Hey guys!

K lots happened this week!

First of all, elder Quentin L. Cook and elder Stevenson from the twelve apostles came to speak with us as a mission, as well as elder Gong and the area presidency and their wives. It was really amazing and inspiring and we got a lot of questions answered for the area and for our investigators and for ourselves as well. Their testimonies of the gospel and of Christ were so powerful, and they were comforting as well in helping us know what we are successful when we feel the spirit working through us. It also got me really excited for the TEMPLE which is coming very very soon (July!) that all the sister missionaries will be able to give open house tours for! It's such a blessing and hearing them speak inspired me more to focus on the temple and on the fact that people can live with their families forever, and that the temple is the goal. So exited!!

Also!!
So there were a lot of changes and we ended up dropping two investigators, which was scary since we don't have a lot of people in our teaching pool, but afterwards we found two people who were really prepared and willing to learn about the gospel and were wanting to change.
Welch shimai and I were biking one day and stopped a girl on the street and at first we weren't sure if she was interested but Welch shimai asked if she had some time that we could share a message and she did! So we went to a park and shared lesson one about the restoration, and it's just been miracle after miracle with her after that. And we've been seeing her almost everyday since then, and she even came to church last Sunday and we set a date with her for the same day as kobayashi San's baptism! We are so so excited for her, and excited to help her as she discovers the beauty of the gospel.
And kobayashi San is keeping the word of wisdom and is doing okay!

And holy cow the ward is helping us so much, its amazing. They're so willing to team up with us and sit in on lessons and befriend our investigators and it's really built my testimony of the importance and blessing of having a friend in the gospel, especially when you're coming to church for the first time.

Overall it was just a really good week, and I'm so grateful to be here and to be with Welch shimai and to learn from her example as well. I'm grateful that God is there with us to call us, and I'm very very far from perfect but that fact that he doesn't want us to get discouraged or be impatient with ourselves, the fact that he is not disappointed in us or impatient with us has helped me have more hope recently.

I remembered one more thing I wanted to share haha. One thing we learned this week, and Elder Cook also shared it as well, was that the spiritual experiences you have are a lot of the times there to benefit those around us. There are stressful times and sometimes it's hard to endure and keep moving forward but through those times we were able to relate more to those we find and teach, and can understand more of what they're feeling. And it's something I didn't realize until they said a concern they were having and we understood it because we went through it together. I know that God has a plan and a purpose for everything!

I love you all! Be safe this week!

 Love,
 Massey shimai

Hey all!

Okay. I'm not really sure where to start but I got to go on splits with my trainer free shimai! And it was beautiful and brought back a lot of good memories and she is just perfect. 💕
So I guess this week, we had a lot of ups and downs. Some of the miracles that happened this week:
Kobayashi San committed to be baptized and we set a date for her and she feels really good about it! And she had some concerns before about her testimony but she resolved them this week through a really cool moment when she just kind of closed her eyes and imagined Joseph Smith and pondered. That was really cool, and really really humbling too. I think this week in general was just really humbling.

Also on splits Welch shimai and kuta shimai found someone while streeting and it was a total miracle because this now investigator doesn't leave her house very much, but is looking for a church and something to believe in and wants really badly to believe in God. We met her everyday afterwards and she came on church this Sunday too!  She said she would be baptized too and she really wants a second start, which is part of what the gospel promises and it was a blessing to see her feel the spirit as well while watching a video of Christ.  Love her.

And a member has a couple Vietnamese neighbors and invited them to church too so we will try teaching them as well, since they understand Japanese pretty well. They became new investigators on sunday and they were expressing how they really want to learn more about the gospel.

And we prayed a lot this week because we really, really needed it.  Without those prayers, I could not have gotten through some of these days but I'm learning to be grateful for the trials we have and the hard times when we are weak, because without those we wouldn't learn we need God. In life, there will be hard times because life can be hard, but I know with God we will be able to get through it, but more than that that we really can feel joy and love and hope amidst it.  I love this gospel and I'm grateful to be a missionary. And I'm eternally grateful for my companion who helps and strengthens and supports me along the way. Could not do it without her either.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Massey shimai

Heyo!
I transferred! ショック because I so thought I was staying. My new companion is Welch shimai who actually had the same trainer as me and second companion and we have a ton in common as well. She's an angel and I love her so much. I needed her.
It was hard saying goodbye to kotoni, especially because I felt like so much has happened there in those short 3 months, but shinkotoni does feel right since being here. Im grateful for this new opportunity and also to be with Welchy. Our first day we went to see an investigator who kind of has a baptismal date but not a solid one, and when she comes to the door like the first thing she tells us is that she talked to her husband who she thought was against it, and found out he actually wasn't! And she was praying for the courage to tell him that she wanted to be baptized and she felt a prompting to do it that day. She has such a strong testimony and were really excited for her. She came to church on Sunday too and bore her testimony to the Sunday school class. She is prepared!!
One thing Welch shimai and I decided to do this transfer is to stop everyone on the streets, and it's something I haven't been doing thus far. And it's been hard but the last person we stopped on saturday ended up being two deaf people AND Welch shimai in atsubetsu before studied Japanese sign language! So we can teach her and we set up a new appointment! It was a miracle.

And earlier that day we went to visit a new family named せき family who live kind of far away and the wind was blowing soooo strong that day and it was hard to keep going but it helped me think about how much I really wanted to go there and meet her and share the gospel with her, and after praying for the strength to keep going, the muscle pain went almost completely away and we were able to get there a lot sooner than we thought. And then after the lesson, which was really really good by the way! And she wants us to come back. And when we asked her if she believed in God, she was kind of like "I don't know... Is there a god?" And when we said yes she was like, smiling, "I guess there is a god." yay. But then after we go out to leave and get on our bikes but my tire went flat all of a sudden so we were going to walk home but then Welch shimai felt like we should go back, so we went back and she pumped my tire back up and we were able to make it home haha. It was such a miracle.

I'm grateful to be here and be with Welch shimai and these people that I've met so far. The ward is way cute too and it feels right. There are about 40 members so it's definitely smaller than kotoni. I'm excited for this transfer!

Love you guys 💕❤️ sorry I've been neglecting my emails. But love you all! Have a great week!

Hey everyone!

Love you all! Sorry I didn't email last week... BUT the past two weeks were good! It's been interesting and there have been a lot of changes but it's good. So there is a member here who just got her mission call and she wanted to come dendo with us to see what it was like and while we were planning we thought since the time was short we would just find before an activity but then we remembered this one investigator we haven't seen in like 2 months who is about our age as well and decided to go there. And she opens the door which in itself is a miracle because she hasn't every time we've gone back. But she opens and we talk with her a little bit and then Mori shimai invites her to a BBQ were having at Honbu for young members and their friends and young investigators that was starting in like 30 minutes and she decided to come with us! So we go and she has a great time and comes to church with us the next Sunday, and cried all through sacrament meeting. And we talked with her a little after and she is so interested in how we personally feel gods love and comfort and she said she would be baptized if she knew it was true so we set a baptismal date for the end of this month. But since Last Sunday we haven't been able to contact her since so please pray that we will be able to meet with her again! We're not really sure what happened, but hopefully she'll come back around when she is ready.

We were also able to meet an investigator who was actually passed to us from another area and she came to sacrament meeting and our Sunday school class too and she sat next to the mission presidents wife なかつかshimai while we were teaching (which is such a blessing by the way) and they became friends so we're happy about that. We're excited to see her again!

Also Lately some grandmas have been coming up and talking to us and inviting us over and it's really cute and fun.

Also I went to the beach last Monday which I missed a TON.