The end of one transfer, the beginning of another, and more importantly General Conference! Is this subject line too long? / Week #46

Konnichiwa minasan!

Well another transfer has ended! I hesitate to say that I`m a transfer 7 missionary now because some people might get confused and think that I know what I`m doing. Which is false!  

Probably to no one`s surprise I am still in Kumamoto with Hilke shimai! Thank goodness. But there were lots of changes in our district. Since Parker choro went home we got a new zone leader-Boyden choro. And turns out he is my kohai from the MTC. So he is a zone leader at transfer 6. He gets to be the lucky elder to kill McClane choro. (Not literally, this is a missionary term, don`t want to alarm anyone).  Layton shimai also transferred out so the new sister is from Fiji and her name is Taufaga shimai! She`s way cool. And last but not least, we have a new district leader! And he`s a Nihonjin! Keikyu choro! He`s kind of quiet, but don`t worry, by the end of this transfer me and Hilke shimai will have changed that:)

We watched General Conference this weekend with all the Tsuboi and Shimizu missionaries. I always love seeing them again. But back to General Conference, all of the talks were so good! I just want to watch all of them again. But I took pretty good notes so at least I can go back and read over my notes again. There was a big focus on family and marriage, but I also noticed that a lot of the talks focused on finding peace amid troubling circumstances. I think that is going to become more and more important in today`s world. Even as a missionary, that`s important. If we can just keep our focus on Christ, even if we are unsure of everything else, even if everything else seems to be against us, He will not desert us. I feel like that was the message in several of the talks and it is what stood out most to me. I hope the gospel is still wonderful to all of you. It was something I needed to be reminded of. 

So we didn`t get to meet with Tomomi or Tsurunaga san this week. But we did meet with Yuri chan. And she came to General Conference! She`s the best! She liked how some of the talks spoke on people who have doubts and questions about the gospel, since that is something she also struggles with. I hope that she was able to find answers to some of her questions through watching conference. I know I found answers to mine! 

Well that`s pretty much it for this week! Thank you for all of your prayers. It really helps. We will keep on ganbaruing in the Lord`s work and do our best to be instruments in his hand. Have a great week!

Malone Shimai

Pretty flowers are coming out!

Eikaiwa!  Parker Choro's last time

Easter in Japan! Nobody knows what you`re talking about! / Week #45

Konnichiwa minasan!

Thanks for all your emails about General Conference that are making me jealous. Now I have another thing I need to repent of. Coveting other people`s ability to watch General Conference.

But I`m excited to watch it this weekend!

Even though we didn`t get to watch General Conference, we still celebrated Easter! The mission sent everyone these little cards that have the link to watch the new video "Because He Lives" so we spent a lot of this week handing those out and inviting everyone to our special Easter program. The funny thing though is in Japan they don`t celebrate Easter so you kind of have to explain it to them first, and then invite them to come! In Japanese it is called fukkatsusai, or resurrection day. 

We did an Easter Eikaiwa activty and I think the students loved it because they`ve never done a Easter Egg Hunt or dyed eggs before. All of them thought the coloring eggs part was so cool. Although it did make me wonder how this even got started? Who decided coloring eggs was the thing to do on Easter?

On Saturday we met Tomomi san for dinner again with Tsukano shimai. Afterwards we went to the church and gave her a tour so she would be comfortable coming in the next day. We stopped at the baptismal font and talked about baptism. Tsukano shimai shared her testimony and it was cool because Kametani shimai was in there and she was baptized 3 years ago so it was good for her to share her testimony of baptism since it wasn`t that long ago. It`s all new stuff for Tomomi san but hopefully she felt the Spirit!

But the program on Sunday was so good in the Kumamoto ward! And the best news ever! Tomomi san came! This was her first time so she probably heard a lot of things she didn`t understand but hopefully she just felt the overall spirit of the meeting too because it was awesome. It was Fast Sunday and there was a line to share testimonies. I love this ward. They even had to cut it short so that we had time to watch the video. But everyone shared their testimonies of Jesus Christ and His resurrection. I love Easter Sunday because everyone is always filled with such hope and looking to the future with faith. At the end we watched the video on the big projector screen and I hope I wasn`t the only one who was wanting them to play it like 5 more times. But they didn`t. Overall we had 12 nonmembers come to church. Mainly thanks to Elder Parker and McClane. Elder Parker is dying this week and so he gave a last testimony and sang Abide with Me in his lovely Hawaiian voice. So several people came to see him for the last time.

I can`t believe another transfer has gone by. I`m going on transfer 7! Holy cow! I`m not really too worried about what`s going to happen. I`m 99% sure me and Hilke shimai will stay here for one more transfer. I`ve definitely learned a lot and this transfer has really shown me a lot of my weaknesses, but I hope to keep moving ahead and make next transfer a good one! Until next week!

Malone Shimai

More Flowers!  Love it!

Tomomi san & Tsukano shimai

Us eating at the Dome Place- 

Don't know the real name but it's shaped like a dome

My food at the Dome Place!

Our District - Kumamoto

Here we are again...

We ate at the coolest place with our Eikaiwa students - 

It's at an onsen (hot springs) & no we didn't do that part!

It's a buffet and it was delicious!!

Sakura, sakura, sakura / Week #44

Konnichiwa minasan!

So this week in Kumamoto all of the cherry trees blossomed and it`s so beautiful because there is this one street that is lined with cherry trees so everyone comes out to look at them and have picnics underneath them, which is called a hanami (hana-flower, mi-look or see).

So this week has been a lot better as far as finding goes. We`ve been able to meet our goals and are still trying to apply the techniques we learned from our training a couple weeks ago. It`s really helped. We only had one lesson this week so we had a LOT of time for finding, so both of us have been pretty tired. We also had junkai this week. Or in eigo, exchanges! So Hilke shimai went with Pinzon shimai (oh grandma and granddaughter, how cute) and I went with Chun shimai! Former companions at it again! It was nice to dendo with another missionary and see how they do things. It`s also nice to know that other missionaries have some of the same weaknesses or things we want to improve on.

So we had a lesson with Yuri chan again. And we asked her where she was at in the Book of Mormon since she made the goal to read all of it. So it`s been a week so we`re expecting her to say she`s in 1 Nephi 8 or something. But no, she`s in 1 Nephi 19! Holy cow! We were happily surprised! So we talked about Moroni`s promise and read from Lehi`s dream about the iron rod and how we need to hold on to the rod (the word of God) but we can`t just read it. We need to apply it to ourselves, to "liken" them to ourselves. We also challenged her to pray about the Book of Mormon every time she reads it to ask whether it is true or not. 

So the biggest miracle that happened this week is going to take some explaining. I hope I can do it without confusing everyone. We got a call from Tsukano shimai on Thursday saying that her friend Hori san has a referral for us, kind of. So Hori san was a former investigator. He`s not a member. But he knows Tsukano shimai and he trusts her. So basically he wants to introduce his co-worker (actually he`s technically her boss) Tomomi to Tsukano shimai so that she can befriend her and help her. Tomomi san is 24 years old. He wants Tomomi to meet members and go to Eikaiwa and church and experience some new things to help her because she`s kind of shy and she`s having a hard time right now finding balance in her life. So on Saturday we went to dinner with Tsukano shimai and met Hori san and Tomomi san. And they are both awesome (he should be an investigator again!) Basically we are getting handed this referral from a nonmember who is ordering that we befriend and teach Tomomi san. Why can`t all referrals be like this? Tomomi san is a little quiet but she is super nice and sweet! I can`t wait to get to know her better. She`s coming to church next week for the Easter program and she will most likely come to Eikaiwa too! Miracle? I would say so.

Last of all, we`ve been going through our area book and visiting former investigators houses. Most of the time they don`t live there anymore or they aren`t interested. But we went and visited this family. We met the dad and the two kids because the mom wasn`t home. It`s been like 6 years since they were taught but he totally knew who we were. He said they were busy eating dinner but we could come back another time to visit if it`s earlier. Then he straight up asked for a pamphlet. I was so surprised. He was like "Don`t you have a pamphlet or something to give us?" Yeah we do! So this week has been cool.

Well I`m jealous that all of you get to watch General Conference a week before I do but I hope you enjoy it! And don`t give any spoilers and ruin it for me! Just kidding. You can give me all the spoilers you want! Have a great Easter and make sure to show all your friends the new video "Because He Lives." It`s awesome! Go watch it right now!

Malone Shimai

                                 It's beautiful here right now!  Cherry blossoms lining the streets.

Sakura Blossoms - So pretty!

So many people are out walking on the streets to see the sakura blossoms

Hilke Shimai and I in front of Sakura

Us again...we're kind of weird!

Chun Shimai and I went on junkais

Lovin the blossoms!!

Partying with Yuri chan

Technology and missionaries, yes they actually do go together! / Week #43

Konnichiwa minasan!

First of all I need to wish my wonderful mother a Happy Birthday as of yesterday! You`re like almost 40 now right? Sorry I meant to do it last week but...I`m slowly losing it. Sorry I don`t have a legitimate excuse except to say that I think I understand how it feels to have pregnancy brain a little bit now. Having children does that to you.

But my bean-chan is doing great! She is really good at stopping people. Like she yells Konnichiwa! at people and they totally stop. Then I talk to them. I like it this way because I`m not always good a stopping people in a loud, bold voice. Which I`m trying to work on. But it`s easier to have your fresh, new, excited companion do it sometimes.

So this week we had a lesson with Yuri chan about the roles of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. But the coolest part is when we followed up on out commitment from last time to pray and ask Heavenly Father where she should go from this point. So she comes back and tells us that she has decided to read the entire Book of Mormon! How cool is that? She`s read from it before in scattered spots, but now she wants to start from the beginning and read the entire thing. I guess prayer really does help. We also talked about what is holding her back from baptism finally. She still has some doubts, but the main thing is her parents. Her mother knows a little about the church but her father doesn`t know anything and he would probably be opposed if he did. But at least we know now. We just need to work on from there.

We also had a lesson with Tsurunaga san who we found through the area book. We learned that she likes to talk A LOT. We talked for like 55 minutes and then gave like a 5 minute lesson. But at least we know now so we will go right into the lesson next time and focus on gospel topics. Haha but she`s great. She speaks really good English and she told us some hilarious stories about when she lived in America.

Okay okay I`ll get to the good stuff. So this week was kind of crazy because on Friday I went up to Fukuoka and left Hilke shimai with the Nagamine sisters. Don`t worry she had a good time.

But I ended up taking a 2 hour bus to Fukuoka by myself. Why? Because Magalogo shimai and Madsen choro missed the bus at their stop. And so I got on and discovered they weren`t on it, but it was too late. It was weird to be completely by myself. But don`t worry I didn`t do anything womp. I just took a nap while the man next to me probably wondered if I was going to end up falling asleep on his shoulder because my head kept nodding. 

Then I waited for Magalogo shimai`s and Madsen choro`s bus to come and we caught another bus and got off at what we thought was the right stop. Then we realized none of us knew how to get to the Fukuoka church from there. So I called my handy-dandy zone leader and asked him for directions because he knows Fukuoka like the back of his hand. (He used to be a zone leader there.) So we only arrived to choir practice like...an hour late. Everyone else was there already. Awkward!

But we had a good practice. Good enough to sing for an apostle of the Lord I guess. Then we went and ate indo curry (which was heavenly) and me and Magalogo shimai had to take 2 subways to a sisters apartment in Fujisaki. We learned a lot about the subway let me tell you. We received a lot of help from random Nihonjins because we had no idea where we were going. Luckily Japanese people are the nicest when it comes to lost people! But we made it! 

The next morning we got up at 5:00 in order to be at the church by 7:00 in order to practice again. Then all the missionaries in the mission started filing in (except for Okinawa obviously) and it was so cool to see people again! I finally saw Peterson shimai again!!! I haven`t seen her since I left honbu back in July! We also had an Okinawan reunion. Don`t worry I took a picture. I discovered to my utter dismay that all of my zone got to take the shinkanzen to Fukuoka that morning!! What?! My one chance to take the shink and I miss it because I`m in the choir! I was devastated.

But anyways, on to the important part. Elder Nelson came and spoke to us about ipads and using technology wisely. So yes, we are getting ipads soon. But there will be lots of training for them. Mainly Elder Nelson stressed to us to use our ipads worthily and righteously, not just for now, but for the rest of our lives. If we can learn to control ourselves on our mission, then we can do it for the rest of our lives. And teach our children too. He told us that the Brethren are giving ipads because they know that they can trust us. And most of all to remember our purpose as missionaries and remember the Saviors love for us. He said "The Savior is not disappointed in anyone with the desire and intent to repent." He spent the last 20 minutes of the taikai just teaching us about Jesus Christ and the meaning of his many titles. And of course of all times, my pen died and I couldn`t write his amazing words down. This would happen to me. 

We are to remember that we are not becoming an ipad mission. We are becoming full purpose missionaries. I know the ipads are really going to help us in our work. It`s going to move the work forward even more. And when we get Facebook at some point you all can follow me! You just can`t message me. Sorry!

I hope everyone has a good week! 

Malone Shimai

Kumamoto Chapel

Another pic of the Kumamoto Chapel

Okinawa Reunion - So fun to see everyone!!

Me & Peterson Shimai!!

Layton Shimai's Birthday

Me and Hilke shimai made this cake. This is why we don`t cook. 

There may have been smoke, and burnt bread.

Kumamoto I choose you! / Week #42

Konnichiwa minasan!!

So as you may have heard we went to Kumamoto castle this week with our investigator Yuri chan!! And it was great! Mainly because it meant going back to my old area Tsuboi. Man I love that place. But also because the cherry blossoms are coming out! I should`ve taken more pictures but we didn`t have a lot of time. So we went up many stairs to get to the main castle part. There we sat and watched three samurais use their best samurai voices to welcome us to Kumamoto castle and do an awesome dance/fight sequence. Someday you will see the video. It`s epic. Then we went inside and looked at all the relics and history of the castle until we reached the top! So many stairs. So steep. So narrow. I don't know how samurais walked up those stairs in the old days. No wonder they were fit. 

So things are starting to move along in our area. The biggest thing is that on Friday we actually had a training from our zone leaders. And this is the training I wish I had received when I first came into the mission. Basically they covered how we plan effectively, how we contact people, what we say, and how we follow up. Then we went and practiced it on the streets of Tsuboi because there are lots of people there. Also we did something that was really strange, and some of you may freak out at this, but my companion was an elder. That`s right. I did dendo with an elder. How? Because another elder and sister were across the street also dendoing. So technically we were within sight and hearing of each other. It was kind of weird, but also really cool to see how elders contact people. I really learned a lot and I think this is going to help us in our finding A LOT. Basically this training was an answer to my prayers because I knew that I needed to be doing things better, but I wasn`t sure how. 

On Saturday we went and tried out the things we learned and we met this girl Asami who lived in America (in Nebraska of all places) and went to church with her host family. So I showed her our flyer and started talking about church. Then she saw that we teach Ekaiwa and was really excited to learn more English. So we got her number and email and hopefully she will come to Ekaiwa this week, and then from there hopefully she will become a new investigator!

Also miracle for the week. Our zone leaders have asked us to call 2 people from our area book each day. Before this transfer I have not really done area book dendo. Basically you call former investigators and ask them if they would be interesting in taking lessons again. So I called this one lady and she didn`t answer. But 2 seconds later she called back. I introduced myself and she totally remembered meeting with the sister missionaries before. She also started speaking English which threw me off. But then she said "You have church tomorrow right? I can come at one. Is that okay?" Um yes. That is okay. So she came on Sunday. She actually couldn`t stay for church but we set up an appointment to meet on Wednesday! Yay for miracles when you are obedient and do what your zone leaders ask.

Thanks for everyone`s prayers. I`ve really felt better this week and I can see things starting to look up. Stay tuned for next week when I tell you all about the Elder Nelson conference!

Malone Shimai

Kumamoto Castle

                          Real Samurai! jk...but I have a video of them that is pretty epic!

Cherry Blossoms - Oh yeah, it's sakura time!!

We're at the top of the Castle!  So many stairs!!

View from the Castle - Mount Aso in the distance

Guess who`s coming to Fukuoka? / Week #41

Konnichiwa minasan!

So this week seems like a blur. I really can`t remember a lot that happened, but me and Hilke shimai have been doing our fair share of finding. No new investigators yet, but definitely lots of handing out chirashis and inviting people to church and telling them that there is a God and He loves them!

We went to Eikaiwa for the first time here and it`s definitely different than what I`m used to. They have all 3 classes in one big room so it`s really noisy. I`m back to teaching advanced class, which I`m a little sad about. I loved teaching the beginners class in Tsuboi! But now I teach with Parker choro and its great because the students just ask him questions about his life in Hawaii. And then I may have accidentally mentioned that he has a beautiful singing voice (he sang at the PCC in Hawaii) and now all the students want to hear him sing. Ooops.

We had Zone Conference yesterday so Kaicho and shimai and the APs came and gave us a great training about remembering "Christ is the Reason." The reason we do this work is because we love Christ and want to share his love and his gospel with others. And the only possible way we can accomplish this work is because of Christ`s Atonement. We talked about the enabling power of the Atonement and it`s something I needed to be reminded of since I`ve become a trainer and reopened an area. I`ve been feeling a little overwhelmed, but I need to remember to rely on the Lord`s help and humbly acknowledge that I most definitely cannot do this on my own.

Then we talked about breaking barriers with our investigators by asking inspired questions and using the teaching and commitment cycle. This was a great reminder for what we need to do with Yuri chan to find out what exactly is holding her back from baptism. We will let you know by next week how it goes! 

Also the coolest news by far is that Elder Nelson is coming to our mission!! He`s coming next Saturday on the 21st. And part of the big reason he is coming is to give a training on ipads. Yes we are getting ipads in April. It`s going to be way cool, it`s also going to cause a lot of problems. The other thing I found out yesterday is that they are organizing a choir to sing for Elder Nelson at the conference. And somehow they know who has a musical background and chose all of the people already and yes I am one of them. How do they know this stuff?! But the best part is that Magalogo shimai and Cox shimai are both in the choir too!! So we have a rehearsal the day before in Fukuoka and then we will perform the next day. So they emailed the music to us and we are supposed to practice on our own. I`m excited but also wondering how this is all going to turn out...

Also today we are planning on finally going to Kumamoto castle!! Duane I hope you`re proud of me for finally going! But it`s super cold today and maybe there was even some snow falling...I think that was a trick of my eyes though. Obviously it can`t be snowing here.

Thanks for all the prayers and support! I really do appreciate it! Have a great week!

Malone Shimai

Zone Conference - Me with 3 out of 4 companions!

It's impossible to take a picture without missionaries photobombing...

If you think missionaries are mature, you're dead wrong!!

And the 4th - Jeffery Shimai

Went to the Tojo's for dinner with our investigator Yuri chan.

So much fun!!  It was a hilarious mix of English and Japanese.

Love this family already!!

This is Kumamoto! / Week #40

Konnichiwa minasan!

So I`m in Kumamoto area now which is like 20 minutes away from Tsuboi. Probably the smoothest transfer I`ve ever had in terms of transportation. And packing wasn`t bad because I didn`t have to worry about a weight limit this time! Luckily Carvalho shimai transferred to Nagamine so we still live together, just in a different apartment.

So I know what you all really care about. And it`s not me. You want to hear about my bean chan! So her name is Sister Hilke. She is from Minnesota. She`s 19. And she likes reading and Lord of the Rings so we are going to be awesome companions obviously. But really she`s such a better bean than I was. I don`t deserve her. She is way braver than I was. But it`s interesting to watch her and remember when I used to be a bean and how I felt. Like not understanding any Japanese. At all.

But have no fear I`m taking care of my bean. We went and bought her a bike and got her all the essential things that beans need. Like rain suits and bike basket covers. Oh and food. We went out finding for the first time on Saturday and she did great. She already introduces us when people answer the door. I don`t think I said anything my whole first transfer. Man, how did Pinzon shimai put up with me?

If there is one blessing I`ve noticed already it`s that I`m able to understand more Japanese and use more Japanese than I thought I could. Maybe it`s just because it all depends on me now. Before with Pinzon shimai if I didn`t understand I didn`t worry about it too much because I figured she would. But now I`m the one who has to understand so I pay a lot more attention I think. I am by no means understanding everything that people say but enough to communicate. Yay for communication! 

So white washing into a new area (well a reopening area) is not my favorite thing. I`m hoping this is the only time on my mission I have to do this ( I probably just jinxed myself by saying that). Luckily I can ask Layton shimai about members and investigators because she was here last transfer and covered both Kumamoto and Nagamine areas. So we aren`t starting from scratch. But it`s definitely different when you don`t have a companion who has been in the area and can introduce you to everyone and tell you the state of investigators, less actives, etc. But I`m trying to do my best and learn quickly. 

Also I just have to make a comment about my new ward mission leader. I think my ward mission leaders are getting progressively outside the box of your typical ward mission leader. In Okinawa it was Tumori kyodai and he was a dad with like 4 kids so he was pretty normal. Then in Tsuboi it was a 19 year old who is preparing for his mission. And now my dendo shunin is a 31 year old artist who paints these awesome contemporary pieces of Christ and other people. It`s way interesting. I wonder what my next ward mission leader will be like...

Anyways, we went to church yesterday and met the members and they are way awesome! It`s a pretty good sized ward. Definitely a lot of people to get to know. But I`m excited for that. 

We also had a lesson with our investigator Yuri chan. She has been an investigator for a while. She`s received all the lessons so she knows pretty much everything she needs to in order to be baptized. I think she even had a baptismal date at one point. So our goal with her this transfer is to do a lot of BRT (build a relationship of trust) and get to the heart of why she`s holding back from baptism. But she`s super sweet. She`s in college studying English! (She reminds me of our investigator Emi in Tsuboi). 

We also had an appointment with a potential investigator Noguchi san (this is not the old couple in Tsuboi in case you are confused). But she had to cancel at the last minute so we are hoping to meet her this week instead.

We are doing a lot of finding, hoping to find some new investigators and get things rolling here in Kumamoto! I`m looking forward to the exciting things that will happen this transfer. This will definitely be an interesting transfer. Until next week!

Malone Shimai

Last time at Eikaiwa (English class)...  :(

Oshima Choro's farewell party - He's dead (going home) - I can't believe it!!

Oshima Choro and the swag team! (We made them hold this pose forever)

We are definitely an interesting bunch!!

The swag team is awesome!!  

They gave us t-shirts with a pic of us on the front and our kanji on the back.

(Those of us who are transferring)

I love my gift!!

I had no idea they were making those faces!

The Bishop and his wife took us to sushi.

My sushi!