Small World!

Sister Black (served in Japan, but was on her way home) and ran into Mary Merrill in the Seattle airport.

Small world!  I can't believe that Mary Merrill ran into Sister Black at the Airport!  What are the odds?  I love the picture you sent me mom.  She was my sister training leader and she trained my trainer, Sister Capener (trainers are missionaries who are experienced and trusted to help and teach brand new missionaries with the local customs, language and work day habits).  In mission terms that makes her my mission grandma :)  I'm glad she made it back safe and sound!

This week was a miracle week.  It really, really was!  We found a wonderful new investigator (this is a term that we missionaries use to describe people who are not members of the church and are unfamiliar with the teachings of the LDS church but they want to learn about the doctrine), our other investigator got baptized and on a unrelated topic, I got our "Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarf".  :)  I'll fill you in... but first something funny.

I really don't like "housing" (term missionaries use for knocking on doors to find people who might be interested in learning about the church).  It's not super effective because people have the option to not open their door and they're really good at closing the door quickly.  But last night we decided since it was a Sunday and lots of families were home that we would "house" a huge apartment complex.  After the first 10 doors (when we would introduce ourselves people would "Kekko" us and shut the door)  I was fed up.  I hate the answer "no".  So I thought I would change things up a little bit.  The next door we knocked on a woman in her mid 40s opened.  I just started up a conversation... in English.  She was totally taken back and had no idea what to say.  Her eyes got really big and SHE KEPT THE DOOR OPEN!  :)  I switched to Japanese and explained what we were doing here and she listened!  We tried the new approach over the next couple floors and it worked.  It was a fun, entertaining night.  We found two new investigators. 

Oh!  I forgot to mention.  We got transfer calls!  I'm staying in Okinawa and so is Sister Capener.  We are still companions!  We work really well together and we were excited to stay together.  I was really grateful I didn't get transferred because apparently up north, on the mainland, it is freezing and I don't have a coat (yet)!  It is still about 75 degrees here everyday AND the new church building will be completed soon here in Okinawa!  All very exciting!

Our investigator got baptized!  He will be the last person to be baptized in the East China Sea, because the new church building will be finished soon. 

It was a beautiful service.  The weather was perfect and I wore my lucky scarf!  My best friends and I are all serving missions around the world so to stay connected we send around a scarf.  I got the package just in time to wear it to the baptism! 

Sister Capener, Justien and I (I am wearing the "traveling scarf" :)

We are so excited for our investigator and for our best friend, his wife!  We can't wait to see them get sealed in the temple (they're planning on next December!).  A sealing is a marriage performed by proper priesthood authority from Jesus Christ, as talked about in the Bible in Mathew 16:19, that enables a couple to get married for "Time and Eternity" instead of just until death.

Lastly, we had a lesson with our wonderful investigator Sumiko San this week and it was really powerful.  We just taught the basics: about God and prayer.  Sumiko could not understand why God would still love her even though she is imperfect.  It had never really crossed my mind.  I just have a really strong testimony that God lives and that not only does he love us but he knows us by name.  I asked Sumiko about her family and her kids.  I asked if they ever made mistakes.  She replied that of course they do.  Then I asked her if she still loved them even though they are not perfect.  It helped her understand that God loves his children just like she loved her children.  We read a scripture in the Book of Mormon about how God knows all his children and he created them.  She read that scripture and tears started to roll down her face.  She never knew she had a loving Heavenly Father who knew her.  It was such an incredible experience!

I tied my companions (Sister Coles) luggage on the back of my bike so that we could take it to the church for transfers.

This week was a miracle.  I love serving the people of Japan.  I love them!  They are my brothers and sisters.    I hope you guys have a wonderful week!  Have a great Thanksgiving!  Eat lots! Everything is going well in Okinawa Japan!

love, 

Sister Hawkins

Andrew, Justien, Sister Coles and I.

I have realized this week, especially, that Heavenly Father has a plan for us.  It never ever goes according to our plans, but it always works out.  I love the quote from Elder Bednar (one of the 12 Apostles) which says something to the effect of just get up and get to work, just be a good boy or a good girl and the rest will fall in to place.  When you're working hard, good things happen and even a miracle or two.  We had two back to back popped tires in the middle of nowhere this week.  Luckily our angels, the Williams, were able to track us down and help us.  In the meanwhile, we were a little bummed because we had appointments we wouldn't be able to keep.  We just decided that we were going to make the most of it.  So we started to knock on doors and we came across an incredible woman.  When we knocked on her door and explained who we were she lit up.  She had some questions about the bible and wanted help in finding answers.  She ran in to the back room and came back with a bible that was marked and highlighted everywhere.  In my four months in Japan I have never seen that.  There are very few Christians here.  It was such a neat experience to help her find answers in the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  I can't wait to go back!  Sometimes all we need in life are a couple of popped tires to slow us down so we can see great things happen. 

Flat bike tires!  Twice in one week!

Also, our investigator, Josh, is getting baptized this upcoming week.  Josh is married to a member who we have been working with a lot over the past couple of months.  It has been a privilege watching both of them grow in the gospel and grow closer together.  We even talked about their future temple marriage!  It is moments like these that make everything hard about a mission worth it.  I really can feel Heavenly Father's love for the people of Japan and I am so grateful for the small role that I have the opportunity to play a small part to help my brothers and sisters come unto Christ.  I love being a missionary! 

This week we had a wonderful lesson with our investigator, Takizawa San.  It reinforced to me, the importance of having a member present at every lesson we teach.  Takizawa San has a baptismal date for January 4th and loves to read the Book of Mormon, but she has never been to church.  Every time we mention it she gets nervous and says she is busy.  For our lesson we decided to talk about how we can receive guidance.  Specifically, through church attendance.  We had a church member, Sister Higa, come to the lesson with us.  It was incredible!  It was wonderful for Takizawa to have someone present at the lesson that spoke her language fluently, could relate to her and that had similar problems and experiences.  After talking about church with Takizawa San we invited her during our next lesson to walk to the church with us for a church tour (when no one would be there, to help her become more acquainted with the building and the activities we do there).  However, Sister Higa mentioned that we should just go right now!  Takizawa San agreed, so we all jumped in Sister Higa's car and I had one of the most spiritual experiences on my mission.  Takizawa San loved the church building.  She had never been inside one.  She loved learning about primary (church program for the 3 to 12 year olds), young women's (for the teenage girls ages 12 to 18 years), the chapel and seeing the baptismal font.  I am so grateful for the spirit that is inside of our church buildings.  It was such a neat experience! 

I am learning, growing, laughing (too much), eating weird foods, learning how to change a bike tire, learning to work well with others, getting creative when things don't go according to plan and most of all loving the people of Japan and the message of joy and peace we share.   

Family Home Evening with the Flake and Kihara families and some investigators!

What happens when you try to take pictures with Elders :)!

Decorating for Christmas!

The gospel is true. Families can be together forever and there is no way I will get married anywhere but the temple. 

Sending love from the other side of the world!

Sister Hawkins!

2 became 3!

2 …….

Became 3!

This week was a crazy one!  2 blonds became 3 in Okinawa, Japan!  :)  Stay tuned...

But first... Thank you so much for your letter!  And for that fun package!  It was so kind of Sister McClune to send me the scarves, flowers and neck coolers!  She has a huge thank you card coming!  :)  Thank you guys for thinking of me :)  Thank you so much for everything!  I really am so blessed!

The other day while teaching one of our cute American investigators she asked us if she joined the church if she would have any responsibilities.  She loves to volunteer, stay active and help others.  I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.  There is no shortness of help in the church and between visiting teaching, feeding the hungry and saving the world there is a lot to do :)  Mormons are busy people.

That is exciting to hear that Chelan now has sister missionaries! :)

Feeling tall in Japan!

You are laughing, but we do eat this stuff!

Well, this week 2 became 3 in Okinawa as we welcomed Sister Coles into the best area in the mission! She has been a wonderful addition and we love her! Her companion got an emergency transfer up north so she got to come stay with us for the next two weeks!  We were riding on our bikes when the phone started ringing.  I hopped off (or stumbled :) and much to my surprise I was speaking to the mission president!  He said Sister Coles was coming to Okinawa!  We're been filling her in and it has been fun working in a trio and being the three blond amigos in Okinawa. We all hit the ground running and it has been a blast. This week we really focused on inviting everyone to be baptized and setting baptismal dates for all of our investigators. It was challenging, but really successful. We set three baptismal dates this week and our investigators are starting to progress.

Will and I at the ruins.

Sis Flake took us to see some ruins!

Fun trip to the ruins!

Some miracles of the week!:

We visited a less active family that is starting to come back to church.  We taught a fun FHE and their little girl prayed for the first time!

Our investigator Sarah wants to be baptized!  She is leaving for the states so we are going to have the missionaries come to her.  She calls us her angels :)  We told her not to worry because there are "angels" in Oregon too who are excited to meet her!

We found 2 new investigators out of our free Japanese classes!  And one of the high school students randomly texted us and said she prayed and felt she had help from Heavenly Father!  She asked to meet with us :)

I had Burger King for the first time... in Japan :)  chicken nuggets and real BBQ sauce!  MIRACLE :)

Okinawa is wonderful!  I love the people here.  They are so kind, loving and patient.  I am learning so much and I love being a missionary!  I'm just so happy!  I know there is a God and that He loves us.  We are a part of His family and we can have peace and happiness not only in the life to come, but in the here and now.  I love seeing the good in people.  This message is for everyone and I am grateful for the opportunity I have to share it with my brothers and sisters in Japan!  Don't worry about me :)  I love you guys!  

Have a marvelous week!

Love,

Sister Hawkins!

Traditional toilets in Japan (they are in the floor!)

The beautiful white beaches!

It is cooling down here!

Halloween in Japan :)

Sister Missionaries…strike a pose!

The Williams (I love them! They are the best senior Missionary couple ever!) as Jonah and his wife and their van, as the whale.

I got a new backpack and now I have a "twin", one of the Elder's has the same one!

This week was an adventure!  It was super fun.  I'm starting to get some of this crazy language down and I am getting creative about how I get around the really hard things like kanji!  I'm slowly learning it, but it's still way out of my league.  Yesterday we got a text message from an investigator in all kanji so I walked up to a nice looking lady on the street and she read it to me.  We were able to explain what our purpose is here and she was really nice!  We have an appointment this week with her :)  I guess being somewhat helpless can pay off every once and awhile!

Dad stop worrying about me on my bike!   Don't worry, I'm being safe!  The only incident on my bike this week was during our heavy rain/windstorm.  I was at a stoplight and a huge gust of wind hit me and I fell off my bike into a bush.  So embarrassing!  And then my bike fell on top me!  It took Sister Capener and I awhile to dig me out of that one.  I swear it was the wind and not my lack of coordination on a bike that caused the accident.  But the bush and bike are fine now, promise!

This week we had a blast!  We were able to teach Taeko Tamaki a family home evening lesson.  She has five cute girls so I felt like I was back at home!  :)  It is so important for our investigators to develop a relationship with their Heavenly Father through prayer.  We taught a lesson about prayer and played a fun family home evening game where we hid sheep around the room and they have to find them and bring them back to the Shepherd.   We brought Sister West with us.  She is one of the wonderful military ward missionaries who speaks Japanese.  It went wonderfully!  We also had a branch activity for one of the military branches.  It was super fun.  I"ll have to send you a picture of the Elders' costumes.  They were frogs, I think. 

Frogs?

Lots of the less activities that we have been visiting came to the activity so we were super excited!  Halloween in Japan is fun.  I love it here!

We have such wonderful wards and branches here!  Our members are so kind and helpful.  They really go out of their way to help us.  Sister Wedekind, especially, is a super star missionary. 

Sister Wedekind (lower left of picture)…a super help to the missionaries!

She is super busy herself with lots of kids and activities, but she always is inviting her friends and neighbors to our free Japanese and English classes.  She was so kind the other day.  We asked if she would come with us to visit a family and not only did she come she managed to fit both our bikes in her tiny car to give us a ride back home so we could be back in time for curfew.  I wish every mission had a Sister Wedekind!  Love her!

Lastly, our miracle for the week.  This week Sister Capener and I braved typhoon winds and went out to do some service for one of the investigators in the Gushikawa Branch who is trying to decided on a date for baptism. On our way there our investigator canceled due to the weather and hazardous conditions. We went out and tried to "house" and meet people, but we were having no success and it wasn't very effective. So Sister Capener and I said a prayer and decided that we should go back to our apartment and look at names in our area book. We sat down and started calling everyone who had received lots of lessons or had a previously scheduled baptismal date. I called a woman named Ganeko San and not only did she answer she said it was OK if we came by in a half an hour. We were so excited! We met her (through a series of miraculous people and events placed along our way to help us get there) and had the most spiritually inspiring lesson I have had on my mission. We talked about temples and families and Ganeko San loved it. During our lesson we learned that Ganeko's daughter is one of the Elder's sister-in-law. It was an incredible miracle. After the lesson we realized how many people must be praying for her. We really felt guided to go visit her and then to find out she was related to one of the Elders was wonderful!

I hope you guys have a marvelous week!  

Love you!

Hawkins Shimai

Sister Latu and I after a Companionship trade (we call them splits).  I love her!

Justien…she is a super member missionary!

It's scary how fast p-day (preparation day) comes around!  The days and weeks are flying past!  Here is this week in a blur:

Fun at a Halloween Party!

Lunch at Zone Conference…..Are those chopsticks?!?!

Sister Capener and I

Sisters in our Zone.

I love the 60+ age group in Japan.  This week when I stopped to talk to a woman (she was 98!) she said she loved our message!  But that wasn't the most memorable part... in the middle of our message she said I looked tired and started to give me a back massage!  That would be a first.  I didn't know what to say and it didn't help that Sister Capener was laughing so hard she was crying.  Oh, the streets of Japan!

My Japanese (language) is coming!  I never thought I would say that!  I am no where near perfect, but for the most part I can teach the gospel and I can even chat about grand kids and the local food!  But don't worry mom and dad every time I think I'm starting to get the language down I just go talk to a group of kids and realize that not only do they speak Japanese waaaay better than I do, they also know a couple hundred more kanji than I do.  They help keep me grounded :)

Oh the JOY you feel when your investigator has 1) not only been reading the Book of Mormon but 2) has also lamented "I was reading it too much that it (the cover) started to look worn."  Isn't that the best problem you have ever heard of?

Mom you need to read a book.  It's called the power of everyday missionaries by Clayton Christiansen and it is changing the way I see missionary work.  As missionaries we have been inviting less activities and former investigators to help us.  Typically it is the other way around but I've recognized that these investigators, less activities, and former investigators need the church just as much as the church needs them.  Everyone needs to feel like they are of worth and that they have an important role to play.  There is a part member, less active family who we visited that when we asked if we could come back and teach them the lessons to practice our English teaching skills the non-member wife and less active husband excitedly exclaimed that they would love to do that and asked if they could write down a list of questions that they have and have them answered at our next appointment.  The best part is we're taking a recently reactivated member with us!  Everyone is excited about learning and so far it has been a very successful tool in our missionary work.

The best day of this past week was yesterday, Sunday.  We woke up early to bike to the church and got the wheel chair out of the back room.  We walked all the way to our cute less actives home, Moromizato San to help wheel her to sacrament meeting.

Then our investigator Naoko San came to church and said she loved it!  And one of the recent converts shared her testimony for the first time during sacrament meeting.  While Sister Capener was singing the closing hymn I couldn't help but count my many blessings.  I love these people!  And here I was sitting half way around the world from everything I know and I was just beaming!  I am so HAPPY!  If you've paid attention to any of my last letters you will know that a mission is hard.  It's exhausting!  No 19 year old really wants to go bike in the pouring rain and tropical wind storms or attempt to read the Book of Mormon in Japanese in front of everyone in Sunday school or get rejected everyday.  But somehow through all of the exhausting tough times you not only survive but you thrive.  I am so grateful for this opportunity to love, serve and teach the Japanese people.  Missionary work is so rewarding!  I love it!

Have a marvelously wonderful week!

Ai Shite Imasu!  

Hawkins Shimai