Saturday, November 30, 2013
"Whenever you get discouraged look up and say it is going to be a great day!"
Happy Thanksgiving!!! :)
I
hope all of you had a wonderful day!! I know my Thanksgiving was one I
will never forget!! It was so wonderful, but we will get to that is a
min... First the Day to day update.
Monday: All the Sisters
our Branch had FHE together!! :) It was so wonderful. We ate treats and
read "You are special." Such a GOOD book! I will send pictures. I am so
blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people.
Tuesday: Happy Birthday
mom!! :) So this week we started teaching each other. We all had to
create and become an Kyudosha (investigator) and then each of us as
companions were assigned someone to teach. My comp and I are being
taught by the trio of elders in our branch and then we are teaching the
Other shimaitachi. :) It is so cool! You learn so much about teaching
simply so that they will be able to understand. It is SO great. I love
it and I learn so much from the chorotachi and Shimaitachi in my
district. We are like one big family. They for sure have become some of
my best friends. Devotional that night was good. :) A member of the
Seventy came. I don't remember everything he said but whenever a they
come they bring such a spirit with them. I love it so much!!
Wednesday: My journal was
written like the scripture that day. I wish I could copy and paste it to
show you. We were all so excited for thanksgiving we went a little
crazy. :) Being in the MTC for a month will do that to you. Good thing I
only have ONE MONTH LEFT!! YAY!!! :) HALF WAY!! Anyway Wednesday was a
good day. We really studied hard and I really felt the blessings from
it. I love the Japanese language. Did you know that?? haha :) But really
I feel so blessed that the lord trusts me enough to learn it and to
learn it well and to teach his children. I mission is the best calling
in the world. I am so excited to go to Japan. Our Sensei(s) this week
have been talking a ton about their missions and Japan and it just makes
me so excited to go!! They people there are SO ready to hear the
gospel!! And Some of them are SO prepared!! :) And the culture and food
sound so amazing!! :)
Thursday: THANKSGIVING!! :)
It
was such a good day and I have so much to tell you so hopefully I will
touch on all of it. So first Elder Russell M. Nelson came and spoke!! IT
WAS SO GOOD. He talked about the importance of becoming best friends
with the Ward mission leader and Family History consultant in whatever
ward you serve in. (I thought of you mom) Those two people are the keys
to helping you reach out to gods children. People really have a desire
to know where they come from and who they are and especially the family
history consultant can help with that. After his talk we had time to
write letters and read and study for a bit. Then we ate a pretty descent
Thanksgiving Lunch. For the MTC it was good! They even had bacon in the
green beans... haha :) Lunch we packed sack dinners and then had more
time to write and study. Dinner then was eaten in our classrooms....haha
It was okay. I will send pictures. But the funniest thing happened....
So the trio of elders thought it would be funny to stick a fake rat in
my bag. And so during Dinner I reached into my bag to grab out my camera
and I felt something nasty. I pulled out my hand and looked and saw
this nasty rat in my bag. I looked at my comp and was like "ew what is
that?" Funniest moment of my whole life.... She screamed at the top of
her lungs and ran out of the room. I was on the ground laughing so hard.
I was dying!!! haha Because of the scream all the people on our floor
came to see what happened. It was the funniest moment. Totally made the
whole day that much better!! I was legit scared when she screamed
though...haha :) It was so funny though. (There are pictures of "Remmy"
the rat below. He has scared a lot of people these past few days...haha)
It was so great to just have time to take a break from studying
Nihongo. :) haha After we had a really cool Humanitarian devotional. The
Helping Hands Program in the Church is AMAZING!! If you haven't heard
about it go look it up. We watched a video about the church helping in
New york after the Huge storms there. It was amazing. Just by looking at
how much the church does world wide concerning service and giving
donations.... There is no way the the Lords Hand is NOT in this work.
The truthfulness of the gospel is manifest in EVERYTHING that the church
does. It is subarashi! :) (wonderful) We were then privalegde to
participate in a HUGE service project. We filled 360,000 Soup bags/meals
to be given to children in Utah who don't have food at home on the
weekends. :) IT WAS SO FUN!!!! I LOVE DOING THAT TYPE OF STUFF!! we did
is assembly line style and I was the one who sealed all the bags. IT was
the best job. My group filled 9 boxes of 96 soup bags. And each soup
bag contains 3 servings. :) or something like that. I don't know all the
facts but it was so cool!! :) We then got to watch "Ephraim rescue"
Which is a great movie :) Then we went to bed. It was great!
Friday: Nothing exciting.... haha :) Just learned lots of Nihongo
and read the scriptures. Oh but they turned the Christmas lights on!!!
:) It is magical here at night!! :) I love the MTC and all I am learning
here.
Read the Book of Mormon
everyday!! It really does bless lives. :) I am really learning to be
humble. I am learning so many of my weaknesses everyday but then as I
learn more about the gospel and the atonement I am filled with hope to
know that it is okay to be weak. The lord promises that he will make
weak things strong as we turn to him. Turn to the lord in all that you
do. Don't forget to look up and be happy! :) "Whenever you get
discouraged look up and say it is going to be a great day!" Brother
Willis told me that. He is in our Branch Presidency. He also is
President Hinckley's Nephew!! :) He looks a lot like him and he is Such a
good and sweet man! I have learned a lot from him. But the most
important thing is to look up! :) Everyday! Look at the sky and feel the
love that Heavenly Father has for you and all of his children. He has
blessed us so much. Oh and if you get the chance read the talk by
President Monson About Gratitude. It is form the 2010 october conference
I think. SO GOOD!!! It has become one of my all time favorites :)
I love you all and pray for you everyday! Have a wonderful week and enjoy the pictures :)
Love, Ashby Shimai
アシベ姉妹 Ps This is what my name tag is going to look like in Japan!! SO COOL HUH?!?! :)
A-Shi-be Shi-mai :)
Monday, November 25, 2013
SURBARASHI SENSEIS - Wonderful Teachers
"Some blessings take a while to come, but to those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ THEY COME." -Jeffery R. Holland
My Dearest Family,
This
week has been one of blessings. That means it was a hard one....haha
but one that showed me how blessed I truly am to be a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-days Saints. This gospel and the
knowledge of who we are and WHOSE we are is the happiest thing in the
world. (Thanks mom....haha I stole that from your letter ;) As it is the
best holiday of the year this next week I am going to focus on the
blessings part of my week. :) Cause EVERY DAY we are SO blessed.
Especially as missionaries... and then I will tell you all about how
flippin AMAZING my Thanksgiving is going to be!! hah :)
Saturday: I am grateful
for my Companion P. Shimai :) My companion is seriously such an amazing
person. I wish I could tell you all that happened that day, but it is
kind of a lot. (I wrote a letter to nicole about it and so you can ask
her.) She showed me how truly important that work we are doing here is
and the importance of not forgetting who you are and what you are here
to do.
Sunday: I am grateful for
the gift of the holy ghost. Have you ever really thought about how
having the precious gift of the Holy Ghost has changed your life. We
taught a lesson on Sunday to our District about the Holy Ghost and all
the ways that it influences our lives. IT WAS SO GREAT!! It is SO much
easier to teach in Ego (English) Vs. Nihongo (Japanese)....haha :) The
Spirit was so strong we watched a Mormon message about the spirit. I
cant remember what it was called.... so just go watch some of them... I
am sure they are ALL good...haha :) That night we said goodbye to all
the Sisters from are branch that were leaving. We sang hymns and prayed
together. Again the spirit was so strong. God puts people into our lives
for a reason. We can learn something from EVERYONE we come in contact
with. Look for the good in people. These Sisters truly changed my life.
They showed so much love in ALL that they did to EVERYONE they came to
know. I love them and will truly miss them all they will be amazing
missionaries.
Oh side note.... haha So
every Sunday night we get to watch a movie.. and last Sunday we watched
"legacy" It was great... that movie is so cheesy. But it really made me
miss you guys.... some of the lines... oh man I was just dying. Or the
part were the wagons pop up on the horizon and the sun is going down...
hahahha :) yeah it was great! Oh and the devotional that night was given
by Mary Ellen Edmunds. SHE WAS SO FUNNY!! like so funny and such an
amazing person!!
Monday: I cant really
remember Mondays... haha it is always a blurr..... :) But I am grateful
for 8 hours of sleep. That night was the first night I didn't got to bed
at 10:30 and boy do you feel it when you have a long day. hahaha
Tuesday: I am grateful for
the power of the priesthood. So one of my roommates got sick this week.
She just had a really bad cold. She was able to receive a blessing and
it was so cool to watch the elders in my district give one too her. My
companion also received a blessing of comfort and peace that day with
all that she has been going through. It was amazing. The Priesthood
power is real!
Wednesday: I am grateful
for my weaknesses. Wednesdays are always the hardest day of the week for
us....... You would think is would be Thursday because we have like 6
hours of class in a row... but no it is Wednesdays. We taught a lesson
and it didn't go very well. We learned a TON though that day. My brain
hurt...hah :) It is amazing how many weaknesses I have.... I have so
much to learn and sometimes it gets discouraging to think about all I
have to become to be an effective missionary, but then I remember that
the lord only requires your best effort. My dear friend Katie Parker
sent me a letter yesterday that had a cool poem in it titled "After all
we can do" by Robbie Pierce. Read it. It is really good. :) But it just
reminded me that the lord will make up the rest. We just need to do our
best and leave the rest to him. He will help you and shape you into the
person he needs you to be if you are willing to give yourself to him.
Thursday: WHAT A GREAT
DAY!!! I am grateful for SURBARASHI SENSEIS!!!!!!! I have the BEST
teachers here at the MTC. But really they are amazing. Two of them
actually knew Jared Hall and lived with him while they served in Tokyo.
And Another one of them served with Jackson Healy and Adam Day in Kobe.
Small world. They are all such different teachers but so good at
teaching the gospel and Nihongo. I love it!!! :) And they are pretty
Hilarious. We have a great time in class :) it is SUBARASHI!!!
(wonderful)
Friday: I am grateful for
the wonderful language of............. JAPANESE of course!!!! You
weren't thinking I was going to say english... I mean english is a
hideous language... hahahha ;) The power of praying in Japanese is so
cool. Yesterday we learned different ways to say things in our prayers
in Japanese so they were the same all the time. My Sensei shared a story
about how it was when he made the decision to pray only in Japanese on
his mission that the language really started to come. I am really trying
to do that but sometimes it is hard cause my mind just starts speaking
ego to me and I am like STOP.... I am called to speak Nihongo... not
ego... :) but I am getting better so don't worry. :)
Saturday: I AM SO GRATEFUL
FOR THE TEMPLE!!! :) So today is my last day that I will go to a temple
in Utah for 1 year and 6 months... :( I am sad but so grateful for the opportunity to have been able to go while here at the MTC. It has been
such a source of comfort and peace and a chance to just get away from
the MTC and breathe. Sometimes after you have been in the MTC for 4
weeks you kind of want to see what the world looks like outside of the
tan brick walls and blue carpet.... hahaha :) I love the MTC though so
no worries. But go to the temple this week if you can!! It will bless
your life more than you know. :)
So THANKSGIVING!!!! we get
to have a general authority come... Most likely a member of the 12 and
we get to watch Ephraim s rescue!! and do a service project and all
this other fun stuff!! I am SO excited!! :) Even though I will miss all
of you so much I guess this is the next best place to be. right?
Always remember I love you
and pray for you every day!!! :) The Church is true and the book is
blue. Read the Book of Mormon every day!! :) Trust in the Lord, out your
will inline with his and he will bless you. These are all the things I
am learning everyday.... and boy do I have a lot more to learn!! It is a
happy time to be alive. Have a great week!
Ai shite imasu!! :) (this is the correct spelling I learned this week ;)
Love, Ashby Shimai
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Konnichiwa!!!
What another
Great Week at the dear ol' MTC! haha and trust me some of the buildings
are OLD!! I am living in 5M and my classes are all in 7M. 7M has all the
Asian Forgien languages in it so it is fun! :) But it still has chalk
boards and old desks.....haha :) we try to make the most of it! This
week we had the amazing opportunity of having Elder L. Tom Perry come
for Tuesday Nights Devotional!! Let's just say Tuesdays was by far the
best day of the week. I was able to sing in the choir. And that is so
LUCKY because when an apostle is coming everyone tries to sing in the
choir. There were probably at least 100 missionaries that came to choir
practice that couldn't sing cause there wasnt enough room. It was such a
great experience. This Devotional was broadcasted to 5 of the MTCs
around the world including the Phillipines! Oh and mom yes I heard about
the Typhoon. We have been praying like crazy for the missionaries and
people there. L Tom Perry told us of some of the miracles that happend
in order to make sure the Missionaries there were safe. I would tell you
the stories, but I only have so much time. Anyway... The best part of
the devotional was when Elder Perry walked in the room. There have been
very few times in my life where I have felt the spirit that strong. He
talked about the importance of a Compaionship and how our missions are
not only blessing othres lives, but also preparing us for so much more.
It was a wonderful devotional.
The spirit here at the MTC is
amazing!! Then you take that spirit and add the presence of an Apostle
to it. Talk about chills all over!!! It was amazing. It was one of those
moments where I couldn't stop smiling. The happiness and peace that
comes from feeling the Spirit is indescribable and irreplaceable. We all
should strive to feel the spirit at all times and in all things and in
all places. My companion taught me something really cool this week about
the the spirit. Go look up the word "earnest" in the Bible Dictionary.
It talks about how the spirit is a little piece of how we will feel in
god presence. IT is SO WONDERFUL!! Time flies here at the MTC. This week
I forgot my journal so I cant really give you a day by day cause it is
so hard to remember all that happened. Sorry about that but I will do my
best to tell you all that I can!
On monday all of the
"Daisenpai" (Older missionaries) are leaving... I am so sad to see them
go. They have changed my life in so many ways and have become such good
friends. I will attach some pictures. Oh and Last sunday all of our
mission wore red, white, and black for our mission colors day! :) It was
fun and we took pics at the temple so I will send some of those
pictures too.
The Japanese is coming along. I
have learned so much in just three weeks it is so crazy! I love
Japanese!! There are so many things to learn still though so pray that I
will be able to learn to the best of my ability! :)
Well that is all I can really
remember for this week!! I will try better next week to do a day by day
cause it makes my letters so much more orangized...haha :) Thank you for
all of the love, letters, and prayers. I love them and need them!!
I know that this church is true and that god loves us so much!
Have a wonderful week! I love and miss you all so much!
Ai Shitte Masu!! :)
Love, Ashby Shimai.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Konnichiwa Kazoku! :)
What a
wonderful week it has been! I pretty much love and adore the MTC. The
mission though has proven to be the biggest roller coaster of my life.
It is wonderful one hour and then the rest you get discouraged cause you
can't understand any of the Japanese your "investigator" is speaking,
and then you meet some actual Nihon Sisters and you are so happy to meet
them cause they are from Japan, and then you realize you can't
understand what they are saying either. :) Let's just say that was my
whole week. haha But it is so wonderful cause the Lord it teaching me so
much. I feel like I have grown so much in just 1 1/2 weeks. :)
Thank you for all of the
letters and packages!!! It is the best day ever when you get a letter
here at the MTC and then we you wake up on P-day and see 14 EMAILS!!!
and you get 2 packages. :) let's just say today has been wonderful!! I
love hearing all about how everyone it doing. And pictures are always
fun!
So let's talk about my week:
Sunday:
First no one told all the new sisters that it was Daylight
Savings...... and it isn't like we remember those types of things I mean
we had only been here 4 days. So we all woke up thinking it was 6:30
when it was really 5:30....hahahah :) Funniest moment when we found out
an hour later...hah :) But it was fast Sunday and we were fasting as a
district to be able to learn the language. It was amazing. That Sunday
really helped our district to unite and now we are all the best of
friends. Devotional was great. One of the old MTC presidents came and
spoke. After devotional we watched the Christmas MTC devotional by David
A. Bednar titled "Character of Christ". If you haven't heard it YOU
HAVE TO LOOK IT UP. It is so powerful. He talks about the importance of
giving and serving as Christ did. :) Sundays are the best!
Monday: I don't remember a ton from Monday.... sorry. Class and class and more class... ?? ;)
Days here go by slow but weeks seem to fly...haha
Tuesday:
I really learned a lot Tuesday. I learned the importance of not
comparing my self to others. But it really is an important thing. God
has given us all things to accomplish here on this earth and he has
given you the means to accomplish it so don't worry about the talents
and abilities you see others have that you lack. You have what you need
and the Lord will make up for what you lack. :) A very important thing
to learn especially when everyone else in your Nihongo class seems to be
speaking so well and you only have been learning Nihongo for a week....
Devotional was amazing on Tuesday too but I don't have a ton of
time..... :) BUT FUN FACT!!!! L. Tom Perry is coming Tuesday for
Devotional!!!!!! Yeah we are all pretty Excited!! :)
Wednesday: We taught our
progressing investigator who is also our other teacher. It was amazing
though! Padelsky Shimai Shared an experience and I totally almost cried.
The spirit was so strong. I just love my comp. She is so wonderful. We
work really well together and balance each other out. Companionship's are
truly inspired. Also we read the 1 chapter of 1 Nephi together and all
of the gospel principles just popped out. Reading the scriptures is
amazing. Here I have learned so much about effective scripture study.
Thursday: Not going to lie it was a long day. I really realized I have so much to learn. Kind of discouraging.
Friday:
Prayers are answered. Since Thursday was kind of hard I prayed that
night that I would be able to see the results of my studying and see
just a glimpse of what the gift of tongues really means. And boy Friday
was the best!!! :) and no I wasn't able to speak Nihongo perfectly...
But during class that day for the first time I was able to create
sentences on my own and kind of start to bear my own testimony instead
of just reading things from a book. It was so wonderful. The lord is
mindful of us and helps us see that he is the true source of power in
the world. :) It was the best day! :)
Okay so I just love my
Branch. I am surrounded by the best people. The Shimaitachi (sisters)
are so sweet and I just love them and we just laugh all day long.
Well.... we appropriate ;) It is wonderful. They have such strong
testimonies and are always helping us Kohai (new Japanese speaking
missionaries) to feel loved.
Oh I feel like I have so much more to tell you but I am running out of time. :)
I
love you all thank you for all the letters, packages, emails, support,
and love. I pray for you all multiple times a day. :) I love you with my
whole heart and soul. Almost as much as I love the Gospel :) haha Have a
wonderful Week!! I can't wait to hear from you soon!
All my love! Ai Shitte Masu
(probably the most said phrase by the Nihongo missionaries It is the
best! there is a lot of love here) :)
Ashby Shimai
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Hello Family and Friends,
Well
I did it! I made it through the first few days at the MTC and what an
adventure they have been. I have had so much fun, but I will be honest
It is no walk in the park.
Day 1:
After you
dropped my off we went through check in and Sister Hyde, Sister
alldregde and Sister Judd all checked me in!! It was the best thing
ever. :) and all by chance. Then we got our twenty pounds of books and
went straight to class, where Hansen Sensei spoke only Japanese for the
whole 3 hours. Okay so he did say a few words in English. It is really
weird when he does speak English in class cause most of the time it is
straight Nihongo. :) And I love Nihongo (Japanese) It is a flippin hard
language and as much as I try to remember words I cant....haha But I
love it! I cant wait until I can just go off and sound like a Japanese
person. My companion is Padelsky Shimai. She is wonderful and so much
fun! She is from Syracuse Utah and 19 years old. We have a lot of fun
together. We are completely different people yet we have a lot in
common. :) There is a picture attached. ALL the sisters in my district
are half Nihongo. :) crazy huh? and then there are 5 elders. They are
wonderful people! Anyway....back to the day. We had a cool teaching
experience. We had the opportunity to watch and participate in teaching
someone the gospel. It was really cool. It is amazing how fast you can
feel love for a person. That night I was so tired. It was such an
emotionally, physically and spiritually exhausting day. For sure the
first day was the hardest.
Day 2: I actually cant really
remember all that we did Thursday...... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! haha it was
kinda blur..... we were in class for like 6 hours,... haha :) but is was
fun to learn the language more.
Day 3: WE TAUGHT OUR FIRST LESSON IN NIHONGO!!!! :) Hardest thing I have
ever done... but it actually went really well. We could really feel the
spirit and we were for sure being guided by the spirit in what to say
to her, cause we had no idea what she was saying. We were able to
understand very minimal. But it was really cool. We will teach her again
today about the Plan of Salvation. So hopefully that will go better.
Day 4: P-DAY!!!! Aka the best
day ever at the MTC!!!! except the computers were down all morning so
we couldn't check our emails until now.... and it is so sad when you
open your email and you have NO EMAILS......... The best part of the day
becomes the worst......hahah So step it up AND EMAIL ME!!!!! Cause I
have a whole hour!! :) And I really want letters and emails and such. Oh
and send pictures!! I will always have Saturday as my P-day and I will
usually get on either in the morning or after the temple. :) I get to go
to the temple today and I am so excited!! :)
Well
that is all I really have about my first few days. This church is so
true. I Know it! I love it! and I LOVE IT!!!!! My testimony with in the
last few days has increase so much!!! :) I love the gospel and I know
that as I am obedient the lord will bless me! :) ps... I can kind pray
in Japanese now so that is really cool. I love NIHONGO and I know the
lord will help me learn this language. I love you all!
Ai Shitte imasu! (I love you)
Love, Ashby Shimai
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)