I love being a missionary!

Monday July 13, 2015

Yesterday we went to Saga to meet our new Mission President, Egan Kaicho and his wife. They are such an awesome couple! They came in and greeted each missionary by name and already knew their hometown as well! They said they've been studying our pictures for 6 months now! We just met them but we could already feel the love they have for us! Egan Kaicho has worked for the Amusement Park industry for about 40 years now. He seems like a really cool person. I'm excited for them to be our new Mission Leaders!

We met with Yuki Chan a couple times this week, she was able to come to church again, which is awesome! We taught her last night about how important prayer is. She has such a strong desire to follow Christ. We also met with Shiori Chan who has been investigating the Church off and on. She loves the members and comes to church when she can, but she's just not sure if she really believes in it. Clements Shimai and I have been thinking and praying a lot about how to help her come to know that God is really there. And we realized that it really all comes down to praying and asking, believing that God will answer you, if He really is there. 

This is one of the reasons I love being a missionary is because everyday I get to reflect back on experiences that have helped me come to know that God and Jesus Christ truly exist. When we wanted to help Shiori have that same experience, we thought back to the very essential acts of faith. One of which is prayer. I haven't seen God or Jesus Christ. But I know they exist. I know because of the truly indescribable peace and strength I've been able to receive even in the most difficult trials of my life. I know because when I put my Faith in Him, and pray for help, guidance, and strength, He guides and strengthens me in a way that by no other means would I be able to receive. 

We went to a make your own type of place, so much fun!  This is Okonomiyaki, before we mix it up and cook it (above);  Okonomiyaki being cooked (below):

Okonomiyaki after we cook it:

Dessert at the Okonomiyaki place, not really sure what it is but...it

was good

Tried real Ramen for the first time! It was delicious! It's one of Clements Shimai's favorite foods 

More Ramen

 Our two friends that are visiting from China joined us for Ramen, they

are so much fun!

We found a super cute children's bathroom in a mall!

my grace is sufficient for thee - Wk 13

Monday July 6, 2015

Sorry it's short this week but I hope you enjoy the pictures!

In celebration of the Fourth of July, we wore red, white and blue, sang hymns about America, talked about why we love America basically all day, and had the only American food in Nagasaki besides KFC - McDonalds! It was definitely a lot different than I've ever celebrated it before! But still fun! It was a little strange to be here where nobody else was celebrating.

We met a really really nice lady the other day and she invited us back to have Okonomiyaki which is like a savory eggy pancake with cabbage and such with a barbecue like sauce and dried fish on top. It was really yummy!

Yuki Chan is still doing awesome! She came to church for the first time yesterday and really liked it, she said she felt really peaceful during the service!

Since coming out, I've realized how important member missionary work is! It's just as, if not more important than normal missionary work! The missionaries move around and change, but the members will be there when the missionaries aren't! And so we need awesome member missionaries to share the gospel and also to help those who are new!

This week I've been focusing my scripture studying on "weaknesses". Why do we have weaknesses? And I found some really great scriptures. My favorite is when the Savior says in 2Corinthians12:7,9 "my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness".  Our weaknesses help us rely on the Lord for strength and when we rely on the Lord and have faith that he can help us, he truly will give us strength to become better.

I love you all!
Lowe Shimai
ロウ姉妹

The lady who made us Okonomiyaki also gave us these stuffed animals! And a bunch of other random stuff!

 Meal with the Matono family! They are so awesome!

 

Clinger choro made us bread

After church with adorable Reika chan

Sunday dinner with the Ohira family

 

The infamous Nato (fermented soybeans) it's really webby and the

Japanese people love it! Usually missionaries think it's disgusting,
It's not too bad once you get over the texture, which is super webby, and kind of like mucus but it's not terrible.  They usually eat it for breakfast here, some people like to mix in a raw egg with it...yum

 

 This is Aiko Shimai and her adorable baby!

View from our apartment at sunset

View from a members house

Awesome flowers!

 

Here is a picture that someone else's mom posted on Facebook :)

Transfer Week, Wk 12

Tuesday June 28, 2015

So this last week was super crazy!  We got transfer calls really late on Tuesday night, 9:30 pm and found out that Klein Shimai would transfer to Fukuoka on Thursday morning! She's been here for about 6 months I think and it was really hard for her to leave, she loves the people here so much!! So yeah we were busy getting her all packed up on Wednesday and then my new companion Clements Shimai came in from Okinawa, which is far away so I spent most of Thursday at a members house doing my best to communicate in Japanese! it was fun! She likes veggie smoothies too, so we made some together (: 

Clements Shimai is really awesome, she's a lot of fun to be around and I've really enjoyed working with her for the past couple days! This next transfer is 7 weeks long so we've got lots of time together!!

The high light of this week was Kou Yamamoto's Baptism! He's 8, his mom was baptized two years ago and she is such an awesome single mom! After he was baptized he was SO happy, it was amazing!

Much love Everyone!!

 

Lowe Shimai

 

I was so excited to receive a package from home, which included this picture from Emily!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kou Yamamoto's Baptism!

Yamamoto's sons before the baptism! they are so adorable!

Klein Shimai and I went to the Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium! They were just walking around the beach!!

Hundreds of elementary students painted these three giant murals to celebrate/promote peace in Japan and around the World, we filled up their paint bottles!

Saying Farewell to Klein Shimai

We made Gyoza, which is a Chinese food, and two of our Friends from China came!

 

Nagasaki Week 11

Monday June 22, 2015

One of the ward members gave us some tomatoes this past week, I haven't had tomatoes in so long! they were so delicious!! I miss being able to just pick them off the plant!

Last week we found an awesome girl named Yuki to teach! We've been able to have 3 lessons so far and she is awesome!! She is really excited about learning more about our church! We are so excited to teach her!

Yuki San; we found her last week & her baptismal date is July 25th!

Also, we've been teaching Kou Kun, an 8 year old whose Mom was baptized last year, and he is getting baptized this Saturday! We are so excited! It's been so fun teaching him about the gospel in such simple, fun ways! 

We also went to Sasebo for a day to go on splits with the Shimai there, it was really fun. It's cool to see how Nagasaki is different from the other places in my Zone. Nagasaki is really big, and has a lot of people walking around all the time. It's a fun place too, there's an international college nearby so we get to talk to a lot of cool college students, and we've met some from Nepal, China, Pacific Islands, Ireland, Kenya, Myanmar.  I love it here! It's so beautiful too!

A scripture I really love that I came across this week is John 14:27 Jesus says"peace i leave with you, peace i give unto you, not as the world giveth give i unto you" And the peace the Jesus gives us in our lives truly cannot be found anywhere else. There have been really hard times that the only way I have been able to make it through is because of that divine peace that He gives to everyone who trusts in Him. 

Love you all! 

Lowe Shimai

We went to Sushiro with a member & they literally pulled every plate off the conveyor belt! 

 

This pizza place uses these scooters to make their deliveries!

4am, IT'S RAINING! - Wk 10

Monday June 15, 2015

 

This has been another great week in Nagasaki!

Some fun things, happened this week.  Klein Shimai and I made banana muffins, which were super delicious. They don't have applesauce here so we used....baby food Apple stuff!! It worked out really well! You do what you can do here in Japan ;)

Also Wednesday night through Thursday morning, it was POURING Rain all night. And all of a sudden at around 4 am, I hear this jingle from a truck going by, like an ice cream truck, it's quite soothing and as I begin to fall asleep to the lulling of the jingle, this man starts shouting Japanese into a Megaphone !! It was so loud!!! I have no idea what was happening....I was half asleep and I don't speak Japanese...it was a bizarre experience. 

This week has been so incredible! We had an awesome District Meeting with Needs Choro. He based it off of The Fourth Missionary and it was so inspiring! [The Fourth Missionary is a lesson regarding building character - you can find it here http://www.scribd.com/doc/34660140/The-Fourth-Missionary#scribd]  

 

This Friday we had a lot of Finding time which was so good. We tried a different approach to street contacting by introducing ourselves and then asking them one question. From there we were able to testify to most of the people we talked to and even if they weren't interested in meeting again, we gave them one of the lesson pamphlets based on what we talked about and invited them to read it and come to church. While we were out we stopped a girl named Yuki and after the totsuzen, we asked if she had some time right then that we could teach her and she did! So we went and sat down in the Daigaku and had an awesome lesson. We are meeting her again tonight! And we are going to set up a baptismal date with her!

And then on Saturday we found two more new investigators, Hikari and Mirai, who are both studying Christianity in college right now! And are both really interested about baptism and becoming happier through following Jesus Christ. We are meeting with Mirai tomorrow and Hikari on Saturday! And then yesterday, right before we went home for the night, we found Nozomi Chan and gave her a Book of Mormon, she is super interested in learning more too! We are meeting her at the church this next Sunday! 

I am so grateful for Klein Shimai and her example of diligence. I know that the Lord is helping us see these miracles as we are doing our best to be obedient and diligent. 

I Love Japan. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being a Missionary!!!

Lowe Shimai <3

 

This is me in my rain suit, which is called a Kappa. Looking pretty great huh? With my white helmet I represent America: Red white and blue! One time I was riding by and an old man saluted me...it was hilarious!

Nagasaki is truly wonderful! Week 9

Monday June 8, 2015,

Konnichiwa!

Sometimes I still can't believe I am learning Japanese...and that I am in Japan! I am of course reminded everytime I am invited into a home and we kneel at a short squat table and I begin to not feel my legs anymore...then I really do feel like I am in Japan! 

We were able to have an awesome lesson with the Lady who invited us over to dinner, Koga San. She is a really cool lady. She made us Takoyaki, and just kept making us takoyaki! She made a ton! And she made cheese fondue to dip veggies and bread in! It was delicious! We taught her about who Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are. She shared with us some trials she is experiencing right now. The Spirit was so strong as we testified that she could truly feel peace through the Savior's love for her. And I was just reminded about how wonderful of an opportunity I have to be able to be here, in Japan teaching people about their Savior Jesus Christ and how He died for each and every person's pain, suffering, sickness and weakness. And because He felt that personally, He truly felt that pain and sorrow, He knows exactly how we feel. And because of that, He is able to comfort us in ways that no other thing on Earth can. His Healing is pure and everlasting and irreplaceable. I have felt this in my life and I know that everyone can feel it in theirs. One of my favorite scriptures from study this week was Mosiah 7:33. All the Lord asks of us is to turn to Him with our whole heart, and do our best to follow Him and Keep his commandments, and if we do, he is always ready and willing to bless, support, heal, and love us. 

Mosiah 7:33: But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.

Thank you for all the love and support! 

Lowe Shimai

Shokuji at the Ohira's house!

We ate out last Pday, it was a nice place :)

We made our own sushi rolls at a members house,! Delicious! And Klein Shimai and I were craving American spaghetti and meatballs so we made them!

Miracles in Nagasaki! - Wk 8

June 1, 2015

So first up; we are teaching a man that just moved to Japan from Myanmar with his family, he is really nice! He is really interested in learning about Jesus Christ and how he can learn good things from Christ:s life and teachings! He speaks Barmish and English, so we are teaching him in English ;)

We saw an awesome miracle this week. We met a family and made an appointment to come back and teach them, but they were not there for the appointment. So we decided to visit someone else we met in the same apartment building. We ended up having a great talk with her! She had read the pamphlet we left with her the first time we met, which talked about where we came from, why we are here and where we go after this life, and she really liked it! She said that even though she's Buddhist, after reading the pamphlet, she's not so scared of death anymore! We set up an appointment to teach her next week and after we left her apartment, she called us and invited us to have dinner with her too! That never happens in Japan! People very rarely invite others into their home unless they are close friends or family! Klein Shimai and I are really excited!

I have been reading in Mosiah in the Book of Mormon this week and one of my favorites that really struck me was Mosiah Chapter 2:20-24 Which basically says `All that he requires of you is to keep His commandments and he has promised that if you keep His commandments he will bless and prosper you` How incredible is that! Our Heavenly Father, the creator of this magnificent Universe, simply asks us to Follow Him, to put our trust in Him and show our love for Him by doing what he says! It's like our parents on Earth!  I really loved this. Also another Chapter in the Book of Mormon that is AWESOME is Alma Chapter 26.  

Thank you for all the Love and prayers and Support!

Lowe Shimai

 

  Above: all the girls in the Nagasaki Zone. Below: all the missionaries in the Nagasaki Zone