Who you are is more important than what you say."

Family!!!!
This week has been so wonderful! So much happened, but the highlight
of the week was getting to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook on
Saturday. The double mission conference was amazing!!! We got to see
so many people from both missions and it was so happy! I saw Elder
Jared Hall!! He goes home next month I think, so that was lucky. I also
got to see Sister McCall Padelsky!!!!! I haven't seen her for months!
It totally made my whole day. She is amazing and for sure one of my
favorite people! There are too many great people in this world. :) I
am so blessed to be surrounded by them. :)
Anyway.... The conference was amazing. They talked a lot about using
Preach My Gospel and becoming more Christlike and living our purpose as
missionaries. My favorite part was when Elder Cook said this,
"who you are is more important than what you say." He talked about how
we must be true representatives of The Lord Jesus Christ. We carry his
name with us wherever we go and we must make sure that all we do
represents The Lord. We need to become like him.
That us the ultimate goal. To become like him. Today I was reading
through the Christ like attributes in Preach My Gospel and I learned a lot. If you
haven't read that section lately you should. It is amazing. Those are
the basic characteristics we need to have to be more like him. :)

faith, hope, and charity are my favorite.
We also had the opportunity to shake his hand. That was so amazing. He
is truly a man who is filled with the spirit. At the end of his talk
he blessed us with so many things. It was amazing. The closing song
was 'abide with me tis even tide' the spirit at the end of the meeting
was so strong. It was a moment that I think I will never forget. I am
so grateful for a living prophet and apostles. They are true witnesses
of Jesus Christ and carry his authority. They speak with power. I love
it!!
I am running low on time... Sorry. :)
I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! Keep up the good
things that you are doing. I am praying for you!! Enjoy the beginning
of summer. :) oh wait.... Speaking of summer....here you can start to
feel the humidity starting to creep in. The air seems thicker and
heavier. Soon it will be getting hot!!!

Love ya!

Love,
Ashby Shimai

愛してます！

アシュビー姉妹


Isn't this clock great?!?!? It was at a members house. :) I just love
it so much. I laughed pretty hard...... Hahahahaha :)

I love Fujisawa

My dearest family,

How have you all been?

I am doing great! This week has been great! We have been doing
lots of finding and streeting and housing and everything you can do to
find new investigators. So far we haven't had much success, but we
just keep going. We have been having some cool tender mercy
experiences a long the way though. :)

This week I thought a lot about the phrase, "lift where you stand." I
love that phrase!!! We can only do what we can do right? So where ever
we find ourselves we must "lift where we stand."
The other day I was standing outside of a less active members house
with Sister Brox. We both had no idea what she was really saying
because she was speaking Japanese with a little Portuguese mixed in
there. I had the thought though, "we just need to listen to her." She
talked to us for a long time about her family and how she knows she
should be coming to church and how she loves the book of alma. The
whole time I probably said 20 words. But she talked, and talked and
talked. In that moment all, I could really do is stand there a try
with all my might to understand what she was trying to say. So I
tried. And in the end it was amazing. She came to church on Sunday and
it was so good for her. :) that was my experience of "lifting where I
stand" this week. Sometimes in this work I don't feel like I can do
that much. I can't say a ton in Japanese but I know that Heavenly
Father makes up for that because he helps me to lift where I stand :)

So what have you wonderful people been doing to "lift where you
stand"??? :) please share I would love to hear! we have opportunities
everyday to do good in this world :) look for them.

Okay cool thing!!!!! Elder Cook is coming to our mission this week to
speak to the north and south mission!!!!!!!!! I am so
excited!!!!!!!!!!!! It will be such a cool experience. :) If you can't
tell I am way stoked! And that means I get to see people from all over
the mission like Padelsky Shimai, brown Shimai, Nakamura Shimai, And
tons of other people that I love and miss so much!!!!!!!! It is going
to be the best day ever. I can't wait to tell you all about it.

So life here is great and I love Fujisawa. :) this week we went to the
beach area and dendoed around there. It was so beautiful!!!  I will
send some pics. Well have a great week my lovely family!!

Love,

                                                                                                                  
Hannah ashby Shimai

Hey Hey Hey Happy Mothers Day

Hey family,

Long time no see.... Wait I saw you yesterday!!!!!!! Hahah. That was
so much fun to see all of your wonderful faces. I love you all just so
much!!!

So this one is just going to be quick.... sorry :)

But this week has been good. We had transfers and I am now in
Fujuisawa!! I was sure sad to leave Kouhoku but it is alright. I will
go wherever I am needed. Right? :) so I am in Fujisawa and my
companion is Sister Heather Brox. She is the best!! She is from Las
Vegas.She is transfer 2 and I am transfer 4. 
So together we make the equivalent of a transfers 6 missionary, which funfact for you. That is the average "age" or "transfer" of the
missionaries in this mission. It is a super young mission still. Haha
:) but we are having a great time and seeing some cool miracles.

Last night we went over to dinner at a members house and something
really cool happened. For the first time on my whole mission I was
able to follow and understand almost everything in that
conversation!!!! It was so amazing!!! Talk about gift of tongues. I was
saying hints that I didn't even know I could say. It was for sure one
of the coolest experiences ever!!! We had a great time. :)

I know that God will help us become all, that he needs us to be if we
just turn our hearts over to him. When we give our all to him he is
able to mold us and make us better, stronger and more qualified to
serve him. I know that he is helping me everyday to share this gospel
in a language that I never thought I would speak. So I am pretty much
a walking miracle. :) hahahahaha I know that this work is inspired and
lead by a loving Heavenly Father who wants the best for his children.
Give your heart to him and he will help you become all he intends you
to be. I know God loves each of you. You are the best family anyone

could ask for!!

Keep being you! Have a great week!!
Love, Hannah Ashby Shimai

The temple today was great!!!!!!

another earthquake May 4, 2014

Dear family,

This one is going to be short because there is too much to say but not
enough time to say it all. This week though has been for sure without
a doubt the best week of my mission!!! We taught so many lessons and
saw so many miracles. Our investigators are doing amazing and
progressing and I love this area!!!!! The ward us amazing the people
are amazing! The Lord is hastening this work!

Just a few things I think you should know if you don't already.....
1. This church is so true!!!!
2. The message of the restoration has power! It is the most wonderful
story. Joseph smith was a prophet. He saw God the father and Jesus
Christ and this church was restored through him.
Cool story so today we had an open house at Yamate church, (an old
church in Tokyo) as we were giving tours I was talking to this lady.
We got to the picture of Joseph smith and she just stopped and stared
at it. Then she said she just got the chills as she looked at it. A
little bit later she started crying and telling me that she felt so
much power in her heart. She said she felt peaceful and, "hontoni ii
kimochi". It was so amazing. She loved that picture. It was so cool.
3. If someone is looking for the Book of Mormon and they can't find
it.... The Book of Mormon will find them.... and in Japanese. :) today
I saw that happen so many times. :) it was amazing!!!!!!!!!
4. I have never been so happy :) it us so much fun to share the gospel
and see it change peoples lives.

Oh I wish I could write and write about all the miracles that happened
this week. But cool thing, yesterday our investigator Rika bore her
testimony in church and she did amazing. She has a little bit more to
work through before she can get baptized, but she has so much faith
and it is amazing to watch her change and grow as she reads the Book
of Mormon and prays. :)

Well I love you all and I am so excited to talk to you next week!!!
Mom I will send you the info. :) we can skype!!! But what time is your
church at??? :)

Thank you for your prayers and love!!

Transfer calls are today. I think I am leaving kouhoku. :( I don't
want to but I will go wherever The Lord needs me to go. :) we get them
in like 30 min...so if I still have time I will tell you the status.
Haha :)

Love ya!!! Happy cinco de mayo!!!!

Love,
Ashby Shimai

Ps. There was an earthquake this morning!!!! Super small. But it woke
us up this morning. :) it started off really small and then got a lot
bigger but it only knocked over like 1 or 2 things on the desks so not
that big. Weird feeling though.


Learned to make melon pan :) this is my favorite!!!!!!!! So so good!!!!
Oh and the banana bread was perfect thanks mom!!!

#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.