TRANSFER 4 IS A COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...........

HELLO!!! KONNICHIWA!!!!

my goodness this was quite the week! I have now been on my mission for 6 months! wow!!! its flying by! there really hasnt been a slow time yet! im scared its still going to come.. hahah! possibly next transfer... just kidding. But we did get transfer calls this morning... I AM STAYING IN TSUKUBA!!!! wooohooo!!!! i am so happy!! i love tsukuba so much!!! this area is full of prepared people! So last week i asked you all to pray that i wouldnt be training a new missionary. your prayers only half worked. I am not training a new companion but i am now the senior companion.. Sister Kelly is my new companion! She is just a transfer under me. Im scared to be the one in charge but i guess someone thinks i can handle it! Im scared. but excited!! Tsukuba will have four sisters and four elders!!!! So Reusser shimai is staying with me too!!! i am so happy!!! and Tsukuba is seriously bursting with prepared people! we need 8 missionaries just in our area to get them all! We became our own district! haha! its going to be a great transfer!!!

So this last week has been so good! of course! they always are! After the temple, Ami shimai and i stayed by the temple and did streeting for 5 hours while Reusser shimai was at a meeting. Well this was the worst day of my entire mission so far. hahah! But the best too! Learned a lot from this day. No one would talk to us. We felt so awkward! so unloved! and so unwelcome. the people in that area were so rude and wouldnt give us the time of day. One man harrassed us and touched and literally scared the you know what out of us so we just ran away! hahah! Then one later came up to us as we were talking to another lady and told us that we were so annoying and that we needed to leave the poor lady alone. uhhhhh. we were so frustrated! i have never felt so hated and so unwelcome. Ami shimai and I knew that we were being tested. Heavenly Father was seeing how much we could take. After a little break we said a prayer and got back to streeting. We knew that we would find someone. We didnt let ourselves get too down. Heavenly Father blessed us incredibly! The first lady we talked to stopped and talked to us for half an hour. We taught her about eternal families, the book of mormon, and prayer. She was excited to read the book of mormon! She said she would flip to a radom page and start reading. We promised her if she prayed before she would find the answers to her soul! She is not in our area but we are excited to see how it went! It was literally the hardest day on my mission but the best! I just remembered my favorite talk from Elder Holland. When we are persecuted, we stand side by side with our savior. The greatest life this world has ever known. Of course it will be hard. Of course we will suffer a little. But i felt my saviors love. I felt his love for me and my companion and the love for all of his lost sheep. We wont give up on any of us! I am grateful that i got to have the worst/best day!!!

Friday we had a lesson with Nozue San in english. She asks sooooooo many questions! we talk about everything!! and it is exhausting! hahah! we had such great conversations! She loves everything we believe in and believes in a lot of the same things but refuses to come to church. She likes not having to do anything. hahah. She just wants to believe and that be it. But if lessons keep going this well with her, im not too worried. She is so prepared and desires to have the happiness that we have! After we went to a recent convert's house  and she made us dinner. ugh. i always get so nervous when people make us food! hahah! I ate chicken for the first and hopefully last time! It was awful! yuckkkkk!!! it was so hard to keep a straight face and tell her that i liked it.. Luckily all my companions felt the same way so we just laughed and laughed! It was either that or cry.. hahah! she invited us over for christmas... i will need some more of those prayers please!

Sunday was the best!!! 5 investigators came to church! one japanese, one chinese, and three phillipinos!!! We taught one all of the commandments in one day! before, during, and after church! she is unfortuntently not our investigator anymore because she doesnt live in our area but she is ready for baptism next week! so proud! I lead the plan of salvation for all our english speaking investigators! we had such a great lesson and got everyone to commit to baptism!!!! it is going to be a white christmas thats for sure!!!!!

it has been such an amazing transfer! i am soooo sad it has to end! ami shimai is my bestest friend and i am so sad she has to leave! but im excited for this transfer and all of the miracles we will see! ohhhhhhhhhhh best thing i almost forgot!!!! Yoshida san from chiba got baptized yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she finally did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so happy for her! thank you for praying for my investigators! its helping!!! i didnt get to go, but i heard it was an amazing service! She is so happy! i am so happy!!!

hope everyone else is happy too! if not, go serve somebody! nothing brings more joy then serving those you love!

i love you all and pray for you always!!! miss you!!!

Christensen shimai

the konnnichiest of wa'sssss!!!!

This week went by crazy fast! like im still confused how its already monday! fast weeks make me nervous! looking back there is just enough time do get everything done and teach everyone that we want to! this transfer is almost over... i am so sad!!! i love my companions soooooooo dang much! with so many new missionaries coming in there is no way we will stay in a three some. and i am terrified that i might be training a new missionary next transfer..... please join me in prayer for this to NOT happen! hahahah! i am so scared! im pretty sure i would be a terrible trainer.. i still have no idea whats going here! hahah! but it might not happen so i might be safe! whatever happens will be right obviously. Everyone keeps trying to prepare me saying that i will grow so much from being pushed and stretched and pulled and although it mostly sounds painful im up for anything!

so we had an amazing week as always! Sister Reusser went on exchanges so sister smith came to the land of Tsukuba with Ami shimai and I! We taught a lesson to one of our new investigators Kiyoko! She is the cutest little thing! Me being the oldest missionary there had to lead the lessons in japanese so that was interesting.. i basically had her read a whole bunch of stuff cause since shes japanese she can read and understand all the crazy symbols and what not! haha! it went really well though! We asked her if she came to know that our message was true would she be baptized and she said yes!! woooo! so proud of her and her faith!

Wednesday we exchanged back to our normal comapnions but stayed together to hand out flyers for the christmas concert we had on sunday! The other sisters handed out flyers while my companions and I sang christmas hymns! We did this a few times this week and it was a huge success! We had so much fun and passed out 700 flyers! People came and stood in front of us cheering, clapping, buying us food, and leaving money for our little shows hahah! i love japanese people!

HAPPY LATE THANKSGIVING! hope it was a good one! ours was amazing!!! so we had recieved a referral from a member and went to try to find her. We didnt have much info, just that she would be near the tsuchiura train station around 5.. hah! so we walked around looking for a lady with a little boy. didnt know her name or what she looked like. it was getting late but we didnt stop looking. We crossed a street we hadnt gone down before and saw a lady. trying to act normal i start tying my shoes until she reached us hahah! When she saw us she started screaming!.... she starts saying that she lived in provo and that her husband went to byu!!! we found her!!! and she is so prepared! she lived in provo for crying out loud! her name is mami! you pronounce it like mommy so i like saying her name! hahah! love you mommy! we are so excited to start teaching her!!!

the other greatest miracle was we set a baptisimal date with Hitomi san!!!! and before christmas too!!! its going to be a white christmas here in tsukuba! what a great gift to give to the savior! one of his lost sheep! she is so excited to be baptized! her husband previously was against the idea but now he is allowing it!!! we are so stoked! so grateful for him and his sweetness and love for his wife! he wants her to be happy and this is definitely the way!

Went to a wedding reception this week! my ward mission leader got married! he was the happiest guy ive ever seen! they were so cute and so awkward! hahah! japanese people are so non touchy and non affectionate so it was funny!

sunday we had ahuge christmas concert! kent derricott is from america but famous here in japan for being on one of their tv shows. he is a member of our church so we invited him to come to the concert and spoke! it brought so many people to the concert! the church was packed! which made me nervous because i was forced to sing a duet, and another song with a few other sisters all in japanese... it went really well though! it was such a sweet night! Kent Derricott really got everybody in the right mind set for this upcoming christmas season! Its all about giving. make christmas a special time and think about others. Think about how you can make others day a little brighter! Our savior did the same thing. Thats what he asks us this christmas season. I am so excited for christmas and that i get to teach people the real meaning of christmas! Our savior is the center of everything! how grateful i am for his birth, his life and his teachings! and his promises! we are promised eternal happiness with eternal families! I have so much to be grateful for this christmas season!

love you all!

Christensen Shimai

Konnichiwaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Konnichiwa!!!! goodness gracious it seems like last pday was millions of years ago! Quite the long week but it was great nonetheless! It is always a good week when your living in good old Tsukuba Japan and with the best companions ever! I really dont want this transfer to ever end! We are meeting so many great and prepared people and we are really just having too much fun!!

So last pday night i went to a different area in Tokyo called Koyua. We stayed the night with other sisters there because we had to be in tokyo early the next morning for a conference. This wasnt just any conference either.. It was a two mission conference so my whole mission actually got to go to the south missions area for a conference with Elder Evans from the Quorum of the Seventy! He is over the missionaries in all of Asia and came to Tokyo to talk with us! He is an amazing man! His talk was so inspiring! Seriously every day i am here i am just so much happier to be here! hahah! Im going to explode with just happiness being a missionary! Its the greatest! So, he opened up his talk, talking about the age change by President Monson over a year ago! Really the age change for missionary service changed my life (obviously) but it has and will continue to affect the rest of my entire life! kinda crazy. Then it got super interesting.. he talked about marriage. hahah! All the missionaries got tense and kind of awkward looking! hahah! everyone forgot that marriage still even happenes so it was a little bit of a surprise. He talked about why the girls age was changed for missionary service. Someone asked why not 18 for girls too like boys. Maybe everyone else already knew this but i didnt. He said the prophet wasnt really concerned when the sisters would leave but more when they would return and what age that would be. The prophet wants the sister and elders to come home from their missions at the same time. Obviously the greatest blessings come from temple marriage and the prophet was thinking about us sisters and wanting to help us out! So sweet! Elder Evans talked about how a lot of us will marry people from our missions.... thats when it got super awkward hahaha! I was sitting next to elders who looked at me like i had cooties hahaha! So great! I love missionaries! Dont worry the conference was a super spiritual meeting too! I am so ready to work my butt off and be more obedient than ever, and just go crazy with missionary work! hahah!

After the conference, my whole mission took over the trains and made our way to the mission home for our christmas party!!! We had a white elephant exchange, yummy food, and got to watch the cartoon version of how the grinch stole christmas! that was a christmas miracle! hahaha! the Budge's also made a christmas movie years ago and let us watch it! they made their own version of home alone! it was so cute! made me miss my family!!!

So Reusser Shimai left us that night to go on exchanges in matsudo so Amituanai Shimai and I stayed at the mission home for the night. Sister Budge got beds ready for us and made us the best breakfast ever! We felt so spoiled! It was fantastic!

We did missionary work this week too i promise! This week we met a lady named Michiko San. She is so weird. hahah! I love her! We met her on the train and met her again the next day to have a lesson. We met at a park and talked about the book of Mormon. She has the worst attention span hahah! She randomly goes off about rockets and aliens and what not.. but she came to church on sunday and loved it! We have an amazing ward here in Tsukuba! They are all so lovely and took such good care of her!

We celebrated thanksgiving this week too! A member in my ward got some members together at the church for a big turkey and potatoes! Shes american so she made it the right way! :)

So unfortuently we all kind of worked ourselves to death. Not to death but sickness. I caught a cold but working through it! Were all a little bit under the weather but i got a package today from home and i am all better now!!!! thanks mom!

We have met so many new investigators this week however our current investigators keep canceling on us. Its so sad! They are all so close to baptism but no one ever has time! Japanese people are so busy! I hate it! but i love them! keep praying for them with me!

But love you all! thanks for all the love and support!!! miss you everyday! think about everyone back at home daily! love you love you love you love you!!!!!

Sister Christensen

ohaio gozaimasu!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! i hate emailing now though.. my goodness i always have the biggest struggles! but everything seems to be working now hours later.. fingers crossed this actually sends! such problems with having laptops! haha! it will all be better once we get our ipads next month!!!!

Anyways, the tsukuba divers had such a great week!!! it felt super long but super great anyways! Me and Sister Amituanai went to Matsudo for an exchange this week! Its so fun getting to go to new areas and work with other sisters! We were companions with two other sisters. One who doesnt speak english! hahah! and our japanese still pretty much sucks but we had so much fun! I got to teach eikaiwa there too! Seriously the funnest thing ever!! I love teaching the japanese english! they are just too funny and love all the missionaries!

We had an amazing Zone Conference this week! Matsudo is filled with pretty much the best missionaries in the whole mission.. hahah! We had different work shops and trainings and stuff! So good!! My favorite was a training on prayer. Our zone leaders asked us if we are using the full power of prayer? What do we wrestle with the Lord over? Blessings require some work or some effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work. And is the means for obtaining the highest of all blessings! The zone leaders gave us each little prayer books and asked that while we pray to "get to work"! We pray for each investigator and member personally and now with our prayer books we stop and really think about them during our prayers and write these things down. We show the Lord that we are ready to receieve his guidance! I love prayer! I love working! We teach everyday just how important prayer is and it is so true! We have the wonderful priviledge of speaking to our Heavenly Father and He promises to listen and provide for us! What a blessing!

Reusser Shimai stopped a lady on a bike the other day and started talking about what we teach as missionaries. This sweet lady wanted to learn more and offered to take us to lunch! We went to a super nice italian resturant (soooooooooo goood cause it wasnt japanese!!! hahah) and she brought two of her firends! We sat there for 2 and a half hours and basically taught every single lesson from PMG! They all had so many questions and were so interested in our gospel! They were the sweetest ladies and want to be taught again! oh and the best part was they told me that i look like such a california girl and that I look like i could be in High School Musical!!!! woohooo!!! mission accomplished! I am a happy girl! Life is complete! hahah! seriously the best compliment ever! i will love them forever!

Saturday, The Tsukuba community put on a little festival right across the street from our apartment! We went early in the morning to help set up. Our ward was given a time slot to sing! Our ward did the cutest little happy song from some japanese musical! then my companions and I sang the hymn Brightly Beams! That was something new! hahah! After, we sang another song with our elders! It was so fun! And such a great missionary opportunity! Everyone loved all these white people singing songs! hahah! We walked around after and handed out flyers for church and eikaiwa! We met so many great people both interested in church and english class! Tsukuba is going to explode with the amount of new investigators with this week! I am so insanly happy!

After we rode our bikes that long hour rode of just rice fields to go see an investigator who just got out of the hospital. When we got to the train station she called and said she was tired and that we couldnt come over.. Long bike ride for nothing! So we handed out english class flyers at the train station. Count your many blessings though people. A lady came up to us and said she had seen us before! She is interested in learning about the church and we made an appointment to see her again next week! woohoo! seriously Heavenly Father allows us these little miracles daily! We just have to have our eyes open to see them!

Sunday a member from another ward had us over for dinner. Her four college friends came and picked us up! They were so fun and thought our japanese was amazing! they were a little too easily impressed... hahaha! But i think they really liked us! They gave us all their contact info and want to hang out with us again! I love making new friends! Japanese people are my favorite!!!

oh and we got a new investigator from the phillipines whose name is JANET!!! Shes nothing like you mom, but when she said her name i almost started crying! hahah! I already love and adore her! She really needs the gospel right now. Her family was affected by the huge typhoon this last week and lost their house. She has the strongest faith ever! She counts her blessings everyday! Her house was destroyed but her family is ok. She is so thankful to God for all that He has given her! She is inspiring!

We are Gods children all here to help each other out and bring our brothers and sisters to know their Savior, Jesus Christ. We are all His special workers. Heavenly Father could snap his fingers and make everyone believe if he wanted to but He chooses to use us. He trusts us. He knows we can do it! We have his help! Have faith that he can work through you! Of this i have truly come to know on my mission! I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior! They love you too and are cheering for you!!

It was a great week filled with so much more miracles and just goodness i wish i could write it all! Thank you for all the love and support! I love you!!!!!!!!

Sister Christensen

The Tsukuba Divers are in action!

今晩は私の愛する皆さん!!!!

Ya the computer is too smart for me, i dont know if those symbols above are even right! i love kanji! not..

anyways, Hello!!!! The Tsukuba Divers had such a good week!!! i just dont know where to start! so many blessings and so many miracles were given to us this week!

Had interviews with our mission president this week! Always such a nice thing! and so dang nerve racking! He is so amazing and so sweet but i just look up to him so much and want him to like me! hahah! But he always has the best advice for me! I am still such a nervous person (hands still shack like crazy like always) and he told me to give everything to my savior. Give him my shaky hands. He will take care of everything. And that i dont have to be perfect! thank goodness for that! The spirit fills our gaps no matter how big! I am a missionary and representative of Christ. His work will not fail! what do i possibly have to worry about?

Wednesday we went housing in an area my companion had done before. We left a note for someone she had talked to before. When we finished the lady pulled up in her drive way. super awkward but it turned out to be a great meeting! She loves her family and wants to learn how she can serve them better! We will be seeing her again hopefully this week! I love finding new people to teach! after we went to a members mothers house. she is 98 years old and is literally the cutest thing of my life! She cant really hear so we were screaming at her the whole time! haha! She just laughed and laughed for no reason! She is just so happy! She made us each braclets and wants us to come visit her weekly! She just melts my heart! I love cute little old ladies!

After we had a lesson with Sumiko San. We teach her english and then teach her the lessons after. We talked about baptism of course :) my companions had previously asked her to be baptized and she had said yes but she really doesnt understand what it is. We cleared things up and i asked her to be baptized on dec 7! she said yes!!!!!!!!! she loves praying and the feelings of happiness she gets when she meets with the missionaries! we love her and are so excited for her!

This week Reusser shimai went on exchanges so we got another sister in Tsukuba for a day. She is also australlian. She and my companion Amituanai Shimai went crazy. Two aussies together is just not a good idea! hahah! kidding! they were so fun! and we saw lots of success! Two of our new chinese friends came to eikaiwa! they loved it so much they said they will come again next week and bring all their friends! eikaiwa is my life! hahah! i love it so much! english is so awesome! hahah!

The end of the week was weird. We just did a lot of biking and walking and little success so we are absolutely exhausted! Friday we biked for 2 and a half hours straight, and saturday was a mix of biking and wondering around lost looking for a hospital for five hours! good times.. We tried to visit our investigator Tsuchida San in the hospital. After we finally found the hospital we found out that she had been realeased and wasnt there anymore. So that was good... Happy that shes getting better though! theres a bright side to everything right?

Saturday we had a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mizuho Shimai got baptized!!!!!!!!!!! saturday was her 20th birthday so she was legally allowed to get baptized without the consent of her parents. Her mom is super against religion and is cutting her daughter off from now on. The poor thing. But she is in the most perfect ward! She has been an investigator for years so everyone really knows and loves her! The baptism service was filled with members who are all willing to help support her! so sweet! we threw a surprise party for her after! She was so happy! I love baptisms! She was glowing!!! she kept saying "i am perfect!" so sweet! and so true! I havent known her for long but i already love her! I am so proud of her! She has the most faith of anyone ive ever seen! The gospel has changed her life! She has put all of her trust in her Heavenly Father and she has been blessed with so much! She is the happiest person ever! I love her! She is such a good example!

Sunday we taught a japanese girl who doesnt speak japanese! hahah! She grew up in hawaii and only speaks english! love that! We met at the church and made dinner together! We were so surprised when she said that she has been reading the Book of Mormon on her own! Miracle! we talked abouit the plan of salvation and we all got teary eyed! no surprise there.. Amituanai shimai cries more than i do! shocking! The spirit was so strong as we talked about how much our heavenly father loves us! He is our father and wants to hear from us! We are all small and simple but we have so much worth! We are sons and daughters of a king! If we look for our Heavenly Fathers love we will find it. Its not hidden. Its everywhere! if we take the time to really notice the lords hand in our lives we will find that he blesses us beyond belief! He guides me in everything!

Today, good old pday! A member picked us up and took us to visit another investigator in the hospital. everyone is in the hospital!! gosh! people please be careful and take care of yourselves! anyways her name is Hitomi san. My goodness she is amazing! She had thyroid cancer removed but is so happy! She loves the Book of Mormon and has been reading everyday! talked with her about baptism and she definitely wants to be baptized! My companions and i are just in awe! We told Heavenly Father that we wanted a goal of five baptisms this transfer and he is making it happen! we have seen so many miracles! He is putting his prepared people in our paths! I love teaching! I love teaching about my savior and our Heavenly Father! There is just so much love to go around! I want everyone to know that they are loved! there is a Heavenly Father who knows us each individually and loves us dearly!

ohhh and today we went to costco!!!! ahhhh! i cried i was so happy! ha! the member who took us bought all our food! sweetest people ever! I love the japanese people so dang much!

I love you all! thank you for the love and support!

Christensen shimai

Where in the world is TSUKUBA???? I don't know but I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

こんばんわからつくばです!!!

Hi Hi!!!

so i already typed out a super long letter that took me like an hour to type. and it got deleted. ugh. anyways... IM IN TSUKUBA!!!! and loving it!!!!! my companions are amazing!!!! Sister R is the sweetest sister ive ever met! And A shimai is absolutly crazy!! she is so loud and out going! she is heard no matter where we are! which is a really good thing hahah! I love them! It feels like weve been friends forever! We are going to see so many miracles this transfer! I am beyond excited!!!! I live in a area called sakura! It is beautiful! a newerish city so its not super populated. Its all open rice fields and just green everywhere!!! i love it!!! We have amazing investigators! We are having a baptism this week for Mizuho! She is a cute 19 year old who has been waiting to get baptized for years! she had to wait until she became an adult so she could get baptized. her mom is against it. sad. But shes getting baptized on her birthday! She is soooooo excited!!! its so cute!!! i already love her! so proud! Since its a new area there arent really any trians so we ride bikes a lot. probably more than i did my first two transfer combined! hahaha! im dying! but its beautiful and im loving it!!!! im so happy to be here! my companions are crazy enthusiastic about being missionaries and doing missionary work! i am too obviously but their level is like unreal! i love it! We get so excited to get up and go work! I love being a missionary!!!! i love my companions! i love Tsukuba! I miss chiba but i know that Heavenly Father needs me here! Today we visited an investigator in the hospital. so sad. and one of my investigators from my first transfer passed away. im heart broken. so people, tell everyone that you love them!!!

sorry for the fast version but thats all i have time for! love you all!

Christensen Shimai

さよなら !!!

Well today was quite the day!...

We got transfer calls today! My companion and I were waiting by the phone all morning! so nervous to find out who was leaving chiba :/ So we get a call about 45 minutes earlier than the assistants said they would call. It was president Budge.. We both about peed our pants because he only calls sisters on transfer day if you are becoming sister training leader. Well that didnt happenen to either of us thank goodness! soooooo not ready! however he called and asked to talk to my companion. Her grandma was diagnosed with cancer and probably will not live to much longer. We both immediately started sobbing. I have come to love and adore my companion so much that my heart just absolutely broke for her. We didnt really know what to do. We went to the church to look at emails and get more information. The poor thing. Keep sister Willden and her family in your prayers! She is strong! how grateful we are to have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and knowing that there is life after death! how powerful the promise that families can be together forever! so very humbled today. After he broke the news he awkwardly told us about transfers hahah. Willden Shimai is staying in chiba and getting two new companions! and i am going to..... Tsukuba!!!!!!!! (i dont know really where it is) hahaha! but im excited nonetheless! I am companions with Sister Russer who is the sister training leader! we are in a three some! My other companion is a transfer younger than me. She is samoan!!! hahha! this next transfer should be quite interesting! I am so sad though to leave my companion and this area! I love chiba so much! we have the greatest ward and investigators! Missions are hard in so many ways! I have become so close with so many people and now i have to leave them all! im so happy Willden shimai is staying though! she will take good care of our investigators! she is an amazing missionary! 

So this week.. so good as usual! We had temple day on tuesday! There is no place like the temple! So happy to be there with all the missionaries! Its crazy to see Gods army growing and growing! Right now there are 69 sisters in my mission and by january there will be a little over a 100!!!! The Lords work truly is hastening! I am so lucky to be part of it! After the temple we had a sisters only meeting! it was so fun to be with sister budge and all the sister missionaries! I got to be reunited with my sweet sisters from my district in the MTC! they are all amazing and working so hard! I actually did a musical number hahah! me, willden, nagamine, and bagley shimai all sang together! it was good i think.. but my favorite part of the meeting was sister Budges closing remarks. She talked about the saviors hands. He walks with his hands always open. I think i have been waiting for him to take my hand and lead me through but in reality i need to take his hand and trust that he will guide me if i walk　in faith. I am his missionary. I wear his name on my name tag. He is by my side holding my hand. Our savior loves us all and if we reach for his hand he will hold it ever so tightly! 

Wednesday, we visited eva Shimai <3 she was my first and only baptism in Chiba. She had us over for lunch and an after baptism lesson. She made fish (of course..) except this time the fish was scary! well it was actually super yummy but the bones were still in it hahah! I took a huge mouth full and chomped on millions of little fishy bones. ew. i sat there and one by one pulled them out of my mouth hahah! it was interesting. 

Our only real progressing investigator, Yoshida san, is doing so good! She really wants to be baptized which makes us realllyyy happy! however she wants to wait for her husband and get baptized together. He though has no interest really in the church.. so thats a problem. men. 

The weather has been interesting. We were supposed to have two typhoons (no mom not tsunamis hahah) but they never really hit. Its been pretty rainy and absolutely freezing though! I think im going to die here. The cold mixed with the humidity just makes it pretty dang cold. But it will be an adventure! and no central heating! woohoo! bring it on!!!

So today, pday, i went to tokyo to see the dentist! I was scared out of my mind to go to the dentist in japan. But i went all the way out to tokyo to a guy trained in america. He spoke perfect english and took great care of me! No need to worry! He loves the mormons! hahah! It was fun talking to him! 

This next week will be crazy packing all my stuff and moving to Tsukaba! But im super exited and cant wait to serve people in more areas! I know God has people there waiting to meet me! I cant wait to meet them! I love being a missionary! 

Hope everyone is doing well! Love and miss you all! Thanks for the prayers! 

Chirstensen shimai 

Konichiiiiwaaaa!!!!!

This transfer is flying by! i cant even believe it! Tomorrow is temple day and next week is transfers! Its a little scary how fast time is going by! There just isnt enough time to teach everyone and baptism them all!! haha! 

Anyways this week was awesome as usual! It rained A TON this week! Mom you will be happy to know that i am getting such a good use out of my rain suit. The rain pants are the biggest necessity! I look like black marshmallow but at least im dry! mostly.

Wednesday we got woken up at 6 in the morning to our bishop warning us about the typhoon going on outside. We live close to a river so he was a little worried about us. pshhh a little wind and water never hurt anybody! We went out the day before and visited some members. riding bikes in the rain and wind is a little bit of a challenge. Not to mention no one really stops to talk to you on the street during typhoons. So we stayed inside that next morning. Luckily it completely cleared up by lunch time! We we were able to make it to all of our appointments and eikaiwa! My companion made me pack an emergency backpack just in case we needed to leave. In it she had me pack some of my cute clothes she picked out and peanut butter. really though what more could you need? That day we visited Hasegawa San. We taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She really likes learning about our church and always finds our messages interesting however she says she will never join. We may just have gotten our first drop. Its not a very fun feeling ill tell you that. I adore this lady! She is so funny and so quirky! But I think she is done hearing our lessons. sad day. We might still stop by occasionally because we love her and i know she still loves us! oh wait... this is so funny.. as im sitting here she just called and now my companion is planning another lesson! maybe we wont be dropping her after all! hahaha! wow! so grateful for all the tender mercies!!!! i think they just planned to watch the Finding faith in Christ movie and to make cookies! hahaha! 

This week nagamine shimai came back to Chiba for an exchange! We got to be companions again!! oh how i missed my trainer! So fun to be back with my best friend! She is hilarious! We had a completely white day planned which means we had no appointments or anything. So we planned to just go visit everybody we knew! We visited Sekihara San! She used to be a progressing investigator but heard some rumor about the church and stopped meeting with us. But recently she began reading from the bible and had some questions. So nice to have my japanese companion to be there to actually know whats going on! She asked if we would come back and teach about prophets! So graetful for her and her questions! before we left she made sure that we drank some more of her nasty noni juice! She is just so great! 

Im just now kind of realizing that all of our investigators are pretty funny. haha! but i adore them all! no one is very normal but thats how it should be! Then we visited Chiba San. Her two daughters were baptized many years ago but are not active. She was never baptized but knows a lot about the church. Her husband wasnt home so she invited us in. Oh she is just the sweetest thing ever! It felt like being at grandmas house! She fed us and gave us blankets to use! She has pretty strong buddhist beliefs but she said we could come back and share a message anytime! We asked if we could pray for her and anything that she needed. We prayed for her family and she was so pleased! Its always a testimony builder to me to see the faith of other people! 

Friday we brought the Bishop and his wife to our lesson with Yoshida San. I started the lesson on tithing and that was basically all the was said form the missionaries. They took over after that! Which was totally fine! I was pretty lost throughout the whole lesson but they shared experiences and stories and testimonies! The spirit was strong and i know they were able to help her with her worries! 

The best part of the week was out wards halloween party!!! saturday our ward put on the best halloween party i have ever seen! I didnt have time to take pictures but i wish so badly that i could have! they went all out!!!!!!!!! the theme was an amaerican halloween hahaha so they tried to make it super spooky and fun! the decorations were out of this world! the church did not really look like a church.. hahah! We have such a fun ward! the members are so sweet and so fun! A lot of our eikaiwa students came to the party so it was an amazing missionary opportunity for us! I painted kids faces all night long! The poor kids got ugly pumpkins and bats on their faces but they loved it! it was so fun!

Sunday we had a lesson with an investigator who has had almost all the lessons and just barely moved into our ward. She is so excited to get baptized and really just loves the church! the only problem is that she is Mongolian. Therefore she doesnt speak japanese or english.. communication was quite interesting! She knew less japanese than me! haha! Luckily she has become friends with a member in another ward who speaks both languages so she could translate! It was a pretty slow lesson but good none the less! She is adorable! 

This week has been insanely cold! and its only october! I am in major trouble! 

We just barely met with my bestest friend Hiyori San. We teach her in english cause she is basically fluent! We taught about the Plan of Salvation. She so badly wants to know if the church is true but hasnt gotten an answer. It absoluetly breaks my heart because she has so much faith and desire! We pray for her none stop! Really missions are a test of the missionaries faith as well! There is more that I need to be doing to help my investigators come unto Christ. I am so grateful for the love of my Heavenly Father! He is helping me in ways that i dont even recognize! As long as we keep exercising out faith in him really what do we have to worry about. everything will work out! His love is immeasurable! I am so grateful for this gospel and my savior! I love you all! have a good week!

Christensen shimai

こにちわ!!!

HI HI!!!! 

Hope everyone is doing well! i usually bring my journal with me to email but i forgot it so we will see if i can remember anything that happened this week.. It was a great week but felt pretty long.

Last tuesday Willden shimai, Ramos Chan and I went to our investigators house for a lesson. Hasegawa san is usually just interested in learning english from us but when we walked in she said no english today. Just church. We were thrilled!!!! We taught her the restoration of the gospel! We watched the joseph smith movie with her. She really liked it but doesnt know if she can believe. She said she wants to go to church with us this sunday though! again so stoked! We adore her! she is pretty lonely so im pretty sure she adores us too hahah! 

Then we went to kanda university with ramos chan and did some streeting. All the kids speak english so it was fun talking to them! met lots of great people and gave out quite a few of Books of Mormon however they all live far away and commute to school so it would be hard to meet them again. But it was a fun day! 

Wednesday however we met with Rui Chan who is from Kanda. We met her last time and asked her if God were standing right next to her what would she ask. She got super nervous hahah but said she wants to know what is most important. Sotuesday we met at her campus for lunch. We got to know her and talked about the Book of Mormon and that it has answers to every single question. We told her that the most important thing (2 nephi 2:25) is to have joy! God loves us and wants us to be happy! she liked that answer! We told her that the other most important thing is to learn about Christ. We gave her a Book of Mormon and are hopefully seeing her soon! 

This week i had a really bad cough. In japan thats probably the worstest thing that could ever happen.. They are super crazy germ freaks so when they see my cough they give me this look... its not a very good one. After having three different cough attacks during lessons i decided a face mask was needed. I dont know why but the face mask makes everything better. I felt cool wearing it cause i finally could blend in with the japanese! 

Thursday we had a second transfer missionary meeting. It was supposed to be the 2nd transfer and their companion. Well me and my companion are both 2nd transfers so it was funny. Our zone leaders split the companionships up and asked the 2nd transfers just to vent! hahha! to say good and bad. Just get it out. Luckily i have absolutely nothing bad to say about Willden shimai or it could have been awkward cause she was right next to me. We are best friends! I adore my companion! Shes amazing! 

Friday we met with Hiyori San our english speaker investigator! She made us lunch and then we did the restoration lesson in english! soooooooo weird!!!! It was weird being able to actually understand everything she said! hahaha! I thought that this lesson would be perfect because it was in english. No problem. But turns out its hard to teach no matter the language. She has been an investigator for like 12 years and so she kind of asks questions she knows we dont have the answers to. She is the sweetest lady in the world and probably my favoritest person here in japan but we have such a hard time teaching her. She loves the gospel and wishes she could believe but she thinks that God has never answered her prayers. She is so great and i know she would be the greatest member in our church. So we have a lot of work to do!

Then this weekend we got to watch all of general conference!!! ahhhh!!!! it was soooooooooo good!!! seriously ive never looked forward to conference more in my life! I desperately needed the guidance and counsel of those amazing men!Saturday we watched all the sessions including the womans conference! Like President Monson said, this conference was the most inspired conference of them all! I was touched by every single talk and gained new ideas on how to help my investigators! We are going to work hard this week to really apply the things we learned in conference and help share the love we felt! My favorite talk was President Eyrings talk on sunday morning! (i wish i had my journal) but he talked about how God has a plan for all his children. Families are unique and its a blessing! We were given each other to help strengthen one another! I love my family! He talked about how we were sent to be angles to help those who need saving. Well there are plenty here that need saving and i hope to do my best to bring that light into their lives! I want to be a rescuer! But what blew my mind more than anything else was the amount of prayers that go out towards the missionaries. Every person blessed the missionary efforts in that we might be able to teach and find those who are ready! The prophet and his apostle are praying for me and all of the other 80,000 missionaries! We cannot fail! I know that God answers prayers! He answers mine everyday! I know he will answer the prophets and the apostles as well. They ask for our success and so God will grant it unto us. What a sweet blessing! I was so comforted and so humbled. I am weak. The prophet knows it. He knows i need all the prayers and help i can get. But through My God i can become strong! so very grateful for General Conference and the things that i felt! What a blessing to have a modern day prophet to guide us in times of darkness! I thank my God for a prophet! 

Such a fun weekend! With conference broadcast at  homes it was basically just all of the missionaires in my zone watching conference at the church! But that was powerful too! All of us missionaries sitting in a little room watching it in english all being filled with the spirit to help us better ourselves as missionaries! 

So grateful for the wonderful weekend of general conference! So excited to see this work get carried about through all the world with the help of its members! The prophet prayers for them too! We really cannot fail!!

love you all! hope all is well!

Christensen Shimai

Turned 20 in Nihon!!!!!!

こにちわみなさん!!!

Greetings from good ole japan! had my four month mark this last week! crazy that i have been on my mission for four months and in japan for two!! time is flying by! most days.. hahah! We had a few low ones this week but thats mission life for ya! Still loving every second! 

Last tuesday we had a double zone conference! President and Sister Budge came for an entire day to help us be better missionaries! They had special speakers come and talk to us and really just got my companion and I ready to work harder and harder everyday! It was such a great meeting! The meetings theme was are you ready??? i still feel super new and not sure that i am ready for everything but i am so ready to work hard every day! That meeting was such a blessing! Willden Shimai and i both came out so happy! Later that night we stopped by our friend Hasegawa Sans house. We made her cookies and planned to share a little scripture with her. She invited us in however and we ended up staying and teaching the whole lesson on the plan of salvation! She is our super buddhist friend but really enjoyed our message and loved when we told her that we are eternal friends! She wants to hear more about the church and about Joseph Smith! So looks like weve got another lesson! She is really so adorable! 

Wednesday we went and visited our progressing investigator Yoshida San. We made her cookies too (seriously making american chocolate chip cookies is literally the most effective way to missionary work around here). She told us however that she doesnt want to rush into being baptized. She has already pushed her baptismal date back before and so we are really praying for her to know that it is right! We left that lesson a little down. A miracle happened though later that night! She texted us and said that after we left she went on a walk and saw a rainbow and said she felt that spirit! what a sweet tender mercy for her and for us! We felt so much better after that! So grateful for her and that she was able to recognize the spirit in her life and so grateful to our heavenly father who is always helping us out! 

Thursday was the best day!! Ramos Chan our newest convert came hung out with us all day and came to our lessons! First we had a lesson with my absolute favoritest person in japan Hiyori San! She is the one who speaks perfect english! She has been an investigator for like 10 years now.. she loves the missionaries and have met about 100 she thinks haha! She invited us over for lunch and a lesson! She made us pizza!!! ahhhh its been too long! so good! She loves the bible so we read with her from john 14 and talked about the savior. The lesson was going fine but we were hoping for more. We asked Ramos Chan to share her testimony about how she feels now being a member of the church. Boy were we grateful for her! She shared the sweetest testimony of how the gospel has truly blessed her life and her family. She said she has never been happier. Afterwards Hiyori San asked how she knew she wanted to get baptized and how heavenly father answered her prayers. We all shared out testimonies and I think we finally got through to her! She said she felt dumb that she has been investigating t\our church for so long and never joined. She still has pretty buddhist ways of thinking but we asked if we could start teaching the lessons to her. She has heard them many times before and didnt really have interest in hearing them again. This time however she said she would love to hear the lessons again!!! We are so excited to teach her! I absolutely adore her! I cannot wait to teach her and hopefully fill her life with more happiness and blessings! When the lesson was over she brought out a huge birthday cake for me! She is seriously the cutest! Such a sweetheart! and such a good cook! Later we had another lesson. We taught Yoko san! She is so cute! Shes probably like 30 but acts like a little girl with so many questions (usually about english..) and so surprised by everything! We sang hymns in english and then had everyone write down what we were thankful for and shared. This was such a sweet moment to think about all that i have been blessed with! The list went on for quite some time! at the top of her list she said she was thankful to have met the missionaries and that it must have been fate! haha! So cute! She is still more interested in learning english from us but feels happy when we meet so that makes us happy! 

Sadly after that all of our appointments canceled on us or just didnt show up. we had three lessons cancel.. may not sound  like a lot but sometimes three lessons are all we have in a week! we tried not to feel down but that was hard. It meant that we had a lot of finding time.. and sadly lots of unsuccessful finding time. it was raining all weekend but we still rode bikes for hours and walked up and down every street in chiba. Thankfully we did meet two people who may or may not be interested but said we could come visit them this week! Count your many blessings! 

Saturday was.... my 20th birthday!!!! weird spending a birthday on your mission.. hahah! it was a good day though! our elders decorated my door with heart cut outs, my companion made a cute banner and sign, and i got phone calls from missionaries from my mtc district! so sweet! we were outside all day in the rain housing! it was awesome.. hahah! no appointments that day. kind of a bummer. But my comapnion and I went to a super yummy burger place and stuffed our faces! it was a good day :)

Sunday we visited Willden Shimais moms aunt and uncle! they live like 5 minutes away and invited us over for dinner. they are not members but super buddhist. typical. They made tempera(fried veggies) it was super good minus the octopus inside one of them... uhhh. I ate a potatoish thing which you would think would be harmless. It was cooked however with some squid and was 10 million times worse than the octopus! I tried so hard not to throw up! I was gaging so hard! and doing my best not to show it. I made a super wierd loud noise and tried to cover it up saying i sneezed. i dont think anybody bought it.. hahahah! oops! 

anways.. thats the week! good and sometimes not so good but happy nonetheless! Missions are so much more fun and easier when you decide to truly work hard! every might we count our many blessings and miracles and we honestly see tons! We have all been given so much and have so much to be grateful for! I am so grateful for this gospel that brings me true happiness! So grateful for my wonderful friends and family! thank you for all the birthday wishes! love you all!!!!! 

Christensen Shimai

こにちわみなさん

Another great week in good ole Japan!! I love this place so very much! the longer i am here the more and more i like it!! i mean not everything... my futon gives me hip pains hahah but thats what happens when your turning 20 in a week... ughhhh i am not excited. I really just dont ever want to grow up. Wheres the fun in that? 

Willden Shimai and I had a great week! last monday night we went to a members house for dinner. We made our own pot stickers! yummy!! Im a pro..

tuesday we made a mogi lesson with a guy in our wards mom. We are actually not really sure if she is a member or not.. hahah! if she is, she hasnt been active for a lonnngggg time. She is a hard core smoker and in a wheel chair. For stats we didnt know if we were supposed to count her as a less active lesson or new investigator! But we taught the first lesson and she said we can come back for the second! Shes really sweet but said she will never become an investigator.. again.. still confused. who is this lady? But shes great and actually came to church with her son on sunday! so we are happy no matter what she is! 

We went and visited an old investigator named Sekihara San. She is this crazy lady who loves noni juice! my family might be the only ones who knows what that is.. but its  just nasty! like worse then all the fish i have eaten here in japan! anyways funny to see that again! She made me drink some.. still not a fan. She then read my palms and said that when im an old lady i am going to have stomach problems, she read that i love my family very much, and that i have a great talent. Shes a keeper! hahah! Shes really weird but i like her! Unfortunately she heard some rumor about the church and really doesnt want anything to do with it.. 

Wednesday we went and visited Yoshida San. She is our only investigaot with a baptismal date but she is the greatest most cutest thing ever! She has two little girls who are just crazy but so fun! Yoshida San really wants to be baptized! She is worried about tithing so we went again today to visit her and brought a ward member with us to help explain. It went so well and she is so amazing and wants to follow all of the commandments! She has a little bit of an addiction with coffee however... So last week Willden shimai and i did something we really regret. We told her that if she really tried to give up coffee for a week we would give up chocolate and peanut butter.... bad idea. Were dying!!! all i ever want to eat is peanut butter! An investigator bought me a huge one from costco and its just sitting on my shelf.. But really this actually helped her! She said she has always wanted to give up drinking coffee for health reasons and this finally gave her a reason to stop because we made a promise! She is so cute and hasnt had a drink since! She texts us everyday to follow up hahah! we are so proud of our cute Yoshida San! 

I went on an exchange this week to Narita. Its only about 30 minutes away. Its a little bit of a nicer city then where i am. The sisters there have a nice brand new apartment! Free from think black japanese hair! hahah! so nice! Its actually starting to get cold! We stayed out all night doing mitsukutaikai and we froze! i dont even feel like i am in japan anymore! weird.. 

Friday night another member invited us over for dinner. She is our ward missionary and shes american! I absolutely adore her! It was fun talking with her because it was in all english! hahaha! such a nice break! she asked me what i wanted her to make and so she made us mexican food!!!! couldnt have been happier! She made super yummy tacos and guacamole! it was a fantastic day! 

Saturday i woke up with a bad headache and really didnt want to get up. I wasnt in the best mood that morning. until.. i got the bestest package ever from the family!!!! that cheered me right up! couldnt even hold back the tears! My family knows me just so very well :) 

sunday was the kids primary program! oh my gosh they were hilarious! no matter where you go, kids are still kids. They were all crazy loud shouting in the microphones and running around all over! Felt like home! 

This week i read a great talk by Brad Wilcox called His Grace is Sufficient. It is amazing!　go read it! it talked about justice and how justice requires immediate punishment when we fall short. But because Christ took that punishment, he can offer us the chance for ultimate perfection. He can forgive what justice never could. If we see his requirements as being too much to ask, maybe it is because we do not see through Christs eyes. We have not comprehended what He is trying to make of us. The miracle of the atonement is not just that we can live after we die but that we can live more abundantly. The miracle of the atonement is not just that we can go home but that we can feel at home there. I am so grateful for my savors atonement. He is my everything! He is the reason i can do hard things! Like preaching the gospel in Japan! I was told that if i studied the atonement every day that i would become unstoppable! so thats the plan! I want to become an unstoppable missionary! preaching the gospel and sharing the wonderful truths that we can live with our Heavenly Father and Savior again. 

I love you all!!!! miss you!!! 愛していますよ！！！！

Transfer 2 Begins!

こんちわ皆さん!!!

Holy moly im surving! hahah! This was a little bit of a scary week for me. Transfer 2 started and its just me and Willden Shimai! We are both only second transfer missionaries. Needless to say.. we have no idea what we are doing!! hahah! I cant even count on my hands how many times we got lost this week! and we have only officially been together since thursday! hahah! But we are managing! and really this week has been full of miracles! Heavenly Father knows we have no idea what to do so he helps us out a ton!! 

So after we got our transfer call, we were all a little depressed. Nagamine Shimai and I were sure that we were staying together. She became my mom out here in this foreign land! so we did a lot of fun things this week.. maybe a little too much fun. oops! 

Tuesday we went out to lunch. Not just any japanese restaurant but the greatest place in japan! The cat cafe!!! hahah! ok so one of our eikaiwa students is just really interesting. he tells me about this cat cafe place every single week and really wanted me to go. So we did. basically its a room full of cats and you eat lunch with them. it was the strangest thing ever! Japanese people are obsessed with cats! every single person i meet.. literally obsessed! We played with them for a little but it got old really fast. luckily two other japanese girls came in and started playing with them. watching them play with the cats was more entertaining then actually playing the cats. The girls were just too happy to be sitting in a room full of cats.

later Willden shimai and i went on splits and visited our Buddhist friend Hasegawa san. Shes a super cute old lady who wants to learn english. She likes to read the Book of Mormon but doesnt really have interest. We showed up at her house unexpectedly and she was so happy! She said she had prayed we would come visit her that day! We were stoked to hear that! So i guess we wont give up quite yet on our Buddhist friend :)

That night we went to dinner with my favorite girl i have met in japan! Her name is Mariko! She is going to be famous one day! She is an amazing guitar player! Shes so funny because she is so different from the typical japanese person. She is so american some how! but i just adore her! We stuffed our faces in indian food. literally i am getting huge here. all i do is eat! japan is making me huge! didnt see that one coming! anyways, sadly she told us that she was leaving for american for three weeks :/ we hope to stay in touch! 

Wednesday I was with Willden Shimai again. we went and did streeting at a college campus. Well this is not allowed but we went anyways. very bad idea. i know... it went super well at first! We talked to so many college kids all studying english! we got four peoples numbers and made plans to see them again. However, teachers were getting suspicious.. we got busted and were asked to leave. awkward.. we wont be going there again... 

Wednesday night we had dinner with Yuki Chan! shes my 15 year old friend! We made tako yaki... octopus. ughhhhh. i have now tried so many different foods i am just so impressed with myself! octopus doesnt really have a taste just super chewy.. not a fan but it wasnt terrible! 

so yuki chan showed us her english homework and she had to translate a backstreet boys song into english! how sweet is that! she was singing it all night long so cute!! She is also a fellow Hannah Montana lover. well we both started singing `the climb` together and she started crying! ahhh i died! She said she was so happy to be singing this song with me! hahaha! she is the cutest thing! I love my little Yuki Chan! 

Thursday eventually came.. saying goodbye to Nagamine Shimai was the saddest thing! She has become my idol and thinking of being here without her was terrifying! We lost Bagley shimai too :/ so our apartment is reallyyyyyyyy quite. just the two of us. its so weird! so different... but we are doing just fine! hard to adjust to at first but i love Willden Shimai! 

here comes all the miracles...!!!

saturday we somehow had five different lessons with investigators! it was the busiest day i have ever had! With the combination of our investigators we are actually pretty busy! and it feels great! My new two favorite people are this cute couple! They were first meeting with the missionaries to learn english but now they actually really like hearing about the gospel! during the english part the husband turns to me and says `ok lets study the Book of Mormon now`!!! ahhh! They are just too perfect! we adore Yoko and taka san!! 

Sunday was the biggest miracle of all!!! we had five investigators come to church!!! the missionaries were all asked to speak in sacrament meeting.. my first talk　in japan! my talk was super simple but having a talk gave reason for people to come to church! Willden Shimai and I felt so good looking out in the audience and seeing our investigators! Such a blessing! Since i dont speak japanese.. i just got up there and said how happy i was and how much i love our chiba ward! of course everyone loved my talk because i sat up there speaking like a 2 year old but i had the biggest smile! thats all i can do.. but it works! 

So grateful to be a missionary! Heavenly Father blesses me daily! He blesses my investigators and im pretty sure my family too :) We have so many reasons to be happy! We live in a beautiful world and we have a savior who helps us do anything! So grateful for this gospel! and for the miracles i have seen! There have been many! Heavenly Father loves his children! 

Christensen shimai