The Newest Shimai Letter - Love That She Is Warm and Happy

Princess Four sent her weekly letter today. I am always grateful when she shares that she is happy. I was sad to find out she is sick and thinks there may be mold in her apartment so I told her all the main places to find it and how to kill it. I suggested some things she could do to help the situation and hopefully that will help her overcome what made her sick. We knew that may be an issue going in as Princess Two had that issue in Taiwan as well. It is just hard in humid island places. Funny that all three of my girls have gone coastal, humid Asian spots!  

The pictures are some pudding someone gave them at the top. Her eating her first sushi meal which made her very happy as you can see.The next is a tradition of the new person getting weird Japanese food thrown at them in a game or something so this is the stash of "foods to try" she got from the game. The next is her first meal of ramen at someone's home and she enjoyed that. She got sick so she wore a mask out as that is proper for Asian countries. The last two are her at a festival of some kind and she is "mashing" rice to eat in the bowl and said it had a weird texture. 

I hope you enjoy her letter and pictures as much as I did! Here it is:
 

"Beautiful Souls! Monday already? Wowzers... Time is so weird, huh? I guess I better work harder! Ill be heading home before I know it!

This week was a pretty good time! We didnt do a ton of dendo, but that means we can do more this week!

We had Zone Training Meeting and Zone Activity. Zone Activity on Monday was human foosball, and the Japanese version of Red Light Green Light. and you can bet it was intense.  I had my district leader translating just for me, so that was special haha. At the end of the meeting (sweet other sister) Shimai and I introduced ourselves, and the whole zone lined up, and pretty much threw fun Japanese food at us... I was a little scared, but it worked out in the end. ha

Last week we were pinging. (Sweet companion) Shimai asked where we should go. I saw a green house, and I said green means go. Nobody was home downstairs. But we decided to climb up the scary stairs to ping the top apartment. A lady answered and said we could come back next week... So we went.. haha It was my first real sit down... well.... kneel down..... lesson -fun fact. I am very bad at kneeling for long times.. It is so painful- 

The woman's name is (Nice older lady). But she said we could call her (older lady)  Shimai! I kind of  didn't pick up very much, or say very much, but we got to sing, which I can do! We sang "I Am a Child of God." She cried!!! and she cried later in the lesson too! What!? She said she would come to our church this Sunday, and we didn't even ask her to.--She didn't come, but we will go visit her this week to find out why/-- She thanked us multiple times for lots of different things. She is such a miracle! Yay pinging!!

I experienced the coldest day of my mission. It was snowing pretty hard, and all the people we planned to visit  were not home. It was ok though! We had some pretty good laughs! Our last few minutes before catching the bus we found two people who said we could come back.. What?! 

(My cute companion) Shimai also put flyers for Eikaiwa in the bottom floors mail boxes of an orange apartment building. We figured why not. The next day a young man comes to Eikaiwa saying he found the flyer in his mailbox. He said he was thinking about learning English better, and then we just happened to put that in his box. We didn't put any flyers in the 2nd floors boxes, and we almost didnt put them into the first floors. But I'm sure glad the spirit prompted (My cute companion) Shimai to do that! His name is (Cool kid). He said he was lucky that we put the flyer in his box.... We were blessed is a more accurate term. I think he has a bright future. The gift of finding is real people! I pray for it every day!

Funny story of the day. At this Eikaiwa class, one of the men asked what a certain sickness was called, because we were talking about health, and he got this sickness while he was in India... It was dysentery! So the whole night everyone is using the word dysentery! It was so funny! Especially when they would say things like- I have a dysentery, or im going to the moon, and im taking dysentery... oh man. too funny!

After visiting a non active house, we were waiting for the bus. We had seen only men, but a young woman walked up. I decided to be brave, and open my mouth right before she put her head phones in. Long story short. We are going to the bishops Bolivian restaurant this Thursday to eat with her. Yay! Her name is (Sweet graduate). But everyone uses surnames for everyone, so we call her (Cool sweet graduate). And she just graduated, so that was her last day at school, so that would have been the last day we could have ever met with her. Pretty crazy desho? I love it!

I was pretty sick yesterday, and we went to a festival/ our mission leaders house the day before, so we didn't get to do a lot of dendo. We were scared to leave the mission leaders house, because being rude in Japan is not a thing you want to be doing... But we repented, and we learned our lesson. Don't be afraid to tell people the truth, or that you cant stay, because you have other obligations to attend to. I think he would have been way more impressed if we would have said something and left, rather than just sitting at his house not getting anything done. 

But that is why we are here on earth. To learn from our mistakes. And maybe we said something that helped their kids? But I am on a mission to do missionary work, not just make friends and be good company. I want to see miracles here people!! And I know I can do it with the help of God, and through Jesus Christs Atonement. I love you all a whole lot. Don't be afraid to stand up for yourselves or your beliefs. Make good choices, and learn from the bad ones! Forgive yourself!

Ai shiteimasu! Kyokai wa shinjitsu desu! Kywotsukete kudasai! Love you! The church is true! Be safe!

Love,

Shimai"

She also reported in her personal email to me that she was "warm" and "grateful" for the clothes we bought that I made her take as she thought she wouldn't need them all! I love it when my kids finally realize I am right about something! ;-)