we decided to just drop by the O***family. We didn`t go with our member who helps with deaf interpreting, but we just wanted to see how they were doing and invite them to church. 

The mom came out and talked with us for a little bit.  She told us the coolest thing! She said normally when Christian people come to her house she doesn`t listen. She said they are all angry and just say, `You have to enter our church` and yell at you about God.  But she said when we came there was this feeling. (And I wish I could express it like she did, but it doesn`t work in written words.)  She made this noise, kind of like, `whoa` and her hands were beckoning to her body.  She said she really felt something and she wanted to know why we were different.  That is why she has been letting us come back. 

That was a really cool experience and reminder.  I remember when we met them that first time. It was freezing outside but my whole body was warm.  We all felt the Spirit so strongly. I am so grateful He was there.  He really is the only thing that helps people see that we are not just another Christian church. 

Also, when we invited them to church at first the mom was a little hesitant. But then her 10 year old daughter (who has been to our church) got down on the ground, bowed to her mom, and BEGGED to go to church.  We are so grateful for the faith of that little girl.  We feel like she will be a major factor in helping her family progress in the gospel. 

This week we had a district conference in Marugame, so they weren`t able to come to church, but hopefully they will make it this week!  We are teaching her today as well and we are so excited! 

This week we went with our ward mission leader and his wife to visit this PI (Potential Investigator) .   I don`t remember if I`ve talked about him before.  He is this old Buddhist man who is pretty sick.  We gave him the Book of Mormon and he said he would read it.  Well he let us in and was actually happy to see us.  He hasn`t read the Book of Mormon because he says the words are too small. We are buying a magnifying glass for him today.

We were planning on teaching a lesson but it ended up with him just talking the whole time.  He was telling us all about his life. He really is such a tender hearted man.  All of the kids in the neighborhood basically eat and play at his house.  They all just love him.  

As he was talking he was using all of this hard Japanese that I really didn`t understand.  I felt like I was riding a bullet roller coaster.  Mouth open and flapping as the wind is zooming by at incalculable speeds.  I was hanging on for dear life and pleased if I caught the concept he was discussing. But towards the end of the conversation he turned to me and said, in Japanese, ‘You don`t understand Japanese.’   I responded, ‘Not really’. He then went to say that I he was impressed that even though I didn`t know the language that I was still out working. I felt a little better about myself. Maybe my lack of language ability is able to actually bless someone`s life. I didn`t catch the rest of the conversation, but I thought that was a cool experience. We didn`t end up teaching him, but after the meeting we both felt like whatever happened, needed to happen. 

We are going back again this week and hopefully we will get to teach him then. He just lives at home and feeds the neighborhood children. So he has a lot of time to be taught! Yay! 

Marugame Tample

Umm...On Sunday we got a ride with our ward mission leader out to Marugame for the district conference. As we pulled up in the parking lot and you could see all these Saints going into the building I just got so excited! I felt the joy of missionary work and in that moment I was so grateful I was a missionary.

President and Sister Zinke were there and it was fun to see them. The whole afternoon was just Spiritually uplifting. 

Instead of returning straight home after the meeting our ward mission leader surprised us and took us for a little...culturally enriching activity. We went to this little temple in Marugame and then to this cool pavilion. I really don`t know the significance of either of them, but the view was fantastic! I`ll send pictures. It was fun going there. Because it is an Elder`s area we would probably never get to go there for sight seeing. So that was fun! 

Well that`s about all I have time to explain this week. I love you! I hope you have a great week. Hopefully I`ll still be emailing you from Takamatsu next week. ;) 

The church is true! -Dobson Shimai

It's getting colder!

Bridge from Marugame to Okayama

 The members in Takamatsu are SO great.  They brought us food for Thanksgiving!  We put the oranges under our little Christmas Tree.  :)

Nicole also sent these pictures from opening the Halloween package.   It's the wrong holiday, but they were too cute not to include.

Konnichiwa

November 12, 2012

Hello to all of my dear friends and family at home!

I hope this letter finds you all ganki.

Me at Ritsurin Park

This week I really wanted to talk about our AMAZING investigator U**** Shimai. Oh how I just love her! She has such faith and so much strength. She has definitely been so prepared by the Lord.

So to start off. At the beginning of the teaching process with her when we first introduced prayer we asked her if she had any experience with prayer. She then went into a lengthy explanation about how she loves this Korean singer. He is her favorite singer. And all that she wants is to go to one of his concerts and to meet him. The problem is that he really doesn`t come to Japan very often. She explained that frequently she`ll ask God to help her meet him.

After we explained prayer she asked if God would let her meet her favorite artist. We were obviously a little hesitant. We didn`t want to make any promises that could potentially not be filled. We gently explained that we know that God listens to us and that He does hear our prayers, but He doesn`t always answer them in the way we might want Him to.

We thought her faith was amazing, but honestly we kind of doubted that God would answer her prayer in that way.

Well U**** Shimai found out that her favorite artist was actually coming to Japan! And he was stopping in Osaka which is close to where we live. When she came to our lesson she said she knew that God answered her prayers and that is why her favorite artist is coming.

This was a wonderful learning experience. The Lord really is in control of everything. And who are we to say that the prayer of one of His special daughters wouldn`t be answered?

Of course God is all powerful. He can arrange the schedule of a 16 year old pop singer in Korea. He has that power. But now our investigator realizes that He has that kind of power.

I think too often we down play and say that He ceases to work miracles in the lives of His children. But He doesn`t. He truly wants all of us to be happy. He gives us experiences so we can be happy. And even though U*** Shimai seeing her favorite artist isn’t that significant in the eternal scheme of things, the Lord loves her enough to give her that experience, and probably more importantly so that she knows that God knows her and loves her and that He uses His power to bless us.

Because of this experience not only was I humbled, but U**** Shimai`s faith in the power of prayer grew significantly. Her prayers being answered played a huge role in her deciding to be baptized.

Me, U**** Shimai, and Anderson Shimai

Yes. U**** Shimai has accepted a baptismal date! We are so excited for her!

We had a lesson on Thursday talking about baptism. She says she thinks it is good but she is afraid she won`t be able to endure to the end. She doesn`t want to start on a path she doesn`t think she can finish. We gave her a reading assignment from the Book of Mormon. One of the scriptures talks about laying aside your fears and being baptized.

24 hours later she came back. She sat down, we prayed, and she said, `I know I need to be baptized`. Wahoo! The Spirit filled the room. I was all tingly and I knew I need to extend the baptismal commitment right there. I extended the invitation.

She accepted December 23^rd as her baptismal date. And then the cutest thing happened. Anderson Shimai asked her if she would start preparing for that date. 

Me and U**** Shimai

U**** Shimai got a kind of worried look on her face. She said, `Do I need to go on a diet?`. At first we were confused. We didn`t understand the correlation between her getting baptized and going on a diet. Then we found the error. She thought she was going to be baptized in a bikini!! We have showed her pictures of people being baptized, but we never really talked about what you wear. In her mind, since the baptismal font is kind of like a hot tub, she just assumed that she was going to be baptized in a bikini.

But amazing her, even though she was self-conscious about wearing a bikini, she had enough faith and she knew baptism was important enough, that she decided she was going to be baptized,  regardless of the circumstances.

Isn`t she just amazing?! I don`t know if I would be baptized if I had to do it in a bikini  :)  :) :)

She is so amazing and we both love her so much. I am so excited for her to receive the ordinance of baptism and confirmation. I know that they will bless her life so much! I can`t wait for her to start on that path towards eternal life!

In regards to the rest of the week....

We found some really great PI`s. My personal favorite is this super cute Chinese woman. She gave us her number and said we could visit her sometime when she isn`t working. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later, she`s pretty busy at work and isn`t really at home a whole lot. But we know the Lord will prepare a way.

The rest of the week was kind of a bummer in regards to teaching. We didn`t get to do a whole lot of it. We either got spoked (people didn`t show up) or they called and cancelled appointments.

On Saturday we started having this great lesson with a high school student. We found her in the Shotengai (the big shopping plaza) we asked if we could share a message with her on a different day. She asked if we could do it then. Of course we never say no to someone wanting to hear our message. We tried to find somewhere to go. President Zinke has talked a lot about creating a Spiritual Oasis in the first lesson. We wanted to have this for our lesson so she could feel God`s love and want to hear more. 

It`s hard when there are people rushing everywhere and obnoxious music wafting out of every store.

But we sat down on this random table, prayed and started talking with her. It wasn`t teaching as we were just doing the `How to Begin Teaching Lesson` President has asked us to do. We started talking about who she is and how she is a daughter of God. She seemed to really like it. The lesson was going in a good direction until 6 other high school girls came up. They were her friends and they all wanted to go shopping. You could tell she was having a little bit of an inner conflict.

I think she was genuinely interested in what we had to say, but she was also feeling awkward about her friends being there. She got up and was trying to leave. We asked if we could meet again or get her phone numbers. She said yes, then walked away....Bummer. If she is supposed to meet us again I know the Lord will prepare a way. I just hope it`s sooner rather than later. If she can have the blessings of the gospel in her life now, why wait?

Oh! On Saturday we had a ward talent show. I played the flute and Anderson Shimai tapped danced. The ward members were greatly surprised by the fact that she could tap dance. They all thought it was hilarious.

The members showed some of their own talents as well. There was karaoke singing, piano playing, reading in English, and traditional Japanese dance which was way cool. 

They were so fun. It was a bummer that none of our investigators showed up. They had kind of planned it so we would have something to invite people to. Oh well.

Well I love you all SOOOO much! Thanks for everything!! I love you and miss you.

Xoxoxo

ダブセン　しまい

p.s.  This is a story from Nicole's Mom about a tender mercy, a red mamachatti bike

 Nicole has never been a fan of bike riding.  She grew up in a house on a hill, which is not a great place to learn to ride a bike.  So she didn't.  We tried to encourage her, but she really wasn't interested.  Finally when she was 8 we started to worry that her future might be jeopardized if she didn't learn to ride a bike.  We began taking her to the track that goes around the Orem cemetary (nice and flat) and worked with her till she finally learned to ride her bike. 

But  although she learned to ride a bike, she never learned to like it and only rode it if we forced her.  Our family likes to go for bike rides, that is, everyone except Nicole.  When we would plan Saturday family activities she would say, "I'll do anything that doesn't involve riding a bike!"

Although we always made sure she had a bike her size that she could ride, it was usually something second hand because she NEVER (despite coaxing) wanted to receive a bike for her birthday or Christmas.

When she received her call to Japan we knew that the Elders usually rode bikes on their missions but she was hoping that Sisters wouldn't have to.

When the letter from the Mission President came requesting sisters to bring skirts that they could ride a bike in we looked at each other and she said,  "I'm going to have a change of attitude."

But she was nervous.  She had never felt confident riding a bike.  She and I began going for bike rides in the morning.  She practiced starting and stopping and shifting gears.   When she began to feel comfortable on our rides she began riding in a skirt  (No, I did NOT support her by wearing a skirt myself.  YES she did get some strange looks.  How often do you see someone in our country ride a bike in  a skirt?!).  Once she got used to riding in a skirt she added dress shoes (plus the skirt).

In the MTC  she would ride the stationary bike during P.E time to get her legs in shape.

When she got to Japan there was a Sister who had only been there a short time but had to go home for some health reasons.   She had a beautiful nearly new red, Mamachatti bike (Mamachatti is the style of bikes the Japanese 'Moms' ride) that she sold to Nicole for half the price of what it cost her.

Nicole thought the bike was the most adorable bike she had ever seen!  This bike was a tender mercy for a girl who was very nervous about having to ride a bike in a strange country wearing a dress.  

The bike is  red--Red is Nicole's favorite color--and the beach cruiser style was easy and comfortable to ride, with a basket for her bag so she wasn't thrown off balance trying to carry it across her shoulder. 

She has absolutely LOVED this bike.  She has grown considerably in her bike riding abilities and her legs are totally buff now from riding everywhere she goes.  She's only had one accident and that was recently and she wasn't hurt--just scraped up her boots.

I'm sure she would have done just fine on whatever bike she had, but our Heavenly Father is tender enough to know that having an adorable-RED-bike would just help out a Shimai that was nervous about riding in a new country. 

I asked Nicole to send me a picture of her on her Red-Mamachatti Bike.  Isn't she adorable?!

My Red Mamachatti Bike

Zone Conferences and the Beautiful Ritsurin Park

November 6^th, 2012

Hello to all of my loved ones! 

This is going to be a quick one.

Sorry I am writing a day late. Yesterday we had a Zone Tai Kai. All of the missionaries on Shikoku got together here in Takamatsu. We had training from President Zinke and the Assistants. It was awesome! The theme was all about remembering. We know all of the stuff we need to do to be a good missionary. We just need to remember to do it. I really wish I had more time to talk about it but I really don`t. Sorry! 

Today was great! We actually went to one of the most famous parks in Japan. It`s called Ritsurin Koen. It`s a 30 minute bike ride from our apartment and all of the ward members have been telling us we need to go. We went with our investigator U----- Shimai. She is just so great! She is kind of like my Japanese mom. And I think she thinks of us as our American daughters. I just love her. 

We`ve been working with her to help her accept a baptismal date. She`s had almost all of the lessons and she picks the concepts up SOOO fast. She is amazing. She is just really worried about her family. Religion has a really bad image here in Japan. Her husband and her son said they would basically disown her if she were to affiliate with a church. They don`t know she`s been meeting with us. We asked her to read some certain scriptures about baptism and pray about them. We asked her how it went today, she said it was really good. There was a scripture that was exactly what she needed. She didn`t tell us what it was, or what the implications are. She said she wanted to wait until our next lesson to explain it. So we have to wait ‘til Thursday...I can`t wait! There is power in the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. It can truly change people`s hearts. 

Ah! I really don`t have that much time. But just to explain last week...umm....

Friday we had a Zone conference in Okiyama which was also awesome. The theme of the mission is `True Disciples One and All`. This is the vision Zinke Kaicho has. This is what he wants us as missionaries to be. The training that we received on Friday from the Zone Leaders was all about this. I have such a long ways to go to be a true disciple of our Savior, Jesus Christ, but I am excited for the challenge confronting me.

I got to see Hansen Shimai there again which was fun. The MTC seems soooooo long ago. It`s weird to think it hasn`t even been 2 transfers...

Our investigators are doing well. I---- San (San is just what they use for like a Polite Mr./Mrs.) had a good lesson. We explained the restoration. Some of the parts were a little rocky, but when I recited the first vision she sat there for a minute, thinking, then looked up and said, `That`s great!` (except in Japanese). I know she wasn`t referring to my Japanese. But the Spirit is definitely there as you testify of the divinity of this church. I love it! 

O----- Family...ma...they are doing alright. I don`t know how much interest the mom has which is a bummer. But her awesome member friend brought the O----- daughters to church with her on Sunday. They could only stay for sacrament meeting which was also a bummer, but I am excited to go back next week and talk to them about it! 

We haven`t had a chance to meet with them this week. She has a super crazy schedule. But we have an appointment next week so hopefully we`ll get to teach them more. 

We`ve tried a couple times to go and visit Tattoo man. Unfortunately he is usually sleeping or at work. We haven`t quite figured out his schedule yet. But we are determined for him to at least listen to what we have to say. 

Yay! Congratulations to Nathan and Tiffany! You`re baby looks beautiful! I am glad she is healthy and safe!! 

Well I really am almost out of time. We have to go prepare for Eikaiwa. I think you all are awesome! Thank you for all of your prayers. I can feel them when the work gets hard. I know they are also blessing our investigators. 

I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Love, Dobson Shimai




p.s. Here is the best burger known to man. We pass this little diner frequently. Santa`s diner. We decided to try it last preparation day. (It`s all about the food, right dad?). It was SOO good. I didn't think I really missed hamburgers. But when I ate it, I was in heaven. oh. It was soo good!!! We took the Elders back on Friday for district meeting. You can imagine their delight!!!