Three Great Investigators!

Hello Mina San!! (everyone)

   This week was great! Like always! But we have finally hit fall, and I'm back to wearing tights everyday!! Only a little bit longer until we see some snow... probably.....

   We finally were able to meet with Mika chan again this week! We had met her at the end of last transfer, but she got busy and wasn't able to meet with us for over a month! But we met her this week and we followed up with her about the Book of Mormon and what she remembers and she said that she has been reading it and she just started 2 Nephi! We talked about Joseph Smith and his experience. We asked her what she thought and she said that if it really did happen, he was pretty amazing. It is so incredible to me how much she understands. She keeps telling us about how she feels like her faith and understanding about God is growing more and more every time she reads from the Book of Mormon and when she meets with us! She has such a great desire to know about God and who is. We have another appointment with her this week and we are planning of watching the restoration video with her.

   We also met with Chise san this week. She is still having a hard time with reading and understanding the Book of Mormon on her own. We are trying to help her realize that she doesn't need to be with us every time she reads to be able to understand it. She's been having a little bit of a rough time at work lately and she just feels like it is so hard to be kind to people sometimes. And we all feel that way. We talked with her about Christ's example and she kept talking about how she can become better through Him. I know that she can feel the spirit when we meet with her and when she comes to the church. Now we just need to help her recognize that and help her see how this gospel can apply to her personally.

   And we also met with Oonishi san a few times this week!! She is really progressing so fast! We've been able to teach her most of the commandments and she is following them and really wants to follow them. She is also reading her Book of Mormon and she is praying every night. I can just see her changing so much as she learns more about our Heavenly Father and this gospel. Although yesterday was a little difficult. We had a team-up after church and the member was a little too bold with her and so she felt a lot of pressure about baptism. Then we got a call from a member telling us that when she went to drop off Oonishi san at her house after church, her mom came outside and started yelling at the both of them. We knew that her mom had some disapproving feelings about the church, but obviously there is more than Oonishi san was actually telling us. I don't want her to feel pressure and  stress about her baptism. We really need to help her to work out some things with her mom. We want to keep helping her work toward baptism, but we've also started to understand that it's important for Oonishi san to feel that she is ready for baptism as well. So please pray for Oonishi san and her mom as well!

   Thanks for all your support and prayers!

   Love you all

   Have a great week!

   Morrison Shimai

Getting an Aerial view of Hakodate

Yep Ice Cream

Getting ready for a musical fireside

Life is Great - Baptism Prep!

Hello everyone!

   This week was really great! We are still continuing to prep for Oonishi San's baptism!! This week we taught all of lesson 3 plus a couple of the commandments. When we met her on Wednesday, we first followed-up on whether she had talked to her parents about her baptism. She said that she did, but they weren't very happy about it. We had such a wonderful Team-up that day, and the member just encouraged her saying that her parent's opinion is really important, but she is also an adult and she is the one who will make the ultimate decision, not her parents. I haven't met her mom yet, but I'm hoping that we can meet her before the baptism and introduce ourselves, so then maybe her heart will be softened a little. :) That day we talked a lot about faith and we told her about how faith is like a seed. At first it might start out small, but then eventually as you learn more it will grow more and more. She told us in that lesson that if she had to put her faith on a scale from 0 to 100, she said that her faith is probably close to 0. Although I believe she has so much more faith than that! 

   Then we met again on Friday and taught more about baptism and confirmation. She is starting to get really excited about baptism. For every lesson we have been able to have a Team-up so she is always asking everyone why they got baptized. I think she is trying to figure out how her conversion relates to others and how she will know when she is ready. At the end of the lesson she gave the prayer. And in the prayer she thanked Heavenly Father because she told him that she thinks her seed of faith is starting to grow and sprout! It was so cute!! And we were so happy to hear that!

   So we have planned to meet her 3 times a week before her baptism. This next week we will be teaching Word of Wisdom and Tithing. I'm so excited to continue to teach Oonishi San. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to watch her learn and grow and she is really coming out of her shell, little by little, so that's a good thing! It's all so great here in Hakodate and I just never want to leave! I know that this gospel is the only true way to happiness. We see and watch these investigators as they learn and change their entire lives for the church. They all have so much faith and I hope that one day my faith can be as strong as their's.

   Love you all! Have a wonderful week!

   Morrison Shimai

 A new friend - Kanon San

Morrison and Holt Shimai

The Hakodate Shimai

We can see miracles every day!

Konnichiwa Minasan!

   I know that I say that every week is good, but really this week was just SOOOOOO wonderful!!! We were able to meet so many people, teach lots of lessons, and we truly saw some wonderful miracles!

   On Thursday we were able to meet with Chise san. She has had such a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon, and hasn't been able to read it on her own. So we decided to just take some time and read through the 1st chapter with her to help her understand it. We would read verse by verse and simply explain the story of Lehi and his family. As we were reading she could understand the meaning of the verses, once she understood the background and she committed to reading the 2nd chapter this week on her own! It's so easy to forget how important the Book of Mormon is and that people who read it for the first time don't always understand the meaning behind every verse. When I read it, I can find almost anything to highlight, because different things will stand out to me each time I read it. But for these first time readers, it's so important to help them understand 1st what is going on in the story, so then they will be able to see the spiritual meaning behind it.

   Then on Friday we met with Oonishi san! We had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation. She thinks that the idea of resurrection is really great. But when we asked her which kingdom of glory she wanted to go to, she said that she wouldn't want to go the celestial kingdom if that meant living with her mom forever. I think she really loves her mom, but it's been tough recently because she has to take care of her mom all the time. So we tried to emphasize that in the celestial kingdom we can also live with our future family forever. She really liked that and said that's where she wanted to go. :) At the end of the lesson we were able to make a baptismal date for October 11th! It's coming up soon, but I know she can be ready by then! She's also having a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon and prayer is still a hard thing for her, so please keep her in your prayers!

   I love this mission and the opportunity to see people change their lives and come closer to Christ. I know that Heavenly Father is watching over all His missionaries and he is mindful of all of His children. We can see miracles every day, if we just have faith and work our hardest! :)

   Love you all!!  Have a fantastic week!

   Morrison Shimai

Nighttime hike up Hakodate Mountain

 Beautiful view!

 Jazmyne and Holt Shimai

Sushi!!

Investigator Good News!

This week was really good!! We had a couple really great lessons. First on Tuesday we met with Oonishi San. We talked about Joseph Smith and we even watch the restoration video with her. When we asked her about what she thought of Joseph Smith's experience, she said that if it was true, it's pretty amazing that God would show himself to someone.  Then for the last 30 minutes of the lesson we just decided to ask her what questions she has. There is this one member, Brother Kimura, who has been really good with fellow-shipping her. But at the same time he just likes to tell her every little thing about the gospel - like about how you have to take the sacrament with your right hand. Anyway so she has heard a lot about different small parts about the church so we wanted her to feel free to ask us any of her questions. She asked about the Word of Wisdom and also about baptism. So we talked about baptism and why it's important. She said before that she doesn't really have any interest in actually joining the church, but when we asked her to be baptized she said that she would really think about it! So even though it's not a baptismal date yet, it's still a step in the right direction. She is still coming to Eikaiwa and church every week. So I think she realizes that there is something here and I think she can feel the spirit when she comes to church.

   The most important thing about this church, or I guess one of the most `enticing` reasons that people have for joining the church is that we are a welcoming church. People should always feel welcome and feel accepted the moment they walk in the doors. Whenever we tell people about coming to church we describe the members as our family, because we truly are all brothers and sisters. People want to be accepted no matter what their background might be or what they have done in the past. The Lord is willing to accept anyone and we should be that way too! :)

  Thank you all so much for everything!  Have a wonderful week!

   

   Morrison Shimai

 -

The Elders Serving in Hakodate

Shopping at the Recycle Shop in Hakodate - The perfect shoes!

Example of the translation - Love it!

It's great to be busy!

Hello everyone! Sorry this week's letter is going to short!

   We were so busy this week! Mostly because we were traveling all week!! We got to go to Sapporo on Thursday for a Zone Conference. Elder Whiting from the Seventy came and spoke to us. It was a really good talk! We talked about how even though God does love everyone, he also has favorites among His children. Those favorites are the people who are righteous. So we talked a lot about how we should be striving to become one of His favorites by keeping the commandments, being obedient, serving others, becoming more Christlike, etc. It was a really interesting topic, and it made me realize that sometimes I focus too much on myself. Thinking about things that don't really matter, or just aren't as important. When really if I want to try to be more like Christ I need to be focusing more on other people: members, investigators, even random people on the street.

   Also we got a new investigator this week!! Her name is Oonishi San. She was actually a pass from the Elders. She has been coming to church and also to Eikaiwa for the past couple weeks! She has basically been coming to every church activity. She is really great and has been reading the BOM. So now our goal this week is to find out what she has interest in because she has been coming to all the activities and church, but we're not sure why.... I know sounds a little strange.  I'm excited to meet with her this next week!! 

Love you all have a good week!

Morrison Shimai

 A Missionary from the MTC - meeting again at Zone Conference

With an investigator who took us to the lake.

At a fireworks display with investigator

Transfers and still in Hakodate

Hello everyone!

   So I am currently writing you from..... Hakodate! Yep, still in the same area and better yet, with the same companion! We are so excited for this next transfer and all the amazing people we are going to teach and baptize!! :) Well at least we're hoping! :) Keepin' our heads up!

   So the best part of the week was that we were able to meet with Mika Chan!!! We met her at a restaurant on Tuesday night. We started off just talking about her and her life and we were all just laughing the whole night! I know it sounds so weird, but I can just feel our friendship growing so quickly! I feel like we have been friends for a while, but just haven't seen each other in a long time! She is so cute! She is from Aomori - which is on the main island of Japan. She is here going to a Protestant school to become a teacher. 

   That night she brought her old High School yearbook to show us (She went to a Catholic High School) and she brought her old Bible to show us. She's read the Bible (not the whole thing) but she wants to finish reading it! We asked her if she believes in God, and she said that she thinks that he exists, but she still wasn't sure. She said that she doesn't feel that her faith is very strong, but the whole time I was listening to her, all I could think was 'you have so much faith! What are you talking about?' :) She has so much desire to learn more. She is also reading the Book of Mormon and I believe that she has read at least 50 pages so far! And we had planned on inviting her to church, but before we could even bring it up she said that she wanted to come to church last Sunday, but she got sick and couldn't come. The whole time me and Holt Shimai were listening to this we just couldn't help laughing and smiling. She is different from any other person I have ever met in Japan! And we are so 

excited about it!! :) I'll be sure to keep you updated on her progress! Please pray for her that she will be able to feel the spirit and be able to understand the Book of Mormon! :)

   Me and Holt Shimai both decided that she is the reason why we are still here in Hakodate! We leave our home and sacrifice our time to come out into the world and help people. I'm here for the people I meet every day here in Japan. I know that they are no different from the rest of us. We are all Heavenly Father's children and he wants ALL of us to return to Him. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share that message with all my brothers and sisters here in Japan!

   Love you all! Have  a wonderful week!

   Morrison Shimai

Hakodate District pre Transfer

P-Day at the Dairy Farm

Yummy Milkshakes

At the Airport playing a joke on Mom - "Coming Home"

New Investigator

Hello Everyone!!

   So this week in Japan was one of the biggest holidays of the Summer called Obon (Festival of the Dead or The Buddhist All Souls' Day). Everyone gets time off of work and they all go to the graves of their ancestors. The go to clean the graves and they believe that during this time the spirits of their ancestors come back to earth. So basically EVERYONE is traveling back to their home towns. Which means that all of our investigators were gone! We knew it was going to be hard to get lessons, but I was praying a lot to be able to teach new people so that we could find new investigators. And we were actually so blessed to be able to teach a lot of lessons, while we were out housing and we were able to find a lot more PIs (Potential Investigators) too!

   One of our newest and youngest PIs we actually met last week, but we were able to make contact with her this week again. Her name is Mika chan and she is currently a college student studying to become a teacher. We met her on the street and she was willing to talk to us! She asked us where we were from and why we were here (the power of being a foreigner, sometimes it helps out a lot :)). She was super cute and so nice. She is currently attending a Catholic school, so she knows a little bit about Christ and is really interested in learning about religion. We were so surprised.

   It was so easy to talk with her and make a good connection. It's weird, but I really felt like we were best friends already after that 15 minutes of talking with her. We told her a little bit about why we were in Japan and the church message that we want to share with everyone. The best part was that I was able to give her a Book of Mormon and she said that she would read it! We called her this week and she said that she was SO excited to meet with us again. We made an appointment to go out to lunch with her on Tuesday. So I'm super excited for that appointment and praying that everything will go well!

   Well that's about it I guess for this week. This next week we have transfers again. So hopefully I will be staying here because things are finally progressing and moving. I feel like we have just been so blessed, since whitewashing this area. The Lord has prepared people for us to find at this time. If it is His will and in His timing, I know we will be able to find all the people who are ready to hear this gospel of love and happiness!

Love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Morrison Shimai

At the Park - Hakodate Sisters

Holt Shimai and Jazmyne - matching outfits