Fam! Great to hear from you! Mom - I got your package this week: THANK YOU!!! Grandma's book is beautiful. I can't believe all the work that went in to that. Also- I love the calendar; the people sitting next to me in church will sing your praises for sending deodorant, and tell Aunt Chelsea thanks for the Christmas cards and money. It was neat to see the picture of all her kids - they have changed a lot. And thanks so much for the maple flavoring - we had french toast the next morning! I sure love Japanese food, and I used to not want to eat American food at all because I'm in JAPAN! But a couple weeks ago we went to a member's house and we had pizza, and wow, when I ate that I started remembering all sorts of my favorite foods that I hadn't had for almost a year. Ever since then, a couple times a week I just have to eat something that tastes like food I grew up with. It’s a good balance.
Oh wow Mom - this week's e-mail was great! I have just read it about three times and wish I could read it 3 more times! Tell Janes 'hi' for me. She seems like a pretty hilarious person. I'm excited to be able to have a conversation with her someday. And hearing about all of you doing the Feel great in 8 was perfect. I'm going to be smiling about that all week.
Yesterday after we left church we got a call and the guy who randomly showed up in sacrament meeting had showed up again. We hurried and went back to the church and had a lesson. We watched the Joseph Smith DVD and bore testimonies afterwards. As I bore my testimony I thought about a letter Cam wrote a long time ago about a lesson when he bore his testimony and really felt the Spirit because as he spoke he thought of all the ways that our family has been blessed by the gospel. Just thinking about that as I spoke made my words so much more meaningful.
This week we have had a lot more lessons that perhaps any other week of my mission. It was good but I have decided I really need to know how to better invite the Spirit. I guess I just realized that I would rather have one really powerful lesson than a dozen where we just fall into a routine and don't really think about what we are saying. I have learned from Cam's experience that he shared. I have realized that one of the best ways for me to really bear a powerful testimony is to think about specific things that have helped me gain a testimony about that thing while I speak. So if I'm testifying about tithing, I think about some specific times when I can remember paying tithing, and try to remember the feeling I felt at that time. It's something that helps a lot. I need to do it more and stop thinking so much about what might be going through people's minds as I talk. I always try to adapt things to people's needs and focus on things that I think will apply to them, but really, if I just make sure that my words invite the spirit, then no matter what I say it will apply to them.
A blessing of being a missionary is learning the power of testimony - and actually learning what a testimony is in the first place. The purest testimonies are the most honest ones. Something I want to focus on is making my testimony more pure.
Mom, I think a lot about you being in Young Women’s and teaching lessons all the time. Emma Jean Rider wrote me a letter and told all sorts of things about our family and all the things that she sees everyone involved in. I loved it. She said you are sure working hard in the Young Women’s. I love hearing about what you are thinking about as you prepare lessons. I will try to think of something you can tell the Young Women next week. (Also know – Emma Jean isn't the only one who reports to me about all of you - others from the ward also write. Our ward is great.)
Ok, gotta go. Attached are some pictures from various things we've done lately. (A lady dressed us up in Kimonos for church on New Years).
Love you! - Waite Shimai
Oh wow Mom - this week's e-mail was great! I have just read it about three times and wish I could read it 3 more times! Tell Janes 'hi' for me. She seems like a pretty hilarious person. I'm excited to be able to have a conversation with her someday. And hearing about all of you doing the Feel great in 8 was perfect. I'm going to be smiling about that all week.
Yesterday after we left church we got a call and the guy who randomly showed up in sacrament meeting had showed up again. We hurried and went back to the church and had a lesson. We watched the Joseph Smith DVD and bore testimonies afterwards. As I bore my testimony I thought about a letter Cam wrote a long time ago about a lesson when he bore his testimony and really felt the Spirit because as he spoke he thought of all the ways that our family has been blessed by the gospel. Just thinking about that as I spoke made my words so much more meaningful.
This week we have had a lot more lessons that perhaps any other week of my mission. It was good but I have decided I really need to know how to better invite the Spirit. I guess I just realized that I would rather have one really powerful lesson than a dozen where we just fall into a routine and don't really think about what we are saying. I have learned from Cam's experience that he shared. I have realized that one of the best ways for me to really bear a powerful testimony is to think about specific things that have helped me gain a testimony about that thing while I speak. So if I'm testifying about tithing, I think about some specific times when I can remember paying tithing, and try to remember the feeling I felt at that time. It's something that helps a lot. I need to do it more and stop thinking so much about what might be going through people's minds as I talk. I always try to adapt things to people's needs and focus on things that I think will apply to them, but really, if I just make sure that my words invite the spirit, then no matter what I say it will apply to them.
A blessing of being a missionary is learning the power of testimony - and actually learning what a testimony is in the first place. The purest testimonies are the most honest ones. Something I want to focus on is making my testimony more pure.
Mom, I think a lot about you being in Young Women’s and teaching lessons all the time. Emma Jean Rider wrote me a letter and told all sorts of things about our family and all the things that she sees everyone involved in. I loved it. She said you are sure working hard in the Young Women’s. I love hearing about what you are thinking about as you prepare lessons. I will try to think of something you can tell the Young Women next week. (Also know – Emma Jean isn't the only one who reports to me about all of you - others from the ward also write. Our ward is great.)
Ok, gotta go. Attached are some pictures from various things we've done lately. (A lady dressed us up in Kimonos for church on New Years).
Love you! - Waite Shimai
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