Heyo!

Hope everyone had a fabulous week! My week was pretty awesome. We had some serious rain storms which I loved!! The rain actually was a miracle for us on Friday. We planned to visit a less active sister and so we biked to her apartment complex and it started sprinkling while we were parking our bikes.  As soon as we got inside the building it started dumping like there was no tomorrow. It was insane and so loud inside the apartment building. The sister wasn't home and it was still pouring so we decided to do housing in the apartment building. We start at the top usually and work our way down and on the 3rd floor I think from the bottom we knocked on a door and a really nice lady answered the door. We introduced ourselves and our message and just talked with her for a little bit. We found out she has cancer in her back, I think the spine, and so she has to go to the hospital a few times a week and she was on her way there when we knocked on her door so we couldn't talk for very long. But we asked her if we could come back and talk with her some more and she said yes and we were able to make a specific return appointment! After we said goodbye and turned to walk down the stairs we realized the rain had completely stopped. So awesome and such a great miracle from the Lord.

 

Another experience we had was while we were streeting. I don't know if streeting is used everywhere but if it's not it's just while we're riding to different locations we stop and talk with people on the street. Anyways there was an old lady waiting for the bus and so we stopped to talk with her. She was super nice and funny and talked with us for a long time. Old lady's like to talk about anything and everything when we stop and talk with them haha. Anyways we finally were able to share more about our message and our purpose haha and she said at first that she was busy for the rest of August and so we asked if we could meet with her in September and she said yes so we were able to make an appointment for this next Sunday to meet with her again. After we were talking about Hokkaido and we said that the food is really good, she asked us what we really like and we were all like, `Sushi!` and she's like `oh, well when we meet again let`s all go eat sushi together!` and we`re all like, oh really? okay haha. I love Japan.

 

So a lot more awesome stuff happened this week but I`m really slow at emailing today so my time is out so I hope everyone has a great week!!

 

Love,

Murray Shimai

Higashi fun! - Aug. 18, 2013

So it's extremely hot here. Just thought everyone should know haha. It's been a pretty fun week though. We had dinner with one of the ward members the other night. She's 90 years old and got baptized just 2 years ago! She's so awesome and she's way good at the piano. But it was really awesome having dinner at her house and looking at pictures from a long time ago haha. Dinner was yummy. She brought out bowls of soup and I looked down and saw some beady black eyes looking back at me. There were 3 big shrimp still with shell, eyes and everything. We had to pick them out with the chopsticks and then peel the shell and head off with our fingers. It was delicious just a little unnerving bringing the bowl up to drink and having some black eyes staring into my face. So that was fun. In other exciting news involving food, there's a really famous chocolate brand called Royce' chocolate in Japan and it's in other asian countries and just opened a store in New York. Anyways the main plant is in Higashi or close to Higashi and the owner lives in Higashi and loves the missionaries so we were invited to his house because he wanted to meet the new missionaries. You can imagine how great a visit to the owner of a chocolate company would be. Let's just say we enjoyed some very delicious snacks and went home with more. Anyway, the owner is a super nice guy and has like 5 photo albums of pictures of all the missionaries who have been in Higashi since he first met them in like 2005!! So he's kind of an eternal investigator except not because he doesn"t listen to the lessons he just takes the missionaries to an expensive sushi restaraunt or invites them to his house haha. Anyways that was fun. Last night we went on splits with ward members and it was super fun. It started downpouring while we were out so that was fun. We're still trying to find new investigators but hopefully this week we can find some! Sorry not much time today, we're going to the zoo!!

Love,

murray shimai

Higashi!!!!!

I got transferred! I was really sad to be leaving Kitami but also excited to see new places and meet new people. Higashi is one of the areas near Sapporo. I don't know, maybe like a district of sapporo or something like that. So I went from the countryside five hours away to the city haha. Higashi isn't as busy and big as Sapporo but it's a lot bigger and busier than Kitami. It`s actually a ward here and the members are super awesome! Oh my new companions. Ya I'm in a trio!! The group of missionaries that came last week had so many sisters that there weren`t enough people to train them and me and my group. We have a trainer our first transfer and then a follow-up trainer our second transfer. I was really bummed to leave Nanjo shimai but I love my new companions and I know she will be able to bless more missionaries lives. My new trainer is Kuroki shimai who is on her fourth transfer and Nagamine shimai who is a  bean. Yes, I have two Japanese companions. Nagamine shimai was the ONLY japanese sister in the group and I'm one of her companions haha. She can't speak english and Kuroki shimai can only speak a little. So these days I'm literally surrounded by Japanese 24/7. My japanese should improve a lot this transfer though so I'm really grateful for this opportunity. Oh I forgot to mention that Higashi is a new area for sister missionaries! I get to open another area! So much fun! Our apartment is brand new so that's pretty awesome. Um...we went to this way awesome park on Saturday for a ward picnic and climbed a huge hill. It sounds lame but it was really cool haha. Ah, our first day of proselyting in Higashi we were walking and got caught in a torrential down-pour! We eventually found our apartment, we all have issues with directions, and had to change and then go back out to a members house for dinner. It was fun!

 

Well sorry this a short email but I hope you enjoy it! I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

 

Love,

Murray Shimai

End of first transfer!!

I can't believe this is the end of my first transfer in Japan! It was sooooo fast! Kitami has been so much fun and the members here are so awesome! I've seen a lot of miracles in the 6 weeks I've been here and I've learned a LOT. I've improved in my ability to speak Japanese a little and in my ability to understand people. It's funny because some days I'll understand what people are saying and I'll be able to respond and I'll be like, oh ya I got this! and then the next day I'll be like, ya I have no idea what anyone is saying haha. So it's definitely been fun and the hardest exercise my brain has ever had.
 Let's see..'ll share one of our miracles from last week. We started out trying to visit some less-active members but no one was home so we got out our map and Nanjo shimai asked me where I thought we should go housing. I looked at the map and was like, uhhhhhh, no idea. So I said a prayer in my head for guidance and nothing really happened so I said okay I'll choose and then tell me if it's where we should go (in my head) so I looked at the map again and looked at an area for several seconds and then put my finger on it and no joke right as I did that the sun shone right on that spot and then went away. So I was like, okay let's go there. We biked to that area and parked our bikes and then started housing at a small apartment complex. No one was home at the first two doors and on the third door we could hear kids inside so we're like, yes a family! The mom opened the door and was super friendly and happy. I normally just smile a LOT because I can't say a lot, but the mom was smiling a lot so then I was smiling even more and Nanjo shimai was smiling really big while we were talking and her daughters were smiling and staring at me. It was just a really great moment haha. Anyways we asked the Lady if she has seen other missionaries like us before and she said that she had actually seen us before. And we're like oh, really? And then she told us that she saw us at McDonalds and she was the cashier. (Then we both recognized her). She told us that that was only her second day working there and she was really nervous but we were like, it's okay you're doing great, and stuff like that and so she said thank-you for being so kind and patient. Nanjo shimai and I are like, well this is awesome! So we talked a little bit more about our message and how it blesses families and stuff and then I started talking to her daughters and I had a whole conversation by myself with them and it was awesome. Oh ya, we got an appointment to go back! I'm so excited for her and for her family. I don't know if they will accept the gospel right away but I know it wasn't a coincidence that we met her at McDonalds and then `happened` to knock on her door out of all the doors in the city. God truly does prepare people to hear the message of the gospel and if we are worthy and exercise faith, he allows us to be the messenger. Being a missionary is the hardest thing I have ever done. But I've never felt happier than when someone lets us talk about the gospel and let's us come back to share more. Having to do it all in another language is truly a humbling experience and I have never relied more on the spirit. I know God hears and answers our prayers and that he prepares a way for us to accomplish the work he has for us. I love the gospel and I am so grateful to be a missionary!I hope everyone has a fantastic week!Love,Murray Shimai