Merry Christmas

December 24, 2012

メリクリスマス！

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

I know it is tomorrow (and in 2 days for all of you) but Anderson Shimai and I decided to have Christmas TODAY! Yay. So we opened our cute packages and presents this morning. Don`t worry I`ll be sending pictures. We decided that we have the cutest moms in the whole mission! We are both so blessed. Thanks to all who made our cute little Christmas in Takamatsu possible! I LOVE YOU!!!

Here`s a quick recap for the week.

On Monday night we went and visited R***. She is such a hoot and we just love her. She has been doing a little bit of studying. When we taught her last Sunday we showed her a picture from a pamphlet. She asked if she could keep it, so we gave it to her. We didn`t ask her to read it. But when we went back to visit her on Monday night she said, `Well I read the little Bible you gave me`and then asked a question. 

Apparently she has been doing some research on her own. She found out about the Word of Wisdom and had questions about that. She said, `I understand why alcohol is `NO` and tobacco is `NO`, but my cappuccino???! It makes me so happy! Why can`t I have cappuccino?!` We told her that we could explain it to her next time we met if she wanted. She got this impish look in her eye, she tried putting this pouty dog face on and begged, `Can I drink it until we talk about it?` The best part is seeing her pleading face with her puffed out lip. Like most of the Grandmas in Japan, she only has like 2 teeth. So seeing her plead with her two teeth for a cappuccino just made me laugh. I love her. She is definitely one of the funniest people I`ve met in Japan.

Wednesday was an interesting day. We taught I**** San. The beginning of the lesson was awesome! We were asking her about what she believes. She said she believes the Book of Mormon is true. AND that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I asked her how she knew that and she said, `I don`t know. Just when I read, I know.` Pretty cool! 

It has been so fun to compare her to the lady we met just over a month ago. When we first came to her house she really had no interest and only let us in basically because she felt bad for us, and now you can see the light of the gospel and her testimony flittering across her eyes. You really can see such a difference! I love it.

So one of her questions from earlier was also the Word of Wisdom. (It`s funny that when our investigators do their own research that is one of the first things they find.) 

Well we decided to answer her question. We started off explaining obedience and how it brings blessings. We told her that God wants to bless us so He gives us commandments. She got all excited and got a note book to write it down. She was like ok, what are the commandments?....Ya. This is where maybe not the best planning and teaching skills came out from our part. Out of now where BAM! Word of Wisdom.

Looking back we should have introduced easier commandments. Pray often, study the scriptures. Help her realize that she is already keeping those. But...we didn`t. In all fairness she did ask about the Word of Wisdom. And we thought it wouldn`t be a huge issue. When we explained what we don`t take, her eyes got really big and you could tell she was way overwhelmed. She looked at us and said, `I LOVE alcohol. And drinking tea with my work friends is my hobby.` Oh.....

Well we tried to explain a little more. Promised blessings. Showed her some scriptures and then asked her if she would try it for a week. After her thinking for a long time, she said she would. And we told her we wanted to help in any way.

The tea thing is hard here in Japan. We aren`t exactly sure how to explain it. Some of the members drink it as a personal choice. Like in America where some choose to drink coke and others don`t. Next time I teach the Word of Wisdom, I definitely want a member there. It`s too hard for us little American girls to know what is ok and not ok.

But anyways. We`ve called and texted her throughout the week and she said she`s been doing well. So I think she may have made it almost a whole week! We are meeting with her tonight so that will be fun to see how she is doing. I am hoping she will be able to see the blessings that come from living it, even if it has only been a week.

Wednesday night we taught the C*** (from Africa).  Ya...Honestly. It was a rough lesson. And that is probably because the Spirit wasn`t really there.

Last time (when I was on my exchange) Anderson Shimai said we wanted to help them in whatever way they could-especially in helping them get a testimony of the Book of Mormon. They said that the thing that would help the most would be us going through the Articles of Faith and discussing them and sharing scriptures as to why we believe that. Anderson Shimai agreed and asked which one we should start with the next week. They picked number 10. Gathering of Israel and the New Jerusalem. Yay.....

Well we both studied it really hard and had great scriptures from the Bible and the Book of Mormon supporting why we believe it.

But it really just ended up them getting fixated on little, unimportant details. Ugh. It`s so frustrating. They don`t understand why New Jerusalem will be in America. It doesn`t talk about it on the Bible so it can`t be.

We emphasized that is why the Book of Mormon is important because it adds to the information the Bible gives us. Right now I guess it is too much for them to take. That is a really big bummer. We invited them again to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it (because they haven`t really done so yet) and then they kind of turned it around and said that we needed to study the Bible. Huh?! We had showed them scriptures from the Bible! We told them that we believed the Bible. Anyways. Long story short. We can`t go back this week and we didn`t make a definite appointment with them. We decided to drop them. 

We didn`t really tell them that we are dropping them...we just won`t call them again. IF they call us and want to talk again we can go back. But only after they`ve been reading the Book of Mormon. Because right now, they don`t really want to learn. I don`t know why they kept meeting with us. But it`s not for the right reasons. Maybe they`ll be ready to receive it again later on in their lives. But right now we think they both need a little break. Bummer...We really do want to help them.

Honestly I like teaching Japanese people WAY more! When I first got my call I was scared to teach people without a Christian background. I didn`t know how I was going to connect it to them. But now working with those who are very devout Christian and those who have only heard Christ`s name, I prefer the later. There are not nearly as many misconceptions to clear up. Their knowledge of the Savior and His teaching is so very limited. But it`s ok, because we get to help them paint the right picture. It really is such a privilege.

On Friday we met with a Chinese Potential Investigator, Ch*** San. We met her as we were stopped at a train crossing- we were all riding our bikes home. She is a college student and got to Japan about the same time I did. We had a casual first meeting and went out to Sushi. (My first time in Japan!) 

The Sushi came out on this conveyor belt and you could choose what you wanted

 It was actually a pleasant experience. 

A lot better than my first one for sure...Glad that I now know that Wasabe is NOT guacamole. 

Anyways. She said she would be interested in learning more about Christians and agreed to come to church! Yay!!

On Saturday we stopped my U*** Shimai`s one more time. We wanted to give her another valiant effort before we dropped her. And we were singing at church and may have tried to play her mommy heart strings to help her want to come to church. It worked! She said she would come to church.

Sunday was a great day!

We had R*** and Ch*** San come before church and we had to go on splits with the members to teach them. I love having too many appointments than we can handle! 

It means we are doing our job! Anyways. Anderson Shimai taught R*** and I gave a church tour to Ch*** San and taught a little bit of our how to begin teaching lesson.

Then miracles happened! We had the most investigators in Sacrament than we have had in probably my whole mission....combined.... So we had R***, Ch***, U***Shimai, I***San and two of her boys, and N*** San! Yay!!!! It was such a great day!

N*** San came because we called him on Saturday and invited him to church. He said his brothers were against it and he probably couldn`t because of his job. He has a morning cleaning job at a Christian preschool. But we told him he said he doesn`t have to join the church, he can just come as a friend. He was like, `Oh I can just come as a friend? I guess that`s ok.` Yay! So he came. We aren`t going to teach him right now. We just want him to start feeling things at church and then maybe he can get up the gumption to want to keep learning. But just the fact that he is coming made me SO happy!

U*** Shimai slipped out right after Sacrament meeting so we didn`t get to talk to her. That was a bummer. But she came. That`s great!

Ch*** San also had to leave after Sacrament meeting. I asked when she could met again...she wouldn`t make a specific appointment. I hope she wants to keep meeting! She said we could call her again.

I***also had to go right after Sacrament. We found out that even though her boys had sports she still came! She dropped the oldest off and then came to church, then was going to take her other boy to his sports after church. Cute her! She really is so amazing. I can`t wait to talk to her tonight!

Then N***San stayed for all of church. He loves going to Sunday School and Priesthood. And he said he`d be back next week! Score!

R*** is just bonding with the ward. She loves everyone and everyone loves her. How could you not though? She is a total crack up. She tries to use all of the English she knows when she talks to us. My favorite thing she says is, `Me go to churchy!`. She fits right in here. This is where she belongs.

We had another cool experience after church! Is*** San came back. He is the one investigator who did have a baptismal date when we first got here in Takamatsu.

He had already heard the lessons 3 times and really wasn`t interested. But was getting some help from the ward. We stopped teaching him and he would come after church occasionally to talk with some of the members. He made it pretty clear that it wasn`t for us.

But yesterday he came and he said he wants to listen! Not really listen to all of the lessons again but to know why we believe what we believe. He wants to hear our testimonies. And he wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon. How cool? The Lord really can soften every heart. He will probably become an investigator again this week! We are excited that he is ready to listen.

Sunday afternoon we went caroling with some the members. We showed up at some of our PI`s, Investigators, and Less active homes. They were all a little surprised but I think it was a pleasantly surprised. It`s fun singing songs about the Savior to all these people that I love.

Well I love you all so much! Thanks for all of your support! The Church is TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas,
Dobson Shimai  

Gotta Love All My Sweaters and Scarves

Exchanges and Ward Christmas Party

December 18^th, 2012

Hello to all those I love!

I don`t have a lot of time to write today. Sorry.  It will be short. But just know that I have had lots of cool experiences this week! 

Well this week we had exchanges. That was fun. I went to Niihama with Sister Lewis. It was only 24 hours so it was really short but we had cool experiences and I am continuing on my journey to learn about how I receive revelation.  Really cool. 

The Sisters from Our Exchange

On Thursday we had an AWESOME lesson with N*** San. We didn`t get through everything we wanted to, but the Spirit was there. He really has such a sincere desire to learn. At the end as he was saying the prayer I was so happy! I can`t explain it. But the gentle thought of, `This is my special son. Thank you for helping him` came into my head. I was filled with this love for our investigator and I was a little teary eyed. I was so grateful for that experience. 

Then on Friday right before we were going to start district meeting he came to the church. He gave me and Anderson Shimai a Christmas present and then said that he wouldn`t be able to continue coming to church. He said he talked to his brothers and they told him he can`t. This is what happened last time he was investigator too. I guess he really just relies on his brothers` opinions.

My heart was broken! In our lesson just the night before I felt how much he really needed the gospel. Everyone needs the gospel, but he REALLY needs it! My heart hurt because I just wanted him to have the blessings that come from this wonderful truth.  He wants to know and he even said he felt God`s love. But ugh. His darn family! That night I even cried a little bit. I haven`t cried for a while but I did. But this time it was different. It wasn`t stemmed from selfish feelings of homesickness or feelings of inadequacy. This time it was because I was so sad for this poor man who needs the light of the gospel. 

Luckily the Lord is infinitely merciful. And I know that He will provide a way for N*** San to receive all the blessings the church will bring into his life. 

On Friday we met with M***. The spunky lady who loves Jesus Christ that we met last week. She invited us to her house and we just talked. And by we, I really mean her. We kept trying to start the first lesson but for some reason it just wouldn`t happen. I think she just needed to talk for a while. She lives a really hard life and I am sure she is pretty lonely. Anyways. We are meeting with her this next week. Hopefully we`ve built that relationship already so then it will be that much easier to teach her.  


On Saturday we had a really great party at the church. It was so fun! The members were all hustling and bustling around. The Christmas Parties here are a big deal. There was a play, and Santa came to give presents to the kids. And there was SO MUCH FOOD!!! Wow. So much food.

The I*** family came! That was great! That was the first time they`ve been to the church. Hopefully it was a good experience. 








 




Also O***`s daughters came. They are so cute!  





  





Sh*** Sai came with her Korean boyfriend. 

And our awesome investigator R*** came with her daughter and grandson. 

I was looking around at everyone and I was just so happy! I love these people. They are all so amazing. It was fun celebrating the birth of the Savior together. Especially in a culture where they don`t really do that. 

On Sunday R*** came to church! She said she would only come if it wasn`t raining or cold. She said that she would pray so that it wouldn`t be cold and she could come. We prayed as well. Sure enough, Sunday morning was a beautiful clear day. That was so exciting! We taught her during Relief Society and we had a great lesson! She likes to talk A LOT. But she is such a fun person! 

When we pulled out a picture of the Savior something super cool happened. She picked it up very reverently. She held it in her hands and then said, `I feel this love. I feel like I love Him like my older brother.` We hadn`t told her that he was her older brother! It was just a testimony builder to me that really we aren`t teaching anything new to these people. Their spirits already know it. They`ve all heard and accepted this knowledge before they came to this earth. It was cool to see the Spirit working with her spirit just testifying of truth. We just got to be in the room and watch. I was so grateful! 

Also! We got a new investigator. He`s pretty great. He is the friend of a ward member. They are both in college together and he came to the Christmas party.

Then next day he came to church. After church we taught him a lesson. At first I think he was a little hesitant and didn`t really know what was going on. But as we started talking he relaxed a little bit. We started talking about God`s love. He initially said that he has never felt it. But as we talked about when we normally feel it he said, `Oh! I have felt that before. I guess I just never thought of it in that way. Cool.` Ya. Way cool! :) 

Also. On Sunday we were out housing and we found this awesome family. They are from Peru but have lived in Japan for 30 years. They are so cute! The dad and kids all speak really good Japanese. The mom struggles and really only knows Spanish. I really don`t remember any Spanish! Both Anderson Shimai and me both forgot how to say friend! Amigo! Ya. That was embarrassing! We are going back to meet with them on Saturday and they said they are going to come to church on Sunday! Wahoo! 

This week U*** Shimai hasn`t been doing well. We haven`t been able to contact her. I don`t want to drop her. But she has her agency. We`ll try her again this week. But right now it seems like she isn`t really interested. *sigh* That is a big bummer. 

Anderson Shimai taught the Ch***`s while I was in Niihama. Apparently it wasn`t the most spiritual lesson we`ve had...Dang it. 

Well that`s about all for this week. There are miracles every day! Some big and and some small. But they are constantly happening. I love it! 

I love you all! 

Love,   Dobson Shimai 

愛するかぞくとともだち！

December 10, 2012

愛するかぞくとともだち！

How is everyone?

Things here in Takamatsu are cold and crazy. That`s usually how life goes though...right?

First of all I wanted to thank all of you who sent me cute notes for my Christmas tree! I haven`t put them up yet, I`ll do it today. But they are all wonderful and mean so much to me. Thanks!!

Where to start?

Last Monday was CRAZY!! We taught I***`s boys! That was so fun! I am not sure how well they understood....but they all said they would pray. And when we talked to her on Wednesday she said they are all praying!  Cute them. I just love them!

We also taught the O*** family. I am not sure how much interest the mom really has. But the cute 10 year old daughter just loves it! She told us she has been praying. She prays at school. She puts her head on her desk, folds her arms, and prays in her heart. She says she loves prayers. Then at the end of the lesson she prayed. She was so cute and said, `My mom can`t hear. But I love her. And I will make a cake for all the people who can`t hear.` She is sooooo sweet!

Well as we were riding home, it was getting pretty late and we were riding fast. Then...POP! My tire popped! There was no way I could ride it and we were a good 45 minute walk from home. Luckily we were close to a member`s house. We asked if we could park our bikes in front of their house. They were so nice and said yes, then gave us a ride home. When we pulled up in front of our house we saw our futons hanging outside to air....soaking wet. It was raining.

We both just looked at each other and started laughing. We were exhausted. We just thought it was hiliarious.

Anyways....

For the rest of the week...

On Wednesday we met with I*** San again. It was AWESOME!! So we started talking and she really opened up. We asked if she had any questions about anything we had taught up until that point. And then she said she had been doing some reading about our church on the internet. She had questions about the Pearl of Great Price, Word of Wisdom, Law of Tithing and a couple other random things. She really has such a sincere desire to know the truth.

I asked her why she kept meeting with us. She said it was at first because we just kept coming back. But now she really wants to know if this is true. (Kono koto wo shinjitsu ka do ka shiritai to omoimasu.) That is music to a missionary`s ears!

And then she told us that her boys had a questions about Heaven, and where they go after they die. And so she taught them part of the Plan of Salvation, mainly 3 kingdoms of glory! Isn`t that so cool?!!! Our investigator is teaching her boys the Plan of Salvation!!

As we were sitting there listening to her, I couldn`t stop smiling. I was so happy! I was filled with this joy and this special love for her. I am sure every missionary has felt this way at one point or another. But it was just...blissful.

So needless to say that was a great moment.

After her lesson we went and taught the C*** couple. (From Africa) The Spirit was not quite as strong in that lesson....I think the wife, T***, has a lot of real intent. She honestly wants to know if it is right. P*** on the other hand...I think he wants to prove us wrong. That`s a bummer. Their main question was about the Spirit World and so we tried teaching that but ended up teaching the whole Plan of Salvation.

We aren`t exactly sure how to help them. The lesson we have with them this week will kind of be like...either it`s true or it`s not. You can choose to get caught up in the difference of wording in the scriptures or you can just accept the message as a whole. Do you want to keep learning? That will be a little scary...but hopefully it will go well.

They actually came to church on Sunday which was great! T*** was so sweet and wanted to take a picture with us. She had a lot of really good questions. Not about proving it wrong, I think she genuinely is curious. I think she also needs friends.  Cute her. She just moved to Japan. She doesn`t speak any Japanese. And her husband is at school all day. No one that she lives by, or who goes to her church speaks English. I think she is a little lonely. I want to help her so much!! Hopefully P*** won`t get in the way of her progression.

Anyways...Moving on.

Thursday was great! We went to Okayama for a big conference. Elder Yamashida from the 70 came.  He spoke and did some training. (He spoke at General Conference about a year ago).

As he walked in we were all singing the `Armies of Helaman` song—Kobe, Japan Mission style. It was so fun to hear all of us, as missionaries, unified. It was a really cool experience! I was tingly all over. The Spirit is awesome!

He taught us a lot about teaching strategies, especially for Japanese people. How to help them, how to show more respect. It was really useful! I am bowing a lot more and a lot deeper now than I was before.

 
A shout out to my wonderful companion! It was her birthday on Friday. She got flowers from the branch, and a cake from a cute Eikaiwa student. But the day wasn`t like...extraordinary which I feel bad about.  Hopefully she had a good day.

Oh. On Friday we met this interesting lady. We met her as we were going to visit another PI who works in a little coffee shop. The two are friends. So her name is M***. She is ½ Japanese ½ Mongolian. But grew up in Russia. And went to school in Korea. And she loves English. She is 77 years old and kind of looks like a gypsy. She is Catholic. And she is just such a hoot. When we handed her our flier she opened it up and saw a picture of Christ. She just started weeping. She kept saying, `He is my Father, He is my Father`. It`s weird to see someone first, know who Jesus Christ is, and then to feel such love for Him. It was really cool.

And on Sunday she came to church! I looked at her when they were passing the sacrament and she was just weeping. She really is so moved by the Savior.

She had to leave right after Sacrament meeting so we didn`t get to meet with her. But we are meeting with her this week. Hopefully she will start listening. I think she would just latch on to the gospel!

We met with S*** (the Chinese girl who just showed up at church) on Thursday and passed her the pamphlet about Joseph Smith. She said she would read it before Sunday and then gave us cute little Christmas presents. But...she didn`t come to church and won`t answer her phone...Bummer.

U***Shimai. Yah, she`s had sort of a hard week. She has regressed a little. She isn`t really praying and reading and she won`t come to church. She won`t be able to baptized when we scheduled. But hopefully she won`t slip away.

Oh. Cool experience! So our Zone Leaders asked to make calls every Friday and Saturday night inviting people to come to church. We were looking through the area book and decided to call this previous investigator. He only met with the missionaries once or twice and then stopped because his brothers told him to. Well I called him and told him who we were and asked if he would like to go to church. He said he would! (That doesn`t normally happen). And sure enough, he came!

His name is N*** San. He is probably in his early 40`s. He stayed for all of church and then we taught him after. He is really interested and said he wants to learn about God. Also, he wants his heart to be clean. As we were teaching him he was understanding really well. We explained baptism a little and he said he wants to be baptized and actually set a date! January 13<sup>th</sup>!! He said he wants to meet during the week and on Sundays. He is just the best! He is such a sweet, tender hearted man. He said he doesn`t have any friends and wants help from God with his relationships.  Cute him. He will love not only the Spiritual strength he can receive from the Church, but I think also the social part will play a big key in helping him.

This week we have a lot of first lessons with people. We are pretty excited. Hopefully we can start teaching even more people! But truly the Lord has blessed us so much! We had 3 investigators come to church, we are teaching a lot of investigators, and finding more! The work is moving forward!

Enjoy all of the wonderful Christmas preparations!

Love always,

 Dobson Shimai