Monday, May 2, 2016

Towers and Skits

Konnichiwa Kazoku!

How are you all?? I am so glad you liked your present Mom! I am glad
it got there in time as well. When I send those small packages home do
they come in the mailbox? I am just curious!

So, my companion is a 4th transfer. I and Shibayama Shimai are still
STL for Hiroshima Zone, so we still work together, but we have
different companions. Does that make sense?

This week Shibayama Shimai and I went to Fukuoka together for MLC. It
was really great. Sister Egan talked about obedience and how it truly
brings more blessings than we would get if we just always did our own
thing all of the time. She had a maze and she had a elder come up and
complete the maze. Then another sister, then another sister and then
she asked us to find a different way to do it and an elder drew a line
around the maze from the start to the end. She said, sometimes we make
life too complicated and we go through all these unnecessary steps to
go from start to finish. But God only asks us to get to the end. We
can either make it hard or easy for ourselves. It was really good, and
it made me feel like I need to simplify a lot in my own life as a
person and as a missionary. Then President Egan talked about
dedicating ourselves. So one way we are going to dedicate ourselves is
by reading the Book of Mormon as a mission! He got special permission
for us to have thirty minutes in the morning dedicated to reading the
Book of Mormon as an apartment. We started today and it was so great!
We should finish by August 31st so I am excited! And then we also were
asked to dedicate our apartments like a home. Shimai were asked to
just do a special prayer, but it was a good experience. The four of us
in my apartment got together and prayed and it was good. I felt the
spirit strongly as we asked for special protection and for the spirit
to dwell with us. It was good. But at the end of MLC we all walked
with president Egan up to this tower that overlooks almost all of
Fukuoka city and we had an opportunity to pray together with him so
that we can more fully dedicate ourselves to this work. I feel like I
have a lot more "Dendo Fire" persay, now.


We made cakes with the young women at the Senior Missionaries home.

We saw a miracle this week! Our investigator, Mase San, she is from
China and it was our first time meeting with her, but we felt we
should invite her to be baptized, and we did and she accepted the
invitation! Her date isn't until June but we felt really excited and
blessed that we had that chance to set the date with her. We really
feel like she will really receive baptism. We are excited for her and
grateful to see that miracle. She is really nice and sweet. She speaks
Japanese and Chinese so I talked in Japanese and Lai Shimai talked in
Chinese.

We had Zone Training this week too. Shibayama Shimai and I did a
series of skits. Everyone laughed. I don't know if it was actually
funny or if they were just embarrassed for us. Ahaha. We pretended to
be little kids. We talked about simplifying and going back to being a
child. Children are so happy and have so much energy and think so
simply. It was good and it was kind of fun. I think we did a good job.
We talked about loving your companion, being obedient, and being
happy.

Other than that our week was filled with random appointments and a lot
of streeting and housing. It was a good week. A little hard at first,
but it ended well.


Sunsets I saw.

I am so looking forward to this next week when I can talk to you! I am
sad Scott and Kenzie can't be there, but I hope they have fun in
Detroit. They never send me pics of their adventures! Make them send
me pictures. Like NEW YORK AND DETROIT all that jazz.

I love you! I will see you in a week!

Love, Raines Shimai



THANK YOU
This week I finally got the backpack!! It was so much fun to get THANK YOU!!!

Thank you to Eb Solomon as well! He is a saint for bringing that all of the way here to Japan. I was SO happy to get it. I have eaten so much peanut butter and chocolate syrup in the last week that I can feel the good old American artery clog coming back. It feels oh so good. And the heart burn from the chips is so hisashiburi that I wanted to cry with joy. Thanks so much!! 



Ps. Did Dad put it together? I am just curious. It kind of has a "Dad picked everything out" feel. Is that true? :) I love you!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!


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