Week Nine - Ohaiyō gozaimasu mina san!

I leave for Japan on Monday! Excuse me while I freak out for a second...AHHHH. Ok, I'm good haha. This seriously is so scary, but I'm super excited to! I'm excited to meet the church members in Japan, because they seem like they will great!

Here's how my week was:

Sunday was wonderful as usual. I really will miss Sundays here! The second counselor in our branch presidency's wife spoke in Relief Society, and she's so cute. I've adopted her as my third grandma! We all went on a temple walk after sacrament meeting, and that was probably our last temple walk ever. It was really funny because there was a lot of snow and ice, so people were sliding everywhere and making snowmen and stuff. It was really fun! Devotional was great as always, and then we ended the day by watching the Joseph Smith movie in Japanese. I was expecting to get about 2% of the movie, and I got about 8%. So it was better than I thought!

Monday was fine. I got the Christmas package! Thanks so much! It was really, really great! We had our last lesson with one of our investigators, Sato san. It was so sad! I don't like saying goodbye to investigators, but I know that's how it's going to be in the field all the time. Not much else happened that day! Oh, M. Shimai and some of the elders in our district tried a suicide drink where they tried every drink together in the dispenser. Gross! 

Tuesday, Christmas Eve, was a mix of emotions! It was pretty much a normal day. It was our last class with one of our other teachers, Hatch Kyodai. At one point when we were in class, he said, "Sorry, I zoned out. I was thinking about how much I'll miss you guys." It was so sad! That was kind of hard. Our devotional that night was by Elder Dave Evans from the Seventy. Turns out he served his mission in Japan! It was great to hear from him! He really boosted our spirits and made us excited to go out to Japan. We ended that night by singing Christmas carols as sisters in the branch. It was super fun!

Christmas was amazing! It kind of felt like a normal day, but at the same time it was great! We had breakfast, read Luke 2 as a district, and opened presents. As I said in my email, I loved them. Thank you so much! It was fun to open all of our presents up together! Then we went to a talent show, which was hilarious! One of our elders sang "You Raise Me Up" in it! He's a really good singer! As a choir, we sang "As Shepherds Lately Knelt" which I've never heard of before, but it's a beautiful song! Look it up if you can! It's so pretty. Guess who we had for Devotional?? Elder Bednar!! Wahoo! Dream come true! It was really cool because he passed out cell phones, and we texted questions to an iPad that he had, and he answered our questions. That's all the devotional was! It was really, really great! We haven't held a phone for two months though, so it was kind of weird haha. Elder Bednar is amazing! Then we had an hour where we listened to Jazz Christmas music. Mom would've loved it! We had sack dinners, and then watched the 2012 MoTab Christmas concert which was incredible! It was a great day!

Thursday was fine. We had another teacher who practiced door approaches with us. It was super awkward! Haha, we are going to have a  lot of awkward times in Japan. I'm so excited! We had our very last lesson in the MTC ever with our investigator, Nagashimada san. We asked her to be baptized, and she accepted! It was great, but really sad at the same time since we will never see her again. 

Friday was "In-Field Orientation" all day. It was actually really fun! At one point, M. Shimai and I were practicing role playing with members, but we did it in Japanese. The sisters sitting next to us were like, "Are you going to China?! You sound Asian!" That made us happy! We didn't realize we actually sound legit! However, that was to an English person, we will see how good we actually sound in a couple of days! We learned a lot about how the field is going to work and what we will do when we get there, so it made us really excited! A bit overwhelmed, but definitely excited!

That was my week! I'll let you know how my first week in Japan goes next week! I love you all, and I miss you. Thank you so much for all the support you've given me! I feel it every day! The MTC has been a really, really great experience! It went by super fast, but I've learned a ton and felt the Spirit every day. It's a wonderful place! I'll talk to you all on Monday! Wish me luck!

ai shiteimasu

Dansie Shimai

 

Week Eight!

HOLY CRAP! I'm leaving for Japan in a week. That's so scary, but I'm so excited too. We got our flight plans yesterday! We land in Tokyo Narita Airport at 4:55 on December 31st. Just in time for New Years! I've heard that they have a three day celebration for New Years, so I'm super excited for that.

The basketball game against BYU sounds like it was awesome! The Utes are back!!

Here's my week:

Last p-day was great! We built a gingerbread house because one of the elder's mom sent them a kit. It was super fun, and I'll send a picture of it. We also taught a Nihonjin who converted 23 years ago. He told M. Shimai and I not to worry about the language because we "radiated" and a lot of people would be attracted to us. He was super nice!

Sunday was great, as usual! Nothing extra special happened, except for M Shimai and I taught Sunday School, and we sang "One Small Babe" in choir. I've never heard that song before, but it was super pretty. Look it up if you can! That alto part rocks in that song. Also, we had the BYU Men's Chorus come perform for devotional. They were amazing! There is something good about BYU! 

Monday nothing really exciting happened. We learned that you sound smart in Japan if you can get the particles right, so I'm screwed haha. The particles are super tough, but I'm beginning to understand them more. But yeah, nothing else really exciting happened. 

Tuesday was great. We taught one of our investigators, Sato san, and that went well. We had Elder Ronald Rasband of the seventy speak to us in devotional, and he actually spoke at the Christmas Devotional! So it was super cool to see him again. Since it's Christmas, he spoke about spiritual gifts. Speaking of which, I think I get to email on Christmas! I'm not 100% sure, that's just what I've heard. So we'll see! I've been so busy with learning Japanese and getting ready to go that I've totally forgotten about Christmas. Also, I got the package that day. Thanks so much! It was great.

Wednesday was crazy! We hosted, and it was insane. I hosted 6 sisters, so I never had a break. It was always, go, go, go. So it was pretty fun! The MTC makes the world a very small place. We also got to Skype church members in Nihon that night! We talked to Miki san for a little bit, who showed us her akachan (baby), and he was the cutest thing! When we were talking to her, M Shimai accidentally told Miki san that she had three sons and a daughter. It was so funny! She recovered quickly though. Then we talked to another Nihonjin for a little bit. It was a cool experience!

Thursday was sad. We said goodbye to our teacher that's been with us since Day 1. It was so sad! We found out what happened to real John (we've been teaching him as one of our investigators). He was baptized in the Pacific Ocean, and a year later went to the temple with his family. So cute! I also had the first Nihonjin laugh at my name that day. Haha the first of many, I assume!

Yesterday we got our flight plans!! Ahh it's crazy that we are leaving! The MTC has been wonderful, it really goes by super fast.

Well I hope you all have a great week, and a great Christmas!! I hope I get to email on the day! I love you all, and miss you so much. I'll talk to you soon!

ai shitemasu

Dansie Shimai

 

 

Week Seven!

Hey! How's everyone doing this week?

Here's my week!

Sunday was great! We had Neill Marriott from the Young Women's Presidency speak to us in R.S., and she's amazing! She converted at 22, so she's an amazing woman. We watched the Christmas Devotional that night, and it was great. I hope you all enjoyed it too! We watched a movie about the First Vision and Kirtland, Ohio, after that! It made me want to go there someday! We also said goodbye to some of the missionaries in our branch that night headed to Tokyo. My district is the next to go! 

Monday wasn't very productive, but we translated a scripture from Nihongo to English, and it was pretty cool! I thought about it a little bit differently, and it was a cool experience. 

Tuesday was interesting. I feel like I kind of hit a wall with the language, but it got better. We asked Sato san (our stubborn investigator) to be baptized, and he agreed! Didn't see that one coming! He's scheduled for January 1st! We had Quinten L. Cook for our devotional! We are so spoiled here in the MTC! He did a wonderful job, and it was so cool to see him in person. 

Wednesday, we got new missionaries in our branch! They remind us of how much we really have learned. They're so cute though, we've already become really good friends. There are 4 international missionaries, 2 elders from Australia, 1 sister from New Zealand, and 1 sister from Mexico.

Thursday was great! We taught Jon that day, and it was our last lesson before his baptism on Sunday, so it was pretty cool. He invited us to a barbecue at his house afterwards. If only this was real life! A BBQ sounds so good! 

Yesterday was good. We had FHE with the girls in our branch, and it was really fun to get to know the new girls. We had two lessons, so it was really busy planning that day. They both went well though, so it was good! 

That's about all for the week! The language is still coming, there's a lot that I don't know. I'm excited to get to Japan though! It's going to be great. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week! Thanks for all the love and support, I feel it every day. I love you all, and I miss you so much!

ai shitemasu

-Dansie Shimai

 

Week Six!

TIME IS FLYING! Holy cow, I'm so not ready to go to Japan. We got a letter from our Mission President today, and I had a baby panic attack. My language is coming along pretty well, but I know it will be totally different when I get to Japan. I've been able to memorize the baptismal commitment and the First Vision in Japanese, so it's pretty exciting. The First Vision still needs a little bit of work though, so hopefully I'll have it mastered soon. Our lessons are coming along well. We can effectively communicate, but our teachers talk really slow compared to actually Nihonjin, so it should be interesting when we get out there. 

Here's how my week was! Happy December!

Sunday was great. Our devotional was on how to work with members, so really useful! We also watched the Testaments movie. It made me cry at the end. It's super good! 

Monday was good. We taught Nagashimada san, and we found out that she has some issues with her husband. We hope we can offer her some good advice next time we teach her! I also decided to start learning one kanji a day that day, so it's pretty exciting. I know some kanjis! I feel so cool!

Tuesday, woke up to snow. Gross! It snowed all day long, and we got about a foot here in Provo. M Shimai loved it! I'm glad you were all safe driving around that day. I was really worried. We taught Sato san about the Atonement, and he really liked it. Our devotional was supposed to be given by Elder Ballard, but because of the snow, he couldn't make it. We had Elder Hafen speak instead, but he did a great job! I know he was the one that was supposed to come that day. 

Wednesday we got to host in the freezing cold, but it was still fun! I hosted three girls. One was from American Samoa! It was really cool getting to talk to them.

Thursday was like Christmas for us because we got our Japanese name tags! They look so cool!! They came really early, so we were all super excited! Also, it was 11 degrees that day. So it was kind of terrible. Haha oh well! Thursday was great. 

Friday we had our first lesson with a member present. It went really well! We taught Sato san about the Gospel! The member, Tanaka san, really related to him, so I hope he can come to the rest of our lessons with Sato san! 

Overall, it was a great week. I'm super scared to go to Japan, but way excited at the same time. I'm glad to hear that the Utes won their last game. I hope next year goes better for them! 

I love you, and miss you all so much. I'll get pictures out soon. I hope you have a great week!

-Dansie Shimai

Lexie wanted to make sure she represented the U. while living in BYU Cougar country, so she wore her knee-high University of Utah socks with her boots!

Week Five - Halfway There!

One month down! 17 more to go! It's crazy that the next time the 30th comes around, I'll be getting on an airplane. I don't know the language! Oh well, I'm super excited! It's going to be awesome! 

Here's how my week went:

Last P-day was great. We go to the temple every Saturday, except it's closed now for cleaning, so we don't get to go anymore. Sad day! I also learned how to write 1-10 in kanji! Wahoo!

Sunday was wonderful as usual! Three of the branch presidents' wives spoke about their experiences on their mission. Afterward, we had the usual Sunday School, Sacrament, and study time. We go on temple walks every Sunday where we just walk on the grounds, so that was really fun. The devotional was great! It was given by Stephen B. Allen, and he was hilarious. He said we would have bbqed grasshopper in Japan...made me super excited. We watched, "Mountain of the Lord" afterwards which is about the building of the Salt Lake Temple. Since that's my temple, it made me cry. It's a great movie, you should all watch it!

Monday was normal, just taught our investigators. Apparently one of our teachers had an allergic reaction to a flu shot, so we haven't seen him all week. Poor guy! We had FHE as a branch. We read, "You Are Special" and ate a ton of food. It was so fun!

Tuesday was great! We sang "Jesus Once of Humble Birth" in choir, and the devotional was given by Elder and Sister Teh from the Seventy. They were wonderful. Next to Sundays, Tuesdays are my favorite days in the MTC.

Wednesday was normal. We didn't get to host because no new missionaries came in since it was Thanksgiving. We taught a new investigator, Nagashimada san, who is really shy, but receptive to our message. She's great! We get to teach her twice again this week. That's one thing I'm going to struggle with in Japan, Japanese names! They're so long and complicated! Guess what I found out this week? The only reason I've been called to Japan is for comic relief. Want to know why? Apparently "Dansie" means man in Japanese. My name is literally Sister Man. Haha oh well, it will make the Nihonjin laugh!

Thanksgiving in the MTC was WONDERFUL! A lot better than I expected it to be! We sang Hope of Israel in the choir, which was super powerful! Russell M. Nelson came to talk to us!! He's the cutest! He really did a wonderful job, and we all freaked out when we found out he was speaking! Also, it was M Simai,'s birthday, so we sang to her at lunch, she hated all of it. Haha it was so fun! We had the classic Thanksgiving feast for lunch, and it was so cute because our district decided to go around and say what we were grateful for, as well as say district prayer together. It was so cute, and one of the highlights of my day. Then we went on a temple walk, which was super fun. We had a Thanksgiving Program afterwards where the first Thanksgiving Story was acted out, and we watched a bunch of motivational missionary videos. We had a sack dinner afterwards, which was actually really good! Then we went to the service project where we bagged 350,000 bags of lintel soup for kids in Utah! It was so fun! I hope that two of those bags will go to the girls that I helped with in the play last year at Neighborhood House. We ended the day watching Ephraim's Rescue, which was even better the second time. It's such a great movie! When we were walking back to our apartment, they turned on the Christmas lights around the MTC! It's so magical! This Thanksgiving was definitely one that I won't soon forget. 

Friday was pretty good. Normal day with class and studying. I was flipping back and forth between the English and Japanese Book of Mormon, and it's super trippy because the Nihongo one is backwards...or is the English one? Deep thought for the day. M Simai and I also figured out how to say the "Want to know how an animal eats their food?" video in Japanese. It goes like this, "Anata wa do yatte dobutsuu ni taberu koto mitai desu ka?..chakai mite kudasai....MOO" Haha it's so funny! Pretty good day!

Well, I have to go! My time limit on email is up. I love you and miss you all so much! If the next 17 months goes as fast as this past month has, I'll be home before you know it! I hope you all have a great week, and I can't wait to get your DearElders. Also, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! 

ai shitemasu 

-Dansie Shimai

 

 

Week Four!

We've decided to get up at 5:30 on Saturdays to do our laundry, so you'll get early emails from me! The DearElders everyday are wonderful, too. So thanks for those! The Elders in my district have starting calling the mail "Dansie Shimai's Mail" because I get letters every day. Haha it's so funny!

 

Sunday was incredible! We started off the day by studying in our classroom, when we heard the Japanese senkyoshi (missionaries) singing hymns down the hall. We decided to go say hi to them, and they invited us to sing with them! We spent 30 minutes singing in Nihongo with them! We also sang the Sisters in Zion/Armies of Helaman melody in Nihongo, and that song makes me cry anyways, so in Japanese I was a  goner. Haha it was really the coolest experience ever! Then we watched Music and the Spoken Word again, then we had Relief Society which was great. After that, M Shimai. and I taught the Sunday School lesson about Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and it went really well! Our branch president sat in on it, and he said, "That's the best lesson I've heard in the MTC!" We showed Elder Bednar's Patterns of Light videos (which I definitely recommend watching, they're great), and we shared some experiences. It was really cool! After that we had choir, which was great again! I really like singing, even though I don't do it that well. I've also decided that I really like the alto section! I think I'll officially declare myself an alto. The devotional was great after words. We had Mary Ellen Edmunds come speak to us, and she is hilarious! It was great! Afterwards, we watched "Missions are Forever"  a talk given by Elder Holland, which was incredible! Sundays are great in the MTC! 

 

Monday was fun. We taught Jon for the third time that day, and we committed him to a baptisimal date! Wahoo! Super exciting! Also, some missionaries from our branch left for Japan at 2:30 that morning. We miss them all so much, and we hope they're doing well. They all went to the Kobe mission, so we probably won't see them ever again. 

 

Tuesday was all right. Choir and the devotional were great, as always! The man who spoke was Elder Aidukitis from the Seventy. He and his wife spoke about optimism and the Celestial Kingdom. Also, we taught Sato san (our third investigator) for the third time, and he's been pretty stubborn about not praying in the past, but we finally got him to pray with us! It was exciting! He also asked us why Joseph Smith was thrown in Liberty Jail? Most random question ever. We really didn't know how to respond in Nihongo, so we did the best we could. 

 

Wednesday, we survived three weeks! My district was able to host the new missionaries that came in. Even though it was pouring rain, it was actually really fun! I also saw one of my friends from the U who entered the MTC that day, so that was really exciting. We got new missionaries learning Japanese (we call them kohii) so we were all excited that we actually know more Nihongo then we think we do. We also read the Book of Mormon as a class, and we read about Lehi's Vision, so it was great! That's one of my favorite stories. 

 

Thursday was normal. For our service project, we took out the trash. I got the package that day! Class was great. I'm really starting to understand Nihongo! It's really tough still, but I can form complete sentences in my head that actually somewhat make sense! It's a miracle! The Gift of Tongues is real, but it goes slower than you think. 

 

Yesterday was great. Except they serve Papa John's pizza for dinner every Friday! It follows me!!! We taught Sato-san  for the fourth time, and it went better. Except I shared the wrong scripture with him! That happens a lot in the Japanese Book of Mormon. M. Shimai and I have started to read from it on our own, and it's really cool to understand the symbols, and catch words here and there. I'm also picking up on some kanji! Remember our first investigator, Man san? We learned what really happened to him yesterday. He really like the Book of Mormon, and he was a great guy; however, he wasn't baptized because he had a smoking problem. So sad! I hope that one day he can be baptized! 

 

We get to go the temple today! I'm so excited. I hope you all have a great week!  I love you all so much, and I miss you a ton. There are definitely times that I miss home, but being a senkyoshi (missionary) is the coolest thing ever! I feel very blessed to be learning Japanese even though it's really difficult. 

 

I love you all! Talk to you soon!

 

-Lexie (Dansie Shimai)

 

 

Week Three

Konichiwa!

I finally understand what everyone means when they say the days go by slow at the MTC but the weeks go by fast. It's the weirdest thing, but it feels like yesterday that I was sending the last letter. I've survived 3 weeks! Things are picking up!

Sunday was wonderful. They treat us really well here in the MTC. We got to watch "Music of the Spoken Word" which was about Veteran's Day. It made me wonder how many more times I would hear the national anthem for the next year and a half. Then we heard from a woman in the primary general presidency for Relief Society. Sacrament was great, and I understood about 40% of the Nihongo! Molen S. and I received our first calling! We are the music  coordinators in our district. It just means we pick the song for sacrament. Should be fun! We watched a talk given by Elder Uchtdorf called "A Missionary's Call," and it was amazing! It made me all pumped to be a missionary. 

Monday we taught our second investigator, John, and it went pretty well, except for the fact that we gave him the wrong scripture to read in the Japanese Morumon sho (Book of Mormon). His whole family are members of the church, but he has a little bit of an issue with it. We went back to teach him on Thursday, and extended the baptismal question  to him. He accepted! It was the best day ever!! Hopefully we get many more opportunities to ask someone that. We also learned the first names of everyone in our district. Turns out their first name isn't Elder! Imagine that!

Tuesday was AMAZING! I got to write all of you letters, which it sounds like you enjoyed. Anyways, Molen S. and I decided to sing in the choir for the devotional, which is super fun, except this time we decided to be altos! It's was really cool. Guess who the speaker was for the devotional? Elder L. Tom Perry!!!! He's the cutest old man, and he gave a great talk on importance of a companionship. It was so great!

Wednesday was fine. Not much happened except the new missionaries came in. This Wednesday we get new senkyoshi (missionaries) in our district! We won't be the babies anymore! Wednesday's are actually kind of tough for some weird reason, so I'm glad it's over. 

Thursday was when we extended baptism to John. It was a really cool experience! I had the idea to read Alma 32 to him since he struggled with faith, so that seemed to really help him! It was the best lesson we've had so far. When we left, Molen S. and I looked at each other with the biggest smiles and started jumping around. It was great! 

Friday we got a new sensei! Her name is Clark Shimai, and she served in Nagoya. There is hope for us to learn Nihongo. Which, by the way, is still super difficult. We learn a ton everyday, so it gets really difficult. When I can actually say a full sentence or two in Nihongo, I'm always so proud of myself! I've definitely felt the gift of tongues while here. We taught our third investigator, Sato-san, for the second time. He's a tough cookie! He won't sing or pray with us. Hopefully he will come closer to Christ. I had a cool experience the other day where I was doing personal study, not thinking about our investigator at all, and then the thought came to me that I should share D&C 121:7-8 with Sato-san since he's had a rough life. It was so cool! I received revelation! 

Overall, being a missionary is wonderful. We've starting having a little bit of tension in our district, but that's to be expected if you spend everyday with each other. By the way, Kyodai means brother. So our sensei is Gregory Kyodai. I'm still trying to learn the language, but that's going to take a while. I'm excited to see what happens this next week! Expect pictures from me in a little bit. I love you all, and I'll talk to you next Saturday! I can't wait to get your DearElders!

 

-Dansie Shimai

Week Two!

Ohayo gozaimasu! Watashi no kazoku desu! (Good morning. My family)

I'm so happy to get to email you again! This whole once a week communication thing is weird. Thanks for the package you sent! It totally made my day. All the DearElder letters you've sent everyday are great too, and I love getting them. I absolutely love getting mail.

 

This week definitely went by faster than last. It's been kind of a crazy week. There are missionaries from Japan that arrived on Tuesday! Two are going to Tokyo South! It's so great, and they're all very sweet. The devotional on Tuesday was great! It was given by W. Craig Zwick of the Seventy. My companion and I got to be in the choir, but we mouthed a lot of the words because the notes were too high. Jumping back to Sunday, fast and testimony meeting was great! My companion and I totally forgot about daylight savings time until about 2 in the afternoon, so that was a bummer. No sleeping in for us! We got to watch a talk given by Elder Bednar one Christmas at the MTC called The Character of Christ. It was a great talk, and I definitely recommend watching it! Monday was cool.  We taught our investigator a couple of times, and it went pretty well! My companion and I decided to sing hymns in Nihongo during the lesson, and our investigator really liked it! By the way, the investigators are not actually investigators. They are return missionaries, but they play the part of someone they taught on their mission. On Monday, our sensei told us about revelation that Elder Eyring gave in 2003 that Japan would soon flourish, and a lot of people will be accepting of the Gospel message. Hopefully that'll happy while I'm there! By the way, every P-day we get to go to the Provo Temple! It's super pretty inside of there.

Here is our drawing of the Plan of Salvation in Japanese.

 

Japanese is still coming. I've learned a ton in the past week. On Wednesday, we got a new sensei, and that was a little frustrating because it was like day 1 all over again, but I snapped out of being frustrated. I had a really cool thought this week. As a missionary, I'm standing on the path towards the tree of life, and I'm inviting my investigators to enter the path. It was really awesome! The days here in the MTC are essentially the same. Wake up, eat, study, class, study, eat, work out, study, eat, class, study, go to bed. But they're good days! I've really liked it here in the MTC! It makes me want to go out to Nihon and teach. The missionaries that are going there in two weeks just got their travel itinerary. They're all super excited!

I miss you all so much, I really do. I love being a missionary, though! I feel so blessed to be here. I know there's someone in Tokyo who needs me. I love you all, and I'll talk to you soon!

-Dansie Shimai (but you can all still call me by my first name. It's weird not hearing it here.)

 

Reminder of Lexie's contact information:

 

Alexis.dansie@myldsmail.net (or you can send a letter for free through dearelder.com, letters are printed and delivered daily)

 

Sister Alexis Jaina Dansie

DEC31 JPN-TOKS

2007 N 900 E

Unit 71

Provo, UT 84062

MTC Room!

Week One!

Surprise! My P-day is on Saturday. Thank you SO much for all the letters and the package. It made my entire day receiving them. What a crazy long week...or four days...it has been. It feels like a lifetime ago that you dropped me off at the MTC curb. These past few days have been some of the longest days of my life, but everyone says that if you can survive the first week, the rest of the MTC goes by fast. Here's to hoping it's all downhill from here!

Even though it's been long, I'm really enjoying the MTC. M Shimai is my companion!!! I'm so blessed to have her as my companion. She is so great, down to earth, funny and super spiritual. We get along really well together, and she pushes me to be the best missionary I can be. We are the only two in our room, so that's nice. We have 8 chorotachi (elders) in our district, and they are phenomenal. I swear they've all had Nihongo (Japanese) practice before, because they all seem fluent. My companion I are the only shimaitachi (sisters) in our district. We spend about 6+ hours in the classroom a day. We've learned a lot the past couple of days, but the more I learn Nihongo, the more I remember French. It's super inconvenient haha. Our sensei is really great, but he speaks 98% Japanese. The first day I was totally lost, but It's gotten better! All the girls in my branch are great, and we workout together everyday (which I'm still trying to get used to). By the way, I was named senior companion for the first four weeks! It was exciting. We taught our first lesson in Nihongo yesterday! We didn't understand what he said back to us, but I could totally feel of the Savior's love for him. It was a really cool experience! He invited us to come back and teach tonight.

It's been a long, hard week, but I love being a missionary! I've definitely caught myself having thoughts of home, but it's gotten better. I love putting my nametag on every morning! I love the challenge of learning Japanese! It pushes my beyond belief. I miss you all, and I hope you're doing well! I love you all so much, and I'll talk to you soon! The Church is true!

-Dansie Shimai

 

 

Lexie Reports to the Provo MTC!

We wanted to thank everyone for their love and support as Lexie prepared to serve her mission.
It certainly has been an eventful week. Lexie was so relieved after her farewell talk was over and had such a great time seeing everyone at the open house after. She was her normal self Sunday night, and even entertained us by playing musical tunes with her macaroni noodles at dinner!

Monday, the hard goodbyes began, and she became quiet and pensive over the next day. On Tuesday night, she was set apart for her mission by the Stake President. It was a wonderful blessing and she was told what we've all known for a long time: that people would be drawn to her because of her light. When the blessing was over she was officially a missionary! She was so excited and said, "When do I get to go to Japan!" We all felt a great sense of peace.

Wednesday, October 30, she reported to the MTC at 12:45. Someone once said that you can't explain an MTC drop off to anyone, that it is an experience unlike any other. What a true statement. She was happy and smiling as she walked away with her host for her next great life adventure. We will miss her, but know she will be happy and successful - her life changed forever!

Thank you again for all the love and support. Our family is anxiously awaiting p-day to receive her first email.

Getting the Call!

After much anticipation and checking the mail box every day, my mission call has finally arrived! I saw that big white envelope with my name on it and about passed out. With my family and some of my closest friends around me, I read the words, "Dear Sister Dansie: 

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Japan Tokyo South Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months. 

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, October 30, 2013. You will prepare to teach the gospel in the Japanese language."

Can you believe that?? JAPAN! Excitement, fear, joy, nerves, and love consumed me in that moment. That's definitely the last place I expected to be called, but I can't wait to serve the Lord in Tokyo! The Church is true!