Training in Nagasaki :)

Our view from the train on the way to Nagasaki

Riding the bullet train….Sorry for the technical difficulty

Sister Messer and Sister Suzuki

Training the Sisters in Nagasaki

This week was jam packed with lots of missionary work!  Oi Shimai and I went via the bullet train to visit and go on junkais (splits) with the four Nagasaki Shimai tachi (4 Sister missionaries in Nagasaki).  It takes us two hours in travel time, so we woke up early Monday morning, spent preparation day with them visiting lots of temples in and around Nagasaki and then spent the next two days there seeing lots of miracles and working hard.  It was great to get to know them better.  It made me grateful to see how hard and effective they are working and to be able to help them out in any way.  I got to work a lot with Lane Shimai.  We were both in the same Missionary Training Center district.  It was so fun to connect with her after almost a year!  We had a blast biking the CRAZY hills in Nagasaki and visiting investigators.  

We did have a scary experience however.  It was almost 8, completely dark and we knocked on an older woman's door that the missionaries had met a couple days before.  I think she might have had Alzheimer's because she had absolutely no idea who we were even though we told her several times that we were missionaries for the church.  She didn't open her door but we thought we heard her putting her shoes on so we waited patiently for about a minute.  Suddenly she was standing right next to us outside (she must have gone around the back)  she looked a little like the older lady in Harry Potter who turns into a snake.   Lane Shimai (Sister Lane) and I booked it out of there so quickly!  But we did see some neat miracles.  We found a potential investigator and exchanged numbers.   The Nagasaki sisters just called us and let us know that they met with her and were able to make a baptismal date with her!  It is so incredible to see how Heavenly Father really does have prepared children just waiting for the gospel.  Overall Nagasaki was a blast.  It is a fun place to work.  There is a large Catholic presence (something that is extremely rare in Japan)  so we were able to teach a lot about the restoration of the gospel. 

It was nice to come home though!  Slept in our own futons for the first time in a long time :) Oi Shimai (Sister Oi) and I spent the rest of the week working hard in our own area, Kurume.  We have been focusing on "gaijin den do"...Finding foreigner investigators.  I cannot even begin to explain what miracles we saw.  We prayed all day long to give away our Chinese Book of Mormon.  We started talking to a girl with great Japanese and invited her to our free English class.  She said thanks but she was really focusing on Japanese because she is from Taiwan!  We shared about the Book of Mormon she enthusiastically accepted a copy and we made an appointment for this week!  

We found lots of new investigators this week too!   I've found that the more people I talk to the more people we find that are willing to hear our message.  So many wonderful things happened this week!  But lastly, since I got in this area almost a month ago not a single investigator has come to church (that could be due partly to the fact that there were barely any investigators to start with), but this Sunday we planned to bike with one of our investigators (Hoan) to church .  He is Vietnamese and so genuinely kind!  He let us know that he was going to be a little bit late.

Our Vietnamese investigator :)

When he finally showed up he had with him two of his friends that we had taught and invited!  We had THREE investigators at church this Sunday!  It was a huge miracle.  I have learned that as we exercise our faith, do cheerfully all things that lie within our power and then leave the rest up to God that great things happen.  I am so grateful for this experience.  I am working hard, I am learning LOTS and I am having an absolute blast sharing the best message :)

I love you guys!  I hope you have a great week!  Have a great last couple days of school!  Love you!

Hawkins Shimai