Tuesday, January 26, 2016

North For The Winter

Konnichiwa Kazoku!

First things first... I am transferring! I will be going to Saijo in
Hiroshima! It's going to be so cold! But I will be with Shibayama
Shimai who was in the MTC with me and we will be whitewashing into the
area together. It's a four man apartment and it should be way fun.
Also Kaicho called and asked me to fulfill the position of Sister
Training Leader. It should be really fun! Shibayama Shimai and I will
be doing that together. I am excited, but nervous! I hope I can
fulfill this calling in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. He truly
cares for me and I have seen that in mor ways than one this week. God
loves each of us and has a plan for all of us. I have come to realize
that the more I trust in Him, His plan, and His timing the happier my
life is, and honestly the more free I feel. I love the Lord and my
Heavenly Father! And I love my family too!


This week, something terrible happened. It snowed! It hasn't snowed in
Taniyama for ten years and of course the year I am here, it snows.
Right? Well, I am pleased to tell you it snowed a good five inches on
Sunday and yesterday and today it has been all melting away, but it is
still cold. The only thing keeping me warm are my scarves, my coat and
all of the little hand and foot warmers I can buy, also I got
desperate and am wearing my thermal garments which are highly
uncomfortable however, due to the occasion I have forced myself to
wear them so that the chance of frost bite goes down at least a half
percent. Oh alright it's not that bad I guess, but colder than I was
thinking it was going to be, but when it first fell everyone was way
excited. They never see snow so everyone was playing in it. Also every
single store had a snow man built in front haha, it was pretty cute.
But it kind of made everything shut down. Only like a quarter of our
branch came to church so we only had Sacrament meeting. It was
interesting. I have never seen so many chains on tires either, you'd
think they were having a huge sale or something. Anyway, that was the
big event of the week.



Other than that Dendo has been slow. We had a lot of appointments
cancel because of the snow and other things so we only met with one
investigator, but we are hoping this week will be better. One of our
investigators told us to stop texting him this week even though we
hadn't texted him that day at all. Haha it was really awkward, but the
Lord has a plan for him and for us as well so we will keep on trying.

I have learned a lot in the past two transfers being with Sister
Styles. Training is a lot harder than I had expected but I also feel
like I have grown a lot and matured some too. I have found a lot of my
weaknesses and also some of my strengths. Being on a mission has
really revealed those things to me. It is amazing how the Lord really
uses our weaknesses to His ability. For example. Last night we were
walking, trying to find where we wanted to house but we just kind of
got tired of walking so we decided to do this one block that we felt
fine about. We were just knocking on doors and we found a less active!
He hasn't been to church in thirty years and we had actually tried to
find him earlier that week but his address was wrong! How amazing is
that! I guess if we are doing everything we can to be worthy, God will
lead us down the right paths. It's amazing!



This week we were able to participate in the world wide missionary
training from the conference center. It was really good. It lifted my
spirits. They haven't done that in ten years or so so I felt special
to be a part of it.

Today we are going to to go Sakurajima apparently. It should be fun.

Sorry I don't have more to report! Next week will probably be more exciting.

I am praying for you all and love you! Be happy and good!

Love, Raines Shimai

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