Remember who you are

Hello my dear family!

O-genki desu ka? 

My birthday was really good! Sunday was the best day to have a birthday on here at the MTC! I don't know if I've ever had a birthday without you, so this one was a new experience...but it was really special, because it was me and Heavenly Father that celebrated my birthday. I told him how thankful I was for my blessings and to be here on Earth. Life is a miracle. 

Last night we had 6 Nihonjin (Japanese) sisters come! They will only be here at the MTC for 2 weeks for their training. We were in the middle of class, but they needed a place to be, so we moved in some chairs and a bench into our tiny little classroom, stopped what we were doing and had an "introduce yourself and bear your testimony" moment. It was so crazy and exciting and scary! All the Nihonjin sisters went first. When the last Nihonjin sister was introducing herself, she turned RIGHT TO ME and asked ME a question....uh.....WHAT? Luckily one of the elders in my district understands a lot more Japanese than I do, so he figured out that she was asking what we thought Japan will be like. My companion chimed in: "SAKURA! (cherry blossoms), HANABI! (fireworks), YUKI! (snow)!!!!" All the Nihonjin sisters were like "Hai....Hai.....Hai!" (Yes....yes....yes!!) It was a good good moment, and I am already amazed that I love the Japanese people, even though I am not in Japan yet. I can't wait! 

Jerman crew: Thank you for your fun letter and for taking the time to each write me and update me on your life! Zac, congratulations on receiving the Priesthood. Never forget that it is such a special privilege and that through that sacred gift you can help and bless a lot of people. I've been really grateful for the elders in my district who are worthy priesthood holders, and have given me blessings when I've needed them. The Spirit and the Priesthood are real, and Heavenly Father can really work and speak through you if you are worthy. Amy, my favorite sport is running. I love to just run and run and I love races too. Keep up the soccer! Kaleigh and Alicia good luck with school! It sounds like you are busy and doing a lot of fun things (tennis, color run!) Make lots of fun memories this year! Aunt Kaleen, thanks for your letters and love! 

Janni pants: Here is an analogy from when we hung the crystals on the chandelier in the Temple: When we were learning how to hang them, the sister that was teaching us told us to  hang the flat side of the crystal towards the outside (the side that everyone can see) and to hang the beautiful/shaped side that has edges and corners (if that makes sense) towards the inside of the chandelier towards the lights, so that the light will be a lot more beautiful going through the crystal. The analogy is this: sometimes we think our life will be the best if we try and give our best by ourselves, but if we will turn to the LIGHT and give our best selves to Him, His light will shine through us and we will be a lot more beautiful!

Mom, could you send me a copy of a picture of me and Dad when I was baptized? 

I love you all SO MUCH. Its very real to me now. It was real before, but I love you SO much. I don't really understand or know how families worked in the pre-earth life....but I'm so thankful that I get to have Cami Kerr and Shane King as my parents for eternity. I'm so thankful that I get to have Chelsea Lyn and Janessa Marie as my two beautiful, amazing sisters for eternity. I love you!!!

Be brave! 

Take a moment and literally remember who you are. Its important to remember.

Love King Shimai 

Dear Family,

• ·         Chels and Spence and Bellamy: You have your own home now!  I’m so happy for you to be all moved in.  I hope a lot of happy memories are made there!

• ·         Last night we had Elder Anderson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come and speak to us at our Tuesday night devotional in the Marriott Center!  We feel so blessed to have heard from 2 apostles during our time here at the MTC!

• ·         My companion was so funny this week…she would have an ice pouch on her foot that she had surgery on, but she would open it up and eat the ice out of it!  She just loves ice that much!

• ·         Last Wednesday the sisters in my district and I had a cool service opportunity.  Every Wednesday morning we do some kind of service like cleaning stairs or cleaning windows, etc.  But last Wednesday we got to put up the international flags for when all the new missionaries came.  We got to pick out which flags to put up…32 total I think.  It was so fun to pick out the flags of countries like Japan obviously, and then just other countries that people we know had served in or were serving in!  It was so fun!

• ·         Last week during class we asked our teacher, Kosaka Sensei, to demonstrate the accent/dialect of Sendai.  He said it’s more of just the older generation that speak like this…but WHOA NELLIE!! It was so funny and weird sounding from how he speaks, but we loved it!

• ·         Last night our district all skyped members who are Japanese 9 guess they weren’t necessarily in Japan), it was so fun!...and about 99% of the time I had no idea what he was saying.  But we just smiled and nodded and said “hai” which means “yes” and luckily our teacher was there to help us and would fill us in on what was going on.

• ·         Mama!  The sister missionaries are going to come and live with you!  Hallelujah!  I’m so excited for you and grateful for this tender mercy from Heavenly Father.  Keep me up on all the details!  I love you so much.

• ·         2 Nephi 6:6 “Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.” 

I love this description of missionary work…It is so loving and individual.  We don’t just load everybody on a bus and take them to Christ that way.  We lift them up and carry them in our arms and on our shoulders, one by one.  It isn’t easy to just lift someone else up in our arms or on our shoulders and help carry them unto Christ.  But Christ set the perfect example.  THIS IS WHAT WE DO. This is what we are all about.  We go find the lost sheep and help to bring them Home.  Through His Atonement we are all lifted up and carried Home through His grace and mercy.  And it is through His Atonement that He strengthens our arms and our backs, so that we can be strong through Him, so that we can assist in His beautiful work of salvation!

• ·         Thank you SO MUCH for the fabulous birthday package!  It was so fun to open it! (didn’t wait til my birthdayJ)  I sat on my bunk bead and was so happy and felt so much love!  Thank you for your love!  It strengthens me a lot.  I especially am grateful for the pictures, because I can hold them and look at them over and over.  I love my family!  “I like my mom!  I like my dad!  I like my sisters!  I like my brothers-in-law!  I like my Bellamy!  I CAN DO ANYTHING GOOD!!!”

• ·        Chels shared this advice from Dad in one of her letters to me that I love:  “you can choose to be miserable, or you can choose to make every day a neat and wonderful experience.”  

• ·         I love hearing about picking apricots, picking corn, playing with Bellamy, moving, everything and everyone is so good to hear about!

• ·         Yesterday we were walking by a classroom, headed to our own classroom.  There was a tall, handsome man that looked so much like Nate Henshaw!  I thought it was him for a second!  Tell Cousin Nate I miss him and send my love and that I’m happy he got his job!

• ·         Mom, I love hearing about your walk on the upper canal.  I can picture the sunlight coming through Logan Canyon and lighting up the Temple.  That honestly has been something that I’ve really loved about being here…is seeing the sunrise coming through the mountain cliffs that are right above us and the Temple.  It is so gorgeous!

• ·         The food here is pretty great for the most part!  There is always a lot of variety and I think it’s good!  This morning as Mataoa Shimai, Roberston Shimai, Orr Shimai, and I were standing in line to get sack breakfast, I was saying how I wish our teachers would talk slower, but that I guess they’re just trying to help us by not talking super slow all the time.  Orr Shimai piped in, “its better to have the learning curve when you can eat food that you can recognize!”…so no complaints here about the food.

• ·         Saturdays are pretty much like any other day here other than we do something called TRC, where we practice teaching a random volunteer who comes to the MTC (they are members.)

• ·         Sundays are amazing!  We basically have study time all day if we are not eating or in a church meeting.  We have Music and the Spoken Word broadcast/ Relief Society in the morning, Sunday School in the afternoon at 1 pm and then Sacrament Meeting at 3:15 pm.  So it’s kind of spread out throughout the day and then we have a big Sunday devotional in the evening and “films” after that where you can choose a talk or movie like Legacy or the Joseph Smith movie in a different area of the MTC to go see!  I love Sundays!

I love you all so much!  I pray for you every day.  I know that we are in God’s hands and that He loves us. 

Carry on!  All my love!

King Shimai