December 20, 2011

FAM!

Hooray! This week is it: Christmas! I'm pretty excited. We have a full week and have planned all sorts of Christmas lessons and things with investigators and members, and then to top it all off, I get to talk to you! I think it would be best if you called me on Christmas Day (your time) in the afternoon/evening. Any time between 3 pm - 6 pm. It will be Dec. 26th, 8 am - 11 am where I am (I think...) and we will just be studying. That actually works out great because we have a lot planned for Christmas Day, so doing it the day after will be perfect. And yes, we have a camera, so if you want to use that too we can. If my math concerning the time zones is off, the only way I'll know is if you e-mail Sister Hobbs in the Mission Office and have her call me.

Everyone - thank you for the Christmas tree! When I pulled it out of the envelope, Kai Shimai was absolutely astounded that you went to the trouble to make such a thing and send it. She sure is surprised at how much you have sent for Chrismas. I'm pretty sure the Christmas we are enjoying this year is bigger than any other Christmas she has had. That sounds like she's an orphan or something... but really Japanese people, even church members don't do Christmas very big. It's about the same as how we celebrate Easter. New Years is what they are excited about right now.

Last week Kai Shimai was asking me how we celebrate Christmas and I mentioned something about acting out the nativity scene and she hasn't let that drop since. She's never done it before and quizzed me all about exactly how it should be done. She's determined to do it this Christmas with a member family, and on Sunday we arranged it all. Christmas Eve we are going to a member-family's house and having dinner and doing the Christmas story with them.

And Mom, you should know that we have used the CD and Nativity you sent for various lessons the past 2 weeks. They have been enjoyed by many many people.

In the picture of the tree I'm holding a present (boots) that a member gave each of us last week. Pretty nice of her.
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Later: Ok, we just went and did all our P-day stuff, had a lesson at a members' house and I took the nativity that Mom sent me. During the lesson the family's daughter's 2 friends (a brother and a sister) came in and started listening... they had never heard of why we have Christmas and were really interested in the story we were sharing. Then their mom came to get them and sat down and started listening. It was one of the neatest things to see a family share the gospel with their friends, and testifying of the Book of Mormon. Then the member mom brought out all this food and we had a little dinner party right there. It was so fun. The little kids had really been admiring the nativity, so I gave it to them.

Good day. Ok, gotta go. See you all Christmas afternoon!

-Waite Shimai

PS- Mom, I think what Duke said is true. All the time things happen like that. We work, and work, and don't seem to get anywhere, and then somehow we are able to teach someone we never could have found ourselves. (I want to write more but, I have to go...)

December 13, 2011 – 2

We’re on a train back from the temple. It’s about a 2 hr 15 min trip. It’s going to be odd one day when I come back to Idaho and there aren’t any trains. It’s kind of strange to think about.

I’ve been kind of sick lately. Sunday morning I woke up really early and couldn’t sleep. We didn’t go to church and I mostly just slept. I was hoping to be all better by now but it’s coming slowly. Our church members here are so nice. They brought us a huge garbage sack full of food and one of the ward members bought us both a pair of boots because our feet look cold in just shoes (they look like Uggs). Also, they offered to give me a blessing which I had actually been thinking about earlier. They can’t come into our apartment, so we just brought a chair out on the porch and did it there. They also brought us the sacrament bread and had us bring out some water and blessed it right there outside our door. One of them is a doctor so he took a look at my throat (I have a cold –nose/throat pain) and said the usual – it’s probably a virus and that I should sleep (don’t ask how long it took for us to make sure I understood correctly ☺).

I sure like this area. It’s huge, so that’s kind of a pain and it’s really cold, but it’s a good place. In the mornings (when I’m healthy) I go out on our “veranda” and jump rope while the sun rises. This is the first place I’ve ever been in Japan where I can actually see a horizon of some sort. It is still buildings, but they are far away enough it feels like an actual sunrise. We only use ½ of the apartment because it’s warmer that way. We’ve moved all our study books into the kitchen/dining room and just do everything in there, rather than warming up both rooms.

It is interesting to note the differences between people here and the sort of people in my last area that was so rich. Not that everyone is poor here –they’re pretty well-off I would say (as a whole). But it is interesting to note the differences in people’s lifestyles and attitudes. That’s for sure one of the biggest things I’ve learned on my mission so far. My favorite people to talk to are people who are really poor and don’t have jobs – not only are they generally more open and humble, but they’re also a lot more interesting. I ♥ it.

Yesterday we went and had lunch at this lady’s place. We met her while housing. She doesn’t work and neither does her husband, nor the other guy who lives with them. Who knows how they get along, but they sure are characters. It was a grand time. When we first knocked on their door last week she (her name is Chin, pronounced Cheen) said she was Buddhist and wasn’t really interested. We chatted and found out she was from Taiwan and I said I wanted to learn to cook some yummy Taiwan food and she said OK. A lot of people say things they don’t mean, so I said we could come back on Monday and she said OK (much to my surprise). So that’s how that worked out. The food she made was really spicy and had some weird fish in it, but I’m used to that so I thought it was pretty good. It even had some cilantro in it, which you can’t find in Japan, but she had grown it herself. The whole time the other guy who lived there was watching these really poorly-filmed episodes of some sort of Taiwanese drama. I thought we were probably really bothering him but after we were done eating he disappeared for a while and then came back with some Nashi (Japanese pear) that he had sliced and pealed for us. After that we asked Chin if we could turn off the TV and share a message. We showed pictures of Christ’s birth and read some of Luke 2 and testified that God cares about all of us – even humble shepherds. We asked if we could come back and teach more about Christ and they both agreed. Chin said she would make ramen for us. It was a great experience (so much for Chin being Buddist. . .). You could tell as we testified to them that they were God’s children, and that the spirit was testifying to their hearts. It was a very missionaryish experience. One more thing about Chin – She is knitting seat covers for her car. Yep.

I read your email early this morning before we left to the temple and have been re-reading all of Dad’s D.E.’s. I’m sure blessed to have a family that loves me.

-Mooze – I’m glad the guitar is being used! I’m excited to hear you play when I get back.

-It’s funny to me all the bed re-arranging that has taken place since I left. And I still can’t really picture Janie speaking in a full sentence.

Dad – tell the stake presidency hello for me and thanks for the Christmas card. Thanks so much for the D.E.’s. I have a huge stack of them just piling up on my desk and I feel so loved every time I see them all. How are you anyway? I’m glad to hear that THE SHED project is winding down.

Maren – you said you’re sad you can’t be in the high school play. . .do you mean this year’s high school play? Silly girl!

Hey Sadie & Hallie – what’s going on with being in separate rooms but still sleeping together. You weirdos!

Janie, thanks for always praying for me at dinner. I love your squirrel cheeks.,

Well, I’ve about worn out my welcome in this letter I think.

One more thing: Yajima, the guy we taught in my last area who worked on Sundays got baptized! And Sano, the girl that got baptized is coming to church, paying her tithing, and doing her visiting teaching even. I was so happy to hear that. I need to call her.

OK, now I really will stop blabbering.

I ♥ U! Merry Christmas.
Love, Waite Shimai

December 13, 2011

Dear Family!

I read your e-mail this morning before going to the temple. I wrote you a letter on the way there so this e-mail will be short. Thanks for all the updates!

Sadie - why did you tell Cam to get out of town?

Maren, I am sure you have read every book worth reading but have you read: The Hiding Place? Or Spying on Miss Mueller? Or the Book of Mormon? Those are some suggestions.

Hallie, I'm excited for your present! I tried to send you an awesome present too but it's not that awesome. But it's in the mail nevertheless. Or did it get there already? By the way, today I got a CHRISTMAS TREE in the mail from you all! Thank you!

Mooze- Good luck with the ACT! I took it 3 times. Don't worry about your score. Take it at least twice though, because the second time you know what you're in for and can do better. I'm guessing you’re the main star in Singing the Rain? Just a guess. 2nd guess is that you’re the silly guy who jumps through the wall at the end of the "Make Em Laugh" song... I'll try and think of ideas of what you can make for Mom.

Mom good luck with all those kids! I don't know how you do it. Try to stay sane if possible. How is Dad handling having all of them around?

Answers: I know we can exchange money when I go to the temple once a transfer, but the best is to just put it in my account.

How to talk to me on Christmas: You can call or Skype. Your choice. Here is the number to call: 011-8180-2149-6126. Or here's our skype address: utsunomiyamissionaries100 . If you want to Skype, it's free I think. And even if you don't have a camera, you can still talk, so that might be the way to go so that you don't have to pay to call Japan.

Mom, the only nativity set I've seen yet was made of origami by a ward member. But I'll try and find one.

Dad- who is the recipient of the Noel Prize this year? My vote: Japan.

Love you all!
-Waite Shimai

December 5, 2001 - 2

Dear Fam!

I ♥U! How was Thanksgiving? I was reading the new “Daughters in My Kingdom” book this week one day and came across a story about a lady who went with her husband to settle “Panaca, Nevada”. I smiled when I read that.

Dad, thanks for the DearElders☺. I’m glad to hear Hannah liked ‘The Village’!

I love Utsunomiya! The ward members here are willing to do anything for us. It’s a big area and a lot of times they give us rides to far-away places we wouldn’t normally be able to get to.

I’ve got to tell you about a guy we met last week. His name is Kenji Akutsu. He first came to our English classes and last week we had a 30 minute “intro” lesson like we do with everyone who comes to Elkaiwa (English Class). It turned into a 45 minute lesson and would have gone longer but we were 5 minutes late for English Class and I’m the only teacher, so we had to go,. He had so so many questions and said he’s always wondered why he was born (he’s about 30 years old). We scheduled another lesson for Saturday.

When we met on Saturday we taught the Plan of Salvation and it was the same way. He showed up with his Book of Mormon and 2 pages of typed questions he had for us. When we taught he wanted to know:
· Why didn’t we have bodies when God made us?
· When did God make us anyway?
· What is the definition of truth?
· What is the definition of happiness?
· What makes our church different from other churches?
· Are God and Jesus the same person?
· What happens after we die?
· Is there really a hell?

These aren’t questions he had typed on his papers – we didn’t even get to those. It was so fun to be in a lesson that was guided by the questions of someone who really wants to know and is searching hard. It was neat to be able to answer his questions and know that what we were telling him really was the pure truth. Sometimes I forget just how many answers I know, and have been blessed to know them all my life. It would be pretty tough to live for 30 years and still be wondering what the point of life is. We are so blessed to know!

Anyway, pray for Akutsu to be able to find and recognize that we are teaching the true answers to his questions.

The more time goes by as a missionary, the easier it gets to boldly testify. I have always wanted to be a really bold missionary and I thought it would be really hard, but the more time goes on the more I realize that being bold is just enjoying the Gospel and stating the obvious truth that every good thing in my life has come from Jesus Christ.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! Don’t forget whose birthday it is. ☺

I ♥ U – Waite Shimai

December 5, 2011

Fam!!!

Happy December!

Mom, I got your package. And the next one, and the next one, and the next one! Kai Shimai was astounded at it all. Christmas isn't really a big deal here. New Year’s is what everyone is really gearing up for. Anyway, THANK YOU so much for the gifts, and nativity, and decorations and Christmas music. I'm listening to it this very moment. Kai Shimai had a lot of fun putting up the window clings and thought they were quite ingenious. We piled up all the presents under our 2-foot tree. Our apartment feels pretty Christmas-y.

Thanks for the update about Moroni's farewell. I pray for all 3 Elder Wadsworth's every morning and night (As well as Elder Waite of course).
This week has been a blast - we've gotten a lot done and found a lot of people that seep to have potential. I'll keep you posted.

I have a favor to ask: Can you send me a couple of Christmas traditions and a simple 3-sentence summary of how they began? I want to share some of them in my English class the week before Christmas (Ideas: why we hang stockings, put up trees, etc.). Really simple. I don't have time to give them the history of Europe.

And I have another favor: Can you copy and paste some recipes into next week's e-mail? Mostly, American desserts: cinnamon rolls (Bread), brownies, snicker-doodles, lemon bars, apple cider. That will help us out with some activities this winter.

Ok, gotta run, love you!
-Waite Shimai