A new experience!

This week was a great week!  Lots of first time experiences...  I had an experience that I imagine a South American serving missionary might have.  Sister Williams and I knocked on a door and a family of four, mom dad, daughter and son (about 8 year old and 2 year old) opened the door.  That is pretty neat in and of itself because most apartments have what we call "kekko boxes", a nice black video box where people say "no" so they never have to open the door.  This family opens up the door and they are adorable.  Philippine mother and Japanese father and these two cute kids.  We explained who we were and why we were in Japan and invited them to hear more.  They said they would like to hear about God and Jesus Christ.  Wow!  So that was pretty cool, but it gets better.  No one in my entire 16 months has ever let us teach them the same day.  They are always too busy so we make a return appointment usually for the next couple of days.  So we asked them if we could come back a different day and teach them.  They asked us if we could teach them right now and to be honest I wasn't really sure what to say.  "You mean right now?"  "Yeah is that OK?"  Umm.... yes!!!!!  Of course!  WHAT?  I am really happy about it now, but at the moment I was just in shock.  Then they invited us INSIDE their HOUSE.....!  THEIR HOUSE!  We typically teach lessons either at the church or on people's door step.  We are invited into someone`s home once out of every 40 times someone actually agrees to listen.  I can count on my hands how many times I have gone in to someone's house on the FIRST time we've met them.  It was way cool.  So we just walked in and TAUGHT A LESSON.  Like with an opening prayer and everything.  I didn't know what to do.  It was great :)  They said it was alright if we came back and their little girl said the closing prayer.  It was a pretty great night :)

"Otosan" (Dad) our investigator, came to church with his wife this week!  My bike was fixed!  (Just a minor wreck mom don't worry) And we are having a blast teaching, teaching and doing lots of teaching :)  I feel so blessed!  I know this message is true.  The hope and peace that comes into people's lives as they learn and live the commandments and gospel is real and it is recognizable in the lives of our investigators here in Japan.  I love it here!  I don't know if I will be able to come home :)  

Love you!

Hawkins Shimai

Learning Patience

Practicing my Japanese poses!

Cockroaches….yuck!

This week was interesting :)  The following story pretty much sums up the last 16 months of my life:

• We stopped a girl in her 20s on the street the other day and started talking to her about God.  As we were talking to her, I asked her some questions to get to know her better.  I asked if she was "大学生" (a college student) and she said "no".  Then I asked her if she was "社会人” (a working person) and she said "no".  Those are basically the only two options in Japan so I just looked at her a little dumb founded and she said a word Sister Williams and I both didn't understand and we figured she was talking about a different kind of trade school and her major.  So naturally we did what any 2 missionaries do when they don't perfectly speak the language and we faked it.  Typically we say "WOW" or "you are so smart"!  Luckily this time Williams Shimai (Sister Williams) just spit out an "us too!".  We carried on with the conversation.  We got back home and decided to look up that word... It means "college drop out" or that you "failed to get in to a university".  Luckily we didn't say "wow you are so smart!"  I am guessing she probably wouldn't have made a return appointment with us.  Everyday is an adventure here. 

This week was transfers!  Sister Williams and I got our transfer call.  We are both staying in Kurume for another transfer.  We were both SO excited to hear that.  It has been a blast and we work really well together.  We are excited to have another 6 weeks of fun, craziness and miracles.  

• This week was kind of crazy.  Lots of running around to and from appointments which was absolutely wonderful.  We had a surprising amount of member referrals which was incredible.  It is a little difficult to work here because people do not have a great image of religion.  Out of 150 contacts in a week probably 60 of them are immediate "結構” (rejections).  I am learning patience.  A lot of it!  It is so hard for me to just smile and keep going.  I love this message!  I believe it with my whole heart.  I just want people to feel the same happiness and joy that comes from the knowledge that God lives.  He knows you, loves you and created you.  Through a personal relationship with God, we become better and more at peace with what is going on in the world.  But that is why I love member referrals.  The people we meet already have a good image of the church because of their association with members.  They know we are coming and that gets us inside.  And usually that is all it takes.  We had a member from a different stake call us up with a friend of hers that lives in our area.  We went and visited them and it was incredible!  We shared the message of the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon.  We were able to come back and follow up a couple of days ago.  She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying for the first time.  The funny thing is that as we were sitting in her living room listening to her tell us how much happiness she feels from the Book of Mormon she stopped, paused and said "thank you" and that she would not have opened her door to us if we had just knocked, but she was so HAPPY that she had this chance to learn about God.  
• Lastly, we are teaching this adorable family.  Mom, dad and three little girls.  I was talking to the mom and asked her why she believed in God.  She quoted scripture unknowingly.  She said with tears in her eyes that her mother had taught her.  I am grateful for strong mothers and fathers that teach their children through word and example. 

Happy September!  I hope you are having a great time at school, work, etc.  I love you!  Have a great week!

Hawkins Shimai

Surpassing a goal

Thank you so much for the package!  I did get it!  It made my whole week.  Granola bars!  You're the best!  I have been using the "My Family"  book to dendo (lessons) and it has been really wonderful.  All we talk about on the street is ancestor worship and Buddhism so it has been great to be able to show people my "Hotokesama" (my ancestors) and teach people about how they can live eternally with their families.  This week at Eikaiwa (our free English class) we had it themed around families so I got to pass the book around then too.  They were all very impressed.  

This week has been great.  I really do love Japan.  And I love the people here.  We had a cool miracle as a mission.  Religion here does not have a good image.  People are, for the most part, Buddhist but typically are not too active.  The concept of God is tough for them because when it comes to God or Jesus Christ they know just about as much as we do when we learn about Buddhism in Middle School.  These people are so diligent and hard working that the concept of relying on someone else is really foreign.  Typically as a mission we have 88 investigating people come to church every Sunday.  This month Kaicho (mission president) set a goal to have 200 investigating people at yesterday's fast Sunday (where members of the church, once a month, fast for 2 meals and donate the money that would have been spent on food to help those who don't have enough food or shelter).  That was well over double our average and even our highest (92 people).  But we worked really hard and our members are great and we found out late last night that Sunday we had 208 investigating people come to church as a mission.  It was a really neat miracle!  

As I have reflected on this week nothing big really stood out to me.  Just the consistency that comes with missionary work.  I am always surprised at how we are led to new people to share the restored gospel.  I have learned that the gospel is for everyone.  Regardless of age, religious background or ethnicity.  We had the opportunity to randomly run into one of our investigators, Maan, on the street the other day.  The first thing he said to us was, "Hey sisters!  I have been praying and I feel great!"  I love that :)  I feel so blessed to be serving a mission here and for the blessing that I have to teach the most important and basic truths to my brothers and sisters.  God lives.  He is our Father in Heaven.  He has a plan for us and this life has meaning.  I love it.  

I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Good luck with school starting up!  

Love you!

Hawkins Shimai

All Smiles :)

Sunflowers in Japan

Our mission heard about the deaths of 2 missionaries in Taiwan.  We had a huge crack down on Co2 detectors since then. I'm glad everything worked out for us last time.  It was definitely a huge blessing.  Williams Shimai and I both got a pretty good laugh out of Dad going to home teach the Riggins at the same time as the BYU football game.  That is sketchy.  But we both approved.  Nothing brings the spirit as quickly in to the room as a touchdown.  

This week was incredible.  Really unbelievable.  It was a mixture of a spiritual highs and just downright craziness.  

• We taught so SO SO many lessons this week!  It was a blast.  I love teaching.  So much fun and for the most part the people we teach have no Christian background so they have just as much fun as we do learning about Christ.  In particular we taught Imamura Kun.  He is a 21 year old with lots of spunk.  Probably one of my favorite investigators.  He had a pretty bad car accident and had an experience where he began to believe in God.  He is just so bold.  Every time we teach him something he lives it.  "Well I should probably pray right?" "Well I don't want to just pray once.  Can I pray where ever and whenever I want?  like a lot?"  I love questions like that.  He is a great missionary too.  Every time we teach him he invites his relatives, friends, girlfriend etc to come listen too.  Love it.

• This week was a lot of eating adventures.  All the things we have eaten this week that we shouldn't have:  cow tongue, cow liver, fish eggs, raw eel, green tea (we didn't know!), raw squid, raw octopus, fermented soybeans.

• Got back off the train from District meeting to find out that our bikes were gone.  GONE!  We locked them I promise!  After a half hour of searching we found that they had been moved two football fields away.  The same day we were in the car of our investigator and got in a slight car crash.  It really wasn't that bad but nothing is simple here so it was a fun process of exchanging information with the police and sharing the gospel with our investigator's son.  God works in mysterious ways.  

• Rhea our investigator came to church for the first time!  She was so cute and brought a special baby carrying thingy so that she could walk with her daughter to church.  She loved it and the members were so kind to her.  She asked if she could bring her husband next week.... yes!  

• Probably one of the biggest miracles in my whole mission.... General Conference worthy….We got a referral from a member.  Those are really rare here in Japan and a huge blessing!  Williams Shimai (Sister Williams) and I were super excited.  We went and visited the referral.  A member's older sister.  We had no idea what to expect and it was a miracle in and of itself that we found her home.  We came inside and she sits us down with her husband and she brings out a bag.  It has Books of Mormon, D&C, a Bible and lots of Liahona articles.  She told us that she has read the Book of Mormon 7 times and from how many notes she has in her Book of Mormon, I believed her.  She then got really quiet and said "I don't think you will believe me but... I have read this and it is from God.  I believe it is true."  Wow.  She has never had the lessons from the missionaries.  We are excited to see where it goes. :)

I love you!  I love Japan.  I am so grateful to be here and serving my Japanese brothers and sisters.  I know God lives.  This is absolutely His work and He is involved in it.  It is spreading joy :) and I love it.  I hope you have a great week!  Be safe!

Hawkins Shimai

Normal days?

I have this vision of missionary work that one day I will wake up and have a normal day.  Normal studies, meeting normal people, having our plans work out perfectly with no sudden surprises or crazy phone calls and without running crazily from appointment to appointment like chickens with our heads cut off... well I haven't had it yet and this week was no different.  But it has been fun! :)  That's for sure.  

Somehow with all our careful planning our Junkai`s (companionship exchanges that we do with other sisters in their areas) almost all ended up landing on this week.  Which meant we were going to be out of our own area for a decent chunk of time.  I love Kurume and I love our investigators so Williams Shimai (Sister Williams) and I were both a little bummed and had no idea how we would be able to fit all of our lessons in.  Our mission is so spread out that the 24 hour Junkai`s we conduct end up being 31 hours for us because of all the traveling and waiting for trains involved.  But somehow, even with all that, this week could not have worked out any better.  It was perfect... craziness :)

• On Wednesday our trains were all delayed because of the downpours and we had to cancel an appointment, but miraculously on our way home we ran into THREE of our investigators just on the street.  We taught them on the street.  Set up a real appointment and then continued on and then we would meet another one!  That has never happened to me before!  It was so neat! 
• We received a referral from a member!  I love those :)  We were able to visit him in between appointments and it all worked out perfectly!  We just taught him again this morning with the same member and he prayed for the first time!  In his prayer he said he was excited to learn more!  Yippee!  
• We were able to time things perfectly to meet with some of our progressing investigators.  We met "mom and dad" (as we call one of our couples)  They are in their 70's and they are adorable.  They were so excited to see us.  "Dad" had kept all of his commitments and is progressing towards baptism.  They were so happy we had come all the way from Sasebo that they made us dinner.  We were starving so we scarfed everything up before asking what it was.  Tofu and liver never tasted so good!  
• We desperately searched for a member to come teaching with us.  Called all the less actives we could too.  We needed someone!  We called a less active and she came to one of our lessons and it was incredible!  She bore her testimony and cried.  She is a young, super cute girl in her 30s.  During church yesterday I felt someone tug my braid behind me and guess who it was... her!  :) We were so happy!

That and so much more happened.  It really was a miracle week.  I am so happy that we are so busy.  I love teaching people and sharing the gospel.  It is so fun.  Williams Shimai and I are loving Kurume.  Never a dull moment.  

I love you guys!  

Have a wonderful week!

Hawkins Shimai