This week our dai-senpai and our original Nihonjin district left for Japan. It was a very sad yet exciting time. All of them were super excited and stressed out, and it reminded me that I will also be leaving for Japan in three weeks. However, we were sad that all of our friends were leaving for different places and areas. Sunday was full of tears and spiritual experiences. We had relief society, and cried. Then we went on our temple walk, where we sang to the dai-senpai, and cried some more. Then we had church, where we cried a whole lot more. The dai-senpai bore their testimonies and then sang "I'll Find You My Friend" (which is probably my most favoritest song ever). Everyone was bawling, including the Nihonjin. It was one of the best sacrament meetings ever. The two days without the Nihonjin were the worst, but today we get our new Nihonjin today, which I'm so excited for! It's amazing how close the gospel can bring you to complete strangers in just three weeks.
This Friday we started something called TRC. I have no idea what it stands for, but I know that it's super fun. Basically members come into the MTC, usually returned missionaries, and we teach them a lesson based on identified needs. The members are so nice, and we had one tell us we gave him the best lesson he had ever had. We were all stressed out because we basically had to prepare a lesson on a whim, and we were praying so hard to know how to help these members out. I think that when you depend on the Lord and have faith, then the Spirit can really work through you.
With all the dai-senpai leaving, our branch divided quickly in half. We only have three Nihonjin coming into our branch today, so our branch is going to be pretty small for the next little bit. As expected, my companions I got new assignments. We are now the ward music coordinators! Which I'm pretty excited about.
Speaking of music, this Sunday I'll be performing "Savior Redeemer of My Soul" with an elder. Graviet Shimai will be playing the piano and another elder will be playing the violin. I'm so excited! It's such a beautiful song and the piano and violin together sound gorgeous! Potentially might record it so stay tuned. The elder I'm performing with has an amazing voice and hopefully we'll be able to bring the Spirit into the meeting.
So something that I had never before from my Japanese RM friends was about a little something called seiza. Some of you martial artists may know what that is, but essentially you cross your feet underneath you and kneel. So generally Japanese people will sit on the floors in their homes, and the formal way of sitting is seiza. So when you come into a Japanese person's home, you sit seiza until they tell you to relax and sit comfortably. But sometimes they don't, so you have to sit seiza for a long time. And if you get invited to a Japanese funeral, you do seiza the entire time, and one funeral can last two to three hours. And for those who have never done seiza, it hurts like the dickens. Our teacher had us do it during scripture study, and after ten minutes, my legs were dying and I couldn't hold it anymore. Ten minutes, let alone two or three hours. Wish me luck.
This morning I was able to do an endowment session with my companions and a couple other sisters. During one recent devotional, the speaker mentioned that baptism shouldn't be the end goal for investigators, but the temple should be the goal for them. Every time I go to the temple I can't wait for the opportunity to bring more of God's children there to learn more about their divine identity and feel God's love for them and the blessings that come from going to the temple. I'm so blessed to be able to go to the temple every week with wonderful elders and sisters who continue to lift each other up.
Anyways, life is starting to stabilize a little more, so unfortunately not too many exciting things, but regardless, it's still great to be a missionary!
Thanks to all those who have sent me emails, I read all of them at least twice or three times. If I don't reply to you I promise it's not personal, but all your support and words of encouragement are what motivate me to work even harder!
愛してます！
Dimmitt Shimai
1. P-Days and Laundry
2. Love notes from our senpai and the Nihonjin!
3. Bye bye pictures
4. Matchers with my teacher!
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