Flying Cockroaches (with lots of good news)

As I mentioned in the blog post last week, I might be a little late with my post this week do to our vacation in Canada.  While I got to enjoy reading Jordan's email when it came (it came about a day late due to how busy she was with transfers and such), I wasn't able to get to the blog until now - sorry.  We got back late last night and I am happy to share a BUNDLE of good news with you.  Enjoy and thanks for reading.

こんにちは、
Well well well.. We had transfer calls today and I'm staying in Nakano for another one. My new companion will be Sister Morelock and the funny thing is, she was Sister Her's companion before Sister Her became my companion. She is from Hawaii and is really tall; that's pretty much all I know about her right now so more to come next week about her.

Okay okay, this week was great. We are continuing to work with the amazing investigators that we have, as well as being blessed to find a few new ones. We also had an American party after eikaiwa and we (the sisters) taught everyone how to shoot a gun (a nerf gun, but a gun nonetheless). They all loved it and the Bishop's wife was actually surprisingly good at it. We also had a water balloon fight with the young women this week - nothing bonds people faster than throwing balloons filled with water at the other person. Other than that we taught lots of lessons!

Investigator updates:

•Miyuki: Miyuki is the miracle lady who came to church and loved it even though she was super confused. We had a lesson with her where we talked about what we as missionaries do and who God is. She loved it and just expressed her sincere desire to find out if God is there and to learn more. She told us she's going back to her hometown to visit her family for a couple of weeks (way sad because it means we can't teach her for a couple of weeks), so we gave her the plan of salvation pamphlet for some reading on her long trip. She messaged us that same night and told us she read the whole thing, and that she wants to do family history so she can take her ancestors name's to the temple to help them become clean again. I was in shock. When I read Google translate, I thought that it messed up on the translation, but when I checked it, it was indeed right. Woah. We told her that we would teach her the steps to get there when she comes back (for example she had to get baptized first), but she really wanted to get started on family history and the process so we sent her the website.

•Uyen: From vietnam, 17 years old, moved to Japan 3 years ago with her family, fluent in English, Vietnamese, and Japanese. I love uyen. We were able to meet with her and talk a little bit about the same things we talked about with Miyuki and she just loved it. We also talked about the Book of Mormon (we had previously given her a book of Mormon in Vietnamese). She said that she really wants to read it and that her dad saw it on her desk and said that she should read it and he wants to read it after. She told us that he is really interested in the church and so is she so were hoping that will be able to teach him as well soon.

•Akane: This week I really learned about teaching to the needs of the investigator. This message is the same in the sense that the doctrine is the same, but how it works with people and how it applies to people makes the gospel so individual and so personal for everyone. Akane loves music and movies so we decided to watch the restoration together and we sang a few hymns together. She loved the lesson and felt like it was exactly for her. I feel that during that lesson she was really able to see the gospel in a way that was closer to her. We taught her the restoration last week as well, not in the same way, and she just didn't connect with it like she did today, and that connection (the the feeling of the Holy Ghost) is so important. On Sunday, she came to church for the 3rd week in a row and she even brought her daughter. Her daughter will also be coming to the next lesson.

ERIKA GOT BAPTIZED:
Erika is Engrid's daughter (recent convert from kumagaya). She was baptized this past Sunday and thanks to modern day technology, I was able to Skype in and be there for the service. It was a beautiful service and I am sooo happy that she was able to make this step to follow the savior. Engrid was also in heaven during the baptism and had the biggest smile on her face the entire time. The next step is for them to get sealed in the temple for eternity! I'm so happy for them. The gospel truly does bless families.

Just Japan things:
- The cockroaches in Japan fly. There was a humongous cockroach in our apartment and when we tried to kill it, it flew around the room. We spent 30 minutes trying to kill it. Not to mention, we got a little scared when it started to fly...
- There are earthquakes all the time here. I can't even count the amount of earthquakes I've been in. We will just be studying and then our whole apartment starts to shake and we're like hmm, another one. They usually only last 20 seconds or so and we've gotten pretty use to them.

Until next week my friends.
愛しています、
Wunderli Shimai 

Pics:

1. I  Nakano 

2. Erika's baptism (President and sister Nagano went)

3. DISTRICT LUNCH sushi woohoo 

4. Uyen

5. Post-waterballoon fight pic 

6. Just loading the nerf guns 

7. Our cute little kitchen

 There you have it.  I hope you enjoyed her email 1/10th as much as I did.  I'm excited to go visit Japan and meet the people she got to teach and the ward members whenever we go - possibly next year or in 2020.  As always, thanks for your support and prayers.  She loves all the emails even if she doesn't have time to respond to all of them. I'll be back at the regular time next week.