Riko chan got baptized!!

Hey guys!

Hope everyone is doing well!

The Sapporo temple open house is over and the dedication is coming up this month so we're all excited for that!
Being able to work at the temple everyday we really saw miracles and saw the difference in their attitudes coming in and coming out to the reception area. It was really beautiful and great to learn more about Gods plan for each of His children, and to see people come closer to God in the temple than perhaps they've ever felt before. I loved it so much! Transitioning back into regular dendo (missionary work) has been a little hard but we're trying to take each day at a time.

Our investigator Riko chan was baptized and confirmed this Sunday!
Love her so much! She's come so far and we are really proud of her.  Because of her, I've learned more that God really has a hand in each of our lives and He prepares the way. I learned more about the power of raw faith, when you don't think you can go any further. And from her example of pushing through even when there are unknowns and even when we're scared. She is the best!! The young women were so good about talking to her after church too and being friendly. I love this ward so much.

Sorry it's a little short this week but it was overall a good week. We also will be able to start teaching one of young women's friends next week and we're excited for her.

I love you all! Be safe and enjoy the summer!

Love
Massey shimai

Sapporo Temple Open House!!

Hey everyone!
So pdays are kind of different now, and I'm not sure how much time we'll have to email but I just wanted to say I love you all! The open house is here and we're going to be working there just about every day and it is so, Special! The temple is beautiful and truly is a sacred place. It's beautiful seeing people come in and feel something. We have 3 other sisters staying with us for the open house and it's been fun haha like having a family again. Have a great week!

Heyo!
Hope everyone is doing well! Transfers came and I'm staying with Welch shimai who is just perfect in all ways!! ❤️

Kobayashi san was confirmed a member yesterday and it was so so special. Every time we see her our day just gets a little brighter.

This week was a little bit of a harder one, but we were able to work more with the members this week which was really really good! The young women are on fire and we've met a couple more of their friends this week. Just perfect.

One day we decided to clean the baptismal font, but we couldn't get the water working so it didn't work out, but afterwards we went and talking to people on the streets on the way to an appointment and one of the first people we talked to was a girl our age who believed in God and wanted to come to church with us the next day! We invited her to the temple open house and she came to church too! And the whole program yesterday was so perfect for her and what she needed. We're meeting with her again this week and excited about it!

We also taught the two Vietnamese girls this week, which was interesting! They speak pretty good Japanese but we used Vietnamese pamphlets to help them and they were really into them. They're really sweet and one said she wants to be baptized 😊

Shinkotoni is such a special place. And I'm truly blessed to be able to work here.

Kobayashi San got baptized!!

Hi everyone!!
Welch shimai and I have been seeing so many miracles together. It's really amazing. We're starting to work with the members more lately and it's been really good! The young women are on fire and want their friends to get baptized. And the members help out a ton with team ups and inviting their friends to the temple too.

One member took us out around her neighborhood to invite her friends with her, which was really really good. And this last week Welch shimai and I went back to them and one wants to listen to our message! We went back to another friend and met her husband who actually have a son who is also LDS! They see his example and said that they know his religion is good because of it. We're excited we get to teach them as a couple, because it's our first time being able to do so.

We also met with another family we are teaching, and taught them the plan of salvation and the mom really wanted her kids to be involved and understand what we were saying and was involved in teaching them too, which was really cool!

And then last Sunday makino shimai brought 4 new Vietnamese neighbors and wants us to teach them as well. They're all really cute and sweet
😊

Also also!! Our beloved kobayashi San got baptized this Saturday! It was so beautiful and her testimony at the end was just perfect. She is just perfect. Its been so humbling to see her testimony grow and progress. The spirit was so strong when she bore it as well, I wish I could just bottle up that experience forever.
❤️❤️❤️

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.

Hey all!
How was everyone's week? Love you all tons. This week was pretty good for me. I was sick for some of it but it's getting better.

There was one day that we had our weekly planning session and I was just kind of drained at the end of it so we took a short break, but after I woke up, Mori shimai and I decided we should at least go see one of our investigators. We were planning to give him a Book of Mormon that day. So we went and we talked with him for a little bit, and then brought up the Book of Mormon again and started to teach him about it and what it means to us, and at first he kind of made a joke out it and told us we needed to try harder if we wanted to sell this book and that we weren't good salespeople. And we realized that we can't sell anything about this gospel. We aren't professional speakers, and I can't even speak the language that well, but we can share what it means to us. We don't know a lot of things, but we know it was true. He changed completely afterwards and took the book and was flipping through it a lot and said he would read it, and it was just a really happy miracle.

I know the power of the spirit is real and that God loves all his people infinitely. And he has a plan made especially for each of us and that if we trust in his plan and follow him and come closer to him, we will be able to feel that love and happiness and peace. Sometimes when I get stressed or confused I find myself drifting away from where I want to be, but I know that we can always come back. That he beckons us back, that his arms are always, always open.

General conference also helped me learn a lot about what I need to do to become better and happier and more trusting. I learned that I need to find joy, and that I need to know I am a child of God, instead of just believing it. I learned that I need to keep trying and loving and doing what I can and that God blesses us in that effort. And that the first great truth is that God loves us. That God loves me and that God loves you. And I know that that is true!
I love you all! Have a happy week and find joy! Be safe too. ✌
Love you,
Massey shimai

ひさしぶり！ everyone,
I'm sorry I haven't written lately! I'm doing well!
I'm staying in kotoni and my companion went home (which was really sad) but I got a new companion! Her name is Mori shimai and she is just the cutest person alive. She is so sweet and encouraging and I'm really excited for this transfer! We knew each other a bit before because we were serving in neighboring areas before and we got to see her every week haha. I love her so much. She is half Filipino and half Japanese!

This week has been good. The work is progressing slowly, but we're so excited for this transfer! We had some time the other day because we ended up 10 minutes early to an appointment so we pinged on two houses and found a new family! At first the dad wasn't really interested but after a little bit he started smiling more and he was really accepting. We think he felt the spirit, and he said we could come back so we're excited for them! The kotoni members are also so great. They are such great examples to me.

Lately I've been feeling really stressed about a lot of things, but I've also been learning the importance of focusing on the simpleness of the gospel and the beauty of the world around me, and just being more grateful. I feel like there are always going to be things in life that stress out or complicate things, or even make enduring really difficult, but we can choose to be happy through faith. I love the gospel and the atonement and I love God. I really feel strengthened or peace when I have asked for it in my prayers and I'm so grateful for a loving God who hears us and is cheering us on through the road bumps and storms and peaceful periods of life. I know that we can be happy now, that it doesn't have to wait until later, and that he wants us to be happy too. I love you all!

This week was general conference in America! You can find it at lds.org! I also feel peace and comfort when I watch it. I'll have to wait till this weekend for the Japanese translation though haha.

Love you all!
Have a great week!