Sunday, December 22, 2013



Koniichiwa kazoku to tomodachi!

8 days until Christmas and 13 days until I leave for Nihon. Yikes!

First of all thank you to mom and Courtney for the packages! I promise I won't open the presents until Christmas. And I have my humble Charlie Brown Christmas tree all set up. I'll send pictures. :)

I know I say this every week but it truly was another wonderful week as a missionary!

I feel like I have a lot to say about this week so hold on to your seat belts. It's going to be a scattered and bumpy ride...

So Quentin L. Cook spoke to us on Tuesday and that was pretty cool! We're also supposed to get 2 general authorities on Christmas/Christmas Eve and being a STL has it's advantages because I know who one of them is but I'm not allowed to say! So I'll just tell you all when I email you on Christmas. :)

On Friday my district did what is called an Eigo danjiki (English fast). We spoke only Nihongo all day. It was terrifying and crazy fun! It was a total confidence booster to realize that I know way more than I thought I did. And who doesn't love carrying around a jisho (dictionary) everywhere? We're doing it every Friday until we leave the MTC so that's exciting. 

Also for TRC until we leave we are skyping with members in Nihon (Japan) every week. So we are talking to people that we could potentially see! We did our first one last Wednesday and it was super fun! And really cool! I love the Nihongin already! Speaking of Nihongin (Japanese people) we get 2 Nihongin shimai kyo (Japanese sisters today)! I'm super excited. My doryo and I get to show them around and hang out with them from like 4:30 until they go to bed tonight. I'm super excited but also pretty nervous because I don't know if any of them speak Eigo (English). Oh well! It will go great I'm sure. :)

For Sunday's devotional the BYU men's choir did a special musical devotional for us! It was kirei (beautiful)! So we didn't have any speakers and we just got to listen to them sing. It was a nice change of pace. 

So an exciting thing that happened this week was we invited both of our kyudoshas (investigators) to get baptized. Only one accepted and the other one says he doesn't think it's for him. Silly Naritakun. Baputesuma wa mina san no tame ni desu! (baptism is for everyone) But the one that did accept the invitation has to get permission from her parents and her otosan (father) doesn't like the church at all. So we are working on that. I love Linasan and Naritakun (names of invesigators) so much! As I teach them I have truly learned to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for His children. He loves us so much. More than we will ever comprehend!

So here's my spiritual Christmas thought for the week. The new star that appeared the night Christ was born showed the way the sheperds were to go. The star never spoke and said, "here is Christ." No, it used it's light to lead the way that the sheperds should go. Likewise we should be examples to all those around us. We should live in such a way that people are led to Christ through our actions. Words can be strong but our actions are stronger. There's a quote that is up here in the MTC that says "Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words." Let others see the light of Christ shine through you as you strive to become more like Him. 

I love this gospel and I love being a missionary! I pray that all of you will remember to keep the Christ in Christmas this year. Enjoy being all together this year! Say hi to the family for me please! I love you all so much and I wish you a Merry Christmas from Provo. :)

Ai shiteimasu!

Aulick Shimai 

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