Blog: Climbing the Mountain
So this week was exhausting in both great and not so great ways!

First of all this week we had so many awkward moments during housing. And by that I mean when we would go up to someones door they were just getting home. So they were trying to get into their house and we just like talk to them outside. I kid you not this happened like 6 times this week. Or people were just leaving their house so they would come out and be leaving and we would follow them and try to share a message. It wasn`t very effective since they were in a hurry, but hey at least we tried.

This week we also did some far traveling. We went to Ibusuki to visit an L.A. and it was like an hour by train. Ibusuki is a huge vacation spot apparently, but it was cold the day we went so there was like no one outside. And my companion, bless her soul, doesn`t know North from South. Literally, we went in the opposite direction and got lost in Ibusuki, but it always makes for an awesome adventure! We like took this `road` that Kashiwa shimai chose, and it was basically walking through people`s backyards, haha! But found some awesome historic sites in the process. Then the next day I found the Yama(mountain) in tani(valley)yama. We went to a members house who lives way up in the mountains. But we got lost and went up this really obscure mountain highway path for 20 minutes, nothing but uphill. Realized we were lost, went back, and went up the actual obscure mountain highway path. My companion is way funny though, she felt so bad, but I don`t know I couldn`t help but laugh and cry at the same time (realized I am not a fan of uphill bike riding). But when we got to the members house we got to play with her super cute daughter. We went up to help her with her kids because she had just had a baby. 

Also this week we ate out a lot. We were just too tired to make anything for ourselves so we had McDonald (big macs are not all that big, tiny in fact), had udon (thick ramen noodles), and we went to a yakiniku shop owned by a member (SO GOOD!). It was all delicious.

We also met some awesome people. Lately our Potential Investigators have been odd. They like text us right after we talk to them giving us their emails and stuff. But they never become investigators. But Japanese people are very busy so it is hard to schedule an appointment with them. We did meet two people who had met with the missionaries before. And they seemed way excited to meet us. Hopefully we will be able to meet them again! This week we also gave a bible to a former investigator. But we weren`t able to find her at the mall where we decided to meet. I said a prayer hoping we would be guided to her or just be able to meet her. When we left I was very disappointed that we couldn`t meet her. But oh me with little faith. We ended up housing close by and she called us saying that she was at the mall now and we were able to have a short lesson with her. God answers prayers. It`s very true.

We also had another lesson with our golden investigator! She came to church! Yay!! All it took was explaining to her that she had to come to church in order to receive baptism. And she was perfectly fine with that and came. Also her lesson went super well. We had a member come and joint and it went so smoothly. Well, actually, she had some doubts about prophets, but by the end she seemed more convinced. And she said she has had good experiences with praying. Also during fast and testimony meeting she realized that she also has a testimony. Hallelujah! She is really such a strong daughter of God. I can`t wait until she can enter the waters of baptism and feel that everlasting guidance of the Holy Ghost! She`ll be an awesome member. There is still a lot left to teach her. But she is so in tune with the spirit already, and God has such a wonderful plan for her!

Well can`t believe it`s already February! Hope you have an awesome week!

Love,

Johnson Shimai

 

 

Us eating  our McDonalds.

Kashiwa shimai, me, Mari Shimai, and her Mom Kaneko Shimai eating Yakiniku! So delicious!

The crazy huts we found while we were lost in Ibusuki! Apparently they were excavated from a volcano eruption that happened a long time ago. They call it the Japanese pompei

Eating Udon