Mormon Temples: The Blessings of the Temple

Deseret News Quiz: How much do you know about the changing face of Mormon missionary work?

http://desne.ws/sEXOluH

Letter Home: The best time to start a mission

Can you believe that I have been here a month now!! I only have 17 more months of my mission left, and [1 of those is] here at the MTC. The weather here at the MTC has been amazing. I think the summer is the best time to start your mission. You can do personal study outside!

Special Witnesses of Christ (5)

Japanese stoves and bakeries

The Japanese do not typically have ovens in their apartments/homes.

Counter Top Stove

To get baked goods they rely on bakeries. Unlike the states where the sells person stands behind an enclosed counter and choses the item you are pointing to/asking for - The Japanese bakeries have open shelves and bins. They have cafeteria-like trays that the customer put his/her selections on and then pay for them.  They have sweet breads, breads with meat in them, regular bread.  Interesting to note that the Japanese do not eat the ends of sliced bread loves.

Bakery Workers, Oktizu 2002

When you purchase from a store you do not hand the cashier the money. There is a little tray that you put your money in and the cashier takes it from there and puts your change, if any, in the tray. 

Sister Breksa 4th Generation Sister Missionary

Gladys Hunsaker Murdock

From The Church News, February 2013 by Whitney Evans

When Gladys Hunsaker served as a missionary in the Central States Mission from June 1928 through June 1930, she had no idea of the legacy she would leave for generations to come.

“Those two years were the happiest years of my life,” she wrote shortly after returning from her mission. During this time she saw the sick healed through the power of the priesthood and worked in the mission office for 14 months.

“I know I shall never be able to repay my parents for the sacrifices they made when I was there.”

Although she might not have repaid her parents for their physical sacrifices, her service as a missionary set a powerful precedent for many of her descendants.

This sister’s service as a full-time missionary left an example for those in following generations. One line of her family has continued their missionary service for four generations.

Sister Breksa, 19, great-granddaughter of Sister Hunsaker, [is in the MTC and will serve] in the Japan Fukuoka Mission.

Her missionary service will mark the fourth generation of sister missionaries in this direct line to serve a full-time mission. Sister Breksa's mother, said she does not consider a full-time mission to be a sacrifice. This is because the missionaries serve for 18 months to two years, but they receive blessings for eternity.

“It’s like the world for pennies,” she said.

Sister Breksa's mother served in the Illinois Peoria Mission from January 1989 to July 1990. She said she had wanted to serve a mission from the time she was 13. Part of her motivation was to be able to provide an example for her own children. She also thought her mission would honor her grandmother.

“I know that it was the right thing for me to do."

Her mother, Patricia Hansen Barron, served in the Oregon Eugene Mission with her husband from November 1999 to May 2001. Sister Barron said she felt “privileged to be part of the missionary effort up in Oregon.”

Sister Breksa's mother said she hopes Sister Breksa will be able to focus on serving the people in Japan and learn to talk to everyone she meets during her service.

“You just learn to love all kinds of people no matter where they are. You just learn to care for them. I would hope the same for her.”

Yen

Sister Breksa 23 June 2013

Letter Home: Japanese grammar lesson

Letter Home: Weakness becomes a strength

Want to know something cool?  I think my speech impediment has helped me learn [Japanese].  My Japanese vocabulary and grammar is very limited.  As such I have to take my ideas and communicate them with what vocabulary and grammar I know. Often I have to think of a different way to communicate my concepts from what I thought.  Like how I explained resurrection as mentioned in last week's email.  I have had to do this in English because I could not pronounce the word I thought [of] to communicate my idea.  

HAPPY PIONEER DAY!

July 24, 1847 

In honor of Pioneer Day here is a list of some of Breksa Shimai's Mormon pioneer ancestors:

Joseph Murdock (buried in Nauvoo) his wife Sally Stacy and son Nymphas

Abraham Hunsaker his wife Eliza Collins and their son Allen

William Atkin and wife Rachel Thompson

Simeon Adams Dunn and wife Harriet Atwood Silver and children

Richard Wesley McAllister and Elizabeth Eleanor Bell and son Joseph Warrington

James Fraizer McAllister and his wife Elizabeth Thompson

Christian Peter Larsen

Mary Matthews and her father and sisters (her mother died on the journey)

Esther Davies  and family (her mother Ann Richmond died on the journey)

Hans Kasper Hansen

Casper Hansen

Maria Benedicta Nilsson

Letter Home: Daily planning skills

I use what I learned in Venturing [co-ed program of The Boy Scouts of America ages 14-21] to conduct our daily planning sessions.  

One of our goals is to be better companions. We...mention something we think is awesome about our companion and then something she could improve on. 

We start our day's planning sessions with a prayer. We set our goals for the day and then plan the day. 

At the end of the day we evaluate how we did on the day's goals and talk how we could do better the next day. We conduct roses, thorns, and buds. [Roses, thorns, and buds is like the stop, start, and continue evaluation process.]

Breksa Shimai and her companion. All missionaries serve with a companion.  They are to be with in sight and sound of each other. They are assigned by the mission president. They neither have a say in who their companion will be or when there will be a 'transfer' and receive a new companion.  A transfer is when a missionary is sent to a new area of their mission and changes companions.

Christian Hansen - Discovery

Breksa Shimai's family heard Christian Hansen perform at their local church building this evening. She will love this song and video when she returns home and can watch Youtube again - December 2014.  

Why Mormons Build Temples

Fukuoka Japan Temple

Letter Home: Exercise

I need to amp my workouts. I have been doing weights and following a rountine. It's pretty fun, but we are [only] allotted about 40 minutes. This morning we had the opportunity to do some[thing different and] there was a lot of squat work! We listened to some weird approved lyric less music.

Timeless Images of Japan

The Mission Call

After a prospective missionary has asked to serve a mission and has met the requirements he/she receives a letter in the mail stating where  to serve, what language to teach in, and when to report to a missionary training center. The letter is the mission  call --  a written vocation to temporary ministerial service. 

This is not Breksa Shimai's mission call, but used here as an example of the call's wording and duties of a missionary.

Breksa Shimai's (Sister Breksa) parents  served missions.  Breksa Choro (Elder Breksa) in the Sendai Japan mission and Sister Hansen in the Illinois Peoria Mission.

Explaining what Breksa Shimai meant by a Priesthood Blessing

18 July Letter Home

Things are going great here at the MTC. I have lots of opportunities to learn! There’s just so much. I am reminded of what Dr. Nelson [biology professor at BYU] would often mention in class, “All is vanity.” There’s just so much light-knowledge out there that I can’t possibly learn it all! But still, best to use the time I am afforded.

I [no longer have a bad cold]. As I noticed I was getting sick, I asked for a priesthood blessing. I was told in my blessing that I would be able to do the work. I was still sick – it got worse – but I could still do the work. That’s my life. 

Your Potential, Your Privileges

Breksa Shimai's History in Japan

1989-1991 Breksa Choro, Breksa Shimai's father, served a mission in the Sendai Japan Mission

2002 Breksa Shimai and her family stayed in Okitsu for three months. She attended elementary school, toured the local area, ate native foods, and traveled by foot and train to get to church each Sunday - about an hours travel each way. She rode the bullet train. With her family she met both of her father's mission presidents.

Beginning about 2006 Breksa' Shimai's father has visited Japan many many times on Navy assignments.

2009 Breksa Shimai visited Yokosuka for about a month.  While there, among other things,  she traveled the subway system, went to a cultural parade in Yokohama, and enjoyed Tokyo Disneyland. She again got to visit with one of her father's mission presidents.

2010 Breksa Shimai volunteered with her mother for a Boy Scout leadership program called Wood Badge in the Far East Council. After the course completed she was able to visit Tokyo and go to the top of the Tokyo tower as well as see the HUGE Buddha in Kamakura.

2011 Breksa Shimai's sister raised about $1,700 for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Humanitarian Fund for the victims of the tsunami.

From a Church News article on the history of the LDS church in Japan

As of January 1, 2009: The Estimated population of Japan was 127 million. There were  123,245 members of the LDS Church - .1% of the population, or one in 1,031.

The history of the Church in Japan dates back to the turn of the 20th Century when Elder Heber J. Grant of the Quorum of the Twelve and 3 missionaries arrived on 12 August 1901.

Under Elder Grant's direction the first Church mission in Asia was established with headquarters in Tokyo. 

Alma Taylor began translating the Book of Mormon into Japanese in 1904 and continued that work for more than five years while he served as president of the Japanese Mission. 

The first meetinghouse in Asia, housing the Tokyo North Branch, was dedicated by Elder Gordon B. Hinckley. The Tokyo Temple was the first temple in Asia and the first in a non-Christian country.

July 13 Email Home

I am studying really hard. I am learning a lot. I [practice] teach[ing] about the Gospel and [speaking] Japanese. My companion and I taught about the Plan of Salvation in Japanese. 

I did not know the word for Resurrection (I do now, ふくかつ) so I explained it as such:

"Through Christ, after we die, we can get our bodies back."

I explained those who go to the Celestial Kingdom as such:

"Those who followed Christ will live there."

Last night...during Language Study I worked hard to learn new vocabulary (I used a Ninja (a book that has vocab and sentences to go along with the lessons in Preach My Gospel (PMG)) and two dictionaries, one Japanese and one English to learn words I will need and what type of verb they are, etc. I have never learned vocab so quickly! So take home lesson: Exact obedience (doing what was scheduled to do) and hard work (using learning skills and my full attention to learn the words) helped [me succeed].   

I am going to accompany on the piano an elder in my district for a song he really wants to do...it is fun [to play the piano]. 

"God loves His children.  That is why He pleads so earnestly with us through His prophets.  Just as we want what is best for our loved ones, Heavenly Father wants what is best for us.  That is why His instructions are so crucial and sometimes so urgent.  That is why He has not abandoned us today but continues to reveal His will to us through His prophets. Our fate and the fate of our world hinge on hearing and heeding the reveald word of God to His children."  

 --Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Breksa Shimai's Mormon.org Profile

Hi I'm Sister Breksa

I am a backpacking enthusiast, a fencer (Epee), a student. 
I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I am a Silver Scout (Venturing-BSA). I am the oldest of four kids and I am attending Brigham Young University (Provo). I aspire to be a professor that specializes in the Italian Renaissance, but we'll see; I've got a long way to go. :) I love cooking, singing, working out, and traveling and meeting new people. I am a pianist. My joy reading is books about leadership, National Geographic, and juvenile historical fiction.

Why I am a Mormon

I am a mormon because I have faith that the gospel is true and honestly the consequences of turning back are quite undesirable. Another reason is integrity is very important to me; I cannot know one thing and do another.

How I live my faith

I seek and study the Scriptures, the words of modern Prophets and personal revelation on how I can become more like Christ, I apply it, and have faith based on pervious experiences that my sources are showingme the right way to become more like Christ.

Letter Home

From a Breksa Shimai's letter home - she draws characters a lot.  This is her (the tag is on the wrong side because I took the photo with Photo Booth).  

She writes...

"I am at this very moment writing this letter eating strawberry banana yogurt and waiting for my laundry.  I've been working very hard studying Japanese,  the scriptures, Preach My Gospel and following all the rules, acting like a missionary and [not giving] high-fives to elders."

A Day in the Life of a Mormon Missionary at the MTC

So, besides fencing Breksa Shimai has given up watching Youtube videos of the Piano Guys and listening to Josh Groban,  Michael Buble, and others. It is worth it. 

One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful (5 Piano Guys, 1 piano) - ThePi...

Homefront Video

The video I just posted is Breksa Shimai's favorite Homefront video. I think she may miss fencing!

"Swashbuckler" Mormon Ad

A Book of Mormon Story

30 June and 7 July 2013

I am doing great! I went to the Temple today.

I also got to see fireworks!! We- the missionaries at the MTC- stood outside within the MTC campus to watch the fireworks from the BYU campus. That was fun.

My district is pretty hard working but goofy, goofy, goofy! So we laugh a lot. My district is the biggest (in the smallest room), quickest in learning Japanese.

We are all from the USA besides one who is from Australia. 

Tomorrow I am playing the piano for church! I found out that during certain study times I can practice playing the piano! 

The weather was really nice today. We (my companion and I) studied outside today. I could feel the breeze and hear the birds.

Breksa Shimai's MTC District outside the Provo, Utah temple