Happy Belated Mother's Day!

To start off, I want to wish a belated Happy Mother's Day to any and all mothers who read this! You are all amazing and have been a blessing in so many people's lives. I'm so very grateful for my own mother who has been so loving and patient in raising my siblings and me. We are...a handful, haha, so it takes a patient soul to raise us with as much love as she did. I'm so grateful that she brought us up strong in the church and that through her testimony, my own has been strengthened time and time again. I love my mom and am so grateful for the support she continual gives me while I am away from home. Love you <3

Alright, now for an update on my week. We got to call home for a half hour on Sunday for Mother's Day and it was...a little weird. Partly because I haven't talked to my family in over a month, so it was just a really weird experience. And partially because the headset I used to talk to them echoed my own voice back into my ears. But it was delayed slightly, so I ended up having to take really slow. If any of you have heard of the speech jammer challenge, it was like that. If you haven't heard of it, I advise watching Good Mythical Morning do the speech jammer challenge. It's hilarious, and explains how I felt. But I'm glad that I got to talk to my family even if only for a little bit. It was rushed and I apologize to those I spoke to if I sounded strange, haha. I'm excited for when I get to call again on an actual phone from the airport before I leave for Japan.

Speaking of leaving for Japan, I have less than a month left and I am so excited! My official leave date is June 12. I will most likely leave the MTC at 3:50 in the morning. Whooot! I'm so very ready to leave the MTC, haha. While I am enjoying my time here and learning a TON, the more we hear about things in Japan, the more anxious I am to get there. Also, every week during the devotionals they talk about doing work in the field (so Japan for me) and it's so motivating! I can't wait until I can start sharing the gospel with everyone. Even if I don't speak the language and can probably only say like...five words to them, I'm excited!

A fun little story: Last Thursday night, right before we were about to go to sleep, we hear some loud banging outside. We thought it might of been construction, but it was super random. So, we look out the window and see like, lights flashing in the sky. Out of curiousity, we ran to the other side of the building and looked out the window to see fireworks in the sky. We learned later that it was for a BYU game or something, but at the time we had no idea. But we had a perfect view from our window and really enjoyed watching them. It was a little gift from God and we felt like it was a reward for all the hard work we've been doing.

It tied in really well to the devotional we had last night. It was given by the Primary President of the church and her husband. Brother Jones spoke on how we may not know everything about the language or gospel, but we know enough. He testified that through the Lord, we can do all things. So, even as we are preparing to preach the gospel to all ends of the Earth, we need to have faith that the Lord will help us if we are lacking in any way. Sister Jones spoke on miracles and how we can bring them into our investigator's lives. She gave many examples of miracles in both the scriptures, and modern day. She explained that if God is unchanging, why would he give miracles then and not give any now? True, miracles do not always come in large flashes of light or giant signs from Heaven. But they do come. Whether it be through friends, family, or missionaries, miracles come to those who have faith. I'm so excited for the chance I will have in Japan to bring miracles into investigators' lives. 

I also had another miracle this week. So, on Thursday I woke up to find that my tablet had died. And not in the "it just needs to charge" way, but the actual "no matter what you try, this thing will not work" way. I was heartbroken. I'd saved up for quite a while to buy the tablet and was not anxious to go about trying to replace it. I brought it to IT in the desperate hope that they could fix it, but they told me it was beyond repair. I prayed and prayed and prayed that the Lord would fix it. But I went a few days and it still was dead. I had accepted that it was broken and actually emailed home to inform them that I would need to replace it. Then, Saturday morning, I got the impression to try plugging it in. I thought it was ridiculous, since I'd tried plugging it in and knew that wasn't the issue, but followed through anyways. I plugged it in and...it started charging! I waited a few hours and then tried turning it on: and it worked! It was as if nothing had ever happened. All my info was still on there and everything is working great. I'm not sure why it broke or how, but what's important is that the Lord did answer my prayers. Sure, not as quickly as I would've liked, but the Lord works in His own time. I'm am so grateful for this miracle in my life and testify that the Lord can work miracles in all of our lives if we just have faith.

There are some more missionaries heading to Japan on Monday and then on Wednesday of next week we will be getting even more Kohai. It's already a busy group having 16 of us, so I'm sure it'll just get even more intense once more show up. But I'm excited to meet them and to help them as they, too, adjust to the MTC lifestyle. (and as I'm writing this Christensen Choro just tried to find a way to stop the washer because he completely forgot to put detergent in. There is no way to stop the washers here once they have started, so he will be washing his clothes twice today, haha. We are such good examples ;) )

Last fun story: Yesterday during gym time I started playing volleyball with the Japanese missionaries who are here. The missionaries who are serving in Japan and are from Japan only come to the MTC for three weeks to work on their English and learn more about the gospel. They are all amazing and so much fun to be around. So, as I was playing volleyball with them, it was sisters versus elders and it was just so much fun. They were so funny and cute and sweet as they played and it just made me so excited for when I'll get to interact with Japanese people all the time. I'm already so in love with them and am so grateful that the Lord called me to such an amazing place. 

Other than that, MTC life goes on as it always does. I'm learning more about the gospel and Japanese as I study hard everyday. Time is flying by fast and I still can't believe it's been over a month. I'm so excited for the opportunities I will have over the next 17.

Aishitemasu <3

-Armour Shimai