Well, first off - the reason I'm emailing late is because it is transfer week so pday is Tuesday. I can't believe how fast this transfer has gone. Sou shimai and I have been having a blast. There have been some hard things, but the good most definitely outweigh the bad to be sure :) What an absolutely INCREDIBLE week of miracles!!!!! Okay biggest news - between the 4 sets of missionaries in Saijo- we had.... 15 investigators at church on Sunday!!!!!!! Let me back up and explain a little. About a month and a half ago, President Gustafson set a goal for our mission to have 200 people at church on September 7th. The mission high was 91 for one sunday. In our interview training, he told us how he knew that if we tried our hardest and relied on The Lord that we would be able to see the miracles come from this. And the miracles truly did come! Honestly, the investigators that came were not all the "expected" ones to come- I know that because we all tried our hardest and invited everyone we could, as well as continued working as hard as we could we were all able to see the blessings from this. Across the mission there were 208 people there this past Sunday. It was one of the best fast and testimony meetings I have ever been in. What a miracle that was to see!
Takedasan came for the first time and had a wonderful experience. Her work has been pretty busy up until now on Sundays, but from now on she is planning on coming each week :) We taught her word of wisdom and law of chastity this week and they went really well. I know that The Lord has been preparing her to receive this gospel. She understood these commandments and feels that they make sense. Let me say one more time - she wants to keep these. It was so wonderful to be able to talk about these commandments and really how much they are for our protection - and because God loves us so much. I love lessons. I guess I just love being a missionary - I feel so blessed every day to be here telling everyone I see that there is a God, who is their Heavenly Father who loves them. It sometimes makes me a little sad to remember that so many people don't know this, and so many people refuse to listen, but I know that everything happens for a reason and God's timing is always the most important. It is what really matters. Sorry - slightly sidetracked - but Takedasan really is doing so well. She is looking right on track to still be baptized on September 27th - and she is excited for it as well!!!
We haven't been able to have a solid lesson with Teena (our Chinese investigator with a BD) for a little while because she has been travelling a lot lately with her work. We're going to try to reset her baptismal date when we meet with her tomorrow. But she is a sweetheart - I love her! I really just wish you could meet all of these people that I love so much.
Incredible streeting miracle - Mahliying (another Chinese potential investigator). We were going around visiting some potential investigators a few nights ago, and trying our best to talk to everyone on our way to each place. We were at a stoplight, and in order to get to the place we wanted to go, it would have been faster to go straight at the stoplight. However, we looked down that road and there was not a person in sight. But, if we turned right, there was a lady walking in the distance. We have been trying our hardest to talk to everyone, so we decided to go talk to her (even though it would take a little more time). I got off my bike and introduced myself to her, and as soon as we said we were missionaries and she saw Sou shimai she just lit up and started talking really fast in Chinese to Sou shimai. I could tell they knew each other, but honestly didn't fully understand what was going on for a couple of minutes (I speak Japanese, not chinese haha) when they finally started explaining what was going on to me. Sou shimai and williams shimai met this lady on the street about 5 months ago, right after Sou came to Saijo. She was really interested in the church and in Eikaiwa (our free english class) and in fact lives in the same building as our church! (remember that our church consists of two rooms in an office/apartment building). She had been really busy as of late, and I think had a different phone number and couldn't remember what time church and eikaiwa were, so she hadn't come but had been wanting to meet with us again. The other sisters had tried getting a hold of her but were not able to. We were able to exchange contact information, and gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to church and eikaiwa - - and she came to both!!! I am really excited to keep working with her. I know that this was such a true testimony to me that we really are just instruments in God's hands right now as his missionaries.
Tomikosan - has been having a bit of a hard time this transfer. She has been pretty busy and a little overwhelmed, so she just wants to take a bit of a break from the lessons and such. I honestly feel so strongly that she will be baptized one day. I just know that it really is all in the Lord's timing and he definitely knows better than I do.
Lisa shimai - our RC that we got to go to the temple with a couple of weeks ago! She is incredible. I love her. First of all, I just feel so s/trongly that she is an incredible example of a true convert. When we meet to work on her AB lessons I just always go away feeling like I learned so much. It is so fun to me to be able to explain stories like the brother of Jared or other stories in the Book of Mormon that I have known my whole life to people that are hearing them for the first time, and learning so much from them.
We had a relief society activity this week that they came to and invited friends to that was great. Being in our little international group, we (the sister missionaries) decided that if any of our members came that spoke Japanese we would watch the testaments (in Japanese, with either chinese or english subtitles) and if they could all speak english we would watch 17 miracles. It ended up that everyone that came was more comfortable in English than Japanese (our sisters from Malaysia, Mongolia, the Phillipines, and us American missionaries) and the one Japanese girl that did come has perfect English so that is what we ended up doing! Once again, I love working with so many recent converts and learning from them. After the movie was over, Lisa shimai turned to me o(she'd been crying through the whole last part of the movie) and said "I am so so grateful that people make movies like this to help those of us that are new know these things. This is the first time I have really been able to understand about the pioneers. They became real to me. Thank you so much. " She proceeded to tell me more wonderful things but it really touched me. She brought her nonmember husband to church on Sunday (it is normally just her and her 2 kids) and seeing that family together in the church made my heart swell. It was so sweet.
The fourth investigator our companionship had at church was a former investigator that we had invited last week but didn't fully expect to come. We were so happy to see her walk in the door.
I will never forget that Sunday. One of the happiest days of my life.
As far as transfer week goes - we get the call in a few hours. I really don't want to leave Saijo. I would love to spend the rest of my mission here but I do know that if I leave it is where I need to be. I love this place with my whole soul. I love being a missionary here in Japan, and the people that I have been able to meet. Day after day, we are able to see miracles from The Lord and it really has changed my life forever. I love you all so much - I hope you have a wonderful week!
Ai shite imasu!
Flake Shimai
PS My personality hasn't changed - but my spirituality sure has! It is hard to describe - I was doing good things before, but now my priorities are just a bit more in line. I have seen how much the gospel can change lives, and know it has cahnged mine.
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