Dobson Shimai: Sister Croft Has Arrived!

September 2, 2013

Wow! It is crazy how fast time flies!

August 30, 2012 I was at the mission home getting picked up by the wonderful Anderson Shimai.

August 30, 2013 I was at the mission home picking up my wonderful new companion, Croft Shimai!!

Crofts Shimai is from Idaho Falls, She is a hard worker. I love her so much!

She is 19 and went to BYU for a little bit before her mission. So far she has just had a smile on her face and is so excited to be here. She has such a happy, positive outlook and I can`t wait to spend the next transfer with her.

She didn`t study Japanese before her mission, but she is learning it crazy fast. Way faster than I ever did. I really am just so impressed with her!

Honestly, the beginning of the week wasn`t super exciting. Not a whole lot to report.

Well! I lied. There is one thing. The member and her friend we met at the bike shop came to Eikaiwa again! This time the friend came up to us and asked us what we do every day as missionaries. He said he was really curious. Well, we got to talk to him about it a little bit. You can see his heart slowly starting to change. He still seems really apprehensive about church, but he is warming up to the idea. I think it might be slow at first, but he is totally going to become an investigator.

Friday, I picked up Crofts Shimai and we made it safely home.

Saturday, we were in the middle of weekly planning and we get a text from our investigator, T****

San. We`ve only met with her once, and we had an appointment with her but she couldn`t make it because of work. We`ve been trying to met with her again but it just hasn`t happened yet.

Well, she texts us and says, `hey, I just got off work. Is there any way that we can meet right now?` Um...YES! I think we can manage that. So we hopped on our bikes in the pouring rain and met her at the train station and then walked together to the church.

We gave her a tour of the church and she seemed super interested about the whole thing. Then we sat down with her in the chapel and retaught about God and taught her prayer. I seriously LOVE teaching people here about prayer. It is such a special opportunity we have to listen to the first prayer they have ever uttered in their life. I feel like a parent.

Her prayer was so humble and sweet. It was totally a conversation, and she just openly told Heavenly Father that she wasn`t sure whether or not he was actually there. Then she said something along the lines of, `Well, God, I don`t know if you are there. But I am going to ask you. Are you there?` She then waited a good 10 seconds. Then she continued, `If you are there. Please help me feel your love in my life. If I do feel your love, I`ll be really grateful and I will make sure to say a gratitude prayer.` So cute!!

She is so special, and has such a special light about her. I can`t wait to keep meeting with her!

We unfortunately weren`t able to meet with our little family this week. The dad called and said he had a last minute job at work come up so they had to cancel and he wasn`t sure when he would have time again.

Well, we weren`t going to be deterred by that so Sunday afternoon we set out on a quest to find their house and pay them a little visit.

Long story short...let`s just say Japanese addresses are REALLY confusing...and I am not the best at figuring them out. Ya. We didn`t find it.

But I was so grateful for my adorable, patient companion. Even though I was so lost she had a smile on her face the whole time and was just happy to keeping peddling her bike regardless of the mosquito bites on her legs, and how sweaty we both were, and she still is not totally confident on a bike, so sometimes she would wobble.

She`s such a trooper!!

BUT we did meet this SUPER nice mom of 3 little kids. She tried to help us find the house. Then when we talked to her about what we do she said we could go back to her and visit. Yay!!

So, didn`t go and find what we were looking for, but we still were blessed.

Well, that`s all for today folks.

Best of wishes for the week!

Love,
Dobson Shimai