Home!

(UGH!!!!  So sorry!  I thought this posted two weeks ago)

Nicole is Home and we are loving having her back with us, though we know she is missing Japan and the people there.

She will be speaking at our ward this Sunday
December 8th at 11:00

Our ward building is at 6750 W. 10400 N. Highland

If you need help finding it call Nicole's Dad, Derek at 801-372-8494

We will be holding an open house later that evening from 7-9 at our home.

6848 W. 10205 N.  Highland

If you are coming from out of town, please drop by our house after Sacrament Meeting so you can visit with Nicole.

Last Email Home

November 11, 2013

It`s really weird writing this email. I know in my head that this is the last time I will email all of you. But it still hasn`t hit my heart yet. 

Well, this week was super awesome! We have cool things moving along here. 

First is always A**** Chan. I just LOVE her! She really is progressing super well! She has such a pure and believing heart. If she feels like it is truth, then she just readily accepts it. We even taught her about the atonement very simply, and she really understood it. 

She came to church and everybody just loves her. She fits right in. :) 

Y****  Kyodai

We also had a really cool experience with Y**** Kyodai! Well a few weeks ago he called us and said he wasn`t going to meet us at the church any more. If we wanted to meet him it would have to be at the mall or McDonalds. And we could teach him there. Well, I knew that teaching him at the mall was not going to be conducive to the Spirit, so I just told him that, that wasn`t happening. And if he wanted to come to church anytime he was free to come. 

I think he was kind of angry at us about that. And we didn`t hear from him for a while. But as a mission right now we have really been working on helping our investigators help themselves come unto Christ. And we do that by helping them with their prayers,Book of Mormon reading, and coming to church. 

So me and Crofts Shimai prepared a really good Book of Mormon lesson for him. And then we trusted in the Lord. And He pulled through. Tuesday afternoon we got a call from Y**** Kyodai. It went something along the lines of, `I want to meet at the church. Can you meet on Thursday? Ok. See you then. Bye.` I was super startled at first and not quite sure what had happened, but I was not complaining.

Well we show up to the church on Thursday for our lesson and he pulls out his Book of Mormon, puts it on the table and asks, `how am I supposed to read this?`. Whoa! So cool! When he said that my testimony just shot out of the roof. I knew that because we had prepared, the Lord blessed us and him so that he would be able to start progressing again. So cool!

Well, we obviously taught him about studying the Book of Mormon. Afterwards he said that it was very easy to understand and that he would try it. 

Zinke Kaicho (President Zinke)  is so inspired and I am grateful for him. I am grateful for the Lord who arranged all of this. And I am grateful to be a missionary taking part of this great work. 

We also got to meet with R**** and J****ana this week. Because they are both devout Catholics, they only say specific prayers. So we felt like we needed to simply teach prayer. 

Thank heavens for visual aids, (thanks to my trainer, Anderson Shimai who taught me how to make good visual aids) and the Spirit. Because combined they were able to understand and they both prayed at the end of the lesson. 

After they prayed the Spirit was so strong. They said that they both felt it and that they are going to continue to pray this way. Yay!!! I was so happy! 

Also on Saturday we got special permission to go with Hiromi and Satoru to do a little sight seeing. They are the ones we met in the bike shop forever ago. They have been coming to Eikaiwa every week. Hiromi is a member of the ward next to ours and Satoru is her non member friend. 

We had a great time with them and got to have a really good discussion about God and religion. He still seems a little nervous about religion, but I think he is warming up and is eventually going to be baptized. He really is so great! 

Then Sunday morning before church we were able to meet with F**** San. This lady who randomly came to church a few weeks ago. 

We also taught her about prayer. She seems to have some pretty severe anxiety problems but when she found out she could talk with God she couldn`t stop smiling. She seemed so much happier.

When we asked her what she want to ask God she said that she wants the darkness in our life to go away. When she said that my heart just ached for her. This poor woman is surrounded by darkness and is yearning for light. I bask in light everyday. I am spoiled rotten. Really, there is nothing hard about my life. I am so blessed. 

Well church was a great experience as well. We had 4 investigators come to church. (A****, Y****, F****, and S****) and the other sisters also had 4 people come. 

I think that woke up the members a little bit. They were all looking around at all of these people and getting really excited. 

It`s so cool to see everyone get so excited about missionary work! I was just sitting there soaking up the joy that come from being a missionary. It made me never want to stop. 

But as my wise companion, Crofts Shimai told me when I was complaining that I had to go home, there is a time and season for everything. 

Sometimes, it`s just hard when those times change. 

Well, I love you all so much. 

I love this work so much. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for my behalf. I know that God and Jesus Christ live. They love us more than we can imagine. And if we just turn to Them, they will lead and guide us safely back to their presence. 

The church is true! It is only through this gospel that we can find the most joy in this life, and eternal joy after this life. I am so grateful for it. 

I am so grateful for you. I love you, see you soon. 

Love, 

Dobson Shimai 

Arisa reminded me of my sister Becca

God is There and He Loves Each of Us

October 28, 2013

HELLO!! 

This week was a relatively good week. 

We got to meet with A**** Chan  (the cute college student we met last week) a few times this week. 

She is just so sweet!! 

We really are so blessed as missionaries!! We get to hear these people`s first prayers to their Heavenly Father. It really is such a neat experience. 

When we were teaching her prayer, at the end of the lesson we all kneeled down and prayed. As she prayed the Spirit definitely filled the room. 

Afterwards we all sat their quietly for a minute. She then said, `I feel so good. I know that God is there. I know that God loves me.` 

Japanese people really don`t say that a lot. It was so cool hearing it come from this beautiful 19 year old`s mouth. He really is there. And He really does love her. And all of us. 

She came to church and we got to teach her a little bit afterwards. She said that she loved church and wants to keep meeting with us! We love A**** Chan!!! 

We also got to meet with Y**** Kyodai. We decided to introduce him to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. We drew up a diagram on the whiteboard and just started talking about Heavenly Father. We intended on getting through all 3 personages, but after taking an hour just on Heavenly Father we decided to end it there. 

This poor man is really so lonely. He just needs to be loved, but he has a hard time believing that God can love him. 

I just want to help him understand, so badly! But If he isn`t willing to open his heart,

there isn`t much us or the Spirit can do. 

We`ll just keep praying that he will open his heart. 

We did meet this really great guy! We found him in the area book and called him and asked if he would like to meet the missionaries again. He agreed and we set up an appointment. 

He is a 22 year old college student and when I first saw him I was so surprised how much light he had.   Definitely more light than any other investigator I`ve had, and even a lot of the members here. 

We sat down and started talking with him and he just talked about how interested he is in church. He said he was even baptized Christian a couple years ago when he went on a study abroad. His biggest question right now is which church is right, or if they are all ok as long as you believe in Christ. 

We told him we would teach him that next time. He also said that his mom would be interested in meeting the missionaries as well. 

We got so excited!!! 

Unfortunately he doesn`t live in our area. He lives in the one next to ours. When we told him there was a church closer to his house he said that he would prefer to go to that one because he would be able to go more. 

Although of course I would love to teach him, I know that the Elders next door will take good care of him. And it`s not a competition of who has the most investigators. We are all on the same team helping our brothers and sisters come unto Christ. 

The rest of our investigators either got sick or had work so they couldn`t meet with us. That was a downer. 

This week is Halloween! Yay! Any fun plans? 

We actually have interviews. All the sisters in my apartment are thinking about dressing up. I won`t tell you what we are going to be. You`ll get to see next week. :) 

Well I love you all so much!! 

Love, 

Dobson Shimai 

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