Tons of Tegami and a computer Failure!

Hello All!!

 

So I am so bummed but my email just earrased itself...so this letter might be a titch short. Sorry!

 

First thing- thank you to everybody for the lettes and emails this week. They were exactly what I needed!!!!!

 

This week me and my companion went on an eigo fast.....aka we only spoke Japanese. Except for we realized that not everybody speaks japanese so we had to modify our goal to just be with each other nad our district. It was really difficult but I learned so much and goto a lot closer with Bush Shimai. It is really important to SYL. towards the end of the week we got a little sloppy so I was kind of discouraged that I didnt totally meet my goal, but It just made me excited to do better the next time we do an english fast.

 

So something funny: Our teacher didn't have his glasses becasue he lost thiem in the lake, so he got them back yesterday for the first time. and he had his pupils all dialated and the shimai tachi found him sitting alone in a dark room beause he had a headache, and so they were like hi! we have a question and he goes " What! I'm tired and I have a headache!" It was so funny. He is awesome (also he is parker in 10 years...except more shy). He is the best teacher. Actually all of our teachers are so awesome.

 

ALso guess what gift I recieved? If you guessed a pair of home made earings.. you would be correct! Haha ohmygosh what is it with people making me earings?? They are pretty cool though. A choro in ou branch has a jewlwery making buisness back at home.

 

So this week I studied a lot about the light of Christ and about the nature of god. It was a really spiritualy enlightening week. I made a bunch of connections that I was like AHH! THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE! So if you are bored, I encourage you to study about the light of Christ. It is SO COOL. This week I have been trying to become more converted to Christ (watch elder bendar's "characteristics of Chist talk..itll change your life.) so I started writing down the good things I do in m journal so that I can have an accounting of my progress and conversion. It is a good way to see what I have accomplished and to make goals for the next day/week.

 

Thanks so much to the YW for your awesome quote book! That was so nice and so full of wonderful quotes that tottally apply to my life! thanks!! If any of you ladies has questions for me about mission stuff, dont hesatate to email me!

3 Nephi 22:14 "No fear= no oppresssion" ..This made me think of you ladies. You are so inspirational and are doing so much good in the world. Don't fear, you are on the winning side!

 

Also while studying I came across a name I had never heard of before. Who is the servent Gazalem? (Alma 37:23) Any Book of Mormon Buffs out there who know? (Aka Grandpa :] )

 

This week has been really good because I have had to learn how to rely on the spirit so much when teaching and to teach simply. It is so true that the simple and weak are the best vessels of the lord. I also studdied vessels and qualities of them because I want to be the best vessel fo the lord that I can. If you need a fun FHE activity, go to the topical guide and find all the qualities of a vessel, and apply them to you!

 

Oh another thing. I learned that a "less active memeber" translates to a "resting memeber" haha the Nihonjin are SO Polite I love it!!!

 

Another thing: A few months ago during a MTC devotional, the general authority speaker was about to sit down when he rushed back up to the pulpit and said "I just watned to let all of the sister Missionaries know that because of your sacrifice, your families will be blessed for eternity." How awesome is that? I love what I am doing and it is so worth it.

 

I challenge everybody to write down the good things you do in a journal every night. I promise you will be able to feel more self- confidence, peace that you are a good person, and will develop closer relationships with those who you have a hard time getting along with. But! this will only happen if you try to be better a little bit every day.

 

Love to all!

 

Nelson Shimai

Day...one. Guess the movie? (JK its like day 400.)

July 20, 2013 

Hai ai! (fast)  Another week flew by. Literally.

I am having such a fantastic experience. Even though the days are SO LONG like about ten months each, the weeks go by so fast and I learn so much every day. I am exhausted when I come home and don't even mind that I am starving becasue I haven't eaten since four. Haha. Thanks for the Muddy Buddies mom! They have been GREATLY appreciated.

So this week when me and Bush Shimai went running around the temple (the coolest thing ever.) We just happend to run into JANICE KAPP PERRY. Casual.

She was so nice and was talking about how she sang in Japan in Fukuoka and loved it! It was so fun to run into her (literally, we were running.) Jodan desu! (joke)

Oh my gosh my humor is going down the drain.

Oh also gues who I saw yesterday?...Danny Gessel! (is that how you spell his name...?) Anyways he just started working in the MTC as a portuguese teacher. So fun! he was like Olivia? and I was like "ahhh who knows my real name??" and then... we shook hands. Thats about all we are allowed to do. No hugs. haha but thats okay. Also, no  high fives for the shimai tachi. Choto Hen desu ka? Hai. (strange? yes.) but its for a reason so I am fine with that.

Something we have been working on is exact obedience. I have been praying REALLY HARD to be able to be exactly obedient. because when we are exactly obedient we are promised that we will recieve miracles (kiseki). Though this past few weeks I have had a lot of opportunities to be exactly obedient which I am so greatful for. It has strengthened my trust in the lord and my love for the gospel and the atonement of Jesus Christ. For example, I kept waking up with the thought that I needed to do some meanial thing.. like write down a note or something that was irrelevant. In bed I would think "um...what the heck why am I getting prompted to do that?" But as soon as I would get up to do it, I would forget what I was supposed to do! After pondering why the lord kept repeating this experience, I realized that he was giving me the opportunity to practice being exactly obedient. So Awesome!

I have also been praying a lot for humility. All I am going to say about that is that if you pray for humility and to be shown your weaknesses..you will be shown your weaknesses! I've got lots of them!

Some great scriptures I read this week were Mosiah 4 and 1 corinthians 12. and enos. They really show the nature of god and how we can come closer to him. Lovee love love.

I got to teach a female investigator for the first time. it was so different! I loved it because we could be totally small-talky and have something to talk about. With the Choro investigators, it is slightly muzicashie node we dont have a lot in common. its like "where do you work?" at a store. "oh..cool.....I like cars?" We have been learning about how you need to know your investigators to understand how and what to teach them.

Yesterday (kino) me and Bush Shimai had a really awesome (sugoi) discussion about (ni tsuite) Why women in the church don't have the priesthood and how we need to teach our investigators from the best way we can as women using all of our gender's gifts. After reading Esther, we decided that we don't need the priesthood becasue if we had the priesthood, we wouldnt need to rely on the priesthood holders to help us, and they wouldn't have an opportunity to use their priesthood to help others if everybody had it. Also, in the for the strengh of youth I read this morning about how womanhood in itself is such a special and divine calling. We have the ability to create holy places wherever we are. We get to nurture those around us and help them. We are the catalysts for change and the priesthood holders help carry out that change. Why wish for another gift when we know what blessings we can have if we do our part to help consecrate all our gifts to the church and to the Lord. Everything we have been givin is an important asset to the Lord and his work. We are equal because we are different. There must be opposition in all things. This doesnt just mean opposition like trials. It means opposition like opposites. We have to work togheter or eles the church will become divided.

1 corrinthians 12 is such an awesome chapter to read about how everybody in the church is important. Our bodies are testimonies of how each part is vital to the survival of men, and symbolizes how each member and gender is vital to the survival of the church.

I hope this all makes sense, I kind of just vommited the short version of what we talked about. Anyway, if you are still confused, just read the proclamation to the family (shout out to Sister Cluff for giving me a copy to glue in my scriptures in seminary!...and also for the billion other awesome quotes I have in my scriptures from you! Especially the ones about womanhood.)

The world needs more women who are representatives of our Heavenly Mother on earth.

Thanks for your prayers and support. There have ben several times when I felt that somebody from home was praying for me, and that means the world to me.

 I love you all and hope that you have great weeks!

Nelson Shimai

Also, Savannah, Claire, and Sarah, How was your cousins retreat??

ALso, here is my address for those of you who wanted to know:

Sister Olivia Jayne Nelson

AUG26 JPN-FKU

2007 N 900 E Unit 4

Provo, UT 84602

This is where I live!

This is what campus looks like:

This is where I sleep!

July 13, 2013

GOOD NEWS! i ATTATCHED SOME PICTURES!

 

About the pictures: The cute brunette is my companion, Bush Shimai. The shimaitachi are the shimai from my district and then the shimai in a bedroom are my roomates. Plus also, the picture of the classroom is my classroom. which I live in. with THIRTEEN other senkyoshi. woof.

 

So This week flew by pretty fast. They say that the weeks feel like days and the days feel like weeks. So true.

 

In one of my lessons this week, we were teaching a cutest old man named Iwamonto-san (when you attach san to the end of somebodies name it means MR. or MRS.) anyway the spirit was really strong and I was blessing him to know that he would recieve peace if he prayed when he got this funnly look on his face. I assumed that he had gas or something and kept talking. At the end of our lesson, we got our feedback. Apparently, when I thought I said peace, I told him he would get pneumonia. oh. my. gosh. Also, I said that the spirit is food instead of a gift. Yes, I am the running joke of the week. Minus six billion points for Nelson Shimai. Also I told him he loved god instead of god loved him.

 

I know that this church is true, and the good news of the gospel we teach is so essential to happiness. I have been studying a lot abou the atonement latley. mostly I am just obsessed with the scriptures and my favorite time of the day is kojin benkyo (personal study). today I memorized moroni 10: 5 "Soshite, seirei no chikara ni yotte, anatagata wa subete no koto no shinri o shiru de aru." its the shorter verse in Moroni's promise. i'm working on verse 4. I know that thorugh the Holy ghost and through prayer we can recieve answers to all of our questions if we have the desire to make ourselves better and to build a relationship with god. He loves us so much and the worth of every soul is great in the eyes of god.

 

aishitemas!!!

 

So I have a few more emails to write, sorry this one is so short.

 

Nelson Shimai

 

July 6, 2013

Konichiwa! watashi wa MTC o aishite shimas! MTC wa musicashi des, demo daijobu des. (I love the mtc, it is difficult, but worth it!)

....hmm what? I can speak nihongo already? HAI! (yes). So the language is coming, slowley, but its coming. by slowly I mean I can hold a decent convorsation in nihongo (mostly about gospel topics....I still don't know things like "shirt"). We taught our first investigator five lessons. Yuki, (our investigator) is coming to church on Sunday! Wahoo. Next week we will have two more investigators. They aren't honto (real) investigators, just sensei acting like investigators they had on their missions. They pray for direction on how to let us teach the investigator, not the sensei. We have San (three) sensei. They are all awesome. (sugoi) Cook Sensei, Phearson Sensei, to (and..like "toe") Seito Sensei hanashite (speak) nihongo only. Learning this way (manabu= to learn) is stressful sometimes becasse Im like WHAT IS GOING ON!???????????????? but they take questions all the time and use words we know to get us to guess what they are saying. Seito sensei is nihonjin (japanese person) so he is fluent...aka I can't understand anything he says. (wakarimasen= i dont know/ understand). I was feeling really (honto ni) stressed out earlier in the week because I didn't think I was learning fast enough (gee, Its been ten days and I can only say like a billion words....the gospel (fukuin) is SUBARASHI!) any way, so I prayed for peace in learning nihongo and ever since then I have felt totaly fine about my progress. I know that I will be okay. We are promised that if we put our focus (Shuchu) on the needs of our investigators, we will learn faster and be blessed with the gift of toungs (igen no tamamono). This is totally true. So teaching investigators has been really cool. As me and Sister Bush have learned to rely on the spirit (mitama) in our lessons, our thoughts have become unified, we understand what our investigators need, and are able to testify of the things we know to be true. (When in doubt...we just testify a lot). A funny story: so this cutest Shimai in my district was teaching Yuki and instead of saying "We love Yuki" she said "Yuki loves us." hahahahah i seriously laughed for about an hour or six. My district shimai tachi are Saiko senkyoshi!!! (saiko is like "the best").  On the fourth of july we got to stay up late ( ooooh!!) and watch some fireworks. We also watched 17 miracles. its about the willie martin handcart company. it was very apparent to me that our pioneer ancestors support me and are proud of me... aka I cried the whole movie (naku.) Mostly I cry at least three to twenty times a day. Guess thats what you get when you are at the Lord's university. We have awesome devotionals. Sheri Dew taught releif society last week.

  

I will try to send you lots of Nihongo words! except for sometime they have accents on them that I don't know how to do on this computer...... I will work on that :]. Aishiteshimasu! (I love you). Genki des ka? (how are you, literally how is your health?) the answer is Genki des or gengki des yo if you are really happy. also, Kawai means cute, but Kowai means scary. Its fun to see people mess those up. "Aww you look so scary today!"

So also I am reading hiragana now which is awesome. I still have katakana to learn but thats next week's goal. Also our whole district is in the choir. WAHOO. we sound so good on our Nihongo hyms... yes. we read the hiragana. its a miracle.

I love this mission and can't wait to be out in the field. I am learning so much about the gospel through studying pmg and the Book of mormon. Reading the Book of Mormon from the perspective of a missionary totally changes the whole thing.

I would be happy to answer any questions! The Dear Elder letters are awesome and so appreciated. Also I saw Elder Larson when he got here on wednesday and Sister Orgil!

Hope you have a great week! Aishiteshimasu! this word is slured a bit, its pronounced aishtemas like eye-shtay-mas

Nelson Shimai.

ps. sorry again for no pictures...I can't figure out how to upload them.

June 30, 2013

Hey friends and family! Sorry I am just now getting these past two letters up--we just barely got internet at our new place. If you are like me you are already missing Sister Nelson! (Shimai means sister, in case you were wondering. The right way to say it in Nihongo is Ner-e-son She-my). If you have any questions, feel free to email me at melissankunz@gmail.com
Love,
Melissa

Konichiwa Mina San!  (Hello Everyone)

I have made it to my first P-day! So for the duration of my NINE WEEKS at the MTC, I will be able to answer/write letters and emails on Saturdays.

The MTC is really awesome. I have been learning a ton of Nihongo (Japanese) and also a lot about how to teach the gospel. The whole program centers on catering to the needs of the investigator. So my language study, personal study, and companion study all focus (Schu chu) on our investigator of the week (his name is Yuki. Yuki means Courage in Nihongo). 

In a meeting with our Branch President, he told us to not make the MTC academic. This really resonated with me because I am prone to tunnelvisioning on something until I get it perfect (Kampeki). This counsel was exactly what I needed to remind myself to focus on the needs of my investigator before my own. We taught our first lesson in Nihongo yesterday. It was....probably the most horrific lesson I have ever taught in my life. But that is okay, We are teaching again today! We (My companion and I) realized that we need to listen to the spirit and find the balance between having a set-in -stone lesson plan (keikaku) and winging it.

So my companion (doryo) is really awesome. Guess what Mom, SHE LIKES TO RUN!! Yep, I got a companion who loves to work out. Thank Goodness. Sorry we didn't have time to post a picture today, we are still figuring out scheduling and where and when to do what on our p-day, so hopefully by next week I can send some pictures. Sister Bush is so sweet and has such a strong testimony. I am lucky to have her as my companion for the rest of my time in the MTC. Sister Bush is from Maine and is studying elementary education at BYU.

Our district is HUGE apparently. we have 14 people (hito) with 3 sister companionships and 4 elder companionships. We all come from big families, so I guess its good that we have learned how to be patient with a billion other people in our living space. and by living space I mean classroom. We pretty much live there from eight am to nine pm with breaks for meals and other meetings/ workout time. Also, I am the oldest one in my district. Looks like I will end up being the mother. haha.

So we are on the early schedule. My day goes something like this: Wake up at 5:40, study vocab or hiragana, get ready, go to breakfast at 6:45, have personal study time, go to class to learn language or study the PMG. Have lunch or workout, go back to class, eat dinner at four ten (yes, that will take some getting used to.) Go back to class, study the language until about nine. Have personal time/study time/ etc/ planning time and be in bed by 10:30.

Our branch presidency is SO CUTE. They are so nice and old and  inspirational and really love what they do.

I love you all and can't wait to hear from you soon!!

Ai suru ( i love you)

Sister Nelson