Hey everyone!

Sorry I didn't mail last week, but this week was really good! Last
week was kind of slow to be honest, and we worked hard but didn't see
much out of our efforts, but then this week came and right from the
start we just saw good thing after good thing after good thing. It was
a miracle, and through it, we learned better that blessings come maybe
not at the time we hope or expect but that they do come.

We met our young investigator who is so interested in church and
activities and even the temple. When we talked about the temple and
showed her pictures of it, her eyes lit up and she got really excited.
It was also really easy to get to know her better and we became
friends fast.

We also met another investigator who has been our investigator for
awhile, and she's 50 but looks 30 and she has the most beautiful skin
I've ever seen. She told us her secret and gave us some cream so we've
been using it haha. It's really exciting actually. She is really kind
and likes talking about religion and we like meeting with her.

AND then we met with an old investigator the elders passed to us who
is about our age. She is so cute and is definitely interested in
religion and we were able to set a return appointment. We're really
excited for her. 😊

This week there were some rough patches but I learned more about being
meek and humble, and learning again the importance of leaning on the
lord. I know that we can become stronger when we allow God to shape us
into who he needs us to be. It isn't comfortable, but I know hat gods
plan is for our eternal happiness and that when we trust in that plan
he will be able to help us the most.

I love you all! How is everyone doing? I heard it's snowing again out
east haha enjoy it!

Love,
Massey shimai

Hello!!
Ooooookay. I got transferred from asahikawa to kotoni!! Leaving everyone was really hard, especially the members and investigators, but I know that kotoni is where God has called me to be. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve here and have a part in gods work. Those people in asahikawa helped me more than I can even say and they were always supporting me way beyond what would be considered kind. I love them so much.

Kotoni is part of Sapporo and is pretty city! We don't walk nearly as much as we did before in asahikawa. There aren't really progressing investigators but I'm excited to be able to work here with morishita shimai! She is from Osaka and is an angel. It's peaceful being with her and I'm already so thankful for her and her help. It might take a bit to adjust to a new area but I love it here so much already. We're also a 4 person apartment because there are two sister sets and that's been way fun!

Love you guys! Sorry I don't have a ton of time today BUT I love you!

Hello everyone!

This week was kind of all over the place again haha. Wo shimai and I were literally running around everywhere for three days. We had a joint zone conference in Sapporo and I learned so much. Kaicho gave this one workshop about trials and the plan of salvation and he was teaching us how to teach it to answer some of life's difficult questions. He taught a really cool lesson using kanji! So the kanji for difficult is 辛い and the kanji for happiness is 幸. He showed us that when we put a little more effort in, the hard times can turn into happy moments. Truth.

He also talked about being saved and that "saving is not a finish line at the end of life but everyday." Loved it so much and it's so true. He asks us to do our best, but Christ has already made a way for us to come back home in the end. Such a good zone conference! (Also got to see free shimai again and meet Welch shimai (who was trained by free right before me) for the first time! They're so beautiful and good. I got to see a lot of other missionaries I love so that was really nice! Especially because they got rid of transfer spot... So now we'll be traveling alone to our new areas and I'm a bit stressed about that BUT it's okay. Karaka choro is going home in a couple of days and that's been really sad, but it's been such a good three transfers working with him.

Tomorrow we get our transfer calls and it's been making me kind of sad thinking of leaving all these people I love and this area and our investigators but I'm also excited for whatever is next.

This week we didn't spend a lot of time in our area because of zone conference and traveling and splits but we were able to find a couple new investigators and had good lessons when we had them. The elders passed an investigator who's blind and accepts everything we teach her. She's such a good person and we love her so much. So much.

And I love all of you!! This week there were definitely hard moments but we got closer at the end of them.

Love you guys. Stay safe and happy.


Massey shimai

Hey everybody!
The week was kind of all over the place. BUT we saw lots of miracles and really enjoyed this week together, especially because this next week is going to fly by since we're all going down to Sapporo for the winter festival and zone conference.
We were able to meet with a new investigator who is really really cool and is way more interested and knows way more about Christ than we thought she did. We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read 3 nephi 11 this week and she's like okay what should I be looking for?  What should I be thinking about when I read this? And we asked her if she would just pay attention to how she feels when she reads it and what things stand out to her and what she learns about Christ, or like questions she has from reading it, and shes like, that's it?  We're excited for her! And it seems like her daughter likes us too because she runs up to see us when we pass by her shop so that makes us happy because we weren't sure if she liked us at first haha. Love those two.
One thing we've been thinking about lately is how to help our investigators progress more, because sometimes it seems like we're just saying the same thing. It's sad because we want them to come closer to God so that they can have the opportunity to feel his love and that he has a plan for us.
We also met with another investigator who has these three dogs who won't stop barking unless you hold them. So I FINALLY got a hold of the loudest one, and I was like YES now we can teach her! And we talked about the faith and Joseph smith and it was really great until her dog leaped off my lap when she left the room and I looked down at my skirt and found a little surprise. Mm. But it washed out so its all good haha.
ALSO we met this CUTE couple when we offered to help them shovel snow, but they let us into their home after like 5 minutes and gave us all these Japanese snacks and talked to us. I think the husband is probably the cutest person I've ever met in my life. He's just so good and kind and his laugh lines are proof that he is a happy man. They're not interested but they were very kind to us and we were able to talk a little bit about the gospel.
We just got back from the winter festival here in asahikawa! It's smaller than the one in Sapporo but it's apparently prettier because this one has ice sculptures. They're really breathtaking actually. It was a lot of fun! Asappi is our town mascot (every city has a mascot) and he's like a seal with ramen wings... Anyway he's a cutie and we found this taiyaki booth at the festival that made them in the shape of his body and I nearly died it was so cute.

こんばんは！

Hope everyone is doing well! Sorry you New Jersians with 2 feet of snow. Hope you're all doing alright and enjoying it! It's still cold here haha surprise. It gets down to -20s in the early morning, and we wear 3 pairs of tights and our legs still sting sometimes. But there are a lot of really nice people that give us rides around so we don't have to be outside too long. Angels.

This week was really, really good. I feel like I'm finally starting to have more patience with myself and I felt really happy again this week. My first transfer our zone did this thing where we each wrote a talk to build the faith of our zone, and then the zone leaders compiled them and sent them to everyone. I was reading through them the other day and one really stood out to me. She said, "the missionary who tries to do everything right and the missionary who tries to do everything for others are hard to tell apart. But God knows." And reading this helped me refocus on what is most important, because as hard as we try we will never be able to do everything perfectly. I hate that feeling of always falling short, but I realized that through those moments is when we grow. And it would be quite a sad life if I didn't grow at all and learn about the power of the atonement in my own life. And without learning it, I wouldn't be able to share that with others. So I can either stress myself out and feel guilt about not being all that I feel I should be and want to be for these people, or I can choose to have joy in every minute I am with them and enjoy these precious moments with them.

The other day we had a really good lesson with our investigator who is really close to baptism. It was at a members house and the elders were there too! And we all shared our favorite scripture and explained it, but while we were all flipping through the pages trying to open up to the place, our investigator was like, "well in the mean time I have a scripture I've been liking lately and when I first read it last year I didn't know what it meant at all but I feel like now I've started understanding it more." And it was the same scripture that my companion and the member had. Too ichi. She also talked about how she felt the spirit stronger than she ever has before, like it was inside her, and it was the same feeling she feels when she goes to church and is with the missionaries, so we testified again about the spirit and that it teaches truth. It was a really good experience!

We also found more young investigators that are our age and that's really exciting. One of them wants to come to church and as we testified about prayer and what is has done in our lives, she was like, "I want to start praying more!" She's a cutie.

We also invited one of our investigators to baptism! She was happy and receptive and said she wants to do it, but she has a far away image of it and didn't want to make a date. She has so much potential and we're excited.


Thanks for all your love always.


Love
Massey shimai

Hi everyone!
Love you all! Sorry I didn't email last week... BUT I'm still in Asahikawa and still loving it.
Free shimai left which was hard but I know it's God's will. My new companion's name is Wo shimai and she is from Australia but is Samoan and she is a party.
We have a lot of fun together and she tries really hard to comfort me in the way I need and reassure me a lot. She is a good companion and always has such a strong desire to dendo and work hard. It's really admirable.
Since we've been together we've seen a lot of miracles and found some really promising people. Yesterday our dendo time was kind of short but in that short time we found a new investigator who is our age and felt the spirit and we set a solid return appointment with her so we're SO excited!! We taught her how she can pray and she said she would. Miracles, man.

It's been kind of hard this transfer but I was able to rely on the Lord and every time I have asked for strength, I have had enough to get me through. I know He answers prayers and am grateful for that. I have also been able to use the Atonement more this week, and am learning that I make mistakes and that is okay. And through being patient with myself and those around me, I can grow closer to Christ.
Love you all! Hope your week is beautiful. ❤

Hey everyone!
It's been snowing everyday since Christmas and the world is very white here in Hokkaido. We were fed so much by members recently. They all are such good cooks and spoil us. But we got to see the far parts of our area because a lot of them live far, and so we spent more time in the rural areas which was really pretty. When it was snowing you couldn't tell where the ground met the sky because everything including the air is WHITE.

And somehow we never run out of mikans. I don't think we've run out since Halloween. Everyone gives them to us, I can't even keep track of where they come from. It's like magic or something.
We went to the ふじたかぞく for lunch on the second of January and she made us おせち！

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Hey all!
It's been a little while haha. Our pday was changed to New Year's Day since it's such a big holiday in Japan and people spend it with their families. Yesterday we read the Book of Mormon all day and that was really cool! I learned a lot and really felt grateful for the Book of Mormon and all the sacrifices the prophets in it went through to get it to us, that we can know how to get closer to Jesus Christ and comehome to live with God again. Tomorrow is an all day cleaning day. And the members here are so kind and are feeding us a ton this week and ton last week even too! When members feed us, they don't do it really often like in America but when they do feed us they go all out. I gained a little weight I think but maybe it will keep me warmer hehe.
Also it snowed a ton! We were walking to the other sisters in suehiro's apartment for splits and we took a detour but we went through a path that wasn't shoveled and the snow came up to my hip! We were kind of scared we wouldn't be able to get out but it was really fun haha. My tights were all white at the end and we left puddles all over their apartment. Oops.
Christmas was really magical. We had a little extra time after planning for Christmas Eve so we took baths and ate mochi and yuzucha at night. It was the best Christmas ever. We made sushi for lunch and got sushi for dinner and aside from skyping my family on Christmas Day, we dendoed all day. People here don't really think much of Christmas and a lot of people still go to work, but we felt a special spirit that day for sure.

Hey all!
Hope you're all doing well. I hear jersey is warm. Hope you're enjoying that haha but hope it still snows on Christmas.

It's really easy to talk about Christ during this season here because the people likecelebrating it but a lot haven't thought about the meaning of it, or that there could be a meaning. It means so much to be able to talk about Christ and the impact he has had on my life.

We have these two young investigators who are our age that we are teaching and that's really exciting. We were teaching them at the same time which kind of made us nervous at first because we've never done that before but it went really well, and when I asked if they knew if it was true, if they would get baptized, they said yes! We didn't set a date but I was so happy to hear that from them. We really feel like we can relate to them too and we desire the same things in life and are going through similar experiences, so it's a blessing to be able to teach them.

I gave a talk at church for the first time in Japanese this Sunday!  That was a little stressful but I think it ended up okay. It was a homecoming for a missionary who just got home from a mission called Adriatic north I think. He's American but grew up partially in Japan and Germany so he speaks like 6 languages now. It's やばいよ。

We also sang as a ward and with one of our investigators to a nursing home for blind people after church. That was really special.

I love my ward! I love the people and being able to feel the love God has for them! As I work harder and pray, I can better see the hand of the lord in my life and that is amazing. Missionary work amazes me everyday and I've already changed so much in this short time. It makes me sad that my time with free shimai is coming to an end but I'm also excited for the opportunity to see more miracles and see other people find more happiness in coming to Christ.

I love you all! Thanks for all your love and all that you do!

Heyo!! You guys are great. Thanks for the encouragement this week. It meant a lot. I feel better about myself this week and have really tried to focus on what I can do. I can't do a lot, and I don't have a lot of talents, but I can be really kind. And I've been trying to really do that. Also one new thing I've been doing is writing in my journal everyday about how I have seen the hand of the lord in my life that day. It's really helped me see how the lord has blessed me and the miracles I have seen that day. I'm also a lot more grateful now that I can see so much more of what he does. Our goal this transfer is to see two baptisms. I know it is going to be really hard but we are trying to make baptismal dates and we believe we can see them. These people are prepared.
In other news, we caught the sweet potato truck! It was delicious. As expected. We were on a bridge and waved him down and ran down to meet him and he's like, you guys aren't from Japan are you? Haha. But it was delicious so that is what matters.
Also it snows like every other day here. It's a bit ridiculous but it is a winter wonderland! When it snows, the air is so dense with white that the air looks white too. And the sky is white and the roads and sidewalks are all white too cause they don't plow. It's beautiful.
I love you all! I sang in a duet on Saturday at our Christmas concert which was really scary but I was able to do it to the best of my ability so I'm happy about that be safe this week!! Love you!
Love
Massey shimai