week 37: utahn's don't carry oxygen

- October 22, 2018

Lunch after the aquarium for pday!

Hello all!

This week was a bit crazy and fun! We had a lot of cool experiences. I also went to the dr’s again and my elbow is still fractured but I can take the wrap and splint off more often, and I’ve started rehabilitation. It was so weird. I layed on a table and they messed with my arm. I’m sure it is normal-ish but it looked a bit funny.

We also had a great lesson with a part-member family who hasn’t been to church in a while. It was awesome! They are a half family, the dad is American and the mom is from Okinawa. They have two kids who are soooo cute! It was awesome and they said we could come back again. We also had a ward BBQ for the Japanese ward and some of our English students came. It was really fun! We ate a lot of yummy food. When I say BBQ, it is not like hot dogs and burgers, it’s different…hard to explain. But it was yummy! We also went to a party. Erika is a returned missionary from the Fukuoka mission and was companions with one of my MTC teachers. We went with her and played games with some of the YSA and an investigator. We also had two baptisms for the military branch. Two kids had turned 8 and were baptized Sunday night, so we got to go and see it! It reminded me of my baptism. I am still so glad I made the choice to be baptized.

Funny keiken: So when we had the BBQ, one of the eikaiwa students asked me what it’s like living in Utah. Then we talked about how the elevation in Utah is so high. He did not believe that it was actually as high as it was. But he was the one looking up the elevation and so it was super funny cuz he kept asking “How do you breathe?” And then he asked if we had to carry around oxygen. It was super, super, super funny! We talked about the winter temperatures too and he was shocked that we can live somewhere that gets so cold. It was hilarious talking about the differences in our countries!

Spiritual keiken: We are working with a part member family who is not coming to church. All week I was really nervous and worried about what to teach. Then, by the guidance of the spirit, we had a zone training that focused on working with people currently not going to church. So the lesson went way good and we mostly worked on building a relationship with them. We talked with the dad a lot and learned about his whole life and past. It was my first lesson all in English. I was able to express myself completely and understood everything he said. It was really and hard because I kept answering in Japanese. The spirit was still so strong.

New words:

(kouyou): autumn leaves

(kumo): cloud

(kumo): spider

(yes spider and cloud are the same word so sometimes confusing)

I know this church is true. This week I also ran into a different religion’s leader and he was not very open and tried to bible bash. I don’t know the bible that well, so I didn’t try to argue but afterwards, I did some bible searching and found so many prophecies and scriptures about the restoration and Joseph Smith and living prophets! I know this church is true! I learn so much every week and see God’s hand in it all!

Love,

Thompson Shimai

Bits and pieces from family emails:

We spent pday this week with our district, 2 eikaiwa students and a member from American named Tanner at the aquarium. We saw lots of cool things and talked a ton! There was so much laughing. I'm finally comfortable enough to make jokes in Nihongo!!

My arm is doing great...slowly healing. I still have to keep the splint on anytime I'm out of our apartment. I realize how lucky I was to not get sent home with my broken elbow...other missionaries have had to go home for similar injuries.

We went to a dinner last week with Brother Shima. He's a little old grandpa in our Japanese ward.

We are passing an older man we've been teaching to the elders, and they are passing a Philippino family to us and we are so excited to start teaching them!

The Weathers family that I talked about earlier are such a cute family!!