Pictures of cherry blossoms, cats and Relief Society in Japan

Religion? Culture? Tradition?

Today is the dreaded transfer call day! And one of the assistants just barely called us and had us FREAKING OUT about what's happening with transfers, but it wasn't even about transfers! He just had questions about some missionaries. Yeesh. This past week was a really good week. The cherry blossoms are slowly blooming, Investigators are wonderful, church members are basically my family, I passed off my lesson mastery, and being a missionary in Japan is great! We ended up having a super heart to heart with one of our investigators this past week who we just couldn't seem to help progress. She is a Catholic lady who LOVES our church, LOVES missionaries, and just fits in completely with the branch anytime she comes to an activity or to church. So this past weekend we just sat down with her, and asked her honestly why she won't commit to joining our church, or just what she thought about it. It was so interesting to hear her tell us that the only reason she actually goes to Catholic Church too is because her preacher is one of her best friends and she just likes the people. She admitted to us that she didn't join the Catholic church for blessings or for faith, but for the social aspect and because her preacher wanted her to. She also told us that after all she's been through in her life, changing to another religion at this point would just be too hard. She said that even if she came to understand that our church was better than the Catholic church, joining would just be too exhausting and she didn't think she wanted to change any time soon because she is content right now. It was one of the more interesting conversations I've had with an investigator and made me realize that we really don't know what is going on inside of these people's mind unless we ask. One thing about Japan is that religion here isn't really a spiritual thing. It's either a family thing, like something you do or say that you are simply because everyone in your family has been the same way for hundreds of years, or it's something you do for the social aspect of it. We have another investigator who's family has been Catholic for generations and generations and who openly admitted to us that she want's to join our church, but she just can't until her father passes away, because he is Catholic and being a different religion than him is unacceptable while he's still living. That's just a glimpse into how "religion" in Japan works. It's quite the strange concept to me. However, as I read in PMG just this morning, it is important to accentuate the parts of our beliefs and the parts of their beliefs that are similar. And one big similarity is their BIG focus on the importance of families here. Even though they have a lot of different ways of showing their family unity, they have some of the strongest family bonds I have ever seen. So my new goal is to try to really build upon that foundation and find other similarities in the principles of their culture and find ways to tie it into the gospel! Anyway, that's just what was on my mind today. Hope everyone is enjoying their March Madness and the warming up weather! Thank you for all the love and support! Ai shite imasu! Wells Shimai

Pictures again!

Sakura Season Sugu!

This past week was a good one. The weather was finally starting to warm up and it always feels like such a fresh start when the weather warms up! I'm approaching my half way point next week on my mission and as I do so, it's been a really good opportunity to look back at the past 9 months of my life and what I've accomplished as well as what I want to accomplish during the next 9 months. It's easy to look back and realize that I've learned a lot of Japanese, learned a lot more about the gospel and how to teach it to people simply and in an understandable way. And I've certainly learned a lot about Japan. But what I've really been pondering about is the relationships I've created with my companions, investigators, and the ward members here in Nagasaki. After being in the same area for nearly 7 months now I've spent A LOT of time with a lot of the people here. However, it has also made me realize the people that live here that I haven't gotten to know as well as I wish I would have. Our relationships with others is one of the only things that we will carry with us into the next life. Looking back, I think that I will treasure my friendships with others more than I will treasure my ability to speak Japanese or the fact that I've mastered a bunch of scriptures to memory. Those are all good things, but looking forward, I want to start focusing on people more. I find myself too focused on tasks or numbers or things that don't really matter as much. Especially in the mission field when we never really know when we'll transfer or when our companion will transfer or our investigator will have to drop, I want to start really cherishing the time that I still have with these people in Japan. 18 months is such a short time. That's just my pondering thoughts as I reach my half way point in my mission. Anyway, it's a short message today, but I am praying for those of you back home and I appreciate the prayers on my behalf. Love you all! Wells Shimai

Family Reunion

What a fun week! We were able to do a companion exchange with the sisters in our apartment this past week and it was super fun! I spent most of the day with Lane Shimai who is one transfer ahead of me and super cute and happy, but I was also able to work with my baby Cook Shimai for a few hours at night! it was super fun to be reunited and work together as a companionship again. Even though it's only been like 3 weeks wince we were companions, it was really neat to see the things we've both learned in those past three weeks and the different habits and words we had started using in our finding. I was a proud momma watching my little bean speaking Japanese without any fear and talking to these wonderful people of Japan! Companion exchanges are always fun because you just get to experience the different ways that different people do missionary work each day! I learned a lot, as always! Yesterday, we had our Zone Conference with President and Shimai and the Assistants. About a weeks ago, the assistants sent a message to all of our phones with a HUGE list of things we needed to be prepared to demonstrate at this Zone Conference including things like "Be prepared to demonstrate how you place a Book of Mormon on the street" or "Be prepared to demonstrate how you resolve concerns with an investigator about the word of wisdom" and the list went on for like 25 different things we needed to be ready to do and demonstrate in front of everyone. Naturally, a lot of the missionaries were a little nervous about this Zone Conference. So when President first stood up and asked us who wanted to volunteer to go first and demonstrate how they give out a Book of Mormon on the street, I decided to break the ice and try to give our mission president a Book of Mormon! It ended up being super funny and we just kind of made a fool of ourselves in Japanese (Well, my companion speaks perfect Japanese so I guess that only applies to me haha) and started out the Zone Conference with everyone relaxing a little bit and not taking it all so seriously. It ended up being tons of fun and I really think everyone learned a lot. I love learning from President. In a mission with 250 missionaries sometimes it's hard to feel like we really get to see him or get to know him but the times that he is able to see us are always memorable. Anyway, Japan is warming up slowly but surely. Spring is almost here and the Japanese Cherry Blossoms will be blooming soon! Thank you all for your love and support. I appreciate all the prayers and encouragement! Love Wells Shimai

Making sushi and having a vegetable war

Tower of Cats; Small Pleasure

When we went to the store today I bought a new journal. Well it's actually basically just a notebook because they didn't really have real journals. But on the front of it it says : Tower of Cats; Small pleasure. And then there's just a tower of cats on it. And the back has a tower of bears. It made my day :) Japan has some of the funkiest stuff. And there is ALWAYS weird English written on stores, shirts, bags, signs, and everywhere you go. I don't know where they come up with it. I guess it's probably the same as when people in America wear Chinese or Japanese characters on our clothing. As if we have any idea what it says. Anyway, this week was great! this past Friday and Saturday we went to Kurume to do a companion exchange with the sisters there. Let me just start off by saying that I'm convinced I became a Sister Training Leader because I just need to go learn how to be a good missionary from everyone else. I am certain that I learned much more from them than they learned from me. And it was SUPER weird going out and streeting in somewhere that isn't Nagasaki. I've never ever gone finding anywhere besides Nagasaki! Goodness I've been here forever. Kurume is much more rural than Nagasaki and they go finding on their bikes which was a little different. We almost always walk when we go out finding in Nagasaki because there's just always people around to talk to. But in Kurume there are quite a few less people. Of the 4 sisters that live in Kurume 3 of them are Japanese. That was a little weird too because my language skills are still coming along slowly but surely. I can understand probably like 95 percent of what is being said these days, but when I have to talk, I still sound super simple and American. And I've come to discover that when an American and a Japanese missionary go out finding together people tend to either only talk to the American because they're fascinated by the fact that you're not Japanese and trying to speak their language, or they only talk to the Japanese missionary because they assume the American doesn't understand anything that is being said. It's a bit of a hard balance sometimes. However, it was so much fun. It was great to experience something different and learn some new Japanese ways to talk to people on the streets! Anyway, the weather in Japan is beautiful these days. Finally starting to warm up. This week we've been challenged by our mission president to be sure that we fit at least 3 hours of finding into our schedule each day. I'm excited to start seeing some miracles! Hope everyone is having a wonderful March! Wells Shimai