konnichiwa kazoku to tomodachi!!!!

i need to get out of this place!!!!!!!!!!!! i need to get to JAPAN!!!!!!! im dying!!!!!!!!! alright little dramatic.. but really though i couldnt be more excited to go to Nihon!!!!! im so close to leaving its and yet it still feels like an eternity! one more week and then im out of here! peace out MTC and america!!! hahah! everything about this week just got me so pumped to be in japan with my people!!! my language speaking skills are definitely not good enough to go but i am! i got my travel plans!!!!!!!!!! so like really.. I AM GOING TO JAPAN!!!!!

this week we had our first departure meeting! Mills kaicho, a former mission president from the Fukuoka mission, came and talked to us about our missions! he was one of the best speakers i have had at the mtc and probably in my entire life! He asked us what we thought of when we thought of the church in japan. Everyone agreed that the church wasnt super strong there and that we have heard it is a non baptizing mission. well.. he completely changed all of our expectations around! He read to us a talk given by Heber J Grant when we went to open the church in Japan! He blessed and dedicated the land and said that one day "Japan will become the greatest area for missionary work ever established in the church!" or something like that.. But the whole meeting was just so amazing! Japan is ready! Ready for the missionaries, ready for the truth, ready for their savior! I am so excited and i feel so very blessed to able to be part of this great time in Japan! Such a blessing!!!

This week all of our sensei's left us... they think its summer or something and they can go on vacations and so fun things while we sit in a classroom with substitutes and learn grammar.. weird. I miss our teachers a lot. All of the sensei's are amazing but i have been with my same two sensei's and they have become like my older siblings. I look up to them in every way and cant wait to get them back on monday!

Last sunday Moss shimai and i taught a lesson to our district about the holy ghost! it was a sunday which means we got to teach in english!!!! first time since we've been here! ahhhhhhh it was so easy to plan!!! i miss english! hahahah! but at the same time while i was teaching in english i missed japanese! the language is so cool and unique and i love that i can speak a very small amount! its so fun!

Because we didnt have out teachers this week, we taught our subs instead. they pretended to be recently baptized members. it was so fun to teach them because they already had faith in their savior and had already received baptism! so our lessons were basically testimony meetings! the spirit was so strong as my companion and i shared our testimonies and to hear these "converts" share their testimonies as well! it seemed so real! I cant wait to get out there in the real field and have experiences like this! We also taught Jesseb kyodai twice this week. I dont know why but my distrcit was is a super weird/hyper mood this entire week! i swear something was in the food.. but during our lessons to "jesseb" (an elder in my disrtict) we couldnt help but laugh and be weird! The most interesting lessons weve had for sure! It was fun though!

This week during gengo bankyo (language study) my companion and i went and bore our testimonies in nihongo to random missionaries! its so cool! no one knows what were saying so there is no pressure if we say something wrong! but its just our chance to talk and share what we know to be true! That happens a lot around here.. everybody just wants to share their testimonies! its so cute! I love it!

so ya.. nothing to crazy going here except for the fact that im actually leaving soon!!!!!! still cant get over it!!!! soooooooo pumped! it was a good week as always!

i love you all so very much! you are all in my prayers night and day! i miss home but i love being the lords servant and wearing my saviors name on my tag! this is the greatest thing i could have ever done in my life! i am so happy and feel so blessed! love you all!!!!!!!!!!

 

Christensen Shimai

week 7

Konichiwa!!

Into my 7th and a half week here at the MTC! day 46 i believe..!!! Thats flippin nuts! I cant believe i have been in the MTC for that long! It feels like Ive been here for years! but at the same time i still feel like a newbie! This was another great week at the best place ever! My distrcit was a little weird this week.. I think everyone realized that we are going to JAPAN in two weeks and also realized that we still do not kow japanese.. problematic. Everyone was a lot more focused this week which was really nice and needed! We've been here for so long that we have finished our main grammar book and everyone is kinda like what now?? Dont worry we still have millions of other books to study from because Japanese is the hardest language ever. Spanish missionaries are like fluent by the time they leave in 6 weeks and ive been here for almost eight and i can share my testimony. Its awesome!.. hahahah! But seriously im obsessed with this language! I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to learn it!

I always have a hard time remembering what goes on during the week..

So we usually have TRC (where we teach lessons to people who are not workers at the MTC, just volunteers) on saturdays. Well, tuesday night comes around and we are all studying the language like usual when this guy comes in and asks us if we are ready to do our TRC skype lesson.. First of all, a skype lesson means we are skyping with real japanese people from japan (sooooooooooooo scary), we were not prepared what so ever, and were given five minutes to get prepared. I lost it. I really dont know why... but I flipped out. I started bawling my eyes out! I was so nervous to teach this people in Japan when i had no idea what i was going to say! We sit at our computer and im still crying! I said the biggest prayer and more like a plea that i would be able to speak and then we started. Oohama San was her name. I quickly realized that i had nothing to worry about! She was the absolute cutest lady ever! She was in her late 40s and had pigtail braids with ribbons! She was so happy and so smiley and kept complimenting us on our japanese! She was the sweetest lady ever! We were just getting to know each other for the majority of the time and it was so fun! My sensei had to remind us that we were supposed to share a message with her but i just had too much fun talking with her and learning about her and japan! She got me so excited to go! I love the japanese people more than anything! they are the nicest poeple and I seriously cannot wait to get out there! Such a fun experience!

This week our lesson with our investigators went both super good and super bad...

Bad one first.. We are running out of things to teach Komeda.. So we decided to do a lesson on Commandments. Our plan was to talk about the Word of wisdom. Do lessons ever go according to plan? no. they dont. Instead we ended up talking about the law of chastity.. Super awesome.. I really dont even know how it happened. Shes a 60 year old widow.. i dont thing she has a problem with it. But we hadnt really studied this section yet therefore we could not understand her and we had no idea what to say! She asked us how we kept clean thought and i finally managed to say that i sing a hymn. My companion was confused however and thought she asked what are bad thoughts. My companion starts talking about killing her neighbor... Komeda and I were so confused! hahah! I could not stop laughing for the remainder of the lesson! It was quite interesting.. i wish someone could record us while we talk because we say the wrong things all the time! Like how floating carrots appeared to joseph smith and how we were feeling buddhist instead of feeling sick.. Too many words sound like each other in japanese.. its awesome!

One of our lessons with Shohei San was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I was really hoping that this would be a good lesson and hoping that i would be able to explain something that is so dear to my heart. We have talked about it a little before but he didnt understand how the atonement could be applied to his life. So this week I really wanted to help him understand the importance of the atonement. I had a hard time knowing what to say at first and my companion did most of the talking. But I started to talk about my savior suffering for me and for him in the garden. As the words were coming out of my mouth, i couldnt help but cry again! Im such a baby! But its because i felt the spirit testifiying to Shohei and myself that this was true! It was such a sweet thing to expereinece! I looked at Shohei and he was tearing up as well! I knew that through my words, the spirit told him that the savior really does love him so much. A love so great that we will never understand. He suffered for us because of that love he has for us. It was incredible! Its so fun to teach these "investigators" because they are actually our teachers. I had him read matthew 11: 28-30 that talks about the savior. He says my yoke is easy and my burden is light. At the same time we both said we loved this scripture! and i again started crying of course.. I testified to Shohei that I know the Savior loves us. He wants to help us. He already suffered for us and wants us to come unto him so he can help us. Shohei sat there and cried with me and said he knew what i was teaching was true! ahhhhhh!!!! Best lesson and day of my life! Afterwards my teacher really thanked me for the lesson. He said it was exactly what he needed. But it wasnt that helped him. It was the savior. And it was through the spirit. I was just so happy that God has trusted my enought to allow to be a tool in his hand and to preach this amazing gospel to his children! I love my calling!

So ya things are great! I couldnt be more happy! I love this gospel! I love this church! I love my companion! she has become my best friend and im so grateful for her! Miss everyone back at home! hope everyone is having a good summer!

 

Ai shitte imasu!

Christensen Shimai

another week at the good ole MTC

Konnichiwa!!!!

In the middle of week 6 and its going great!!! This week was a pretty chill week. Nothing too out of the ordinary. But things are going good! I am still as happy as can be and I am in love with this beautiful language! I still cant speak it hardly at all but I can understand a lot and i am obsessed! I cant wait to get out there in Japan and really learn the language! A lot of missionaries are leaving for Japan on monday! Its so exciting to see them so excited! I cant wait for that day!!!! I will be more nervous then Ive ever been in my entire life but so stoked!!

Last saturday we had two TRCs! My companion and i taught two returned missionaries both from Toyko! They had just been home from their missions for only two weeks! We taught them about receiving revelation through reading the Book of Mormon. It went soooooo good!!! They complimented us on our Japanese and it was a powerful lesson! they were obviously a little too nice cause we know our japanese sucks.. but it felt good to hear it anyways!

This week we taught a ton of lessons! We taught Komeda San about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the priesthood! My companion and I learn so much as we teach our investigators! Its an amazing experience! We planned on teaching Shohei San about the gospel of Jesus Christ as well but instead turned into a lesson about Christs atonement and how he can apply it to his life. As scary as it was to not know before hand what we are going to say, it is such a neat experience to trust in the spirit to guide us with the words we need! It turned out to be one of our best lessons yet!! I love talking about my savior, sharing experiences, and scriptures, and bearing testimony!

 

Sunday was the best day ever.. I basically died when i saw kathryn at the temple on sunday!!!!!! I miss hugs and i got the best one from her! Such a sweet day to see my best friend!

 

Yesterday, my district did an ego danjiki. An english fast. Let me tell ya, that was the most challenging day ive had at the MTC. I realized how little japanese I actually know.. we all bought whiteboards and wrote out what we couldnt say which was basically everything.. it was a pretty quiet day! hahaha! But it was so fun! When I could actually think of things to say I felt like i was superman! Speaking this language is so hard but I love it anyways!

 

This week we also started something new! well kind of.. We teach more lessons!!... hahaha! My companion and I now teach two choro tachi in our district. One plays an investigator and the other a church member. Moss Shimai and I taught ´´Jesseb´´ twice this week! Those lessons were actually my favoriote ones this week! We were so much more relaxed and didnt even take notes! We just taught what we felt like he needed to hear and the lessons went great! Its so much easier teaching the elders in our district because they know the same amount of japanese that we do so there is no pressure! We actually have fun while teaching! weird..! Then it switches and the same elders teach us! I am the investigator and my companion is the member. It is way harder then it sounds! Trying to get into character and think like someone who has never heard the gospel before is hard! But its a neat expereince in which i get to experience missionary work from all different views!

 

Thank you all so much for the love and support! Thank you Aunt Kristy and Family for the sweet package!!! You guys are amazing! Thank you to everyone for the sweet letters that make my day! They always seem to come when I need them most! I truly appreciate it! I couldnt be here without all the love and support I feel everyday from the people I love!

 

So not too much going on this last week. But yet still an amazing week at the MTC! I am constantly being taught new things by the spirit and bettering myself everyday! I love it here, I love this work, I love the beautiful message that I get to share with the people of japan, I love my savior, and i love and miss you all!

 

Love always, Christensen Shimai

MTC pictures!

Shu go!!!!! week 5!!!!!

Konichiwa!!!

Its finally P-day!!!! This was a long week. It had its super high moments and the not so high ones as well. I honestly cant remember everything! I have now been in the MTC for a month!!! seriously that feels like quite the accomplishment! Still have one more to go! We celebrated all day long! usually on P-day we do our laundry, have personal study time and personal free time, and go to the temple. Its more like P-half day. After the temple we have class again and TRC. But for the next month the provo temple is closed :( i am sooooooo sad! Going to the temple once a week was my absolute favoritest thing abou the MTC! but i cant complain for too long because now we have two and a half extra hours to do whatever we want! Im actually pretty stoked because today im going to take a nap!!!!!! that is un heard of! I cannot wait! And the shimai tachi and choro tachi are having a competition on who can build a better fort in our rooms. Were pretty excited to dominate! hahah!

For some reason this was a very non focused week for my entire district. Everyone right now is obsessed with rubber bands so instead of studying nihongo we shoot each other with rubber bands.. I think the effects of being here a month are starting to show. Im a little concerned to see how we act in another month! My district is already known as the "energetic district" not really a good thing.. hahaha! But we have fun thats for sure! We are always playing games like signs, and psychiatrist. All of the sensei's on our floor come in and check on us every so often because i think were a little loud. Seriously we are having too much fun here. Im all for fun but our lack of study this week definitely showed in our lessons. My doryo and I felt less prepared and our lessons definitely suffered from it. I promised my doryo i would never shoot another rubber band again! so far so good! and our last lesson with Shohei Kun was actually our best lesson yet! We taught him about the sukui no keikaku (plan of salvation). I understood everything he said and we were able to answer all of his questions! Both of our investigators want to be baptized!!! yayyyy!!! Teaching is so hard and i feel like all we do is prepare lessons but when the lessons go well it is so worth it! We feel so good afterwards when the holy ghost really helps our investigators know in their hearts what they needed to hear.

Wednesday I got to host new missionaries coming into the MTC! it was so fun! kinda sad to see all the senkyoshi( missionaries) saying goodbye to their kazoku (family). Made me remember that day for me and made me sad and miss my family. But how exciting it was to welcome more missionaries to this great place and to this great work!

Happy late forth of july to everybody!!!!!!! hope everyone had a fun day in the sun! Our day was pretty normal.. same routine. Except for the evening! We got out of class early thursday night (which is seriously the biggest blessing) and we got a special devotional where we sang american songs for an hour and then got to watch 17 miracles! I have never seen this movie before and i bawled like a baby. seriously like the ugliest sobs ever. Its about the pioneers and their hardships while crossing the country to reach zion. My heart ached for the poor families who lost their moms, or siblings, or a dad. But so happy whenever the lord blessed them! Ture miracles! It was an amazing movie!

This week my whole disrtict taught our teacher Tingey Sensei about Iesu Kirisuto no fukuin (the gospel of jesus Christ). She sat in front of all 12 of us as we had the most personal lesson any of us have had so far. Everyone shared experiences and cried together over similar ones. Instead of teaching just Tingey Sensei, we all taught each other and really helped strengthen one another. My district has become so close. We really love each other and it is going to be so hard to say goodbye to these amazing missionaries in month.

This week i felt so very loved and so blessed! I got a package from Dean, zack, parker, chandler, and chandlers friend! They all sent me letters, and candy! It made my day! I have the sweetest friends! thank you so so so much!!! and then yesterday i got two more packages!!! seriously it was better then christmas! Collette and my mom both sent me the necessities. Oreos, CLUB MINIS, peanut butter, nutella, trader joes popcorn, just everything a girl could possibly want! I will never go hungey thats for sure! as if i dont get fed well enough here as it is! It was the sweetest thing ever though! Im so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in my life who know me so well :)

We had an awesome devotional this week! Sheri Dwe spoke to us! She is amazing!!!! I love her so much! She talked about how we promised special spirits in heaven that we would come find them on earth and bring the gospel to them. I know this is ture. I feel that everyday that i am here! I promise to keep that promise and work as hard as I can to help prepare for those moments when I meet those spcial spirits God has been preparing to meet me. She also talked about really knowing our savior. She said that in order to understand the atonement we need to understand just how it works in our lifes. For me, the atonement applies to me almost daily here in the MTC. I often feel discouraged, and sad, and heart broken. But thats where the atonement comes in. I know that my savior knows how i feel. He has been there. I know that he is always by side helping me along the way. I am so grateful for his love.

Ask him to help you because he already did.

I am so grateful to be a missionary! this is a great time to be a missionary! I love this gospel so very much! I love my family so so so very much! and all my friends! I miss you all and you are always in my prayers! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Love always, Christensen Shimai