Week 45 - Never Ceases to Amaze Me

AHHHHHHH!!! Out with the old in with the new... I love transfer week. It always brings a buzz into the mission. Everyone gets super excited to see who is whose companion...so check this out.

Last week at the "Bye Bye Kai," or the meeting where we said bye to President Zinke and Sister Zinke, we gave them hugs. Yes, I got to hug President, too! I was crying the whole time...and took pictures with them. I love President Zinke, he`s been another father to me. And Sister Zinke`s been a mom to me. 

Me and Mama Zinke.  I love this lady!

I leaned over and said, `President, I have a request (I was totally joking). Will you put me and Sister Scheffler together next transfer?` He took a notebook out of his pocket and a pen, and wrote it down. Sister Scheffler and I were laughing, thinking about how funny it would be if he actually did put us together. This morning, we got a call from our District Leader saying, `Hall shimai, you`re transferring. Heimuli shimai, you`re staying. You will be companions with Scheffler shimai.`

WHAAAAAAT???!!!! Can you believe that?! I thought he was joking! Yup, President never ceases to amaze me. I am SO excited to be with my dear Scheffler shimai! Can you believe we grew up together...and now we get to serve the Lord together! I am so excited to work with her!

Kyoto Zone! I love this Zone. There's cute Scheffler Shimai....Can`t believe we`re going to be together next transfer!

Now, with transfers comes a lot of changes. I am so sad to see Hall shimai leave but I`m excited to see what more Scheffler shimai will add to our investigators` testimonies. I`ve seen many miracles with Sister Hall and it`s sad to think we won`t be together again!

Hall shimai and me sweaty from our dramatic bike ride/my non-graceful bike crash (more on that later!). Gonna miss her!

One significant miracle we experienced yesterday was when we went to visit a less active sister who lives with her son. These two have been less active for over 10 years and she`s not felt any need to return to church. Sister Hall and I have visited her about 10 times by ourselves but no one was ever home. Bishop came up to us after church yesterday and asked us if he and his daughter (Megumi shimai, who is leaving for the Minami Tokyo mission in October) could come with us and visit less actives. We were so excited to work with bishop! I`ve seen over and over again the difference in working with members. I know that only when we work with members can we actually hasten the work. So we went with them after church and spent a couple hours visiting families.

One of my favorite people, Misato san! She`s an opera singer and she`s amazing!

Then when the time felt right, I told him we needed to try and see this specific less active sister.We did, and lo and behold, she was home! Her door was open and it looked like she had been cleaning or something. She happily invited us in. I looked on her wall and a picture of the Salt Lake Temple was hanging there. We talked about that picture and about various sacred things. We sang `How Great Thou Art` and bore our testimonies. She cried and thanked us for coming. She said she`s been working so hard and feeling so burdened and right when she thought she couldn`t handle it anymore, we came to her door. God`s timing is perfect. She also invited us back! Having bishop with us was a great blessing because even though we offer to help, people look at us like `Uhh you`re two girls; Two girls that can`t speak Japanese. I don`t need your help.`  But when bishop offered his help, and the help of our ward members, she gladly accepted -- which is good because the more her ward members are around her, the more she can feel God`s love and gain a desire to be part of His fold again.

Since it`s transfer day we don`t have much time, but I just wanted to tell you all thank you for the letters and the awesome package! Bishop`s son LOVED his hat and he was so excited when he saw it! Thanks, Dad! I loved the letters from the Primary children as well! I sincerely wish I could write every single one of them back individually. Please tell them Sister Heimuli loves them, and I can`t wait to find out where they will all go on their missions! That`s the beautiful thing about this Church. It`s the same everywhere you go. Nothing changes in the gospel. It`s at its purest truest sense. I love this gospel! It`s an honor and a privilege for me to be allowed this opportunity to help share it with those around me.

Congrats to Heels and Alyssa! Alyssa, welcome to the Heimuli Family. I think you will love being a Heimuli. 

Helam & Alyssa at the Bountiful Temple

From the pictures, it looks like it was a great day! The most important and gorgeous part was seeing everyone at the temple!

Welcoming the newlyweds! L to R: Hema, Devin, Houston, Bo, Harrison, Thomas, Evan & Kevin.
Mom & Dad stand in the background

Love you all!

Sister Heimuli

The Crash: We were racing the clock one night and my tire hit the curb wrong and i crashed! I hurried and got back on my bike because I didn`t want to miss curfew and Sister Hall rides behind me and says while laughing, `Woah! That was like matrix! Okay, let`s go -- we don`t have time!` hahaha it was a fun night!

Ouch...still smiling though.

Ruined my watch in the crash. At least it wasn't my favorite one!