Konnichiwa! Last Monday Mackenzie shimai and I definitely thought we would be together for another transfer in Wakayama, but Tuesday evening we got a call from the assistants to the president of the mission saying that Mackenzie shimai would need to pack super quickly so that she can transfer to Takatsuki in Osaka on Thursday morning. It was super sad-- we were way excited to be together for another transfer; she's become one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. It was a really big shock to us and also all of our investigators and less actives that also thought we were staying, but all things are done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things and she is saving souls in Osaka now. And I miss her. But I'll see her at the taikai next week! President Ringwood is coming to our mission!!

My new companion is named Sister Broadhead, which is extremely difficult for japanese people to say. I think it's my favorite thing of my life when they try and pray for her and they mumble under their breath and say a couple things like Brawnheaddo and burokkoheaddo and then give up and say ''headdo'' shimai. She's very patient with them.  She is a 10th transfer missionary but will be going home after her 11th transfer but I really admire her because she isn't getting trunky but really wants to work hard these last 2 transfers and finish strong on her mission. She is from Lehi, Utah and is very friendly. She was actually in my district for a transfer when I was up in Toyooka so we knew each other a little bit before she came. It's way different going from training to having a 10th transfer companion and there are lots of things that I really like and also that I really miss. But we're going to continue to see miracles. 

Tateishi shimai is continuing to progress and we talked to Bishop this past week and he was on the same brain wave as us and had an interview with her. She will be making 2 small changes and then she is going to be temple worthy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She came up to us after and was so excited and told us that she was preparing to go to the temple with Bishop and my heart exploded. I love her from the tips of my toes. She is doing so well!!!!!!!! 

We've been working steadily with a super cute 13 year old less active, the daughter of a recently-returned active mother in our ward. Her name is Megu chan, so naturally, we're best friends. She got baptized last year and doesn't understand a lot of the doctrine and doesn't come to church because she is exhausted from school and wants to sleep. We were also doing a dance activity with her because she does ballet but because we are in shortage of professional ballerina, we started drawing out scriptures kinda like what we used to do in seminary. She got super into it and is really learning a lot about faith from Alma 32 and asked us lots of questions about eternal life which are my absolute favorite questions to answer. 

Also! You always hear stories here of missionaries housing and finding perfectly prepared golden Filipinos who know about God and believe in Him and love Him with all their heart. Well. The Lord inspires His missionaries to find these people and sends them to less-actives' homes where they no longer live. So then the missionaries house the floor until someone is there and they ask if they know the neighbor/less-active. I'm going to go back into 1st person: so we knock on this door and it opens a crack and a FILIPINO WOMAN asks us to wait a minute and closes the door. 20 minutes later she opens the door again and invites us inside and is the nicest lady you've ever met and she asked us if we spoke english and gave us coke and we sat down and she told us her entire life story from when she was 15 until today as a 47 year old woman. She is incredible and has the strooooongest testimony of prayer ever and needs this gospel, as we all do. God saved her life and the life of her son and she said she doesn't want to be baptized but it's okay because we will teach her about the restoration of the priesthood. Unfortunately she is going to be in the Philippines for the next 8 days, but I'm expecting amazing things from her!!! And so is her Father in Heaven!!!

There were lots of cool experiences this week including going bowling as a ward. I think half of my heart withered away because it was so worldly inside the bowling alley. But it was also super legit but wayy different from american bowling alleys and I definitely understand why our last mission president banned bowling. But we got an okay from our current president! And also it was way awesome to have fun with the ward. 

Thank you always for your emails and updates! It's weird to imagine that it's currently September. the weather here is still really warm and sunny and feels like summer in Michigan. But it's cooled down a ton and we moved our futons back into the tatami mat room and just sleep with the fan on instead of placing ourselves under the air conditioner in our study room. 

I love you all!!!! God lives!!!!!!!!

Daniels shimai

It's transfer calls again and I'M STAYING IN WAKAYAMA WITH MACKENZIE SHIMAI FOR A 3RD TRANSFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! I've never been an area for 4 transfers or with someone this long, but  I'm super stoked because I love her dearly and I love these people with all of my heart and we also got this heart melting text from a new investigator this morning and afternoon and I'm going to tell you how the conversation went. I am 99% sure that this is why I am staying in Wakayama because I definitely thought he was pulling me out. I would just also like to say that I believe I will be with Grundvig shimai next transfer because she is also staying in her area for a 4th transfer and she also told our mission president's wife that we're best friends and haven't been companions yet so my hopes are still up. I still have 4 more chances!!! And that just dashed my heart realizing that I only have 4 more transfers after this one is done... what. 

BUT Heavenly Father answers prayers anyway.

This was the lady I was telling you about who has a lot of eating disorders and anxiety problems. She met with us this last week and brought her 3 year old son which was really difficult and we weren't able to teach a full lesson, but it was also nice because her doubts came right out and we've been able to study for them for the next time we meet. this is how it went. her english is actually pretty good:

-Hi!!! Daniels! Mackenzie! Good morning!! Please, stay Wakayama yet. Please, please, please!!!!!!!!! I hope that I want to meet you more. Please (>_<)(>_<)(>_<) 

-YAYAYAYAYAY WE'RE IN WAKAYAMA STILL!!! (: (lots of japanese emojis)

-Really? I'm very glad!!! I can't stop tears. I prayed all the time from yesterday. I need you.

And thus we see that God gives us excellent teaching moments and opportunities to see His hand and know that He is God and that He hears our prayers, even if we don't believe He's there yet.

This week has been way humbling and also full of miracles and super cool lessons and seeing God answer our prayers and allowing us to forget things at the apartment so that we run into the people that we need to. I've never been really forgetful on my mission because we write everything down in our planners but we have this week and each time we've met the people we were intending to teach or set appointments with. 

BUT!! I'll share my most favorite day this past week which was Sunday. I have come to see on my mission that fast sundays are the best days in the whole universe. And the days you see the most miracles and truly feel so much closer to our Father in Heaven.

Tateishi shimai. SHE IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! I can't even explain the process of the Spirit working with her the past 3 transfers but the woman that we met in her genkan that was hesitant to let us back and told us straight up that she wouldn't be coming to church has become this AMAZING ROCK SOLID WOMAN and she has been coming to all 3 hours of church for the past two weeks and yesterday she stood up at the end of relief society and bore her testimony. AND THEN she got up in sacrament meeting in front of the whole church and read a small talk/testimony that she prepared for today. I felt like I was at one of my investigators' baptisms-- it was just as special. She shared with everyone about how she joined the church and then gave up and fell away and her husband passed away and she had the opportunity to talk to one of his students about him and it made her miss him a ton. And then two beaming sister missionaries appear at her door later that week. And they asked her about her baptism and somehow the conversation was led into the plan of salvation and she opened up for some reason to them about her husband and it felt like they were her friends because they asked about their marriage and how he had proposed. (And that may be super 20 year old stereotypical but it was totally led by the spirit ahah). 

She spoke about how Mackenzie shimai came and how strong the spirit was when she shared her conversion story in broken japanese. She spoke about how amazing it was that one sister was living in Michigan and the other from New Zealand heard the same conference message and both felt inspired to come on missions and were both called to Wakayama to help her. She bore her testimony on latter-day prophets and how they are inspired of God and she knows that their guidance was meant for her. Apparently the sisters knew that she needed to hear Elder Holland's talk (THAT was 10000000 jillion the spirit speaking through my mouth because we definitely hadn't planned to talk about that one) and just how Peter had returned to his old life-style of fishing after knowing the Savior, she had returned to her old life-style before her baptism. But the Savior was calling her back, just as He did Peter. She said she is keeping the commandments now and has returned to church so that she can return to the presence of God, and be worthy to live with her husband for eternity. 

We're challenging her to meet with the Bishop for a temple recommend interview before the end of the year this Tuesday. And this is my life. I wish I could upload a nugget of the joy that I felt when she bore her testimony or how I feel now as I'm typing this up again. There is no greater work than missionary work. 

I don't have a ton of time for this next experience, but we had a really cool lesson with a less active and her 16 year-old daughter who is also less-active. They are incredible!!!!!!!!!!!! and so friendly and nice and the lesson was centered around 2 Nephi 1:15 so you should read that because that scripture has become my favorite in my mission. I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU ALL OF MY LIFE!!!! I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heavenly Father lives!!!! His Son, Jesus Christ lives!!!!!!!!! He is our Savior!!!!!!!!!!!

Otherwise, we visited the castle in wakayama last monday! it was cool and had super awesome samurai armour inside buuuut we weren't allowed to take pictures. 

Thank you for all of the pictures and Big Ten updates. (: Everyone looks old!!! Especially lizzy and spencer. Thanks dad for the beard picture! hahahah but I think you pull off the 'stache だけ look better. 

I love you all with all my heart! Read the Book of Mormon every day, pray every day, repent and partake of the sacrament each week. Thank you for your prayers! 

Sister Daniels

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month!! My trainee has gotten me the past 2 months with that one and I finally got her today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOO! I've never actually heard that one until I met her. Which also means I haven't learned the ''no tag-backs'' tagline either so I still got a pinch and a hit for being so quick. But now I know that you have to say ''white rabbit''. We'll have to stay together for another transfer (:

This week was fantastic but mostly because yesterday was one of my favorite days of my whole life. So a little part-member family has a son named kai kun who the elders have been teaching and preparing for baptism and have asked us to teach with them quite a few times these past couple transfers and he finally turned 8 on thursday and had his baptism yesterday!!! He is my favorite japanese boy in the whole world and if you saw him smile I think your heart would probably melt into nothing because there is just so much joy in his face. Especially when he was baptized and Maeno choro pulled him out of the water and the perfect joy of the gospel was ALSO filling his tiny little body. And so much joy was emanating in the room and I imagine heaven to feel that way. 

That set the tone for an awesome church service and Tateishi shimai attended ALL THREE hours of church!!! And was actively participating in relief society and during gospel principles she went with her friend/visiting teacher/family research specialist to do family history work. And my heart is so happy! and she came to sacrament and the ward is awesome and fellowshipped her as they have been. 

ALSO a really awesome lady in the ward, who we have recently been working with a little bit because she has a less-active daughter, made us really cool baby dolls that are made of kimono material and I should've taken a picture of it, but it's way cool. and her daughter came to sacrament meeting!!!! and the ward was awesome and fellowshipped her and she said she'll be back next week. ALSO a family of less-actives came to church! We used to work with them a couple transfers ago but they dropped us out of the blue and sent us lots of really heart-breaking messages, but sometimes they show up to church and glare at us and refuse to talk to us when we greet them, BUT yesterday we complimented their sparkly hair pins and one of them smiled at us and complimented us back!! and we invited her to the international party and she looked super interested. woooo!! the Lord softens hearts!!! 

ALSO there's another less-active sister we've trying to contact for a few transfers and we finally got a hold of her and when we tried to set an appointment she said 'I think I'll come to church this week and we can set up an appointment there!' WOO!! And she came for sacrament! Literally the entire ward lit up when she walked in. And the previously mentioned awesome lady came up to her and her face was so beautiful. It's the face you see on fathers when their sons return from their missions, or that you see when moms are way proud of their children for doing some act of service or doing well in school. And they embraced and sat down together next to us. The opening hymn was Nearer my God to Thee and I turn to the less-active and say, '' this is my favorite hymn!!'' and she says ''mine too!! They played this at my baptismal service!'' WHO PICKS THESE HYMNS??  Every calling is inspired. The spirit was there and she was crying and I patted her back and she cried more and we bonded and after the meeting everyone in the whole ward came and greeted her and welcomed her back and this ward is awesome and I love them. 

There were so many miracles throughout the week and so many instances where we could see the hand of the Lord and the angels surrounding us. I wish I had time to tell you about all of them and not just about sacrament!!! We started teaching this amazing woman who we'll call K san, who has been struggling with really severe eating disorders and anxiety problems for a few years because of an abusive relationship that she fled from. God lead us straight to each other-- I know that from my heart. We gave her a church tour and a small lesson about the gospel blessing families and individuals and at the end when we prayed she was just weeping and felt really strongly that she needed us in her life. This work is miraculous. And it's because it's true!!!! 

I hope you are all having a wonderful week!! That is super sad that Braxton Miller is out for the entire season. Is he a senior this year?? I'm reppin my Ohio State pride snuggled in my futon. 

You are in my prayers. I love you all!!! 

p.s. picture #1 is of me and flower shimai whose last week of church was yesterday before returning to thailand this next week. she has the same birthday as Bryan!!! 

and picture #2 is the pacific ocean with some earthquake clouds. apparently they always appear the day after earthquakes

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.