Crazy Bike Riding and Miracles

Making Spring Rolls

July 29, 2013

Wow. It has been a week. I don`t even know where to start.

We got to meet with our 20 year old investigator, C**** Chan. She is SOO cute. We taught her about God and how He is a person. She kept saying, `What?! I am so surprised! I had no idea!! What? He has a body?`

At first she was a little dubious about the whole thing. She honestly believed that God was a plant or a mountain. But as we just went slow and talked about God, she felt the Spirit. She said, `I can only 1/2 believe what you are saying right now. But in my heart, I feel so....calm.` We had her pray at the end of the lesson. It was such a cool prayer! She said, `God. I don*t know if you are there. And I don*t know if you love me. But I think it would be really happy if you did.` Sweet!! As missionaries it really is such a special opportunity getting to work with these people who have no idea who God is, and then they get to learn about Him and start building that relationship with Him. I love it!!

On Wednesday we had a cool experience. We have this investigator. Y**** San. He has been an investigator for over a year. He has heard the missionary lessons over and over again. He thinks he knows everything. So whenever you teach him he just kind of brushes it off.

Well we knew we needed to help him have a spiritual experience in the lesson. We both prayed and felt like we needed to talk to him about the temple.

We started out by showing him the Liahona magizine with all of the pictures of the temples.

We started slowly flipping through the pictures. He got a light in his eyes and he sat up in his chair. He was actually getting excited.

By the time we got to the pictures of the ones inside the temple he took the magazine from us and started flipping through. He was making comments like, `That stained glass window is so pretty! I love stained glass!` Or, `There is no way that is a painting! It looks just like nature. It`s so big! How did they even paint that?`

It was so cool to finally see him excited about the gospel! He really opened up and we were able to understand what his desire in life is and what some of his reservations about joining the church. I feel like we are going to be able to help him so much more now. I really am so grateful that the Spirit told us what we needed to do. Such a blessing!!

Friday we had a cool/funny/embarrassing experience.

After district meeting we were going to go visit one of our investigators that I haven*t met since I`ve been here. He is a 13 year old boy that some of the previous sisters found while housing.

We had tried calling and texting him but he didn`t answer. So we decided to go and visit him.

Well after district meeting we were crossing the street with the Elders in our district. While we were waiting at the light one of the elders started talking to this little boy on his bike. He was around 10 and spoke pretty good English. Well the light turned green and he started riding away. And then I got this idea. We should follow him to his house, because I am sure he has a family and I bet they would love to meet with 2 gaijin and maybe listen to the gospel. So I yell at Chavez Shimai to follow him.

The only problem is that this kid starts booking it! He was going so fast. He started darting in and out of cars and people. We were both panting trying to keep up with him. He stopped for a minute and got a drink from a vending machine and then was back on the road. Well then he crossed the street illegally and we couldn*t follow him and we lost him.

Now I know that sounds like a random story but, just wait. Well, we decided to just keep going to were our investigator lived.

We show up at his house, wipe the sweat off of our faces, and knock on his door. The mom opens the door and has this super surprised look on her face. To not make the situation awkward, (because we didn*t have an appointment) I just said, `Oh hey, we were close so we thought we should swing by.`

She then said, `Come in come in! I just say you riding your bikes by the railroad. You were going so fast! You must be exhausted.`

AWKWARD! She totally knew that I just lied to her. AND she saw us riding our bikes like total maniacs.

Well we sat down and started talking with Koki Kun. The 13 year old boy. I guess in the past lessons the mom would never sit down and listen to the lesson. She was always just working around the house. But as we started talking to him about God she came and sat down.

It was so cool to see her sitting on the edge of her chair listening.

There came a part in the lesson that I told them that because we are all God`s children we are siblings. And because of that, I love them.

When I said that I felt like my heart jumped out of my chest and it was reaching out to them. I really did love both of them even though it was my first time meeting them. It was all I could do to keep from crying.

As a missionary I have been so blessed! I get to feel just a fraction of the love that Heavenly Father has for these people. It really is more than I could ever comprehend. It is so amazing!!

Well at the end of the lesson the mom started asking us a lot of really good questions. She asked why we chose Japan and if we don*t charge anything for our message, how are we eating. When I told her that we saved up our own money and are using that, her eyes got really big and she tried giving us a whole box of donuts.

She said that she doesn*t have a desire to join any Christian church because her parents are really strong Buddhists. But she said she does want to hear more about our church! Yay!! So she became a new investigator and we are seriously so excited about them! We haven*t met the dad yet, but they are a family. The mom, the dad, the 13 year old boy, and the cutest 4 year old girl. For reals! I am so excited about them!!

So many miracles!

On Saturday we felt like we needed to go to the park and try talking with some moms. We saw these 2 little girls and a mom and both me and Chavez Shimai looked at each other and we knew we needed to talk to them. Right as we went over the mom got on the phone. Dang it. So we decided to wait around and watch a nearby trackmeet going on.

Then one of the little girls comes up to us and starts speaking in totally fluent English. Seriously. She was soo good! She knew words like time casual, coffin, and music producer. I have no idea what any of those words are in Japanese.

Anyways, we just started talking with her. Then her mom got off the phone. She said , `Hey you are those missionaries for the church over there, right? I live right next to the church.  I see you every day!` We struck up a friendly conversation and became friends. She then asked us if we could ever spend a couple of hours at the church and teach her, her daughter, and their friends about the Bible.

Umm..yeah! I think we can arrange something. She said she wants her daughter to hear the bible stories. But everyone already knows the Christmas story. She asked if there were any other ones we could teach her.

We talked about the Book of Mormon and how there are stories in there as well. We told her about the part in 3 Nephi where Christ blesses the children and there are angels. The mom said, `Oh! If there are angels, that`s perfect. Teach us that story.` So we planned a day where she is going to invite basically her whole neighborhood over to the church to learn about the bible/book of Mormon! I am so excited!!

Even when there are really hard days because you get told know 1,000 and 1 times, having moments like that make it all worth it!

Well my time is running out. But I love you all so much!

The church is true!!!

Love,

Dobson Shimai

Love My New Companion!

Me and Sister Chavez

July 22, 2013 

This week was really great. Finished up everything we needed to in Okamachi. Said bye to the members and investigators. Love them all! 

But Thursday I made it safely here to Mikunigaoka. Me and Chavez Shimai are getting along just great! She was born and raised in America, but her mom is from Guatemala so she speaks fluent Spanish. She`s pretty awesome. 

On Saturday we taught a lesson to one of our investigators. Y****

San. He`s been an investigator for over a year. And honestly I don`t know why he is meeting with the missionaries. He loves meeting us, and coming to church, and he LOVES the Book of Mormon. But right now we feel like something is holding him back. He is having a hard time committing to any baptismal date. While teaching him I realized that he thinks he knows a lot of stuff because he has heard the lessons so many times. But the truth is, he has a lot things mixed up. I want to help him so bad but we don`t know what he needs.

On Sunday both me and Chavez Shimai felt like we were going to find someone. One of the Lord`s Elect. We were praying for a family. We REALLY want to teach a family. 

So we started seeking specific revelation on where we needed to go. We both had the same place in mind. With the same sort of house. A tall yellow house. I got so excited because the other families I`ve taught have all been in tall yellow houses. :)

So we go to the place we thought of. We do all around that area. All rejections. Ugh! Well we prayed to figure out where we needed to go from there. I had the thought to ask Chavez Shimai. I asked her. She said we just needed to start walking towards the road. So we do that. We stop the first girl we see and start talking with her. I told her who we are and what that we were talking about God and the Purpose of Life. She got this really big smile on her face, her eyes were basically sparkling and she heard the most beautiful words I have ever heard on my mission. `Can I have you tell me about that?!` Um...YES!!!! 

Unfortunately she was late for something and she had to leave right then but she gave us her name and phone number and asked us to call her. She lives in the next area over, but we are thinking we might just teach her, being Shimai and all. :) 

Long story short. We went to the house that we saw while we were praying. They didn`t want to listen to our message. But the place that we stopped the lady was seriously 10 feet from that house. The Lord truly does lead and guide us to be where we need to be. 

I love missionary work!! 

That`s about it from over here. I love you all so muchi! 

Love, 

Dobson Shimai 

Our Apartment Shimai

Transfers Again

July 15, 2013

Wow. It feels like I was just emailing about transfers 2 weeks ago. I guess it has already been 6 weeks. Starting the big transfer 9! Not double digits yet so I am still young. ;) 

I am going to be transferring to Mukunigaoka. I will finish up the training of a second transfer missionary, Sister Chavez. And I will still be a sister training leader. My companion for that is going to be living in the same apartment with me and it's Sister Nakatsuka!!! Seriously SOO excited!! I love her! I met her in the MTC and she saved me so many times! She's Nihonjin but speaks fluent English so she helped me a lot when I had to talk with the other Nihonjin Sisters in the MTC. Ah! I seriously love her!! I am so excited for this next transfer!! 

This week....was....HOT! Oh wow. It was hot. Unfortunately the heat made my companion pretty sick so we didn't get out of the apartment a whole lot.... 

On Wednesday we had interviews with President. I am so lucky to be in this mission! Seriously. The Lord knew exactly who I needed for my Mission President, and it was Pres. Zinke. 

Me and T**** Shimai

Thursday we taught T**** Shimai. At first we were really nervous because the member who helps us translate  because she’s deaf said she couldn't come. But we decided we would still have the lesson. But seriously through the gift of tongues we were all able to understand each other! It was such a blessing. And if there were times that we had no idea what was going on, we used the whiteboard. It was a way cool lesson. 

In the previous lesson it seemed like she still was confused about God and Jesus Christ. But when we went to review it at the beginning of the lesson she understood everything! Yay! She's so cute. She has such a strong desire to be baptized. But when you ask her why, she said she doesn't know. She's kind of like a primary child in that sense. We are trying to help her understand the importance of baptism, but at least she has the desire! :) 

We also taught a lesson to T**** Chan. She is a high schooler, we met her once before. She said she has an interest in learning about Christianity. But talking with her more we found out she has an interest in learning about all religion. Right now she is also meeting with a Jewish Priest, a Muslim....leader (I have no idea what they are called), and she is also studying Greek Mythology and really liking it....

That's awesome she is open to a lot of different religions. We just want to help her realize how this is the only one that has everything. 

On Friday and Saturday we went on a exchange which was really good. I learned a lot. I am really the lucky one. Getting to go around and seeing how everybody dendos. It is way cool. 

 

We also taught K**** Shimai a couple of times this week. She is seeming to understand really well, but she won't really let the things we are teaching her go into her heart. hmm.... 

Well. That was about it for the week. 

I love you all so much! I hope you are enjoying your summer! 

Love,
Dobson Shimai 

 

Faith...Taking a step into the Darkness

More Exchanges

July 8, 2013

Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well. Is it hot over there? Boy it is so hot over here! I am pretty sure I have never sweated so much in my entire life. 

But that's alright. 

This week....went pretty well. 

Mission Presidents Counsel with Sister Hansen

On Tuesday we had Mission Leader Counsel. President talked a lot about faith. 

He talked about how we get to a certain point and we can do something. It no longer requires our faith. But in order to keep exercising our faith we need to keep pushing past what we feel comfortable doing. 

For example. Getting on my bike everyday when I first got to Japan, was a huge act of faith. It scared me to death. I was always so afraid I was going to fall off or get hit by a car. 

Now I am totally fine. I LOVE riding my bike. It no longer requires my faith to get on my bike. But there are other things that require me going past my comfort zone and relying on the Lord. 

Because my comfort zone has expanded significantly since the beginning of my mission I feel like recently I haven't been exercising my faith as much as I should be. 

I probably have been content with the way that things have been going recently. 

I recently read this quote by President Packer, and I realized I should be exercising more faith in my daily dendo. 

“Faith, to be faith, must center around something that is not known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown. Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness.”

This week I was really trying to exercise my faith and work even harder. We found some potential investigators, but they just aren't turning into new investigators. That's been a little frustrating. 

T**** Shimai is doing well. She just soaks up the feeling at church even though she doesn't understand most of it. I do love teacher her though. And it is way fun getting to learn Japanese sign language. I actually got to use it on the street while contacting a deaf lady. She wasn't interested, but it was cool that I could communicate with her. 

On Monday when we met with K**** Shimai we were pretty strict. We felt like she wasn't meeting with us because of the gospel, but because she just wanted help with English. We reestablished expectations with her and she kind of left fuming. She was not happy. 

But then we met with her again on Saturday and she was totally different. She was very humble and was ready and willing to learn. 

She is actually the first non-member Japanese person I have met who understands the Book of Mormon. She can read a verse and tell you exactly what it means. That is pretty amazing. 

So hopefully these wonderful changes wrought in her heart can continue. 

Got to go on another exchange which was fun. Most of the Sisters right now are training 2 new missionaries at a time. Honestly, being a Sister Trainer Leader is the cushy end of the deal. haha. I am pretty darn lucky. 

Well. That's about it from my end.
 I love you all so much!! 

Love, 

Dobson Shimai