Monday, October 31, 2016

Two Miracles (Kiseki) This Week for Sister Jordan Wunderli in the Rain and Cold

I'm always praying for Jordan to have a great day and an awesome week.  I email her 5-7 days a week, sometimes a couple of times a day  depending on if things happen or thoughts come up that I want to share.  I always encourage her and challenge her to make today better than yesterday and to work harder (and smarter) today than yesterday.  In a private email to me yesterday, she thanked me for challenging her last week to make it her best week yet on her mission and she did.  She said she loves how I push her and support her.  I will always do that with love because I want her to achieve everything she wants to achieve and to have no regrets.  I also remind her how proud I am of her and the choices she makes.  With no further ado, here is her email with some good pictures.

こんにちは,
Happy Halloween!! What a wunderful week it has been.

Kiseki (miracle):
We went housing on Tuesday and stopped at this one house. An old lady answered (probably 90) and we introduced ourselves and asked if we could come in and share a message. To our surprise, she said yes! We went in and knelt right in the genkan (entry way) and taught her who God was. We told her that God was our loving Heavenly Father and that we can communicate with him through prayer. We showed her one of our pamphlets but her eye sight is so bad, she couldn't read it. I don't know how much she understood, or how much she could hear, but the spirit was so strong and she seemed rather interested in our message. She kept looking at the pamphlet, and folded her arms when we prayed. We showed her how to pray and then asked if she would pray about our message and she said yes. We asked her if we could come back to teach her more and she said yes!!

Another kiseki:
We were biking down a street and we saw a grandma and her 30 year old daughter. We went over and started talking to them in Japanese and introducing ourselves and they say after about 2 minutes, "We don't know what language to speak to you guys in." They say this in perfect English!! No one speaks English on Sado so that really was a miracle. Turns out they are from the UK and they are visiting family. They told us they were really impressed and confused when we started speaking to them in Japanese. They also said that they have seen the missionaries in the UK before and that they would give our pamphlet to their family!!

Classic bean (new missionary, aka me) move:
So we had been planning for our Halloween party the whole day on Thursday. We had forgotten our jackets (sorry mom, don't get mad), and we were starving. We planned to go back to our apartment for a late dinner and then go back to the church to continue setting up. So we biked the entire way back (20 minutes), and we were absolutely freezing cold. We got to our apartment and that's when I realized that I had forgotten our keys #classicbeanmove. So, I tell Call Shimai and she goes "It's okay we will just go to Fukufuku." Fukufuku is our favorite place to eat on Sado, so we went there. We grabbed ice cream from the convenient store after that and biked back to the church. The Elders weren't there yet so we just sat outside, in the freezing cold (still no jackets), eating ice cream, and looking at the stars. It was amazing, actually.

Halloween Party:
What a success!! After days of stress, planning, and prepping, our Halloween party turned out pretty good. Prepping for a halloween party is not easy in Sado; there are no decorations anywhere. Call Shimai and I biked to about 10 different stores on Thursday and couldn't find anything so we had to get creative. About 25 people came (a ton for Sado), and everyone was laughing and having a good time. We played the game where you tie a balloon to your ankle and everyone tries to pop each others' balloon; it was hilarious. Then we played the game where you have an oreo on your head and you have to try and get it to your mouth with no hands, also hilarious. And for our last game we played "who can wrap the mummy the fastest." I was one of the mummies so I couldn't see much, but from what I heard, everyone was having a great time.

Word of the week:
Word: Watashi
Pronunciation: waw-taw-she
Meaning: I/me

愛しています,
Wunderli Shimai

Pics:
1. My neighbor's traditional Japanese house that I just love
2. Call Shimai and I made this wunderful mummy
3. The church transformed
4. Jerry the mummy (also where everyone took pics)
5. We had too much fun going through Halloween decor, also meet the newest member of our district, Elder Aiken (the one wearing a wig)
6. I'm the mummy!!
7. This pumpkin weighed 40 kg
8. More decor
9. We were soaked after biking through the rain for 3 hours 










These are two cute missionaries spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ in any and every kind of weather.  The smiles on their faces show their great attitude and spirit.  Keep up the great work, sisters.  As always, feel free to comment on the blog or ask questions.  She loves the emails and letters she gets.  Her email address is jordan.wunderli@myldsmail.net.  Thanks for reading and thanks for your prayers and support.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Lots of travel and a great missionary experience off the cuff for Sister Jordan Wunderli this week

Sorry for the delay in getting this up.  Her email has a wonderful story in that, unfortunately, ended abruptly because they reached their destination.  I really enjoyed everything in her email as well as the personal emails we shared.  With no further delay, here is her email.

こんにちは,

As of today, I'm a second transfer missionary. How crazy!! And I'm staying in Sado!

P-day:
Last Monday was crazy busy. We were in Niigata and had zone preparation day (p-day) where we played ultimate frisbee with the whole zone! We went and ate at a standing sushi place for lunch (you literally just stand up and eat sushi). We then took a 5-hour bus ride to Tokyo!! We got to Tokyo around 8pm and had to take 2 trains just to get to the honbu  (mission home). It was my first time riding on a train in Japan (my area is the only one without a train station). The train system was so confusing and we had to take a million escalators just to change trains. We got to the honbu around 9pm and we had girl talk with Sister Nagano for an hour (she's the best).
I love Dendo (missionary work):
On one of the trains we got onto I saw an empty seat next to a girl so I went and sat next to her.
"Konbanwa (good evening)!" No reply. I said it again and she still didn't reply. I asked her how school was and she finally acknowledged me and said it was good. We made small talk and she asked where I was from and if I had ever been to Disneyland before. I asked her how old she was and she said that she was 18 and then I said oh I'm 19! She laughed and said that I look like an adult, so I explained to her that in America I am an adult (in Japan the legal age is 20). She then asked if I was in college which was the perfect time to introduce the gospel!! I said I was, but right now I'm a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I asked her if she had ever heard of "Mormons" before and she said no, but she had heard of Christ before. I asked her if she believed in God and she said sometimes yes, sometimes no. I then testified that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I asked her her name and told her that God loves her. She looked at me and said thank you. I asked her if she had prayed before and she said yes. I then told her that through prayer we can talk with our Heavenly Father and receive answers. Then everyone in my zone said, "It's our stop hurry up everyone!!" And I had to leave just like that. Ugh!! It was such a cool spiritual experience and hopefully the missionaries will find her again.

Bednar conference:
David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles talked to the Tokyo and Tokyo South Missions for a three hour conference on Tuesday. Call Shimai and I got 3rd row seats so we were right in the action. He asked us a ton of questions and we got to ask him some as well. One thing that he said, "Tender mercies help us see that we are on the right path." I love this. All of those little miracles that we see everyday means we are doing something right!!

Tokyo Temple:
Again the trains were crazy but it was all worth it because we got to go to the temple. It was weird because we were walking in the city with all of these buildings and then we just ran into the temple. It kind of blended in! The temple was so pretty and peaceful and it reminded me of going back in Utah because this church is the SAME all over the world.

Follow up training:
I got to see everyone from my district in the MTC which was awesome. It was cool to see how everyone has changed in just a short 6 weeks. Call Shimai and I also got to mogi (role-play) with President Nagano about a teaching situation and he said that we work really well with each other so that's good!!

Dendo fire:
Being a missionary is just so awesome because no matter where you are you can just talk to people and testify of Jesus Christ and we have the authority to do so. We had to wait 10 minutes for our bus and we just said, "Let's go talk to people!" We ended up giving a pregnant lady a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and testifying that families are so important to God.

Back in Sado:
We couldn't do much this week because we were out of town until Thursday night and then Call Shimai got sick, but we are so excited for this transfer and we're going to go to work!!

Word of the week:
Japanese: tanoshimi
Pronunciation: taw-no-she-me
Meaning: excited

愛しています,
Wunderli Shimai

Pics:
1. Our futons (what we sleep on). Can you guess which is mine?
2. Me and Call Shimai at the Tokyo shinden (temple)
3. Tokyo Shinden
4. Stand up sushi
5. Niigata
6. Niigata again
7. Gorner Shimai and I at the follow-up training!!








I want to clarify something that Jordan said in her email.  She said that we have the authority to testify of Christ.  We believe that when she decided to go on a mission, she put in her papers telling the General Authorities of our church that she wants to go and then they called her to go on the mission.  The calling part followed by a blessing to set her appart is what gives her that authority as a missionary to share the gospel.  It is different than me sharing my testimony of the Christ and the church with a friend because I'm doing it in an unofficial capacity.  I'm sure there are many people who could explain it much better than I, but that's the short explanation.   As always, feel free to comment or ask questions and thanks for your support.  She always loves hearing from people back in the states and is so thankful for any and all support she is given.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

It's Sister Jordan Wunderli's email time - my favorite

It's my favorite time of the week.  It's email time.  I was treated to a special bonus this week when I received a hand-written letter from Jordan on Tuesday or Wednesday.  She included some very special thoughts on what I meant to her as a father as well as some great details of some of our travels together that brought back lots of wonderful memories for me.  I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful daughter (and a great son, I might add).  With no further ado, here is her email:

こんにちは,
This week was pretty busy and I'm learning more and more that every day I'm a missionary is a happy day.

Exchanges round three:
The Sister Training Leaders came to Sado and we went on exchanges again. This time I was companions with Koyama Shimai (she's Japanese and only speaks Japanese). The day consisted of me saying the most Japanese I know and her saying the most English that she knows and then if one of us still didn't understand we would just say Gomen!! (Sorry). We got so much work done, though; we taught a lesson with a less active member, and we talked to many high school students about Eikaiwa (our free English class). We went to district lunch at Fukufuku and it was so yummy!! The seating was traditional Japanese - We knelt on the floor at a table. It was so fun because our district doubled in size because the zone leaders came in town for exchanges as well.

TWO lessons with Yoshiko San:
Lesson 1:
We had to go to Niigata for interviews on Thursday and we decided to stop by Yoshiko San since we haven't had the chance to meet with her recently. Well she was so excited to see us and invited us right into her house. She gave us so much food and just said how happy she was that we were there. We shared a message on God as our lovely Heavenly Father and we showed her the Mormon message "earthly father, Heavenly Father" and she was crying so much by the end of it. She showed us a picture of her dad that she carried around with her (he passed away). She then told us that her heart blossoms when she meets with us. But since we had a second lesson with her, we now officially have a progressing investigator!!

Lesson 2:
We came back from Niigata on Friday night and then had to go again on Sunday (I know we travel a ton). Again we thought we should stop by Yoshiko San's. We called her and she was like no I'll come pick you up. She came and picked us up, so we didn't have to take the hour bus ride! She stopped at the store and we stayed in the car with her cat (she brings it everywhere) and her cat was climbing all over us; it was so funny hahaha. Then we get to where the ferry is docked and we all get out of the car and we teach her in the ferry terminal. We taught her a little of the plan of salvation and how families can live together forever (since her dad died), and we also taught her about baptism. She loved everything we said and I think she believed it too? She told us that we were her best friends and how thankful she was for the message we shared. She still hasn't come to church because she goes fishing on Sunday (we're working on that).

Interviews:
We went to Niigata on Thursday for interviews with our mission president and his wife on Friday. They are the cutest people ever and care so much about each one of us. I also found out that their daughter served in the same mission as my mom - LA - but she was English speaking. Call Shimai and I had ordered peanut butter from the mission home so they brought that with them too, so now we have peanut butter!!

I finally got my own bike:
I've been using a former missionary's bike since there is no bike shop on Sado, but that bike was super old so we decided to get me one when we went to Niigata for interviews. That was an adventure... we got the bike and then had to walk it an hour and a half to where the ferry comes. Then we had to put it in the bike bag and I had to carry it onto the ferry (so awkward and heavy). Then I had to carry it onto the bus from the ferry and then all the way back to the apartment (it was a good workout). But the bike got there in 1 piece and I absolutely love it!!

Word of the week:
Japanese: wakachiau
Pronunciation: walk-a-chee-ow
Meaning: to share

愛しています,
Wunderli Shimai

PICS:
1. my bike (that's also our apartment in the back)
2. Views from the ferry
3. We have peanut butter!!!
4. The cutest Nihonjin (Japanese person) ever!! Koyama Shimai!
5. I got hungry on the ferry and only had chopsticks and peanut butter...
6. Niigata (basically my second area haha)
7. The Sister Training Leaders and my lovely companion

This is a great looking bike - we'll modify it with a Utah sticker.  :)




I love that she's Japanese and wearing a USA t-shirt.  Awesome and a great smile, too.


Two great tastes that taste great together, peanut butter and chopsticks.  Hmmm.



Four cute gals with great spirits spreading the Word.  I love it.

Jordan is in Niigata as she is emailing us right now.  She said that their train for Tokyo leaves at 3:00 and they will get there this evening at 8:00.  She said she gets to sleep in a regular bed in the Mission home (I've asked her what she sleeps in at her apartment and will add that when I get an answer) and is looking forward to that.  She'll be there for two nights and then take the train back on Wednesday and then I think the ferry back to Sado on Thursday.  Lots of travel this week but she also gets to see the mission president and his wife who she loves along with Elder Bednar (her 2nd time on her mission) who she also loves.  I'm so excited about the progress she and Call Shimai are making with their investigator, Yoshiko San.  That's so exciting for them and I love hearing about Yoshiko; she sounds like such a sweet lady.  I hope I get to meet her when I go to Japan sometime.  

As always, she appreciates your emails, letter, and prayers.  Feel free to share your thoughts or ask questions.  We'll be back with the next episode next Sunday night.  

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Miracle Alert: Wunderli Shimai's companion, Call Shimai, has head on crash on her bicycle with a car and lands on her feet and walks away - bike and helmet are perfectly fine.

I believe it was Thursday night and I'm watching the Utah-Cal game that I recorded while I was on my hunt last weekend and I get a facebook message from Call Shimai's mom saying that she had been in a bicycle accident and that she's o.k but after hearing the details, I was astonished at how she could have walked away, let alone, literally landing on her feet.  Check out the first-hand account from Sister Jordan Wunderli along with the great stuff that comprised the rest of her week.

こんにちは,
This week I learned that Japan volleyball is not like American volleyball:
We went to a volleyball club on Monday night to play with some of the community. When I heard volleyball, I was expecting to play volleyball, but it was way different. The net is about as tall as me (and I'm not very tall as you all know), and the ball was a bouncy ball like the ones that you would use for kickball. They also only play with 4 people on a team and the court is really narrow. It was super weird, but fun nonetheless and the people got way into it which made it more fun as well.

Miracle of the week, actually, miracle of my mission:
Wednesday night there was a typhoon warning so our branch president called us and told us to be back in the apartment a little earlier than usual. Call Shimai and I decided to go visit one of our branch members with what little time we had left in our day. We were biking our normal pathway, that we bike almost every single day, and she was about 15 feet in front of me as normal. She was crossing this side street (almost to the other side) when bam. I saw a car hit Call Shimai head on. It looked like one of those action movies where the good guy full on gets hit by a car and then keeps running. I quickly ran over to her and the guy that hit her was yelling at her! We had no idea how to really talk back with him so I grabbed the phone and called our district leader so he could come and translate. The man pointed to his car and kept yelling so we went over and looked at his car. The windshield was completely shattered and the hood had a dent in it. Call Shimai was seemingly fine, her helmet didn't even have a mark on it, and her bike was completely fine. The police got there (the first time I had even seen the police in Japan), and they were investigating who's fault it was. The district leader and his companion were there translating for us, and our branch president came too. The police took photos of everything, including Call Shimai just standing next to her bike; it was really weird and they were a ton different than American police officers. After they determined that he, in fact, hit her and not the other way around, we walked back to our apartment. We rested for the rest of the night. When we woke up the next morning, she was still completely fine, just a little sore. She went to the hospital for a check up in Niigata to make sure everything was okay, which everything is. Our God is a God of miracles.

I'm never in Sado!!
We took another trip to Niigata this week because we had zone meeting. We rode the ferry on Thursday and then went to that same sushi place we went to the week before because it's so good and Call Shimai deserved it after getting hit by a car. Then we went to the Niigata Sisters' apartment where we had a sleepover with all the Sisters in our zone (including my MTC companion, Kema Shimai).

Exchanges round two:
We had an unplanned day of exchanges so one of the Sister Training Leaders could take Call Shimai to the hospital. I was on splits with Domino Shimai again and we went over to a member's house for lunch and that was the first time that I had ever been over to a member's house for food. I felt so loved and like a real missionary hahaha. Plus the food was so good and I definitely ate way too much.

We taught another lesson this week!! 
Yoshiko San (my first lesson) couldn't make it again this week, but we taught Sachi San (an eternal investigator, but my first time meeting her). We went to her house and had a sit-down lesson with her. It went so well!! We showed her the Mormon message "The Will of God," and she said she wants to learn more. She also prayed for us at the end of the lesson, and hearing her pray for the first time made my heart so full. This is why I'm here!!!

Word of the week:
Japanese: shukufuku
Pronunciation: shkoofkoo
Meaning: blessing

愛しています,
Wunderli Shimai

Pics (going down):
1. Niigata from the ferry
2. Our ferry that we spend way too much time on
3. Another ferry pic
4. There are huge spiders like this everywhere!!!
5. Reunited with KEMA SHIMAI (my MTC companion)
6. Otani Choro rocking a wig that we found in a Halloween decor box








I loved all the stuff she got to experience this week, perhaps especially the miracle of the bike accident.  It's awesome she got to teach another lesson - that doesn't happen too often on the island of Sado.  I'm sure she had fun with Japanese volleyball and having lunch at the member's home.  Of course, sushi in Niigata was probably something she won't get sick of anytime soon.  As always, thanks for all of your support via prayers, emails, snail mail etc.  She loves and appreciates all of it as do we.  Your comments and questions are welcome.  Thanks and make it a great week.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Another Week on Sado for Sister Jordan Wunderli

In our last post, I mentioned that I would be late in getting Sister Jordan Wunderli's (Wunderli Shimai) post up but I didn't know how late I'd be.  I was hunting about 20+ miles east of Pioche, NV.  My hunt went from 10/1 - 10/15 - I was going to stay until I got one or until the 9th, whichever came first.  Yesterday morning (Monday) I got one bright and early and we got it all packed up and I headed home.  Much thanks to Jordan for her prayers that I would get one AND be safe (she says lots of good prayers for me about everything from my business to my hunt, my working out to achieve my fitness goals and anything else I need - she is such a great, caring and thoughtful daughter.  I also want to give a shout out to my great friend, Rick Bean, who brought his trailer up for us to camp in and then helped me find my cow elk.  He's a great example of what a good friend should be.

I drove into Pioche on Sunday night so that I could email back and forth with Jordan - I wasn't going to miss that opportunity.  I just didn't have the necessary tools to share it on the blog so without further delay, here it is.  I will note that I love all her pictures but this group has some particularly good ones.  Enjoy and, as always, feel free to comment or ask questions.

こんにちは,
Funny thing....
So we were doing a normal study on Tuesday morning and then we had our weekly call with the Sister Training Leaders for our area, and in the call they say "We'll talk more tomorrow at companion exchanges!" Whattttt!? Companion exchanges were not on the calendar for this week! Also, us being on a little island meant that we had to take an hour bus ride and then a two and a half hour ferry ride to get to Niigata for exchanges. So we told them we'd be there and then quickly packed up and caught the bus!

My first thoughts when we got to Niigata:
-Wow there are so many people!!!
-Woah there are so many tall buildings!
-Where are the rice fields?
-Woah a McDonald's, haven't seen one of those in awhile.

Sushi:
I had sushi for the first time in Japan!! What an experience!! It was soooo good and all the sushi was a dollar a plate (Japanese size but still). We sat down at the table and there was a little conveyer belt that went by it where the sushi (that we ordered on the iPad at the table) would just come out in seconds! It was like magic!! Best thing ever and the sushi was soooo good.

Companion exchanges:
-So my companion for the day was Domino Shimai (she's one of the Sister Training Leaders) and she is so cute!! She is always so happy and nice!
-It was so different doing missionary work in Niigata as supposed to on Sado because there were so many people, so we couldn't just talk to everyone. We had to really listen to the spirit as to who we should talk to and where we should go.
-So we went up to this one lady and we were talking to her about who we were and she was pretty interested so we began explaining who God is and she stops us and asks "Where does God live?" We told her that he lives in heaven and she looked up to the sky!! It was the cutest thing ever. That was such an amazing moment because it was like she was just looking up at her Dad. She also gave us her number so we found the Niigata Sisters a potential investigator!!

American night:
For FHE (family night) on Friday night, we had American night. Call Shimai and I made little hamburgers and we had Oreos there as well. We had red, white, and blue decorations (thanks to the Elders), and then we had a ping pong tournament. The whole night went fantastic!! There were so many people there (20 which is a lot for that tiny church building)!! Everyone was amazed at how successful it was.

Testimony meeting:
So I'm sitting in testimony meeting and I think to myself "Okay, I should get up and bare my testimony....when I'm better at Japanese." So I'm sitting there and a member gets up and bore his testimony. Then, after he sat down there was a long pause; no one was getting up. The same thought came into my mind, "Get up!!" I stood up and walked to the podium (well its too late to back out of this now). I bore my testimony in Japanese. I didn't know how to share an experience or how to lighten the mood with a joke. In fact, I bore a testimony that normally a little kid would say, but it was probably my most sincere testimony ever. When I sat down, I felt the spirit so strongly; I felt that my Heavenly Father was proud of me.

Little miracle:
-When we were biking through a dirt road a guy stopped us and waved at us to come closer and he pulls out two humongous Japanese pears and gives them to us (soooo delicious) and then he just drove away. Literally didn't say one word to us at all.

Companion appreciation paragraph:
I was so scared of going to Japan and finding out who my trainer was going to be because I have heard so many horror stories of people not liking their trainer at all!! Well, I guess I lucked out on that one! Sister Call is amazing and she is an amazing example of hard work, perseverance, and making missionary work fun. I'm so glad that I have her as a companion to help me get through this first transfer!!  She's from Utah and loves skiing. She is a great cook and makes me eat healthy which is great.

Word of the week:
Japanese: sukuinushi
Pronunciation: Skewy-nooshi
Meaning: savior

愛しています,
Wunderli Shimai

PICS (going down): 
1. Me and my amazing companion Sister Call #mirrorselfie
2. When you're busy but you still want food... missionary life
3. Niigata!! 
4. Sushi!!!! 
5. I only ate 13 plates. 
6. Sister Domino and I in Niigata 
7. We made hamburgers for American night! Go USA 
8. Sado/home 













I love these pictures and I can't wait to go to Japan in 2020 with Jordan for the Olympics.  I'm a sushi lover and look forward to trying the original.  Jordan did promise me that she would still eat sushi in America with me.  :)  Thanks to all of you who keep her in her prayers, get some joy out of reading her blog, and / or email or write her.  She loves and appreciates all of the support.  Here's her email for anyone who doesn't have it and would like to email her:  jordan.wunderli@myldsmail.net.  Remember that she has very little time to email - about 1.5 hours on Monday - so if you don't get a reply to every email, it's only because her time is extremely limited.  I will also add that I think they did a good job with the hamburgers - there are no buns over there so they had to use regular bread.