Needing more room :)

Another baptism!

A school that looks like it is right out of Harry Potter!

Our investigator showed us her baby kittens after we taught a lesson.

I got your package!  Sister Burger dropped it off to me :)  It was like Christmas only Valentine's day themed!  Loved it!  Thanks so much for thinking of me.  All the sisters in my apartment were more than willing to help me eat some of the goodies.  They asked for me to tell you thank you!  I loved the socks by the way!  The bright pink and red hearts are going to look great with my skirts!  :)  And thanks so much for all the tights!  It's been pretty windy here lately so I've been really grateful for the extra layers.  The pictures were great too!  I looked like such a goob when I was 8 years old!  And your wedding pictures made me smile.  I owe you!  Thanks! 

This week had a couple big events.  Yuho Shimai who was baptized a couple of months ago and then moved to mainland called me this week!  I hadn't talked to her in a very long time.  I was thinking about her lots and I always pray for her.  We got to talk on the phone for about 15 minutes.  She is trying to find a job in Okinawa so she can come back!  She also told me that she has been praying and reading the Book of Mormon.  That was so wonderful to hear!  In fact, I almost started crying on the phone.  I love her!  It was so nice to hear she is doing well and that she might even come back soon.  I'll probably still be here :) 

I also got to enter the marine barracks!  That was quite an adventure.  As a sister missionary I guess you're use to being a female minority, but it is nothing like the barracks.  It was like walking into a whole different world.  We were able to see a couple Young Single Adults (term used to describe unmarried 18-30 year olds) and shared a great meal with them.  Although we can't actively proselyte on base, it was interesting to see what the presence of four sister missionaries could do in those circumstances.  We really are completely different from others with our lack of tats, body piercings and swearing.  We had to take our name tags off, but everyone could tell that we were different and we had lots of marines asking us who we were.  The best part of the night though would probably have to of been meeting a couple in the marines.  They were so kind!  They offered us a ride home since it's about a 45 minute bike ride uphill.  We of course accepted because it was freezing and super dark.  Then we realized that we had all 4 of our bikes still there!  They packed all of our bikes (miraculously) into their tiny, boxy, Japanese mini van.  I believe in miracles :)  I'll attach a picture.  It was hilarious. 

We are in the search for a bigger apartment!  Very exciting! 

The Williams helping us check out apartment possibilities!

Needing more space to accommodate more missionaries!

We had one of our incredible investigators come to church yesterday, Sarah.  She is so brave!  She's my same age and in the marines all by herself in the middle of Okinawa!  She has been on the island for a little over a year.  We taught her a lesson during Sunday school and it went great.  We had a wonderful member join us and we all had a great time learning together.  She believes in the Book of Mormon and that the church was restored to the earth after a time when the gospel was removed from the earth because of wickedness (referred to as the dark ages).  She is so bright and really has a lot of faith.  My favorite part about teaching is getting to share simple experiences and testifying of truth.  I figured she must feel lonely being by herself on this island, so I shared my experience of first coming to Japan.  One, I was totally sleep deprived so I wasn't really coherent.  I remember stepping off the plane into a foreign land and a completely different culture.  The word "overwhelmed" doesn't even begin to cover it.  No one spoke my language and they spoke a hundred times faster than my teachers in the Missionary Training Center.  I couldn't read any signs and the humidity was almost unimaginable.  I was hot, sweaty and about as far away from home as I could manage.  I went to use the restroom and the toilet was not a toilet it was a "squatter".  That threw me over the edge.  As I was in the "handicapped" bathroom, I remember closing my eyes and telling Heavenly Father very seriously that I had made a mistake.  I knew He had a sense of humor, but this was not funny.  I remember asking for clarity and peace.  I took a deep breath and I left.  I distinctly remember that day.  And I can remember the peace that slowly came to me little by little throughout that long day.  I know that Heavenly Father is keenly aware of His children.  No matter how small of an island they might be on.  It was such a great experience for me to be able to testify to Sarah that God really does live, and that He speaks and that He listens.   We all left with tears and the spirit was super strong.  I don't know if these 18 months will be the best of my life.  It is hard work!  But I know without a doubt that these 18 months will be the best for my life.  I can't imagine my life without these people and these experiences.   I am learning and growing in my knowledge of people and the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.  And although it is a lot of hard work, I am having a blast! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!  Love you!

Hawkins Shimai

Acts of Service

Sounds like everyone is doing really well at home.  Thanks for keeping me updated!  The other day we knocked on the door at a home and I saw that the Olympics were playing.  I had no idea!  Oh and another exciting thing on the sports front.  Every Saturday we play soccer with our investigators and I scored a goal!  The first time in my life!  It was super exciting!  I was sure after that happened I was going to get transferred or the world was going to end.  Neither have happened yet. :)

Our Zone on Preparation Day!

Missionaries on the island of Okinawa with Elder Aoyagi.

The senior couple, the Cochrans are leaving!  We will miss them!  Sad day!

Every day before we leave our apartment Sister Takei and I always pray for opportunities to serve.  But no one has ever excepted our help.  Not once.  But the other day we went out and it was pouring.  Freezing cold and raining cats and dogs.  We went out to find where a less active lived, but thanks to me and my lack of directional skills I turned on the wrong street (I feel like this is the start of every experience I share).  On this street I saw a super cute old lady who looked like she needed help.  We stopped and asked if she needed any help and she agreed!  I was totally surprised.  For the first time in 9 months someone said yes!  I could have hugged her!  Turns out that she has a bad knee and wanted help walking to the taxi station.  We walked with her and then she asked for another favor.  She asked us to go to her house just a minutes walk away and grab something for her.  Of course we agreed.  So we followed her directions and let ourselves inside.  No one was home so it was a little weird!  I actually opened the wrong door, but luckily Sister Takei realized that the name on the door was different.  So we started searching in this house.  That's when I realized I didn't understand what she asked us to look for.  After Sister Takei's hand gestures and using our phone's dictionary I realized we were in search for her... dentures.  Didn't see that one coming.  Ha ha!  We found them (and took some pictures of course!  She was so grateful.  As we were sitting there waiting with her a taxi never came.  So we decided to say a prayer and almost immediately a taxi came up!  It was a huge testimony to me about the power of prayer.  I was so grateful that we were able to meet that sweet woman and help her.  We stopped by this morning and taught her the first lesson.  She loved it.  She asked us to come back.  Super exciting!  I love miracles.  Especially when they involve fake teeth. :)

This week we also had training from Elder Aoyagi.  It was phenomenal.  I loved it.  All the missionaries on the island came to the training.  Our apartment grew from the 2 of us to 8 sister missionaries.  Scheduling showers was crazy and the entire apartment was covered in futons.  Elder Aoyagi's talk was really helpful.  He reminded us that when we teach we need to put ourselves in our investigators shoes.   All too often our lessons are confusing, uninteresting and not understandable.  It was nice for me to be reminded that the people that we teach have a very limited concept of God.  We need to teach the basics and teach them well.  I'm always trying to improve my teaching skills so I loved what he had to say.

I growing up with 4 sisters definitely helped prepare me for 7 roommates :)

Futons everywhere!

Reunited with Sister Lewis and Sister Coles

Our investigators are doing well.  I am amazed to see their strength, courage and love of the gospel.  Our wonderful investigator Takizawa Miyuki San decided that she is going to pay tithing!  Church is still really hard for her because Sundays are a family day and her husband isn't 100 percent supportive.  Our cute American investigator Sarah is doing well also.  She is reading the Book of Mormon everyday.  She is in 1 Nephi 11 already.  She is a huge example to me!  I love her.  She's still a little apprehensive about the whole idea.  With more sister's coming we might split up the military branches, but the thought just breaks my heart.  I love all of these people!  And with investigators in all three branches and wards I can't bear to leave any of them. 

Jen and I 

My friend, Hannah!  She follows me everywhere! :)

Anyway, that's this week in a nutshell.  

McKenna

Hawkins Shimai

Way to go SEAHAWKS :)

A preparation day with our district missionaries.

Look what I found!

It sounds like some big events have happened back home!  Snow, winning High School basketball games and what was the last one... oh yeah, the SEAHAWKS won the Superbowl!  That is super exciting!  :)  I forget we're a day ahead here.  I was trying to figure out why they would be having the Superbowl on a Monday.  

This week was wonderful!  Winter has officially ended in Okinawa, Japan.  My watch tan line has returned and I am currently sunburned.  It feels like home.  I am having a blast!  This week was especially fun.  We are so busy!  I had interviews with Kaicho (our mission president) and he is seriously thinking about adding more sisters here because we have so much work to do.  He asked me if our apartment was big enough and I'm so desperate to get some extra people here (and I don't like to say no :) ... so I told him of course there was enough room!  If two more sisters do come we'll be living in very tight quarters and they'll be sleeping on the kitchen floor!  But I'm excited and can't wait.  

We did some spring cleaning here as well.  I've been showering in the dark for the past 5 months because our light bulb burned out :)  We finally had a spare moment to buy a new one.  Also this week we went on splits (exchanging missionary companions for the day with missionaries from other areas) with the Naha East Sisters.  That is where Sister Capener transferred so I got to see her again.  

Missionary "splits"….I got to teach with Sister Capener again!  YAY!

After we taught a lesson.  Sometimes I feel like a giant here :)

We had a great day, found lots of new investigators and had lots of great mini-lessons.  I have found that when I am working hard and using time wisely I have the most fun.  It was a little weird to be working again with Sister Capener though.  It felt like old times!  We taught a wonderful 80 year old grandma about the plan of salvation.  Nagahama San is absolutely wonderful.  She was so cute!  She listened and asked some really thoughtful questions.  I love teaching people the basic truths of the gospel!  As we testified about God and prayer, Nagahama San asked what kind of person He was.  I was able to share my simple testimony that God is similar to our father here on Earth.  That he loves us and that He is very aware of us and our needs.  She was really confused though.  She asked how could God know us if there are so many people here.  This was my favorite question :)  I asked Nagahama San how many children she has.  She has 3 and 4 grandchildren!  I asked her if she could ever forget about them.  She looked at me like I was crazy :)  She went on to tell me about their favorite books and when their birthday was.  I testified to her that Heavenly Father cannot forget about us because we are literally His spirit children.  Just like she knew her children and what their strengths and weaknesses were Heavenly Father knows us.  As she prayed for the first time out loud to Heavenly Father she was just beaming.  She said "I did it!'  I love her!  :)  

Sundays are always the busiest.  With a mixture of less actives, investigators and new members, I always have a million people I want to talk to.  This week I got to meet Sarah Nielsen.  I heard about her from a member a couple months ago.  Her brother was baptized and she had taken the lessons, but because of joining the marines and being transferred to Okinawa, Sarah fell through the cracks.  I've been praying for her everyday.  This Sunday was the first Sunday she came to church.  I could have died of happiness.  I treated her like a celebrity.  I gave her a huge hug and almost tackled her.  Luckily for her we hit if off because I was determined to be her best friend before I'd even met her :)  She is a great girl.  Super bright and really happy.  After church I knew I should ask her if she wanted to hear the lessons again, but for some reason I was really, really nervous to ask!  I guess Americans scare me!  :)  But I prayed for courage and asked her before I knew what I was doing!  She just lit up when I asked her.  I can't even really remember what she said, but I'm pretty sure she said yes :)  Yippee!  Being a missionary is sometimes hard even for the full time missionaries :)  But it was all worth it!  I really have a strong testimony that the gospel helps everyone.  No matter where they live or what language they speak.  I am grateful for a Heavenly Father that loves us and a living prophet that guides us.  I am just so happy! 

I hope you guys have a great week!  I love you!

Love,

Hawkins Shimai

Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?

I don't have a lot of time, so I'll just give you a couple of quick highlights and then add some pictures (they're worth a thousand words right?)  And I'll make my letter much longer next week!

Visiting the Shirijo Castle on Preparation day!

I got to spend the day with Sister Capener, my last companion!

What an interesting place!

An exciting day!

Having a lesson and making gyoza.

Some friends from the free English class we teach!

This week in a quick review...

 

I gave a talk in Japanese church this Sunday.  I didn't read from a paper or anything!  Super exciting!  I think I must of been a little nervous though because instead of saying "tithing" I accidentally said "law of chastity".  Seriously.  Super embarrassing!  However, in my defense the words are similar in Japanese. 

We had 6 investigators at church... again!  Super exciting!  We were running around with our heads cut off because we were so busy.  It was super exciting.  The new church building has been a great blessing.  People are asking a lot of questions.

Our star investigator Takizawa San is doing great.  She kept the word of wisdom (term used to describe the health code that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints strive to live by) this week!  A huge miracle!  I love that woman!

We met a wonderful less active woman.  I taught her a lesson to practice my Japanese and .... she cried!  I think it was tears of joy :)  She came back to church this Sunday! 

The weather is warm!  Finally!  :)  This is the Okinawa I know and love. 

We had interviews with our mission president!  I think we may be getting more sisters here very, very soon.  We have a lot of work for them to do when they get here.

We met two super cute investigators this week!  They are freshman at the local high school.  One of them, Sarah, texted me and said she read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon and has been praying everyday!  Yippee!

My companion is a chef.  Mom, I am eating more veggies than ever before!  :)

Our investigator's kids came to young men's and young women's (the church's youth program for 12-18 year olds)!

Sister Takei's bike broke and we were home an hour and a half late.  A knight in shinning armor came to our rescue and we were able to bike home instead of walk (kind of a scary story, but the stranger actually helped us! )

Life is great.  I am happy.  Scratch that, I'm absolutely joyous.  This gospel is true.  Heavenly Father lives.  Riding a bike with a skirt gets easier and I love Okinawa and the wonderful people here!  Love you all and have a great week!

McKenna

Making Rice Cakes

Notice a resemblance?

It has been kind of cold here.  Mostly because we're on the ocean and it's so windy.  Luckily, I don't have to worry about chapped lips because my Christmas package included a sufficient supply of chapstick :)  Thanks!   I hear the Seahawks are pretty good. My new companion hadn't been to the aquarium so we went there today for our Preparation Day.  We were up at 5:20 this morning.  I'm a walking zombie.  

Sister Takei and I at the aquarium :)

Seen this before?

We got to go behind the "scenes" at the aquarium!

THINGS FROM THIS WEEK;

Last night we taught a lesson to an investigator and her family.  Somehow it turned into teaching our investigator, her family and 10 kids from the neighborhood.  It was a huge lesson, similar to a family home evening.  I've never taught that many kids.  What an adventure!  I think it was kind of stressing me out a little bit though, because when I asked one of the girls how old I looked she guessed 58.... I'm aging fast.  This isn't a good sign.  

This week was absolutely incredible.  I say that every week, I know, but this one tops them all.  We worked incredibly hard and had lots of great things happen.  Yesterday 6 investigators came to church!  That is the most that I've ever seen here.  I was so stressed out.  We were at the church building from 7:30 in the morning till 5:30 at night.  We taught 3 lessons, went to 3 sacrament meetings, and found 1 new investigator.  I was sitting in our last sacrament meeting feeling a slightly over-my-head and having the desire to split myself into 3 to get everything done, then I sat down next to one of our investigators, took a deep breath and said a silent prayer.  I clearly remember asking for patient, clarity and peace.  The rest of the day went as smooth as could be.  I am so grateful we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and who not only hears, but answers our prayers.  

I am officially Japanese!  I'll send the pictures to prove it.  But I helped make rice cakes at a church activity!  It involves a huge hammer... and a wonderful workout.  I'll attach pictures.  They're pretty funny.

The big hammer

Making rice cakes!

What a workout!

And lastly... throughout my mission I have tried extremely hard to recognize the spirit and be quick to observe.  I had a really neat experience this week about following the spirit.  After making rice cakes at our ward activity, Sister Takei had the great idea to grab some extra food and give it to a less active we were planning on visiting.  We grabbed some and a little extra plate just in case.  On our way back, I had the thought that we should stop by and try to see a new investigator, who was recently assigned to us, Yadama.  I was hesitant because the last time we visited her she wasn't having a good day and was rather impatient.  But we stopped by, knocked on the door and no one answered.  Meanwhile I was praying the entire time that something good would come from this. I knew my companion thought I was crazy because we were already running short on time.  However, on our way back down the stairs we saw her!  She had just pulled in the driveway.  It was beyond perfect timing.  We had a wonderful gospel centered conversation and she warmly invited us back.  I was so grateful for that simple prompting.  It made me realize that Heavenly Father perfectly knows His children.  He is keenly aware of our needs.  I have a strong belief that as we are doing what is right, being obedient, and trying our best that we can became an instrument in the Lord's hands.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission.  It is the hardest, most trying and most joyfully rewarding experience of my life.  Heavenly Father loves us.  He lives.  And He is involved in the details of our lives.   

Have a wonderful week!  I love you!

Hawkins Shimai

McKenna

Sister Higa and a lady I translate for in the Japanese Congregation!