Journey in Japan : Kushiro is the BEST!

At the ocean with Johnson shimai!!

I love Kushiro!

Hey everyone so this past week was packed with miracles. We met with a lot of really awesome people. We met with the grandma and little girl we're doing the family english program with. That was fun of course. Then we went to try and find an Old Investigator and we finally found her apartment and she wasn't home. But while we were standing at her door one of her sons came home and he talked with us and said his mom would be home soon. So we told him we'd come back another day because we had to go some other places too but as we were starting to walk down the stairwell she came up! And she was so excited to see us! So we walked back with her to her door and we talked with her for a little bit and she was so friendly and said her and her daughter had been wondering why the missionaries weren't coming to visit them anymore :( It was so sad. She has 6 kids! And only one of them is a girl and she's our age! She wasn't home when we visited but the mom gave us her phone number and asked us to come back again! So that was really a tender mercy and a miracle from God. So cool.

That same day we also found another Old Investigator who was also really nice and said she had stopped meeting with the missionaries because she was really busy but that she loved when they visited and talked. So we told her we would come back and she said ok.

On Thursday it was Johnson Shimai's birthday! We had lunch at a members house and then we did some of weekly planning and then we met all the Elders at Coco's for dinner. The ZL's and the Nemuro Elders were also there so that was fun! Then we went to Eikaiwa! There were 10 missionaries there! It was so much fun.

On friday we visited Yoneshiro san. She's the mom that we visited with Aoyagi shimai and Evans shimai. That was fun. She is so funny and so willing to listen to our message! She was a little busy so we didn't get to teach much but she said come back soon! And she gave us peanuts and vegetable juice. Haha. For some reason everyone is worried that we don't feed ourselves very well haha.

Oh and also on friday we were riding around trying to find someone's house and these two middle school girls walked by so we said Hi to them and invited them to Eikaiwa. Then we went on our way and did some other stuff and several hours later we were in a different area riding and we saw the same girls! This time they talked with us some more and they gave us their phone number! They're super cute and like sports so we're going to organize a sports night at church and invite them!

Saturday we met a lady at Mister Donuts. She's a lady that the sisters met on the street last transfer I think and she actually lives in Shibetsu a tiny town 2 hours away from Kushiro and she's an english teacher! She comes to Kushiro every month or so to help take care of her parents. So she calls us when she's coming to Kushiro so we can meet and talk in English. We talked about so much stuff. We talked about church, temples, scriptures like all over the place. We invited her to church and she asked if it was in English, and we're like no, it's in Japanese and she said she just wants to practice english. So that was a bummer but she's really awesome and someday maybe she'll go to church.

On Sunday we went to the ocean! It's so beautiful! We had to pass it to get to an area we were trying to find some people in. We ended up not finding any of the less active members houses which was a bummer but on our way home we were crossing the big bridge and there were a ton of people out on the bridge watching the sunset. So we stopped riding and wanted to try and talk to some of the people and there was a mom with her son standing there and we started talking to her. She was probably the nicest person I've ever talked to on my mission (and that's saying a lot!). She was so excited to talk to us and so interested in what we were doing. We got to talk with her for a while. She actually doesn't live in Kushiro but we gave her a pamphlet and told her about mormon.org and she said she would look at it. It was just a really feel good moment. She asked if she could take a picture of us haha. As she was walking away she kept turning around and waving to us. I really believe we were meant to talk to her. She's from a small town between Kitami and Abashiri which are small themselves so I doubt she would have an opportunity to meet the missionaries there. It was a really special and warm experience. We are so lucky to get to meet so many amazing people! Johnson shimai and I have been so blessed since this transfer started. We are seeing so many miracles! God is Good!

I love being a missionary!

Love,

Murray shimai

Coco's!!

Hiraiwa shimai, kyodai from the Teine ward visited Kushiro on Sunday!! They lived in Kushiro like 20 years ago but hadn't visited since then and they had a break day because of Golden week and they said they heard I came to Kushiro so they decided to visit haha.