What even happened this week? - Week #72

Konnichiwa minasan!

Sorry I'm emailing so late. We went with an investigator up to Hiroshima. And guess where we went? Costco. That's right. They have a Costco here. It was kind of like the Twilight Zone for me, but overall I loved it! Pumpkin pie, muffins, and dried mangoes here we come!

This week was full of planning and miracles. And General Conference!!!! Seriously I think Sunday may have been the best day of my mission, if not my life.

Us four sister missionaries, the Yanai Elders, Dustin, Bryan, and Mitchell all came to the Mann's house to watch General Conference. And we made breakfast. And sat on their comfy couch. It was so wonderful. And holy cow was it just me or was this conference especially good? Maybe it's a missionary thing. There were so many talks that I felt like were just what I needed to hear. I definitely need to ponderize some more about it, but at least I know the gospel works! (See what I did there?) 

After both sessions of General Conference we headed over to the beach and pretty much everyone in the branch showed up. Then Dustin and Brother Mann walked out into the water and he was baptized. I love baptisms so much. The Spirit is so strong every time. It never gets old. Sunday was definitely a spiritual high. I don't really have words to express how I felt, but I think you all can understand.

We also met with Ayumi san this week. We met her streeting and she ended up coming to Eikaiwa. She is so nice and really has a sincere interest in learning about God. We had a lesson with her on Saturday and when we taught her about prayer and Sister Welte prayed at the end she started crying. I've never had that happen but it was definitely a cool experience.

I definitely don't deserve the blessings that Heavenly Father has given me this past week. But I know that he is always ready and waiting to give us those blessings if we show forth our faith. Thanks to everyone's prayers and words of encouragement I've made it this far. So I guess I'll keep trucking along. Ganbarimasu!

Malone Shimai

Me & Welte Shimai before the baptism

Me, Dustin & Welte Shimai

Me, Dustin, Bro. Mann & Welte Shimai

Dustin's Baptism

Dustin in baptized!

                                    Before the baptism, we met at the Mann's

for breakfast and General Conference

So thankful for the many good people in the branch,

 like the Manns!

                                An American Breakfast!! - Can't wait!!

                              Dustin, Bryan and Mitchell with the Yanai Elders

I couldn't have asked for a better day!!

There can be miracles when you believe! - Week #71

Konnichiwa minasan! 

So we have some awesome news for you all. You may recall that last week at the end of my email (or somewhere in it, I don't really remember) I talked about a lesson we were teaching that night to a referral from one of the members in our Iwakuni branch. Well his name is Dustin. And it turns out that we taught him the first lesson, invited him to be baptized, and he said yes! So when we asked him when he wanted to be baptized he said October 5 and we were like "Awesome!" Wait a second, that's in one week. That means we would have to teach you everything and get a baptism ready all in one week. Ok hold up. How about the next weekend so we have a LITTLE more time. He said okay. So yeah, Dustin is getting baptized this coming Sunday. Right after General Conference finishes. Is this going to be the best weekend of my life? Maybe. 

Dustin is a marine, and he is from Alabama. He is way awesome and he grew up in the Baptist church, but he started searching for answers that his church couldn't give him and eventually that has led him to this point. I wish I could tell you the entire story, but I don't have time. You'll have to hear him tell it. It's amazing. 

His friend Bryan who introduced him to the church is also such a good example of member missionary work. I feel like maybe Bryan should start coming with us when we go tracting, but he doesn't speak Japanese unfortunately. But when you have the Spirit, who needs language? (I still do, but I'm a special case). 

We are still teaching Tsugumi san and she is doing great. She is the sweetest person you will ever meet. Everything we teach her she gets excited about. Because of work though she hasn't been able to attend church yet. So if you could pray for her to have an opportunity to attend church that would be great!

Honestly, I don't know why we have been meeting so many cool people this transfer and why so many miracles are happening. I feel like I don't deserve it. But I am happy to be an instrument in the Lord's hands to help any of his children who want to come closer to Him. It's the most wonderful feeling in the world! So because I'm a missionary, I'm going to step up on my soap box and encourage everyone to think about someone they can reach out to and help them come closer to Christ in whatever way possible. (Sometimes this includes meeting the missionaries, but other times it may just be a listening ear, or delivering some delicious brownies-I KNOW that helps:)

Ok stepping off soap box now. No I still haven't seen General Conference. Don't rub it in!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Malone Shimai

Our English class is free!!

             We love our time at Eikaiwa class - 4 of us with Tsugumi & Ayumi san

                               Jumping on the beach!  - Branch picnic last week

Me & Welte Shimai with Dustin

Me, Willson, Welte & Salmon Shimai - It was a fun day!!

Me, Willson & Welte Shimai 

Me & Smith Shimai - She is my doki

(We came into the mission at the same time)

Zone Conference 

Konnichiwa! - Week #70

Konnichiwa minasan!
Another week has come and gone! Luckily I am still in Iwakuni so that week was really awesome! As for news, we are still working with Tsugumi San to prepare her for baptism. So we had taught her about Joseph Smith's experience and then we asked her what she thought. Like if she could believe it and she was like yeah I totally think that's possible. Well...ok that settles that. We really focused on Jesus Christ this week because she doesn't really know much about him so we want to develop her faith in him. But she is totally open to it too. She wants to read the scriptures in order to learn more about Him. So cool!

Anyways, right before this lesson Elder Spencer walks in with Bryan, a young single adult, and his friend Dustin. Bryan had an interview with the stake president so we got to talk to Dustin while he waited. And basically now we have an appointment with him tonight to teach him some more! Yay! This is out of nowhere so we were totally surprised. But we are definitely happy about it.

I can't believe how the time is going by. I simultaneously get nervous that I'm not doing enough and that I won't be able to do everything I'm supposed to do. But such is missionary life. So as long as I have the Spirit and some food in my stomach I'm pretty set to go:) Yes, these are the words of wisdom from Sister Malone. If you want actual spiritual upliftment I can send you some of my friends emails, or you can go read some general conference talks!

Love,
Sister Malone
P.S. I'm so excited for General Conference it's not even funny! It's just like Christmas!

Branch Picnic at the Beach. So Fun!

Thank you Sis. White for taking these pics 

of us on the beach!

Me & Tsugumi san

Eikaiwa class

All of us with Midori & Tsugumi san 

A pretty view of Iwakuni

Eating lunch near Kintai Bridge

Crossing Kintai Bridge once again!

Of course we have to pose...

                                                                     Enjoying P-day!

What is going on? / Week #69

Konnichiwa minasan!

Well this week has been exciting to say the least. But just to put
everyone's mind at rest because I know you are all super concerned, we
got transfer calls and yes I am staying in Iwakuni. Which is a good
thing because we have an investigator with a baptismal date! Her name
is Tsugumi. You are probably thinking you have never heard that name
before. You would be right because we had only taught her one time
before yesterday. She is such a cool person. She has really strong
faith in God because of an experience she had in a car accident. And
she is already reading the Book of Mormon and feels a power when she
reads it. Who is this girl? Yesterday we went out for sushi and taught
Tsugumi the first lesson and then invited her to choose a baptismal
date. She chose October 4. Haha okay we might need a little more time
to teach her. So we moved it to October 17th. But we are super
excited! She is way prepared.

We have been experiencing a lot of miracles in Iwakuni lately. We are
finding more people who are prepared and ready for this message. It's
way cool. I don't know what we did to deserve this but we are going to
run with it and do all we can to help our investigators come closer to
Christ. (Man I'm such a missionary). In the words of a wise girl we
met on the street: ganbattara, dekiru. You can try and google
translate that one if you like. I'm curious what it would come out as.

This transfer has gone by super fast. It makes me a little nervous for
my next one. We have had our ups and our downs, but overall this is
Heavenly Fathers work. He knows what He wants to happen. Everything is
in His timing. Thank goodness because I would be WAY more stressed if
I thought this was all on me. On that highly spiritual note, I hope
everyone has a good week!

Until next time,

Malone Shimai

Our District - Iwakuni - Sept 2015

A little more serious this time!

Me & Welte Shimai with Yamamoto san

Willson, Stevenson, Me & Welte Shimai

We had a pizza making party again - so much Fun!

Everyone enjoyed it!!

We love meeting for Eikaiwa class

Hiroshima is Pretty Cool! / Week #68

Konnichiwa Minasan!

Yeah, Hiroshima is pretty cool. Not gonna lie I wish I had the
opportunity to serve there, but at least I am close enough we can take
trips for pday like we did today. We ate delicious Hiroshima style okonomiyaki  for
lunch!

This week we had lots of lessons which is exciting. Always would
rather have a lesson than be out tracting.  We met with the Sakamotos, Mitchell  and Yamamoto San. We taught Yamamoto some more about prayer and I think he is willing to try it now. We will follow up with him this week. We haven't visited Morioka San this week because he is out of town again for his work. Hopefully he is okay.

I got to go on exchanges with Sister Stevenson this week! One more
time with my old companion before she finishes her mission! So we went
and heart attacked the Carters and visited Sister White. When we were
housing we met this grandma and her daughter who were so nice! They
weren't really interested but her daughter had traveled all over
America when she was younger so we were talking about that. Then the
grandma pulled out this music book of old American folk songs and said
she loves westerns and Indians. And then she started humming
Shenendoah and asked if we knew it. I was so surprised. I told her I
knew it and then she asked if I would sing it. So I sang for this old
grandma and her daughter. At the end she said "I had been wishing that
some gaijin ( foreigner) could come and sing this for me." And it
happened! So apparently I was sent to fulfill that grandmas dream.
Miracles!

Next week is transfers so I will write on Tuesday!  Have a great week!

Malone shimai

Welte Shimai, Me, Salmon Shimai & Willson Shimai

at Hiroshima Castle

The entry step into the castle - read the English

Hiroshima City

Another view of Hiroshima City

Hiroshima Castle in the distance

There are six rivers that flow through Hiroshima

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial - Genbaku Dome (Atomic Bomb)

The only structure left standing in the area after the bomb

Our group in front of Genbaku Dome

Us again!!

I had to have a pic with the pink bunny barriers!!

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

Our "Mid Heel Click"

See you next week!!

Look close at this picture we took in the church nursery - 

It caused a lot of screams but luckily Inoue Shimai 

(A brave Japanese mom) grabbed it with chopsticks and

threw it in a bucket of water!! 

Things are going well in Iwakuni!! / Week #67

Konnichiwa Minasan,

Things are going pretty well. Mitchell is back so we are teaching him
again. Whether he likes it or not. Just kidding he likes it. He told
us he couldn't come to church this week because of work so we were a
little bummed, but then on Sunday morning who walks in with the
Carters but Mitchell? Miracle!

We are continuing to teach the Sakamotos and Yamamoto and we have

a new investigator Harumi San. She is a cute grandma who has a younger

sister who is LDS. And her daughter is Christian. So she knows some

things and is pretty open to what we have to say.

A member of the area presidency came and spoke to us this week. Elder
Choi (chae) from Korea. It was really good! He spoke about elevating
our thoughts. If we don't like something, we have the power to change
our thoughts. His wife also spoke about how in the pre earth life we
were on the front lines during the war in heaven. We were the strong
ones because of our testimonies of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father
and their plan. We have been prepared to come at this time and were
given special training. It was a pretty cool thought. Mostly I loved
when he talked about knowing our identity as sons and daughters of
God. If we truly understand that, then we will have confidence in
ourselves and in God. That knowledge is life changing.

It's been a good week, and we are ready for some more! Just know you
are always in my prayers!

Malone Shimai

                                         Making Okonomiyaki at the Sakamotos

The Sakamotos!

Willson & Welte Shimai

Yesterday, all of September seemed so far away... - Week #66

Konnichiwa minasan!!!

Can you believe it is September already? I can't. But a new month always brings new exciting things and new possibilities so I am pretty excited. We have been pretty busy with training and putting records into the iPad and surveys and all of this extra stuff that needs to be done so I am excited to get back to the normal routine. Sister Welte is doing good now and has learned that Japanese rice is amazing so as long as she has some rice, the world is a good place.

We had a nice little typhoon this week. Just some intense rain and wind but nothing too bad. Not like Okinawa by any means.

We met with Yamamoto San twice this past week and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and even prayed after we committed him to. He still has lots of doubts and questions, so I think the key is getting him to feel it, not just understand it. So we are going to work on that.

Morioka San got injured at work so he wasn't able to meet with us, but apparently he still went to work the next day. Nihonjin man. They are unstoppable when it comes to work.

The Sakamotos are also back, he's been in the hospital because he had to have surgery. But he is doing good now.

Our other good news is that Mitchell is back! Woohoo! We haven't met with him yet but we are super excited. Hopefully he is as excited as we are.

Sorry this email is super scattered. It just reflects our week. But there are good things coming, and I know there are good things in store for all of you so look forward to the future!

Love you
Malone shimai

                   Me & Welte Shimai eating out!!

I got a package from Uncle Bob & Aunt Barbara - Yay!!

Me, Welte Shimai, Salmon Shimai & Willson Shimai

Having fun at Eikaiwa!

All of us at Eikaiwa