February 19, 2012

Great and manifold were the blessings, most dread Sovereigns..."

Hey Fam!

How was your week? This week was a pretty good one for us! Yesterday we had a lesson with an investigator who agreed to a baptismal date, today the sun is shining, and tomorrow Elder Oaks is speaking to our mission. Life is good. February is almost over! Hooray for that! This morning when I went out to jump rope on our 'veranda', the sun was already completely up over the horizon. Makes me feel great (Nothing against February, but I like sunshine).

So, our investigator: She was one of the women we had met on the street who came to Relief Society last week. She is the sort of person who gets along with anyone. I don't know much about her and there are some things we need to find out before we go much further, but I'll keep you posted on her progress. Until then, pray for Handa.

Hypocrisy: On Wednesday before teaching English we had a lesson with Nakayasu and taught the word of wisdom. At English class we had a Valentine’s day party and we had made cookies for everyone. Some of our students brought treats too and one of them brought some drinks. I was eating a cookie and I got really thirsty so I poured a glass and it was only after I had taken a couple of swallows that one of the students said "Can members of your church drink this?" Well, we can't. It was tea - tea that looked a lot like 'mugi-cha', which is the tea that is ok for us to drink. I've repented though, and refuse to go back to my ways, even though last night Handa gave us little chocolates that were also flavored with tea.

The latest and greatest finds during personal study:

· The Bible's 'Epistle Dedicatory" (As quoted when I started writing). I've been marveling lately at how neat the Bible is and what it took for us to have it. Thank you, William Tyndale. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhT7W8uUDrg - this is an example of what we e-mail investigators. The videos like this that the church has aren't in Japanese, so our mission AP's have been putting on translations of the text.)

· The note by Oliver Cowdery at the end of the Joseph Smith History. Especially the paragraph the starts "This was not long desired..."

· And, Isaiah 58:4's footnote 'b'. I found that when I was reading a talk about the proper way to fast.

Pix: Sister Stevensen and I on the very edge of the mission border - pretty close to where the earthquake was last year (a member drove us there on the way to visit some less active members who live over 2 hours away from the church); road to one of the less-active's houses... have you ever seen a bamboo thicket in the winter?; view of some mountains; and more toast painting (I'm out of other ideas of things to do with kids).

Well, I sure do love you all. I pray for you each by name.

-Waite Shimai

February 13, 2012

Fam!

I bought an SD card this week so hopefully next week I will have some pictures for you.

Mom, William is a member, but I don't know how often he went to church growing up. He has lately committed to learning the gospel basics so we are going to start practicing teaching with him.

I didn't see the World Wide Training meeting. As far as school, I'm for sure coming home the last week of August, and BYU-I usually starts about Sept. 9th, so I was hoping that would work out just right. As far as money goes, I'm hoping to just get a job along with school, but I'm not really sure. If I don't go to school I need to start paying off my school-loan from before. Anyway, what do you think? I honestly never really questioned it for too long, I just planned on being back to BYU-I for this fall, but do you have any suggestions? And, sadly, I haven't received the package. Sorry! Oh, and yes: Koeda, the lady we found on the street and the lady in the picture are the same person.

Thanks for thinking of and praying for our investigators! Right now, the man who needs your help is Brother Nakayasu. He's not a member yet, but this week we set March 11th (the earthquake day and also his birthday) as his baptism goal. His wife is from Brazil and she's a member. Their 2 kids love church. He's a great guy, and he loves his family so much, and it’s just time for him to get on the boat with all the rest of them. Thanks for your prayers.

This week was pretty dry. It took effort to be motivated to keep going out and talking to people, and I'm recommitting to work harder and think more about my purpose. The miracle was that on Sunday, 3 women that we have met on the street came to church. We start with Relief Society here, and when we brought in the 3rd lady to Relief Society all our ward Sisters really perked up. It became a really powerfully spiritual meeting. The lesson was from the George Albert Smith book, about testimony of Christ. The teacher, aware of the additions to her audience, taught very simply and testified that she knew that making Christ the center of her life was the right thing to do. Then she called on various people to tell about how they specifically rely on the Lord in their everyday life, and how they first gained a testimony of Him. It was so simple, but so good. I love being in meetings when people are teaching to an audience that may be hearing things for the first time. The freshness of their testimonies is really neat. Anyway, it turns out that only one of those women is even slightly interested in coming again, but it was a testimony to me that even if people don't get baptized, the very act of doing missionary work strengthens the testimonies of those who already know.

Alright, have a great week you all! I love you!

-Waite Shimai

PS- read the first chapter of Daniel... (what can you try for just 10 days?)

February 6, 2012

Dear Family-

Did I tell you about how the LDS.org site is now available in Japanese!!! H-O-O-R-A-Y! ~!~!~!~~!~!~!!~!!!~!!!

When I heard that I had to really restrain myself from standing up and letting out a little shout of joy. After I got over my excitement I realized just how much I love people here in Japan and how badly I have been hoping that they would have more resources available to them in Japanese like we do in English. The Japanese members are still waiting for a church-produced version of the Bible in their own language. I hope someday they can enjoy a Bible that has full foot-notes, cross-references, a Bible Dictionary... all the works.

Another thing I have noticed lately is how neat it is to be able to hear General Conference talks right from the speaker rather than having a translator. Listening to talks in Japanese is so monotone, and there's no way to tell who the original speaker is. I didn't realize how comforting it is to me to hear the voices of the apostles giving their own talks and putting emphasis on the parts that mean a lot to them. Just not the same in a translator's voice.

Yesterday in church a guy named William came. He speaks no Japanese and has only come to church a couple times in the past year, which I would say is pretty good for not understanding anything. I was his best option for a translation. I didn't do very well, but I realized that my language has been improving the past few months even though I didn't think it had. More importantly, my listening has increased immensely. I'm really grateful for that. Being with Sister Stevenson, this is the first time I have been the senior as far as language goes. Wish us luck! Thankfully you don't need to understand much to still share the gospel.

I've gained a testimony of technology lately. I e-mail links of short-videos that have little spiritual messages to investigators a lot. I used to kind of think it was a cheap cheater's way of helping others having a spiritual experience... I mean you can't gain a testimony by watching movies right? I still think that's true, but I have realized that the Holy Ghost isn't limited by what means He can use to bear testimony.

There is a part-member family we have been working with lately trying to help the dad get baptized, but the mom also needs strengthening too. She has an i-phone and since I showed her that she can listen and read the conference talks right from her phone, she's been doing it every day since it's so convenient. I can't believe the light that has come into her life just from that. Also yesterday in a lesson we referred to a quote from an article in the Liahona, and a member there pulled out his i-pad and had the original a few seconds later. (That's how the work gets done in Tokyo... : )

Stevenson Shimai is hilarious by the way. I sort of forgot how much humor Americans have. We've been having a great time this week. She is like the little-sister version of Derricott Shimai, and actually she was companions with Sister Derricott right before becoming my companion. By the way today is my Mission President's birthday, so that explains the picture attached.

I can't tell you how neat it is to hear about all the missionary opportunities that are in Clifton ward. How cool. Keep it up everyone. I'm especially impressed by Hallie and Mom's efforts with Abby.

Mom thanks for sending Cam's letters. I love that guy.

Have a great week you all!　がんばってね～！愛しているよ。

-ウェイト姉妹

January 30, 2012

Dear Family,

Hello from Utsunomiya! Yesterday was transfers... I am still here in Utsunomiya, but I have a new companion: Sister Stevenson. She is from California and went to BYU for 3 years before coming on her mission. We've already bonded together by re-arranging the furniture in our apartment this morning (haha).

On Sunday, the lady that I met on the street in my first area got baptized. I wasn't able to be at her baptism, but through a very fortunate string of events I was able to go down to that area again last week for an exchange. It was the day of her baptismal interview so we met at the church beforehand and had a little lesson. Attached is a picture. She is a pretty neat lady.

Last Wednesday we found out that our investigator Akutsu is moving to the Kobe mission area this coming week. We were kind of shocked at first, and now it's just sad. I've been looking forward to his baptism for over 2 months now. I don't know that I have put more time and energy into any other investigator over the course of my mission. We really loved teaching him the gospel. Anyway, it kind of feels like we are back to ground zero having him gone.

Last week we went to a member's house to do a little activity with her kids. Her non-member friend was supposed to come too so that we could get to know her better, but the friend ended up being sick. Anyway, they had asked me to do a sort of English-learning activity... I was clueless. How do you teach a 4-year old English? Well, I racked my brain and decided we would just have to paint toast like Grandma Waite always does with kids, and I would just talk to them in English as we did it. I figured it would be fun enough that it would distract everyone from that fact that I have no skills, nor the desire to teach small children. We looked for some food coloring and finally found some at a special store (they don't use food coloring in Japan). It turned out pretty good and in 2 weeks a different member is having us do the same thing at her house. Thanks Grandma Waite.

Well, today is the last day of January. This morning when I jump-roped on our veranda I noticed that it was much brighter outside than it had been last week. Hooray!

I love you all so much! Have a great week.

Love,

Waite Shimai

January 23, 2012

Dear Family-

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! I sure do love you. I wish I could tell you all the ways thinking about your mission has helped me on mine. When January began it hit me that my mission ends this year. I've re-commited this past week to work as hard as I can until the very last day.

We had a huge bowl of sushi and rice last night at a member's house and before serving it they asked if there was any food I don't like to eat. Kai Shimai spoke up before I could and said that I love ALL Japanese food. That made me pretty happy. I'm glad she can say that. I laughed when I read Dad's Dear Elder this week that said he would rather eat cow stomach than sushi... there's absolutely no competition in my mind. I wish I could eat sushi every day. Actually, the nastiest thing I've eaten so far on my mission was some meat and beans that a member from Bolivia made for us. When I was choking that down I thought about Dad and Cam, and was sure glad to have been called to Japan.

Today I rescued a lady. She had tears in her eyes when she thanked me. I felt like a hero...Kai Shimai and I had just headed into a store to buy some things but first Kai Shimai had to go to the restroom. She darted in and I followed behind and paused in the large entry-way of the bathroom. Across from me was a large restroom adapted for wheelchairs. It had a sliding door that was shut, but had an opaque window in it about chest-level. There was a person on the other side that seemed to be trying to open the door, and I could faintly hear them saying: "excuse me!" (Except it was in Japanese of course). I tried to open the door but it was shut very tight. As I pushed harder, I thought to myself: "If I didn't hear correctly, this could be disastrous..." But I didn't dwell on that for too long. I pushed a little harder and the door slid open. Thankfully the grandma who had been inside really had been stuck and had gone into somewhat of a minor panic. She thanked me profusely and bowed to me several times before heading out. It was a bonding experience. Next time we meet I'll give her a Book of Mormon and open another door in her life... (Bad humor... Sorry.)

Well, yesterday after church one of our investigators named Fukuda came to the church building and we had a lesson. He works on Sundays but comes to the church building right after work and then we meet. This week, Sister Kai had called him before and asked him to read 2 Nephi 27, because it has a lot of prophesies in it about the Book of Mormon and he seems to like that sort of thing. Anyway, before the lesson we had to wait for a little bit for a member who was going to teach with us, so Fukuda and a different ward member started talking. When the ward member came, we went into the room and Fukuda and the other ward member had already started going over 2Ne 27 and Fukuda had already opened to the chapter in Isaiah that has the same prophecies. He is like that. He's a pretty deep thinker, and he's likes reading the Bible (and now the Book of Mormon) like they are history novels. He doesn't pay as much attention to the spiritual aspect of them, but has begun to do so more since we have been meeting.

Yesterday during our lesson, we had planned to just teach prayer and scripture study as commandments. We did and it went well. We hadn't planned much and as a result focused a lot more on Fukuda than on 'our lesson', which is how it should be anyway. I was a lot more open to his comments and to the guidance of the Holy Ghost because of that. It was wonderful to be there and just feel the testimonies of us and of the ward members being accompanied by the Spirit. I'm going to do a lot less specific planning from now on.

After we asked him to read and pray every day I thought, "we should ask him to be baptized again." We have asked him to be baptized every lesson, and he never commits. I whispered the word baptism to Kai Shimai, just to see what she would think, and she turned right to him and asked him (later she said she had been thinking the same thing). This time he said that if the time was right he would think about it. I looked at my calendar for the second Sunday in March because I heard him say before that he works every Sunday until then; and then I asked him how March 11th sounded as a baptismal goal. He seemed taken off-guard and then said something about "the earthquake?" Wow. How could I have forgotten that THAT day is the anniversary of the earthquake? I felt terrible. I've had so many conversations with people on the street when they mention "3/11" and how scary that day was and still is to them. I didn't know what to say to Fukuda, but before I could think of anything he said that Yes, that date could be the goal. In afterthought, Kai Shimai and I think it's actually a good thing for him because it's such a big day and he'll probably like being baptized on such a day. Anyway, it was an interesting experience and I'm glad the Spirit was there to smooth things out.

Well, I love you all. It was fun to read your talks! Thanks for making me sound like something great! I hope someday I can be half the missionary you all think I am.

Love,

ウェイト姉妹