Spring!!

We got to wear spring clothes to church yesterday! Big day!!

Spring has finally come! This past week I didn't wear my down coat! Happy day. I felt so light and free. The wind is pretty strong but it's warm so it's okay. I have never appreciated the coming of a new season as much as I have spring in Hokkaido. I love winter but when you are outside in it all day everyday for 5 months you know, spring is a pretty welcome sight. Also the people on the streets and just in general are happier. So it's all around great!

This past week we did a lot of finding. We called all our investigators and we made an appointment with our grandpa friend. We're going to lunch haha. He's so funny. I'm excited and we're going to try and teach more this appointment so I'm really excited for that. Everyone else was busy or sick so that was a bummer. But we visited this older lady that the elders had found housing. She was super friendly and she told us she's not really interested in the gospel but she loves talking so she invited us inside and we talked with her for like 2 hours. For not being interested she asked us lots of questions and we were able to teach her about prayer and some other gospel principles through answering her questions. She asked us what is the greatest thing we have learned from coming on our mission and so that was a really awesome opportunity to bear our testimonies. She told us how she and her daughter went to England and they saw Paul McCartney play in this big street area and it was a surprise performance so they got really close to him and it was so fun haha. And then she told us that while they were there they saw Wicked, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables, on stage! We were like oh we love those! And then she's like oh well here I have the dvd of les miserables in right now lets watch it! And she played it and me and Johnson Shimai are like, wait, we can't watch it! haha. It was a close call. Then she asked us if we wanted to make tea and we didn't know what kind it was that she said and she poured the powder into a container and it was bright green. We were like, uh...sorry we can't drink that...haha.. But she was super nice about it and was just like, well, okay I'll drink it by myself. And she makes pottery. Ya. She gave us some cup things she made. Super awesome. It was a fun couple of hours.

There was a relief society activity on Saturday night. It was for the anniversary of relief society I think. They had a couple groups and each group reenacted some of the events from the beginnings of the relief society and the first relief society sisters and they sang some hymns with it. It was really cool. And we brought a less active sister with us and she had a great time! It was so neat. I'd never imagined Japanese ladies wearing bonnets before. But they did and it was great. So much fun. It was a pretty great week.

Hope you all enjoy spring break!

Love,

Murray Shimai

Here's the Haystack Rock of Hokkaido. I see it every week when I go to Otaru :)

Just out doing some housing and this is our scenery. It's pretty good.

Big Fish!

Today was an awesome p-day! We went to the Aquarium in Otaru! And it was sweet! Like not just looking at fish behind glass but we saw shows. Ya it was the coolest thing ever. And the aquarium is on the coast line and it was a beautiful warm day today so it was great! I'm sending some pictures. But last week was really great. We were able to meet with this young mom that we found several weeks ago and she told us that when travel gets a little easier and there's less ice on the roads she wants to go to church! That was the best thing to hear. We were able to just talk with her for a while because her son was taking a nap and she told us how she wants to have another baby and she loves children and she's just the neatest mom. We were able to teach her a short lesson about the restoration and about church and it was just fun because she actually wants to go to church and find out more. Those moments make every other disappointing, rough day not matter.

Then the other day we had another crazy miracle happen. So on Wednesday night we made our plan for Thursday right? And we didn't have a lot of free dendo time so we decided on one small section of

houses to go to. So the next day we get to the area close to where we planned but we couldn't find the actual area so we just did some other houses and after that we had just enough time for a few more houses and I looked down the street and saw the main road and asked Johnson shimai if she wanted to go cross the main road and work over there and she agreed so we went over there. Then we found the area we had originally planned to go! And so we started housing and the 4th or 5th door we knock on a little girl opens it and after a second I realized it was the daughter of the lady who came to church a couple sundays ago! And then the mom came to the door and we were all just like, uh...haha. I couldn't believe it! So we talked with her for a while and then left and went on our way. But that was crazy. I don't know what purpose it served or what will happen but I don't believe that was coincidence. God is so good.

I hope you all have a fabulous week! Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for videos in several months haha.

Love,

Murray Shimai

Another great week in Hokkaido!

Today is sunny and kind of warm. It's wonderful! This last week we weren't able to see any investigators because everyone was busy :( But we were able to talk to them on the phone so that was good. We did a lot of housing,... a lot. Talked with a lot of people. That was fun. We met a couple really awesome ladies on the street who were really interested in the gospel message but they said they're really busy, and we tried but we couldn't make an appointment with them. That was a bummer deal. But hopefully they will meet the missionaries again and take the opportunity to listen to the message.

This past week was pretty calm, nothing to exciting. I fell several times as usual haha. It's getting really slushy and wet now which is kind of a bummer and a whole nother kind of slippery.

We had a lot of member meals so I still have a little bit of a food hangover today haha. We got a new ward mission leader yesterday and he is like my favorite person. He is so cool and his wife was called as a ward missionary! They're so awesome. They served as Tokyo temple missionaries last year. I"m excited! Things are going great!! Sorry not much new stuff to tell.

Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Love,

Murray Shimai

p.s. Oh I just remembered something that happened. Went to a bar called dee dees, for a private concert by some members in the Shinkotoni ward and taught a member lesson there. Nothing too exciting :)

p.p.s. This message is for Ashley Anderson... so everyone else can disregard. Anyways my mom told me she saw you at Taylor's wedding reception and I was so happy! Sorry this is the only way I know how to send you a message, so I hope you read this....anyways I hope you're doing great! We're long overdue for a hangout session! Hope you have a fabulous day!

Transfer 7!

It's March! What?!!

And it's just as cold as ever haha. But the news of the Transfer is...I'm staying in Teine!  4th Transfer. But I have a new companion. Sister Johnson. She's from Spanish Fork, Utah. She is way fun and we have tons of stuff in common which is fun. She's on transfer 5. I'm actually pretty excited about working in Teine for another transfer. 

At the beginning of last week we met this really awesome young mom while out housing. She was way friendly and listened and talked with us for a little bit and she said we can come back! Yay! I'm excited to meet with her again and she also said she will try and come to church so that's awesome.

Then yesterday Evans Kaicho and shimai had a speaking assignment in our ward so they came to our ward yesterday. And at the Otaru ward christmas party Evans shimai met this mom that lives in Teine and she invited her to church but she never made it. So Since Evans shimai was coming to our ward she called the mom and invited her again and she came part way through Gospel Principles and she brought her youngest daughter with her! She is way awesome! And she wants to come to church again! And her daughter is nine and she loves basketball! How awesome is that! We played a little shoe basketball after sacrament meeting haha. But she wants to come to sports night on Saturday so that should be fun. They're great. And interested in Eikaiwa! Great week.

Life is great. And the music firesides are over so we have real p-day's now! Happy day haha. Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Love,

Murray Shimai

Each Sunday people bring food to church and put it in a basket or container for the missionaries. We call it our "fruits basket" and it's basically great! We found these in our fruits basket on Sunday. I never thought I could be so excited about a box of mac and cheese and pop tarts!

Riding the bus for transfers.

This week marks beginning of transfer 7!

Lunch with our grandpa friend!

Ohayo Gozaimasu!

What a fabulous week! We met with our grandpa friend and had lunch with him and another ward member. It was really interesting haha. But we talked english the whole time so that was fun. And get this, okay so this guy is in the Teine Men's Cooking Club right? There's 9 members out of the whole city of Teine and we found out that another member of that club is a member of the Teine ward! Whoa. So crazy. So hopefully we'll be able to do some good team ups there.

It was pretty warm this past week. I actually went one day with only wearing a thick sweater. I felt so light and free haha. But then today we woke up and it was snowing again. Because it was sunny for several days the sidewalks are super icy. There's been some really close calls haha. I'm not sure how I didn't fall a few times.

We had our other musical fireside on Saturday night! It was so much fun and the spirit during some of the songs was crazy! The whole concert will be on youtube so you all should check it out because it's

awesome! And Nanjo shimai and Honda shimai came! Nanjo shimai was my trainer and Honda shimai was sister training leader for my first 3 transfers! It was the best surprise ever! But also super weird to see them in normal people clothes haha.

It was a great week!

Love you all!

Murray Shimai

Music fireside

Some members of the Teine ward