Whitewashing* with Kubo Shimai

Me and Kubo Shimai

June 10, 2013

Transfer weeks are always a whirlwind of craziness. 

This past week was good. Got everything wrapped up in Shimogamo. I do love that place. I`m sad I had to leave. I am especially sad I had to leave A*** Shimai. I love her so much! 

Friday we woke up early did the big companion shuffle and me and Kubo Shimai headed off to our area. 

We came into so blessed! The Sisters who were here before us worked so hard and we have a lot going on. 

We even have a sister who is going to get baptized this Sunday. We are so excited. 

On Friday we went and met with her. She is so SOLID! Wow. She met with the missionaries about 10 years ago but then got really busy with work and had to stop. 

But then about a month ago she felt like she needed to start meeting with them again. So she went online, found the closest church, and called the missionaries. She has no problems and can`t wait to be baptized! Wow!! Truly there are prepared people waiting to hear this beautiful message! 

The rest of the week was basically trying to get a hold of ward members and investigators and just trying to plan and sort everything out. Whitewashing always brings such adventures. 

The ward is good. We actually share a building with the area next to ours. It`s weird! I had forgotten what it was like to have 2 wards going to the same building at the same time. It`s not as big as I had anticipated. I counted around 35 people in Sacrament meeting which is a change from the 70-80 in Shimogamo. But they all seem really nice and I am excited to work with them. 

Things with Kubo Shimai are going well. It`s definitely different having a Nihonjin companion. While we are contacting, or even talking with members, even when I talk they look at her to translate and expound on what I am saying. Haha. I know my Japanese isn`t awesome, but it worked just fine when I didn`t have a Japanese companion. People understood what I was saying. I guess just the Asian face makes them feel more comfortable. 

Kubo Shimai`s English is pretty good. She wants to get better at English, and I want to get better at Japanese, so we generally speak English in the apartment and Japanese outside. Although honestly, Japanese is becoming more comfortable than English so I sometimes just slip into Japanese in the apartment accidentally. 

We get a long pretty well, but things are definitely at a different pace. They have slowed down a lot. I have just been blessed with full throttle, hard working companions in the past. Slowing down is a new experience. 

I`ll get used to it soon I guess. 

We are going to start doing exchanges this week with some of the younger sister missionaries. I am way excited to work with them! Missionary work is awesome! 

Although I did have a little panic attack when I realized that this week I have been a missionary for a year! What? Wow. That went by so fast. I can hardly believe it!! 

Well just quickly to wrap up. President Zinke recently came out with a new mission training plan. Something he wants us to focus on as a mission. It`s called `Second Grade Simple`. The gist is to try and teach more simply so that our investigators can understand us better. 

As I was studying the training plan a little bit I was reading something that we, as members of the church, have read over and over again. It`s written a few times in the scriptures. The Lord will give us `line upon line, precept upon precept`. As I read that I realized that I have no idea what a precept is. So I looked up the definition. It is `a rule about how to behave or what to think`. And I had this epiphany: God is a Behaviorist! I LOVE BEHAVIORISM!! That is what I studied in school, did at my job, and what I am going to continue doing after my mission. 

In behaviorism there is a concept called chaining or sequencing. I`ll give an example of when you would use it. It might be easier to understand. 

For example, if you wanted to teach a kid how to get dressed by himself, you would help him put on all of his clothes. You would do that a few times. Then you would help him put all of his clothes on, except for his shoes. You would do that until he could put on his shoes by himself. Then you would help him put on all of his clothes except for his socks and shoes. Do that until he mastered that skill. Then you would continue going backwards until he could do it all by himself. 

You don`t, however, move on to the socks until he has completely mastered the shoes. Even if it takes a month for him to learn. You don`t move on. 

Each of those steps is a precept. The Lord gives us just a little bit to try us and see if we could do what He has asked. Once we have shown Him that we `learned` it, then He will allow us to put on our `socks`. 

Sometimes this can be a very slow and arduous process. But in the end, it is well worth the learning process.

So we should do this with our investigators. We should teach them a little bit. Line upon line. Precept upon precept. And we should not move on until they have fully understood that task. Because if they can`t understand how to put on their shoes, or how to pray, nothing else is going to work. You can keep `teaching` them new concepts, but they won`t learn it until they have mastered the first step. 

That was kind of long, but I just got so excited about it. Haha. I`m such a nerd. 

Well I love you all so much!! 

-Dobson Shimai 

*Whitewashing is when two missionaries go into a new area together