#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

Earthquake :)

Dear Fam!!

Okay so I felt my first earthquake!!! It was super tiny......... Haha like really small but it was yesterday during church and it was so crazy. Gotta love Japan. :) supposedly rumor is that Tokyo is way over due for a huge earthquake.... Scary. :) but god protects his missionaries. 

The weather is starting to really warm up!! It is amazing!! And the cherry blossoms are out!! They are amazing!!! Yeah for Sakura Dendo!!!! It is the best!!! :) 

This week has been so great! We had transfers and I am now in kouhoku!! I love it!!! It is more of a city and the ward is great! I love my new companions. Kawajo Shimai is from Okinawa and Bickmore Shimai is from Lehi. They are the best!!! We have so much fun together! It is way different then Tama but I love it so much!! We are seeing some cool miracles too. The power of 3. Yay!! 

Sad day though when I left Tama. Wed. At eikaiwa was so wonderful. It was sad to say goodbye to all those amazing people but it is okay because I will see them again. I will send a picture. They had the two missionaries leaving in front and so it was a little funny.... ;) haha It was such a good night. I was able to share a lot about the gospel with a lot of our Eikaiwa friends and it was so good. 

So I have been reading a talk called The Fourth Missionary. It is super famous in the mission field....haha :) it is so good!! In it he says this, "the purpose and central blessing of life is change. It is to be changed to become more like Jesus Christ. It is to incorporate into your character, the qualities of His character. It is to move from one degree of intelligence and capacity to the next, and from there to the next, until you see God face to face and know Him as He knows you." 

I love that! This life is all about becoming. I love that word. Become. It holds so much potential. We are here to become like god. We are able to do that through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I love the atonement. Through the atonement we are able to become all that god intends us to become. I love this gospel and opportunity I have to be here sharing it everyday. It changes lives. I have seen it. It not only is changing the lives of those I teach but it is changing mine. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to change. To become better and more like Christ. I know that this gospel is true. And I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of god. As we read it we learn of Christ and how we can become like him. Read it everyday :) it will help you to become the person you want to be. :) 

I love you all so much!! I hope you have a wonderful week!!!! :) I am so grateful for your love a support. I for sure feel your prayers. 

I am praying for you!! 

Love, 

Hannah Ashby Shimai 

愛してます!!!! 

アシュビー姉妹 

Here comes the Sun

Dearest family and everyone else.... Hah :)

This week has been one of the best yet!!!! So amazing!!! I wish I
could just send you a movie of it all! Haha :) the weather has been so
great these past couple of days so that is always nice :) the sun
really makes Dendo that much better. :)
I don't know where to begin..... I guess we will start with transfer
calls. We got them today. A day early.... Hah I am leaving Tama.... :(
my heart really hurt when I heard that. I love Tama. Like I can't
describe how much I love the people here in Tama. It is me bean area
and we opened it so I will always love Tama :) we are also just
starting to see some amazing progress and we have great investigators.
But I know I will love..... Kouhoku!!! That is my new area. I will be
in a three companionship too!!! I am excited it will be fun!! I will
miss Nakamura Shimai though. She is my little Nihongene and I just
love her!! It is her birthday this week and so we had a small party
with an investigator. I will send a pic :)
But kouhoku is in Yokohama zone.... So I am that much closer to the
Ferris wheel!!!!!!! Cool huh?!? :) haha
So Thursday they had a relief society hula activity and a miracle
happened. So we have really been wanting to teach one of our eikaiwa
students. She is amazing and we became such great friends. Her
husband died 2 years ago and last week her aunt died and so we really
could see her need of the gospel. For weeks we have been trying to set
up a time to meet with her but every time something comes up last
minute and we can't meet. Man satan..... Haha, anyway, so Thursday we
invited her to this activity but she said she couldn't come.... then
all of a sudden we turn around and guess who walks in... Yep she
came!!! But this is the story. So she was on her way to yoga and she
started walking.... Half way she realized that instead of walking to
yoga she had started walking to the church instead. And she realized
that she really actually wanted to go see her friend (who is a member)
do the hula so she came. After the activity we talked and it was
amazing. She and I have become such good friends. I told her all about
why I am who I am and she told me about her husband dying and how hard
that is. I was able to testify to her about the plan of salvation and
how through the gospel she can live with her husband again. It was so
cool. After she told me that I inspired her. I was just so grateful
for that whole experience.
Then today we went to her house for lunch. After we taught her and it
went really great!!! The spirit was so strong. I gave her a
Book of Mormon with my testimony in kanji and she loved it. It was so
wonderful. But you will never believe what happened next.... Like I am





still in awe. No she didn't say she wanted to get baptized... That
would have been amazing!!!!!!  Haha but she looked at me and was like
"ashby San I want to give you my kimono." I was floored!!! First if
all kimonos are like thousands of dollars....and she really just
wanted me to have it. It is for sure one of the greatest gifts I have
ever been given. It is beautiful. Like I don't even know what to say
still. I will probably have to send it home cause I can't really carry
it around Japan with me. But mom it is so cool!! Page is one of the
sweetest people I know. I just love her so much. She is one reason I
am sad to leave, but I am excited to experience new things.
Sorry that was a long story... I have some other cool stories but no time.
This week though we had 2 investigators come to church!!!! It was the
best day ever!!!

Well I know this church is true! With every party of my soul. It is
beautiful and it us true! Cherish the gospel, live what you learn from
the Book of Mormon, love everyone!! Life is so good. Be happy!!! Have
a wonderful lovely week!! I love and pray for you all.

Love, Hannah Ashby Shimai
                                    
愛してます!!!!!

 

It was a "すばらしい" week!!!!!!

Dear family and anyone else that reads these, :)

This week was so wonderful! I love Japan more and more every week I
think. As this transfers comes to and end the weeks get better and
better and I am really wanting to stay here in Tama!! But I will go
where ever the Lord wants me to go. Time really does fly though!! This
transfer has gone by so fast!!!
So many cool things happened this past few days and so many small miracles. :)
So sorry this letter is late... We had Pday get changed to today so we
could have sister zone Pday at the zoo with some of our investigators
:) it was a lot of fun!!! I will send pictures :)

So on Tuesday we had interviews. President Wada is such an inspired
man. It was so good to talk to him. He gave me a lot of great advice
and it really helped me to feel good about the work here in Japan. I
feel so blessed to be serving here in the Tokyo south mission. The
Wada's are amazing people and are helping this mission so much.
President focus a ton on our purpose and our mission motto. It is
really cool.
This transfer Nakamura Shimai and I have been really studying our
mission motto. We started first with "obedience is the price" then the
next week "faith is the power" and so on. This week our focus is
"Christ is the reason". What a great focus ね! :) I have been
reading a lot about Christs atonement lately and I love it. It is for
sure one of my favorite subjects. It involves so many aspects of the
gospel. During study though I found this quote and I wanted to share
it cause I loved it.
"Prior to his call to the Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Bruce C. Hafen
explained that the Atonement is not simply God’s method for righting
wrongs and satisfying the demands of justice. The Atonement is
rehabilitative, a miraculous power that can help us change who we are:
“I once wondered if those who refuse to repent but who then satisfy
the law of justice by paying for their own sins are then worthy to
enter the celestial kingdom. The answer is no. The entrance
requirements for celestial life are simply higher than merely
satisfying the law of justice. For that reason, paying for our sins
will not bear the same fruit as repenting of our sins. Justice is a
law of balance and order and it must be satisfied, either through our
payment or his. But if we decline the Savior’s invitation to let him
carry our sins, and then satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet
have experienced the complete rehabilitation that can occur through a
combination of divine assistance and genuine repentance. Working
together, those forces have the power permanently to change our hearts
and our lives, preparing us for celestial life”

Through the atonement we can gain the power to permanently change our
hearts and lives. That is amazing. We can permanently become better,
more holy, and sanctified through the atonement of Jesus Christ. That

is such an amazing gift!!! Are we using it to its full capacity?!? We
currently are working with a lot of less active members who have been
less active for a long time and seeing them be able to change through
the atonement has been so amazing. They are slowly gaining the desire
more to return to the place they were once before yet now more
refined, with a stronger testimony then they had before. I love the
atonement!!!!

Anyway... This week we had an investigator come to church!!!! It was a
miracle!!! She is one of our eikaiwa students!! This week we started
Sunday morning eikaiwa right before church and she decided she wanted
to stay for church and she loved it. She came with us to the zoo this
week and she is coming to church again on Sunday. :) she is so great!
She is actually Chinese but speaks perfect nihongo. I don't know if I
talked about her before.... But she is teaching me some words here and
there in Chinese... Man I am glad I am learning nihongo over
Chinese..... :)  Chinese it is hard dad!!!! Haha

Yesterday we went over to one of our PIs houses and she practiced
teaching us how to wear kimonos!!!!! It was so cool!!! 
Those things are amazing but they have so many layers!!! 
Such a fun experience though. The one I wore is a 
traditional coming of age kimono that girls 
wear when they turn 20. So perfect for me cause 
I am turning 20 this year..... 
Weird.... I feel so young yet 20 seems so old....
It was a lot of fun and we took some fun pictures :)
and I just remembered it was st. Patricks day 
yesterday and the kimono I wore had green on it!! 
How perfect :) she was truly inspired to have
me wear that one... ね

Oh Saturday I went on splits with the dearest Sister Miskin. She is my
favorite :) she is so cute! We had such a fun time! And we got to do
Kubari with some street performs. The chorotachi in their ward got
permission from president to put on a music fireside so they got to
advertise for it by performing on the street at the eki :) we went to
help pass out flyers and talked to so many people. It was a lot of
fun. :)

This week was the best! I love my area and my comp :) we saw so many 

miracles in some of our investigators this week too but I don't
have time to write them all.... Haha
You guys are the best and I am so grateful for your love a support!
Keep doing all the subarashii things you are doing!! :) I am praying
for you and I love you.

Love,
Ashby Shimai

愛してます!!!


アシュビー姉妹


Fun with brown Shimai :) she remind me a ton of Michelle perry :) haha