Happy Valentines Day . . . (2/9/2014)

Happy Valentines Day . . . (2/9/2014)

But first off Happy Valentine's day soon! I have officially finished my first transfer as a missionary! Like what? I love it so much. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else with my life right now. So transfers are this week and I'm staying! YAYAYYAAYAYAY. I did not want another trainer and I did not want to leave Mikunigaoka. So I'm glad that I got both of those things. :)

So one of my favorite things about being a missionary is all of the different kinds of people you get to meet and talk to. And in Japan there are A LOT of interesting people. So the story behind that thought is this: we found a new investigator this week and we went to teach him in his home. While we were chatting we found out that the blanket we were sitting on (oh yeah in Japan nobody has couches so every one sits on the floor when you have guests) he just bought for us. So that way when we sat on the floor we wouldn't be cold. Isn't that awesome! That's the kind of people that I work with every day. And I love it. But the funny part is that the blanket was pink with black cats on it and it said "gothic fantasy." Haha I love it so much. I love the people here so much. 

So sturdy Q-tips. I warn you this is going to be a little weird but please keep reading, I promise there is a missionary application at the end of this story. I bought my first Japanese Q-tips last week. And they are super sturdy! Like I was cleaning my ears out after my shower last night and those Q-tips weren't bending at all! And lately we've been having problems getting parent's permission for a couple of our investigators to be baptized. And they're date is coming up in less than a month. So I've been struggling with how we can help them and how I can show my faith to the Lord more so He can provide us with whatever miracle is needed to help them be baptized. So as I was cleaning my ears and thought about how I want my faith to be like those Q-tips. And as the Lord is molding me and cleaning me (so to speak) I am going to face trials and I'm going to have to do a lot of hard things. But if I have the faith like the Japanese Q-tip then I will be the missionary and the true disciple of Christ that the Lord wants me to be. And I will get His work done. 

Now let's all be like Japanese Q-tips! 

I love you all and I hope your week is full of love for one another! Thank you for your support!

Love,

Aulick Shimai

Hello my beautiful people. Here goes another week...

Biking in the cold and knocking on doors is truly the missionary dream! I love it so much and I love sharing the happiest message in the world!

So a highlight of this week is we committed one of our investigators to be baptized! She has crazy amounts of faith because she can't remember much of anything we teach her but she knows what she feels when shes with us and she wants to receive eternal life and so she's getting baptized! We have also begun to teach her husband which is awesome! He's funny and interesting. He likes to laugh at me and my Japanese but it's all good. Still love him as a brother of God. 

This week was pretty normal. Nothing too exciting happened. But here is actually a funny story. So we were tracting at this apartment complex. Now Japanese style tracting is different then normal. First you ring the door bell and then you speak to the person through an intercom system thingy. We pretty much never get invited in. So we knocked on this door and after we said who we were he immediately invited us in. And so we were really surprised because that's extremely uncommon. So we came in and he asked us if we were the help and we said no we were missionaries. And he clearly didn't hear us because he was very old. And we finally were able to communicate with him who we are and so then he yelled at us and asked us what we were doing in there. Hahahaha so we quickly left and afterwards just busted out laughing. I mean he invited us in! Haha I love old Japanese people. 

I love this gospel and I love being a missionary. I hope everyone is staying happy and healthy. Thank you for all of your love and support. I am truly blessed with many wonderful beautiful people in my life.

By the way this week marks my 3rd month on my mission. WHAAAAAA

With all of my love,

Aulick Shimai

P.S. Sorry I'm so bad at writing letters

P.P.S. Sorry I'm so bad at telling stories...

Helloooo every one! This week was full of miracles! It was so awesome. And then it snowed a little bit here yesterday but just some flurries. Nothing stuck. 

So miracles! Here we go...

Actually I don't have a ton of time so here's my favorite miracle that happened this week.

So we got a referral from the Mission Office a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to find this girl who had lived in America as a transfer student. The family she lived with was Mormon and they wanted us to give her a Book of Mormon. She is a 40 minute bike ride away and we had been looking for her for like almost every day with returning having not found her. So we were on our way to find her again and I was just praying to Heavenly Father, asking Him that if our faith and patience had been tested enough to please help us find her. So we took out the GPS once again and did something a little different to put in her address, AND WE FOUND HER. We didn't get to speak to her because she wasn't home but we found out where she lives! It was so wonderful! The Lord truly blesses those who have unwavering faith in Him!

I'm understanding a little bit more every day. It's hard but I'm continually trying. 

Something funny about Japan is there are stray cats EVERYWHERE. And almost everyone has a pet dog. And if they have a dog they always dress it up in doggy clothes. Hahahahaha super funny. 

The food here is amazing. I have had bamboo and sushi and fish eggs (ew) and I love the experience. 

The Lord knows everything. All He asks is to trust in Him. This week, let's all trust in the Lord a little more. Let's have the faith that no matter what we're going through it is for our good and He has something for us to learn. Your Heavenly Father loves you! And so do I!

Ai shiteimasu!

Aulick Shimai

On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 1:32 PM, Lauren Aulick <lauren.aulick@myldsmail.net> wrote:

I love being a missionary!!! Japan is beautiful! I am serving in Mikunigaoka (mee-koo-nee-gah-oh-kah) it is a pretty big city. It would be about the same as if I were serving in Olathe. But its better because Im in JAPAN. Ok Im going to do my best to answer questions and then I will tell you about my week.

1st off my trainer is Sister Griffin and she is WONDERFUL. She is seriously the best. She is the best companion I could have right now. I truly feel that after my last companion the Lord is saying, "thanks for being so patient with your last companion, here is an easy one." Ahh its such a relief. My mission president is not a native, he is from California. Its super cold here all of the time. I have on at least 4 layers at all times. Theres not really any central heating in any of the buildings here they just have heaters for each room and its SUPER expensive to use heat and electricity and water so you walk into a cold room every day. In our apartment the only time we turn on the heater is when we say our personal prayers at night. And then when those are done we turn them off. But Ive got super great blankets that always keep me warm. Oh! And we sleep on futons! Which are THE BEST. Its just a few thin mattresses on the ground. I sleep like a baby. They do use the metric system. 

I dont really understand anything anybody says to me. And I cant really read anything either because mostly everything is in kanji but its great! Im learning so many things every day. 

I seriously love Japan. Every body here rides their bikes but my trainer and I are the only people who wear helmets. Plus I am a gaijin (foreigner) so I get a lot of stares and double takes every day. I havent seen any other Americans here. So I look really strange to everybody. My trainers mom is half Japanese and she took 3 semesters worth of Japanese at BYU so she does really well as far as speaking goes and everything. She is super awesome. This is her 5th transfer and so shes already 1/3 of the way done with her mission. 

Thank you so much for the Christmas pictures! Every one looks so happy and it sounds like Christmas was a blast. MADIE YOUR HAIR IS SO LONG. Girl you crazy. 

The members of the Mikunigaoka ward are awesome! They are so happy and so willing to help with anything and everything! They love to give us food. Ive already had 2 dinner appointments with members (which apparently is super rare) and I LOVE JAPANESE FOOD. In fact, at my first dinner appointment they had bought a Costco turkey. Oh by the way, they have Costco here! I havent seen it yet but weve been given several items of food from there. Anyways back to the Costco turkey. So they had the turkey but they didnt know how to cut it because this was their first time eating turkey EVER and the instructions were in english so they asked me if I could cut it. AND SO I DID. Theres a picture. And I cut that turkey like it was my job. So much fun. Missionary work is so much fun! I love going street contacting because I get to practice my Japanese and talk to all of my brothers and sisters! We get turned down a lot but all is well! 

We have a baptism with one of our investigators M_chan (Im not supposed to give out names because its a huge problem here with people getting harassed who are investigating the church.) next Sunday. I cant wait! Shes super awesome and so are all of our investigators. I love them all so much.

I love the people of Japan and I love being a missionary! There are a lot of trials but the simple little joys far outweigh the trials. This work is true and the Lord loves each and every one of you! Open your mouth and let people know that there is a God. And He loves us!

Ai shiteimasu!

Aulick Shimai

On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 1:32 PM, Lauren Aulick <lauren.aulick@myldsmail.net> wrote:

I love being a missionary!!! Japan is beautiful! I am serving in Mikunigaoka (mee-koo-nee-gah-oh-kah) it is a pretty big city. It would be about the same as if I were serving in Olathe. But its better because Im in JAPAN. Ok Im going to do my best to answer questions and then I will tell you about my week.

1st off my trainer is Sister Griffin and she is WONDERFUL. She is seriously the best. She is the best companion I could have right now. I truly feel that after my last companion the Lord is saying, "thanks for being so patient with your last companion, here is an easy one." Ahh its such a relief. My mission president is not a native, he is from California. Its super cold here all of the time. I have on at least 4 layers at all times. Theres not really any central heating in any of the buildings here they just have heaters for each room and its SUPER expensive to use heat and electricity and water so you walk into a cold room every day. In our apartment the only time we turn on the heater is when we say our personal prayers at night. And then when those are done we turn them off. But Ive got super great blankets that always keep me warm. Oh! And we sleep on futons! Which are THE BEST. Its just a few thin mattresses on the ground. I sleep like a baby. They do use the metric system. 

I dont really understand anything anybody says to me. And I cant really read anything either because mostly everything is in kanji but its great! Im learning so many things every day. 

I seriously love Japan. Every body here rides their bikes but my trainer and I are the only people who wear helmets. Plus I am a gaijin (foreigner) so I get a lot of stares and double takes every day. I havent seen any other Americans here. So I look really strange to everybody. My trainers mom is half Japanese and she took 3 semesters worth of Japanese at BYU so she does really well as far as speaking goes and everything. She is super awesome. This is her 5th transfer and so shes already 1/3 of the way done with her mission. 

Thank you so much for the Christmas pictures! Every one looks so happy and it sounds like Christmas was a blast. MADIE YOUR HAIR IS SO LONG. Girl you crazy. 

The members of the Mikunigaoka ward are awesome! They are so happy and so willing to help with anything and everything! They love to give us food. Ive already had 2 dinner appointments with members (which apparently is super rare) and I LOVE JAPANESE FOOD. In fact, at my first dinner appointment they had bought a Costco turkey. Oh by the way, they have Costco here! I havent seen it yet but weve been given several items of food from there. Anyways back to the Costco turkey. So they had the turkey but they didnt know how to cut it because this was their first time eating turkey EVER and the instructions were in english so they asked me if I could cut it. AND SO I DID. Theres a picture. And I cut that turkey like it was my job. So much fun. Missionary work is so much fun! I love going street contacting because I get to practice my Japanese and talk to all of my brothers and sisters! We get turned down a lot but all is well! 

We have a baptism with one of our investigators M_chan (Im not supposed to give out names because its a huge problem here with people getting harassed who are investigating the church.) next Sunday. I cant wait! Shes super awesome and so are all of our investigators. I love them all so much.

I love the people of Japan and I love being a missionary! There are a lot of trials but the simple little joys far outweigh the trials. This work is true and the Lord loves each and every one of you! Open your mouth and let people know that there is a God. And He loves us!

Ai shiteimasu!

Aulick Shimai

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 

Koniichiwa kazoku to tomodachi!

So hey there! It's been another subarashii (wonderful) week here at the MTC! Learning a lot about jibun (myself), Nihongo, and kono fukuin (this gospel). So I apologize ahead of time because this letter will probably be lame because not a whole lot happened here this week.

Saisho (first), shout out to Courtney Miller and my mom for the packages this week! The clementines and chocolate covered cinnamon gummy bears were an absolute delight. Still have a little bit of both because I'm savoring them.

Mom it sounds like you had a super fun time hangin out with sweet Brayden and Brynlee. I loved getting your letters this week!

I'm still working on just loving my doryo. At this point I don't know if there's anything more to do than to just love. She does a lot of frustrating things so I'm learning a lot about patience while at my time here in the MTC. And not just with my doryo. But also with wanting to learn the language faster than my brain is capable of doing. I just wish I could be more capable as far as the language goes but all the Lord expects of me is my best. I definitely have to remember that. So along with learning how to be patient with others I also am learning how to be patient with myself. :)

It has been snowing A TON here in good ol' Provo. So I'm really enjoying the scenery as I walk to and from class.

As I have previously explained in a letter home the Japanese senkyoshitachi (missionaries) are split up in to 3 groups. And the group of senkyoshitachi that I've been with for 6 weeks left yesterday. It was really sad. I got especially close to one shimai. Her name is Ellis Shimai. And she. Is. Awesome. I talked about her before I think in regards to the carpet skirt that I've acquired. Remember how I wanted to do like a "sisterhood of the traveling skirt?" Well that dream has now been put into action. We even wrote a story of how it came to the MTC. Well she is going to the Tokyo mission and I left the skirt with her. So when I get to Kobe she will send the skirt to me along with a story of what the skirt has been up to. Current Shimai is also in on this traveling skirt thing. So that's super fun. It makes me excited to get to Kobe.

Along with that group of senkyoshitachi leaving it means that I leave next. Yikes! I've really grown to love it here and I've grown really comfortable with the cushy life I have at the MTC. So I'm kind of freaking out that I leave in 3 weeks. But all is well. :)

So the most significant thing I've learned here this week is God's love for His children. With teaching my kyudoshatachi (investigators) and being STL I've had a lot of opportunities to help people. And in doing so I've had many witnesses of God's love for His children. I've come to learn that being a senkyoshi is more than just talking about kono fukuin. But it's about helping your brothers and sisters remember the love that Heavenly Father has for His children. Especially helping those remember who have completely forgotten. I had a lot of experiences this week where I would be listening to a concern from a kyudosha or a shimai and just feel the love that our Heavenly Father has for this particular child of His. And the fact that I sometimes get to be that vessel in which the Father communicates through me that love for His children is something I am so grateful for. I wouldn't change this experience for anything. While there are many frustrating times as a senkyoshi the beautiful moments where you feel the Spirit so strongly far out weighs those frustrating moments. If there any of you who are on the fence about serving a mission...DO IT. You won't regret it. I know I've only been out for 6 weeks but I already can see the affect, change, and shukufuku (blessings) I'm receiving for choosing to serve. THE BEST DECISION EVER. 

Sorry I went on that little tangent...

Kono fukuin wa shinjitsu da to shiteimasu. Morumon Sho wa Josefu Sumisu ni han'yaku shiteru to shiteimasu. Nani shitemo, itsumo Kamisama wa watashitachi o ai suru to shiteimasu. Watashitachi wa Kamisama no kodomo da to shiteimasu. Watashi wa senkyoshi ga iru kansha shimasu. Kamisama no ai kansha shimasu. Shinden ni yotte, eien no kazoku ni naru to shiteimasu. Kono fukuin o ai shiteimasu.

I love you all and I'm so grateful for your love and support. Know that God loves you because you are His precious son/daughter. This church is true and I know it with every fiber of my being!

Ai shiteimasu!

Aulick Shimai