Dobson Shimai: Leaving Takamatsu for Kyoto

March 11, 2013

Well. It`s time for me to say goodbye to my beloved home of Takamatsu. Oh. How I will miss it. I`ve grown so much here that it has become a part of me. Of course I will miss the members and investigators, but I guess I can`t stay here for my whole mission. That`s a bummer.

Sunset in Takamatsu

Anyways. So I am transferring to Shimogamo. It`s in Kyoto. Only the coolest place in ALL of Japan! :) The apartment is a 3 minute bike ride from the Emperor`s Palace. How cool is that?!! Way excited about that.

My new companion is going to be Davis Shimai. She was Walker Shimai`s companion. I`m sure we`re going to get along just great. I`m obviously so sad to be transferring, but at least I have a fun place I get to transfer to!

The First Cherry Blossoms of Spring

Well quick rundown for the week.

Last Monday we had our first lesson with Ha****Chan without her family (but with their permission). It went really well!! Definitely not because of us, but because she really is such a special girl! I seriously was never as spiritual as her when I was 10!

We taught the restoration and she seemed to understand really well. After the lesson she had an AWESOME prayer! It went something along the lines of, `I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and that we now have Christ`s true church on the earth. I am grateful for prophets who help us. I am grateful I got to learn about your church today. etc` Oh. She is just so great!

After her prayer the member who came with us said, `Wow. You pray better than my kids!` She really is such a special and strong spirit. I am going to miss her so much!!! We stopped by her house of Friday to see how she was doing. She said she had been praying every day and that whenever she prayed she got these weird feeling that she couldn`t describe. But she knew that it was from God.

Wow. I was not recognizing the Spirit when I was 10. And there she is. Just receiving revelation. It`s soooo cool to watch her. Today we are teaching her to recognize the Spirit with some fun games. I am so excited!!!

This week we had a lot of lessons lined up...and most of them fell through. Dang it! We haven`t lost our faith. But it was kind of a long week with a lot of finding time.

But Sunday was good. We had the equivalent of stake conference. That was fun! Ra**** and another PI came to church. That was great!

Ra*** is so funny. Right now she really doesn`t like meeting with us but she loves coming to church. I can`t figure her out. But she just soaked it all up and loved every minute. Our PI was interested for some of the time and not as much sometimes. But afterwards she turned to us and said, `I didn`t realize you were Mormons!` I guess her niece is a member but is living in the US right now. Interesting... She said she is really busy so she may or may not hear our message. I`m not exactly sure what that means. But I am hoping we get to meet with her this week.

After church we had a lesson with the Peruvian family. The dad was still out of town for work but we met with the mom and their cute 7 year old daughter. We tried to explain the restoration in the most simple Japanese we knew while occasionally throwing in some Spanish words we had an Elder teach us.

We then watched the restoration movie in Spanish. Afterwards the mom just opened up. She kept saying over and over, `I`ve had these same questions. There are so many churches. Which one is right? I`ve been praying to know which one is right!` I have never had someone say that to me on my mission!

I was flabbergasted and obviously SOO excited!!! The Lord truly has prepared this special family thousands of miles away from their country, to hear the gospel. It just strengthens my testimony that the Lord truly is so mindful of each and every one of us. He wants us to come to Him. He wants all of His children to come to Him. I am so grateful for that.

Well. That about sums up the week.

I love you all sooooo much!

Over and out,

-Dobson Shimai