First week of I pads

My dearest family,
Okay this week has been so crazy and so much has happened!!!!! :) 1st things first. iPads!!! So they told us that they have only receive permission for 30 missions I the whole world to get iPads before April and only 2 of those missions are foreign missions. Tokyo south and Tokyo!!!!!!!! So we are really lucky but that means we have to use them wisely. We are setting the example....hahha :) but it is so great! The iPad makes the area book and planning so much more efficiently  and accurate and helps us follow the guidelines in preach my gospel, exactly. It is really quite cool actually. But at the same time we have to remember that we did missionary work just fine before we got the iPads. The advice they gave us was "think about the people and
then as you think about them the iPads will flow naturally into place." Something like that anyway.... It is just the idea that there is so much we can do now with the iPads, like show videos on the street and pull up pictures and such so quickly but we shouldn't be thinking in a finding situation "how can I use the iPad" we should be thinking "how can I help this person come closer to christ" and by doing that we will use the iPads in the way that they were intended to be used. It is weird having an iPad though.... Hahah technology :) I
love it! We have been able to use it to show videos in lessons already and it really helped to bring the spirit. Really cool how The Lord is hastening his work. Anyway the iPads happened on Thursday....let's go back to the beginning of the week.....
Tuesday:
We went to hula class for the ward. It is really cool cause the relief society sisters bring there nonmember friends and we get to all talk and have a great time. This ward is so good at having activities where they can invite people to come and become more familiar with the church. I love the Tama ward!!! :) we also went and got sushi that night for dinner and sushi in Japan is so good!! Way different then American sushi but so simple and so good!
Wed:    was such a amazing day! I just say gods hand in everything that day :) we visited a less active lady who is dying from cancer and it was so amazing. She doesn't know a ton about the gospel but she a very
strong testimony and is so at peace. She could die any week now and she has been through a lot in her life. She is only like 40 something and has a 8 year old daughter who just got baptized this year. She is an amazing lady though and so sweet. I also got my spike finally I will send you pictures!! It was such a tender mercy that I found it and I love it so much!!! It was ¥39200 $392 for everything. So perfect :) and eikaiwa was so great that night! We had some people come who haven't for a while so that was a blessing. :)
Thursday:    we got the iPads!!! We had a great training and the right after went and taught a lesson. It was the most amazing lesson. So as you can tell lessons here are few because we are the sisters opening the area.... :) which is sometimes is hard. President says that it usually takes about 2 transfers of opening an area for anything to happen but we are trying our best to change that ;) Anyway this week we had way more lessons then ever before!! Which was such a blessing. This particular lesson was with a sister who has been taking eikaiwa lessons from missionaries for about 6 months.  For 1/2 the time we teach her English and then the other 1/2 we teach gospel. During the lesson we talked about the Book of Mormon and used a questions of the soul Insert that we have. She reads the Book of Mormon every week but doesn't understand it. I was able to testify to her half in Japanese half in English about the power of the Book of Mormon and how it truly
does answer those questions of the soul that we might have. As I was testifying I had a picture flash through my head of her In white getting baptized and I had this distinct impression that one day whether it is in a few weeks or a few years she will be baptized. It was so amazing to feel that joy that comes from testifying about
things you know to be true. I love the gospel and the Book of Mormon so much!!
Friday:
I don't remember much....but we met this really cool lady on the street that just wanted to talk to us about our church and why we believe it. She wouldn't let us give her anything but she was super interested. People are funny sometimes :)
Saturday:
We got two new investigators this week!!!! It was the best!!! :) we taught one of the, on Saturday and she is so sweet. She is super shy and doesn't say much but we gave her a church tour and taught her the first lesson and she talked about how good it made her feel. It was so great! The gospel is nothing but good! Oh and I now have been in japan for a whole month!!
Sunday:     always the best day! And fast Sundays are even better :) we taught another one of our
investigators who is really more interested in learning English then anything else but we are slowly seeing
changes in her and we are trying everything we can to just help her purely feel the spirit while we are there. She is such a good lady I just her :)
Today:     we ran up a huge hill to watch the sunrise it was amazing!!!!
:) I will send pics
Pray that this week we will be able to find new investigators. :) transfers are next week and I am really hoping I don't get transferred. I feel like we are finally getting the hang of things here in Tama and I love Nakamura Shimai!!! She is the cutest little Asian :) hahah Well I love and miss you all but I love japan!!! This week I have been really able to see truly how much The Lord loves his children :) he is  always there :) and we truly need him every hour. I pray for you all!
Have a great week!
Love ashby Shimai
Sent from my iPad