Email address: lauren.fullmer@myldsmail.net

Monday, September 28, 2015

Sept 28, 2015 - My missionary life


Hello all! So we had transfers. Guess what I am I with Gibson shimai!
I love Gibson she's awesome.so she is from my MTC district so we are

one and the same Transfer. I was so surprised when I opened the
announcement call because I I didn't think I would be with another
sister from the Mtc so that's two for three . I think it's funny
because I was not expecting it. President Welch sure know something
but I don't know what he's inspired or something, probably inspired.


Transfer: so we went to transfer point. And we said our goodbyes. And
uchida shimai (my old Japanese companion) went with the other people
who were training. She's going to such a great trainer! I looked
around and saw a lot of people from my doki (Mtc time). I said hellos
and goodlucks and then... Gibson shimai showed up. We were like hey!
This is awesome crazy awesome! We ended up going back to our area with
a member. This member is my favorite. He took us and the elders all to
go eat and so we went to eat really quick then we hopped in his car
and headed back. His name is tatsunori kyodai and he's so funny. He
was baptized 5 months ago in a river. He showed me the picture. He is
what they call a miracle. The missionaries found him on a beach drunk
and crazy. He completely changed because of church. He doesn't look
like he goes to church at all. He's got this crazy hair style and he
was wearing combat boots and he has small earrings (but he takes them
out for church, so it's good). He's awesome. He loves the church and
the missionaries.

Friday: so on the way home the day before, tatsunori kyodai asked us
what we like the most curry, stew, or something else. And we said
curry. Little did we know he was going to make for us and bring it to
us for lunch. After study time we always have lunch. He called and
said "I'm bringing curry". So he came to the apartment and we came
down the stairs and he handed us a big bowl of homemade curry with two
bowls of rice. He typed in Google translate on his phone and showed us
the phone is said "cold pan burnt". So we just nodded said we
understand. That was the best curry I have ever eaten.

Friday night we had our sports night which means we got to the church
and work out with members which is us the elders tatsunori kyodai and
yokochan. We ran for a 10 minutes and I ran next to yokochan. I asked
he if she liked running she said I hate it. I laughed and jogged next
to her. We did all kinds of fun work outs and when we finished we
looked over at tatsunori kyodai and he sat complete straight up with
his legs in criss-cross. Apparently that's resting form in judo. My
resting form was laying on the ground with my arms stretched out in
front of me.

Funny English we taught Elder sugimoto:
-dude, bro, homie
We told him to call his companions sweet pea. He does it now. When we
had follow ups we told dale choro(his companion) to call him sweet
pea. And he did and of course he said it back. Dale choro got made at
us and said "what are you teaching him?!"

Funny things sugimoto said:
- he said his favorite English word is "crap"(he learned it from his companions)
- there was bugs outside and my companion jump because one flew into
her face and in a completely monotoned voice he said "calm down"..
After that he said " I freaking hate bugs."
- he knows "pain in the butt" from past companions. We don't know how
he learned these things ,but it is just so funny.
*all of theses are so funny because it is completely monotoned with no
emotion in a bit of a Japanese accent. Gosh I love Japan.

Spiritual thought:
D&C 29:2 Who will gather his people even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, even as many as will hearken to my voice and
humble themselves before me, and call upon me in mighty prayer.
^ we shared this in a lesson and I just love this. This to me is about
the pure love that God has for us.

Love ya!
Love,
Fullmer shimai





Monday, September 21, 2015

Sept 21, 2015 - My missionary life

Hello all! If you write email me and I don't respond this week I am
sorry! I'm packing ,but I still love ya

Monday, September 14, 2015

Sept 14, 2015 - My mission

Hello lovely people!

This week was interesting. It's starting to cool down. I guess the
cool weather helps people become a little bit kinder. Of course they
still tell us to "go away", but it's a little bit of a softer "go
away".

Friday night we had dinner with some members. The couple was just a
cute couple. The wife was really bouncy and tiny and the the husband
is this tall lanky interesting guy ,but they just work! She kept
saying "oh you two are beautiful!" To my companion and I. And her
husband said "the 3 of you are beautiful." She laughed and called him
a liar. It was so adorable! We asked them how they met and I learned a
new Japanese word 一目惚れ (ひとめぼれ)(hitomebore). Love at first sight. She
said that for her that's what it was. We thought it was adorable. This
couple was just so cute.

Sunday we had a baptism. Last week I was asked to share a thought... I
was so incredibly nervous for it. I wasn't sure what to share and I
had been trying to prepare all week. Saturday night rolled around, To
say the least I was extremely stressed out. I had written and
rewritten the talk a couple of times and studied scriptures and all
kinds of talks ,but I seemed to hit a block of what actually needed to
be said. I prayed and for guidance because I didn't know what to
share. After my prayer, I looked up and saw a quote that I always have
in front of me. I felt like I should share that quote. Only problem
was I had to translate it to Japanese and it was a bit difficult. I
ended up finding it in a talk and luckily for me there was a Japanese
translation and my companion reads kanji ,so she wrote it out for me
in Romaji ,so I could read it. She checked my talk too because I asked
her to. She happily corrected it for me and the morning of I practiced
over again. I spoke before the baptism and it went really well.

Baptism! So we've been teaching her just this transfer ,and she was
preparing to get baptized when we got here. She is a quiet timid woman
,but she is very kind and she was so excited to be baptized. After her
baptism she was in tears and she was just so happy. It's almost like
we saw a whole new person. It was really cool to hear her simple testimony
and just see her glowing.

Funny story: well kinda a funny story. So in this ward there is one
Japanese man who intimidates me. He's just the stereotypical Japanese
man with very few emotions and his face is always serious. I don't
think I've seen him smile once since I've been here. So anyway, he
came up to me after the talk and told me my pronunciation was very
good. He said it sounded like a Japanese person... :D yay! The most
intimidating person complimented my Japanese! I was so happy about
that!

Spiritual thought:

If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest
times in life can be a blessing. In all conditions, we can choose the
right with the guidance of the Spirit. We have the gospel of Jesus
Christ to shape and guide our lives if we choose it. We never need to
feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we
never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels
on our left and our right to bear us up. And He always keeps His word.
-Henry B. Erying (General Conference April 2012 "Mountains to Climb")
^this is the quote I shared at the baptism

Love all of you!

Love,
Fullmer shimai













Sunday, September 6, 2015

Sept 6, 2015 - My missionary life

So it's just another week in Japan. Have I ever said how beautiful
Japan is? Well if I haven't it really is a beautiful country. It has
all kinds of cultural things in it and the land itself is just so
beautiful.

 This week we did some finding. Well lots of finding. I asked my
companion if housing like going door to door for like salesmen is
normal. She said no. Apparently we are kinda weird to people, it's not
normal for people to come to your house and try and talk about God. I
guess that's the same every where though right? I think about what we
are doing and when I think about it ,it really is amazing. 18 and 19
year old kids go some where in the world (without knowing that
country's language) with a rule book, our scriptures and faith in God
and we are told to go find people to teach and baptize. The great
thing is we do it. We aren't forced to serve missions. We don't really
have to come out here and give 1 year and a half or 2 years to God.
Well then why do so many of us do? Because we love God. The short time
I've been out here has taught we so much about my Savior and my Father
in Heaven. I am trying through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement
to help other people come unto Christ. I might not even see any
success ,but I know that this in the Lord's work. We are all God's
children and he wants the best for us. Which is why I'm here to help
my brothers and sisters realize that they are children of God.

I am extremely happy to say that  one woman we have been
teaching for a while is getting baptized. I am incredibly happy for her
to baptized. She is a wonderful woman and I know that this gospel will
bless her life so much.

Mosiah 18:9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea,
and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as
witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places
that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God,
and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have
eternal life.

^i read this this morning and it just hit my heart. To me, this is a
true disciple of Christ. We help those in need and stand as a witness
of God. Incredibly powerful words. When I read this I thought about my
life and whether or not I have always been a witness of God. I know I
messed up a few times ,but that's okay because through the Atonement I
try again and learn from the past. I love this gospel so much because
I know that through it we can find lasting joy and happiness.

I love all of you and hope you have a splendid week!

Love,
Fullmer shimai