And the AC goes on... :)

Yay! Thanks everyone for sending so many letters (plus Mom's from last week :)! I had so much to read I don't have much time to write but definitely have a few things to say :)

Ok, so first of all, STEPHANIE PUT IN HER PAPERS??? Sheesh why the heck did she not tell me?!! Pinch her for me will you? Well let me know ASAP where she gets called ok? Ah that's so freaking exciting!! I'm sooo happy for her!! I didn't realize she was close to 21 but I guess so huh.. wow.

Ok, well it sounds like you're having pretty much the party life over there with BBQ's and dancing and a thriving garden! I'm glad Father's day was good, though for the actual day Dad went to Mexico? That's kinda a bummer.

Hey this week... happy birthday to Larisa and Brooke!!! I'd like to get a package out but it might not be until next week ok? Sorry. And that's SO crazy that Hollis stopped by! That's funny too because President Hill just said he was asking about me to him. President Hill just absolutely loved Hollis and says he was just a blast. Well small world Ne?

Oh yeah, right now I'm in Tokyo. We went to the temple this morning and we're staying the night in the Hombu since we have a conference in Kichioji tomorrow which is closer to here than to Kofu. So tonight at six we'll be dendoing here in Nakano. Maybe I'll see Kouki! :) Actually... I gave the Nakano elders his info and they called him up to try and meet. Apparently he's busy looking for a job but when he finds one we might be able to arrange something on a time we come to the temple again maybe next transfer.. but they said they had a really good conversation with him and of course he seems pretty cool :) As for pictures I think I can receive them I'm pretty sure I just don't have any way to send them from the library but maybe here at the Hombu... And as for the shoes I'll try to fix them myself first and keep my eyes out for new ones. We're looking for new running shoes. If you want to send me some in a box, maybe just $20 cross training ones from Target, that'd be good. The ones I have are ok, but we do run 20 min every morning and I don't know that my feet really love them. If they fit you mom but are a little tight (cuz I have narrow feet) their probably just right for me :) And as for mailing the food through FlyingPig they will deliver to our door and if we're not home they leave a note in our box and we just go to the post office around the corner and pick it up. But I guess you can send it to the Hombu address, and just make sure they'll be able to forward it to our appartment? That's what our office secretary just told me :) well, just give it a try with some small stuff first? Kana.. we'll see how it goes.

Well you all sound very busy... thanks for being dilligent in e-mailing! I was really surprised when I didn't get one from Mom last week but I guess I did. And this week was just overflowing--thanks!!

Oh yeah, this week was great :) It's been very hot but we've been doing a lot of service for people, met with a re-interested investigator family, and found a gorgeous park that had ok success but we'll go back on a weekend when there's more people. But I did make my first contact all by myself yesterday (contact=making an appointment to meet again) it was great! I shared a verse of scripture, bore testimony, and all while my companion was talking to someone else! Whoot! Yay for learning Japanese!! :D we're meeting with her Monday. Wish us luck!

Love you all thanks for all your love and support!!

Love,
LeFevre Shimai

Kofu and Futons

Helooooo Friends and Family!　こんにちわ！

So, ten more days will be my two month marker in Japan! Wow, I think time goes by way slower out here than in the MTC!! Probably because everyday is a little different, meeting new people, biking out to new(ish) places, and much more of a forward motion than the MTC... :) But lets see, this week seems to have been slowish. We have had a lot of lessons, have one more new investigator who's name is Amemiya. We met her at the Kose Sports Koen (park) and she has a little boy who's just turned one. He crawled around the whole time we were trying to teach her about the Church's Restoration and the Book of Mormon but he's way cute. She said her husband is pretty anti-Christian, so she couldn't take the Book home we'd brought to give her, so we'll have to address that concern soon, maybe build some kankei (relationship) with him so he could open up to new ideas? But she still wants to meet with us to talk about it. And our other investigators are great, we met again with Lee\Ri and she had a lot of questions as usual and it was interesting trying to get a lesson between her Chinese-Japanese and our American-Japanese but it worked out somehow. We invited her to read the BOM and pray intently about which church is God's ichiban (number one) correct church. If there is only one God, why would He have many churches that teach different things? She said she'd never thought about things like that before, but that she's give it a try. But how do you address something like that? What has worked for you on your missions (those who have served somewhere with a Christian background) It's hard here because usually people don't have any concept at all of God, but when they do have a little Christian background it kind of all blurs together for them. They're not well taught in doctrine except maybe that Jesus died for us and you have to believe in him. It's hard for them to see that one Christian church is different than others. I guess like we look at Buddhist religions like that.

But anyway, this will have to be all for today, we're going with a member family to try and see Mt. Fuji today (try because it's pretty darn cloudy..) but there's I guess a lot of nature parks, etc, and lakes by the mountain so I'll take lots of pictures. [Picture: Mt Fuji]

And the futons are finally getting to my back and making it hurt a bit, so my companion who's not bothered by them at all gave me her extra and now I'm sleeping on three. I think I slept better last night :)

It's getting pretty hot now, but it's just starting I hear. It's supposed to be rainy season in June but I guess Kofu doesn't get as much rain as other areas since it's in a basin.

Love you all,　あいしていますと！
それは　すばらし　かぞくです！

LeFevre しまい

New Transfer and Brand new world!

Hellooo Family and friends!

Transfers have come and gone and while I feel like it's a whole new world, I am still in Kofu. :) But that's normal for a bean-chan to spend at least two transfers in their bean area. So, now that Perkins shimai and I have our kinks worked out and know each other so well, we can just buckle down and have an awesome transfer! [Picture: Kofu gardens]

The week started out with our two confirmations of the Holy Ghost which were just great--though I wish I could have understood what they were saying. I think it was something about how Yuko will be blessed to be a strong member and have a great church family, and Hikari will really feel God's love for her. So they're both fully members now and have a great supoprt system of friends in the Church, so they're solid! We've kinda been at a loss these last few weeks though, cuz our two great investigators are now baptized and our other investigators (a Brazilian lady, and a couple kids of less active families) are just kind of simmering. So we have like 0 progressing kyudosha. ... But this week and last week have been definitely miracle weeks. We have suddenly been meeting lots and lots of young girls that have a little interest and are at least willing to meet. Basically the last like 10 contacts we've got have made appointments to meet. And now three of them have recieved a lesson and agreed to meet again which makes three new investigators! One is Jan, a Taiwanese who's living here for college and speaks English better than Japanese although slowly and she's very busy but I think she really is searching for the truth. She says she's Buddhist but wants to know about Christianity. The other is Lee (or Ri in Japanese) who is Chinese and came to Eikaiwa (English class) with her friend who used to be an investigator. We had an awesome lesson with her and she agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon. The last is Asami who we met by chance walking around Tsurubun Daigaku (college) which is way far away. We're going to try and get the travel reimbursed by the Hombu if we'll be going up there weekly.. cuz it's like $60 round trip.. but her lesson was totally fantastic, she love the JS pamphlet we gave to read last time and we got to talk about Prophets and the Restoration and bear testimony of the Book of Mormon and when we pulled one out and said we were giving it to her as a gift her eyes just lit up and she was like "Ureshii!!" which is like "Oh happy!" and she just seemed like she couldn't wait to read it and so I can't wait to talk to her again next week! I think her appointment is not until next Friday though, so you won't get to hear about it quite then... But yeah, then we still have a few other appointments to have this week and it's just really so amazing that as we've been really praying to be guided and find new investigators the Lord has provided the way even if it seems to come of small everyday things like stopping someone on the street. Sometimes you get really strong promptings, like 'that girl, you should go talk to her' but other times you're just stopping people without knowing if they'll even listen or not. Jan was a prompting. But Asami was totally unknown. But both really were waiting. So you never know when the Lord has prepared someone but you should always be living the gospel so that they can see your example, and be bold talking to everyone you can! Missionary work is great, but member missionary work is even better! :) They know you're normal people and not trying to sell them anything, lol!

Anyway, time is almost up but I wanted to talk about all of you too! Please tell the Bishop a HUGE thank you for sending all the ward newsletters!!! They are awesome and I am getting a little sad that it's summertime and I'm not there to hear the frogs croak and play in the gross pool and hang out with everyone so those were like a little piece of home and spiritual at the same time! :) Brooke, was that you dancing with Jeremy at the swing activity? I think that's the backs of your heads! :) And Austin Holy cow by the time you get this you'll be all graduamanated!!! Sheesh. Well congrats bro, you did it!! And yeah, have fun working this summer I'm sure you 'll find some great ways to make money just work hard cuz time is short. Mission prep class is good, but just know that when you mogi, or role play, that's the most helpful part cuz that's the only part that's actually like a mission is when YOU are teaching not being taught! :) William, I want to see the video of your sync swimming. You better have taken one!! And Viks dance, lol I can just imagine it.

Our onions died. :( but the mint is thriving and our strawberries are getting baby fruit on them. And by the way the hollyhock is blooming here and corn is almost ripe already! But the rice is still tiny... they have an interesting growing season...and the flora and fauna here is amazing but my companion likes sleeping better so mostly our P-days have naps and not hiking which is ok cuz I'm tired too but a lot of the plants at least on the farms and the cities and the weeds are all the same! crazy. But they have some cool animals I hope to see sometime.. :)

Grandma leach, Aomi says hi! She's in my ward if you haven't got my letter yet!!

OK, well さよおなら！愛しています！

Love,
LeFevre Shimai
Kofu ward, Machida stake, Tokyo Mission

Last Week of Transfer 1

Guess what? I am so full of sushi! One of the less active families in our ward offered to take us to Kawazushi restaurant when we mentioned how awesome Kapazushi is (the $1.00 sushi place--each plate has two pieces and is a dollar) and they said we hadn't had real sushi yet. I'll just let you know, too, the Japanese sushi is almost all what we call 'sashimi' in America, with just a small chunk of rice and a big slice of raw fish on top. Today we had a tray with some different kinds to try, all for 10.50 so not bad! There was a BIG ebi (shrimp), yellowtail, mackeral, cuttlefish (a little chewy for me), salmon, salmon eggs, and, of course, tuna. It was very delicious! It did all have the wasabi inside though, which is isn't my favorite but to be polite I scarfed it down and actually their wasabi must have been fresher because it wasn't so much throw-up tasting as just fiery spicy. karai. I can still taste it. lol. But it was great. [Picture is Kofu]

Let's see, if Heather reads this on the blog, I'm pretty sure her birthday is coming up soon but I don't remember the date.. *ashamed face* but if it's about now then HAPPY BIRTHDAY! And I'll send TimTams asap. :D

A quick sum-up of this week. First on Saturday we had a race. Yup a race. We signed up through the YMCA to be a team in a charity run they were having. All six missionaries made a perfect team, as the requirement was six to a team! And it almost was a rainy day but as soon as we got to the park it was clear and sunny and got very hot and we all got sunburns! But it was great fun and our team was 12th place! (out of about 50!) so we ALMOST got a special prize. But we got some little prizes anyway. And were pretty much the only gaigins there. And my companion won twice in the raffle! (we got two tickets from a lady in our ward then each runner got a ticket) We (she) got a pot of flowers (geraniums?) and a hundred dollar gift card to a men's suits wear store! lol, we were laughing that the Elders should have really won that, but oh well we'll see what they have and maybe share a little. :) Then Sunday we of course had Hikari's baptism which went just great and wonderfully. She's so awesome but now we're out of investigators so pray we'll find some new people to teach please!! :D And then we had some nights at members houses eating amazing Spanish and Brazilian foods. And then on Tuesday we had Zone Conference where I had my one and only interview with President Hill. I can't believe it's his last transfer and the new president comes in just a bit! But I'm excited to meet him! And we'll see this Friday if either me or my companion transfers out of Kofu but most likely we'll both stay.. we'll see! And lastly we have a big BBQ for the ward on Satuday so I hope that goes well.

Oh, and we had a lesson with Yuko this week (baptized two weeks ago) and she is doing just great! She had a lot of questions about all the new stuff she has been reading in the family manuals and RS manual, etc., and is really excited to work towards going to the temple to do baptisms. And realized she wants to share this message too, so she's pretty much on fire :D

Aishiteimasu!!
LeFevre Shimai