Konnichiwa!

Dearest Family!

Mama, you asked about what I eat everyday...Here:s the stuff I eat: water, ice cream, cereal, eggs, ham, bread, avacado, pasta and sauce, pancakes, curry and rice, meat with veggies, ice cream, soup, cheese toast, tuna sandwiches, taco rice, corndogs, ice cream, and sometimes Japanese food too! 

Japanese Food!!!!!!!!!! This is called udon, which is the soup, and the crispy chicken thing is called karage! YUM!

The weeks seem to be going faster and faster. This week we had fun practicing a song in Tongan to perform in Sacrament meeting yesterday. (Mom, I think if you add Liolita Takapu on Facebook you can see it). I also got to play the organ in Sacrament meeting and play the piano for the Primary as they started practicing for their upcoming Primary program. Our Primary here is 5 kids! Whoohoo! One of the little Tongan boys, who I absolutely love, calls the Holy Ghost, the "Holy Ghoster." Haha so cute!

Tennis with Heu Shimai (one of the sisters from Tonga in our branch)! It was so much fun!

This week me and Lesuma Shimai went and visited a referral from another missionary. The lady we visited owns a wig shop! So we went and visited her there. Cool...but kinda creepy. She was super nice though and said we could come back and visit again.

The sunrise at 6:30 one morning this week when I woke up! So pretty!

I got to have an interview with President Smith this week. We talked about charity and my favorite part was as he said the closing prayer. He prayed to Heavenly Father to bless me and to bless those who are praying for me. It was such a sweet moment and I felt so grateful for my beautiful, very blessed life.

Sunny Sunday afternoon in Akita! 

I:ve been thinking about what it means to take upon ourselves the name of Christ. Just like when I was born, I took on my parents name "King" - I am their literal flesh and blood. Their name is my name. They love me and I love them. What I do and who I become is a reflection of their name. I never want to dishonor or be untrue to my family name.

Likewise...When I was baptized, I took on my Savior:s name, "Jesus Christ" - "...because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, His sons, and His daughters; for behold this day He hath spiritually begotten you..." (Mosiah 5) His name is my name. He loves me and I love Him. What I do and who I become is a reflection of His name. I never want to dishonor or be untrue to His name. 

I am grateful that everyday I get to literally wear my Savior:s name over my beating heart! Oh how I love Him. 

I love you my family!

Love Kingu Shimai

I LOVE MY FAMILY! 愛しています!

Dear Family, I love you ALL! 

Akita is so pretty right now! I love fall! 

These were some funny quotes from the other sister missionaries this week that I wrote down;

Tui Shimai: "Obviously you all know, but I just LOVE to LAUGH! Its so much FUN!!" 

Lesuma Shimai: "If by some miracle Lita Shimai still takes us out for lunch tomorrow..." :) 

I guess sometimes miracles can be when a member takes you out for lunch! haha I love my companion Lesuma Shimai, she is so sassy and so funny! Actually, our whole apartment is sassy (but in a funny, good way). They all talk to me all nice and respectful, but then to each other (all my Polynesian sisters) are so funny and sassy with each other. It is such an interesting transfer! But so many good memories! 

Here we are in traditional Tongan clothes! 

Here:s about my week:

- Taught out investigator Ishida san. Invited her to follow Christ:s example and be baptized if she gets to the point of gaining her own testimony. It felt so good to be BOLD! However, she doesn:t have too much interest right now. 

- Visiting the Checketts (he is American and his wife is Japanese). They gave us a big bag of apples! Then biking home in the rain and thunder and lighting. Lesuma Shimai yelling "NO!" to the lighting every time it flashed, making me laugh.

- Going to a tea party at a members home this week. It was so cozy and fall-ish. It was storming outside but we were all warm and happy inside. 

- Watching AMAZING Korean taekwondo and this cultural event! They were chopping wood, and yelling, and waving beautiful fans and flags, and the music and everything...It made me feel like crying it was so good! 

- Taught Eriko Shimai an "after baptism" lesson and then threw a birthday party for her with the missionaries and another recent convert and investigator! Playing darts and musical chairs!

- Gave a talk in church on Sunday about family and gratitude. My 2 favorite topics! Led the music in Sacrament meeting. 

- We had a little miracle this week! So on Monday me and Lesuma Shimai went to dinner at the Fijian family's house and had a great time! Then on Thursday we went back and were biking all around Akita trying to find their house again so we could take them a thank you card and some cookies. We couldn't find it though. So we went back the next day in the daylight and were still having no luck finding their house. So finally we stopped and decided, Well, maybe Heavenly Father has someone He needs us to find here in this area, because we've been biking around this area the last 2 days and no luck finding the Fijian family's house.

Our clothes!

So we got off our bikes, said a prayer and then decided to do some finding in that area. We had just finished our prayer and tried walking over to a lady walking her dog, but she just kind of ignored us, and then RIGHT THEN, this van pulls around the corner and guess who is inside?! Tina! The woman from Fiji that we were trying to find! Turns out we were real close to her house, but thankfully she saw us and she was so excited to see us and we were able to give her the card and cookies and find out where her house was again. It was a miracle! Tina said about the fact that we'd found each other, "God is good!'

Our entry way to our apartment

I was thinking the other day that if someone were to ask me to share one of the lessons I've learned through my mission, I think one of the number one lessons would be just that..."God is good." I've had so many moments of feeling my Heavenly Father's love on my mission, that that has definitely been a part of my testimony that has grown so much. I know God lives. I know He is good, and that He loves me. And I know He loves every human being we are here on Earth with. 

I LOVE MY FAMILY! 

愛しています!

Kingu Shimai