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
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