November 27, 2011

Dear Fam,

This week on Saturday the Young Men and Women in our ward had a 'Shumi Happyo' (Hobby Announcement) activity for mutual. We decided to participate as well and took pictures of our 'hobbies' as missionaries, documenting what we do every day. Then at the activity the computer we were going to use didn't work and we ended up not showing them at all... but I'm passing them along to you anyway.

One of our ward members teaches art and we went to a show that his school put on. Some of the students were there drawing people for fun. They asked if I would let them draw me because I'm 'not Japanese and it would be good practice to draw a different kind of face'. It was fun. This is a picture that a girl drew of me.)

Our day
1- Favorite time to wake up: 6:26
2- 6:30 to 7:00 – exercise
3- Companion study
4- One of my hobbies is letting Kai Shimai cook me yummy Japanese food.
5- Personal study
6- Studying Japanese
7- Visiting members
8- Housing
9- Riding bikes
10- Visiting more members

The Mutual activity was a lot of fun - it was interesting to see what people presented. Brother Watanabe collects Duraimon (a Japanese animation character) ties and brought all 30 to show us. Brother Ohashi plays a bamboo flute. Sister Watanabe showed us how she can sharpen pencils, even teeny-teeny short ones, by hand and suggested we all try it. The bishop's wife, Sister Nara, won a contest when she was younger that required one to move beans one by one from one plate to another using chopsticks, so she set up a contest and some of us tried it ourselves to see how fast we could do it. Chiho, a Young woman, just really likes eating and stood up and told us about her favorite foods. Hasegawa Shimai likes making different versions of recipes and trying which one is her favorite, and she brought 2 different kinds of desserts for us to try. The bishop's daughter likes playing the piano and played a song for us. And Mikari, a young woman, told us all about how she just really likes cool people and described some features that she considered would make one cool. She ended with a special request that we as missionaries pray to be able to find cool people, especially cool young boys, to baptize. Anyway, it was pretty fun.

Things are really taking off here. I wish I had time to tell all the amazing things that have happened this week.

Thanks for all your letters and packages. I got a huge Christmas package this week from Aunt Amy Smith and her family. She put tons of effort into it and I can't wait till Christmas to see what on earth she sent.

Also, I am officially requesting a copy of Maren's play on DVD. I've heard too many good things about it. Good job to both Maren and Hannah for doing such a fine job. I'm impressed!

Hope all is well. Love from Japan,

Waite Shimai

November 20, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING THIS WEEK! I love you all.

One interesting thing - Japanese know how to work with small spaces. Actually I don't know if they would know what to do if they had space like we are accustomed to. That's the biggest difference between Japan and America - everything in America is bigger: cars, houses, people, meal portions, and we actually have yards. Something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving huh? I'm enjoying learning how to work with less though. You guessed right about how good the Japanese are to be courteous to those living right next to them. I've only ever lived in apartments here and not once in the 6 months I've been here have I even heard noise coming from the apartments next to me. Pretty neat.

Is there any snow there yet? It's odd to think that it is the end of November already. The weather here is comparable to September here. We need coats outside, but it's not terrible.

The ward members here sure do love us. They give us tons of food, and yesterday as we rode out of the church parking lot the primary kids ran and followed us half-way down the block. Was Cam the one who said missionaries are like superstars in the church? It's true.

Kai Shimai is a wonderful, wonderful companion. I love her. She's actually done with college and worked as a teacher in a middle school for a year and a half before coming on a mission. She's a very organized, thoughtful person and she works really hard. She also makes some of the best food in the world.

We started up Eikaiwa again this week (the free English class that missionaries teach). Usually there are lots of missionaries to help out, but since we are the only ones in this area, and I am the only English-speaker, it's a bit different here. It happened though and wasn't too bad.

I sure have lots to be grateful for this week. Mostly: all of you!

Thanks for your letters and prayers, and just everything.

Love,
Waite Shimai

November 13, 2011

Family!!!

I LOVE YOU! How are you all? I don't dwell on home too much, but every once in a while I have a day where I just remember how much I love each and every one of you. I hope things are going well at home.

Well, my new companion and I are here in Utsunomiya. The members have worked so so hard to get the apartment prepared for us - stocked with food and cleaning supplies and new futon's and blankets. There were welcome signs and Christmas decorations hanging when we first got here. They are really glad to have missionaries back in the area. My companion's name is Kai Shimai and she is from Ooita, Japan. She doesn't speak English so my Japanese is getting a good work-out.

Yesterday was our first Sunday here and it was great - it's kind of nice to only have one ward to go to. Every one stays at church for forever after it's over because so many of them are from really far away that Sunday is a big opportunity to get church stuff done. They bring lunch for the little kids and kind of make a day of it. It just makes me realize that

Our first day here we talked to a girl on a train and this week we are getting together on Wednesday with some RS ladies to make some lunch together. Kind of neat that things are already underway. Her mom died last year and her brother died before that, so now she just lives alone with her dad. If you can, pray for her. Her name is Narita.

I don't have a whole lot else to say. I certainly spent enough time one the soap-box last week though so it's probably good.

I'm including a picture that Sister Derricott took of me one of my last days in Shibuya, some pictures of our apartment, and one of the church here.

Love you ALL!!!!

-Waite Shimai

PS- I got Natalie's wedding announcement and a card from Nancy Cox - tell them both thanks so much if you see them. Especially Nancy, I haven't had time to write anyone a real letter for about 2 months now.

November 8, 2011

November 8, 2011 -1

Dear Fam!

MAREN! Congratulations on being the star of the 8th grade play! How fun! It might be bad though because what if Mrs. Olson decides not to leave just so that she can stay and use you in plays? Scary thought. (kidding!...?)

Wow it sure is great to hear from you! Sorry my e-mail is a day late this week. It's transfers week and last Friday night we got a call saying one of us would be transferring. (It always works this way: we get a call on Friday night telling us whether or not we are receiving any sort of change, and if we are, then we receive the official assignment call on Saturday morning.)

We went to bed that night and I woke up at 4:30 and didn't fall back asleep. I remember lying in bed, wondering what the call that was coming in less than 2 hours would bring. As I thought that, I also clearly remember thinking that whatever it was, it would be something I would wish I were more prepared for. Then I remembered that missionary work, and the Lord's work in general, typically requires things of us that we wish we were more prepared for. (Apparently the Lord doesn't look at our resumes much?). It was a tender mercy that I was able to think that because:

President Albrecht called and here's what's happening: Sister Derricott is staying in Shibuya and training a new missionary. I'm transferring to an area called Utsunomia (which is apparently famous for a really good gyoza). It hasn't been opened back up since the earthquake, and I will be training there as well. I've since found out that it's the biggest geographical area in our mission and is on the very northern edge (pretty far from everyone else), and we are moving into the old elder's apartment, so it will be just us sisters and no elders . (I've been reassured that the ward had been cleaning up the apartment for us.) President said that the ward is really excited to have missionaries back.

I'm thrilled. Some missionaries really love teaching, others thrive on creating activities and using that as a means of proselyting, but streeting and finding were the first things I've learned to love about missionary work. I'm not sure how much I will like it in the winter, but we'll see. Also, I am SO excited to be in a more rural area. It's still within the Tokyo mission, which means it's got some city, but hopefully it will have some countryside too. I also am appreciating the fact that we will be the only set of missionaries there. I love the camaraderie that exists between missionaries that all serve an area together, but I'm looking forward to having things be a lot less structured, and just being able to get out and be on the street. Hopefully I can spend at least 3 or 4 transfers there.

As I type I am in an area called Hodogaya. Sister Derricott and I have been here staying with another sister who is also training, Sister Lynch, since last night because all 3 of us are waiting until our new companions to get here from the MTC.

Mom, you asked how church is different here (especially primary programs). There are less kids, and it is a little different in other small ways, but the reason I loved the primary program is because it's essentially the same: lots of squirmy kids trying really hard to sing loud for their parents, and doing a pretty good-job for the most part except that one of them who shouts instead of singing is drowning out all the rest of their cute voices. I can't tell you how church is actually different because I'm used to it now. What continually surprises me though is how much it is the same: Relief Society still always requires some sort of lacy or floral table cloth, and they still pass around clipboards with about 5 different sign-up sheets for various things. The biggest difference to me it that the buildings look different, but as far as how they do things it feels the same.

Also- that investigator who had all the stuff we threw away was really happy. He was there for all of it, and we did sort it into recycling piles the best we could. He had had a cat that had lived there a year ago and had soiled lots of things that were still just sitting there, so getting all that stuff out was good. We went back last week and continued, and as we were cleaning the bathroom the sink was taking a long time to drain. Well, I know how to fix that right? So I tried unscrewing the pipes below to pull out whatever was clogging it. I wasn't strong enough so I asked one of the Elders. He twisted it alright, and broke it off... that wasn't so good. So the drain is clean, but it's broken. I felt really bad about that. Anyway, I think the guy would have been happier about us continuing to de-junk, but after he saw the sink he wasn't smiling as much as he had been before. I'm praying he forgives me because now that I'm transferring I can't go back to make amends.

I was a lady-bug for Halloween because I already had a red sweater on that morning so I just taped on some pieces of black tape like dots and wired two pom-poms to a headband... most people didn't realize I had even dressed up. (I think I send a picture last week so check again and see if there's one with me in a red top.)

Well, I better go soon. Sorry I always say way way too much. You better know it's because I love you all!!!

-Sister Waite

PS- Good luck talking in church! Being a missionary has forever changed the way I view my membership in the church. Be sure to thank everyone profusely for their love and letters and support. I wish I had time to do it myself.

November 8, 2011-2

Mariah,
Please look back in your email you sent on October 10th and explain Karma to us.
Love,
Mom

Mom,

Sorry if that letter was confusing Mom. When I talk about karma, I'm just talking about the idea that if you do good things, good things will return to you, even if you can't possibly imagine how. Like if you help someone stranded on the road in Kansas even though you know you'll never see that person again, and you know you'll never be in Kansas again (at least not in that part), but you do it. And then ten years later there you are, stranded on the side of the road in Kansas, and someone helps you out....

Ha! That's a bazaar answer to your question. The truth is, 'karma' is the world's title for the gospel principle of treating others the way you would treat the Savior, even if that 'other' person is someone who just passed you on the sidewalk in Tokyo and blew smoke in your face from his cigarette. You KNOW you'll never see that guy again, right? And you know that how you treat him won't go down in some history book, or even in your own personal journal, but you still pick up the 1000 Yen note that just fell out of his back pocket and hand it to him because through the Lord's love and mercy (which the world calls karma), that act of charity will make its way back to you somewhere down the road. What goes around comes around, so if you want good things to start coming your way you need to start sending good things other people's ways.

I read about karma in a business book once, and the author swore by it. He said that during times when the economy was getting rough and businesses were starting to tighten their belts and maybe decrease the pay of their workers, he would remind himself that the best way to get good things is to give it. So even if he didn't have the means to increase his workers' salary, he would take them all out to lunch or something that would reassure them, rather than make them more stressed about their jobs, even though he himself didn't know what the future held. Then some way or another, perhaps because his workers were happier and more productive, or perhaps he would realize a new opportunity, but somehow, good things would inevitably return to him.

When I read that in that book, I was interested and thought it was a neat principle. But then I read Alma 41:14-15 and realized that it's not just some cool idea a business-guy works by, it's an eternal principle. All the love, and charity, and mercy, and good things that we "send out" in this life, THAT will be restored to us after we are resurrected and judged. God can't give back (or restore) to us things we never gave away in the first place. So if you want to have happiness given to you in the next life, give it out by the gallon in this life. In the world's vocabulary it's called things like 'being the better person', having a good attitude, and not judging others.

All this long jabbering is what I tried not to write in the last letter because I didn't want to bore you. Sorry now that I have! But that is something I have thought and thought about all last transfer. I wish I were capable of remembering it better in the moment. By the way, the story about the smoker who dropped his money, that was just an example I made up. (Wish it were real though huh!)

November 8, 2011-3

Fam-

One thing I wish I could tell ward-members everywhere:

My 2nd transfer in Japan, I was riding my bike one day down a street and thinking about all the people who lived in the houses I was passing, and thinking about how I wished I could offer them the gospel in a way that would help them accept it. I wondered what I could say or do that would really help them in a way that they truly needed it. Then I thought about how neat it would be if I could just live next to them for a long time and really become a friend of theirs and help them out and really let them see how living the gospel blesses my life... wouldn't that be neat? Well, then it hit me: That's what a member is! Full-time missionaries are kind of famous in the church - we get a lot of love and letters and support, and also a lot of food from nice people. But the real missionaries are the ward members. Missionary work can happen without full-time missionaries, but it can NEVER happen without ward members. Full-time missionaries mainly just get the spotlight for a while and help the rest of the missionaries (ward members) get really excited about sharing the gospel.

But what about a little town like Clifton, Idaho, where almost everyone is already a member? There isn't much missionary work to do there is there? Wrong. Every time I knock on a less-active member's door, I am wishing that instead of me it was their visiting or home teacher on their porch instead. Home and visiting teachers have so much more power than missionaries do because they don't change every 6 weeks. They have the time to actually be consistent and get to know someone and their needs over a long period of time. Even really strong ward members - we visit them too all the time just to see how they are and share a quick message to strengthen them. Does anyone not need that? It really is true: Missionary work is just doing home or visiting teaching to people who aren't members of the church yet. And home teaching is just doing missionary work to those who have already joined the church. My work is the same as everyone else’s' in the church - except that right now I get to be doing it in Japan.

Visiting Teaching and Home Teaching are SO important!

November 1, 2011

Hello FAM!

Last week of this transfer. I've learned a lot, that's for sure.

Virginia and Jun are both from the Philippines and have been dating. Sister Derricott knows them a lot better and first started teaching Jun. Jun got baptized my first week here and that's pretty much all the association I've had with either of them until dinner with Brother Derricott. Virginia has been less active for a while.

Our investigator Yajima came to church for the first time on Sunday with his fiance Yayoii Shimai (also less-active). It was wonderful to see him there. He is definitely making an effort to change his life around and make church a priority. His baptismal date is the 13th of November. He was so happy-looking the whole time. That's something I love - you find someone, and tell them about the gospel, and they make a few steps in the right direction... and then they come to church, and when things go right you can just see it all clicking in their brain and they see that there really are other people who are happy because they live the commandments. Spare a prayer for him.

Also at church, in one of our English branches, Caroline (a member from Brazil) brought her husband Fernando. They are both pretty young and just got married 8 months ago. Fernando believes in the Bible, and prays every day, and has already been baptized in his other church that he goes to every Sunday. We visit them a lot and also the past week set up a dinner with them and 2 other couples and us missionaries at the church. We are really hoping that he will begin having more interest in what sets our church apart from the others.

Sunday, in that same English-speaking branch was the Primary program. I haven't seen anything funnier in a long time. Seeing all those squirmy bodies wiggling around up on the stand made me think of all my cousins. It's been a long time since I've held a little kid.

Mom- to answer your question about who pays for dinner, when we went to that dinner Virginia paid, which was not ok with Brother Derricott, so next time he comes to Japan we are all going out again and he's buying. But besides that, who pays for dinner just depends on who arranged it. Usually if we are actually going out to eat with someone (an investigator/less active), we all pay for ourselves. Living here, pretty much all our money goes to eating out with people and riding the trains. Not all the meals we go to are at restaurants though. Since we have a lot of American/English-speaking members in our area, they invite us over a lot for meals. Doing that fits a lot better into American culture than it does into the Japanese culture. Japanese people don't really go into each others' homes, even their friends.

So, I've told Sister Derricott many times that I believe that part of the reason I was called here to Tokyo is so that I can go through all the sister missionary apartments and throw away all the junk. I've only been in 2 apartments so far, but both have undergone minor surgery in the process. (I swear, Japanese people never throw anything away because it's just too big of a pain to sort it all into the right recycling piles...). Anyway, our elders have an investigator who is a true hoarder. Last night all 6 of us went over to his house to clean. We made a small dent, and a return appointment. It felt great to just throw things away. I'm including a picture of our 6 bikes parked outside with the huge pile of trash on his sidewalk. (That trash was from just one room.)

Halloween - we had a trunk or treat and I was a lady bug. Also, we had a Halloween party at our English-teaching class and it was a huge success. Everyone brought treats. Japanese people only celebrate Halloween in a sort of "this is an American holiday and we don't know what it's for" way. They have their own holiday for the dead that is a different time of year. We played games and for the game Sister Derricott and I were in charge of we had them do the 'cookie on your face' race that I think Aunt Megan did at a Halloween party once. It was so funny! Japanese people aren't the biggest game players, so it's fun to watch them get into it.

One last thing: Sunday night, we had dinner with a less active Italian member and he made us pizza. I will never be satisfied with normal pizza again. One of the best meals I've ever eaten.
Gotta go to yet another dinner! (We're making tacos with a potential investigator at her member-friend's house).

-Love,
Sister Waite

PS - Happy Halloween! Also HAPPY NEVADA DAY MOM!!!

October 24, 2011

Uncle Greg, (and Waite Family too),

I don't know how far behind the blog is... but here's a small scoop of what I'm busy with these days: My MTC companion Sister Derricott and I are back together now and we are serving in Shibuya - the most populous and expensive area in Tokyo (and therefore, maybe even in the world). It is quite the place! We do a LOT of dinner appointments and meetings with investigators, less actives, and members. It feels like I'm a businessman for the church sometimes. But it's fun and pretty interesting. Sometimes I just want to go run around outside though! (In my last area we were outside streeting a lot.)

Sister Derricott's Dad used to be on a lot of TV shows here in Japan, and has accumulated a bit of fame. He no longer works on TV, but is now working with a company in making their product available in Japan. He comes to Tokyo once a month for about 2 weeks. He has been here for the past few days and has helped us a lot with missionary work. We did quite a few dinners with him and various other people. One was a dinner party at the home of a member family and they had invited 12 of their non-member friends to come.Four of those people are refugees who used to live in the Fukushima area where the Tsunami hit. They are living in hotels right now. Brother Derricott told some stories and those people were hanging on to every word. It was simply amazing! He talked about growing up and how important his family was to him how even after he had begun to be a little more famous he still came home and changed diapers and washed dishes. As he was talking, I looked around at their faces... It was simply amazing! They loved hearing some 'inside' stories from his life and were obviously getting a new perspective on what is really important in their lives. He is also really funny and cheered everyone up a lot. It was good to hear everyone laughing even though they are experiencing some pretty tough things right now. A couple of people were even teary-eyed when we and Brother Derricott left. They thanked him profusely for bringing such a good feeling into their lives. Some of them handed us their contact information as we left and asked to meet again.

I don't know how much longer I will be here in this area. Even though this is my first transfer here I sort of feel like I am going to be going somewhere else soon. Who knows though.
Thank you for your prayers for Sano. I called her recently just to see how she is doing and she seems to be ok. She got sick one weekend, and because of general conference and some other thing that came up she still hadn't been confirmed which is a little worrisome. I hope it happened yesterday and I am going to call her again to find out soon. She also said she had broken up with her boyfriend because his family was opposed to her being a Christian. I expressed my concern but she said rather cheerfully that now she could find someone who likes Christ. (What an attitude huh?).

Right now my Sister Derricott and I are teaching a guy named Yajima who is engaged to a less-active ward member. He is actually already more faithful than she is... All the time during our lessons she will ask silly questions or lead the conversation off and he is the one to tell her the right answer of somehow bring it back to the gospel. His job requires him to work on Sundays sometimes and we have had a lot of discussions that end up being about the Sabbath day and the importance of coming to church. The last time we met he seemed to be understanding the importance of it all a little more and said he would talk to his boss and see if he could have that day be his day off. So that's what we are praying for a lot these days.

We are over one Japanese ward and 2 English -speaking branches, and the church meeting times all overlap. It gets a little crazy hopping back and forth. The Japanese ward starts at 9 and is in the Shibuya area, then the 1st branch starts at 10 and is 1/2 hour away in right next to the temple. Then the 2nd branch starts at 1:00 and is back in the Shibuya building. We seem to be floating between the 2 buildings all day. The English-speaking wards give us referrals so much! it is amazing to see them reach out to the people here. It helps that a lot of them aren't here for more than a couple years, so there are always new people moving in and out which means they meet a lot of people.

Wow, this is really long. I decided about 3 paragraphs ago that this had turned into my family letter for this week too, so sorry for the novel.

Anyway, thanks for your e-mail. The thing you said about doing something this week that would be worth remembering really hit home. I love you and your family!
-Sister Waite

Oh, by the way, there is a picture of me this morning with a scone I bought at a bakery. There is also a picture of us and a member that streeted with us one day this week as part of a missionary activity that the Single Adults did. And there is a picture I took last week as we were walking under an overpass... it just felt so very Tokyo-ish, so I pulled out my camera. That's all.

Family: I started writing to Uncle Greg but soon realized I was addressing it to both his family and you too! From here on out I'll just write to you though

Family! How are you? Thanks for the e-mail Mom! I got online this morning and you hadn't written yet, and then this afternoon (Monday) I got on again and you had! But reading it, it sounds like it was Sunday night when you wrote it. This time-change thing sure throws me off. Also, I am pretty sure it's just fine if you send me Maren's play on DVD.. but I honestly don't know that I would have time to watch it. P-days are so chaotic. We rarely actually have a real one because we get random appointments that will only work on Mondays and then we just do a regular day and squeeze in laundry and e-mailing in somewhere. Either way though: GOOD LUCK MARE-BEAR! I sure do love you. A couple weeks ago Mom sent a picture of you and the other girls in the kitchen. You were standing at the bar with your back to the camera and I thought it was Hannah until I actually clicked on the picture and saw it bigger. Wow.

Dad, most Japanese people's Patriarchal Blessings claim they are from the house of Ephraim. Which I think means that they really are... :) Interesting huh?

Ok, gotta go.

Love from across the pond,
-Waite Shimai

October 17, 2011

Dear fam-

I'm 疲れた！(worn out).

Today we went to Kamakura with a member friend and saw the big Buddha statue there. (Evidence is included in the attachments.) We were able to go inside of the statue and there is a picture of Sister Derricott and me looking up towards the inside of the head. Afterwards we went to a temple as well. Thursday night Sister Derricott's dad got together with us and the elders and he kindly took us to a cake shop where we all talked about missionary work and specifically the problems we are facing in Japan. We talked

(I'm back... I'll continue from the draft I saved yesterday. Our P-day got cut short.)
We talked especially about the challenges that members in Japan seem to struggle with the most and how to help them. It has been interesting to serve in an area with Americans. We have 2 English speaking branches and 1 Japanese ward. There is a striking contrast between the two cultures. The English speaking branches are a lot more jovial and have a really light, happy atmosphere. The Japanese ward is much more serious it seems (I have never been because the ward times overlap). Even more so than the Japanese wards I served in in my last area.
Anyway, it's gotten to be sort of a problem - even some of the Japanese members who doesn’t speak any English at all have started coming to the English-speaking ward because they don't like the Japanese church. Japanese people have a strength of being super meticulous and exact, and sometimes they take religion so seriously that they are unable to really enjoy the fruits of living a righteous life. We are really focusing now on getting to know the members better and be examples of perfectly obedient people who still have a lot of fun. The Japanese ward has a lot of less-active members that we would like to work with, but before that happens we need to get the ward to be a place they would actually want to be at. Interesting. It's been a good reminder to me too to just be happy sometimes and enjoy the fact that we have God's truth.

I have received a lot of mail lately so be sure to thank everyone if you see them: Aunt Chelsea and family sent a really great package, Grandma and Grandpa Waite sent a letter, Annie Holliday sent a letter, and you (MOM and DAD) are so dutiful to keep me updated. Thanks a bunch. (Also, Mom you asked if Jesse actually sent a letter... he did. That was nice of him.) Mom, have I ever told you that I LOVE the CD you sent for my birthday? I do.

So on Saturday Brother Derricott called Derricott Shimai and I and asked if he could take us to lunch. We thought it was sort of odd since we were scheduled to be with him all the next day too but he was sort of persistent so we went. As we were standing outside waiting to go in, this guy on the sidewalk walked up and put his arm around Sister Derricott... it was her little brother Jeff. He flew here and surprised her. He is a senior in high school and reminded me a lot of Cam. We had a great lunch and then on Sunday all 4 of us went to Sister Derricott’s old area where she and her dad were speaking. During the English-speaking branch's church there, they asked me to translate during Relief Society for this lady who had come to church for the first time with a friend but actually just spoke Japanese. I'm nowhere near being able to translate yet, but there wasn't anyone else so we gave it a go. The lesson ended up being on the scattering of the house of Israel... Pray that the lady will come to church again despite her experience with me! : )
Will you all do a favor for me? Tell one other person in the family that Mariah loves them, because I do.

Ja ne..

-Waite Shimai

October 10, 2011

愛する家族：
Alright I'm back.

Mom, it certainly is very interesting to be Derricott Shimai's companion. Today we went to a lunch with a lady that Derricotts stayed with in Japan when they very first moved here. They are nonmembers but have remained friends since and had pictures of Sister Derricott and her siblings when they were little and had come over to the house.

Also, tonight we had dinner with some members and arranged to have a gathering next week with a whole bunch of their non-member friends and invite Brother Derricott. We are really excited about the effects it could have and the doors it could open for missionary work. This kind of missionary work is something I wasn't exactly trained for... but it is certainly interesting.

Something else: This week Sister Derricott ate the last 2 green olives we had left in the fridge. We lamented over that for a few moments and then forgot about it. The next day we got an e-mail and as Sister Derricott read it she said jokingly, "The Lord really does know every detail of our lives; my dad just asked if we wanted some more green olives when he visits us! God even knows about our olive situation." I jokingly asked, "You mean He knows 'olive' our situation?"

I'm for sure not telling you this because I think my humor is of any quality (I know it's not...), but that has sort of become the theme of our lives lately. The Lord does know 'olive' our situation. He knows what circumstances we are in and expects us to still follow His commandments.

Thank you for always thinking about Sano. I was thinking about her and remembered about the night before she got baptized. We had prepared all that we needed to for the program, had found a dress, and were ready to go except for one thing: we needed some white underwear. At about 7pm that night we started getting a little nervous; stores were beginning to close. Isn't it amazing all the little teeny things that can keep someone from being baptized? We had gone to several places and hadn't found any. We came out of yet another store that did not carry our much-needed item and offered a fervent prayer, that of all things, we would somehow be able to cross paths with a pair of white underwear. At 7 we had a dinner appointment, so we went there and trusted that things would work out. They did: the members suggested another place to try and we left the dinner early to go check, and they were there. (God really does know olive our situation.)

Last week when Cam sent me a letter he referenced Alma 41:14-15. I read it and thought about that a lot. Before, I have mainly thought of our resurrection being a physical restoration. But reading the first part of verse 15 that says "That which ye do send out shall return unto you" made me realize how spiritual it will be. Kind of a karma sort of phenomena: what goes up must come down. That all the good, all the mercy and justice and love that we have given away in this life will be restored to us in the next. Really, our happiness that we receive in the next life will be proportional to the happiness we give out in this one. It makes me think of the scripture 'He that loseth his life shall find it...". God can't 'restore' something to us that we haven't already given up... so if we want to receive mercy and justice, we have to give them. That's a really basic principle that everyone besides me probably realized, but it's something I've been thinking about lately. And now I have a testimony of karma. : )

Alright, I'll stop pretending like I've got anything else interesting to say.

Goodnight! Love from Japan! お休みなさい！

ーウエイト姉妹

October 9, 2011

Dear Fam-

Sister Derricott and I just finished watching General Conference - it was fantastic as usual. It was fun to sit in the church yesterday afternoon and hear Elder Yamashita talk about missionaries in Japan. It’s funny how every conference naturally fits right in with your situation... this conference was ALL about missionary work I thought.

We don't have much time and need to go soon, so hopefully I can write later today. My SD cards are both full so I'm sending them home.

This week Sister Derricott's dad is coming and he will be working with us a little bit - this Sunday he and Sister Derricott will both be speaking at a fireside. I'm glad I'll just be along for the ride and get to take the place of 'Sister Derricott's companion from Idaho...".

More later.
Love,
Sister Waite

October 6, 2011

HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY TO MOOZE!!! Moozey your Homecoming picture where you are smiling super big made me and Derricott Shimai laugh so hard... Derricott Shimai can't wait to meet you because of it.

I waited to e-mail you all until today just so I could wish Hannah a Happy Birthday!
Just kidding! We were so busy on Monday with appointments and other things that we couldn't take that day as a P-day, and today was the next available day. Sorry about that.

I'm including a couple of pictures of our apartment, as evidence that it is indeed very un-posh, but certainly located in the 'posh' part of town. I have no clue how much it costs per month, but if the cockroaches cost extra it must be pretty expensive : ) We really can't complain at all though; Cam's cockroach friends would eat ours for breakfast. We are on the 5th floor of a complex that's located above a convenient store. It's one of those set-ups where you walk from the sidewalk in through the main door and then take the elevator to where you are going.

(Pix: 1-inside our apt; 2-view from the street of our apt. main entrance; 3-walking in the main doors 4-view of the street from our apt. main doors, 5-the sidewalk outside our apt. 6- our study room and beds, this is the only sisters' apartment our mission that has beds - and sometimes there are 3 sisters here so that's why there is an extra).

This morning Sister Derricott and I went for a jog and got into the 'Babylon' part of town... We don't go there much so it was fun to see what's down there. As we were going along I caught a glimpse of our reflection in a store window and couldn't help but smile... we didn't fit into that scene at all. All these really sleek, high-class looking people were walking either to their work or home from a night of partying and we looked somewhat ridiculous in the middle of it all. Plus I was wearing a BYU-I shirt. funny... later we were jogging by a pile of garbage and a crow that was picking at it flew up with a big piece of meat (bigger than my hand) in its mouth and then dropped it right as it went over my head. Strange. Thankfully the meat landed a couple feet away.

Mom, Sister Derricott's Dad doesn't actually do TV anymore. He retired a few years ago but now is working with a different company here. Also, we will be watching General Conference this weekend in our English branch, and since we have the computers we have actually been able to start watching some if it online already.

Dad, you asked about how the language is coming, and how I like the food. I LOVE both! Language: I know that having Saiki Shimai as my first companion forced me to learn basic language skills faster than most missionaries. Communication was pretty interesting that first transfer, but now I am so grateful because even if it doesn't sound very pretty, I feel comfortable speaking. Listening is harder, but thankfully Derricott Shimai is a lot better than me because she grew up a little bit with the language. Learning a second language is so different than I thought it would be... I finally realize that I'll never understand everything I hear, but hopefully things continue to become more and more understandable.

Food favorites: I drink more mugi-cha than I do water these days. It's a wheat-tea that most people think tastes like cigarette butts when they first taste it. I love it. We also eat natto: fermented soy beans. When I first tried it I thought I would throw-up, but it is so yummy now, especially on salad. I love going to ramen shops here- they give you this HUGE bowl of broth with noodles and boiled eggs and all sorts of other things just floating around. When we eat noodles we slurp a lot because the noodles are hot and it cools them down. Anoko is another thing I love: it's a sweet paste made of red beans and sugar and they do all sorts of things with it - I like it inside of bread rolls. I'm also getting pretty accustomed to other Asian foods as well - especially Kimchee(sp?). We eat it a lot on rice or with noodles. OH and noodles: There are about a billion different kinds. Ramen, somen, soba... I can't describe all the things we do with them. I need to stop talking about all this food because I'm getting hungry, but I must say I have found a replacement for apples as my #1 favorite foods ever: Nashi, asian pears that are so so so good.

Anyway, I better go but you just need to know that I love all the letters you send! I am so so blessed. Yesterday I got a DL from Dad and a letter from Cam in the same day. Cam sounds like he's never been doing better.

-Waite Shimai

Christmas Idea: I would love another big tub of Cetaphil lotion!

September 26, 2011

Hello Dear Fam!

Have I ever told you that I just LOVE Japan! And I LOVE being a missionary!

On Saturday we rang this lady's doorbell and a teenage girl answered. She didn't say much but her mom came out to talk to us which sort of shocked us. (Most people here don't even open the door, they just talk to you through a speaker). She started out by telling us that we are all children of a Heavenly Father who loves us. We got really excited. Then she pulled Sister Asai up in front of her and turned her around and started massaging her shoulders... or at least that's what it looked like. Then she grabbed the sides of Sister Asai's arms and squeezed her shoulders up and down. After that she let go and held her up in the air to the side of Sister Asai's head and asked if Sister Asai could see anything. Sister Asai turned her head to look but the lady grabbed her head and made her look straight forward. Apparently she was hoping Sister Asai would see light coming from her hand.

Anyway, then she just kept talking and any time Sister Asai tried to turn her head the lady would just straighten it. She talked for a long time and then did the same thing to me - only she also made me take my backpack off so she could feel my lower back muscles. Afterwards she reported to Sister Asai that I would be able to give birth very easily. I knew I would learn a lot of things on my mission... but that just tops things off. (By the way, I couldn't see any light coming from her hand either.) Afterwards she gave us each a little pamphlet to this 'light' religion that she belongs to and told us to come anytime. We walked away wondering whether it was us or her that did the proselyting.

The next day, Sunday, Sano Chieko received baptism by water. It was wonderful. The ward members treated her like a princess, and by the time she left the church building her arms were overflowing with all the flowers and presents people had handed her. When we first planned the baptismal service with her she said she didn’t want to bear testimony in front of everyone, but after she was actually baptized we asked her again and she said she would. It was so simple - she just said who she was, and that she felt like everyone was so nice to her at church, and that she had decided to be baptized because she wanted to follow Jesus. And then she ended in the name of Jesus Christ just like we had practiced 3 seconds before.

Yesterday was a fabulous way to end my time in Kanagawa. Today, I am typing from my new apartment in my new area with my new companion... you'll never guess who I'm with: The incomparable Sister Derricott. Yep. My MTC companion. And we are in Shibuya - the priciest, worldliest, fastest-paced part of Tokyo. We are in the depths of worldliness here. I can't believe it. I just asked Sister Derricott how she would describe Shibuya and she started singing, "Oh Babylon...". The apartment we are in now is the most expensive missionary apartment in the world. Wow.

Sister Derricott and I have joked before about asking to be put together as companions again... but we had assumed that would be at the end of our time in Japan once we could speak. Oh well. Who needs to communicate anyway? This transfer will be really interesting, but I'm excited to see how we manage. It really shouldn't be too bad though because we only have 1 Japanese ward and our other 2 branches are English speaking.

I wish I could include a picture of Sano from yesterday, but we took all the pictures with Asai Shimia's camera and then didn't have time to swap before I left this morning. We will see each other soon though at a conference and can switch then. I did put on a picture of me and Yayoii Shimai - she has helped us out so much. My SD card is full to I'll try to send that home soon.
Christmas idea: a cardigan from Downeast??? I don't know.

I haven't been able to hear the any of General Conference. It is a week late here for translation. I am excited.

Dad- thanks for the DE's!! MOM- thanks for the e-mails with all the updates. Right after you finished talking about Great Aunt Ann's funeral you said you and Aunt Sara were going to go visit Aunt Ann for 5 days.... I did figure out which one you meant though. Mooze- sister Derricott loved the joke!

OK, well... I just love you all. Grandpa Wadsworth: I sure do love you!!! Thanks for the birthday present!

Sister Waite

PS- the other guy (Shingo) hasn't been baptized yet but will be soon.

September 20, 2011 -- email

Dear Fam-

Thanks for the e-mail and letters! Yes, I am in the same area I was when I first got to Japan. This Saturday we find out who will transfer. That happens every 6 weeks. About e-mail: we have a separate e-mail that we use for missionary work. So this account that I'm using now to write to you, I still only open on P-day.

Thanks for your prayers for Sano! She is set to be baptized this Sunday, and we still need to teach her the Word of Wisdom and about Tithing. She already heard about tithing at church, and we mentioned the word of wisdom already too... so hopefully all goes well. I've come to realize that every time someone gets baptized it's a miracle.

Yesterday we were walking down the street and we saw this old lady coming out of her house so we went over and talked to her. I think she had more lipstick on than she did teeth... she was quite the character. I asked her if she had ever had the chance to learn about Jesus Christ. The next thing I know she reached up and tapped me on the cheek, and then on the other cheek... Sister Asai said she was quoting the scripture about turning the other cheek as she did that. It sure took me by surprise.

Saturday we went on exchanges and the picture included is from that. There's also another picture from last p-day when our zone went out together.

Well, I love you all!!! Keep up the good work. I hope the girls are doing well in school. Hannah- don't forget the lessons you learned this summer. I think all the time about the e-mail you sent me a couple weeks ago.

-Sister Waite

PS: some Christmas ideas~Black opaque tights (if you find some that don't already have holes in the toes that would be really great... but I'll take whatever). I'll think of more ideas later. By the way Mom, Sister Derricott's dad comes to Japan once a month and she's actually serving in the ward he goes to here, so if you ever want to save on shipping, he's more than willing.

August 29, 2011 -- email (Sorry this one is out of place!)

Hannah, and the rest of the family--

WOW- it's good to hear from you Mooze! I love hearing about the happenings of the lives of my siblings. Thanks for writing. Best of luck to all you girlsies with school! I couldn't believe it when I read that it has already started.

This week we started teaching a girl named Tamaki Yuria. She's 25, and she's studying chemistry in college. She's such a funny person - she is unbelievably skinny, and has these huge 80's glasses. I really love her. Her family doesn't believe in anything at all - they aren't Christian, Buddhist, or Atheist... they have no religious beliefs. She has heard Jesus Christ's name, and said she had heard about Moses when we talked about prophets, but that’s it. She's never read the bible or gone to a church. It's pretty neat to think that we are completely starting from scratch with her. Most people at least have some pre-conceived notion of religion in general, but not so much with her. I don't know what we did to earn the opportunity to be the ones who get to tell her about this wonderful gospel, but I am excited.

Also, tonight we have an investigator named Sano Chieko who is coming to FHE that we are also really excited about. We met her on the street two weeks ago and the following weekend she came to church. When she first walked up the church that Sunday I mistook her for a member. She had on a nice blouse and skirt and already looked like she fit right in. She has a heart condition and wasn't feeling well last week so we've been looking forward to tonight.

Also, I told you about Sumire I think. She's the girls who is 18 and called us. Well, she's moving back in with her parents who aren't in our area. She still wants to meet with us and learn the gospel she said, but admitted that she likes meeting with the missionaries more than she actually likes talking about the church... maybe a new set of missionaries in her home area would be a good thing.

The pictures I attached are just some we took since it's a new transfer. We made fliers with them and handed them out to our wards.

I can't think of a lot else worth saying about things going on here - oh, last night I killed a cockroach. Oh and Mom, I LOVE the CD you sent me for my birthday! Thank you!

As I type I'm going back over all the letters and DE's I've received lately - there are always so many and I wish I could comment on all the things you have been involved it! I love hearing about things at home. Dad I always love the PS notes you add at the end. Thanks for those. : )

This week I got a PACKAGE from Nancy Cox! I'll write back to her soon, but be sure to tell her thanks for me.

Well, gotta go. Love you all!!!
-Waite Shimai

PS- one more time, Hannah, I just can't tell you how great it was to hear from you. And especially to hear about Trek, I will be thinking about that all week long.

September 12, 2011 -- email

Dear Fam-

I'm exhausted...

We just had a district activity for P-day and I don't have a lot of time so sorry in advance that I can't say much! For our activity we went to a Mexican Buffet. It was funny to be eating Mexican food served by Japanese people. They tried really hard, but it was still very Japanese-y. There wasn't a bit of cheese, sour cream, or refried beans to be found in the whole place, but they did have a version of Mexican rice.

Next week is our last P-day of the transfer so we will be going to the temple. I'm excited, but can't believe time is flying that fast. This past week we had interviews with our mission president. It's nice to be able to talk to him for a few minutes in person. I read in one of Cody's letters that he just got a new president and hadn't had an interview until then - that's crazy! I sure am grateful for the mission president we have here. I am pretty sure that I won't be staying here after these next 2 weeks are up. I've gotten pretty comfortable here in Yokohama and I have a feeling I'll be moving on soon. That's fine as long as I see Sano get baptized before I go!

About her (Sano). Her baptismal date is still on. She's amazing. She has a heart condition that makes her a little weak, but it doesn't stop her from being one of the happiest, most pure people you'll ever meet. I just hope that after she comes up out of the water she doesn't get translated right then and there... the world needs more people like her.

Also, this Sunday we are having a baptism for a guy named Shingo. I met him at a park a while ago with Saiki Shimai. He speaks perfect English so I spoke to him and was blown away by how ready he was to hear the gospel. I'm pretty excited about him.

Something funny: Yesterday we were walking in the evening down a street and met these two people: a scraggly looking guy about 60 years old and this girl about 25ish. We talked to them and were really close to the church so we invited them to come see the church with us. They hesitated so we said we should just go to the porch. The guy said "Last time I followed people like you to the porch of the church they put me in the bathtub." Turns out he was actually baptized years ago.

This week on Wednesday is Asai Shimai's birthday. I think it must be part of my personal mission calling to be companions with people when it is their birthday. All of my companions so far have had a birthday while I was with them... I'm running out of ideas.

Mom-the front of your card said "O tanjobi, omedeto gozaimas." Which essentially means, "for your birthday congratulations". And sorry, but I didn't make it in scrapbooking. All the stuff they do in scrapbooking looks exactly like the scrapbook stuff in America. I wanted to send something Japanese.

Alright, gotta go. Mom, I'm thinking about Christmas though. Don't worry.

I LOVE YOU!!!!
-Waite Shimai

September 5, 2011 -- email

FAM-

WOW! (Don't I start all letters that way?) Time flies! This week has gone pretty fast. Thanks to I'm sure many prayers, and probably a nudge from our mission President, my companion has really kicked things up a notch this week. She is fantastic, and we are really learning to work well together. It's amazing how different missionaries can each be incredibly effective, but in so many different ways. I've also done a little repenting on my end and realized how much improving I could do as well. The Lord sure likes to keep His servants humble : )

Actually, I've thought more about that this week - humility. I probably wrote about this before, but in the MTC I remember a speaker saying that as missionaries, we will be promising people a lot of blessings in encouraging them to change their lives and follow Christ. Then he read Ether 12:27 and pointed out that that scripture actually promises when we come unto Christ we will become more aware of our weaknesses, which is a somewhat painful promise. So if you're having a bad day, and you realize there's not a whole lot you can do right... take it as a sign that you are on the path that's leading to Christ...

Mom, thanks for reminding me that I never have really explained about the laptops. We use them to e-mail investigators. Here in Tokyo, most working people go to work long before we are out of the apartment, and aren't back until pretty late at night. (For the men it's not at all unusual for them to be at work until past 10pm.) So, most people we meet on the street are either students or unemployed. There is a big group of people that we never have the chance to meet. That is especially a problem for the Elders. So the laptops are to help us maintain contact with investigators who are extremely busy.

So far, I personally have just used it to keep in contact with people through e-mail. After we teach a lesson we always want to follow up and see how the investigator is doing. E-mail really helps us contact people who are too busy to receive any other form of communication. Also, we are starting to do all our area books online. (The area book is where we keep people's contact info and the record of what they have been taught.) The bishop of our ward also has access to the area book, as well as the ward mission leader, so they can both look at it throughout the week and see what the latest news is on our investigators. Also, we have Skype, so if investigators are too busy to meet in person we can do a lesson on Skype. So far, that's not something I have used, but a lot of others have seen success with that. Our mission also has created a homepage with a whole bunch of resources and it always has updates from the mission office. Communication is a lot faster to them now. Another thing is that people who aren't willing to give you a phone number on the street are still willing to give an e-mail address, so it is easier to get contacts. That all sounds pretty nice, which it is, but we still have a lot to figure out about how to use the computers effectively.

This week we had our first lesson with Sano Chieko. Saki Shimai and I met her on the street a few weeks ago and that weekend she came to church. At church she blew us away... she would just walk up to people and introduce herself. She's a self-fellowshipping investigator. She also expressed interest in the stake choir flier that she was hanging on the bulletin board.
She has a heart problem and was a little weak for a while after that week so the first time we were able to meet her since then was this week at our FHE activity, and then the first chance we had to teach her was this Friday. We only taught her the first half of lesson one because we didn't have time to finish, but we still asked her to pray about the message we had shared with her and if she felt it was true to be baptized. She said yes, so I asked her if she would be baptized on the 25th of September. She paused for a minute and then turned to her bag and pulled out her planner to see if she was free that day! I was blown away again. Then, she opened it up and my heart sunk a little because I saw that there was already something written on the 25th... and then I realized what it was: Stake Choir practice. Who does that? Who says they can't come to their own baptismal service because they are already too busy with Stake Choir?

Anyway, we still have a lot to teach her and I don't want to count hens before the eggs hatch, but we are really hoping to see her baptism this month.

Other than that, not a whole lot has happened with our other investigators unfortunately. A lot of them haven't responded for a while so we're going to have to move on soon.

Tell everyone hello for me: Auntie Annie, Austin, Josiah... and tell Aunt Georgia and Uncle Ethan congrats.

I have one more thing to say and then I need to go: I knew that I would meet a lot of interesting people on my mission, but I thought most of them would be on the street... in actuality, visiting the members is always an odd experience. This week we visited an older lady and she had 2 ferrets running around her apartment. She told us a story about how her ankle had been broken for 25 years. We ate a surprise dinner that she had prepared for us in her bedroom (apartments are teeny here). Her walls were plastered with pictures of this Korean actor that she's crazy about. She probably never would have stopped talking about him except thankfully her ferret climbed in my backpack and provided a distraction from the conversation. Another member we visited this week dressed us up in Kimonos. Another old lady we visited did a puppet show for us. (Evidence of all 3 occurrences is included.)

I love you much.
-Waite Shimai

PS- The last picture is of us at a memorial of the first people who came to Japan and opened it up for missionary work. This week was the 110th anniversary of the prayer they said to bless Japan, and there was a little anniversary meeting held at the church closest to where the prayer was said. We look tired because the meeting started at 6:30 am so that people who had work could still come.

August 22, 2011 -email

Dear Fam-

Wow. I just can't tell you how wonderful it is to be a missionary! Life is pretty great.

Mom, I loved your story about the roses! That was fun. It’s always good to hear about life at home. As to which of the good books you should read, I don't know how to help you pick. That's something I still haven't figured out how to prioritize : )

It's been unusually rainy and cool here lately for this time of year. Kind of strange. Japan sure is a pretty place. The area I'm in right now reminds me a lot of England. It sort of has a village-y feel. They play music in the streets where everyone shops... I have no idea why. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a movie and that's the background music.

A couple weeks ago, Saiki Shimai and I went to a train station and tried to talk to people on the street there. It wasn't going very well. A lot of other missionaries must have proselyted there before because everyone seemed to see us and immediately do all they could to avoid us. When things get like that, I usually just start handing out fliers for our free English classes. I was walking down the sidewalk and this guy passed me and instead of looking away he actually kept looking at me and my tag. It was right as I was walking by him, so I took about 2 more steps and then looked back and he was still watching me. I realized he probably wanted a flier. I said sorry and handed him one and thought I would just turn back and walk away, but he started to talk to me. He had a New York Yankees cap on and we started talking about English. He said he used to speak it but had forgotten and he said he would come to our class the next day. He did come that week and last week, and yesterday he came to church. The Elders have started teaching him but they travel a lot so we will probably start teaching him. I'm pretty excited.

Most people we talk to here stop just long enough to hear that we are associated with a church and then they keep walking. But every once in a while we meet just one person who just looks hungry for the gospel. Those people make my whole life happy.

I've been thinking especially lately about the call of a missionary and trying not to forget the importance of that. I've seen a lot of manifestations of that in my life this week. They've actually been there all along but I've seen them lately because I've paid attention. Specifically, recently on a day when my weaknesses were especially apparent, I remember thinking that being a missionary isn't really that different from being a normal person who wears a badge. People always talk about the spirit that missionaries have with them and I have wondered if I ever have that kind of spirit or not. I still don't understand Japanese, and I have realized through experience that teaching is not a strong point of mine.

Then, last night I had a dream of me just living normal life, doing and worrying about the things that I would be concerned about now if I weren't on a mission. It was very detailed and reminded me of specific situations that I used to be in. It reminded me of a lot of the things I used to think and stress about. I woke up from it and couldn't stop thinking about it for a long time. I kept trying to figure out how I was going to deal with that situation once I got home. Then I finally fell asleep and had another similar dream. It was a completely different scenario, but still it was about me being home and trying to make a decision that was really hard. I woke up again and couldn't stop thinking about it for a long time. It was like I was not a missionary and had all the concerns I used to have. I hate to say this to you who aren't on missions, but it was a terrible feeling. It really impressed to me the uniqueness of being a missionary. There are so many big things I don't have to worry about for a while: school, money, other big decisions...

There is so much peace in being able to lie down at night and know that you've given your whole day to the Lord. No regrets. I've realized that being able to feel that is a once in a lifetime experience. Not that there aren't ways we can improve as missionaries -actually most days it seems my weaknesses are magnified here more than ever, but it's a good feeling to be able to give what little you have. Anyway, I just hope you know that this sure is a wonderful experience. The 'setting apart' of a missionary is real.

In one of the letters from Cam that mom sent he shared an experience about how he had been bearing his testimony one day and as he did so he was thinking of all the times he has seen the Lord's hand in his life. That really struck me and now, every time I bear my testimony about something I try to think of a specific time when I saw blessings from following that certain commandment, or that certain gospel principle. It has changed the whole way I teach. It is so much easier to be sincere and help the people I'm talking to feel the spirit.

I just read what I wrote... sorry this week's letter is on the somber note. I didn't mean it to be! I just hope you know how happy missionary life is!

In Aunt Amy's words, Have a Happy.

-Waite Shimai

PS- Mom and Dad, I thought of you on your anniversary!

PPS- Read the Bible Dictionary's entry under the word 'Miracles'.