Brazilian Miracles--In Japan! 5-25-14

Konnichiwa, kazoku!

Wow sounds like it sure was a crazy week! I cannot believe Logan is officially graduated from high school and coming up on his mission! I am so proud of him. I sent off a little letter last week that should be coming soon. I am glad  dallin Logan and Spencer got to help out with all the fun aspects of branding this year. DAd, of course you are right - the reason I know how to work is from growing up on the  ranch. :) But really - I am so glad that I was able to learn the importance of hard work from that. Mom - I am sorry to hear about all that crazy mouth business going on - I hope you feel better soon! I really liked the idea for your students with the choir final. I am glad that worked out for you!

MAN it was a crazy week. A few things came up with Tomiko so we are still planning on baptism but her date will have to be pushed back a bit. She is great, but has had some hard experiences with churches in the past so we are going a little bit slower through the lessons than we had originally been planning on. However, she has told us several times that she feels really good when she meets with us and comes to church, which is super exciting. 

So many things happened this week but I am totally running out of time, so I will try to get out as many things as I can! Alright - last week we had a zone training meeting in hiroshima, and they needed willes and  I to help out with a few musical numbers and things going on with training so we headed up the night before so we could set things up, then stayed the night with the hikari hiroshima sisters. It was a lot of fun - they are both Japanese and way fun. It was interesting - if I had had a similar situation when I was a bean, I probably just would have been scared and quiet, but we had a great time! We laughed and joked around about all sorts of things. They are great. That was on Tuesday. Oh and that day when we were finding here in Saijo - we were a ways out in the countryside, and it started raining a lot. I had my raincoat, but not my rain pants like I usually do and willes was the same - we were DRENCHED. We were out all afternoon, and when I came home for dinner looked a bit like a drowned rat but it was okay. We got to wring out our skirts and our hair, and admire our pruney hands and feet. Loads of fun. Rainy season is coming up! Huzzah for that.

Zone training was great - every transfer our leaders keep raising the bar. Missionary work - exciting stuff! (sorry. that was kind of a lame sentence but I don't have time to explain or expound right now.)

GAH So many things to tell you but I am way outta time so here is my favorite miracle of the week.

We have one portugese book of mormon that we ordered from the mission office.

Yesterday, we went to visit some brazillian PIs so we took it with us. Unfortunately, neither of them were home, but we tried Umeda san (our first brazillian that we have had a few lessons with) and she answered! We havent' been able to get ahold of her for a few weeks, so we were way happy. She invited us in and we were able to have a lesson with her. After that, we were streeting and ran into a foreigner couple with a cute baby. We started talking to them, asking where they are from and the woman said she was from Brazil! We had a great time talking about her family, what she was doing in Japan, and things like that and she asked us a lot of questions about what we were doing here as well. We were able to talk about the fact that we have a message about a special book, that we normally just carry in japanese but today had it in portugese. She looked at it and said, "Well, you must have brought it because you would meet me today! I would love to talk to you more about this, but unfortunately I am going back to Brazil on Tuesday. But I would love to read this on the plane!" We told her there were missionaries like us all over Brazil as well, and asked her to look on mormon.org. WHAT A MIRACLE. She was golden! I am a little sad that we won't be able to teach her but I know the Lord is looking out for her and will lead missionaries to her! That was such a happy experience.

Last bit of news - this past friday, Zaima was baptized! He was one of  the saijo elders' investigators. our little branch is growing! it was an awesome service, full of saijo love. I love it here. I love it. Missionary work is hard but so good. I know this is where I need to be!!!!! Thank you for all of your love and support. I love you all and have a great week!

Ai shite imasu!

Flake Shimai

Happy Mothers day 5-11-14 and 5-18-14

5-18-14

Konnichiwa, kazoku!!!

It is always so great to get your letters! We had an awesome week! The most exciting news is... we were able to set  a baptismal date forJune 8th with Tomikosan - so please keep her in your prayers!!!!!!!! But I will share more on that later. :) 

It sounds like your week was pretty hectic. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the wedding announcement in the mail. I can't wait - they are the best. Speaking of that, I sent of the wedding package last week - if you could let me know when it get;s there, that would be great. I just have this fear of customs tearing it apart. I hope the boys had fun with Father and sons - sorry I couldn't be there for you, mom but I hope you know I am thinking about you! I also still absolutely cannot fathom the fact that Logan is graduating so soon and leaving on his mission. Tell him how proud I am of him with all of his endeavors! 

In other news ---- we celebrated our year mark this past week! Unfortunately it wasn't quite as joyous of a celebration as I would have hoped. It was way fun to be with Willes and Williams (we all came out at the same time) but it was way sad to think that we are two thirds done. However, it is A-okay - we still have plenty of time to keep doing missionary work. We went out to a buffet called the Casual Viking. Don't ask - I don't understand either. It was way good, but as I was eating I realized I definitely eat some things that are pretty different than I used to eat these days. I had some shark pizza and something like orange chicken (but it was octopus instead of chicken) - and they were way good. Prettty normal. Mom, I don't want to freak you out or anything - but let's just say I have eaten way weirder things than that here that haven't tasted as good as those did.

It is starting to warm right on up here and we are officially in my favorite weather of Japan. It feels almost like Arizona right now - it is starting to warm up, but it is not super humid yet because the rainy season hasn't started. Granted it still rains at least once a week or so, but I am scared for rainy season to bring in the humidity - it will be raining all day every day come June. 

It is that time of year - for the bugs to start coming out. I had forgotten the feeling of summer - furiously biking down a rural road and bugs flying into your eyes and getting tangled in your eyelashes. That has happened so many times it's not even funny. 

Lastly, our week was crazy but so good! We started teaching a few new investigators, which is always exciting. And Tomikosan came to church again, and when we talked about baptism set a date with us! We still have a bit of a path to go down, but we are so excited to be working with her. Another miracle of the week was Katou san. She was found and started taking the lessons from the missionaries here in Saijo about a year ago, but had to move suddenly and lost contact. They were really sad and tried over and over again to contact her and find her but to no avail. Last week, the elders were housing and "happened" to run into her! She was willing to listen to us more, so they passed her to us and we went by last week and were able to talk about some concerns she has in her life and how the gospel can help her. She has had a really hard life. We are working on building her up and doing our best to help her see how much the gospel will help her. I think one of the most amazing things about being a missionary is that I have the opportunity to see that change in people. I feel so blessed to see it over and over. I love talking to so many different people and really getting to know them and their personal concerns - but also being able to help them come to see how much Heavenly Father loves them. The other day, Willes shimai and I were reflecting on a few things and realized how exciting it is to see our Japanese improving. We've had lessons as of late that included concerns with gambling, cancer, depression, and all sorts of hard conversations and deep concerns that we can understand and try our best to help with. Don't get  me wrong - I  still can't understand every single word, and it is still most definitely a work in progress, but The Lord really is helping us every step of the way in this work. I feel like I have a thousand more things to say to you but that will have to wait for another day. I love you all so much and am keeping you in my prayers - thank you for all of your love and support!!!!

Ai shite imasu!

Flake Shimai

May 11, 2014

Konnichiwa, kazoku!

Well, first off, I would just like to start by saying I feel pretty loved. I talked to you not too recently on Skype and you still had a lot to email me!! Thank you for that - I love hearing all about your week. I probably won:t be able to give tons of details today because I don:t have lots of time, but I will try to explain a bit. And thank you for telling me all the news! I am so happy for Jeff and Shannon - didn:t see that one coming but I think it is wonderful - tell them congratulations for me! Yes, in response to your question - it does make me feel weird to have so many classmates and even people younger than me getting married and starting families of their own. I am really happy for all of them, but also most definitely know that I am exactly where I need to be. I honestly can not imagine what my life would be like if I had not come on a mission, and had not come to Japan. I love it here. The people I have met have changed my life forever. I am not trying to be dramatic - it is just the truth! As you saw when we skyped, little things have changed me culture wise as well. You best believe I will be pretty weird when I step off the plane. Bowing, speaking to you like English is your second language, and much, much more. Mom, be grateful you don:t have to see me in my full glorified awkwardness for quite a while. :) 　As far as your questions go:

It is really weird to teach in English after teaching in Japanese, but we don:t do it very often. It is kind of weird - sometimes when we teach in English, after doing a lot in Japanese, is that I find myself translating what I would say in Japanese into English. But it is also nice to be able to express things fully in English.

Willes shimai and I speak in both. Majority of the time, it is just a really weird mix of Japanese and English that we both understand perfectly. We speak a fair amount of japanese together, but we are trying to be a lot better with speaking more Japanese to each other.

It is a lot of fun. Our week was way good - Tomiko san (the one that reminds me of gma flake)came to church yesterday and we were way excited about that! I am so sorry I don:t have time for lots of details but I hope you have a lovely week! I love you and am praying for you!

Ai shiteimasu!

Flake Shimai

Cherry blossoms and museums 5-5-14

Konnichiwa kazoku!!!

Thank you so much for the email! I hope you realize that in five days we shall be talking face to face! I will send you the details with the skype situation.

As far as your week goes - sounds like it was crazy as always! That is way sad about the Jeppesons! I love them and have learned so much from both of them. But I am glad they get that opportunity :)

 Yep - one fun fact about teaching here in Japan - the majority of the people that we talk to every day and teach have never even heard of Jesus Christ before, or if they have, they don't know anything about him. It really is such an amazing experience to be able to start with that but then see someone's testimony of their Savior grow. It is incredible. So as of late, we have acquired a few Catholic investigators and I soon came to discover that I do not know how to teach Christians! :) But that is a-okay. We definitely had to do some switching of teaching styles, and everything is working out okay. We were able to teach Kimurasan and Sasakisan a few times last week. They are our cute little grandmas that love us, and they study the bible with their friends every week. Things are going well, but they are very content with their church and bible study. One thing that has been a little hard with them has just been that they haven't really been able to connect with us because we are young and American. We are going with one of the members from the Hikari, HIroshima ward this week to meet with them again, and I can't wait to see how that goes. I don't know if I fully explained this before, but our little group in Saijo is a group out of the Hikari ward (whichi is about 45 min by train from here). So, we go to Hikari every fast Sunday for church. A quick report on Ayako san!!! Things are really improving with her. She is one of our very Buddhist investigators. The first few times we met with her were some of the most frustrating lessons I'd ever been in. We would try to explain something and she would talk right over us, with random inapplicable questions, and wouldn't let us get more than one sentence out. We have been praying so much for her, and trying our hardest to do exactly what Heavenly Father needs us to do for her, and we have been blessed to see some huge miracles with her situation. The last two lessons we have had with her, we have really been able to see growth. She still has questions, but they are sincere. We have been able to really have good discussions, and strongly testify to her of why we know this message is true and will change her life. This has been one of the most treasured experiences on my mission to see how the Lord really is helping us to be the missionaries He needs us to be. I guess this really was just such a huge testimony of how this is His work; not ours. 

I almost forgot to say, but we had another unforgettable experience this past week. Last p-day, we went to the Atomic bomb museum in Hiroshima. It was a very unique experience that I am grateful I was able to have. Honestly, it's pretty much impossible to describe how I felt during that. I have never felt so personally responsible for such a huge, devastating situation. It really was heartbreaking to see what happened, and the effects of that atomic bomb; especially after having lived among these people and growing to love them all so much.Basically, I could go on about how I feel about that - but I'll save that for another day.

Some last notes from the week - 

I mentioned it earlier, but it was really great to be able to go to Hikari for church a few days ago and meet more of the members in the ward. One really nice thing - one of the families in the ward invited us over for dinner after church, and they fed us a feast. So much food it was ridiculous. I feel like that was the most food I had ever seen; it was so nice of them. They shared their conversion story , and how important the gospel is to them and it was one of the most touching things I have ever heard. The importance of member missionaries is huge. They are an awesome example to me. Really though, all the members here are. They are incredible. Last of all - we had an FHE (in Saijo) with members from our branch, less actives, investigators and missionaries last night and it was great. The exciting news is this - for the first time on my mission, I was able to do recreation therapy. And it was the first time I had ever done that in Japanese! We did a rec thearapy game, processed, figured out how everyone felt about it, and tied it in to a scripture that explained we all have various talents and that we all need each other. It was one of the happiest times. I love our Saijo family. It is an incredible place to be.

Anyway, sorry for the abruptness - I love you all and can't wait to see you in a few days! Have a great week - I love you!

愛しています！

フレーク姉妹

                                                 Cherry Blossoms!!!

                                                           Playing the koto (traditional Japanese instrument)

                                                   

                                                         Happy Mothers Day!!

                                             

                                                 Peace Banner made out of origami swans

                                             
                                                       The Atomic bomb dome

The weeks are flying by!! 4-27-14

Konnichiwa, kazoku! 

What a party of a week for you all! Urayamashii! I am glad all of that callback and auditions business is starting to wind down for you mom - you are so good with all of that. Don:t forget that I will be bringing you home some awesome music for callbacks next year. As soon as I heard it that is what it made me think of. Music nerd? Why yes, yes I am. 

Anyway - that is so great that you were all able to go watch devin:s concert in the valley! Sounds like it was quite the fun time. I also loved the matching t-shirts pictures. Looking good. I can:t even tell you what a big fan I am of Heather. I am so happy for them both! And just so you know, I never remember if I answer all of your questionsor not - I feel like I usually don:t. I will start with those today!

So the costa rican girl has been really busy with college, and we haven:t been able to work with her tons, but things are going well with umeda san '(brazil). It:s really interesting - we teach and communicate in all of our second languages (Japanese). she speaks portugese and japanese, we speak english and japanese, and we all can understand each other - how exciting!! We found a portugese speaker in the hikari, hiroshima ward, so we will hopefully be jointing with him this next week. We are so excited. As far as our twig turning in to a branch - we need to have 4 melchizedek priesthood holders for it to turn into a branch. Right now we have 2, but 2 of our recent converts are preparing to receive the melchizedek priesthood so we are really hoping to have a branch this next transfer! Our district is awesome. Everyone is working so hard! I think there are about 5 baptismal dates between our district right now - several scheduled for mothers: day so we are hoping those will go through. Because there might be baptisms that day, (and it would be in hikari, about an hour train ride away) we are not sure yet about times for mothers day calls, and whether it will be the phone or skyping. But I will fill you in on those details next week! 

Saijo. It is such a place of miracles. Last week we were able to teach Kimurasan, the 85 yr old lady that we met on the street a couple of weeks ago, and she actually invited one of her friends to our lesson. The two of them were very sweet, and so sincere as we taught the restoration. They really have a strong desire, and it was an awesome experience. Kimurasan:s eyesight isn:t very good, but we found out she had been reading the book of mormon with a magnifying glass. We are meeting with them both again tonight and can:t wait to explain more. After our lesson, kimurasan played the koto for us, which is a traditional japanese instrument that is way cool. It has 13 strings, and is really long. It was way cool. I think I might have told you a little bit about this last week, but we are teaching AB lessons to Lisa, a recent convert from malaysia that just moved to saijo. She is super fun and bubbly - it is awesome to be working with her. Sorry I just have time for one more story - but this was one of the funniest things of my mission. We housed into Odasan last week. He is about 65, and really short and really funny. When we met him, he was drunk, and in a tshirt and boxers. Kind of weird. But he did say he had a little bit of interest in knowing about god, but not while he was in his drunken state. But he said I drink every night after coming home from work, so I guess this won:t work out. We gave him a book of mormon, told him to read the intro, taught him how to pray, and asked him to pray about it before we came back a few days later. We told him we will come back on friday - and when we do this, we will be coming with friends, and don:t drink before we get here. we will come at 7. So we came back a few days later with the elders (and he was properly dressed and not drunk this time) and he had kept his commitments! We had  a great lesson, and passed him to the elders. My favorite part was at the end of the lesson,  at the end of his prayer. He had said good things, then at the end said And I am grateful that this was a LITTLE bit fun. (sorry, it:s funnier in japanese when a little old man is saying it - Kyo wa SUKOSHI tanoshikatta node arigatou gozaimasu). Anyway, that was a fun time. Sorry this is all over the place - I want to say a thousand more things but I have no time. I love you all, the church is true, and I hope you have a great week!!!!

Ai shite imasu!

Flake Shimai

Easter and Kimonos! 4-20-14

Getting to play dress up at a less active members kimono shop

Konnichiwa, kazoku!

It sounds like you had quite a week! Thank you so much for always keeping me so updated with everything that is going on with you! Just so you know, if that sentence is grammatically incorrect I blame it on the fact that English is a struggle these days. True story. Sometimes when I speak in English I find myself saying things that are a direct translations from Japanese. Or I just completely use incorrect grammar. So please have patience with me - that's all. Anyway, things have been great this week in Saijo! I can't even express how much I love Saijo - and for that matter, Japan. It's scary to think that I am cominig up on my year mark so soon. Elders are so lucky to be here for two years. I'm just saying. Anyway, on to the week!

Oh but first I will try to answer a few of your questions. A typical day - - - (but first a disclaimer - every day is way different)--- Wake up at6:30, go running, eat breakfast/shower, then on to studies (personal, companion, and language) from 8:00-11:00. Lunch, then we are out the door by noon. If we have appointments, we will find (street, talk to everyone we see ) on the way to the appointment, teach, find on the way back. Sometimes we visit members, or less actives and do that same thing. We usually come back home and eat dinner at around5:00, then head back out. If we don't have solid appointments for the day, we will go and visit potential investigators or just pick an area the night before during planning that we want to go to to find a new investigator, then we will street on the way there, and house, and street on the way back. Come home by 9:00 to plan. We try to always schedule our day hour by hour (by that I mean always have something planned for every hour) even if we don't have solid appointments so we can be as effective as possible. Yeah - that about sums up our days! It is really interesting though seeing such a stark contrast between the city and the country. Everyone was so busy in the city. We would have days in Fukuoka where we would be finding for hours and didn't even get past Konnichiwa before the person said they were busy and walked away. Things are a bit slower paced here. Anyway, sorry about that explosion of boring details but I have some things to tell you about!

Alright, to start off - We went to Miyajima for p-day last week. It was so beautiful. It is a really famous place just past Hiroshima -- I will try to send some pictures. It was weird going there though, because it is a really tourist-y place and it was the most foreigners I have ever seen in one place in Japan. SO WEIRD. This past week we rode the train so much it was ridiculous, between general conference saturdayand sunday, miyajima on monday, then interviews on Tuesday. It's a party! We had  interviews with President in HIroshima on Tuesday, and it was great to talk to him about how things are going. Always such a boost to see him and sister Gustafson. I have a thousand things to tell you all and no time -- oh no! I will speedwrite. Don't you fret. 

-Bakeries in Japan are unreal. They are so good. There is a bakery in hiroshima called the one coin bakery - everything is 100 yen - the equivalent of one dollar. Fun stuff.

- A less active member called us up and asked if we wanted to go try on kimonos last week - so we did! We were able to talk to her and get to know more about her, and we went to this super intense kimono shop and all these japanese ladies dressed us in kimonos (which have many layers, fun fact) and when we took pictures told us to tell our friends the kimonos were from that shop. 

-We followed up with a pretty solid potential investigator that we had met while streeting last week, and when we went by her house to see if we could schedule another appointment she invited us in and we ended up teaching an entire lesson right on the spot. Her name is Umedasan, and she is from Brazil. Her husband is Japanese and she has been here for the last twenty years, so she speaks portugese and Japanese. We gave her a portugese Book of Mormon, and she can't wait to read it. This is so interesting, because she and Adriana are the first people I have ever taught that are Christian. It is so interesting how different the teaching approaches are when you teach a Christian. It is so cool. We are currently learning how to pray in Portugese from our Brazillian zone leader so we can teach her. Super cool experience.

-I FINISHED LESSON MASTERY. I can't remember if I already had told you or not. It's exciting stuff.

-Aloe vera flavored everything. Melon flavored stuff. They're great.

-Lisa. Coolest thing ever. Last week, the elders started talking to a lady on the street and she told them she just moved to Saijo from Malasia last week, and she was baptized there into our church a few months ago, and she was hoping she would be able to find the church but did not know how to go about doing that, and was praying to know, then met the elders. They gladly showed her where the church was, and she came to eikaiwa during the week and church yesterday! She has two adorable little kids, and tripled our primary. There has been just 1 girl in primary, but now there are 3 kids there and they are great friends already. 

-OUR LITTLE TWIG. Church here is just about the best experience on the planet. I love these people with my whole soul. We are really hoping to turn in to a branch in May - two of our recent converts are preparing to receive the Melchizidek preisthood by then. Every single member is so unique but they all contribute so much and help so much. Sister Fe is from the phillipines and has been a member since she was young - she moved here about 20 years ago and is a really solid member. Brother toma is our ward mission leader and he has been a solid member for  a really long time as well. The rest of our twig is made up of recent converts that are awesome. 4 that have been baptized in the last few months and one that was recently reactivated. They are all huge examples to me. I really feel so blessed to be here learning from all of them. I want to talk about them all day but unfortunately don't have time for that right now. One day - I  will tell you about more of the continuous saijo miracles.

-We had a huge eikaiwa party this past week that was a really big success - big dinner/played games at a huge park. It was loads of fun. 

-Yesterday was Easter! What a wonderful day. I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting (half Japanese, half english because of our international branch these days) and it was a good experience. I learned a lot while I was preparing. The Atonement is so real! We really are so blessed to have it in our lives. I am so grateful for the things that I have been learning on my mission. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn't come out here, and learned the things that I have been learning and that I know I will continue to learn. Sorry to get all preachy, but it is definitely the truth! Unfortunately I have got to run, but I love you all - have  a great week!

Flake Shimai

ps We do sometimes get good teaching opportunities from our english class - and it is a super fun thing to teach. we have regular students that come every week, and find more while we are streeting each day

General Conference! 4-13-14

Konnichiwa, kazoku! 

I hope the week went well for you! I feel like my weeks are so packed full of goodness that I often forget to tell you some things that have happened! I will try to be better with that. :)

Happy news - my bike finally arrived! Usually they come a few days after transfers, but the mission office has brand new APs and office elders, so things were a little crazy for a while and such but let me tell ya it is good to be biking on good ole Eleanor once again. This past week, we were able to meet some really solid potential investigators. There are such nice people in Saijo. We also did a chirashi kubari that was way fun. I don't really know exactly what that is called in english. But we went near the university, got permissiion to wear pday clothes and we handed out fliers to everybody we could that just talked about our english class that we teach each week. No contacting about the gospel, but just english. Fun stuff. We had another lesson with Ayakosan this week, and it was interesting - we are working on moving forward bit by bit with her. She came to general conference, which was awesome because it was in Takasu (I'll explain more about that in a bit). We also were able to teach Adrianasan this week - she is a university student from Costa Rica, and she is Catholic. She has so much faith and believes so many of the same things as we do. It was so interesting teaching her and hearing so many of the same things we believe - I realized she is the first Christian I have taught on my mission. I have taught lots of different people with varying Buddhist beliefs, people with Hindu beliefs, and people with no religious beliefs. But never Christians. It is an interesting change of pace - a bit of a different teaching style, to say the least. But it was a good learning experience. 

I passed off my last lesson mastery this past week and I am so excited to be done. It may not sound like anything too crazy, but trust me - I have spent so much time on these, throughout my mission so it is definitely a relief to be done. 

GENERAL CONFERENCE. I realize you watched it last week but we got to watch it this past friday and saturday and it was just incredible. We went to Takasu to watch it - which is about an hour by train, then 10 minutes by city tram/trolley, then about a ten minute walk or so - and it was just incredible. This church is so true! Those speakers did not beat around the bush - we were told just what to do. I loved Elder Nelson's talk - it focused so much on faith and how important it is. I loved that there was such a theme throughout the whole thing of needing to be prepared and willing to stand strong for what we believe. I am so proud of you for walking out of that offensive number - you have always been such a great example to me and continue to be such an example to me! I am sorry I am totally out of time but I love you all so much and can't express how much you have done for me. I love you!!! Have a great week!

Ai shite imasu!

Flake Shimai

Saijo!!! It's just like Disneyland! 4-6-14

Konnichiwa, kazoku!

So, fun fact is this. I am currently typing this on an ipad (courtesy of Elder and Sister lamb, the senior couple in our area) and I just accidently deleted my whole email that I had previously written. It was clever, funny, and witty, so if this second go around is not quite up to par, I just want you to know it was at one point. :) Anyway, it sounds like you  had a crazy week! I can't believe you were able to sing in the tabernacle, listen to motab practice, and have a workshop with vocal point - that is a trip your students won't be forgetting anytime soon. Sugoii!  Well, I just want you to know that Willes shimai and I are having an incredible time here in Saijo. I really miss Fukuoka - the people we were working with really are so important to me. And to tell you the truth, it would have been a little harder to adjust with the transfer if I didn't have such an awesome companion and an awesome area. But really, things are going so well here. We have been able to talk to so many different people here. It is really cool, because there is a big Hiroshima university in our area so there are people from all over, here in Saijo. In the past week, we have met people from China, Nigeria, Thailand, India, Egypt, Iran, Mongolia, and Taiwan, just to name a few. It is really neat. As far as the other sisters we live with - I can't believe I didn't say anything last week about that - they're the coolest! So one of the sisters, Sister Williams, from Utah, is our doki (which means she came to Japan at the same time as us). The three of us are on our 7th transfer right now. And she is training Tseng Shimai right now (1st transfer bean from Taiwan) and we basically have a fabulous time every day. Tseng shimai is completely fluent in Japanese (she went to college here for a few years and has studied it for a long time) but doesn't speak much english. The super cool miracle with that - there are tons of chinese people here that don't speak much japanese or english, but Tseng shimai can talk to them! So the other sisters have a few chinese investigators - the lessons are half japanese and half chinese. Pretty cool. I'll try to send a picture of all 4 of us one of these days. They are both pretty chill - we  are having a great time. Our district consists of the 10 Saijo missionaries. 4 elders, 4 sisters, and a senior couple. Fun fact. We have the coolest district. Everyone is really focused. It is awesome. Don't get me wrong, I have loved districts in the past as well, but there have been a lot of times where there is one or two missionaries that are just goofing off or don't really care. But here, it is awesome because everyone is fun, but really focused on why they are here. I think I forgot to tell you, but the nicest thing - last week when we got to our apartment that first day, we got to our door and saw that the other missionaries and the ward members had covered it with candy, happy notes, and the like - way nice. Okay, on to more fun things from the week - - - 

We had ZTM (zone training meeting) this week in Hikari (in Hiroshima). It's about a 45 ish minute train ride from Saijo. Our zone leaders are awesome. We had some really good training, and costco pizza. Definitely the first time in a while that I have had pizza without corn on it. But it was great! It's been awhile since I've had to travel for zone meetings. But I love it. 

Investigators - - - so we have some unfortunate news. Minaesan had to cancel her baptismal date. She still has a desire to know about this gospel and such, but when she talked to her husband about getting baptized he put his foot down because their whole family is Buddhist and always has been. But, he is okay with her still learning about this, just no baptism. We are really grateful that we will be able to continue meeting with her. She has read a ton of the Book of Mormon, and had some really good questions. We are working bit by bit with her, and will figure this out. Ayakosan, our other main investigator, is a bit of an interesting situation. She is very Buddhist. Specifically SGI, a sect of Buddhism. She is always asking questions, and likes to try to ask irrelevant things to trip us up. Last week's lesson was a little frustrating, because she just started doing a Buddhist prayer chant when we were trying to talk about the way that we pray, and she would interrupt us a lot. I think she really is interested in the things we believe, and it makes her feel unsettled, which is why she will try to disrupt things. Even though she is a little interesting, she does like us. She has come to church twice in a row, and probably will come with us to general conference as well. We will do our  best to get her figured out, but I think it's going to take a little bit of time :) Fun thing with general conference - we will be watching it in Takasu, which is about a 1 1/2 hr train ride from here. We will watch it this next weekend - can't wait!

Last fun little tidbit from the week - we stopped a cute little old lady (and when I say little I mean tiny - all the old ladies here come up to my elbow) on the street this past week. We started talking to her about eternal families, and how the knowledge of this plan brings us happiness. She was interested at first, then just started muttering and looking around in her purse for something and kind of muttering under her breath. We gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet, and she just kept looking for something. We realized she might be looking for her wallet, so we told her no, no - it's free, we're volunteers, etc, but she just continued going through her bag. Finally, she whipped out her wallet and pulled out a sen (the equivalent of 10 dollars) and told us we were really nice, and should take this money to buy some tea for ourselves. We refused it, and thanked her for her kindness, and backed away, but she kept insisting we take it. So we refused again, and continued backing away. She came running after us and tried to put it in sister willes's pocket, but she backed up really fast, so it didn't work, so the old lady stuffed it in willes's belt, and ran away. When she was a ways away, she turned around and smiled and told us to go buy some tea again. It was hilarious. What a sweet little lady. I wish I could just record all day every day the things like that that happen to us, for you to see. My life these days is a little crazy. In a good way. Japan is very, very different from America. It makes me sad that I can't explain to you exactly how things are here, but I hope it suffices for me to say I love it and can't imagine being anywhere else. I have learned so much and am continuing to learn and grow every day. I love you all so much - thank you for your love and support!!!!!

Ai shite imasu!

Flake Shimai