A shooting star and some Coca-Cola!

My Dear Family! 

Guess what? I saw a shooting star for the first time in Japan this week! And the lunar eclipse on Wednesday night! The heavens are amazing! :)

This week has been good! We were able to meet with one of our investigators, Sato san this week. Her husband passed away about a year ago, so we decided to show her the video "Because of Him" about how because of Jesus Christ, death is not the end, and because of Him, we can start over and over and over again. That is one of my favorite videos of all time! I love how simple, but so powerful it is. 

After the video we started talking about it and about Jesus Christ. I shared my testimony with her about how I know that its because of Jesus Christ that our family felt so much peace even though Dad passed away, and that I know that because of Him, our family will all be together again someday. It was actually one of the strongest moments of testifying of my Savior I:ve had on my mission and it felt so good to cry and testify and feel so real and be able to testify with full confidence that I knew what I was saying was absolute truth. 

Save the Date! :)

The sister who was there as our joint was amazing and as the lesson progressed she said so boldly, "don:t you want to know the way to meet your husband again?" And Sato san said yes.  So we hope to see progress with her, because we felt like her heart opened to us a little bit during the lesson this week! 

We watched General Conference this weekend and it was so nice! I loved hearing from dear President Monson about following our Savior Jesus Christ. 

We also went and visited a potential investigator this week. She invited us into her home and we got to sit down and get to know her and drink coke! :) We just focused on building a relationship with her and getting to know her. She invited us back and so I really hope that we can help her have the happiness of the Gospel in her life! 

Here was one of my journal entries from the week:

"I feel so genki right now! I love dendo, I love Mataoa Shimai, I love Tess Shimai and George Shimai and Rasmussen Kaicho! We went to Morioka for ZTM today. President and Sister Smith were there! We met Sister and Elder Mower too - they are so cute! On the way back - we ate at Maku (McDs) and then rode the train fooooreverrr - but it was good. Me and Mataoa Shimai talked to a couple of really nice guys - Sato san and Inomata san - they were so nice and talking to them made me so happy and dendoing with Mataoa Shimai was so fun! Also talking to the little 8 year old girl who I said "hello" to on the train and she stopped right in front of me and talked. There were a bunch of way cute, happy lil' 7-8 year olds who came and talked to us. The one I was mostly talking to knew the word "hamster"! When we finally got back we got food at the convini and then talked to Shindo Kyodai in the church parking lot. Me and Tui Shimai had a fun/good spiritual conversation tonight about Rasmussen Kaicho and Tess and dendo. I love being alive!"

Things are going good with my companion Lesuma Shimai. She's going to teach me how to hula, because she is from Hawaii, so she knows! I also love so much Mataoa Shimai and Tui Shimai in our apartment! 

Today the elders' investigator is getting baptized! The baptism is in just a couple of hours so we are so excited! Then tonight after the baptism, me and Lesuma Shimai are going to meet for the first time a family from Fiji! They are a referral from the Tongan family in our branch. Lesuma Shimai used to live in Fiji and is half Fijian, so we are soo excited to meet them and really hope we can share the Gospel with them! 

I am so grateful I get to be here right now. I'm so thankful that I can testify of my Savior Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful that Christ lives! I'm so grateful that my Heavenly Father called me here and is "preserving [me] from day to day, by lending [me] breath...and even supporting [me] from one moment to another..." I'm so grateful for my mission! I'm so grateful I get to walk in Dad's footsteps. I'm grateful for our family. Oh how VERY much I love you family!! 

Love Kingu Shimai

Going with Sato Kaicho (the Branch President) to a festival today! In the front seat is my companion Lesuma Shimai, in the middle is Tui and Mataoa Shimai, and in the back are the elders, Moffat Choro and his new bean Brodie Choro! We love AKITA!