Dobson Shimai: Konichiwa! What an Awesome Week!

April 8, 2013

Konnichiwa! Ogenki desu ka. Kono mairu wa zenbu nihongo dattara, daijobu desu ka?
Tabun nai to omoimasu.....

(Translation: Hello. Howare you? If this email was all in Japanese would that be ok? Probably not....)

Well it sounds like things are going well at home. I am glad to hear. I hope you all enjoyed conference. I can`t wait to watch it next week! I am SO excited!

Well quick update on this week.

Investigator 1: Ay*** Shimai. She got pretty sick this week so we weren`t able to met her and she wasn`t able to have her interview. She won`t be making the 14th. Hopefully the 21st but we still aren`t sure... That`s about all that needs to be said about her.

Investigator 2: Fu*** Shimai. She is doing well. We had a lesson with her last week. We mostly talked about God again. We had told her before, but when we said that He is a human and has a body she was super surprised. Apparently we didn`t teach it well enough the first time. She asked a lot of good questions and said she wants to continue learning. Yay. She is just continuing to be awesome.

Investigator 3: Ni*** Shimai. HOLY COW!! She is probably the most diligent, studious, awesome investigator I have ever had!

Last week she wasn`t able to come to church so we didn`t set up another appointment. So we decided to visit her and try and set up one. She invited us in and we sat down and talked for a while. When we asked her if we could met again she readily agreed and then said, `Ok. What`s my homework? I want to be ready.` We told her that we would be talking about prophets. We asked her to read from the scripture guide in the back of her Book of Mormon. (It`s like the equivalent of the Bible Dictionary-which they don`t have in Japanese) The part we wanted her to read was just a couple of paragraphs. She looked at the section and then wrote down all of the scripture references they had and said, `I`ll read these too.` She really is just thirsting for that knowledge and is wanting more and more. We need to give her more of it. We aren`t giving it to her fast enough!

Well she showed up to the lesson 2 days later. She had read all the scripture passages and then pulls out a bible and said, `I got this bible from the Jehovah`s Witnesses. They also have the references on prophets. THis is what I found.` And then shows us pages of references talking about prophets! Wow! Can you say amazing?!

The only problem is that we thought she it was going to be way easy to describe a prophet and then move smoothly into the restoration. But no. She wanted the DEEP explanation of a prophet. THe only problem is that I don`t even know the deep explanation of a prophet, nor how to describe it adequately enough in Japanese. Ya. Basically we talked for an hour about prophets. She wouldn`t let us move on because she didn`t feel like she understood it well enough. She said she wanted to study more and then come back and talk about it. Ugh. I wish I could have given her the answer she was looking for.

But before she left I felt like I should ask her why she wanted to continue meeting with us. Her answer was short. Simple. To the point. `I want to go back to God.` Well. That`s good enough for me!
We are meeting with her again this week. Hopefully we will be more prepared this time.

Investigator 4 &5: Yes! We got 2 new investigators this week! We are so excited! It is a Chinese mom who is a professor here, and her 20 year old son. Her name is Z*** M*** M***. His name is N***.
They were a referral from a member in Kansas (where they lived for a while). We got it clear back in September and we have been trying to contact her since then, but she has been so busy that she hasn`t been able to meet. We tried calling her again to set up an appointment and she asked us to go to her house 2 hours later. We were so excited!

Wow! She is just amazing. She really opened up and told us very personal stories about how she know God lives and is watching out for her and her 2 boys. She lives a pretty hard life but she is amazing! They are Luthern, but when they lived in Kansas they had some contact with the church and went to some activities. They were super impressed by it and she wants to learn more. They really are so amazing! I can`t wait to met with them again!!

And that is basically it for our investigators this week.

Just something I wanted to share that I have been thinking about lately. So we as missionaries in Japan ride our bikes. A lot! And `all things denote there is a God`. So I think that includes our bikes.

As a mission lately we have really been studying the Atonement lately. How to use the cleansing power to access the enabling power of the atonement.

And this week as I was riding my bike I realized that the enabling power of the atonement is like a bike.

If I get on a bike and put it in first gear, I start moving. I am moving more than I would if I was just walking. But if I am willing to put in a little extra effort and switch up to gear 2, I get propelled a little bit farther. I can go more of a distance.

As I am willing to move up to the next gear I go even farther.
Once i start getting to 4th and 5th gear I am having to put in a considerable amount of effort. My legs may get kind of sore, and I may want to rest. But I am moving across a considerable distance.

Once I get to gear 6 I am maxed out. I`ve pushed all the way. But as I think back to how far/fast I was going on my lower gears, and then realize my progress, I can see how much more I am accomplishing.

My gears are always able to propel me forward. More so than I could if I was just on my own. The bike has the mechanisms to propel me forward. It`s a perfect equation (Well I`m guessing.) But the bike is limited as to how far it can take me. I have to be the one who chooses which gear I put it in. How much effort I am willing to give.

It is just like the atonement! Our Savior is standing there. Wanting us to ride on His bike. He wants us to get on so He can magnify and propel us forward. But He will never 1) Force us on to the bike. And 2) Make us go to a gear that we don`t want to. But as we do choose to put in our fullest efforts, He will be able to lengthen and extend us to do, be, and go farther than we ever could on our own.

And so it is in missionary work. Of course the Lord will help us in His work. He wants to do that. But, as I give my fullest efforts to the Lord, He takes and magnifies my every move.
I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ!

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Love,
Dobson Shimai

P.S. We have interviews next Monday so I won`t be emailing until Tuesday.

Here are pictures from Last Week's P-Day