UNEXPECTED TRANSFER!

At the Red Arches in Fushimi, Kyoto

I have been trying to decide how to word this email all morning because there is this strange combination of excitement and nervousness that is flooding all around my stomach and so I am not really sure how to deal with that quite yet. But, in case you didn't read the title of this email SURPRISE I AM TRANSFERRING. Which is super sad because I LOVE THESE PEOPLE IN IBARAKI! And also because I DON'T LIKE PACKING. But, thus is the life of a missionary. 

So, I am transferring BACK TO SHIKOKU!! Woohoo!!! I love that wonderful little island. Turned out, all those tears I cried leaving it...were not completely necessary. I am transferring to the area of Niihama, where I will be Ichikawa Shimai's companion. I will also be serving as a Sister Training Leader, which is exciting and also makes me super nervous, because I don't really have any idea what to expect when it comes to being a Sister Training Leader - but I am sure that it will be fun, and, even though I am gypsing Ibaraki I know that the Lord wants me back on Shikoku and that He has work for me to do there! 

I was really surprised to transfer...because I definitely expected to be in Ibaraki until the end of my mission. AND It is really sad to leave Mills Shimai (this whole one transfer companion thing I am not a very big fan of). 

In Kyoto

Ibaraki and Takatsuki were super wonderful, and I have grown to love the people a whole lot more here in just six weeks than I thought was possible. There are lots of good things that are going to happen here in the future I think, and there have been a lot of seeds planted this transfer. It has been neat to be here for just....a snapshot...I guess of time and learn to love the people, and then also see the work progress just a bit further. I felt like because I was here for such a short time I was really able to feel how large the Lord's plan for every area, and every single person is, and how we all play just a tiny little piece in the Lord's master plan. I am excited to see how both Ibaraki and Takatsuki will grow from here on out. I wish I could be here to see it, but, I have made some friendships here that I hope last on into the eternities. 

One cool miracle from this week! Mills Shimai and I had decided that we would start calling all of the members in both Ibaraki and Takatsuki on their birthdays! So, we had been meaning to do this for about two weeks or so...but because missionaries are busy, and we were slow in starting...we didn't actually start until this week. On Monday after getting home from Kyoto and doing some dendou, we came home and then called all of the birthdays that had passed in January. The last man we called - whose birthday was actually on Monday - answered the phone and was SO SURPRISED that we had called! He has been less active for about 8 years and told us that he hasn't received any contact at all from the church in 5-7 years. He wanted to know who told us to call, and finally believed us that no one had told us to call. I ended up having an amazing hour long phone call with him, where I was able to teach him a lot about the Atonement and Forgiveness and how he could find comfort through Jesus Christ, no matter how lost he felt that he was. He told me that he was really lost at the moment and doubted God's existence, or that God cared about him at all...and then we called. Also, no one had told him happy birthday because he is lonely and lives by himself...and so he didn't think that anyone knew about it. And so, thus is life as a missionary. 

I love this work. I can't believe I am heading into my 11th transfer....and these transfers sort of just keep whipping by faster and faster and faster and I don't know why that happens....but, I do know that it is only as a missionary that I get to try and share this wonderful happy message with as many people as I come into contact with everyday...and it is wonderful. 

Mochitsukikai

ALSO! This week Mills Shimai and I got to participate in Mochitsukikai!! Which is where you pound rice with a large hammer to make mochi and it was so fun and we made the most delicious mochi, and I got to eat it warm and it was wonderful.  

Have a great week! LOVE YOU ALL!

Grundvig Shimai

p.s. I apologize to anyone who has written me letters and that I have been terrible at responding. I fully intended to write everyone back today, but now I am transferring...and so I have to pack.....but I promise I still love you all.

Happy New Year!

Beautiful New Year's Day sunrise in Ibaraki

Happy New Year everyone!!

It was a wonderful week in Japan for the New Year :) During New Years week in Japan, there are tons of way cool cultural traditions, and last year I had no idea about any of them...but this year I did, because I can kind of speak Japanese and our mission president emailed the mission to inform us of a few of them, so we were able to participate!

It was also an effective week of just working super hard...even though the holiday would make it seem more difficult to teach people. We ended up being able to teach more lessons than we had yet in any of our weeks in Ibaraki! I also think that I ate more this week than I have eaten on my entire mission because so many of the members invited us over to their homes for meals. We had a ton of fun getting to know the members and becoming friends :)

Something that I have found interesting about my time in Japan is how much my love for these people has just GROWN. I think truly loving the people that I was teaching and the members that we were working with was something that I struggled with at the beginning of my mission. But, as my mission has gone on and I have increased a little bit in my charitable, Christlike love, my heart has just opened up and I have learned how to really love these people. Every time...well all of the two times...that I have transferred, I have noticed that I am able to really develop a love for the people that we are teaching and working with just a little bit faster than the time before. I think the same idea applies with my companions, with each companion I learn how to love just a little bit more. I learn how to love the people around me for exactly who they are and who they are becoming, instead of seeing all of the things in a companion that might make them hard to get a long with. I guess, it is learning how to really see the people around me the way God sees them, instead of the way my weak little eyes would see them.

This week I fell even more in love with Japan and the people. These people are just AMAZING. And they bend over backwards to serve others and see beauty in the world. As a result I have decided that I want to take up gardening because the Japanese people just see so much beauty in the world, and I want to be the same.

One of the Japanese New Year traditions (which completely juxtaposes the American tradition of staying up late on New Years Eve) is to wake up early on New Years Morning and watch the first sunrise of the New Year. Mills Shimai and I woke up early and biked across Ibaraki to this river where a group of people had gathered to watch the Sunrise. It was a WAY cool experience! One man and his wife were especially kind and explained to us that they come every year because watching the sunrise (Hatsu Hinode) for the first day of the new year is an exhilarating feeling. And it just awakens something inside of them. It was a very cool conversation that I wish I could translate better into English, but basically I just love JAPAN and I love JAPANESE :) And also JAPANESE PEOPLE!! Anyway, I was able to liken this feeling to feeling God's love (see 1 Nephi 11:22-23 Here), and we gave both him and his wife mormon.org cards, and they were really excited about the idea.

So, I will attach some pictures of this awesome sunrise for you to see and I hope that you enjoy them greatly. It was an awesome New Years here in Ibaraki! AND IT SNOWED ON NEW YEARS DAY! It was very beautiful. And also very cold and my fingers almost froze...but, there is nothing quite like biking on icy, snowy roads to make you feel alive on New Years Day! Have a great week! We are off to Kyoto this afternoon!

"It was an Awesome New Year's here in Ibaraki"

Love,

Grundvig Shimai

"Dendou is like a box of chocolates..."

Christmas Goodies

"...you never know who you are gonna find...or when...or where...or how...or why....and that's all I got to say about that."

The Skit..."Making Nabe"

Above Quote is courtesy of Lake Chourou from the Christmas Taikai, which featured a missionary talent show. Lake Choru and Tucker Choro, from my MTC district are currently...or at least they were...companions, and they put on a hilarious skit titled, "What if your mission president was..." And it was the funniest thing.. Featuring our mission president as characters from Lord of the Rings, and Bane, Forest Gump...and many others. Welch Kaichou (My Mission President) loved it.

Good to be together, some MTC mission friends

The Ibaraki/ Takatsuki district featured the "Making Nabe" skit - a spin off of "Making Beans" from the Annandale Stake Girls Camp. I did not tell the Elders that I stole the skit idea from Girls Camp, because I had a hunch that might make them want to perform it less. However, it turned out to be pretty good and we had a lot of fun performing it!! Also, at the Christmas Taikai, I was able to see a lot of the members of my wonderful MTC district... and we took a picture together and it was so crazy to see everyone after a year. Also, one of the Takatsuki Elders is being transferred (poor Takatsuki all of their missionaries are being transferred, quick and not regularly scheduled transfers) he is going to Kobe to help put together the portal for the iPads that we will receive in March - and Tucker

Christmas party!

Choro from my MTC district is transferring in! He had to pack up and move out in a day...because they needed him in Kobe, basically immediately, so that has been pretty taihen. My whole mission, transfers have never really affected me because I just stay...and then stay...and then stay....and it is wonderful!! But then all of these weeks of unplanned transfers is making me a crazy person.

But...back to the first line of this letter! You never know who you are going to find, or when, or where, or why or how....

This week we had a lot of amazing experiences where the Lord led us to exactly the people that we needed to find! We were really focusing on being where the Lord wanted us to be in order to find new investigators, because if we listen... the Lord will guide them to us, or guide us to them. So, after visiting a few members and sharing Christmas messages with them, we were housing near the church because we had a few minutes before Eikaiwa...and we felt prompted to leave and go house in a different area. Which we did. And the first door that we knocked turned out to be a lady who used to be an investigator and was SO excited to see us! She practically threw the door open and invited us in. She had absolutely zero money because it was the end of the month, she was super, super humble, but heated up water for us to have something warm to drink. It was so sweet. She became an investigator on the spot...and then we had to sprint to Eikaiwa to make it there in time. It was an amazing Christmas Eve Miracle!

The whole week we were led by the Lord, and He is really allowing His work to move forward here. This morning we ran into a lady who flagged us down and told us that she wanted to meet with the missionaries and pointed out where she lived. It was kind of crazy and I thought she was really confused about who we were...but it turned out that she did know that we were the Mormon missionaries and used to meet with missionaries and had also recently been missing meeting with us. So, that was also a neat morning miracle.

I LOVE being a missionary during Christmas time, and I feel super lucky that I get to be a missionary twice during Christmas. :) We had a wonderful Christmas dinner with a member in our ward who is AMAZING. And we talked about her mission, and when I shared a scripture with her, tears just started running down her face. And I don't really know what I said that she needed, but the spirit must have guided my words because I don't really remember what I said and I also shared a scripture that I was not planning on sharing -but, when we teach by the spirit we will be able to teach to the needs of the people around us.

The Lord loves us! He is our Savior! It is a special time of year and a wonderful time to be a missionary.

SLASH IT WAS SO FUN TO SKYPE MY FAMILY AND SEE THEIR FACES!! I LOVE YOU AND I MISS YOU!!!

Love,

Grundvig Shimai

Ibaratsuki Shimai

Merry Christmas!!

This year for Christmas, Mills Shimai, Mackenzie Shimai, Mitsuyama Shimai and I received a surprise telephone call. Or rather, Mackenzie Shimai and Mitsuyama Shimai received the call. As of December 24th, our apartment of four will become an apartment of two. Mitsuyama Shimai and Mackenzie Shimai are transferring to Kyouto and Mills Shimai and I are whitewashing Takatsuki and taking over both wards. So, we have become the Sisters for both the Ibaraki and Takatsuki wards....hence making us the Ibaratsuki Shimai. That phone call ended with a lot of tears on all of our parts, it is really sad for the Takatsuki Shimai to be leaving for the entire ward, and the apartment will be really different with just the futari. It is slightly overwhelming to be learning our way around two areas at once, since Mills Shimai and I are still learning our way around Ibaraki....and also learning all of the member’s names in both wards, as well as adopting the investigators from the Takatsuki Shimai. But, the Lord has a way of stretching our comfort zones and showing us that we can accomplish more than we think we can when He is on our side.

It was a really weird week though...we didn't know when the Takatsuki Shimai would be leaving until Saturday night because we kept hearing lots of different things from mission leaders...but it was finally decided that the Takatsuki Shimai would be leaving on Christmas eve. So, I have re-decided that transferring is a very sad thing...even when I am not even the person transferring!

On a happier note, we had a fun ward Christmas party this week! And we had a few of our investigators come and they all loved it a lot. Also, two missionaries from Ibaraki finished their missions and just came home...which was incredibly exciting because they are really excited about helping the missionaries do missionary work. The members here are really wonderful and super loving especially at Christmas time. They are just such an amazing group of members and they always do so much for us at Christmas time. After church yesterday they gave all of the missionaries a large box of presents for Christmas and it was the sweetest thing ever. (Japanese church members really help you feel super loved all of the time :)

There is nothing quite like being a missionary at Christmas, especially at Christmas time. As a missionary, Christmas just  pops up way faster, for whatever reason. And I have decided that it is because we are focused on "Christmas" every single day for this 18 month period. And the Christmas season just makes it even more wonderful to share why we are out here talking about Christ, every single day - on Christmas there is a light brought into our work. I found this quote on lds.org and I really liked it.

"When we keep the spirit of Christmas, we keep the Spirit of Christ, for the Christmas spirit is the Christ Spirit. It will block out all the distractions around us which can diminish Christmas and swallow up its true meaning."

The Spirit of Christmas is the Spirit of Christ, and we may notice it more at Christmas, but we can keep this spirit with us at all times.

Merry Christmas everyone!! I love you all :)

10 days and 11 sleeps until Christmas!

It was a miracle filled week in Ibaraki! It is really throwing me for a loop being back in Osaka, especially since I came back around the exact same time that I arrived in Japan last year. It is so interesting to take a look at how much I have changed since last year. It is also very cool to see that I am able to understand what is going on in the world around me and that I am capable of knowing what is going on in missionary work, at least a little bit more. :)

It is Christmas Time!! I believe that the count down is currently at 10 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!! Hooray hooray hooray!! :) I love Christmas! And it is just a different thing to be a missionary for Christmas, but if anything, I just feel even more excited about the season because of the miracles that pop up right now and because there is nothing better than testifying about Christ during Christmas. 

This week was full and Mills Shimai and I had a lot of fun just going out and working and doing lots of finding :) We found a family that we started teaching that surprised us by inviting us in for dinner! Mills Shimai had actually met the mother the last transfer.  We ate delicious Japanese food with them and the two adorable little daughters performed a dance for us and a song, which involved "Be our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast. And also "Hi - Ho" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It was one of the most adorable things - and then we literally sprinted home to make it home on time.

Yesterday we had an amazing lesson in relief society about Christmas! We talked about how we can make sure that we are keeping the "Christ" in "Christmas" and not turning it into "X-Mas." In Japanese the word "Christ" is not actually part of the word "Christmas" (in Japanese Christmas is Kurisumasu and Christ is Kirisuto and those two words sound nothing a like, so there are quite a lot of people who just have no idea at all what the purpose of Christmas is and are very surprised to discover that it is actually a celebration of Christ's birth...so this relief society lesson was particularly effective for Japan, but I loved it none the less). It made me think a lot about how important it is to always keep the spirit of Christmas - the true spirit of Christmas in our hearts.

Also, this week I had a wonderful Christmas present because the Ibaraki Church building has a GYM! Which is amazing because it is the only church building that has a gym in the entire Kobe Mission, I think. But, we do a sports night every week. This week, I got everyone playing soccer and I was super happy and I had a giant smile on my face, for about forever, after that wonderful game.

Merry Christmas to everyone from me and Mills Shimai! I am so grateful for my new companion, she is just the sweetest person and she is working really hard to learn Japanese. I am very impressed with how good her Japanese is after only being here for 6 weeks, and that she is still really positive, even though she usually doesn't really know what the investigators or I am saying. She is also incredibly patient with me when I get us dreadfully lost for three hours in the freezing cold :)

Much Love,

Grundvig Shimai!!

And because I haven't told everyone how much I love this video yet, but it is lighting up the world.  I promise that if you give it a chance, it will change you. And you will never view the world the same way again!

Click below to see the video

He is the Gift

Goodbye Tokushima, Welcome to Ibaraki!!

Goodbye My Beautiful Tokushima

My last week in Tokushima was a dream of my life. I loved it so much, it was also the hardest thing of my life to say good bye to everyone and I cried so much. My tears gradually deceased throughout the week as I got used to the idea of leaving, but I still cried a lot at transfer point saying good bye to Chapman Shimai.

On Monday we had family home evening...I told the family we were with about the experiences I had had in Tokushima, and the family and us cried hahaha. It was heart wrenching...and the Elders were really fighting to keep their eyes dry. And they were not too successful at that :)

The week was full of saying goodbye to investigators and members, but it was truly an amazing week. I was able to see how much the Lord had blessed me in Tokushima. It was neat to be able to talk to people and see how much we had learned together in the past seven and a half months. I received a lot of letters that ripped my heart to pieces, but really just left me feeling so humbled knowing that the Lord has blessed so many lives here. I left with a feeling of joy and peace knowing that I had done what I was called to do in Tokushima.

I received one gift leaving Tokushima that just melted my heart completely. From our two college students (who are being baptized soon!!) I received a soccer ball that they had written their testimonies on in English and little thank you notes. It was the sweetest thing ever. They had run to their college English professor to get his help with translation, but they essentially wrote: "Thank you. I am so happy that I met you. Because of you, I know about Jesus Christ." And I just cried a lot about that.

Another moment that melted my heart was saying goodbye to Chapman Shimai. She pulled me aside and told me that she had seen me all of those mornings I woke up early to make her learning tools for Japanese...and that she had cried when I would wake up early because she could see the sacrifice I was making for her. And basically that just also made my heart melt. She left me a note in my suitcase and a necklace from Tahiti that I discovered this morning as I unpacked my bags and it was the sweetest thing ever.

Tokushima is a special place and it will live on in my heart forever. A few investigators and a member came to say goodbye to me at the bus stop and I left Tokushima with some tears in my eyes...after the most exhausting week of my life (waking up between 3:30 and 5 every morning to make sure that the Chouro (Elders) and Chapman Shimai knew the 7 and a half months worth of information stored inside my brain)...and I said goodbye to Tokushima!

So! For the last two days! I have been in Ibaraki! Mills Shimai is amazing! She helped dear Chapman Shimai in the MTC a whole lot, and I am forever grateful for that. Training an American who speaks English is 700% different. My world turned back to normal side up instead of the crazy roller coaster ride it was at the beginning of last transfer. Ibaraki is amazing, the members are super sweet and it is so much fun living in an apartment with four Shimais! I am with Daniels Shimai's trainee, Mackenzie Shimai from New Zealand and she has the craziest conversion story ever, it is way cool!!!

Anyway....I am excited for the upcoming week in Ibaraki and learning a new area and all of the new investigators :) It is a great place and WAYYY more city than Tokushima, which is crazy. I am definitely back in Osaka!!

I love you all!

Love,

Grundvig Shimai

Goodbye Tokushima

Back to the streets of Osaka!

Hello everyone!!

This morning I received the most heartbreaking news....I am leaving Tokushima! I will be going back to Osaka...the Osaka North Zone, where I will be training a second transfer missionary named Mills Shimai. I actually talked to her and her companion on the bus last week when Chapman Shimai and I went to Kobe, and I believe that she is from Utah. She is very nice.

With Chapman Shimai.  I am really going to miss this girl!

My heart is broken into little pieces though to leave Tokushima. I love these people SOOO much! And I love Chapman Shimai soooo much!! When I saw the email this morning I just started crying and Chapman Shimai started crying. But! We both know that this is the Lord's will for us and that He has a bigger plan than I do...and right now the Lord needs me in Ibaraki! The funny thing is that Mill's Shimai's trainer and I are switching places...so Chapman Shimai's new companion is a sister named Hiatt Shimai. She is AWESOME!! I love her a ton, we were in the MTC together and we sat next to each other on the plane ride to Japan. I know that Hiatt Shimai and Chapman Shimai will see tons of miracles together. They will be a dynamic duo undoubtedly.

This week was super great!! We had lessons with our amazing soccer playing, college student investigators and they are so cute. We had Family Home Evening at a members home with them, and that all went really well. They are both praying and they LOVE prayer! When investigators really, really desire to know the truth and they pray from their hearts, they receive answers. 100% guaranteed. Both of these sweet girls are experiencing this. They both shared powerful experience of prayer with the members, and the Elders who were also at the Family Home Evening both shared funny experiences with our investigators that they had had with prayer. Although both of the Elder's stories involved getting lost in mountains (one in Japan, and one in Utah), they both learned that God HEARS our prayers and that He will send help and comfort.

On Thursday Chapman Shimai and I went to Kobe for Trainer Trainee Training. It was super awesome! I loved it SO MUCH! I learned a lot about how to be a better trainer, I am sad that I only had a few days to apply what I learned with Chapman Shimai...but I am excited to go apply what I learned in Ibaraki with Mills Shimai. The miracle of the day was that we did not think that Chapman Shimai would have anyone to translate into French for her...but an elder showed up who is a second transfer who spoke AMAZING French! The cool story behind this is that Chapman Shimai actually knew him in the MTC, and although he did take French in High School....he really could not speak French at all. So, that being said, he came to Japan...and ended up with two investigators from France. Over the course of 3 months he became fluent in French and was able to translate the entire meeting for Chapman Shimai. It was awesome.

Then on Saturday we had this super great American Pizza Party! We have been inviting people to it for a while on the streets and we had a pretty good turn out. The Elders made a ton of pizza for it, and they are great cooks and it was the best pizza I have had yet in Japan. On another note, the Elders looked hilarious in the aprons and matching cooking utensils that they bought from Daiso. It went really well and we also taught everyone how to sing American Folk Songs....including Yankee Doodle Dandee and You are My Sunshine. Needless to say, it was a huge hit.

I guess in closing....some reflections on what I have learned this transfer.I will never forget that day that I picked Chapman Shimai up from the hombu, and the feeling of complete overwhelming-ness that engulfed me as we left Kobe and headed back to Tokushima. When Chapman Shimai fell asleep on the bus, I let myself cry like three tears. I had no idea what I was doing teaching someone how to be a missionary in French. But I learned oh so very much this transfer, it will be one of the ones that I treasure most on my mission. Chapman Shimai and I have forged a deep friendship....that will last despite that we may live far away from each other for the rest of our lives. The Lord taught me that I really have no power to do...anything. He taught me that I am not the trainer, He is...and that my trainee can only really learn through the spirit. The same thing applies to my investigators...and really anyone that I may encounter in my life. Plus, I have seen amazing growth in Chapman Shimai. She can speak ENGLISH!! And her Japanese is coming along too! It was so fun to go to Kobe and for her to see all of her missionary friends from the MTC. They were all completely blown away that she could speak and understand SOOOO much! It made me so happy for her. It was a joyful moment for both of us. It has been a transfer of relying on the Lord, a lot of prayer, and sooooo soooo much joy. But, I know that the Lord lives! He loves us! And He has work for me to do in Ibaraki. So....back to the streets of Osaka I go!

Much love,

Grundvig Shima

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