MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO this week was really interesting. We had 4 member present lessons! What? When does that happen? I know. So three of them were with Mori san. He has such great childlike faith. He has had so many trials in his life but he really wants to find peace. He came to church yesterday and said that he felt a lot of peace at church and couldnt hear the voices in his head anymore. We are trying to teach him how to rely on the lord- we dont want him to be converted to the missionaries but to the Gospel because we will leave but Christ will always be there. He has a baptism date but I think we are going to postpone it becuase he needs to work on his Word of Wisdom problem. But we have faith in him!

Tsugumi san (that girl that knocked on our door) came to church yesterday! I think right now she is really lonley and it was more for a social interaction- but I know she is a prepared person and we will keep fellowshipping her in whatever way she needs right now!

Hayashi san is so cute! we have been visiting him every day for the 12 days of christmas. I dont think that activity translated very well because he still doesnt get why we keep coming and bringing him random things that go with the 12 days of christmas haha. BUt we have a real lesson with him on Wednesday. He was our other member present. He is coming to terms with the fact that god exists I think. We taught him the plan of salvation and I know he felt the spirit. ALso we talked to his wife who is seriously so cute. SHe looks like a Japanese angelina Jolie except she is like 60.

ANother great thing was Ami came to church!!!!!! yayy!!!!!!! she is really trying to turn her life around and start coming back to church and get a job and become self reliant. We are going to lunch on Thursday with her.

Ken has been coming to church and reading the book of mormon- I am so excited!! the elders are teaching him now. I am so thankful for them!!!! I know they specificaly are supposed to teach ken because I asked him the week before they came if he wanted to take the discussions and he said not yet. and then the elders came a week later and he agreeed! what the heck so cool.

ALso guess what....I like okonomiaki now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I gues you just have to eat things a billion times and then you like them!

I watched the Christmas devotional yesterday- it was so great! I loved the stories. Lets all remember the reason for the season and think about what gift we are going to give to Jesus this year. Even if we dont have a lot- we can give our heart. I sometimes feel a lot of pressure to do more- but I have been working on just asking for daily bread instead of weekly bread and accounting to the Lord for affirmation that I am doing all I need to do. I am just trying to do my best every day instead of taking it a week at a time.

The weather is pretty freezing but I got some nice arm warmers from the daiso haha I look so japanese its disgusting. actually its awesome.

I am excited for Christmas!! What is everybody doing??

Gotta go- the elders need the computer!

Love you all!

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!!!


Sister Nelson

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!! so in Japanese you just say Meri Kirisumasu!　めれきりすます！

Its been fun to say that to people! We are having a ward christmas party on the 21st and have been inviting the world so I hope tons of people show up! Everybody loves Christmas here. Even though they dont know the meaning, they know its a special day. They also eat cake. Im not really sure how that started. haha

Today we made a bunch of popcorn for pday and watched legacy! It was fun- melissa I died of laughter as always at the faces Jacob makes. So funny. It also is raining right now. no snow yet.

This week as always, was super emotional. We found five new investigators!!!!!!! One was this cutest 12 year old girl who was so excited to learn about god. But she had to cancel her return apointment becuase her parents are never home and she cant meet with strangers. So we are really sad about that but Know she is being watched over and will someday meet missionaries again. We gave her a book of Mormon so at least she has that. Another 2 investigators have meetings set up for this week.

We met with another lady who we randomly (yeah right, obviously nothing is random when you are missionaries.) housed into that is an old investigator. Before we got to her appartment, I had this horrible feeling not to go. But then we prayed and I got a confirmation to go ahead. We found the lady and she wants to join the church- she just has a tithing issue. We are going to work with her with some members because she didnt come to church because she said she couldnt understand my Japanese. I am not gonna lie, I took a really big pride blow on that one. I cried all sacrament meeting. I felt like it was my fault she didnt come.  All of the members were so cute and concerned.  I love the Ube ward! But I know that I did the best I could and that everything is all in the Lords timing. Anyway, this week I have really felt Satans influence directly. It was really kind of a scary week. He has really been working on my confidence and faith. I know that it was his influence that I felt telling me not to house that apartment. I have never felt that kind of influence before. But it honestly just strengthened my testimony to know that if satan is real than heavenly father for sure is and that this Church is true! so thanks Satan- that would be Heavenly father 10000, Satan, 0. He will never win if we ask the Lord for Help. We will always recieve help if we ask. ALWAYS! Because we are children of GOD!  And he loves us. We are GOOD! we have so much good in us.

SOo we taught a lesson to Hayashi san again this week. He prayed! He speaks really good english, so our lessons are half in Japanese and half in English. At the end of the Prayer, he said ITS OVER! really loud. It was so funny! because he is this small little man. he tries to use really big english words like spectacular. But his grammar is a lttle lacking. Its okay though because my Japanese is apparently hideous. Hahaha. We are meeting with him on Wednesday. We are going to invite him to be baptized! and to church- he has a pet dog (thats what he always says. I have a pet. I have a pet.....like every other sentance. Dogs are a mans best friend even in Japan!). so he uses that as an excuse not to do anything...like pray or go to church haha but its okay because he usually just agrees if we ask him twice.

Mori San is coming home from the Hospital this week! The elders in Tokuhyama visited him again. he has read all the way to 2nd nephi in the Book of Mormon! Yayyy MIracles!

We had a fun mogi this week with Yamano shimai and Kyodai. We had some delicious dinner afterword. She went to costco when she went to the temple and so we had GRILLED CHEESE SANDWIchHES! soo good! I made some really good banana bread this week Mom! You would be proud!

We biked 30 miles to visit the Tateishis, a recently reactivated couple. They are our ward missionaries! I love them! It was quite a bike- I know I have nothing on Bob Bleck, but still, I can now sympathize with lance armstrong.

We went to a fun Christmas party at an Eikaiwa students house. Her name is Cathy. I have talked about her a lot. I love her! We literally were fed so much food. SO much food.


But it was a really good week- I was so happy to get some pictures from the Ice skating thing and some really great christmas stories! thank you so much for emailing those!

I have been working on developing the Christlike attribute of Faith this week. I know that when we ask heavenly Father for help developing something, he is going to give us a chance to excercise our faith and to act. Because if we dont act, how do we know we have faith? Elder Holland said that Exacting mountian Moving faith precedes the action and the miracle. I am thankful for the trials of this week that helped me strengthen my faith.

Love to you all!

Hello from the North Pole!

Hello from the North Pole!

Just kidding. This week was so freezing! it rained and hailed and was sunny and windy all in one day. every day. it was so wierd. BUt today is great weather! I am so happy . weather is Tenki in Japanese.

This week we had a lesson with Mori San who is a really special wonderful person. he has a baptism date! But he was sick Sunday so I think we have to push it back. We taught him about faith in Jesus Christ and how when we rely on the Lord and are obedient to his commandments we are able to have peace about our circumstances.

We also met with a man named Hayashi san. It was the hardest lesson I have taught. His question was why if God loves us and is powerful would he let his children kill each other? He has such a strong testimony that our bodies are sacred and our lives are important. Every soul is important. We used the book of Mormon to help explain the nature of god. We are going back on Wednesday for another lesson. He asked me to ask other members of our faith why Christians kill each other? I said I would ask you all so please if you have an answer- let me know. I gave him my oppinion and shared some stories from the BOM but I would love help from the outside. He is the most humble person I think ive ever met.

We had a little miracle this week! Our Less active missionary couple caught reactivation and dendo fire and are coming back to church! we had dinner at their house on thanksgiving and I seriously gained about ten pounds. You think after about eight hundered plates of sushi that you are done. But no, you forgot about the ice cream. Anyways I am excited to work with them and that they have reactivated themselves so to speak. We have been praying for them and wondering what to do so this is an answer to our prayers. WIth another less active, we invited him to church and he came! I am so happy!!!! Another LA on our top ten we have been visiting called today and asked for a preisthood blessing so we are going with the elders to his house after pday.


We also had 5 investigators at church!! WHATT??? yes fast sundays are the best. We also had a great mogi (role play) lesson and Nabe for dinner at a members house last night. They are so nice! Nabe is pretty much the best soup ever. Except not for Moms. Moms is still way better. But it was really yummy and Im going to make it this week.

We had a zone conference the day after thanksgiving and had a thanksgiving feast together! I made the desserts; apple crisp, pumkin pie, peach cobbler, blueberry cobbler, no bake cookies, corn flake cookies, and white chocolate popcorn! Whewf I had a busy morning! It was great- our theme for this month is NO FEAR! We set some big goals this month but I know we can achieve them!

Okay so funny thing- when we were housing at night, this guy across the street walks up to his house from his car, sees us, and then does like fifty judo moves, and casually goes inside his house. Hhahahahahahah it was so funny!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thanks for your love, letters, and prayers. Love you all- have a great Christmas season and remember the reason!!!!!!!



Love, Sister Nelson

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess what? They dont have turkey in Japan. So I will be eating a lot of pie to make up for that.

Okay so this week was amazing.

We had transfers on Thursday I am still living with Sister Sharp- she got a new cutest bean! Her name is Sister Pinzon and she is from Columbia but lives in TN. My companion is SIster Southworth- she is from Utah and is super cute! She is awesome and never complains. We also got ELDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yayyy so now we are six missionaires in ube. I cant believe it we have been praying for elders so hard. We have been finding so may men for them to teach its crazy. Heavnly father has been preparing Ube for them for the past transfer. We know something amazing is going to happen in Ube this transfer.

We have seen a man at the church on occasion who just sits in the Genkon and reads the church pamphlets or somehting. He never wanted to talk to us. But we got a referral from a member who got his information so we called him and he met with us three times last week! We invited him to be baptized on the 21st of december an he said yes!! What a miracle! He is so prepared. his family situation is a little sad- he works really hard every day as a truck driver. He lives with a sick mother. He also is sick with some other problems. His father passed away. But he really wants to find happiness. Which is exactly what we do in this church! And we have the priesthood. and we use the atonement. The priesthood is such a blessing and I am so blessed to have a father who holds the priesthood and has blessed my life.  We are working on prayer and the Book of Mormon. He wants to come to church- he couldnt this week but will come next week! yayy!

We met with a bunch of less actives this week! they were all positive experiences and we were able to better understand their needs. wahoo! we are making progress!

We had the wierdest referal ever. So we went housing in some appartments and this SGI (an interesting religion) lady was like yeah I dont want to know about your church. So then sister sharp asked her about her church so she started talking about it...then saying how she loved hymns so we sang her a hymn on a prompting. In the middle of silent night she stoped us and said my friend downstairs wants to learn about your church! so we met her freind and sister Sharp and pinzon met with her the other day and are meeting again next week. What! also I might have told you this story in my last letter...sorry.

We had been fasting and praying for direction for our transfer and also for Mori san and to be able to have a baptizm on the 21st. Yesterday at church, 3 investigators came! Mori san didnt but Shinji Kyodai brought his girlfriend, Ken and Nimo came and Ken gave the elders his number and said they could call him! yayyy that is what I prayed for! I love the elders!!!

Being a trainer is scary because you have to be in charge of all the planning so its a lot to handle, but I have been taking it one day at at time. Me and my comp. have a goal to teach a lesson every day, if not to an investigator than to each other so that our japanese and teaching skills can improve. We are also doing tons of role-plays with ward members! They are so on dendo fire right now!

We also had a less active family come to church on Sunday! they had friends visiting from tokyo that helped explain to us why they hadnt been coming but that they wanted to. I know this was the inspiration we needed and we recieved the information and direction we needed to have a purpose to our transfer. We also had the prompting to go visit another less active. We had a really great talk about his value and the value of the book of mormon and prayer. I think we really touched him and the spirit was able to prompt us literally on what we should say or what scriptures to read. After church the less active family called and invited us over for dinner!!!!!! what the heck. Miracle.

We housed into this guy last night who is about 60. He meditated while we told him about the restoration and at the end he said I am interested in what you are talking about, but I dont speak english. If I can hear this from a Japanese person I will listen (okay heres the deal, I was speaking Japanese.....What the heck.) anyway I invited him to church and he said he will come! yayy!

This week I refered a lot to Alma 26 where it talks about how God will never turn us away. So even if you feel like you cant come back- do it anyway because the only person really holding you back is yourself. if you dont feel like praying- pray until you do. It works!! I know that personal prayer every day will help us get closer to God and to have a purpose in life. My goal this week was to have more meaningful prayer. I noticed that when I pray outloud, quietly it helps me to stay more concentrated.

I am thankful for you all and for your prayers!

This picture is me in sasquatches forrest....yes we found him. I am about to give him a book of mormon. We found this awesome hidden pathway that led to this buddhist temple but also sasquatch lives there.

Hello!

Hello! Sorry this email is a bit late- we have transfers this week so we have pday on tuesday with our District. We made squidballs, chocolate chip pancakes, salsa and chips, and 3 different types of popcorn!...obviously boys put together the menu. But it has been really fun! We played games and stuff.

Soo my companion went home to america! I was so sad and dpressed for like three days. But I know that Heavenly father needs her on the home front in california. I have been working with two other sisters for the past week.


OH MY GOSH BIG NEWS..........

I AM BREAKING THIS TRANSFER!!!!!!!!!!!! that means I am training a 2nd transfer bean. what the heck I just barley escaped that! So i am a little bit extremely humbled right now and have no idea what i am doing. I hope she doesnt hate me because I stink.

I went to fukuoka yesterday to the training meeting and I took these pics along the way; fall in Japan is the best! except right now it is freezing and the winds are at speeds of about six thousand miles an hour.　tanoshimi!!!!!!! (this is melissa...i didn't get any pics with this email so maybe she'll send them next week.) 

The trainers meeting was really great- their were only 2 sisters there. Me and Fujita shimai. She is a nihonjin and is the kindest most sweetest person ever. She is 27! What the heck i love her. She is in my district.



yes. this is what I get to look at. Welcome to Japan!

Yay to the Nuckols on being mission president and wife!!!!!!!!!! that is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had 2 interesting meals this week. One was a 7 course meal at a super fancy resteraunt. I ate es car go!!!!!!!!!! sick. literally disgusting. I also probably ate a brain and maybe some intestines. IM not really sure. the lady who took us looks like yeezma from the emporeres new groove.



 The second meal was......meat! we ate with shinji kyodai who is in the mob. he made us eight plates of meat. I got food poisoning the day after. fun! It was a fun meal though- he is an interesting guy! I am greatful for his sacrifice to feed the missionaries because he doesnt have a lot of money and meat like that is expensive.


We taught some great lessons this week. we have a lot of wonderful people to teach and I am excited for this next transfer. Also two of our less actives came to church! wahoo!

I learned a really great lesson about the atonement this week. The atonement is like a mom who pays the full price for her child to take piano lessons. SHe doesnt expect the child to pay back the price, she just asks him or her to practice. From this little sacrice of practice she sees that the child is thankful for her sacrifice. Through the practicing, both the child and the mother are edified. THe atonement is the same way. The savior doesnt expect us to pay the full price for our sins, but he does ask us to exscercise some faith in him and to follow his commandments so that we can become the best people we can be because he loves us and can see our potential.

I am thankful for all of you- what are you thankful for this thanksgiving!?

I am really nervous to train but I support the decision and Know it comes from God. Hope you all have a great day!!!!!! Miss you all!


Love, Sister Nelson

I am in with the Japanese Mob!

ohiogozaimasu! (good morning)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you have a great day! 

Everyone who reads this email should text Parker Happy Birthday.

This week was pretty different. So we still don:t know Sister Smothermans situation aka if she is going home or not but we are hoping to hear about it today.....or at least by next tuesday which is transfer call day! We have had the opportunity to work on our patience! 

So we had a huge miracle in the form of a wheelchair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh my gosh it has been such a blessing. Since Sister Smotherman can:t walk around, and crutching is hard on her arms, we use the wheelchair to get everywhere! Its a little bit slower than normal, but I am so happy to be mobile! We have not done a ton of proselyting this week, but I know that missionary work comes in all different forms. We did a bunch of service projects and visited a lot of members. We are working on strengthening the ward and developing better relationships with them so we can know how best to help them do missionary work and grow as families. We also took a lot of trains this week which helped, i just carried the wheelchair on the train and brought the crutches. Sister Smotherman is so great for crutching as much as she can- it is really hard to do and the crutches here (motsubotzui) are not easy to use. 

So we had to send some xrays and ct scans to the doctor in Tokyo, but something hapened with the mail so he didnt get it. We got an anxious call from President and he told us to go to the hospital and take some pics with a camera.  Me and sister Sharp speeded to the hospital on our bikes and took pictures of the xray with my camera. I asked the hospital nurse if this was legal an she was like...no but lets do it! hahaha so I probably broke some laws this week. 

We have a member in our ward (actually 2) that used to be in the mob. Shinji Kyodai is one of them, he is really hard to understand and mumbles a lot but both he and Tateishi Kyodai left the mob for the church. You have to cut off your pinkie if you leave the mob so everybody can know you are a traitor. WHat? yeah so he doesnt have a pinkie. Tateishi Kyodai has all his fingers, so Im not really sure what that means about him. Maybe he was like given an honorable discharge or something...

We were supposed to teach a lesson on friday night at the church, but he never showed up. What did happen though was a manifestation that God knows everything: we ran into the custodian for our building and he was having a really hard time with some buisness stuff becasue it was all in english. We were able to translate it for him and help him get his paycheck. I know that we were supposed to be at the building for that reason, even if we didnt get to teach an investigator we still fufilled our misionary purpose. 

One of our members has cancer and she was in the hospital this week. We went to visit her and were talking about places that our grandparents had served missions and when I told her that G and G went to Africa she freaked out and was like  what the heck they went there! its so scarry and all the people are naked!

.....oh Nakomoto Shimai......

Also yesterday at church Fujitake shimai came up to me and was like hey so I need to talk to all of you sister missionaries and I know sister Sharp is the area sempi but she doent understand me when I talk and you do.　oh man I was like...oh um okay haha. I guess my japanese is doing okay then. (I dont mean to toot my own horn, my japanese is far from stellar) but it was a funny story. 

Well I will let you all know what the situation is when I figure it out, but keep Sister Smotherman in your prayers. Also Mitch and his new bean. :]

As we are preparing for Thanksgiving I just wanted to say that I am so thankful for your support! 

Love you!

Sister Nelson

Yes, I am rocking a scrunchie in this picture. Get over it, im becoming nihonjin! 

This is us at church!

This week was completely nuts!

Okay so here we go. THis week was completley nuts! We had an amazing zone conference training thing and it was like bam! revelation after revelation! I realized that I have a long way to go before I am anywhere near the person that the Savior is. But its okay. I still have time.

Later this week my companion got hit by a car on her bike. She is okay but broke her foot. We are a little immobile at the moment but are finding creative ways to get around! I am a little bit short on time because we currently have to walk everywhere with her ridding on my bike and me pushing her- so we go a little bit more slowley so my computer time is a bit short- sorry! I will try to get more details in next week. I am going to have the best triceps of any person in the world!!!!!!!


So basically we were out in the middle of china trying to find a members house when this lady slams into sister smotherman- she didnt look when seh was turning. So I pulled my companion to the side of the road and basically all these billions of medical people and ambulenses came and I had to speak in japanese like all of this medical stuff so it was not even stressful at all......JODAN! (joke). But we had this cutest member come and help us he lives close. His name is furuya kyodai. I love him so much I cant even describe it. He is basically the brother Daniel of this ward here in UBE. So we went to the hospital and she got an exray and stuff. So basically she is on cruthces for about a month or so and then will be fully recovered in 3 months...so we dont really know what her jotai is (situation) so I ll let you know when I figure it out. Also good thing for that i was inspired to study medical terms in the mtc...what? yeah that was cool. I was like oh yes let me tell you all of these things that I studdied about three months ago! How is the gosple not true?


Okay so this week was nuts but fast sunday was the best thing ever. it was like the windows of heaven gushed on my head! One of our Eikaiwa students came to church! His name is ken. We have been praying for missionary opportunitis with him. Two of our less-actives also came- one of them bore her testimony and said she wants to come and be more active in church! I prayed for that-- what the heck! ahhhhhh!!!!!! also when we coulndt go out and dendo (do missionary work) we found an investigator as I was calling people in our area book and guess what he was exactly the person we prayed for that we could find in a new investigator!! what the heck the gospel is true!

I have changed my mission goal. I dont care if I baptize anybody- I just want to be able to serve anybody in any way I can. This opportunity with sister smotherman being a gimp is a great opportunity to serve! obviously if people get baptized thats great but you know what i mean.

LOve you all- hope you are safe. Dont go outside you will get hit by a car. Just kidding.

ahh mo hitosu (one more thing) this guy came to the door when we went housing and was like I speak english! and I was like oh great! we are missionaries...blah blah normal introduction and then he goes. `No. GET UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!`` hahahaha it was such a funny mistake. He meant get out. We were like...we are up...... its the 9th floor... hahaa

Hope halloween was fun! thanks for all the fun pics of costumes! More next week I promise!
Nelson Shimai

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope your week is super spooky! I almost ran into a huge spiderweb that would have killed me. Think Lord of the rings...yeah. My companion saved my life. Spider is Kumo in Japanese. Kumo also means cloud...

I was so happy to hear from the Stones this week! Thanks for the package, pictures and letters! It made my week!

THis week was really great. We taught three lessons to a new investigator named tsugumi. she is really cute and is basically your average teenage girl. Loves to shop and loves boybands. SHe is always asking me which boy I think is cutest out of her favorite band and Its always awkward haha. SHe doesnt have a lot of interest in the church right now, just learning english, so thats been kind of rough in determining weather or not to keep teaching her, but I do feel like we hsould continue to fellowship her and teach by example and through love so even if she doenst get baptized right now she can remember the spirit she felt when she meets future missionaries. 

We had a reallllly great lessona bout the plan of salvation with this girl named Chinatsu. SHe is so cute! Talk about a prepared person. It was probably the best lesson Ive taught so far. We really prepared well and It paid off. Preparation is so important. Also I realized that Heavenly Father really trusts me to do this work. It was a neat experience. 

We went to a halloween party for one of our english class students. She made this huuuge shokuji with all this awesome food. SHe is so funny! We do a lot of stuff with her on Pdays. She knows everything about the gospel but isnt ready to accept it yet. We did some good fellowshipping with two of her friends at the party and got to pray over the food and sing a hymn at the party too. It was good to be able to fufill our missionary purpose at an event like that. 

We went on splits with the sister training leaders. it was fun to work with them- they are both super nice and brought a great spirit to our appartment. 

We had a little miracle with a less active who made an appointment with us but we couldnt find her house. so she suggested we meet at the church! it was the best BRT ever! She said she wants to come to church and I know she knows its true, but she makes these rock things for a hobby and like puts flowers on them and sundays are the days she can sell thme at events so its kind of tricky. so I am praying that she can make the decision to put god first and come to church. I know that she will be so blessed if she does. We have so many ward members that she would get along with great.

SPeaking of the ward memebers, they are doing such a great job to help us! they take us to find less actives, do lots of mogis an joints- its so awesome. and they give us lots of food which is really nice. 

Miss you all! Thanks for your emails and letters I love hearing about whats going on at home - I will try to respond as fast as I can!

aishiteimasu!!!!!!!!

Sister Nelson

this is for you dad and the boys- its a samurai warrior!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not a real one, its just a costume. THink about wearing all that when you go to battle!

Quick Note

Happy Fall!!!!!!!!!!!! (Aki is fall in Japanese)

THis week was really interesting. We basically got dropped by all of our investigators and couldnt seem to make contact with anybody who wanted to listen to us. it was a rough few days. But durring personal study I was reading in the scriptures and just realized that as long as I am doing my best that is still success for that day. I actually think that was from the liahona magazine. There is a great missionary article in the october one.Also I think Travis is in the liahona  in the Mongolian celebration article picture...I swear it looks just like him.  I was reading in the chapters about the doctrine of Christ in the Book of mormon and read seek and ask and ye shall find! I realized that we needed to be asking people for more referalls. We tried to implement that this week. It felt really good to be doing more productive searching- we were seeking for the people and making an effort. The same thing applies to member missionaries- you have to have some guts and just talk to them! let them know that you still will be friends and you dont want your relationship to change if they say no, and then invite them to learn or to an activity! 

We had a fun ward activity- we picked potatoes at a members farm! it was so fun just like going to Brother Daniels! and then we made miso soup with the potatoes for lunch. SO GOOD!

SO this week my companion got really sick after eating some gluten in some miso soup. tricky little miso. We were stranded in the appartment for two days. Wow let me tell you, after being out and about on a bike or some form of excercise to zero excercise is an adjustment! but we did some great work in organizing our area book, cleaning the appartment and contacting less actives by phone. I got a return appoinement with one! yay!!! 

We went on a walk to get some excercise and fresh air. Near our appartment is a buddhist temple. As we entered the grounds I had this huge overwhelming feeling that there were so many people who wanted to have their work done. the spirit was so strong. It was a very spiritual experience that really motivated me to keep going! 

When you cant go to the people, God brings the people to you! We were sitting at home doing some study on Sunday when we couldnt go to church, and we get a knck at the door. It was this cutest 14 year old girl who had stalked us back to our appartment. She wanted to learn english. I told her about eikaiwa (english class) and she said she wanted to go. She noticed a picture of Jesus in the Genkon and wonderd who he was. I told her a little about him, about Heavenly Father, and gave her a book of Mormon and gave her a passage to read. SHe left promising to call us if she had questions　about english. SHe came back like five minutes later  and just started talking about these random things. I was  a little confused. But she made an actual return appointment for today at six! I realized after she left that heavenly father had her come back so we could have a new investigator for the week. (when people make return appointments they are considered a new investigator). And he also gave us the information we needed to prepare a lesson to fit her needs. Before she left, she told me that when she saw us she felt really happy and thats why she wanted to come talk to us. I know that is why she kept talking too- because she felt the spirit! I am really excited to befriend this sweet girl and to help her understand her divine nature. It was a great miracle!

Love you you all! Have a great week!

Sister Nelson

This is the Potato Party!

Nelson Tidbits

Konnichwa! Its a beautiful Aki (fall) day here today. We have been sleeping with the windows open. In the morning it always smells like a campfire because they are burning ricefields so its like camping every day! it smells just like the cabin. Its a nice reminder of home!

I thought conference was so great! My favorite talks were the ones about women. It really reminded me of how special and divine our calling is to be a mother and to have that special opportunity. I am so thankful to have so many wonderful women as examples in my life. My own mom, obviously, is the best Mother of all, but so many other people have been such good examples of sacrifice, love, charity, and determination. Especially my grandmothers, aunts, and the Relief sociey ladies in Rockwood II and Decatur wards. Love to you all! I loved Ulisses Soares talk about forgiving others and trying to be better every day. When he said quoted `father forgive them, for they know not what they do``. it hit me real hard. It made me think about my response to opposition. I have set a goal to thank heavenly father for the oppposition I recieve and try to see how it has actually blessed my life. Wish me luck. haha. I had the tissue box for every session of conference. I was like old faithful the whole time. I probably should have brought some other clothes to change into because I cried so hard. I Love conference. I want to make a huge sign for my future house that says ```there is room for you here`` after hearing Elder Uchdorfs talk. SO good. I loved how Russel M Nelsons talk talked about how our bodies are symbolic of the atonement. So deep. It reminded me of Sister Brants challenge to find the Savior in everything. Challenge accepted! 

What did you all think about Conference?

Oh my gosh can we talk about how good the relief society broadcast was! I loved the emphasis on keeping covenants. We have covenants because they allow us to become more like god. When we have somebody to account to, our progress intensifies exponentially. I found so much comfort in knowing that the little things we do, the little acts of service are great ways to always remember Christ and to reflect his image in our countenance. I loved President MOnsons statement that we never walk alone. The Savior is right behind us. I wish I had President Monson as a little shoulder angel. He would make my day. Maybe like him on one shoulder, and the Chamelion from tangled or something on the other.　

okay so last thursday was my first transfer! I stayed in Ube but I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Smotherman. She is so fun! Guess what Dan, shes Gluten free! So we eat a lot of rice! haha like we dont do that anyways.

This week was a little challenging as our sweet little investigator called and said she didnt want to be baptized anymore becuase she didn:t want to be a Christian. Even though it was a low blow, I had this enormous feeling of peace from Heavenly father. I know he is concious of her and her needs. I also know that he is concious of everybody and is familar with our trials, thoughts, needs, and mistakes. He knows our souls and hearts better than anyone. And he loves us anyway. In 1 Nephi it says * I do　not know the meaning of all things...but I Know that God loveth his children.`` its so true! 

On Pday we went to an ancient Japanese samurai house and dressed up in Kimonos with this fun family in our branch. It was so fun! Then we went back to their house and I gained ten pounds on fruit salad and okonomiaki.... they just love to feed us here! Also dad I found some clear shoe polish finally. Now my shoes dont look so hideous! you would be proud. 

Hope you all have a good week! What is everybody being for halloween? ALso can somebody please tell me about UChoir and how thats going?? Good luck this semester!!!! Cant wait to hear vespers!...at some point!

Love,

Sister Nelson

This week I have a little Challenge: Write down your testimony and then think about how you came to know what you know. Why do you believe what you do? What evidence do you have? You will be filled with Gods love for you!

Conference

Konichiwa minasan!

Hope all is well! This week I just wanted to share a few miracles that happened over the past week or so. All I gotta say is the gospel is TRUE! 

Hope conference was great! I cant wait to watch it this weekend. The relief society broadcast was amazing! I hope I can be like Tiffany someday. 

Thanks for the conference quotes mom- they were exactly what I needed to hear! I had the same question about my new companion that I am getting this week! Love you!

1. We have been teaching a lady who is a previous investigator. She has been meeting with missionaires for a few years now but hasnt been baptized yet. We decided in order for this to happen, we needed to be bold. So we set a date for her and decided to visit her every day of the week that we could. At our third lesson of the week she accepted our baptismal date! She also came to church on sunday and fasted! How cool. She bore her testimony in relief socity. She has a very tender and loving spirit. Her concern about baptism was not having any white underclothes! She is pretty old. We are working with her on helping her understand the atonment and her baptismal covenant. We still have a long way to go- but I have the faith to know that whatever happens, the Lord is concious of her and her needs. 

2. We went housing one night. It started to rain really bad but we kept on going. We ran into this cutest phillipino girl who spoke english and said we could call her anytime to meet with her! she accepted a book of Mormon and asked us for our information (that never happens!) she even gave us her meshi! (buisness card). 

3. Later that same night, we ran into this man taking in groceries to his house. When we asked if we could help after talking a little about the church, he was like no thats okay! and then he goes back into his car and gives us his umbrella! so kind! 

4.　On sunday, we were riding our bikes wayyyy far to go visit a less active and do some housing. on our way, we met this cutest little 17 year old nihonjin girl who spoke english! SHe taught herself on the internet. so cool. (that was her catch phrase after everything we said! haha). SHe wanted to learn more about the church and was way excited about the Book of Mormon. She is coming to america in december to learn english and about christianity. she is buddhist. Anyway, later that day sister sharps tire popped. we began the LONGG walk back to our appartment in order to make it there by nine. we were an hour out by bike...so walking would take about two+ hours. I prayed for a miracle. Welll we sure got one! on our way back, we met the same girl. She wanted to walk back with us because she lives by us so she was going the same way. We were able to teach her the message of the restoration. She really felt the spirit and I was able to testify to her that the spirit was testifying of truth. We are going out to lunch with her this week! She works at our favorite sushi resteraunt. she is going to give us a discount! haha shes so awesome. Heavenly Father really answered our prayer of finding people we could speak to. 

5. One of our investigators doesnt have a car or a bike. She lives like 40 min from the church walking distance. We had a lesson scheduled at the church with her, but the joint we were going to use who had a car was unable to make it. We biked to the investigators house and told her we could do the lesson at her house. she wanted to see the church so bad that she was like no we are going to walk! So we did! I am greatful for her example of faith. It was inspiring to me.

6. We got a billion apples from our ward members on fast sunday in our fruit basket for the missionaries that they do every sunday! so nice! also we got popcorn!!!!!!!!!! wahho!

THanks for your prayers, emails, letters and support. 

Dont fear, the lord is on our side!  Alma 7:15. 

love you!

Sister Nelson

HI!

HI!

Good news, no bike accidents. William dont worry- the bush was nice and soft!

Happy Birthday to Joe!

Happy Birthday to Eric!!!!!!!!!! wow I cant believe you are 40 already!

So this week was a week of good growth. We spent the week preparing for an open house and game night that we invited the whole city to practicaly. It was fun to set up the church and make it look really great- we worked really hard to set up the perfect church tour. Unfortunetly, nobody came to the open house except for A few wonderful church members who came to help us practice how to give church tours. It was a great experience to help them see how hard we are working for the ward and the area and for them to get a chance to see how missionaires teach. We are trying to emphasize how every member can be a missionary. They were all impressed with our work and I know our efforts were not wasted! We had a fun game night and made some delicious treats for that!

We have really been trying to focus on teaching prepared people. I know that the only way we will be blessed with prepared people is if we are personally worthy. This means making sure we are doing everything we can in our companionships to make the relationship function like it should. I As missionaries, we have two hearts. The same thing applies to all relationships. If one heart isn:t beating right, the other one cant function either. As we shifted our focus to making our companionship better, we were able to teach with the spirit and regain some ground we may have lost. I was really humbled this week but so happy for the opportunity to grow! We found some new investigators with great potential. I am happy!

So one awkward thing. if this is too awkward or innapropriate or something for my blog you dont have to put this in haha- at the game night, some of the elders　in our district brought an investigator who was about 25. I didnt really talk to him because I was focusing on some other people and trying to understand how to play some games in japanese. who knew that they played mafia in Japan? good thing I knew the rules in english or else I would have probably sat in the corner. Anyways so as we are about to have a misionary message at the end of the game night, This elder goes `our investigator likes sister nelson!` and I was like what the heck? and then I had to sing a hymn solo so I didnt really think about it. After we ended and were cleaning up, this investigator comes over and starts chatting it up. then I realized who it was and why he was probably talking to me and I had a small heart attack. Fortunelty, another member came and saved me! so hopefully I never see him again. Except for in the Celestial Kingdom after he gets baptized and we all die.

I went out to lunch with a sister in our ward who took us to this reallllly fancy place with this stellar view! so pretty. Japan is like neverland. Anyways, she dropped like 60 bucks on us for lunch, and then drove us to like three appointments. She is such an angel! so nice. I am so grateful for her! We also had a fun ward shokuji after church yesterday. Its pretty much like a pot luck. Yum. I ate some delicious squid! mmm..........

We met this cutest girl named Aika who we are going to start teaching on wednesday! She is 17 and was really receptive to our message. The spirit was so strong when we testified to her. Also there is a spider hanging out by my face right now and so I might need to go take care of that in a second.

Okay. better. spiders in japan are so...alive and jumpy. they have like personalities. I dont know there are just so creepy.
 so I had a really fun split last week with one of the sister training leaders. SHe is a powerhouse! I loved working with her. She really motivated me to just open my mouth and speak! when I started to do that- i didnt have to think about what to say.

I am so excited to watch conference!　so we get to see it a week later than everybody in the states. SO its next weekend for us. We have the relief society broadcast this week. I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!! i am going to go to conference with specific questions that I want answered. I encourage everybody to prayerfully do the same! and then share with me and others your experienes! (when appropriate. some spiritual things are just for us as individuals!)

I am not sure about the singing group- we need to get some more info on that about the dates. hopefully!

This week as people are getting ready for homecoming and stuff, I just want everybody to think about what kind of experience they want to have. Think about why you want to go, and who you want to represent. What group? what clique? What is the most important thing about homecoming?

I just wanted to share a quick experience I had in school about a dance.  A friend invited me to go to a dance hosted by their club.we werent going to dance, we were theere as supervisors to make sure it ran smoothly. When we arrived, I realized that the music was horrible. The spirit was not there. I had a responsabiliity to make sure the dance went okay. I prayed that I would be able to have the spirit. As soon as I ended my prayer, I could no longer hear any of the words. I coulnd understand anything the singers said. I knew that god helped me. I also knew that because I remembered my standards, I recieved help from God. Dances can be fun, but how we prepare for them determines our experience.

When you go to homecoming, you check your bag in at the door. When you check your bag, are you going to check your religion too?

I encourage everybody to try to reflect the savior in the way you approach homecoming. You just need 15 seconds of courage to make the decision between what is right and what is easy. Take the plunge!  I am so proud of the youth for following the standards that set us apart from the world. Modesty is hottest!

Thanks for your good examples, your letters, and your love.

Find the light!!  (guess the movie) hahaha. sometimes Japan looks like dinotopia. I think about the odd spiritual significance of that movie....like all the time. its pretty cool.


Love you all!

Sister Nelson

Theres going to be an accident? (Guess the movie)

I survived my first bike accident!!!!!!!!!!! wahoo! Okay. so we all know how good my depth perception is. We were streeting one night on our way to some appartments and on a road that was full of potholes. wanting to avoid a sore bum, I rode out into the street off the sidewalk. When a car came, I misjudged the distance between the curb and the sidewalk and so I hit the curb and fell conveniently into some bushes! Good news, I wasnt hurt, just my pride. good thing it was dark. I have a lovely bruise about the size of a baby whale on my leg. cute! It was a blessing I wasnt hurt. 

This week was full of interesting and new food as well as some fun suprises and miralcles.

WAIT　a seccond I almost forgot--- CONGRATULATIONS to THe Kunz family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so exited! You are going to be the cutest mom ever! I will send you a japanese baby kimono or something. 

Yay to Kristi Lee and Race for getting their mission calls! I am so excited and proud of you both!!!!!

We are doing a lot with the members to try and strengthen our ward unity and the ward missionary work. The members have been so receptive so hopefully we can continue to grow as a ward and as missionaries becasue every member is a missionary! Helaman 7:29.

In doing this, we have had lots of interesting shokujis. (dinner appointments). I tried fish eggs. Yes. fish eggs. and ate more snot soup, eel, some wierd fish, some other wierd fish, some bones, some hairy veggitables, tofu, suuuper yummy lasagnia (our bishop is an american) and some more sushi, shrimp, the ocean floor, seawead, some odd turrnip that might have been a sea urchin...Im not really sure. I just kind of put it in my mouth and try to smile. I am getting an iron stomach. Well, kind of. SOmetimes I just stick the stuf I dont eat in my soup bowl so nobody can see it. oops. 

William- I havent tried octopus yet. Dad- my favorite fish so far I don:t remember the name of. but I will find it out! it is the brown fried sushi thing in my picture. I still love salmon though. Also I ate a really good white fish the other day with mushrooms and onions. yummmmmy. also pears here are called Nashi. They are round like an apple and have a wierd belly button thing at the top. Chan- Yes I have tried sushi! Ilike it but only in little chunks at a time. sometimes they put huge slabs of fish on the rice and Im like uhhhh.......dekinai! (i cant do it) because you have to eat it in one bite. I love shrimp sushi though. and i like the little roll ones better than the slabs.

 We had two potential investigators come to church yesterday unexpecdidily! it was so great! hopefully we can start teaching them regurlarly. We have two other appointments this week with new investigators so I have faith that they will become progressing investigators! sorry my spelling is so awful. 

We have a few more potential investigators and less actives we will be trying to make contact with this week. This week we really tried to focus on teaching the plan of salvation and talking to people about the purpose of life.　my goal this week is to use more scriptures in my teaching and when I am streeting and teaching totzuzen lessons.

Some of these scriptures have helped me to stay focused as a missionary:

 D&C 9;14 We have to be happy with where we are and what we have been called to do or else we stop ourselves from progressing., D&11; 20 This is the purpose of life- to follow the commandments with all our might mind and strength so that we can return to live with our heavenly parents!  

D&C 10:5 our blessings are contingent upon our faith IN our prayers. We have to have faith that god wants to bless us and that he will!

Also I have been reading a lot about the Gadiainton robers. When the Lamanites were opposing them, they hunted them down until they were no longer present in their land. Helaman 6:37. It is the same thing with us. The things of the world that try to creep in and destroy our families will only get worse if we dont activley hunt them down and stamp them out! if we dont oppose them, we are agreeing with them. Fight for what you know is right even if its hard. Helaman 5:47 but peace be unto you because of your faith- your efforts will not go unnoticed! Consider the honeybee- it collects enough pollen to make 1/2 of a teaspoon  in its lifetime. it doesnt seem like a lot but that ammount is vital to the hive. This is one of my favorite annalogies because so often we dont think our efforts matter- but they do! As a missionary, if I dont make an effort to spend 12 seconds talking to everybody, some of those prepared people might not get to hear the gospel. You just need 15 seconds of courage! This principle applies to our schoolwork, friends, and homelife. 

I am so grateful for this gospel and for the peace I have because of it. 

Love to you all, have a great week!

Nelson Shimai

Oh also- my pdays are going to be odd for the next two weeks so if you dont get an email on the normal day dont worry!

Chan I know you wanted to know about the houses-- a lot of them look like this except smaller! This one is huge.