Yuki's conversion story

Hello Everyone!

Purikura: Japanese version of photo booths that make people look like aliens    

Hope everyone had a wonderful general conference weekend! We've haven't seen it yet here in Japan, but we'll be watching it this weekend. If anyone wants to send me spoilers I'll be okay with that :)

This week's email will be a little different from my usual ones. This week is my Mom's birthday (Oct. 5). In honor of her, I want to share her conversion story with all of you.

My mother first met the Mormon missionaries when her friend, Yuka Miyazaki, introduced them to her. Elder Knowlton and Elder Gray found the Miyazaki family after pulling out a map and feeling prompted to visit their area.

My mom started taking lessons soon after meeting the elders. She was somewhat familiar with the bible and loved to read, so when the missionaries offered her a Book of Mormon, she was more than happy to accept. After reading the first couple chapters of the book, she began to worry for the elders. "This is really hard Japanese," she thought to herself. "There`s no way these American elders can understand this book!"

So she made it her duty to intensely study the Book of Mormon in order to help these poor elders who she thought had no idea what this book was about.

At the next lesson, she sat the elders down and began explaining the Book of Mormon to them. The confused elders just looked at each other and thought, "Why is our investigator teaching us?"

In the words of my mother she said, "Every lesson I explained the Book of Mormon in easy Japanese way.  I read and studied very hard for missionaries.  I thought it was my responsibility to teach them."

My mother was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shortly after. According to her, it was one of the easiest decisions of her life because she knew it was true. She has remained faithful to the church since then and I've been able to witness her testimony grow over the years. Because of her decision, so many lives have been blessed, including my own. I know that I would not be in Japan serving the Lord if it wasn't for the example and testimony of my mother.

One person being converted to the gospel has the power to bless generations. That is what motivates me as a missionary - to talk to people, to bear my testimony, to promise blessings. When we share the gospel with someone, the impact will extend far beyond that individual.

Love you, mom!

Our efforts are never wasted when we reach out in love to those around us.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Church is true.

Love,

Matsuura Shimai

Matsuri (Japanese festival) chocolate covered bananas will change your life

Brand new zone! The best.    

Who will we run to?

Hi everyone!

Here's a story for all you runners out there. Or if like me, you wish you were a runner.

Indo Curry round 2! Ft. random lady in the background

Sister Bean and I were biking down the streets of Yamagata when we decided to approach a young, college-aged man. He was wearing a long-sleeve shirt, jeans and had a large messenger bag draped over his shoulder. He was clearly in the music zone and enjoying life as he jammed out on his headphones. I walked right up next to him and waved to get his attention. He stopped in his tracks and just looked at me. I barely managed to finish my introduction before he answered, "Sorry I'm not interested."

An expected answer was soon followed by the most unexpected reaction.

The guy just started booking it fast! And I don't mean a light jog fast, this was Usain Bolt training for the olympics fast. I thought he would just sprint to the end of the block and stop. But no, he kept going faster! I thought he was going to lose his messenger bag as it flailed against his body. He kept running and running until he became a tiny dot in the distance. That was the last that I saw of the man who ran.

You've got to admire his determination to some degree, but this incident got me thinking: Why did he run? We were just two missionaries who wanted to share the truths of the restored gospel with him.

A couple days prior to this story, Sister Bean and I had our own "running" experience. Not my favorite moment in my mission experience, but it taught me an important lesson.

Last Wednesday, we decided to take the train and travel to a neighborhood about an hour and a half away to visit a potential investigator. When we arrived we had to walk about 30 minutes to get to her house. Upon arrival, we realized that we were given the wrong address.

Disappointed, Sister Bean and I had to change our plans and decided to catch an earlier train to go back. Only problem was, the next train was coming in 10 minutes and we were a 30 minute walking distance from the station.

Knowing that if we missed this train, we would have to wait another 4 hours before catching the next one, we had to book it fast.

We tightened the straps on our bags, pulled our hair back, readjusted our shoes and started running! We would run for a solid two minutes, die, walk briskly for a couple minutes and run again. This cycle repeated for the next 10 minutes as we raced uphill to the station as fast as we could. There were moments of weakness when we would try to hitchhike from drivers, only to realize the thumbs up signal didn't translate over in Japanese.

When the station came into view we realized there was only a minute left until the train came. We ran faster, giving our all. We arrived the exact same time the train did and managed to get on before the doors closed.

Sitting on the train, Sister Bean and I let out a great sigh of relief. We made it!

This experience reminded me of the important truth of when we give our all, the Lord will make up for our shortcomings and weaknesses. When we run to Him with all our might, He will give us strength to overcome our burdens and lift us up. However, sometimes we might have the tendency to be like the first guy and run from the help of our Savior. We rely on or own strengths rather than trusting in a loving and all-knowing God.

In every instance we can either choose to run from the help of our Savior or RUN TO Him.

I promise the latter is always the best decision:)

So much love for you all!

Matsuura Shimai

 

Death of Elder de Leon (he's going home)

Reflections no. 1

Reflections no. 2

Reflections no. 3 "Field of Rice"

Reflections no. 4