22 1/2? somehow this one was skipped!

HI HI

Okay so Asato San; the one we found that I had to quick leave his
apartment who has a baptismal date who the elders are teaching? HIS
BROTHER WHO LIVES IN OITA JUST GOT BAPTIZED. Also he is moving in with
Asato San! This is SO PERFECT. The elders just called his brother and
his brother is going to tell Asato San this week!

So we had a joint with the office elders and one of their
investigators; Nagashima. Nagashima brought his friend, Kondo, which
is why we were there! She is 21, she works at a shrine and is studying
economics. She asked a TON of good questions. Nothing super exciting
happened, but we have a return appointment with her and she is really
interested. We also jointed with Nakano shimai and she is SO EXCITED.
Nakano shimai is  probably the best member missionary I’ve ever met!
We went streeting with her this week and she was such a start. She
came up with her own approaches and everything! We even saw her at an
activity on Saturday and she was all “so, Kondo san is moving next
month to Oita, so let’s get her baptized before then?” I’m pretty sure
Nakano SHima I has enough faith for all of us!

Yesterday we met Megumi San. She is also 21, but she is so different
from Kondo. She is a vet and she is 50/50 about God and everything.
Actually let me rewind a little. Healey’s bike tire popped so we
couldn’t go where we had planned to. So we did a lot of walking
streeting and I flagged down this girl on a bike. She stopped (later
we found out she just really likes foreign things, including foreign
people, lol) so we started to talk to her. She asked us why we chose
to come her and do this and when we got to setting up a return
appointment she was all “okay I’m half and half. I can’t decide” so we
said “how about, you meet with us one more time, and if after that,
you want to keep meeting, that’s great. And if you don’t, that’s fine
too” She STILL didn’t decide, but we exchanged phone numbers. There is
something really special about her! We talked to 440 people this week,
but she was really different. Please pray she will meet with us again,
and when that does happen, we will know what to say!

Other things: someone jumped up at eikawa and started singing Stevie
wonder and there is nothing funnier than that.

I love you all so so much!
Bready Shimai

a note from the mom

i am so sorry that i have not kept this up-to-date.  i send Mikey’s letters directly to so many that i guess i thought i was getting everyone.  yesterday, while i was driving i got the prompting that i was missing some of you and that the blog needed to be updated!  i have uploaded everything for your reading pleasure!

 

 

29

Hello!

1. So becasue Fujisaki became a 4 man, sister Jorgensen and I had to
split our investigators and that was SO HARD. It is like dividing
children. Anyway, sister Jorgensen and Sister Henderson will be
teaching Yuri. She is still doing well, so that’s good.
2. Sister Weller and I will be teaching Yoko and Asako! So we had a
lesson with Yoko and it was really good! She speaks relaly soft and we
wer in a McDonald’s, and then combined with her.. Weird?difficult?.
Japanese, we had a hard time understanding her. But our member was
AWESOME. Anyway, we invited her to be baptized on the 21 of next
month, and she didn’t except but she is going to pray about it. What
we didn’t understand in the lesson, that Nakano SHimai filled us in on
later, was that she has a feeling that SHE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED but
she does know why! Anyway so that is REALLY HAPPY. Her work schedule
changes all the time though, so plz pray she can come to church on
Sunday.

3. Asako! We had a lesson planned, but she dropped it and we haven’t
been able to contact her which is THE WORST. So there is that.

Other than that. I cannot think of anything? Mostly a lot of crazy
with transfers and the earthquake! This week should be more back to
normal:-)

Here is a picture of us contacting someone on the street. If you ever
think yo yourself “I wonder what sister Bready is doing right now”
this is probably the anwser.. OR you could get really really wet, and
then bike somewhere and that is probably accurate too?

I LOVE JAPAN
I LOVE DENDOU

Xoxo Bready Shimai

28

HELLO

So it turns out that even the earth moves! The earthquake was in
Kumamoto, which is about 3 hours away from where I am in Fujisaki. We
definitely felt the earthquakes here, but our apartment and everything
is doing fine! Because of the damage in Kumamoto and surrounding
areas, the sister missionaries from those areas had to be evacuated
and moved into the Fukuoka zone for a few days. So Sunday after noon,
The Kumamoto Shimai came to stay with us! We’ve been doing splits with
them for the last few days. Unfortunately, as our Mission President,
along with area 70 went to look at the situation in those areas, it
isn’t sutibble for anyone to live there (no gas, water, or
electricity), there are 4 areas of the mission that just closed; and
sisters that need to places to be! Which leads me to transfer calls:

SO I’ve been here in Fujisaki for a wonderful six months! And usually
six months is the max time you stay in anyone place. But because this
isn’t a usual situation, and there are 8 extra sisters in the Fukuoka
zone, Fujisaki is becoming a four-man again and I’ll be staying here
with Sister Weller! So she will come here on Thursday. Sister
Jorgensen will be training a new missionary! We’re in for a really
good transfer here in Fujisaki:-)

YURI CAME TO CHURCH EVERYONE and she said it was a really sacred
experience and I DIE SHE IS SO PERFECT. Today we are teaching keeping
the sabbath day holy; which is going to be hard considering she opens
her coffee shop on Wednesday always. BUT she has a lot of faith, and
so do we!

ASAKO (previously had baptismal date, but we didn’t see her for two
weeks for unknown reasons) met her again! She understands EVERYTHING.
She totally GETS the plan of salvation and the purpose of life and it
is AWESOME. We did find out that her husband is Anti; so it will be
hard for her to come to church/do other church things. But she has a
really good heart. Also she needs this SO BAD. Anyway. What a star.

We have a lesson with Yoko this week! Wooooo

We’ve gotten SO MANY return appointments in the last few days and it
is awesome. This situation isn’t exactly what anybody wants; and
everything is kind of a blur; but I also know that God has much bigger
plans for Fujisaki than I can think of! I love love it here, and am so
blessed to spend another six weeks in this city.

 

27

Things I’ve said this week that have shocked me:

“Eating this salad is actually really hard with a fork”
“I like running”
“Can we have fried eggs and cereal for breakfast”

Hi hi

1. YURI HAS A BAPTISMAL DATE FOR THE 7th AND I AM SO HAPPY. Something
she said this week is that “yeah I knew Jesus Christ was alive and all
that, but now I FEEL him here, like close” ANYWAY BEST OF WEEKS
PEOPLE. We helped her prep for an event that she had at her shop on
Saturday night, and it was SO FUN. She prayed about baptism and feels
really good about it, so we are so happy. Side note: she had me CLEAN
LEAVES ON PLANTS. People here are so gentle to everything, wow.
Anyway. We also found out that she lives with her boyfriend, so that
is NOT the best news. She has a long way to go still, but I have a lot
of hope for Yuri. Also fun facts we learned: she likes GOSPEL CHOIR,
Playing the piano, ..I think there was something else but I forgot.
2. Yoko cancelled her lesson so that was really sad. Asako is still
MIA but we’re visiting her today so that’s good.

Other items of note:
We are best friends with all the grandmothers of this city! So we were
streeting and we saw this old lady out in her yard so we went to talk
to her and turns out, she was SPINNING A FUTON INTO THREAD TO WEAVE A
TAPESTRY. So then she went into her house, told her other grannie
friends that two white people were here, and they let us in, we dined
on apple cake and hot water, and they showed us their crafts. See
attached picture.

I think that is all.

I love love Japan.
Bready Shimai

26

Hi hi

Okay so it is starting to warm up here in Fujisaki and I LOVE IT. We
used to have to brace ourselves when we walked out the door, but now
we don’t even need a coat. Wooo. Also it is Sakura season which means
that everything is pink and the Japanese people now talk about two
things: the weather, AND Sakura 😉

SO bad news first: Jo dropped us. SO we had an appointment, and she
sent us a text on Tuesday saying that she just wanted to study the
Book of Mormon and bible by herself. We tried to contact her, but she
blocked our phone number. It’s okay though because God has a really
comprehensive plan, for us, and for Jo.

Yuri: a bit of a standstill. Understands everything, but isn’t
experiencing any change of heart. But her birthday is today and she is
really cute, so it will work out.

Kayoko: had the BEST LESSON talking about the plan of salvation.
Everyone really felt the spirit, and nakano Shimai was the best joint
(this is not new information). BUT she feels pressure REALLY EASY, so
it is hard to give her commitments without her feeling like she HAS
to. Also she is traveling for an unknown amount of time, so we don’t
know when we will see her next. SATAN IS SNEAKY EVERYONE.

YOKO: so I can’t remember if I told you about her. Like two weeks ago
she called us after we had got her phone number on the street and was
basically like “hey want to talk in like 10 minutes at McDonald’s?” To
which we were all “YES”. Anyway, we had a really good lesson 0 then,
but she didn’t want to set up a return appointment. But we called
later (oh yes I did already tell you about her, sorry) anyway and we
had a meeting with her Yesterday! Nothing super spectacular, but she
trusts us, and she really wants to learn. She said it is really
difficult to understand, so we really need to work on our teaching
skills. But she brought her 7 year old son and he is the most well
behaved 7yo I have ever met. I have a lot of hope for Yoko! Pray that
she can understand the gospel; because she really needs it.

Other events of the week:
Mostly lots of free food from people?
1. This grandpa stopped and gave us tiny pizzas
2. Same day as the pizzas a Christian lady gave us her fancy bakery
bread and cookies (we gave her a Book of Mormon, so good trade I
think) also I always wonder. People are going home with the food they
just bought, and then they GIVE IT ALL TO US and then keep going home.
What are they going to eat?
3. We housed into the NICEST PEOPLE EVER. The son talked to us and was
probably the nicest person I’ve ever met, then the mom came and gave
us koroke which is fried mashed potato balls and i died.
4. We went to the park and they had a festival and we had Mochi Mochi
potato fries. I don’t even know.

25

Hello!

So JO: She has a lot of questions. So she is Buhhdist, but she prays
to Mary and thinks that life is like a giant mountain, right. And at
the top is God. So she wants to return to God, but feels like right
now she is hacking her way up the mountain with Mary telling her what
to do. So this week we were talking about Jesus and about how he
previously climbed said mountain and made an easy-to-use path up it.
And she was 1. Shocked “hey this is my example with the whole mountain
thing” and 2. “Well I kind of like the unknown” SO that didn’t go
quite as planned. But she is keeping her commitments. Right now she is
getting chemo so we won’t see her until Wednesday.

YURI: three year anniversary of her shop opening, so she’s been
working extra hard this week. We haven’t seen her for a bout a week,
but she has been praying, so that’s good. Last time we talked she said
“I think I should get baptized, but I don’t want to” SOWOWWW. I think
if we can just get her to come to church, all would be well.

KAYOKO: so our last lesson was SO GOOD until we talked about baptism.
She asked a lot of good questions about baptism, but then we spent too
much time on it and she felt a lot of pressure to get baptized which
was TOTALLY NOT our intent. We have a lesson with her on Wednesday
with superstar-joint Nakano Shimai, so that will be really good I
think.

ASAKO (new face): So Healey SHimai and I met her a while ago and made
a return appointment out of thin air for last Monday. (Really, we
talked about zero gospel principles) and SHE CAME. She was a total
wild card. Pretty much she just wanted to meet again to talk with
white people. Anyway, she is super talkative, loves cooking, and
mostly is just by herself. She is SO HARD for me to understand, but
the lesson was really good, and she CRIED when talking about baptism
and when we extended the invitation she said “yeah when?” Sister
Jorgensen and I could NOT wipe these giant grins off our faces. ANyway
she picked the 23 of next month. So we meet with her again yesterday
to do a baptismal calendar, and she isn’t going to be here for the
next two weeks, so that makes thinks pretty difficult. Also because
she really loves drinking, so that will make things a bit difficult in
the future. But we did show her the Baptismal font and she said her
heart got all fast and WOW she is so open to the spirit. So pray that
we can meet with her sooner than two weeks from now!

ALso I gave a talk in sacrement meeting on Sunday in Japanese.
Here is a selfie of me and my companion at Hakata going to Nakagawa
for exchanges with the STLS. Japan has juice box vending machines and
I love it.

24

Hi hello!

So this week was transfers! I am still in Fujisaki! It’s okay becasue
I love love it here. Sister healey Left on Thursday to go to Iwakuni
(American base) and by new companion, SIster Jorgensen, came from
Iwakuni! We switched companions, which is pretty funny.

So Sister Jorgensen is from North Carolina! She is two transfers older
than me, so we are both pretty young, which is so so good! She wants
to be a lawyer post mission and previously went to Vanderbilt. We get
along really well and it is so easy to work hard together with her! We
have some really high goals for this transfer,so I’m way excited.

I’m trying to think! Nothing too earth shaking happened this week. We
went to ward council and they argued about rice and karaoke so if that
isn’t classic Japanese,I don’t know what is?

Also on sunday we went to Bishop Miyake’s house for dinner! He doesn’t
live in our area, so we don’t go often. ALso becasue he lives in a
mountain and it is about an hour of uphill biking. ANYWAY it was
totally worth it! The tashiro’s were there too (ward mission. Leader,
his wife, and two kids)

Sorry I don’t have much to say this week! Here is a picture of me in
my really CUTE rain pants going to the bishops house.

23

Shoot this week was SO FAST. Sorry I forgot to tell you I wouldn’t
email yesterday, it is transfer week so our Pday is today!

A list of exciting events:
1. Junkai’s in Nakagawa! (Exchanges with the STLs). So Thursday night
we needed to take the subway to Hakata Eki and then a Shinkansen to
Nakagawa. So we get to Hakata, Get our Shink tickets and everything
and get on the Shink. (They’re super fast. Like an airplane but on the
ground.) So we are on the Shink, and it’s supposed to be a really
short ride to Nakagawa. BUT WE WERE ON THE WRONG ONE. So we took a 45
minute into Kumamoto. (Also you should know it is about 8:45 at this
point, and curfew is at 9) So while we were on the train we called our
STLS and had just planned to ride back to Hakata and get on the right
Shink and it would be fine. So we are on our second train, coming back
to Hakata (is this making sense?) and I am sitting across the isle
from sister healey. This Japanese man starts having a conversation
with me and is all “where are you from” so I said “America” and he
responsds “WOW YOUR JAPANESE IS AMAZING” which is funny because I
literally said “America” Anyway. The first 10 minutes of the
conversation I understood and I explained why I was here and it was
really cold. Then I don’t know how but he started to compare America
and Japan and Gun laws and his opinions and that’s when I had to just
pretend like I understood. ANYWAY during this conversation, KAICHO
calls sister healey and tells her that the AP’s are going to meet us
at Hakata and drive us to Nakagawa. Anyway, wow. What a day.

2. Junkai’s! I went with Sister Wilkenson, who is actually from PG! It
was so fun. Also the weather has been SO NICE all week and it is
basically Hawaii. So much love. Anyway, we got to have dinner with the
cutest family in the Fukuoka ward. Their daughter is 7 and is probably
the best 7 year old I’ve ever met. She wanted to give a Book of Mormon
to her school teacher, so at class one day she tried to give it to
her. But she wouldn’t take it, so she TOOK IT TO HER HOUSE. Also she
was showing me her Kanji homework and she was trying to explain
“chikara” which is power, and she said “oh yeah, like… Iesu Sama no
Chickara” aka “JESUS POWER” and I DIED.

3. Felt my first ever Earthquake! Hi mom I am okay. We were playing
ping pong at the church with a bunch of people and it was just like a
giant truck rolled by and the whole building shook. So cool.

4. So this transfer sister Healey and I haven’t been eating dessert
and so we have this GIANT pile of treats that we’ve slowly been
accumulating (people give us so much stuff it is insane) and today we
started to eat it and I ate one twix bar and I feel like death. It was
a little disappointing because I DONT EVEN CARE ABOUT IT ANYMORE. Are
you proud mom? All I want is vegetables. wow this is such a strange
paragraph. I never thought I would say such things.

5. Today is transfer calls! I bet I stay, and Healey Shimai leaves.
She has been here for four transfers already, but anything can happen!

Love you so much!

Photos:
1. THE CUTEST FAMILY.
2. Selphie with the AP’s
3. “Come to church we have pop tarts” The primary kids wrote these to
give to some less actives.  First, they don’t have pop tarts in Japan
that I know of, and second, I don’t know how they did this in English.

twenty-two

HELLO

Okay hi! SO remember Asato from last week who I left half way through
his lesson? So he isnt actually our investigator, but the elders have
seen him almost everyday  last week and he has a BAPTISMAL DATE for
the 19th. SO HAPPY.

So a few weeks ago, we were streeting and I just felt the STRONGEST
prompting that we werent supposed to be there, and that we needed to
go house a few blocks away. So we were housing this one apartment
complex, and i could see a light on in another building and I knew we
needed to go there. So we started housing that building, and in the
apartment that I previously saw, we met Genki San. He is 19 and is at
school studying to be a MRI/Xray tech. So we did a short message about
the gospel of jesus christ and got his contact information. He said he
was really busy but we jsut told him we would contact him again later!
So we did and HE ACTUALLY READ THE PAMPHLET WE GAVE HIM and WANTED TO
MEET TO KNOW MORE. So he gave us a BUNCH of dates to pick from and we
set up a meeting on saturday. We had the elders come again because
they would end up teaching him. The lesson wasnt perfect, and thats
okay. I think he was a bit confused, but he asked some REALLY GOOD
questions, and when we asked if God was really there, what kind of a
role would that play in your life? He responded with ” well i could
probably rely on him when i cant rely on anyone else” IT WAS AMAZING.
I don’t know what the elders have planned for him, and im definitely
sad to not teach him, but its okay! He also came to our ping pong
activity right after the lesson. Ping pong was the best because Asato,
Genki, this other new PI (from the elderss) and the grandpa from
Eikawa were there.

ALSO so on friday, sister healey and i went to go find the one vending
machine within a few miles of our apartment that has Nectar in it.
(the best juice) so we had finished our juice, and were praying to
start proselyting. We are in the middle of a random neighborhood. I
prayed to find someone to teach. THEN OUT OF NOWHERE we hear “oh! its
been a long time! (ohisashibuti!)” And we turn around and it is Yurina
who we met a few weeks ago! We stopped by her work and were supposed
to have an appointment a few weeks ago but she never came. APparetnly
she looiked for us but didnt see us or something! Anyway we have a
lesson with her tonight and we are really excitied.

God is so good. He answers our prayers even when we dont realize it. I
am so so happy to be here in Fujisaki!

PHotos: us with Daichi Kosaka. He is head-butting sister healey.
Us with strawberries! We cant really afford fruits and vegetables, so
when nakano shimai brought us some we were SO HAPPY.