March 4, 2012

March 4, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

...THIS IS YOUR BIRTHDAY SONG, IT ISN'T VERY LONG, HEY!!!

RUBY! Happy Birthday yesterday! I heard from Uncle Greg that you went to Jamba Juice. How fun. Let me know how your 14-year-old life is ok?

Sorry I didn't get anything in the mail to you last week. I'll be on that today.

Love, Waite Shimai

Dear Fam and Waite Choro,

I got Cam's letters that Mom sent and I still crack a smile whenever I think about Lucy's baptism. Congrats Elder Waite. Japan is sure a different place...

We had a lesson with an investigator yesterday. Our lesson before that, he said he was thinking about getting baptized next year. Yesterday he said this November would be good because it's his birthday. A ward member suggested April 6th because it's Jesus’ real birthday... no go. That man is stubborn. I've never been super good at showing love to investigators, and he is especially a challenge.

We've been meeting him every week since January 1st and every time we have a lesson with him I feel like I'm pulling teeth rather than sharing a message of gladness. And when the lessons finally end, I open the door and feel like I've just come up for a breath of air after a long dive in the deep end. In his lessons we go down deeper, stay down longer, and come up drier than ever before... I think I'm starting to understand what parents really feel like when their kids will NEVER listen.  It's real work being that guy's missionaries. I join with the many parents who say in the most exhausted of voices "How many times do I have to tell you..." (Get Baptized!!!!).

Other things: I had an exchange and went to another area for a day this week. On the train back a girl about my age did something completely un-Japanese and not only approached us, but also interrupted our conversation to show us a ring on her finger. It was a CTR ring. She said she had lived in Utah, and mentioned among other places, Preston. I thought I'd heard wrong. Nope. She spent a year going to Preston High as an exchange student. She's not a member, but loves LDS people. I had just enough time to hand her my card with an e-mail address on it before we had to get off at the next stop. Crazy! That's how the Lord works. A girl from West Side and a girl who went to Preston can run into each other on the underground-trains of Tokyo. I forget sometimes how guided missionaries can be.

About baking: This coming Sunday Nakayasu gets baptized! Pretty exciting. Last week we taught the law of tithing and took 10 little cream puffs and a cake we made to do an example about paying tithing. The cake didn't have the smoothest ride over and by the time we used it the top layer was hanging a good 2 inches off the bottom layer. We testified that the blessings we get from God usually arrive to their recipient in better condition. It was fun.  Afterwards he made us dinner. 

The next day we went with Handa to a cake-making workshop she wanted to go to. That night we gave our cake away to a ward member's daughter when we did a lesson with them about the word of wisdom. She's getting baptized this year so we go over once in a while. The next day at Eikaiwa we had planned to teach everyone how to make the apple crisp I had made for Christmas because a couple of the women students had said it would be fun. Well, that day it snowed a lot and so only 4 males showed up. We taught them anyway.

From this morning's Book of Mormon Study: Alma 16:16 - who within your circle of acquaintances has the Lord prepared to be taught?

Saiyonara!

Love,

Waite Shimai

PS- What is Anne Holliday's address? I really need to communicate with that girl.

PSS- Extra pictures are from last P-day - some other sisters came to our area and we all ate out together and shopped for a while. One picture is of our temple trip last week. We 'happened' to go to the same session as 2 other sisters who used to be serving in our mission but went home because of sickness. The one on the right has cancer. (I count my blessings that I'm still serving.)