#sistermissionary

Family!!

I have so much I want to tell you and so little time........
This week has been amazing. We have been really busy and this next
week is even busier. But being busy is the best!!!! It means we are
teaching lessons and seeing progress!!!! :) I love it!!

First funny story...so our house has super steep stairs and you have
to be really careful going down them so you don't fall cause they are
wood and super slippery. Well this week I feel down them......
Ouch!!!!!! I have a huge bruise on my bumb. Like HUGE!!!! Haha it was
the funniest moment though!!! I was laughing so hard. Then a few days
ago my comp fell off her chair during personal study and when she hit
the ground she peed her pants!! It was the funniest moment ever!!!! So
sometimes we fall down a lot but life is good still. :) haha just some
funny moments.

Anyway!!! Tons of cool things happened this week but my favorite day
was Friday. Kawajo Shimai my Nihongene comp. had Japanese conference
on Friday so it was just Bickmore Shimai and I. We saw some pretty
cool miracles. Talk about gift of tongues. We were able to talk to so
many people and talk a lot about the Book of Mormon. I loved it. Later
that night we had a lesson with an investigator, Rika. The lesson was
amazing!! We talked about the atonement and after the lesson Rika said
she felt the spirit so strong. Our Japanese was really simple but we
were still able to meet her needs and help her overcome some hard
things. It was amazing.

Then later that night one of our investigators called and said she was
reading about Ammon and applying his life to hers. She talked about how
the Book of Mormon is so much easier for her to read then the bible.
She loves the Book of Mormon. She has just barely started learning
about the gospel and she is already loving the Book of Mormon. That
book has so much power!!!

This whole week has just been a testament to me that He guides this
work and when we rely on Him everything will work out, always :) the
scriptures are full of amazing promises and blessings if we follow
Christ and live it. I love the gospel. It changes my life everyday

that I live it. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ I am able to become
better, happier, and help others do the same. :) share how the gospel
of Jesus Christ has blessed your life with someone this week. It will
strengthen your testimony. I know it! :)

Love you all!!! Have a wonderful week!!!

Mother's Day is so soon!!  Can't wait to talk to you all!!

Love,
Ashby Shimai

アシュビー姉妹
愛してます!!

Happy Easter

Dearest Fam Bam,

Happy Easter!!! Happy Anniversary お父さんとお母さん!!! Happy birthday
Whitney!! And happy anniversary Nicole and Matt!! Wow big week?!? :)
haha

This week, as always, has been great and filled with many miracles.
But Easter was so great! I am sure you have all seen the "Because of
him" video, but if not go watch it!! It is amazing. Jesus Christ is
the reason why I am here in Japan. It is my all time favorite video.
We have been sharing it with everyone we can and it has been amazing.
People in Japan don't really know the real reason behind Easter. It is
just 卵の日 (egg day) haha ;) but Christ lived and because he lived so
shall we.

So last week miracles and stories.....


Tuesday we went to go visit a less active who lives on the edge of our
area. Well we went to go see if she still even lives there... So we
biked for about 1 1/2 hours to get there. She no longer lives there.
But we met some great people a long the way and had some really good
conversations so it was worth it. :)

(Ps the area I am in is all hills....so biking is fun. ;) haha

So this week our one investigator with a baptismal date hasn't been
doing well at all. She gas gotten really discouraged and was really
tired from work and so she couldn't meet at all. She for a while
stopped answering her phone even. It was really worrying us
because her baptismal date was for this Saturday. Last night she
called us finally and said that she had had a huge fight with her
roommate and needed us to come over. We were able to finally talk to
her and teach her again last night. The whole time she just kept
saying how she needs to repent. This whole week we have been worried
that she had lost her faith, but she hasn't?!? She still knows that
this is the true church she just has weaknesses that she is still
trying to over come. But we are moving her baptismal date for a couple
weeks. She is reading the Book of Mormon again and so that is such a
miracle!!

Today we had temple Pday. On the train home we met this girl who is
Christian and has such a strong testimony of Christ. We gave her a
Book of Mormon and she was really happy. I love giving people book of
Mormons. It is probably my favorite type of Dendo. It is literally my
favorite book and so giving it to people just is the happiest thing
because you know it is going to help them in their life. :) I have
seen so many times the power that comes from reading the Book of
Mormon. It changes lives. It has for sure changed mine.

Being on my mission has helped me realize how much potential people
have. We are created for so much more! And Christ makes it possible
for us to accomplish that. Please don't forget the simple truth that
you are a child of a loving Heavenly Father. I feel it every time I go
to the temple. :) go to the temple this week if you get the chance. :)

I love you all and pray for you every week!! Prayer is the best!


Love, Ashby Shimai

愛してます！
アシュビー姉妹


Mexican food in Japan :) some of my favorite sisters :)

We thank thee of God for a prophet

My dear family,

This week has been one of miracles!! For sure! I love the spirit and
this gospel and everything good in this work. But really :)

This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch conference!!! Wasn't
it amazing. Read it over and over. I for sure will be. There were so
many things that I want to share with you that I took away from it, but
my favorite thing was this from President Uchtdorfs talk. He said,

"There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings. Why is
this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings,
children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises
eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny. The more we
learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings
here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely
interruptions--temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to
the eternal joy awaiting the faithful. How grateful I am to my Heavenly
Father that in His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting
beginnings."

I LOVED that!!!! It makes so much sense right!! Our nature resist the
endings of things but it is because we are children of an eternal
being. Our spirits know that there is no end and so it resists even
the idea of it. To me that is just another thing testifying that there

Nissan stadium where they had
the World Cup in 2002 :) cool huh?? :)

is a God. Our spirits know Him and His plan. I love it so much!

Also I loved that the talked about sharing with your missionaries what
you learn from Preach My Gospel or others things. Please share?!? 

I love hearing about what you learn.

This week I learned the true importance of the Christ like attribute
of love. It is when we truly love the Lord that we give our all to
him.

This week we got a new investigator!!! Well we actually got 2!! It was
so happy. But this First Lady is so amazing!! She has truly been
prepared. She is divorced and has an autistic 13 year old son. She
speaks great English too. She asked us so many great questions and has
such a desire to learn more. The best part of the first lesson we had
with her is when she looked at me and said, "At night I get lonely and
really anxious because I am not married. Do you have a book I can read
at night to help with that?" Ummmm my first thought was "what?!?? Yes
we do!!!!" We were able to share with her the Book of Mormon and talk
about a lot of her questions and how the Book of Mormon can help her.
She prayed at the end and it was so perfect. She had never prayed
before so it was really cool. She said after the prayer that she felt
so good inside and peaceful. It was so amazing. She was asking so many
amazing questions. I love this gospel and the opportunity I have to
help others come unto Christ and learn how they can feel that feeling
of eternity, joy, love and happiness that the gospel provides.

This was all in half Japanese half English so that was helpful for my
understanding. I probably understand a little less then half of what
people say to me still. :) but my nihongo is for sure improving. But I
know it is all God. Sometimes I wonder how I understand these people
at all. I usually just get the overall idea of what they are saying.
But it is really cool that I can understand them at all :)

Pictures :) here are a few... This week we went to a members
restaurant with a potential investigator and ate some yummy
okonomiyaki :) so fun!! He is the cutest old man.

And the rain came tumbling down... :) just a little though.

HANA HANA

Dear My wonderful family,

You guys are all just the best! Did you know that. I am so grateful
for everyone one of you reading this email. You are so wonderful and
loved. And you have influenced and blessed my life so much! So
どうもありがとうございます! (Thank you so much)

This week has been fun! It rained a little. The weather is great here
though. It will rain really hard and then a couple hours later be
perfect weather. :) kinda like Utah...... Oh wait the whole world is
kinda like that... Haha :)

This week we have walked a ton..... I wish I could track how many
miles I walk a day. :) we would ride bikes but my bike hasn't been
shipped from Tama yet so we are stuck with walking for a while. But it
is fun :)

The language is coming...... :)

Anyway the best day of the week would have to have been Saturday. We
had a hanami with a ton of eikaiwa students and investigators, (Which
is a picnic under the Sakura trees) after that we went to the stake
relief society meeting and watched the general women's conference and
that night we had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators who
now has a baptismal date again!!!!!!!!!! It was overall just a great
day.

The Women's meeting was so good and it made me so excited to watch
conference next week!!!!!! :) how was conference??? Did you all love
it?? I for sure have taken living in Utah for granted my whole life.
We are so blessed be able to just turn on the TV and watch the prophet
speak Or drive 1/2 hour and see it live! That is such a blessing!!

So we have an investigator with a baptismal date!!! I am so excited
for her. She is an amazing lady. She is a miracle. Really though just
a few weeks ago she was smoking 1 pack of cigarettes a day, drinking
3-6 cans of beer and 5-6 cups of coffee a day!!! These past few days
she has given up beer and coffee all together and now only smokes 2
cigarettes a day. It is really hard for her but she has so much faith.
She is amazing. She has a couple other things she has to work through
before she gets baptized but she really has a great desire and so much
faith. I just love her. Pray for Rika. Her date is set for April 26th.
Before she had a date for April 4th but she is now working for this new date. It is the best experience working with someone who is so 

YMCA

close to receiving baptism. It is so amazing!!!!!!!!

I love being here in Japan!! I know I say that every week....but I
love it here! This work is truly inspired by God. There is so much
good to be done in the world and we as members of the church have the
privilege of doing so much good. We have the truth of the restored
gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the light and as we let our light
shine others will see it and desire to do the same. Be that light :)

I love that we are here in this life to grow, change and become. I
love the Book of Mormon and how through it we can learn about Christ
and pattern our lives after his. This church is so good and full of so
much goodness!!! So many people see that yet they don't understand why
they need it..... It is so frustrating sometimes...hah :) but we just
have to keep sharing and loving and being examples of Jesus Christ. :)

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!! I will for sure
have a great week!!! Sorry for the randomness of this letter...haha :)
my thought have always been random though so.... Oh well! You guys are
the best!!

Love,
Ashby Shimai

モルモン書は真実と証します。

愛してます
アシュビー姉妹