Happy New Year!!!

Snow!! Wooooo!

明けましておめでとうございます！！！！

Happy New Years everyone!! I can't believe it's 2014!! 2013 was a blur! Christmas in Japan was a little different but it was so much fun!!!

On christmas eve we had a huge party at a church building with all the missionaries in the Sapporo area and it was a blast! We played games and did a white elephant gift exchange and then we did a Nativity type thing and then we watched the Christmas Devotional and then had a Christmas dinner. Like a real American Christmas Dinner with ham and cheesy potatoes! Thank-you Evans Shimai! After dinner we all traveled to Odori koen which is the huge park in the middle of Sapporo where all the festivals are and we sang Christmas carols. It was such a great day. On Christmas day we woke up and opened our presents, Santa still found us! Then we talked to our families on the phone and then we had district training meeting. After district training meeting we all visited some of the Otaru missionaries potential investigators and sang christmas carols for them. After that we traveled back to Teine and with the Elders heart attacked a members door and then we traveled back and ate at a members cafe. It was so good and I needed to be wheeled to the bus station haha. Anyways we met up with some members and we traveled to an old folks home and we sang Christmas carols for them! It was the best Christmas!! It was so much fun to be out and about ON Christmas spreading the joy of Christmas! Kapeliela shimai

and I had a fun missionary opportunity riding to and from the old folks home. We got a ride with a nonmember who is the friend of a member in our ward. So on the way we talked a little bit about while we're in Japan and being a missionary and such. Oh and I forgot to mention that Kapeliela shimai had her ukelele with her. Anyways so we were sitting in the back seat on the way home and we looked at eachother and we're like, yes. So when there was a pause in the conversation she started playing and the driver and the other member sitting in the front were like, what the? haha. And we sang some songs and the nonmember was like, keep going! haha. So we sang in english and then in Japanese. But it was so much fun! We have so many fun opportunities and different ways we can share the gospel with those around us! We just have to take a step out of our comfort zone sometimes and just do it. And it usually turns out really great!

So that was a blast!! And then there was the Messiah concert on Saturday. Since President and Sister Evans have been here they've had a Messiah concert every year. It was so amazing! Like seriously some awesome voices and an orchestra. It was an awesome experience!

I hope everyone has a great New Years!

love,

Murray shimai

Otaru

Otaru with Kapeliela shimai 

Christmas dinner!

This is the coolest lady ever! She sat like front row when we were singing at the old folks home and sang like all the songs with us and when we finished called for an encore! haha

I forgot to tell this story. We were walking through a neighborhood and met these little girls and we talked with them for a little bit but then said goodbye and walked away and then the girls came running after us and we started having a little snow ball fight and then we sang them a song with the ukalele in the street haha and they loved it. Then I was like, let's go build a snowmannnn!! Wooo! And they were like, yaaaaa!!! Anyways it was so much fun.

Christmas Eve!

Christmas morning!

And I got to see an investigator from Higashi at the FHE at the mission home on Monday!!! So happy!

Merry Christmas! - Dec. 12/22/2013

At the chocolate factory

It's a white christmas!! And it doesn't show signs of stopping....:)

It's  been a fabulous chilly week! I've only fallen twice walking around. Of course both times it was in front of someone. The one person walking down the abandoned street haha. But dendo is so super fun in the snow. And people are really nice to us. This last week was really awesome though because we got a new investigator! And she is so awesome. She also wants to learn english so that's fun too. And she has a 22 year old daughter who also wants to learn english but she's super busy with work right now but next month we're going to meet with her and hopefully start doing the family english program with her. I'm super excited.

We missed the last night bus twice this past week. That was fun. So we call the Bishop and are like, "Bishop, sorry, we missed the bus..." and he called someone else who lived closer to us to pick us up. Then yesterday we were eating dinner with a less active lady and she likes to talk a lot so we finally left and ran to the bus stop as usual and missed it by like 2 minutes. Japan is on the ball with their buses.

Anyways we called the bishop and we're like, "hey bishop, sorry we missed the bus....again...." haha. And he's like "okay I'm coming right now". He's super awesome.

But this week was super fun and this next week we have lots of really fun things happening! yay! Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Love,

Murray Shimai

Inside the chocolate factory. We all share an apartment.

The ocean, viewed out of the train window. That's why it's a little fuzzy.

Sorry I have no time to email today. We're going to the chocolate factory with a family in the ward! 

Oh ya so we had transfers last week and I'm still in Teine! But hey I got some new news! I have my first non-Japanese companion! Kapeliela shimai! She's awesome! John's shimai also got a new companion so our apartment is all Americans haha. It's really fun. Maybe too much fun haha.

 And the snow has come. Oh has it come and it's still coming. Pretty fun. So things are good. We have an exciting transfer! Lots of activities and caroling and christmas and fun stuff. Sorry I'll fill ya'll in next week!

Love you all!

Murray Shimai

This week is Transfer 5!!!!!! Ahhhhhh!! What is happening to the time?

This past week was pretty awesome! We met some super awesome people. We're still struggling to find some investigators but we've been able to talk with a lot of really nice people and even though they didn't accept our invitation to listen to our message at this time, I know that they'll have another opportunity and at some point it will be the right time for them. I'm learning that being a missionary isn't just seeing baptisms but it's also about the baptisms we don't see. Being a missionary isn't just finding people and baptizing them but it's also about introducing people to the message of the restoration and helping them to feel the spirit and having the opportunity to learn about the gospel. Seeds have to be planted before the flower grows right? A lot of people who get baptized had met missionaries in the past or had some interaction with church in some way before. So even if you share the gospel with someone and they don't accept it at that time maybe sometime in the future they will be ready and they will remember their first interaction. That's so important. Don't get frustrated if a missionary moment doesn't turn out how you wanted it to. God has a plan for everyone and the missionary moment was part of the plan for that person on their path of progression. They needed that moment, that opportunity in order to progress. I'm really learning that every day as we knock, and knock, and knock on doors and no one has interest.

But back to the awesome people we met. One lady we talked with for about an hour and she gave us a taste of this super yummy mayonnaise that she eats. Ya I don't really remember how mayonnaise came up in our conversation haha. We also met a lady who was like I'm Buddhist so I can't listen to your message. But she was super nice and was like just a second and she went back into her house and came back with some snacks and then we talked a little and left to keep housing. We were walking up the street and the lady came outside walking towards us and said, "Sorry I didn't give you very much, here's some chocolate.

Please eat it when you get hungry while you're walking around." I'll tell you I have met some of the most charitable and kind people in my life here who don't realize they're emulating Christ. Speaking of charitable. Another lady we met. Her genkan was super cute and decorated with all this Christmas decorations. She came out and was like, sorry I can't listen to your message...something about her husband....some other stuff.....I can't listen to your message. So I was like, oh well hey, your Christmas decorations are really great! And then she went into long explanations for each one haha. And she makes little gifts for her neighbors and writes notes for them when something bad happens to them. Like she is seriously a relief society member. It was really strange because you know how it feels different when you go to a members house than when you go to someone else's house? Well it totally felt like we were at a members house and talking to a member. It was the warmest happy feeling talking to her. So strange. Someday she's going to be able to listen to the message of the gospel and accept it.

Well hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying life!

Love,

Murray Shimai

December is here!

TimTam's are soooooooo yummy!!

Yay! Hello Everyone!

This past week was Thanksgiving! Hope everyone had a good one! We had

a mish-mash of leftovers and food from members for our Thanksgiving

dinner! It was yummy! In other food news, of course I have food news,

let me tell you what I experienced this week. Okay so in some of my

past emails I've talked about eating with members and being extremely

full right? Okay and that was after one members house. This past week,

Tuesday, we ate at three different members houses. Yes, three houses,

one day. Randomly tuesday was the day everyone had time. Okay heres

the schedule. 1:00- Lunch with Watanabe Shimai, super yummy and super

full after that. Travel to the Sawaguchi families home. At this point

still full. 5:30, a huge bowl of ramen is placed in front of me and a

side bowl of rice. The only explanation I have as to how I ate all of

it is a Miracle. Heavenly Father truly blesses his missionaries :)

Okay so I am uncomfortably full at this point. Like I'm not sure how I

walked to the bus stop. Then we travel to the bus station and Ono

Bishop and Ono shimai picked us up there in their car and we went to

their home. We walked in the door and smelled what, under normal

circumstances would have been a delicious smell. But under our

circumstances it was more of a "I want to cry" smell haha. There was

homemade pizza on the table and big bowls of soup. When we got home

that night we just collapsed and the next day were still feeling the

affects of eating so much haha. It was a great day.

In other news, snow! Yay! It's pretty cold. It looks so Christmasy

outside. I can't believe Christmas is next transfer! Time is going so

fast!! Work in Teine is still going. We found several potential

investigators this last week while housing so yay! Winter might not be

so bad because we were housing the other night while it was snowing

and everyone was super nice to us haha. Yay snow! Yesterday I

experienced a little miracle. We were housing and we hadn't had much

success like all week. And I realized that I had started to just

expect everyone to immediately say they aren't interested and didn't

really believe that anyone would want to listen to us. So yesterday we

were housing and we went to a house and it was my turn to do the

intercom and as I was walking up to the door I just said to myself

that that person was going to listen to us. I pushed the button and a

really nice mom answered and we talked with her for a little bit and

introduced about eternal families and we made an appointment to go

back next week! Faith and hope are so powerful! If you want to see

success you will!

I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Love,

Murray Shimai

Family home evening/ ysa activity at a members house!

Getting ready for the feast...

Thanksgiving!!

Dinner with the Konno Family! Konno Shimai teaches english!

Hey! Life is fabulous!

So remember my email last week how I was sort of

expressing feelings of sadness haha. Anyways this last week we found a

really awesome lady while housing! She talked with us for 45 minutes

in her door. We taught a really short restoration lesson and gave her

a Book of Mormon and she said that anytime we were close to come back

and we exchanged phone numbers. We asked her to read the Book of

Mormon and she asked us if there was a specific area we recommended

her to read and me and Muraoka shimai were like, oh uh yes we do haha.

That's the first time someone asked us for a reading recommendation

so it took a minute but then, thank you Spirit, I was like oh ya,

Moroni 10:3-5. That really awesome scripture with a really awesome

promise. So we read that with her and she was like, mm so desu ne.

Which is like agreeing with it. Then we went back yesterday and

visited her and we talked with her for an hour and a half haha. She

had actually read a couple pages of the Book of Mormon! Yes! She said

she didn't understand a lot of it and we're like well did you feel

anything as you were reading it? And she was like, no not really. I

was reading it while I was watching t.v.....uh haha. But hey God is

all powerful right? The Spirit can do amazing things and I believe it

can still touch her heart while she reads the Book of Mormon even if

the t.v. is on too. We're praying hard for her.

So that was the miracle of the week. A pretty big one. That was really

a testimony to me that if we work diligently and continue to exercise

our faith in the hardest times, when it feels like we aren't having

any success, that's when the blessings come. That's when we see the

miracles. I know that's not just for missionary work but for all of us

in every stage of our lives.

We also ate a lot of really yummy food with ward members. That was

great. Sorry this is a short email, we're busy today. This week is

Thanksgiving! Yay! Next transfer is Christmas! What?!

Love everyone and hope everyone is fabulous!!

Love,

Murray Shimai

BRRRR

So hope everyone is fabulous! Life in Hokkaido is still fun and cold.

We’ve started using the bus to go to and from Teine. The snow all melted and so now it’s just plain cold. It’s kind of a problem when we go to talk to people and our mouths are numb, haha. but this week was pretty much normal missionary life. We did A LOT of housing. We’re really struggling to find new investigators. When we go housing, people will interrupt us after we’ve only said where we’re from or sometimes we can even say the name of the church, but they’ll interrupt us and be like, “I’m not interested!” and then shut off the intercom. We’re really trying to work with members and encouraging them to invite friends or family to church or activities or to meet us. I know there are people prepared to hear the message of the gospel in Teine, we’re just having a bit of a hard time finding them. But we have met some really nice people and the members are way awesome and all the sisters are super excited about us being in Teine and want to do missionary work. I think as we continue to encourage them and as we try our hardest to find people, together will will be able to find people to teach the gospel to.

So I’m just going to get on my little soap box here for a sec and just say that everyone really is a missionary. The full-time missionaries really do need the members help. Knocking on doors for 4 or 5 hours a day is sort of fun and we meet some really interesting people, but it results in very few investigators. When members invite their friends to listen to the message of the gospel they are more likely to accept. Every member can do missionary work! We need your help!  Okay, I’ll get down now.

Anyways, so sorry I didn’t really have anything exciting to write about this week. A lot of walking. A lot of walking. A lady we stopped to talk to on the street at first was like, “Ya, I’m not interested.” But then she kind of leaned in and said “I do have a question about something.”  And we’re like, Oh yay, please ask! And she said, “I received this necklace from my grandma and it’s a figurine of Mary (I think that’s who it was, I don’t really remember.). But she was like, “I want to know what it means and stuff." We’re like, "uh….we don’t really know the meaning…" and she was like, "oh, okay". And then we were like, so….you don’t want to hear our message? haha and she was like, no. So that was a let down. But she was nice and maybe someday she will decide to learn more about the church.

While we haven’t found a solid investigator here in Teine, we have been able to share our testimonies countless times and introduce people to the church and the gospel. Every time we get to do that I feel so great and I just hope everyone of those people that say they aren’t invested or have a religion someday meet the missionaries again and choose to listen.

I hope everyone has a fabulous week! 
Love, Murray Shimai