MTC Letter #5 Full to the brim!!!

Hello to my SWEET KAZOKU!!!! (yasashii!!)

How much I love all of you! I have been overwhelmed at the love and notes I've received each day here at the MTC. How I love you and your sweet inspiration!!! You truly fill my life with joy. I don't think that there has been a day when I haven't had more than one letter. Thank you to my wonderful friends as well... I love hearing from all of you!

What an amazing family I have. Sometimes I think of you and get OVERWHELMED with my blessings! I love you so much, thank you for your support. I know Heavenly Father loves me for sending me to SUCH a wonderful family! I never tell you thank you enough. Thank you. :)

Time FLIES at the MTC (em-tea-shi... Nihongo pronounciation). My English is getting worse and I hope my Japanese if getting better! I had a few requests to share what our days are like... so I have a few things for you this week!

One of our investigators has been a little tough (our teacher!). We had a lesson that didn't go very well, and we were having a super hard time holding his attention. SO! I testify that prayer works, even more than we think. Heavenly Father is so anxious to bless us! The Bible Dictionary says something to the effect that prayer "is a form of work... to bring the highest of blessings that God is willing to bestow but are made conditional on our asking for them." So! With a lot of prayer, we took a different approach from a few inspirational sources. We made a maze out of paper (maybe I was an Aspen Grove and EFY counselor for too long!) out of lined paper. We made a little "Yoshi San" (our investigator) figurine, with a hole atop. The maze didn't have a straight way through, so we had him try it and he got stuck (he is funny and tried to cheat, but we told him it wasn't allowed). Then, we had string and offered it to him (he is "hypothetically" having a hard time with wanting to pray), and we told him that this was like prayer and reading your scriptures. When we face problems, Heavenly Father gives us those tools we need to get to "eien no inochi" (eternal life.... the end of the maze). The Spirit was so strong! I am so grateful that the Lord teaches us through both hard and very sweet experiences. We are working on strengthening his relationship with Heavenly Father like the Bible Dictionary encourages... our whole class is teaching him at different times, it is so fun to be gaining insight from the scriptures and learning how to teach. I love the Gospel and praying for our investigators (even if many of them are our teachers!) It is amazing that love Heavenly Father gifts us as we earnestly seek.

My comp and I were in our classroom for language study, and everyone else was gone... and we were writing on the board in Hiragana. I thought I wrote: "I speak Japanese. I write Japanese. I AM JAPANESE!" I'd written before on the board, "totemo jodan" for something else.... which is like, really, JOKE... but we realized later it had said, "I speak Japanese. I hear in Japanese. I AM JAPAN! Joke." ha ha. There are so many fun times and moments at the MTC!

Two weeks ago we had senkyoshi (missionaries) from JAPAN arrive for their three weeks at the MTC! We have really bonded with the sisters and it has been SO FUN. The other night they came into our room, these sweet, tiny, so polite sister missionaries, to thank us for our friendship, kindness, and for taking the Gospel to their country. They were crying with gratitude. My eyes tear up just remembering it. They gave us gifts of Japanese candy and origami... and this is when they had only known us for a little bit! We asked them their favorite candy (it is so fun to talk to them, but sometimes both sides have no idea what the other side is thinking)... and we found out that they like chocolate! We doorbell ditched their door with chocolate and a note in Japanese. The other morning we awoke to a "heart attacked" door with a chocolate bar taped on it. They are SO FUN. We have had so many experiences laughing together, crying together, and just sharing that we love each other... even when it is hard to find words to get anything else across! It is amazing how the Spirit speaks so strongly and overpoweringly to the heart that we can be such wonderful friends. We will miss them when they return to Japan!

So... they are leaving next week with the missionaries who are finsihing their 12 weeks, and then it is almost our half-way mark! OUR kohai come so soon, and then we will be the next group to leave with the Japanese missionaries that come!

One of the other districts has not been bonding as well as ours, and to help them the other day we made little sacks of M & M's I'd found in the giveaway bin that day.... an almost full bag of new M&M's, it was like a tender mercy for the purpose of this! We made little bags of M&M's and peppermints (thanks Mom!), tied with dental floss, and left a short loving sentence on the board before they got to class the other day. I love doing secret service, and all kinds of service, and anything that brings us closer to the Lord!  I guess that explains why I have been told several times from Elders in my district that I will make a wonderful grandma. On occasion they call me grandma. Its a compliment to me because I love all my grandmas and want to be like them!!! I was also informed that I would make an excellent pioneer woman (this was in reference to positivity....) from two of our Elders last night. The other night, I tried to dry my roommates socks with my blow dryer and we ended up just laughing for 10 minutes while I was having sock drying races and having far too much fun. This is really entertaining if anyone needs ideas.... you know you are at the MTC when your entertainment for the week is drying socks with a blow dryer and your high social point of the week is hanging out in the laundry room on Pday! ;)  

Time is short, and now I have to just share pieces of my heart! The MTC is amazing. The Lord is SO aware of us and so with us, it fills my eyes with tears.

Our days: we teach 5-7 lessons a week typically (including the TRC, which is really fun... we get to teach them as themselves and seek to help them grow from wherever they are!), we prepare a talk in Japanese each week and two missionaries are called by inspiration to bear their testimonies each week, WE LOVE THE TEMPLE! I went this morning and had such incredible feelings, I truly know that the Temple is a sacred place. What beautiful experiences and love Heavenly Father has to offer all of His children! I love being a missionary and being in this place, preparing to share HIS Gospel and His love (the most important thing to establish!) with His children that He loves so much. It is so exciting! We have a lot of class time, eating time, study time, planning time... we love our Sensei's.... one especially is SO GOOD and is really helping us grow, I think my comprehension is growing!  And truly, our district has been blessed. I love it! They are all great.

My brother would consider me officially a good sister missionay, because... I cut my hair today!!He used to say that good sister missionaries don't spend time on high maintenance hair. :) It just bruches my tag with a few layers, just longer than shoulder length. I've arrived! ;)

TIME IS OUT but oh how I love you. I am truly learning to depend on the Lord and Jesus Christ's atonement. I am filled with wonder when I think of His sweet sacrfice and His love. I feel the enabling power of His grace daily, all day, every moment. I thank my Heavenly Father for each moment of supreme joy. It is a privilege to live and experience such a wonderful thing: THE GOSPEL!

Love you forever! God is watching over you and so aware of you, I promise as you turn to Him He will make more of your life than you could ever dream of. :)

Love you Forever!!!!!!! 


Love,
(a full to the brim!) Anderson Shimai  

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.