My 20th Birthday! Naha week 5; week 35

Monday December 7, 2015

This was a good week! We met some cool people. For my birthday, the Ward Mission Leader threw a little party with us and the other missionaries and apparently in his mission it was a tradition to smash a pie in the birthday persons face. He asked if  I was ok with it and I said yes so...here's a video of it! A member also made a pie and gave it to me at church on Sunday! So sweet!  Today we are going to see a castle, so thats cool!

We had a cool miracle this weekend and I had a really cool experience last night. A person who used to meet with the missionaries called us Saturday night and said she wanted to come to church and continue taking the lessons. It was awesome! We had a lesson and she brought her mom too who is super supportive and pretty interested in the Church. I called her last night after planning to set up an appointment for this week and she expressed that she was feeling really guilty after going to church. She came home and had read some scriptures that the previous missionaries had given her to read. She couldn't remember one of the scriptures exactly, but I felt like I should share a scripture that I had read in personal study that morning. And as i read the scripture, she said "That's the one I was trying to remember!" I could feel the Spirit so strongly as I testified that Jesus Christ loves her and wants to help her overcome her weaknesses. It was exactly what she needed. 

This meant a lot to me because during her lesson in the morning, as she was telling us her experiences, I couldn't understand a lot of what she was saying and so I wasn't able to respond like I wanted to. I was feeling kind of incompetent. I want to help these people so much, but sometimes I can't understand what they are trying to express from their hearts. But then when I was on the phone with her last night and able to share the exact scripture she needed and reassure her with my testimony of the Savior, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace. I know that the Savior is with us in our work. I know that we can become His hands even if we aren't perfect in the Language. He knows His children and He knows that He can trust us to do His work. 

It was an awesome experience and reminds me a of a scripture I read last week, Genesis 18:14 " Is anything too hard for the Lord?" No! Is sending 20 year olds to Japan to teach one of the most important messages in Japanese too hard for the Lord? No! The only way I am able to teach people and impact their lives is through the Strength of Jesus Christ and the gifts He has blessed me with. 

PS. Everyone should watch the new christmas video A Savior is Born https://www.mormon.org/christmas

 Host of my birthday party, Nakahara Kyoudai 

he's awesome and helps us a lot

 My wonderful companion

 My roommates had a separate party for me at our apartment

Notice the chopsticks turned candles :P Missionary Life!

We met a professional Japanese singer and dancer on the street. She
wrote this song and sang it for us but didn't want her face in the
recording

 Bearman Shimai's first time eating Nato

Our awesome apartment! 

Doors to our office/bedroom

Entry way, our office/bedroom is the farthest door on left 

Kitchen

  Sink & washer and dryer that don't work

  Our office/bedroom

 We found a rooftop :)

 And an awesome apartment building

Tried some Okinawa Soba 

 Met two sweet high school girls

 Famous Okinawa treat

 And this is how they drink stuff, with a straw in a carton 😆

Naha week 4; week 34

Monday November 30, 2015

This week we had to say farewell to our investigator Gima and her cute son; they are moving.

I made okonomiyaki for Bearman shimai

 We made homemade lasagna for an English class party, they loved it! 

It was a first for a lot of people!

The most American style church building in Japan, it's been so long!
This is in Okinawa city, we went there yesterday for training

Kimonos!

Monday November 30, 2015

I finally had a chance to send all these pictures!  So our last Pday in Maebaru, the members dressed us up in their kimonos! It was so fun! We had no idea what a process it is! It took about an hour to get all the clothes on! It was their goodbye gift to us!

Thanksgiving in Okinawa! (Naha week 3; week 33)

Thursday November 26, 2015

Since this week is Thanksgiving, our Pday is today. So much has happened in this last week! I love being out here on a mission, giving this time to Him has been so incredible! We don't have much personal time, but it's amazing how happy and uplifting this time is! It's hard, being a trainer, I
want to do everything exactly right and be an example, and I'm trying my best! I know the Lord is helping me and loves me. I know He knows each of his children and I know that He uses His missionaries to bless their lives!

 Thanksgiving in Okinawa! 

It was really windy but super beautiful!

 An American family in Okinawa 

invited us over for thanksgiving dinner which was delicious!

 I didn't ride it but our neighbor has this awesome, tiny bike!

We are children of a Heavenly Father who loves us. Naha week 2 (week 32)

Monday November 16, 2015

We've had a pretty awesome week here! I love Okinawa! It's late November and just gorgeous outside! The ward here in Naha is really awesome, there's actually enough members for two wards! Up until now the wards I've been in have been pretty small. It's kind of overwhelming to come into an area brand new, which we did in Maebaru too so at least I had some practice!

So on Saturday night, we went out to proselyte and it started sprinkling but we weren't really worried about it. Then someone came over the loud speaker and said something but we couldn't understand it so we just kept going. As we kept biking, the rain got harder and harder until the sidewalk was so slippery, we couldn't ride our bikes anymore.

After the crazy rain storm

So we got off and started walking, but as we were walking we realized we were pretty far from home and wouldn't be able to ride back because of how hard it was raining. So we decided to park our bikes and walk home. The wind was so strong and the rain so heavy we couldn't really look forward, so we followed the lines on the sidewalk home! It literally felt like we were swimming, there was so much water around us! So yeah, that was an exciting adventure!  Here's a video of me from when we finally made it home:

I love being a missionary! It's amazing how many people we have the opportunity to meet and serve whether it's a church member, a friend or random people we talk to on the street. Everyday it doesn't seem like anything terribly huge happens but then I take a step back and look at what we are able to do and the amount of people we are able to serve in the weeks and months that we are here, and I come to understand even more that "by small and simple things great things come to pass". Every day we talk to people and testify to them that they are children of a Heavenly Father who loves them. I know that this is true. I know that He loves and knows each and every one of us. He knows our struggles and our weaknesses. And He wants us to be happy so He gave us His Son Jesus Christ to provide a way to overcome those hardships and really enable us to find the joy in the journey of this life.

A really touching talk on the Atonement that Bearman Shimai and I studied was "None were with Him" by Jeffrey R. Holland, April 2009.  My favorite part: "Brothers and sisters, one of the great
consolations...is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path--the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of His Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said: I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you]." https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/none-were-with-him?lang=eng

I know that this is true. I know that as we rely on Jesus Christ He can and will Heal and strengthen us in ways no one and nothing else can.

 We met this guy who decided in August to bike around all of Japan

Bearman Shimai and me!

Us with Shimoji!

                     

Shimoji Shimai took us to this awesome goldfish art exhibit

The move to & 1st week in Naha! (week 31)

Monday November 9, 2015,

I love Okinawa! And I love training! It was hard to leave Maebaru and the people we were blessed to teach there. But I definitely will stay in contact with them! Okinawa is beautiful, the weather is perfect, about 70 degrees and sunny for the most part. It's gorgeous. I'm in Naha which is a huge
city it is so awesome because we get  to talk to so many people! And I love my new missionary, Sister Bearman. She's from D.C suburbs! She's awesome, we get a long really well and she is really willing to try to speak Japanese even though it's uncomfortable. It's a little crazy coming into a new area and getting a new missionary because there's a lot to figure out with getting used to the ward and the area and the investigators from the last missionaries. But I'm just glad I'm with Sister Bearman now, it's been really fun figuring it all out together. And the other two missionaries in our apartment are really awesome too. One is Japanese, Kasamatsu Shimai and the other is from Utah, Sister Malone. They are all really great.

Bearman Shimai, me, Shimoji Shimai

The sisters that were here before taught a woman who got baptized after a month of meeting with the missionaries! Her name is Shimoji Shimai. She's been through a lot, but ever since she's started learning about this Gospel, she's felt so happy! Which reminds me of a scripture: Mosiah 24:14-15 "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

I have been able to feel this strengthening power at so many different times in my life. I know that the Savior loves each one of us and even when we have difficult experiences, He can help us have the strength to overcome them and to count our blessings instead of dwelling on the difficulties of life.

We got to meet with our investigators one last time before we left Maebaru. I love these people so much!

 Edward

 And Noda, who we found while Housing! She is so sweet!

 And Sumie

Waiting for our plane to Okinawa!

My new roomies, Naha Shimai!

  An awesome tree by our new apartment!

We just ran into this festival competition thing, not really sure what
the object of it all is, but fun to watch!