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?)