konnichiwa! this week was insanely busy and amazing and I am so exhausted but my heart is happy and this gospel is true. The rain storm at the cincinnati red's game looked really intense and kind of like typhoon clouds! I'm happy they still had the game and that we won! All of the pictures of the zoo and trip looked way fun!

Last preparation day the zone leaders, mackenzie shimai and I went to our district leader's area and met up with him and his companion and went to this huge ferris wheel and mall and it was awesome and I was the only white american. My companion is kiwi, zone leaders are full japanese and half japanese-brazilian, district leader is canadian, and his companion is brazilian and also is hermana Caitlin Ferderber's trainers' brother!!!!!!!!!!!!! this small world!!!!!!!!!!!! 

we were able to meet with a ton of less actives this week and share messages with them. Tateishi shimai's mother passed away this past week so we were really worried about her but we dropped off flowers and she called us the next day and set up an appointment and we brought her a delicious cheesecake and just talked with her and I feel like she is one of my best friends-- we connect so well and I love her with all of my heart. In japanese there is a phrase called betsu bara which is what you say when you are eating too much but you keep eating-- like an extra stomach-- but I am going to change the body part and request another heart because I just will never be separated from these people because they bring my heart so much joy. But we also sang ''families can be together forever'' and testified of forever families and she said that she has already met with her visiting teacher who also happens to be the family research specialist and is starting the work for her mother who had literally passed away that week, and has called her cousin and is trying to figure out more of her family information to do the work for more of her relatives. WHO IS THIS WOMAN. I love her. She is incredible. 

We had a thousand other wonderful experiences happen this week but I don't have enough time to type them except!! Our amazing friend Imade san who made me delicious healthy food when I got sick came to the church birthday party yesterday with her sons and the ward was AMAZING with welcoming her and playing with her kids and helping them feel welcome and I walk with angels in Wakayama. We have been making a lot more of an effort as a companionship to work with the members and it has been blessing us all so much. Some members invited us over for dinner on saturday night and helped us with invitations for our big cultural night that we're having and also fed us like queens. AND I AM ABOUT TO TELL YOU  THE SIMPLEST AND MOST DELICIOUS RECIPE EVER. Boil a can of sweetened, condensed milk in a pot-- completely immersed-- for 2- 2.5 hours. And it becomes pure manna-like caramel sauce. I don't know why or how but I know this is true. 

I hope you had a wonderful week! You are continually in my prayers. Thank you for yours! 

Love,

Daniels shimai

p.s. we experienced another earthquake!! and apparently there are special clouds in the sky that come after earthquakes that my zone leader pointed out to me. it was super legit. I'll send pictures

p.p.s my area and Grundvig shimai's area are separated by a body of water, BUT I saw her area in the distance when we were out with an investigator and my heart was so happy

konnichiwa!!!! this letter will literally be sooo small and I am soooooo sorry!!! The missionaries in my district are meeting up in the other area, Sennan, and we are going to this huge mall with a ferris wheel and we have to leave in 15 minutes to bike over to the eki to catch our train! so!! this will be way short and probably not very spiritual and I apologize. But I will do better next week!!!

We had many opportunities to serve this past week which was the best thing of my life because normally japanese people do not let us serve them. But!! our ward mission leader is in his high 70's and has a few rice fields and asked us and the elders if we could come and help him weed his rice fields. IT WAS THE BEST THING OF MY LIFE!!!! We got gum boots (sp) and stylish hats and WE GOT TO USE A SICKLE and we just went through rows and rows of rice fields and pulled out weeds and cut out really big weeds and I'm not sure if I even used the sickle that much, but it was the most empowering feeling of my life and blade was about the size of my forearm and I was just reciting Doctrine and Covenants 4 in japanese for a solid 2 hours. Also we met his in-active son and his non-member family and it was really awesome and we ate gross food with them!! Probably the best day of my life. It was sooooo hot but I really appreciate the hours and hours of weed-training that mom blessed me to have. (;

I will write more next week, I pinky promise!!! Jesus Christ lives!!!!!!!!! He is our Savior!!!!!! We are engraven upon the palms of His hands and He will never forget us or leave us hopeless.

Have a wonderful week!! 

Love,

Daniels shimai

This week has been another amazing week, but also pretty challenging. My companion got sick early in the week and I've been sick since yesterday, but we're still alive and kickin' and  Jesus Christ is still the Savior of the world, and the Book of Mormon is still true, and this is still the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth today so we move forward.

We both have been pretty nauseous and also have a cold with chills and stuffy noses and hana mizu and scruffy throats, but we'll get to rest quite a bit today since it's preparation day. The amazing zone leaders in our area gave each of us a blessing this week for our health and also turned into fantastic blessings of counsel and the power of the priesthood is so real and undeniable. And our zone leaders are so in-tune with the spirit and I am so blessed. But I will never be getting sick again on my mission. However we saw our next door neighbor investigator when we were biking to the church this morning for the blessing and she brought over some super delicious and vitamin-filled japanese and chinese cooking to help my health and it was the sweetest thing ever. I'll send pictures of her note and food and you can appreciate japanese-english and her pure heart with me.

Yesterday we had a huge typhoon hit and church was cancelled. BUT because our bishop rocks he rescheduled sacrament meeting for 4 pm after the storm was supposed to be done so we were still able to take the sacrament and my heart was cleansed and it needed it so badly. I accidentally broke the word of wisdom this week for the first time of my life which is awkward because I am a missionary, so I repented a lot and I don't think I've ever felt as strongly the purifying power of the atonement as when I partook of the sacrament yesterday. The Atonement is REAL. And I am clean!!!!!! It feels so good. But as for the typhoon, lots of power lines were snapped and there was lots of flooding in certain areas. We didn't get much damage, but the wind and rain was SO STRONG but we were protected and fortunately it all happened during our sleep and our study and lunch and we called and set up appointments but then the storm had passed so we still got to dendo. 

So the word of wisdom hanashi. The Bishop of our ward is the man!! Seriously the man and I have so much respect for him and I love him and his family. His wife has gotten pretty sick the past couple of years and her mom came from the philippines to stay and help her out when she has bad seizures. So! We want to serve our bishop and his wife's health has been troubling his mind so we went and served his wife and her mother on Tuesday. While we were there, they gave us this iced tea from the Philippines which is mango flavored and was their favorite drink and extremely delicious. Japan drinks tea like people breathe air and they have more types of tea than there are Disney movies but not all of them violate the word of wisdom, so it's pretty difficult to differentiate which teas are good. It comes down to whether or not the tea has leaves in it. If the tea is made of beans, tree leaves or grass it's drinkable but other leaves are bad. Either way-- they said it was good, and we trust them so we drank it and it was so delicious and I drank like 3 glasses. And then they gave us a packet of the mix because they have zillions. And then we went home and read the ingredients and the bad tea is in it so we immediately prayed and repented and asked for forgiveness so that we could be worthy for the spirit to guide us in God's great work again. So it was a pretty big scare when the typhoon was coming on Sunday and we didn't think we'd have the opportunity to take the sacrament and renew our baptismal covenants with God and be made clean from violating the word of wisdom. It was an accident, BUT we NEED the spirit to do this work and the spirit leaves when we're disobedient. But it's okay because we've repented and been forgiven and been cleansed. 

Heavenly Father and our investigators tried my patience this week. And tried my faith in His timing and His will. But I know that whatever happens that we, and others are in the hands of the Lord-- always. No matter what decisions we make. Many will choose to exercise their agency incorrectly maybe because of fear and pressure and temptation. But I know now in my heart that even when people reject Jesus Christ, and therefore reject their Heavenly Father, that despite the heartache they, and we feel, that God will still guide them back. He will still give them the opportunity to accept Him. And He'll do it over and over again-- nan kai mo-- because He loves them. And He is just and merciful. They are in the palm of His hands. He'll prepare their hearts and circumstances and give them the opportunity to choose eternal life. 

In other news, we're starting to teach another less-active and her son who was born when she became less-active and he turned 8 yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (: we made him a cake in a rice cooker (there is a setting) but it was gross so we're buying him one. They don't just sell cake mixes here! and don't have ovens. No wonder they don't celebrate birthdays. 

Also, really quickly-- we found a hornets nest on our veranda when we were hanging our futons out this morning!! haha it was awful. and also a bad idea to leave our futons outside and then spray kitchen cleaner at the nest because now they are angrily swarming our futons. Mackenzie shimai managed to knock the huge nest out from under this big electrical box with a cooking chopstick while wearing a strainer on her face and a towel and oven mitt. it was probably the best thing I've ever seen in my life. But we'll probably sleep on the floor tonight. 

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks again for the package last week! The temple trip sounds way fun!!! I miss the temple sooooo much. Give Uncle Andy and Aunt Alli hugs for me and thank them a gazillion times. If you could send me their address too that'd be great. (: Thank you for your emails as well!! I tried really hard to send a good email this week. Also I wrote in my journal so I remember this week a lot better! (; My headaches are getting worse but only because I have a lot of pressure behind my nose. My mission president says that you will be able to come pick me up!!! I think my last transfer ends after the first week of april? 

have a wonderful week!!! (:

itsuma demo ai shite imasu yo ne!

p.s. the first picture was us adventuring outside after the storm had passed. it was still super windy so my skirt was blowing up but I caught it just in time

and this is part of the storm. 

and these are pictures of the kindness of our neighbor and best friend, Imade san. I love Japan

1. Me with Ayumi san!! and her picture she drew of what she imagines Heavenly Father to look like. I think she was spot on. 

2. awesome japanese festival with Riko dancing (furthest left in blue)

1. digging for samurai treasure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

2. awesome lesson with some less actives whose birthday it was!!!!!!!!!! (both of them within 3 days. we made a cake!)

FAMILY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 I received it safely and soundly and I don't think there were any taxes on it, but the goods inside were lifesaving! <3 thank you sosososososoososo much!!!!!!!!!!! I especially am enjoying the American toothpaste and the delicious pretzel M&Ms and JIF peanut butter, but I've adjusted to japanese food and it definitely surprised me how sweet american food is. I can't eat very much of it at a time anymore haha. It's sad. But thank you sososooo much for the letters and HOLY COW ELIZA I AM SO IMPRESSED WITH YOUR RAPUNZEL MADE OUT OF RUBBER BANDS. It's actually the most impressive thing I have ever seen. Send me a picture of all of the princesses you've made!!!!!!!!! Thank you for all of your spiritual insights as well!! <3 I'm really excited for family home evening after I get home and I just sit you all down and teach you everything about what I've learned and all of my incredible experiences here and made japanese cooking for you. Also I have purchased a USB and will be backing up all of my photos for the rest of my life on it. 

This week has been SO WONDERFUL. We had a wayyyyyy cool lesson yesterday with one of our investigators, Ayumi chan. She is 20 and is living as a salesman and goes door knocking for 9 hours a day which will be good experience for when she serves a mission one day. We taught her about God and how He is her Father in Heaven and the spirit was just so extremely strong and she ate up everything the Spirit was testifying to her about and we were teaching her. And she asked, ''but God has so many children that don't know about Him. They should be able to feel all of this happiness and His love too, right?'' and it was just this really powerful moment of the Spirit testifying to her and to me of my purpose as I explained to her how I had left my beloved family and my school and work to come and show this to everyone so that they can return and live with God someday, and be truly happy in this life and have all of the happiness and blessings that God has one day when they become like Him. and she got it. and she wants to live with God and wants to talk with Him and she feels the importance of this message. She's been doing so well and reading the Book of Mormon and the only unfortunate thing is that she is soooo busy with work and can only meet once every two weeks. But we're keeping her busy in between appointments. 

Also we were able to do a way cool service project this week with one of our investigators who is building a new house. She is moving on to very old land and when they were digging in the lot, they started to find a bunch of really awesome old broken pieces of samurai pottery. They had until the end of the month to dig and find as much as they could so we offered to help and we found some SUPER COOL pieces of bowls and vases and I have lots of cuts in my thumb from cleaning off 800 year old dirt. But it was so worth it. 

An old investigator of the elders who comes to eikaiwa every week has a daughter that makes bows and decorations for summer kimonos told her dad she wanted to meet with us after she saw a picture of us on his camera, and she gifted us each with a kimono I HAVE MY VERY OWN KIMONO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY LIFE IS COMPLETE! It was the kindest thing ever and I feel sosososooso japanese when I wear it. I'll send pictures (:

Our new zone leader came in this week as well. He is half-japanese, half-brazilian and super awesome. Also I fell off my bike this week and have some really beautiful bruises and found this really cool lady while we were looking for a less-active. She owns a restaurant/bar and her only worker referred her to a catholic priest that she knows so we decided we're going to baptize the whole congregation. Alsooo an almost-investigator named Riko san does this really awesome cultural japanese/hip-hop dance and we went to support her and it was the coolest thing ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A bunch of dance teams were competing via a dance parade outside of the castle in Wakayama. IT WAS SOOO AWESOME! I can't even describe to you what it was like-- imagine super old japanese music mixed with R&B hip-hop and just thousands of japanese people dancing with fans and toe shoes and it was dark and had thousands of lights and lanterns lining the street. My life is so cool. 

I know that our Father in Heaven watches over and protects each of us.  I know He wants each of us to return to live in His presence with Him and our families forever!! Jesus Christ lives!!!!! He makes it possible to live with God again. He makes it possible to see our families again once they've passed on. I believe with all my heart that He is preparing each of our brothers and sisters to accept His gospel and come unto Him. It is our responsibility to invite. We have this amazing gospel that will make anyone perfectly happy forever- a gift with much more value than even a free summer kimono. Have faith and don't ever forget that it's there!!!!

I love you all with all my heart! 

Daniels shimai

Hello!!!!!!!

before anything is said, Dad- I would like to congratulate you on your beard and ask you to send me a picture before you shave it off. hahhaha ah that makes me happy. Thank you mom for starting that package!! We're doing a cultural night here in my ward so if you could also through in an American flag and some recipes from home I would appreciate that a ton. Thank you sosososoo much!! yoroshiku onegaimoshiagemasu!

I don't have much time again this week but I'm glad you're all doing well. This week was full of biking over the large area of wakayama in our attempts to rescue God's children. Outside of the heart of Wakayama it gets pretty inaka and reminds me of Toyooka with loads of rice fields and 0 people on the street and old houses. We got caught in a big storm the other day with lots of hail and some lightening so we sped back home and changed our clothes and the rain storm had stopped so we went out again. it is suuuuper humid here and is really difficult to dry our clothes. But Mackenzie shimai is SO AWESOME and fun and never complains and we get along super well and Zinke kaicho and Welch kaicho are inspired men and God's plan is so wide and detailed and all things are done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things. 

Something really sweet though that I wanted to share was that yesterday one of our 'less-actives'-- one of our strongest ones who has been coming to church every week for the past 2 months and is praying again and reading her scriptures and receiving blessings-- she moves back home to Thailand today </3. It killed me and I definitely cried when she left but it wasn't ridiculous crying so I'm learning. And we had a crazy awesome lesson yesterday from a referral from the elders and she is SO PREPARED FOR THIS GOSPEL and I don't have any time left so I'll have to read you my journal someday which also isn't super detailed because I have 0 time in my life. 

I love you all!!! thank you all for your prayers! and know you are in mine always. 

Love

Daniels shimai

Hello loved ones!

We survived the typhoon!! It actually passed over the Kobe mission and we just had some really heavy wind and sharp rain for a night and during study the next day. We were super excited to see a typhoon and we had filled up our bath tub and turned off our gas and got out all the emergency stuff. We had lots of cancelled appointments because our less actives didn't want us out biking in a typhoon to see them. Although we'll be out dendoing regardless, so it really just keeps us from being inside and sheltered from the storm, but it's okay! It wasn't a problem anyway. Apparently the storm was really bad in the southern-most island of Japan, but the Lord has His hand over the mission, which I'm grateful for, but I also really wanted to bike in a typhoon. There will probably be another one sometime (:

We had interviews with President Welch this week and it was amazing. He is an absolutely incredible spiritual giant. I don't have much time to finish this email, but the rules of mission work have changed-- it's world-wide now. All missionaries are balancing their missionary work with rescuing and retaining less-actives!!!! The sisters in this mission are still completely focused on rescuing and retaining and teaching their families and helping them become eternal families by receiving baptism and going to the temple. I really enjoyed typing that sentence. Missionary life is the best.

You are all in my prayers, always. I am so grateful for your support and testimonies and love. I'll try and get some pictures on here really quick because I have to write my mission president. He's amazing.

All my love,

Daniels shimai

p.s. one of these is of the rice field behind our apartment. I took this one a couple of weeks ago, but I lost it when my camera broke. BUT the bishop's son got my pictures back for me and I owe him my life

this other is a picture of 2 banners I received in the mail from the wonderful women at girls' camp in the Grand Rapids, Michigan stake. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! that was the most thoughtful thing ever! also, I high-fived the traced hand. That was clever. I forgot it was summer in America-- they don't have summer break from school here so it seems like a normal day always. That is why you should live in America

konnichiwa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Typhoon season starts this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahah I'm kind of excited because me and my bean bought matching purple rain pants- I will definitely take pictures of them- and we're going to rock the streets of Wakayama in them.

More importantly, we met our new mission president and his wife!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my heart I love them so much already. We were seated in the chapel in Ibaraki, spiritually preparing on our own (reading scriptures, praying, reviewing old notes) and when he walked in with the Assistants and his wife and they sat on the stand, we sang for them the Kobe Japan Mission theme song which is the Army of Helaman in japanese for a verse and then an edited version of the english to match mission themes. Zinke kaicho made it. When we started to sing I was just super excited to see him and his wife (who looks like Aunt Carol) and then it sunk into my heart that Zinke kaicho and shimai were gone and naturally I cried a little bit, but it's okay because then the Spirit swept into, and lifted my heart and I had this beautiful confirmation that Welch kaicho and shimai are meant to be here to direct the mission as servants of our Lord, Jesus Christ. So naturally I cried a little bit, but it's okay because I decided I'm not crying anymore for the rest of my mission until transfers. hahha which should be fine because we won't be changing presidents anymore.

He has a beautiful vision for the mission and he has a bulletproof testimony. We have interviews with him this week and I'm sooooooo excited to learn from him.

Fun fact-- in the MTC I had the wonderful opportunity to meet and be under the stewardship of a President Daniels-- old mission president of Sapporo, Japan. He served in the Japan Kobe mission at the same time of my current mission president, President Welch, and they are still good friends. President Daniels is AWESOME and we became good friends at the MTC- one of his daughters was in my BYU ward, and another has the first name 'Megan'. While President Daniels was serving in Sapporo, his daughter Megan got married and President Welch danced with her during the ''daddy-daughter'' dance that they do at wedding receptions. So when I introduced myself to him after the conference, he got super excited and asked if my name was Megan and told me this story and he said that we are already good friends. Woooooo! This world is so small.

Our mission is getting Ipads! and also we've been selected as one of the 4 missions in the world that will have regular language exams from the MTC as a study. But we're getting ipads! We'll become facebook missionaries as well and also get to do a lot of family history work and maybe skype for Christmas... but there'll be more training to come. hahah merry early Christmas mom and dad! (: I hope we get to skype!!

I have to go email my president, but thank you all for your emails as always. I love you all and am praying for you!!! We are seeing miracles this week and we'll continue to see miracles. There is nothing better than this work. God lives! He loves each of you and I know with all of my heart that He loves me. He made my soul and He made yours. He made you with many talents and strengths so you can help those around you. You have value!!! He made you with many weaknesses so you can learn to rely on His Son. His Son, Jesus Christ, is the only way we can return to live with God and our families forever. I testify this is true with all of my heart.

Have a wonderful week! Keep the Commandments! they qualify us for eternal life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love,

Daniels shimai

p.s. for the 4th we celebrated by dressing up in red, white and blue and carrying around little cupcake toothpicks with american flags on them. I also found hello kitty american flag tissues and we have red and blue umbrellas? hahah we tried. also we got mcdonalds for lunch. I'm trying to convert my new zealand companion to become american. It worked that day.

the second picture is the toy train!!!

konnichiwa minna san!!! <3 

FAMILY- THAT IS SO WONDERFUL THAT YOU SAW THE LATOURS AT EFY! <3 ahhh man I love them. How were they?!! bahhhhh. brother latour told me that outer darkness is full of care bears that laugh creepily and since it's dark you just hear their voices echo and you can't tell where they are and it's a scary place so really you should just follow Jesus Christ so that you can have eternal life. I'm not sure how doctrinally sound that is but I do desire eternal life so who knows-- maybe it worked.

This is a picture of me and my trainee- Mackenzie shimai, on our first day together. I loveeee her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she's working hard and loooooooves these people so much already. I got super lucky.

I have a couple more minutes on the computer so I have to keep this one short, but I do want to share with you the happiest moment of my week. (there were millions, but this is my favorite).

We have a lady in Wakayama who was baptized 40-some years ago when the church was really small here, especially in wakayama. She had a million callings because the church was so small, but it was strong and she met her husband at his baptism where she was asked to give the closing prayer, but she forgot his name so it was a super perfect way to meet each other. They got married, went to the temple when their daughter was 3 and they were sealed as a family so that they could live together forever. A couple of years later she quit church because she was too overwhelmed with all of her callings and her job and taking care of her child and her husband was the bishop of a brand new ward. She hasn't been to church since. 30 years later her husband dies but just before he dies he begins to repent and it kinda hits her that she won't be able to live with him forever because she hasn't been honoring the promises she made to follow Jesus Christ within the temple. and then the sister missionaries visit her and long story short we had a super powerful lesson last week with her about eternal families and the sacrament and invited her to church to which she said she'd come if she had enough energy. The next day her visiting teachers visited her and she told them she was coming! And she did!!!!! She came to church for the first time in over 30 years and the members were incredible and welcomed her back so well. She seemed to have a very powerful experience during sacrament meeting. When I saw her at church I experienced this crazy deep joy that I've only experienced a handful of times in my life and also inexplicable gratitude towards God. It was amazing. I am so excited to follow up with her this week more about how it went (:

sorry for the switch from third person to first person, but I ran out of time and I have to go but I love you all so much and am praying for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Lord loves you!! Heavenly Father loves you!!! Rely on Them!!!!!!!!!!

love

daniels shimai

konnichiwa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week has been super crazy and busy and also awesome!!!!!!

Before I begin, Eliza, your hair cut was super cute last week!!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry I forgot to write that in my last email. but にあいますね (it fits you well) (:

Before I forget the wonderful things of last transfer:

Black shimai and I were able to visit with some less actives and had some awesome lessons and also did a service project of scrubbing 30 year old, 5 cm thick cigarette residue off of a couple walls. hahah the woman that owned that house is one of our investigators and she was ruthless-- I think I scrubbed the same piece of wall for an entire hour. But now it's clean and beautiful and we're cleaning it up so we can have parties. She used to have family home evening with a bunch of other single members in that house (she has a few) but then she stopped. We're planning a big family home evening once we've cleaned it all up. wooo!!! she lived on the top of a huge mountain but it was really fun biking home. (:

and there were some other cool things like teaching the restoration to Yuko shimai and it was soooooooo cool because she has so much faith and she is so willing to follow God's will for her. I love teaching her so much, it's so fun. The spirit is always there because she has so much real intent and we just testify from our hearts and she's open and receptive <3 we're going to help her recognize answers to her prayers a little bit more this week. She's been really good so far and is still waiting on whether or not she should get baptized. But she's got to have real intent, meaning that she's willing to follow through with the answer that she receives. Right now she's just a little scared to talk to her family about it still. BUT.....

MY NEW COMPANION IS A RECENT CONVERT OF A YEAR AND A HALF AND HAD HANTAI PROBLEMS WITH HER MOM AND HER DANCE INSTRUCTOR and has this awesome insight and I love her to pieces. obviously the Lord knew what He was doing when He sent her here at this time, but IT'S SO COOL BEING THE THIRD PARTY AND BEING ABLE TO SEE IT! hhaha.

So I woke up at 3:55 to get to Kobe on time where we received some training from President Zinke one last time </3. I didn't bawl my eyes out this time because I was so nervous to train. hahah There were 13 missionaries in this group that just came in and 5 are sisters and most of them are australians hahaha. But! my companion is from New Zealand!!!? so she has this awesome accent that sounds british to me and she knows the hakka so I'm going to make her teach me. haha she's way way way way way way way cool and I love her to pieces and she has such an incredible story and she's amazing and SO ready to serve. she met with the missionaries for 2 years before she joined the church and kinda messed with them and threw lots of anti-mormon stuff at them and then the Spirit pricked her heart and while she was watching general conference (the one where they changed the mission age) she had this overwhelming feeling in her heart that she needed to serve a mission and she was like 'wait I'm not a member' so she started learning with pure intent and she has SO MUCH FAITH and just wants to share it with everyone in the world because it has blessed her life so much. It's super inspiring. Also she used to be a professional dancer and got offered a job as Ariel in Tokyo Disney but she quit dance so she could join the church. Her dance instructor told her she couldn't continue in his company if she joined. She's AWESOME! she reminds me of Kamber Smith back in the mitten. And I love her dearly

I'm wayyyy lucky. her name is Sister Mackenzie! The day we travelled back to wakayama we had a lesson with some less actives and the bishop and his wife in a place really far away so we had to bike a ton and she hasn't biked since she was a kid so it took a lot longer than usual but it's okay. (: haha. She didn't study japanese or anything before she entered the mission training center so she is starting with a clean slate. She has soooo much desire to learn though and we're going to work really hard and see lots of miracles. It's amazing how much the Lord will make up for us if we just do our very best. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

I did hit my half way point so that was a day of mourning and eating gyozas. but I was able to start learning kanji so　that was a monumental step. But I feel kinda silly studying them because I need to be studying things I'll actually use because I'm still not fluent in this language. but I kinda pick some up during meals.

The handcart trek looks suuuuuuuper awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tell me about how it went!!!! thank you for sending me the pictures! Spencer and Jess look like real pioneers. kind of. it's weird seeing white people. they are beautiful. Also this week elder Christofferson and Sister Oscarson and Elder Stevenson and another general authority whose name I forget, addressed all of japan at a stake conference broadcast. it was soooooooooooooooooo inspired and EXACTLY what japan needed to hear. slash, Elder Stevenson and the other man spoke perfect japanese. it was way cool (:

I love you all!!!!! thank you for your prayers. don't forget family home evening and daily family scripture study and prayer. <3 something Sister Oscarson said; no matter how important school or work gets, it will never be as important as family . It was a lot more profound, but that was the jist. the principle is the same.

いつもありがとうございます！

ダニエルズ姉妹

Hello loved ones!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!! I'll send you a picture of a father's day mug I saw (: pretend that I am giving it to you. It's like in Blues Clues when you take things out of the pictures. Or Willy Wonka.

Soo this is the last transfer under Zinke kaicho and Zinke shimai and I think he thinks he's funny because I'm training this next transfer?????????????????????????????? hahahah I haven't collapsed yet so maybe I'm still in shock. Black shimai is opening another sister's area and I'm staying in Wakayama with my trainee who will be decided on Friday.

I GET TO SEE THE ZINKES AGAIN!!!!! hahaha my new companion will think I'm super weird when I start crying again. hahha maybe that's the only thing consoling me right now is the knowledge that I'm going to see them again??

So my new companion is still in America and will probably be coming to Japan on Wednesday. She'll stay in the headquarters with the Zinkes once she finally gets here and on Friday President Zinke will interview all of the new missionaries and from there pray and decide who will become my new companion. Each day for 12 weeks we'll have an extra hour of study where we'll develop teaching skills and just learn how to become missionaries. And I just kinda guide her along the way and help her adjust into real missionary life. I'm really excited to find out who my new companion is (: On Friday I'll go to a training meeting for all of the trainers and get more information. hahah I'm super excited but also super nervous. Sometimes missionaries come into the field with a japanese language background (fingers crossed) but sometimes they're like me and we'll just start from the MTC teaching base.

also i just accidentally swiped all of the pictures off of my camera and my heart just broke and I feel like my brain was just swiped. I am so grateful I sent a couple pictures last week. black shimai snagged some off of my card before my computer ate all of them and deleted them off the face of the world. good thing one day we will have a perfect recollection of our earthly experience and I will remember all of them and perfectly remember all of the experiences anyway so I won't even need pictures. one day, ne.

hahah also, mom no worries, I am excited to come home someday when that day comes. thank you so much for sending me all of the pictures of our family. the treck looked super fun!!! and I want to show all of the japanese children bryan's victorious running away from school picture to show them what childhood should be like.

this week was also crazy awesome but I've used up all my time and black shimai needs to go pack. I learned how to make gyozas! handmade gyozas! which wasn't the highlight of my week, but it was still cool and really quick to write.

I love you alllllllllllllllllll!

love,

Daniels shimai <3

I'm sorry, I don't have a ton of time this week because we're going to the castle in wakayama with the elders and one of our eikaiwa students buuuuuuut I'm going to send some pictures to make up for it (:

1. THE TAMA DENSHA! there is a train station in a place where a lot of less actives live that is shaped like a CAT and this is one of the trains that goes to it. haha there are lots of people that come from china and korea to ride it. AKA GARRETT GODFREY WHEN YOU SERVE IN KOREA YOU SHOULD GET PERMISSION FROM YOUR MISSION PRESIDENT AND COME!!! (: inside is full of cats. it's ridiculous. and so japanese.

2. this is in that city-- we went to an all you could eat with a bunch of members and less actives. there was sushi and cotton candy and cow tongue and takoyaki (octopus stuffed fried dough) and tons and tons of meat and curry and everything else. I tried the tongue. and it was chewy. and awful. and I will not eat it ever again.

haha round #1!

number 2!

so this is my first okonomiyaki ever and it was probably my favorite food I've eaten in Japan besides sushi and pumpkin. hahha it's like pancake batter with TONS AND TONS of cabbage and ginger and lots of vegetables and delicious things thrown inside. and then you cook it like a pancake, throw special sweet sauce on top and you eat it with fish flakes on top. hahah it's gross though because when the fish flakes get hot they move back and forth kinda like a fish swims in water. nevertheless it was delicious. The young women and young men made them for the missionaries on saturday <3

haha this other picture is of the elders and two of their recent converts (the men in the back) and our angel sent from heaven who has stronger faith and better prayers than anyone I've ever met ( in the teal) and we're inviting her to be baptized tomorrow and setting a date for the 29th. SHE IS AMAZING. I AM SO EXCITED FOR HER. she realized by herself in the last lesson that there is a difference between the gift of the holy ghost and the influence of the holy ghost which we've been helping her recognize the past few weeks. and she asked us to explain it to her and she's like ''wow i really want that. I love feeling the holy ghost's guidance. I didn't realize that you could have it all the time.'' haha we also figured out that she got the Book of Mormon from the elders in april and she's read all of it and is half way through again. when she was little her parents were super bukkyo (and still are buddhist) and she felt like God existed and she wanted to pray to Him but didn't know how so she tried anyway and convinced her parents to let her go to a catholic high school where she learned all about God and prayer and the Bible and she's the most prepared person I've ever met in my whole life. Sometimes I forget people like her exist. We just have to find them (:

okay, one more forwarded picture email!!

our mission president and his wife came and said good bye to our zone because they are leaving on the 27th this month. It was one of the worst days of my life saying good bye to them, but we also had a zone conference and just seeing them made my life a jillion times better. I really wish I could accurately express to you how wonderful they are and how much they've influenced my life and testimony. They've raised my vision for myself and my mission and their influence is so powerful and I never want them to leave but they have families too. I was able to hug President Zinke and soooo much love just flowed into my soul. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I love him.  There are a million reasons why I was sent to Kobe and I don't know very many of them, but one of them was to learn from him and his wife. He is a True Disciple. and his wife is a True Disciple. and I cried a lot that day because I love them and I'm so full of gratitude towards them for all that they've done for me. I want to keep them in my pocket forever. Also, our zone made a little poster for them and attacked it with toy story stickers during lunch. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my heart.

thanks for your email!!! I'm super proud of Lizzy and Bryan!!!!!!!! I wish I could've seen their games. hahahah I'm going to disregard the part about my mission being half way over next week because I'm going to be here forever. I don't think it's possible for me to leave. But I will welcome visits and packages <3

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have a wonderful week and go watch ''Because of Him'' on lds.org and share it with all of your friends.

love,

meg

this week has been crazy awesome but I don't have a lot of time so I'm going to copy and paste part of the letter I wrote to my mission president.

This week was incredible. I don't really know where to begin. Our soon-to-be shigansha, Yuko Shimai, is amazing and after we taught her about eternal life and the obstacles and the solution of the chart through 2 Nephi 31, pointing out many of the things you pointed out to us at Zone Conference. It went super well (: She really understood everything super well and afterwards emailed us and expressed so much excitement to meet with us and learn about God's will for her. The next day we asked her to meet later in the week and she responded that she wouldn't get off work until  a later time and then send a really apologetic text and then sent another asking if it was okay if we could meet every day at 7 pm. Unfortunately she's gotten sick since, but we're excited to progess even more with her!!! She wasn't able to make it to church yesterday despite our prayers and fasting so I believe God has a bigger plan in mind. 

Also yesterday we had a really cool experience. An elder that had served in Wakayama 8 years ago came back to the area as part of his business trip. He invited 2 women that he taught and baptized but became less active and we were able to meet with them and they kinda jumped onto me and told me that they want to do a family home evening every week with us and the bishop and his wife. So we're looking forward to meeting with those less active teachables. Also after church we went to visit another family that he had taught and become less-active. We had just been given this address from the ward and we had contacted them. The dad said we could come back and was super friendly so we were excited to re-visit with this returned missionary. When we went, the mother and father were both home and the returned missionary had a really joyful reunion with them. We were there for probably an hour just building kankei and they were telling us stories of when he taught them. We ended up being able to teach a soft less-active lesson and we exchanged numbers and are planning on coming back sometime this week. 

We also had another lesson with a less-active this week and it was awesome!!! She also has a daughter who was sealed in the temple to her and her husband when the daughter was three, but they fell away before she was baptized, so she is actually a non-member. We were able to meet her and start to build kankei and we have a really good relationship with the mother who is a less-active. The less-active work is steadily starting to pick up and we're moving from genkan conversations to inside their house with calpis and connections to Christ. I'm so excited. (: I love Wakayama. I love working here!!!! I love being a missionary. 

It's starting to get really hot and I'm trying to figure out how to not be gross. hahah I'm not used to the heat. Hontou ni hisashiburi desu. We sweat standing inside our genkan praying and it's just gross.

I love you all!!! read your scriptures! pray! go to church and renew your covenants!

love,

meg

konnichiwa!!!!!!!

hahaha Spencer's little highlight in the school newspaper is super classic, I love it despite all of the lies. ahhahah you are my favorite brother named spencer. I think you confused the part about you being 1/8th native american with grandma being 1\8th native american. hahhah how many squirrels have you shot? I'm sure mom is proud. Also Lizzy- GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PRESIDENCY CAMPAIGN!!!!!!!! I would definitely vote for you. I don't know if you are allowed to bribe people with cookies or candy but I found it's really successful making friends about your age. Or really any age to be honest. Especially in Japan-- their love language is gift-giving.

ELDER CHRISTOFFERSON CAME TO KOBE AND DID A SPECIAL MEETING WITH JUST OUR MISSION AND IT WAS AMAZING. We woke up at 4 to be able to travel with enough time to be early to the meeting and spiritually prepare and it was so insanely awesome. The mission had all spiritually prepared really well and the spirit was SOO strong in that room and throughout the entire meeting. I received so much revelation for our area and our investigators and for my life. It was awesome. We got to shake his hand! each missionary had about 5 seconds with him so I didn't get to ask if he remembered me when he came to Michigan or really thank him properly for coming and for being the spiritual giant that he is, but I'll suffice with the simple thank you I was able to squeeze in. Also, Black shimai pointed out that when he shook my hand and read my soul he probably recognized it from the last time he read it in Michigan. hahaha but I feel like I'm super different from before my mission so maybe he didn't recognize it. He opened up time for questions and I didn't get a chance to ask mine, but the questions that the other missionaries asked were super inspired and I really just don't know how to describe to you how precious of an opportunity this was. I feel like it was an Alma 7 kind of moment. We have excellent leaders that helped us all prepare. Elder Christofferson told us at the end of his remarks that he feels like the Lord is pleased with our work and that He wants us to understand that more than anything. We weren't perfect, but we were definitely trying to work with and rely on the Lord and Elder Christofferson said he could feel that. He blessed the mission to feel that peace of conscience and assurance. There are few feelings better than knowing that the Savior of the world approves of your work.

also, another cool experience. The elders referred us their strongest investigator named Yuko chan. She is as pure as an angel.  Last week when they passed her over to us, we all invited her to church, and during weekly planning we received some little tidbits of revelation for her. She came for sacrament meeting (which is the last block of the 3 hour period here in Wakayama?) and I slipped her a little card with really unfortunate kanji written on it asking her to remember what she's learned about Jesus Christ and her Heavenly Father and remember them throughout the meeting, and also to pray and ask Heavenly Father if He is pleased that she came to church. She's soooo special and the whole meeting I was just pleading with God for her to receive an answer because this Sunday was key to her becoming progressing. The entire meeting the spirit was super strong and like none of the children were screaming and then as the first speaker began to speak, she started to cry and we helped her out and comforted her and did all of those sister missionary things, and at the end of the meeting we talked and she was like ''I've never felt God's love so strongly in my life. I feel so much peace and comfort and happiness and my heart is overflowing and I don't know why I'm crying because

 I'm so happy. I prayed the whole meeting to ask God if He was happy and I didn't hear a voice but I just am so happy.'' and I said ''do you think that could be God's answer?'' and she thought about it and ''yes, He's really happy that I came today. I feel like this is right.'' And God answers prayers and blesses us with revelation and I'm repenting and never not following through with revelation for as long as I live. Sometimes, espeically as missionaries, there is literally no time because you are sosoosososo busy but God created time. and He entrusted you with that revelation and also the accompanying responsibility.  So really I'm never letting the super tiny nudges in my brain escape my acts ever again. I wonder what my mission would be like if I'd followed through with every revelation right away in my previous areas. And I'm wondering why I haven't connected this really before.

This is the Lord's work here in Wakayama. The Lord's work is the Father's work: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. That's why I'm here in Japan and it's what I'll be doing for the rest of my life. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know He lives. I know He loves me and He loves each of you and each of these amazing japanese people. I know that He'll guide us in our lives if we ask Him and we listen and we follow through. I know that repentance is real and that Satan is real. I know that if we repent every day and ask God to show us what we need to repent of He'll keep us on track. He will forgive us. As Elder Holland taught at conference, Christ always forgives sin, but He never condones it, not even once.

I want to leave you with a question that Elder Christofferson left us that I've considered a lot. How much time passes in between your prayers?

fun fact: Elder Christofferson's mission president was Elder Richard G. Scott. whaaaaaaaaat!!! Argentina!!!

Mom! how was meeting Elder Holland?!?!?!?!

I love you all and pray for you each day. I'll try to send some pictures today for once haha.

all my love,

Daniels shimai

2. this is a woman from Thailand named Flower shimai (nickname from missionaries because her name is impossible to say). I wish she was in my area. She needs love. also, she killed all of us in ping pong in those heels

3.  the Gobou sisters stayed over night with us in Wakayama so that they could make it to Ibaraki for the conference with Elder Christofferson. Madison Bowman from my hall at BYU is the one in pink (: it was so fun to be with her

4.  the biggest church in Japan (that I've seen). Wakayama is AWESOME. We have about 80  members and 300 less actives. As of today.

Ai suru kyoudai, shimai, tomodachi, ryoushin! Genki desu ka??

I love wakayama with all my heart. It's a little toasty here but we're on the coast of the Pacific so it's bound to happen I guess. hahaha this week we got really lost a few times and thought we messed up by taking a half hour train to a city called ''ki'' to visit a less active becasue the elders showed us a different kanji of 'kii'. so we got all the way there, thought we messed up so took the 34 minute train all the way back to wakayama and then we called the less active and she clarified that it really was the right one so we rode all the way back and felt kinda dumb. BUT she was soooooooooooooooooooooo awesome and is amazing and her son looks like TJ Devries if he was japanese and had hair longer than mine in a pony tail. hahahaa. we did a quick measure, it was impressive. she was in the super huge Kobe earthquake like 20 ish years ago where tooons of people died. She saw her coworkers die and her entire family besides her son and ex-husband didn't make it. She saw people get burned to death and had a really strong impression (guidance of God through the Holy Ghost) that she needed to help these people and that He had preserved her life for a reason. So she quit her truck driving job and started volunteering and gave up like everything she had for the victims of the earthquake. She has a bio in like a book they use in a lot of high schools. Anyway, she's awesome and her son is also the most service oriented person in the world and they joined the church 8 years ago. They're so cool. And also huge harry potter fans? I love them.

anyway, I don't have a ton of time but this week was incredible and awesome and amazing and I love my companion. She is a sweet heart. She hasn't gone housing and streeting in a long time because she's been completely engrossed in helping the less actives for 3 transfers, so we've been trying to build back up her confidence in that. She is really worried about messing up her japanese and talking to people. I think she's just had really chill companions in the past that just speak all the japanese for her but we're going to change that!! hahah. I feel like the Lord has really been helping me A TON with japanese this transfer. ahha the gift of tongues is the best feeling in the world and I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo grateful for it. I still don't understand people perfectly, nor do I speak normally BUT I catch what's important and somehow I'm able to say a good percentage of what I want and need to say. This work is led by the Lord. Sometimes when I talk to people I don't even have to think about how to say it and my brain just translates it and it runs out of my mouth and my prayers are being answered and my dreams are coming true and then I can't understand what people say back and I'm humbled again, BUT we're making progress! woooo! I love the Lord. I love the gifts of the Spirit. I love being a missionary. Remind me to tell you next week about the most awesome member in the world named Yabutani Kyoudai. HE IS THE MAN.

ALSO I GET TO MEET ELDER CHRISTOFFERSON THIS SATURDAY AND SEE GRUNDVIG SHIMAI AGAIN. we're going to get lunch <3 also our companions were companions earlier so it worked out well.

I love you all!! take care!

meg

ohh and here are some pictures!!!

1. black shimai had hot sauce and refried beans and we bought ''mexican rice'' and tortillas and had mexican food for the first time since America.

2. our newest member- Yuse kun. he rocks. and this is Elder Asai's 3rd week of baptism. this does not happen in Japan. But now it is. Also evidence of the work moving forward at an accelerated pace

3. most of our zone found a mexican restaurant after zone conference!!! we had 3 latinos in our group and one is Ochoa shimai?? Spencer-- she's Elder Ochoa's daughter. woo! she's awesome. 

FAMILY! happy mothers day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MITCH FELIZ CUMPLEANOS (pretend there's a tilde there) and TANJOBI OMEDITOU GOZAIMASU!!! I'm so happy I was able to talk to you on the phone (:

slash it was so nice to talk to you all on the phone! (:

I mentioned a lot of things over the call so this email might be really short because time is blurring together. My companion hit her half way mark last thursday and she's a transfer older than me which means I'll be half way done with my mission next transfer. hahahha and I've decided that sisters should be allowed to serve for 2 years because I still feel like I've only been here for like a month. But then sometimes I feel like I've been here my whole life and that family and college and anything that's happened before September 18th of 2013 was a dream. 

Wakayama is AMAZING and a super good mix of city and farmland. Actually there are only a couple of small farm/gardens that aren't being taken care of and I'm　trying to imagine how any of my Toyooka friends would feel about this. But the people here are YOUNG!!!!! except for our ward mission leader who is 80 years old but he is the most on-top-of-missionary work person ever and has so much dendo fire and is really just a 30 year old man in a 50 year old man body born 80 years ago. He is marvelous. We have a WARD <3 and when we biked over here today we ran into some ladies who were talking in the parking lot and told us they wanted to go visit less actives with us THEY DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THAT THAT IS OUR NEW RESPONSIBILITY. #intunewiththespirit. Sunday was fantastic because the whole ward was 1. shocked and 2. beaming that there are now sisters working in Wakayama. No one in the ward remembers ever having sisters before ever and the sisters in relief society were getting super pumped up and I love them. 

Leaving toyooka was the hardest thing of my whole life. I haven't changed: I still cried when I left them all. I'm just not even embarrassed anymore hahha. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Everyone was super sweet and wrote me little letters and gave us lots of delicious food and took us out for meals and my little girls gave me a bunch of hello kitty stuff. If I could've stayed, I would have. I also discovered donuts stuffed with anko beans. They are my favorite. I don't even like donuts.

I feel like this email is super lame compared to all the roller coasters of feelings I had this week. We're moving into the apartment and almost done setting up things to make it livable. Really what it comes down to is until we get the less active work rolling we'll be hitting the streets-- same as usual. Finding the people prepared to hear the best message in the galaxy that'll change their lives forever and the lives of all of their relatives and probably friends. The extent of this work is incomprehensible. 

I love you all! <3 

<3 Daniels shimai

p.s. my new bike is a mix between an elders bike and a sisters bike. and it's all black with a Jesus Christ yellow sticker on it. we call it the BAT

1. GRUNDVIG SHIMAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

2. one last look at the sea of Japan