Happy P day!-One month in Japan

Well, today is my one month marker. Phew. Feels just like the MTC, one looong day. But it really has gone by fast. But felt long. It's a weird feeling. Anyway, our baptism went really really great. A couple days before she came and got her mensetsu (baptismal interview) and we walked her through what would happen. Then Sunday was here and it was time! She came looking really nervous and kinda overwhelmed but smiling. Almost the whole ward stayed for the baptism and to welcome her. A lot of people brought small gifts for her and one of the sisters drew a picture on an omedetto card (a big white cardboard-ish thing where everyone signs) and we all signed it. The service was nice, we spent a long time ironing a dress for her. She actually had to do it twice though cuz she's so tall for a Japanese and she didn't go under all the way, but she was so cute and it was great. [Picture is Kofu]

Then she bore her testimony afterwards and apparently she had been thinking that whole week that maybe she should just call us and cancel the whole thing. But finally the night before, Saturday, she was praying and finally felt washed over by the Spirit and knew this was what God wanted her to do.

God really does test us to the last minute if that's what we need. But her answer did come. So she has a huge test (big things in Japan) this sunday but will be confirmed the following Sunday. And this Sunday is Hikari's baptism! She is a little nervous too, but has a lot of support from her mom so I don't think she's going to have any problems.

This week otherwise was a bit stressful with Yuko's baptism being on and off and on and then going to Tokyo, we never really had a true P-day and I realized how much I depend on this day to have time to clean and run errands and just how much I looked forward to that. I was kinda at a loss without it. But I feel much better today as we've had a nice relaxing day and will be getting everything done we need to do to be ready for this next week. We spent a lot of time trying to hunt down less-actives that were on an old ward list this week--which meant a lot of biking to places that were like 45 minutes or an hour away only to find that they weren't home, and we didn't get to talk to a whole lot of people so hopefully this week we'll be making a lot more contacts. We did have the Ramos family tell us their grandmother might be ready to take the discussions now, but she only speaks Spanish. So we'd have to have her grandson translate for us. I think she needs a little more BRT before then (build the relationship) so we'll see if she can teach us to cook some amazing Peruvian food! :D Oh! And tell Grandma and Grandpa Leach that the sister they knew in Salt Lake--she's in my ward right now! She came out here to go to school from Tokyo. How ironic huh?

It is starting to hit me now how much work missionary work is. It doesn't even seem like it should be that hard, you're just going out and talking to people, you get a fine chunk of sleep every night, 3 hours to study to your heart's content, and two and a half hours to spend eating every day, but it really makes you soo soo tired, and it's really emotionally hard work! Cuz you talk to people and you want them so badly to listen, and they don't always do but you put your heart and soul into everything. I'll be keeping my eye out for those small miracles. I thought I saw them before, but maybe I'll really see them now :)

Ok last random note then we gotta go run our errands. Okonomiyaki. This is a random Japanese food but aparently it's a big deal here and pretty commonly eaten for dinner and at festivals. Basically (warning in advance it sounds wierd) it's flour and water batter that you mix in cabbage then you pour it into the hot pan and add whatever else you want on top (shrimp bits, dried squid, onions, etc.), flip it, put it on a plate, and top it with (if you'd like) pink-pickled radishes and dried fish flakes. Then you smother it in mayonaise and this kinda sweet soy-ish sauce. And...itadakimasu! It's quite delicious. I will learn how to make it.

OH! I almost forgot the strawberry tabehodai!! Some members took us on Saturday to an all-you-can-eat strawberry greenhouse. The plants are up on platforms and you go down the isle with a tray of sweet & condensed milk and just...eat! I ate 115!! A couple of the chouro were pushing 200. It was intense. Sooo good, Japanese strawberries are amazing. Even the not-quite-red ones were super, super sweet. And then that night we were teaching a lesson and afterwards the high priest group was having gyoza night in the kitchen. Guess who was in heaven? Yeah...me. They were AMAZING.

And they gave us the recipe. All I have to do is translate it :D

Ok, well that was my week I'd love to hear how yours are!!

I can't believe school's almost over again!! And Austin's graduating!!
Oh goodness. Well once summer comes everyone will have all the time in the world to write me right? ;D

Love you all lots! Wish us luck with Hikari and see you next week!

LeFevre Shimai

ps. Dad, pictures are taihen (hard). I can't attach them at the library. Soooo you'll just have to wait until I fill up? I'll buy a smaller one next time. I'm trying to take lots! :)

More in Kofu

It has been so hot here, and supposedly this is glorious weather compared to how hot it gets later in the summer. Kofu is said to be the hottest area in the Tokyo mission because we're in a valley (which is in Yamanashi ken--which is probably the other city you looked up, the name means mountain peach I think, they're famous for their peaches and grapes) and the mountains make us inverted like Salt Lake valley. We are growing our own garden on our porch too lol! I told my doryo that carrots and tomatos can sprout if the tops start to grow and you can put them in water so we tried and they did and we have three little onions and three little carrots, then some mint that was growing wild and some cammomile that was taking over a neighbor's yard. We put them in buckets from the Elder's apartment and dirt from a contrustion site on our morning run route. :D Yup, I'm still me. And my companion just thinks it's the funniest thing ever.

More about our baptism this week and the miracle it's been. Yuko talked to her parents and her mom said she should wait until she was graduated and has looked at other churches. She knows it's all true, though, and just thought she could wait. But as we had her lesson this week, after the Chouro gave her a blessing, our conversation was just totally guided and Perkins shimai told her that she has seen so many people put off their baptism and basically if they put it off, it ends up never happening. And then I thought I understood what they were saying--only I didn't know how cuz I didn't understand any of the words but I just felt really strongly to ask if she thought that if she waited her mom would change her mind. Actually, I had to ask it in English cuz I didn't know how to say it in Japanese but she speaks almost fluent English so it wasn't a problem.. but I wasn't sure if someone had already said that and I was just going to prove I couldn't understand but actually it was perfect timing cuz she was like, no probably not, and realized she really did need to set the example for her parents.

So this whole week I've been realizing the reality of the gift of tongues. I still struggle, and there are still so many times that I want to say something or want to understand them and I can't but if there wasn't then how could I have motivation to keep learning? But definitely when the spirit is there, there's power that comes and I don't know how I know what to say even as I'm saying it, but it does work. And I'm realizing the Lord will work through even the weakest things to reach others hearts that need help and need to be strengthened. And that even an imperfect person like me CAN be a tool for the Lord as long as we have his spirit with us. Without the Spirit, I would be nothing! I'm so grateful to God and his tender mercies like that, and that I can be giving acceptable effort for him to reach out in miraculous ways like that! Well there's lots more I'd love to tell you about but P-day's almost over and we still have to take the Densha over to Nakano.

So gotta go catch our train now so bye again, and take care and I'll talk to you all next week and tell you how the baptism went!! :D Thanks for all your love and prayers!

LeFevre Shimai

From the Mission President

Dear Brother & Sister LeFevre:

Your daughter arrived in the Japan Tokyo Mission on 29 Apr 2009 in good spirits and ready to commence her proselyting assignment. We had a wonderful time with her.

Sister Emily M. Perkins has been assigned to work with Sister LeFevre, and they will serve in an area called Kofu Sis. Your daughter's mailing address is the mission office (editor's note: it's the mailing address to the right). Enclosed is a picture of your daughter with Sister Hill and me. By the time you receive this letter, Sister LeFevre should be adjusted to her new proselyting area. The positive, sustaining support she gets from you at home will be a great blessing to her.

May the Lord bless you and your family as you share in your daughter's mission experience.

Sincerely,

President Allen F. Hill

Week 9 in the MTC

We've already started packing, isn't that crazy??! I'm so freaking excited! Last thursday (after an AWESOME TRC with a honto Japanese lady that was really great and there was a really strong spirit there as we taught and it flowed well (for being in Japanese) and everything, then to top the day off we got OUR FLIGHT PLANS!! Everyone was jumping up and down and Wilson chorro was kissing his paper and it was fun. I'll try to send pics from Wells shimai's camera-I didn't have mine with me. Our flight from here to LA is at 8:25 am. We get to LA about 9:25 and don't leave until 11:40 for Tokyo. So I'll have that time to call.

In the picture is the rest of my district: Sisters Wells and Acerson; Elders Olsen, Fullmer, Lofthouse, Bee, Insch, and Tullman.

I didn't get to finish explaining our Easter last week. It was fun. Wells Shimai discovered this trick with the cafeteria's hardboiled eggs where if you peel off just enough for as wide as the egg is from the bottom, then make a small hole on the top, you can blow the whole egg right out! It's pretty fun, and we started saving up eggshells as soon as Larisa had sent me some egg paint. Then on the p-day before Easter we all painted the eggs and then on Sunday the shimai were the easter bunny and came early and decorated the room and hid eggs. Later after district meeting we all hunted for them and threw confetti eggs at each other (since Shimai and Chouro can't really bash an egg on each other's head) but it was way fun.

Now this week :) Well, mainly the biggest thing was flight plans. And meetings that tell us to pack. And the fact that I'm finally getting out of here!! I think the MTC has been a mini-life. It feels like it's never going to end, then finally you get to take off and go to the other side and do missionary work! No, actually we had some really really good insight from our devotional speaker this week who was ELDER HOLLAND!! :D His devotional was AMAZING. The spirit was SO strong and he's so cool how he can speak to you so down to earth, straightforward, and then even lovingly "yell" at you but it's so powerful the whole time. He made it very clear we're not here to be boys and girls anymore but men and women, in Christ. We have an extremely important work to do. He had come from the hospital, blessing a baby who was in intensive care, and had been reminded of the frailty of life and how desperately the world needs our message. He said, the whole world's a hospital and we're not surgeons, but we're first aid, and we go in the name of the greatest surgeon. That's cool, and it made me think about how when I was little I made that "save the world" club and now I finally get to do something like it. :) Then he said something that really stuck to me. He said "don't expect to go home and think to yourself, 'well I'm glad I got that out of the way, now it's time to get back to real life'. No. This is the closest to real life you'll ever get" again almost shouting. :) That was amazing insight, because I guess up till now I'd kinda been treating it like that. It was to do my time, serve my duty, but more than that, he made me realize it's a glimpse of eternity. It's the whole purpose OF life. The 'life' we have now are so distracting with jobs and with problems, we can get thrown off from the fact that this ISN'T all there is, and that we have so much work to do as Saints to indeed save the whole world. There is an explosion of missionary work just waiting to take place.

At another meeting later in the week Brother Mills pointed out the parable of the olive trees in Nephi. It says the last will be first and the first last. The 'last' tree talked about before the gathering was the Nephites and Lamanites. Indeed we see that South America and Africa are on fire and the work is just flying. But what about the first? Could it not be that that's Asia? Japan, and hopefully soon China? Imagine what a world it will be when China opens and missionaries flood into AND OUT of China! Chinese missionaries going forward to the last corners! Wow.. when he was saying that I just felt so strongly that that will be an explosion! The work of the Lord is going forth and there is much still to be done.

I'm so excited as I get ready to leave and finally go to tell all the Japanese people I can get to talk to me about the Savior and his LOVE. If there's one predominant message I've got from this place it's that: love. Christ's perfect love. Is the only unfailing, unstoppable force on this Earth. If we have charity we CANNOT fail. People need that in this day and age where somehow people are forgetting to just love each other. I'm excited and I know the Lord will help everything to work out and that he will protect us and guide us and lead us. He is standing ready to lead all his children. He loves the people in Japan, and he Loves the people in Washington. He loves because he has sacrificed, and as we learn to sacrifice parts of ourselves for others, we'll too find that kind of love for each other.

I love you all so much, and I'm excited to talk to you next Tuesday morning and I pray the Lord will guide and protect you all too.

:) Wish me luck!!!
On to NIHON! NIHON NI IKIMASHOO!

Love,
LeFevre Shimai

Week 8 in the MTC

Aloha Kazoku!

We teach basically only Japanese people now, as Senpai, and the Kohai teach the somewhat-Japanese people. BUT good news, I will for sure get to call you on Mothers Day! And possibly at the airport on my way out. Apparently during layovers we can use the phones and call our home. But the bad news is it'd be at like 4 or 5 in the morning. But we get our flight plans this weekend so I'll wait till then and we can see how long you'll want to talk that early!! :) Isn't that so crazy? I'm going to JAPAN!! Like in two weeks!! We made a countdown chain for our classroom and it keeps reminding me to make every lasting day worth it!

The picture is half of my district - Elders Wilson, Tsolomon, Bee, and Fullmer; then Sisters Wells, Acerson, and me.

I'm trying to read Jesus the Christ right now but haven't really had the chance yet cuz I'm still trying to go through my old Seminary BoM and transfer all the main markings into my Japanese Mormon sho, which takes longer than you'd think.

My Easter was awesome and we used the eggs you sent in our classroom it was a blast then had a great fireside on charity.

Love,
LeFevre Shimai

Week 7 in the MTC

Ok, in three weeks at this time I'll be on a plane halfway around the world!!! Yeah. I'm excited :) I'm still a little nervous about my Japanese but I have good news. This week in our TRC on Thursday we had honto Nihonjin (real Japanese people!) straight from Japan. In fact, they seemed a little jet-lagged and the one boy (his name was Kouki, how funny is that?) was sound asleep half of our lesson, :) but they were cute little teenagers and the other little girl was really shy and blushed bright red every time we asked her anything and talked so softly we could barely hear. It made me realize how much we're going to have REAL people to teach in Japan ;) But it was fun, and our lesson went pretty smoothly. And, we could talk to them! It was awesome, and I guess our eight weeks here haven't gone to waste. lol.

The picture is some p-day fun. We used a extendable pencil lead right in front of the camera, lined up with your choice of water bottle or spray can, turn on the flash, and you can make a pretty good Jedi impression.

Ohh, and then on sunday, when the elders went to Priesthood session the sisters went to a "Relief Society" thing, except they ended up showing us the Young Womens Program. I thought that was a little funny, but there were still really good messages. AND in the little movie clips of people from all around the world telling about the temple, we kinda understood the Japanese girl! She said something about feeling clean (kiyoi) and coming closer to Heavenly Father. Sugoi huh?

Well anyway, I should back up. Tuesday night was our devotional and he talked about aiming to the temple for our investigators, not just baptism (which is the 'gather them into the garners' part of the field is white scriptures--which was totally talked about in conferrence too!). But what was really really awesome was our devotional review--which I might have said before but I think would be an awesome thing to do for firesides/conference, etc., with the family. I know we usually kinda do it for FHE the week after conference but maybe more often so it's more expected. I dunno but it's definitely become a pattern in our district and we REALLY look forward to every Tuesday night review. This week some of the chouro shared some really personal experiences and really opened up to why they are who they are. It really touched everyone and just when I thought we couldn't get any closer to each other we did. Every week just gets better and better!

Then after our TRC, Thursday night, is our devotional review and Merrill Sensei talked about the difference between goals and plans. He said how when Gordon B. Hinckley challenged us all to read the BoM before the end of the year, that was a plan, not a goal. His real goal was to help us all come closer to Christ. I thought the statement was a little bit obvious, but the more I thought about it, the more it stuck me as kinda revolutionary. I think it might be like prayers, that heavenly Father knows exactly what we need, but he still wants us to ask him for it. We usually know what we want to accomplish by doing certain activities (e.g., missionary work) but if we don't state our goals to ourselves, or to the Lord, then we're kind of missing the point and won't truly be able to fulfil them. I'm definitely going to be thinking more about this as I plan and study the scriptures.

And then of course, there was General Conferrence! Wasn't that sooooooo awesome?! I loved it, the two hours FLEW by each time and I couldn't write down enough of what they were saying. That story President Monson shared was so humbling and so moving. I loved the talk on provident living, and how loving words are "we can't afford it" and how any money we spend on things we don't need is wasting what could be used to benefit someone else. It's always good to be reminded of that! There also seemed to me a lot of "building on bedrock" of Christ and how we get testimonies now exactly the same way they did long ago, and how important the temple is. And wasn't Elder Perry's talk so awesome? :) We've been talking about that here a lot at the MTC too, how to get members involved. And I've been thinking a lot, because I know I've been on the receiving side of that, with missionaries asking me if I knew anyone to teach and not really knowing how to respond. But I had kind of a lightbulb moment I want to share. I was reading a story in PMG pg 171 and realized I was then going about it all wrong. Whenever they'd ask that I'd think of someone I wanted to share with, someone I thought I could prepare, but the truth is, it's not about US, or what WE can do, but the only reason we have success as missionaries is through the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord. And that's how as members, we need to seek to share his gospel.

EVERYONE needs this gospel and can be blessed by it, it's just a matter of helping them realize that they do. And sometimes you might not know how to say something or invite others, but ask the missionaries for help, let them role play with you--it's a powerful tool, and you'll get the idea as soon as you put effort into it!

We also had an awesome picnic today and painted eggs and tried natto. It's gross! But I might come to like it.. :) Ok well I love you all so much and pray for me and study the scriptures!
They're truly the word of God and can bless us so much. Seek to be guided by the spirit, God loves us and want to best for our lives. and most importantly always love one another!

Love,

LeFevre Shimai
p.s. I leave April 28th if I hadn't made that clear! :D

Week 6 in the MTC

Yes, another week has gone by, believe me they're as fast here as they are there. We have a program here called SYL (speak your language) and every night we draw from a tin a paper. You're either 'normal-san' or Tanaka-san. And if you're Tanaka-san, you have to try to get the class to guess you are by speaking the most Japanese the next day. Then we vote every night and if you were tanaka-san and got voted you get two points. If you got voted but weren't you still get one.

Our TRC appointment went great last week, and we've just come to appreciate and serve each other more as we work to serve the Savior. I want to share my miracle day this week. It was so so so awesome. At the RC (referral center) on Saturday I was able to take two incoming calls from two people calling for videos. One of the questions we're supposed to ask is, "What prompted you to call for this video?" and that always sparks some conversation. So with both of them we got to talking and they felt like they were just needing a little more of God in their life. So I asked the simple question: had they heard much about our church? When they said no, I began to explain the Book of Mormon. I felt the spirit SO strongly in guiding me what to say, and testified it had blessed my life. I told them we had missionaries that could come by and bring their video, share a message about Christ, and tell them more about the BoM. They both said they'd love that. Isn't that so cool? I was so happy and just glowed for the rest of the day. And it's so simple!! All we have to do is be a little bold. Be a little more open. People wonder about us but think maybe it'll offend us to ask, and we think it'd be offensive to share, but really there should be nothing stopping us from telling everyone what we believe. If we really do believe it, they'll be able to feel the truth of the message through our words. It's not enough JUST to be a good example. We have to speak up! We have to say something because they might not. And maybe they'll just say 'whatever' but maybe it'll change their lives. If nothing else, they can't condemn us for having faith in God and no one can dispute a pure and simple testimony. So anyway, that's my soapbox for the day. :D

Be sure to include the Lord in all that you do, in our daily activities and turn to Him for guidance, for he is the best and only source of it. And Be BOLD in what you believe. Speak up, the world is waiting to hear! I appreciate your continuous prayers and you are all in mine. :)> Every week as missionaries leave I get trunkier and trunkier to get to Japan. 4 more weeks!!!! :D So excited.

LeFevre Shimai

Week 2 in Kofu

Konnichiwa Kazoku!

I have more time today (normally we have an hour to read and respond to e-mails) but I will still try to do this fast because we are running a little late (the guy using the computer in front of us took forever!) Ok so yeah, Kofu! How about it, huh? It's been pretty crazy so far. I thought it was super busy when I first got here, and we're always going up and down the streets and stopping people as we bike to places or to the park to do park dendo (mission work). Then on Monday I had a Kokan (a split? for a day.) and I went to Kichijouji, which is like the second busiest places next to downtown Tokyo's Shinjuku. And it was crazy busy!! You have to dodge in and out of cars and people all the way down the street, while here in Kofu it's only every once in a while that you have to navigate narrow areas (like between a wall and the curb!) and the roads are narrow here, for the cars, and the cars are small, but it's even narrower in Kichijoji. Anyway, other than that it was not too eventful, we just taught a Mogi (role-play) lesson to a member and visit taught the Relief Society President. But our time was cut really short since we have to ride the train like three hours total to get between the two locations. About an hour to Otsuki (which I think is still in our Kofu area--it's HUGE) and then another two hours into the city. Anyway, we get a lot of exercise on our bikes here with a lot of appointments like an hour bike ride away. And you get really good at doing bike dendo.

The food's just fine. We try to eat pretty inexpensively and my doryo is not the biggest fan of seafood so mostly we eat ramen, curry, and stir frys with lots of vegetables and some meat. She loves onions. So we eat a lot of those. Then we got Hyaku-En (100 yen=1 dollar) sushi one night which is like two pieces of sushi for a buck-not bad. And we ate at a cafe one night but it was kinda stingy portions with expensive price so I wasn't too impressed.

And the language! It definitely took me a couple days to get used to riding around town not being able to read anything. But I'm getting better now and I'll continue on working on reading kanji so that I can get around better. It's no fun being illiterate! :) Most of the important things (train stops, etc.) they have in romaji (English letters) too, but things like street signs and shop signs--all kanji. And I'm getting better at being able to follow whole conversations now, almost :) I think I'm way ahead of what most bean-chans (greenies) are, but I feel like I also have a trainer that speaks probably the best Japanese of the sister trainers, so a good example to follow!

Ok, well I better wrap up so we can still get our grocery shopping in today, but oh just to let you know, we already have two baptisms coming up! One is a 17-year-old daughter of a member who is the only kid interested in the church. Her name is Hikari which means light. And the other is Yuko who is a very mature looking 23-year-old who goes to college at a school up here and just has a fire of a testimony about Christ and about the Book of Mormon. She pulled out what she'd found as a favorite scripture the other day and it was a scripture mastery! :) So Yuko's date is the 24th and Hikari's will be on the 31st. We are way excited for them both. We also have a Brazilian older sister, Kihara, who we are hoping will commit to baptism soon. She has just had some health issues lately but is pretty much a member and comes all the time and has a very strong testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Anyway, so pray for those three will you? I love you all and wish you the best! I'm keeping my eyes out for great souveniers to send, but let me know if you have any requests! (Candy toka...origami paper toka...toys, etc.) It was SO good to talk on Sunday and I hope you all send lots of e-mails and letters soon, as I would love to hear from you!! :)

Aishiteimasu!!!

LeFevre Shimai

p.s. Mt. Fuji is in my area, but I guess my companion said it takes like a whole day to climb it and it's best to do in the late summer with the least snow, so I'll probably have to save that until I'm done with the mission, and combine it with hiking and backpacking escapades. :)

Konnichiwa!

Guess what? I'm in Japan!! Ok so it's way cool here. I can't write long, this library was closed on p-day so we didn't get to e-mail but I'm going to call you in two days for Mother's Day!! So it's all good, right? Anyway, gotta go but be expecting that call. ok love you all so so much! Aishiteimasu!

LeFevre shimai