Gosh this week has felt SO long! So much has happened! First we went out to dinner with an amazing investigator (which I use that term lightly. He`s pretty much a member. Heart of gold, just hasn`t been baptized yet. So close!) His name is Yamamoto-san. He took all 4 of us out to the most famous Yakitori (squererred meat) shop in Kurume. Gosh it was so delicious and he was hilarious. I don`t know why he`s not just translated yet. He is such an amazing man.
We also had our Church Open House,which is just when we open the church building for non-members to come and check out what we believe.(Which is irronic because it`s always open for that exact reason). It went well! There was some crazy last minute (literally 5 minutes before it started) planning, but it turned out way good! Inemasu-san, our new investigator was able to come! As we had the opening undersizes, the bishop was just explaining somethings about the church. What we do and what we believe. The whole theme of the Open House was to show people that Mormons are just real, normal people too. So one of the members asked me to show a video about families. I was the tech-person and had the video all set up. But as I was sitting there, I just felt a pulling..... A tugging. I felt like I should play this other video. One that explains London Bishop`s Conversion story. I love that video because it just explains and introduced the Book of Mormon, the Missionaries, and the Spirit so well. But I was just at war with myself. That wasn`t the plan, and the member would probably think I`m crazy for taking the theme in the wrong direction. But I knew what I had to do. I knew what my investigator needed and he needed the Book of Mormon. When the Bishop gestured to me to play the video. I clicked my way through the menu and played the London Bishop one. It was definitely one of those `follow the spirit` moments when Heavenly Father is just like, `It`s okay, trust me on this one.` And just as always, he came through. The movie was just what he needed. Crump Shimai even said that she looked over at Inemasu-san, and saw him gulping, like fighting back tears. He enjoyed the rest of the Open House and even came with us to Tennis!
Miracle. Follow the spirit. Even when it`s not planned. Even when it`s not convenient. Even when people might give you flack for it. Follow the Spirit.
So on Thursday we ..........................drum roll........................................ GOT IPADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup. That`s right people. Japan Fukuoka Mission now has Ipads. At first, honestly, I was little stubborn. Kind of like a grandma stuck in her times. `No I`m fine I don`t need those fancy Ipads to do the work. I`ll stick with my handcart`-kind of attitude. But now I see how the Lord is really going to enhance the work. We`ll be able to reach more people and touch more hearts. They taught us how to use technology righteously. Technology isn`t bad. You can use it to uplift others, learn and share with others the good you`ve seen and done, and inspire them to do the same. But when we let it control our lives and get sucked into non-existent universes, then it become a problem. Satan tries so hard to get us with technology. Not just with horrible stuff like pornography, but with wasting time on the computer, playing hours and hours of video games, wasting time when you could be building relationships with REAL people, face-to-face. There is no substitute. I`m excited to see what the Lord will do with them though.
In other news. Friday morning Healey Shimai and Wilkinson Shimai caught onto a killer virus and got super sick. Throwing up, headaches, stomach aches, the whole 9 yards and then some. Poor things. They have pretty much been lying on their futons for 3 days straight. Then yesterday, Crump Shimai got killer sick too. So now we have 3 lepers instead of 2, leaving me the last one standing. Haha so sad! It`s actually been kind of fun taking care of my little leper colony ;D
The Kurume members went nutz and brought us over tons and tons of juice and bread and icecream, anything you`d ever need to get healthy again. Our fridge literally could not hold it all. They call us, and visit every few hours. They came over and gave them blessings, and even passed the sacrement to us, because we couldn`t go to church. They brought medicine and essential oils. They are selfless. They are seriously the most amazing people I`ve ever met. It is a personal belief of mine that there are such amazing people on this earth, who are literally NOT translated and taken up to heaven, ONLY because Gods keeps them here to bless imperfect people like us. That must be the only reason, they`re too amazing. I love the japanese people with all my heart. They`ve made a mark on my heart that can never be taken away. I love them. I`d do anything for this ward, and the members here in Japan. I love this work and know it`s true!
Love you all!
See you in 4 fast sundays! (AAAAH!!!! WHAT?! that cant be right. Let`s just pretend that I have more like 14 more fast sundays, Okay? Okay.)
--Stevenson Shimai
We also had our Church Open House,which is just when we open the church building for non-members to come and check out what we believe.(Which is irronic because it`s always open for that exact reason). It went well! There was some crazy last minute (literally 5 minutes before it started) planning, but it turned out way good! Inemasu-san, our new investigator was able to come! As we had the opening undersizes, the bishop was just explaining somethings about the church. What we do and what we believe. The whole theme of the Open House was to show people that Mormons are just real, normal people too. So one of the members asked me to show a video about families. I was the tech-person and had the video all set up. But as I was sitting there, I just felt a pulling..... A tugging. I felt like I should play this other video. One that explains London Bishop`s Conversion story. I love that video because it just explains and introduced the Book of Mormon, the Missionaries, and the Spirit so well. But I was just at war with myself. That wasn`t the plan, and the member would probably think I`m crazy for taking the theme in the wrong direction. But I knew what I had to do. I knew what my investigator needed and he needed the Book of Mormon. When the Bishop gestured to me to play the video. I clicked my way through the menu and played the London Bishop one. It was definitely one of those `follow the spirit` moments when Heavenly Father is just like, `It`s okay, trust me on this one.` And just as always, he came through. The movie was just what he needed. Crump Shimai even said that she looked over at Inemasu-san, and saw him gulping, like fighting back tears. He enjoyed the rest of the Open House and even came with us to Tennis!
Miracle. Follow the spirit. Even when it`s not planned. Even when it`s not convenient. Even when people might give you flack for it. Follow the Spirit.
So on Thursday we ..........................drum roll........................................ GOT IPADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup. That`s right people. Japan Fukuoka Mission now has Ipads. At first, honestly, I was little stubborn. Kind of like a grandma stuck in her times. `No I`m fine I don`t need those fancy Ipads to do the work. I`ll stick with my handcart`-kind of attitude. But now I see how the Lord is really going to enhance the work. We`ll be able to reach more people and touch more hearts. They taught us how to use technology righteously. Technology isn`t bad. You can use it to uplift others, learn and share with others the good you`ve seen and done, and inspire them to do the same. But when we let it control our lives and get sucked into non-existent universes, then it become a problem. Satan tries so hard to get us with technology. Not just with horrible stuff like pornography, but with wasting time on the computer, playing hours and hours of video games, wasting time when you could be building relationships with REAL people, face-to-face. There is no substitute. I`m excited to see what the Lord will do with them though.
In other news. Friday morning Healey Shimai and Wilkinson Shimai caught onto a killer virus and got super sick. Throwing up, headaches, stomach aches, the whole 9 yards and then some. Poor things. They have pretty much been lying on their futons for 3 days straight. Then yesterday, Crump Shimai got killer sick too. So now we have 3 lepers instead of 2, leaving me the last one standing. Haha so sad! It`s actually been kind of fun taking care of my little leper colony ;D
The Kurume members went nutz and brought us over tons and tons of juice and bread and icecream, anything you`d ever need to get healthy again. Our fridge literally could not hold it all. They call us, and visit every few hours. They came over and gave them blessings, and even passed the sacrement to us, because we couldn`t go to church. They brought medicine and essential oils. They are selfless. They are seriously the most amazing people I`ve ever met. It is a personal belief of mine that there are such amazing people on this earth, who are literally NOT translated and taken up to heaven, ONLY because Gods keeps them here to bless imperfect people like us. That must be the only reason, they`re too amazing. I love the japanese people with all my heart. They`ve made a mark on my heart that can never be taken away. I love them. I`d do anything for this ward, and the members here in Japan. I love this work and know it`s true!
Love you all!
See you in 4 fast sundays! (AAAAH!!!! WHAT?! that cant be right. Let`s just pretend that I have more like 14 more fast sundays, Okay? Okay.)
--Stevenson Shimai