A new companion, but still in Okinawa :)

Yes, I'm still in Okinawa :)  No one could believe it when I showed up at church the other day with a new companion.  I survived transfers!  I guess Heavenly Father still has more for me to do here.  And I can't complain.  My favorite people, places and things are on this island.  If I never leave I'll still have a blast.  Most people spend their whole mission dying to come to Okinawa.  On the other hand, I will have lived in Okinawa and died (the missionary term for ending your mission) here.  I do have a new companion though.  Her name is Sister Olsen.  She is from Heber, Utah the oldest child in a family where the rest of the siblings are boys and she's a super hard worker and great missionary.  We've been having a great time together so far.  It was sad seeing Takei Shimai (Sister Takei) go. 

Sister Takei's last morning before transferring!

A quick last hug goodbye!

  

This week went wonderfully.  Everyday is an adventure in Okinawa and on your mission.  Winter had officially ended.  We skipped spring.  Now we are pressing forward head first into summer.  The huge banana spiders have started to make their way out and I now have ditched sweaters, layers or anything of that sort.  It gets hot and humid here! 

This week we met a less active, Nakamine Kyodai randomly while housing.  We stopped at a random apartment building and just felt prompted to start there.  The first door we knocked on we met a nice man in his 50's.  We introduced ourselves and he excitedly proclaimed that he was a Mormon too!  After a wonderful conversation with him, he agreed to come to the open house that we had last week for the new church building.  He came!  He loved the church building and what he was able to feel inside of it.  It was a neat miracle!  I've really come to find out that Heavenly Father knows His children.  It's such a great comfort to know that as long as you try your best great things will happen and you will be guided.  Thankfully we receive a lot of help.  If this church wasn't true it would have been single-handedly brought down by a bunch of 19 year old missionaries cluelessly trying to help.  Luckily it is true and that hasn't happened :)

We have a cute young investigator named Yuki Chan.  She's adorable and a high school student who loves learning about God.  At our last lesson a couple months ago she really felt the spirit and kept repeating how overwhelmingly happy and warm she felt.  We made a baptismal date with her but because of one thing or another it fell through and we weren't able to meet with her.  But she contacted us a couple weeks ago and we were able to give her a church tour.  We wanted to meet with her again but her schedule was really busy due to her upcoming brass concert that she was practicing for.  She invited us to the concert, but I wasn't sure if we should go.  Sister Takei was packing and I didn't know if it would be the best use of our time.  But I prayed about it and decided we should attend the concert.  We barely made it to the little concert in time, but when we walked through the doors we bumped into Yuki's mother.  A HUGE miracle!  The biggest problem typically for our young investigators is getting their parents permission to join.  We had a SUPER DUPER great conversation.  That right there made our trip worth it.  But after the concert, we ran into her again!  She thanked us again and again for coming to support her daughter.  Then Yuki Chan joined us and it was awesome!  Out of all the hundreds of people there the miracle that we ran into her mom twice was unbelievable! 

Yuki Chan and I after the concert!

Lastly, this week was our new church building's open house.  I almost don't want to write about it because it went too well for words to describe.  TONS of people came.  Members invited so many of their friends, co-workers, family, and even random convenience store workers.  Everyone of them are phenomenal missionaries.  What really stood out to me was how the members took the extra step.  They invited their friends, but also encouraged them to come over to their homes and meet with us so that we could answer any of their questions.  I was floored!  It took a lot of courage, but much to my amazement not a single person said no.  Not a single one!  We have appointments lined up next week with lots of our member's friends and co-workers to teach and answer questions.  I was extremely impressed!  And most of these friends were all really excited and grateful that their member friends had invited them to come see the church and meet with other members.  It was a huge blessing and the event was really well put together. 

That is this week in a nut shell.  I love Okinawa and more importantly I love the people here.  I'm the luckiest missionary in Japan :)

Love  you family!  Hope you have a great week!  Be safe!

Hawkins Shimai

Sister Miller and I "helped" assemble our table :)