Week 31 - Our Babies

So guess what? We got a new Spanish speaking investigator! We taught him on Saturday after playing soccer with one of our other investigators. He`s a nice guy, says he`s Catholic but wants to learn more about Jesus Christ. He`s only studied the Bible and read a little bit from the Book of Mormon and wants to learn more. I love when people love the Book of Mormon! We went to a Potential Investigator`s house a couple days ago for tea (she made us herbal tea of course!). It turned into a giant scripture study which was rough because she`s a Jehovah`s Witness and their Bible is different from KJV. After studying with her it really motivated me to study the Bible more. I love the Bible because of all the stories of Christ. I was reading in Mark 5 when he raised Talitha from the dead. Christ says in verse 34 `And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.` I found it very interesting because almost every time Christ heals someone He tells people not to say anything to anyone about it. To me, Christ`s humility is a major attribute I need to acquire while I am out here on my mission. He also commands that this girl be given something to eat. I know this may seem like such a simple passage but I really admire Christ`s consideration for her comfort…another attribute I need to learn!

Dinner at Bishop`s last night. Chinese food. It was AWESOME. We love Bishop Hayashi and his family :)

As we`ve focused everything we do (as a mission) on Christ, I realized we can`t wear Christ`s name every day and NOT have His attributes. That doesn`t just apply to missionaries. When we are baptized we covenant to take upon us His name. We don`t need a tag for that. All of us have Christ`s name and we can`t honestly carry His name and not have some of His attributes. `Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ;...`

Moroni points out that we need to be perfect IN Him. We can`t just go around Him, over Him or under Him; we must be IN Christ, and He in us, if we want His grace. Our investigator told us on Saturday that `If I put my faith in a table, I can only do things to the extent of a table. But if I put my faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ I can do the things that they can do.` And she`s so right! Where we put our faith is exactly where our potential lies. Christ didn`t just die for us so that we could be forgiven of our sins. He died so that we could have a chance to become like our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for that, and I am so grateful our investigators are starting to understand that as well.

I love our investigators! They`re kind of like our babies. We find them, begin to teach them, and delight in watching them take their first steps in the gospel. One of our investigators, a 68 year old lady who is crazy and LOVES the chorotachi (elders), was waiting for us after our meeting on Sunday. The Stake President came to say hi to us, he shook our (me and Hall shimai) hands, and he gave the Elders hugs. Our investigator saw that and said, `I want a hug too!` And she literally jumped on one of the Elders! Haha, it was so funny! My companion and I were dying of laughter as members and the Stake President tried their hardest to pull her off of the elder! We talked with her afterward about how she can shake the elders` hands but she can`t hug them. It`s only funny because they just don`t know any better. I love being able to watch our investigators` testimonies grow as they learn line upon line, precept upon precept.

Our friend took us to a Hawaiian restaurant this week...it was LEGIT!

I am STILL learning how to develop Christ`s attributes. Our investigators are discovering them, too. And I have already seen what a difference it makes in the lives of our investigators when they apply Christ`s attributes. I have already seen a change in myself as I learn how to be humble, exercise patience, become diligent. If you have time later, please read John 14. My favorite part is the last verse and it says, `But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.`

How`s everyone doing? Is dad feeling better? Seriously mom, I am so blessed with such awesome family and such awesome friends. I love them so much! I love you guys! Thank you for taking care of yourselves. Keep it up. By the time I get home you and dad will be in better shape than me...I swear a mission gives you baggy eyes, white hairs, and sleepless nights...is this what it`s like being a parent?!

Gotta run. Love you mama :) Are the boys still crazy and having jam sessions on the weekends? I hope so! They gotta have fun while they`re young. I love you guys, I think about you guys often. But not too often ;) Sorry this email is short, but it`s actually sunny today and I`d rather be out there than in here. Love you! Until next week.......

Love always,

Sister Heimuli

I ate poke and rice! I haven`t had poke and rice in ages. The woman that owns the restaurant said that she used to dance in a halau by UH and she lived in Hawaii. Her English is perfect.

Week 30 - Last Thought

HAPPY GIRL`S DAY!!! Hina sama no Hi!!! I`m not really sure what people do on Girl`s Day, but all I know is that they`re celebrating us, so I`m good with that! Konnichiwa family and friends! Can you believe it`s March already?? The weather is finally warming up. I no longer have to wear 3 layers of scarves! I`m down to just 1 and a light jacket. The weather is beautiful today, so I want to hurry and finish emailing and get out and enjoy it! Japanese is still difficult, but I`ve now managed to learn how to order food without just pointing at pictures, and I can almost carry a full conversation...with a 10 year old. By the time I come home, I`ll be speaking Japanese like a 6th grader...yay!

 

This week was AMAZING. Elder Whiting came and visited our mission. He did a 3 day mission tour, started in Ibaraki (which is my end of the mission) and worked his way across. There`s nothing more powerful than having someone come who is sent by the First Presidency, who has received revelation on your behalf, and can lovingly but directly give you counsel to help you and your investigators. He taught us about the book 1st Nephi and how it`s the most read book in the church because once you hit the 2 Nephi Isaiah parts, most people give up. Then a few months later, we feel a desire to read again so we start back at `I Nephi having been born of goodly parents...` He`s SO right. He also pointed out to us how the Prophets knew a lot of us would only get as far as 1st Nephi so they jam-packed it full with everything we`ll ever need. Of course we should read the WHOLE book, but we started discussing some of Nephi`s attributes and I noticed that all Nephi`s attributes are Christlike attributes. We`ve been focusing a lot on Christ as a mission lately. During the day as we`re proselyting, Hall Shimai and I play a game called `Last thought!` At any time either of us can say to the other `Last thought!` and we HAVE to tell each other what we were thinking right before that question was asked. And if it wasn`t about Christ or the mission, we have to explain to each other one way it ties back to Christ. It`s kind of silly but it helps us to keep our minds where they should be.

 

Tuesday night was pretty hectic and we had been riding our bikes for about 2 hours. We finally got home all sweaty and tired and we got an email as we sat down to eat dinner. It was from one of our favorite investigators who`s seventeen and she`s been meeting with us for only about 3 weeks. Her mail said she was sorry but that she couldn`t meet anymore because her parents are Buddhist and they caught her praying. They told her not to meet with us anymore and they said she couldn`t even come to Eikaiwa anymore because it`s held at the church. She told us she was so sad and she cried all day. Hall shimai and I were devastated! We could see her testimony developing so nicely and now, because of her parent`s agency (you aren`t considered an adult until you`re 20 here, and so unless you`re 20 or older, you need permission from your parents in order to be baptized), she`s no longer able to learn about her Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We prayed and decided we needed to see her soon. A few days later we went to lunch with her and talked about everything. 

 

She just kept saying over and over, `I wish my parents were Christians.` She asked us if our parents were Christian and we said yes. She then said, `My parents don`t know how I feel when I pray and learn about Jesus Christ. If they were Christian, they`d understand.` Our heart goes out to her. We see her desire to learn and we are continuing to pray for her parents that their hearts may be softened towards the Church. 

 

I was studying `Who is Jesus Christ` by President Boyd K. Packer and I love the way he describes agency. ``How supernally precious freedom is; how consummately valuable is agency.`` He later explains how Satan knows this. Satan has clever ways of manipulating our choices and deceiving us about sin and consequences. Like Hema said, our choices, the way we use our agency really does have eternal consequences no matter how big or small. Pres. Packer then said, `...Had agency come to man without the Atonement, it would have been a fatal gift.` I can testify that agency is a fatal gift without repentance. Because of Christ`s willingness to endure the Atonement, we have the opportunity to repent. Because of repentance (a broken heart and a contrite spirit), we can be freed from guilt and suffering, and continue to progress and become like our Heavenly Father.

 

I wish I had more to say, but agency is what it is. If agency was a food, it would be sweet and sour pork. Because it`s really good sometimes! And really blah at other times. Like Alma says, `Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in...` we have to be willing. We have to choose.

 

I am so happy to hear the Heimuli Family is doing good! Everyone seems to be happy and healthy and that`s really all I could ask for. Hema and Norma are doing a great job representing our family. I am so grateful everyday for the examples my brothers and older cousins were to me because of their determination to serve the Lord. Sometimes their examples are the only things that keep me going. Give my love to the family! Tell Grandpa and Nate I said Congrats!

 

When you`re faced with a difficult decision sometime over the next week or so, think past that day and the next, because your choices will affect your eternity. And that's my last thought!

 

Love you all! Have a great week!

 

Sister Heimuli

Week 29 - We Don't Have to Suffer

Wow! Sounds like everyone`s doing great! Yes, Sister Scheffler and I are in the same zone still and I`ll see her on Wednesday! I always look forward to seeing her. We have such a good time together! And Sister Hall is awesome. We`re doing good, just working hard to find those that are ready to hear the gospel. We didn`t teach as many lessons as we wanted to this week, but we did do our best every day. We`ve both been thinking about our purpose lately which is, `...to invite others to come unto Christ...` so whenever we are streeting or housing we always start by saying, `How would Christ do this? What would Jesus do differently?` and we can usually always come up with some pretty creative ideas. Friday night we were walking up and down this really busy street between 2 malls where thousands of people go shopping. Most people are really happy to talk to us because we`re both Americans. They are either excited we`re in their country, or feel bad for us so they talk to us. But we stopped at this traffic light and this little grandma looked over at me. Anytime anyone looks at me, I always start a conversation with them. There are just too many people to talk to in a city like ours, so whoever looks at me first becomes my focus…target…haha. Plus, she asked where I was from. I started introducing myself when the wind picked up and blew my hair off my tag. 

The lady saw Christ`s name on my tag and a stunned look crossed her face. Then all of a sudden she picked up her stuff and started walking away from Sister Hall and me. I started to go after her, but she wanted nothing to do with us and I didn`t want to freak her out. I just think it`s so sad how much people dislike Christ and they don`t even know Him.

Recently, our whole mission has been trying focus more on Christ. I was reading in D&C 19:1-4 `...I shall pass upon the inhabitants thereof, judging every man according to his works and the deeds which he hath done.` I thought about how interesting it was that everywhere in the scriptures Christ always invites us to take His name upon us, and in this scripture He says we will be judged according to OUR works and the deeds that WE have done. Those works are in OUR names, not Christ`s. But once we are baptized and make covenants to take His name upon us, our works are His works. The next verse says, `And surely every man must repent or suffer, for I God, am endless.` So we have 2 choices -- Repentance: Changing our ways to be God`s ways (or taking on Christ`s name) which leads us to Eternal Life; or Suffer: Thinking our ways are better than God`s (or only taking our own names) which leads us eternal misery. I know these words may seem harsh, but that`s exactly why Christ came to this earth and submitted to the Father`s will -- to suffer for all that we do in OUR names. He suffered, so that if we choose to repent and take His name upon us, we don`t have to suffer. 

Yeah it`s pretty rough trying to get people to understand why Christ`s name is bigger than ours on our tags. Some people have told me `Oh, that`s why you`re so nice` or `You have a kind atmosphere` (literal translation) after they notice our tags. But regardless of people`s reactions to His name on our tags, we love Him for whom we labor, and we labor because He (and we!) love these people.

Speaking of those we love, our investigators are AWESOME! We got 2 new Tagalog-speaking investigators that we`re meeting with tonight. Thank goodness their English is understandable because Tagalog is pretty impossible. 

The weather has been surprisingly nice lately. It`s supposed to rain on Thursday. When it rains here, it literally rains cats and dogs. I am NOT looking forward to it, but we get to wear pants when it rains, so that`s good. Later this week, we`ll be seeing Elder Whiting at our mission tour. I can`t wait to tell you about it next week!

Hope you all have an awesome week! It should be getting warmer in Utah now, right? Boys, keep training hard. Football season will get here faster than you think. And keep being good to Mom and Dad. We were riding past a park the other day and a bunch of high school boys were playing rugby. They were probably all around Houston`s age. I wanted to play! They reminded me so much of Houst. I miss that boy.

Have a great week! Love you all!

Love always,

Sister Heimuli

Surprise Letter: To Utah, With Love

[Note from Mom:  Valentine's Day came and went, then a lipstick-kisses-covered envelope showed up in the mailbox!  Sister Heimuli had collaged pics on one side and a personalized letter on the reverse side for each member of her family.  What a treasure!]

Hope you guys enjoy my valentines!!!  Sorry they're kind of ghetto and really rough looking but keep 'em forever...they're probably the only souvenirs you guys will get from me. LOL (Broke, that's why).  Show those you love even MORE love.  Even though I'm in Japan, I still love each one of you.  We all have some exciting things coming up in the next year.  There are a lot of changes happening.  You've all been troopahs thus far.  Don't let up!  Keep including the Lord in your plans because "Perfect love casteth out fear" (Moroni 8:16).  Change can be uncertain, exciting and sometimes even sad, but I promise that the love of Christ, perfect love, will cast out all fear.  Love each other.  Love those that may have offended you.  But most importantly, love me...because I'm awesome!

Love always,
Heimuli Shimai

Week 28 - Who Is Hevynn?

It`s okay!!! I understand that you guys don`t love me and don`t want to send emails to me...hahaha, just joking! My fambam is awesome. I love you guys to the moon and back. Thanks for the rockin` Valentine`s day package! I LOVE all the candy. Sometimes we don`t have time to eat dinner, or appointments run late and we end up skipping meals, so it`s nice to have something on hand to keep us going for a few more hours! You guys are awesome!

 

Well this past week was the last week of being a 3rd transfer and my first week of being a 4th transfer missionary! It`s amazing how the time passed so fast. We were at transfer point and these sisters were shouting, `Who is Hevynn? Do you know who Hevynn is?`

 

I told them that was my first name and they said, `Our ward keeps talking about you! They keep telling us to find Hevynn. They want you to transfer into our ward!` 

 

Come to find out it`s the Fukuda family that I stayed with when I was living in Osaka, remember? I remember going to church in that ward there! I sang `I Am a Child of God` in japanese  when I was 11. I can`t believe they still remember me. It`s amazing how small this world is, and the LDS world is even smaller, haha. They are in the Takatsuki ward so I hope I transfer there some day, but we'll see.

 

My new companion is Hall Shimai from Oklahoma. She`s adorable! 

 

She`s a 7th transfer and it`s cool because she wants to work together so we can help each other grow, not just tell me what I`m doing wrong. It`s super nice! We have a good relationship already. I can tell the Lord is expecting big things from us this transfer. Sadly, within the 3 days we`ve been together we haven`t been able to meet with any of our investigators. But last night we found a new investigator and her daughter. Their names are Maria and Bianca. Maria is from the Philippines. She speaks pretty okay japanese and some english. When we taught them last night it was a little bit in japanese, a little bit in english and she would say a few things in tagalog that I kinda sorta knew from my Filipino friends in Hawaii. And that`s how that lesson went. Even though it was hard to pick a language to teach it in, it was still super fun! She`s a spunky lady with lots of personality and I loved hearing anything and everything she had to say. We have an appointment to see her tomorrow night.

 

As far as my Tagalog goes, it`s pretty bad. But my spanish is improving! Tell Helam I understood everything he said in his letter in Spanish I just can`t speak it very well. I sat next to our Spanish speaking investigator`s mom at church yesterday and she just talked and talked and I can understand her pretty well. We have an appointment later this week to learn some Spanish and the gospel with him.

 

The most exciting thing that has happened was Saturday night while we were housing in an area relatively close to our apartment. I made a few wrong turns and we ended up on the other end of the city. It was POURING rain and we were hopelessly lost. Our shoes were soaked, we were cold, and we were 2 Americans biking aimlessly around a big city. We stopped at this restaurant that looked closed but the head chef was cleaning up. I knocked on their nice glass windows (getting it all dirty and soaked because of my rain suit, oops!). He was super nice and opened up. He told us which way to go and asked us why we were in Japan. We told him very little about who we are because we had to hurry home to make it in time for curfew. We followed his directions and in a couple minutes we were back in an area that I knew like the back of my hand! I was so confused...I had no idea how we got lost. But after we got home we both felt really strongly that as we go finding later this week, we want to go back and try to find that restaurant again and invite that guy to church. It`s kind of simple, some might say a little dumb, but I know everything happens for a reason! If you let the Lord guide His work it`ll get done!

 

I promise to have more things to share next week! Transfer week is always rough because if someone transfers in, or if you transfer, a lot of that time is spent getting to know each other and planning...so this week we`ll have some awesome experiences and I`ll share those next week!

 

Love you all!

 

Sister Heimuli

Surprise Message: She is Loved Here

[Note from Mom: What better way to warm your heart for Valentine's Day than to get a message from Japan in the wee hours of the morning?  I wonder if the incredible moms in the mission field have any idea what a blessing they are for taking time to email a missionary's mom...]

Hello! We are the Boettchers from Orem, Utah. We live here in Otsu, Japan now. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner tonight. We have really enjoyed getting to know Sister Heimuli and her sweet spirit. She has a beautiful voice! She sang in sacrament last week. She is loved here and doing great.

The Boettchers seem not too different from the Heimulis...one beautiful sis and all those handsome boys.

Week 27 - My Whole Soul

Thanks for all the pics!!!! All my boys are growin up too fast. You know what`s crazy?? Our last name isn`t that common but everywhere I go there`s always someone that knows our name. There`s an elder in my zone named Bentley Choro, I think he`s from Alpine. Well he saw my name and asked if I was related to Leah Heimuli. We were in a train and I shouted so loud I think every japanese person fell out of their seat, `Yes!!! That`s my cousin! She`s a tennis pro!` and he said his sister plays tennis too so he`s watched Leah play before. I was jealous because I miss that cutie and I would kill to watch my little cuz kill it on the court! 

I also saw the adorable Scheffler Shimai. We sat in the hall at Zone Training Meeting and just reminisced on the days when we were kids and played together. I love that I see her all the time because it feels like we both have a little piece of home right here in Japan. Missionaries can`t believe we`ve known each other since before we were born. They`re always surprised when we talk about how our parents were friends before they even had us. It`s a fun little story we get to tell people!

At Zone Training I learned something really interesting. In Enos verses 8-9 it says, `And he said unto me, Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee WHOLE.`  `Now it came to pass that when I had heard these words I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my brethren...wherefore, I did pour out my WHOLE soul unto God for them.`

Enos repents, receives forgiveness, then takes his WHOLE pure and clean soul, and pours it out to God for his brethren. He pours out his new soul in order to help his brethren, the Nephites. PMG 186 states you cannot convert past your own conversion. That is an important concept to understand. I had to step back and really evaluate where I stood with the Lord, and where my investigators stood with the Lord. Am I giving my WHOLE soul for them? If I am, is my whole soul clean enough? When we do all within our power (this includes repenting and working), I know God paves the way for those for whom we labor. 

On Wednesday we had Eikaiwa and one of our students is this really cool 20 year old kid. He`s in college, he studies hard, and he loves english! He actually came to church last week because I told him we were speaking in Japanese and he was super stoked to come. I followed up with him at Eikaiwa just asking him how church went and if he had any questions about what we talked about. He asked `Why do you say Christ died but that He still lives?` Wow. I thought he was going to ask about how much we pray or ask why we all have `Shimai` and `Kyoudai` at the end of our names. I couldn`t explain it to him in 2 minutes at Eikaiwa so I told him to email us later that night whenever it was convenient for him so that we could teach him about it. Well he didn`t email us that night. But the next day while we were proselyting we got an email that was from him and he said he wanted to meet at the church in a couple of hours. 

We booked it back to the church and got a lesson together for him. In order to understand Christ you need to have a foundation of God. So we taught about God. As we taught him I could see things clicking for him. We told him he was a son of God, which he thought was pretty cool. Then we asked him, `From what we`ve taught you about God, what do you think God is like?` His answer was, `He`s busy!` We just had to laugh! He was so right. God is busy. We missionaries are working hard down here, and He`s working hard up there! Heavenly Father has to answer people`s prayers, we don`t. He blesses people when they make promises with him, we don`t. It`s amazing how when we missionaries do everything within our power, Heavenly Father really does take care of the rest.

`Therefore, o ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.` 

All He asks is for our ALL. Once we give Him all our heart, might, mind and strength, it`s only then that we `...may stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God...` Luckily, He doesn`t ask us to answer prayers, or change people`s hearts. Only He has the power to do that. He doesn`t even ask us to be perfect or know everything. He`s already perfect. He just asks us to give our all.  

While we were finding, we ran into this random reservoir

The last two weeks have been skimpy on the lessons. For some reason all of our investigators got super busy so we couldn`t set up appointments and people just weren`t interested in anything we had to say, so our numbers were looking pretty sad. However, we still worked hard, we went finding, we talked to everyone we could, we struggled through hundreds of conversations in order to meet people with interest and invite them to hear our message. I know the Lord saw our efforts and He`s blessed us immensely this past week. Even with a new transfer coming at the end of the week, He`ll continue to bless us. 

I am so sad that Colter Shimai is transferring to the other side of the mission! My Spanish hasn`t improved that much, so I feel bad for all our Spanish speaking investigators who will have to hear me struggle through their language, but I will give them all I have got. Our investigators are doing pretty well and I`m excited to stay another transfer to watch them progress and move closer to their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

As always, I love you, ohana! This Valentine`s day, show all those you love even MORE LOVE! More importantly, keep working hard and doing the things you know you`re supposed to do, and showing your loving Father in Heaven that you love Him, too. He`s always there for you, waiting patiently for the moment you come to Him.

Take care, stay healthy, be happy!

Love always,

Sister Heimuli