Angels Walking Beside Me

Hey! Hey! Hey! It's a beautiful day! And I'm HALFWAY through my em tee shi experience! I can NOT believe how fast time goes here! It's already been a month. That's crazy to me.

 BECCA: THANK YOU for the fabulous package!! Oh my goodness it made me so happy! And the watch is adorable. The sisters in my district go on and on about how much they want to steal it from me! Haha and now "what time is it" doesn't have to be my most used Japanese phrase! So thank you again! I love hearing about the little Jason Jr. moving around in you! I am so stinkin happy for you!

This week was a week of miracles. I'll write about a few of them, and you may read them and think it is nothing special or out of the ordinary, but to me, they were definitely miracles.

     I'll begin with last Saturday. We had our second TRC experience. The first lesson we taught was just to another companionship of Elders who got here the same day we did, so they knew just as much Japanese as we did. It was pretty nice being able to go in there and teach and have us all understand the same things. Except then one of the Elders started reading a bunch of stuff that he had written down and nobody (probably him included) knew what he was saying so we just tried to move on and then he'd read something else off the paper and again, nobody knew what he was saying. Haha it was sort of a funny frustration. Our next lesson, we taught a return missionary. We decided that the best way we could invite the Spirit was by teaching and testifying about Christ, so we shared some verses in Alma 7 and asked how he felt about it and then testified. I had a sort of battle in my head because I thought I would ask him to pray to feel Christ's love, and then I thought I shouldn't ask him to do that because he is a return missionary and I'm sure his relationship with Christ is already fantastic, but then I decided to invite him anyway. When we got out of the lesson, Eddy shimai reminded me that our TRC task of the week was to invite our investigators to receive revelation through prayer. I had completely forgotten we were supposed to do that, but I did it anyway! I definitely feel that I was guided by the Spirit in the lesson. Even though it probably wouldn't have been a big deal if I didn't complete my TRC task, it was a testimony to me that the Lord knows what needs to be accomplished and He's here to help always.

     Sunday: Have I mentioned that I love Sundays at the MTC? Yep, I just love Sundays at the MTC. It's just a whole bucket full of happiness and learning. Sacrament meeting gets better every week because I can understand more and more. However, last week was a little rough. BECAUSE. The musical number was Abide with Me, the same exact arrangement Sarah played for my farewell! I tried my hardest to hold in the tears, but I did not succeed. It was probably the hardest time I've had at the MTC so far. But things got better after sacrament meeting when we went on our temple walk. There is a woman from Japan who loves to wait at the temple on Sundays and talk to the Japanese missionaries. She was SO happy to see us there and for almost an hour she was asking us questions and helping us with our Japanese as we tried to answer them and then she took about 10 pictures with us and she was just so happy and nice! Again, it got me incredibly excited about my mission call.

     Monday: Taylor sensei has been out of town all week, so we have had substitute senseis. On Monday, our sensei was from Tokyo, so he spoke REALLY really good Japanese! He was a fun sensei though because he taught us a lot and he had a lot of fun with throwing out jokes and saying funny stuff in Japanese. He was really excited about the missionary work and about all of us going to Japan and it made me more excited about learning the language. It was mine and Eddy shimai's turn to teach the progressing investigator, so we taught him (playing the role of one of Watabe san's friends.) It was a difficult lesson, but I feel like we learned a lot. He was just talking about how he believes god is in everything, like that a flower can be a god and the trees are all gods. He also said religion was really scary and he didn't want to be killed because of his religion.  It was hard to go to the very basic of what God is and what our gospel is about. The fact that he was super difficult to understand was an obstacle as well. That lesson was probably the most realistic lesson we've had so far though, because afterward, he told us that is what 80% of the Japanese people believe about religion, and our class had a long discussion about how we can reach to the hearts of the people instead of just trying to teach doctrine.

     Tuesday was a very spiritual day! In class, we did more mogi (role play). We were practicing being able to teach with the Spirit and according to the investigator's needs. As Eddy shimai and I were mogiing, it was amazing to me how much the Spirit was guiding what we were saying. It wasn't even a real lesson, we were just acting, but as we invited the Spirit to guide and testify, it did! Another testimony to me that this church is true. I learned and felt a lot during the devotional and before the devional during choir practice and after the devotional during our district testimony meeting. To sum it all up:

     Wednesday: We had another substitute sensei, Reading Sensei. He was HILARIOUS! Haha he told a story about how he bought a new bike in Japan and then one night they were late so they were hurrying back and they passed a drunk man on the sidewalk and then his companion in front of him slammed his brakes and then he crashed into his companion and he was super angry because he had broken his brand new bike. Well, you may not think that was funny, but try hearing that story in Japanese with the person acting everything out with Japanese mannerisms. It was funny. We also taught Shibata san. It was another difficult lesson! We have been trying for many lessons to explain the need for repentance, but he really doesn't understand. He thinks he hasn't done anything wrong so there's no need to repent! Well last lesson I decided to go back to the basics and see what his relationship with Christ was. I tried to help him understand that as he read the Book of Mormon and prayed, he would have a stronger desire to follow Christ. I'm not sure if it sunk in well enough or not.

     Thursday: A big shout out to everyone who sent me a DearElder on Wednesday or Thursday, because Thursday was the record in my district for somebody receiving the most dearelders: 11. Wahoo! And I got Becca's package on Thursday so it was just a real exciting day.

     Friday: The big miracle of the day on Friday was with TALL. TALL is our language computer program thing, kind of like Rosetta stone but based off of the lessons in PMG. Well, I dread going to tall. It is not the most exciting thing in the world, and in fact, a lot of times I can barely keep my eyes open. Well Eddy shimai and I were both taking our time to get to the TALL lab when I thought about how the hour that I would spend in the lab was the Lord's hour, and it was an hour that I should be using to prepare to teach others the gospel and help them come unto Christ. So I prayed for the Lord to help me be excited and to learn a lot, and it was the BEST TALL experience by far! I did some listening exercises and I feel like I understood almost everything the native speaker was saying. Then I studied grammar and it made complete sense to me! I was excited to keep going on and on, but unfortunately dinner time came. Eddy shimai got a real great package yesterday and in it was a mini Japanese hymnbook for me! I LOVE iT! I seriously took it around with me everywhere yesterday, and for each one of our studies I made Eddy shimai sing and opening and closing hymn with me.

Every night after we do planning our district does something called the hot seat, where once person has to sit in front of the room and we all ask questions. I've learned a lot about my district! There is one Elder who reminds me almost exactly of Elder Hoover, one who reminds me so much of Elder Feil it's almost creepy, and there's an elder who is so good at video games he's made $36,000 from it. Crazy!

Dad: Do you just love being so close to work?

Mom: NO BRACES!!?? I can't wait to see a picture of that! Congrats on making it to state! That is quite the accomplishment! Just know I've been here cheering you on! There's a sister in my district who thinks you would get along so well with her mom. She's spunky and fun like you and she plays tennis (4.0). I could get my haircut here...each missionary gets one free haircut! But everybody is telling me that even though I really really want bangs, I wont want them in Japan.

Jason and Becca: Thanks for the dear elders and thanks again for the great package! Everyday I think about the great parents you are going to be. Are you going to name him Afton?

Beej and Jana: Sup Croft. Hope school and work is going well! Enjoy the swimming pool!

Tyler: Sorry to hear you've been sick. I pray for you all the time! I love you!

Sarah: Thanks for the dear elder! I love reading about your life! I'm glad you enjoyed M&S. I have fond memories of all my music camps! Did you just fall in love with your music? If you're wondering, I'm on team J Pie. I guess baby linky is alright too though if that's who you decided to be with. The elders really want to see a picture of you. You should send one.

Danny: thanks for eating all the pretzel M&Ms. Would you rather live in a land where everybody spoke a different language, and they talked all the time, or in a land where everybody spoke the same language, but they could only say 5 words a day?

Joseph: How's school? Did you get the letter I sent you? Could you read it? Did you notice that I just guessed your address and I got it right? I haven't even lived on that street since 5th grade!

Carl: Thanks again for sending me all the updates and the scriptures and stuff! I very much enjoy it! In answer to the one question of yours that I actually understood, yes, I do like my sensei. But I'm not crazy in love with him like a couple of the other sisters are.

Thanks for all your support! I just love you! The church is truer than true!

Love,

Crofts shimai

"EVERYTHING is better as a missionary"

Standing on the Promises of God

Konnichi wa mina san!

     A third way through my MTC experience! Can you believe it? I certainly can not. And each day really does keep getting better an better!

     I suppose I will begin with last Saturday: A few of the girls in my district and I checked out some music and I checked out a violin! It felt GREAT to be able to play the violin! We ran through some of the music and then just played hymns. Ahh I did not realize how much I loved music until I got here. In fact, every day I wake up with the most random songs in my head. One day it was the really intense orchestra part in Phantom of the Opera. Yesterday it was that song from Father of the Bride that's something like "I'm going to a chapel and I'm gonna get maarrriied!" I don't know where this music is coming from because I don't ever listen to music. The times I've gotten the most emotional here at the MTC though have been during musical numbers. Perhaps it is because I start thinking about home and I get a little sad, but it may be also because music is just very very powerful.

     Saturday night was our first TRC experience. We taught a woman who lives here in Utah and has a few kids and she is pregnant. She was from somewhere in Japan and she went on her misison to Kobe. When she found out that's where we are going, she got so excited and talked and talked all about Kobe! Before I realized what was happening we were in a full-on English conversation. Oops. It got me excited hearing all about the raw octopus and raw horse and raw egg that they eat! Haha blah. But she did say that they have really good desserts. (I asked.) And she told us that we should be excited because it is a VERY FASHIONABLE place! She was going on and on about the fashion.  When we realized we had less than 5 minutes lesson, we hurried and shared a quick lesson (in Japanese) and closed with Japanglish testimonies. It was actually a lot of fun! Tonight we teach again and it will probably be in all Japanese this time, which is fine by me.

     At the devotional on Sunday, the musical number was a saxophone duet! It was actually the "I know that My Redeemer Lives" duet that Sarah and I play. Ray Smith and a saxophonist who soloed with our symphony at BYU played it. It was actually really good! Sunday night we watched "The Testaments" in Japanese. WOW it was GOOD! I've seen that movie a gazillion times, but I don't think it has ever been so good. Grandpa was wrong when he said the Spirit is the same in every language. I'm pretty sure the Spirit is stronger in Japanese. Also I was able to pick out like 5 words haha. I was sitting behind the Japanese missionaries (as in the ones from Japan), and they were very touched by the video. I may just be stereotyping all Japanese people, but I could tell they really loved Christ and it got me excited to go help other Japanese people come unto Christ!

     All the daisenpai left early on Monday morning. Nearly 80 Japanese missonaries left us! It was pretty sad saying goodbye. The sisters in my district sang "God Be with You til we Meet Again" in Japanese and a lot of the sisters were crying. We had some new Japanese missionaries come in this week! Only 4 new sisters in our zone. It's crazy to think that that was me 3 weeks ago. It's also crazy to think that in 6 weeks, that'll be me getting on the plane.

     I was in sort of a photo shoot on Tuesday! Not really but after the devotional they took a big picture of everybody there. Apparently they've only ever taken two other pictures of all the missionaries at the MTC. This time obviously there were a lot more missionaries than ever!

    On Wednesday or Thursday (I seriously can't remember) we had a lesson with Shibatta san. We decided to make the lesson pretty simple and short, so we just wanted to go in there and converse with him for a while and then share a short message about the gift of the Holy Ghost, which he will be receiving in a couple weeks when he gets baptized. At the end of the lesson, he switched out of his character. (Shibatta san is actually our sensei Andersen sensei). He said that Shibatta san needed a lesson like that at that time. He said that sometimes it is good to go in and just talk instead of having a really deep spiritual lesson. (Which in a way made me wonder if I was doing things wrong because I thought it was a spiritual lesson.) Anyway, he said in Japan a lot of times investigators continue inviting missionaries over because they enjoy having somebody to talk to, not necessarily because they want to learn  a whole bunch of doctrine. So he said he appreciated our not so spiritual lesson. We taught Watabe san Yesterday and attempted to do the same thing.

     Yesterday is the day I've really been looking forward to tell you all about. It was "Reggo my Eigo" day! Our district decided that we wanted to do an English fast, which means we do not speak English all day! English is "Eigo" in Japanese, so we decided to call it "Leggo my Eigo" but then it turned into "Reggo my Eigo" (because we're speaking Japanese.) (Speaking of that, we sang "All Creatures of Our God and King" in class one day and alelujia is "areruya"! Hahaha funny. It's like scooby doo.) (Speaking of singing in class, Eddy shimai's family got me a mini Japanese hymn book! Isn't that SO NICE??!) Okay back to Reggo my Eigo. I was really looking forward to it all week. We started it off with a prayer on Thursday night. Right away as I walked out of the classroom, I saw people I wanted to talk to, but as I attempted to communicate with them, I realized they didn't understand what I was saying and I didn't really know what I was saying so I just had to walk away haha. During the day on Friday, we had MANY people come up to talk to us and we just had to smile and nod and attempt to communicate with them. We actually got one Elder to think we didn't speak any English. It was really funny when he saw my English scriptures and realized that I understood what he had been saying all along. Overall, it was a pretty exhausting day. I had to use a lot of charades and I had to deal with a lot of confused looks. I realized that there is a lot of Japanese I still need to know. But I actually was surprised at how much Japanese I do know! I was able to get by a whole day with speaking Japanese! And I was surprised at how willing the Lord is to help me when I try hard! Sometimes I just started saying things I didn't even know I knew how to say!

     Chichi: I'm glad to hear you're a normal man again. How was adventure camp or whatever it is you were doing this week? Thanks for sending me your letters. Do you like living on Mason street again?

     Haha: You asked if I'm handling the heat. Are you kidding? I LOVE the heat! I spend at least 8 hours of my day in the classroom, usually a lot more, but I try to escape outside as much as possible and catch some sun.

     Jason and Becca: A BOY???!!!

     Peach and Jana: THANK YOU for the peaches! I seriously do not believe I have ever had a better peach. Right after I got them, my companion and I went outside onto a bench and devoured them. They were SO DELICIOUS!

     Tyler: I haven't met anybody going to Hermosillo yet. How's the heat?

     Sarah: Did you just love camp??? Congrats on being in the front of the violas. Did you meet anybody? haha. I hope you tell me all about it. I'm glad you enjoyed girls camp. I see Elder Duke all the time. Also I told all the elders in Elder Cook's district that he was in love with my sister.

     Danny: I would much rather sleep with somebody who has poison Ivy. The 400 pound man would kill me! Would you rather only drink liquid and never eat food for the rest of your life or never drink liquid and only eat food?

     Joseph: Hi! Do you love the new house? Do you like your new neighbors? Do you like your new school?

     Carl: Thanks again for the letters! No I am not fat. I am exactly the same as when I got here, except probably more muscular.

  Love you all!

Crofts shimai

127th Ward Reunion

Kristen and her freshman ward members Sister Whitney Harris and Elder Jake Wright.

Just Japanese

Week 3!

Konnichi wa! I hope you all are enjoying this lovely Doyobi!!

     Life at the MTC is starting to feel pretty normal. Nothing out of the ordinary (like a photo shoot or anything) happened this week.  That is a strange thing to say because everything we do here is completely out of the ordinary. (Like saying prayers all the time and teaching lessons in complete Japanese and dressing up every day and such...). Probably the thing that is most out of the ordinary here is the time. Everyday seems SO long and I feel like we learn SO much, but at the same time I feel like I have SO much to learn and not nearly enough time to learn it all!! Looking back at this week, I really am amazed at how much I learned. By Friday night, our whole district was pretty burnt out. We had so much information in our brains! We had just had a long lesson about "itadaketai to omoimasu" which is basically "I would like to humbly receive of the honor of you doing this" or somthing along those lines. It is what we use when we want to ask somebody to do something. Like "will you do this?" It was so complex for such a simple thing to say and my district was so confused and just when I thought my brain could not take in any more information, my sensei started teaching how to conjugate adjectives. AHH who knew adjectives could be conjugated?? Haha I love it!!!

     I suppose I will tell you a little bit about my life here at the MTC. We wake up at 5:50 and get ready and eat breakfast at 6:45 and then have personal study time. The rest of our day consists of the following:

Planning and studying to teach investigators: This week we had two investigators. We had our first lesson with Watabe san on Wednesday.  (It is actually just Taylor Sensei playing the role of Watabe san, who is somebody Taylor Sensei actually taught on his mission.) Eddy shimai is pretty much in love with Taylor Sensei so she was really nervous going into this lesson, and I was pretty nervous as well because it was our sensei acting as an investigator. Well we were praying hard to have the Spirit with us and to feel calm. It worked! It was actually a really fun lesson. We taught him just a simple overview of the gospel and asked him what his beliefs were. After some conversation, we got on the topic of baptism, so we decided we might as well include the baptismal invitation. He told us a story about how he was in California and all these people from other religions were telling him "oh get baptized" "you've gotta get baptized" and so he thought "why not?" and he got baptized and he said it was fun! Okay, he told us this story in Japanese. It is a really GOOD MOMENT when I hear a funny story in Japanese and I can understand it and I can laugh along. We were all in the lesson just laughing and enjoying ourselves. He accepted the invitation to be baptized! Except  we don't know if he really understands the importance of getting baptized into our church and what it really means, but he is getting baptized!

Our other investigator is Shibatta san. We've taught him 4 lessons so far and we're starting to get really comfortable with teaching him. In fact, in the last lesson, I decided that I did not want to be reading the lesson from notes and I just wanted to say what I knew how to say. I went in without the lesson plan all written out. I just had an idea of what we wanted him to feel and to know and to do. I had a few vocab words available, but other than that, I just spoke what I knew! It actually felt wonderful because I know the Spirit was working with me and helping me to say what Shibatta san needed to hear, and not just say what I had written down on a piece of paper. Tonight is TRC and I'm planning on doing the same thing--speaking from my heart!

Classroom instruction: Classroom instruction is still the highlight of my day. (Actually it is tied with waking up in the morning and putting on my name tag. I just love doing that!) We've been reading the Book of Mormon as a class and it is incredible how much revelation we receive. We only need to read a few verses and everybody in the class has been inspired and can talk about wonderful things we've learned. During class lately we've also been doing role playing, so the whole class will act like the investigator and the sensei will act like the missionary, or the whole class will be the missionary and the sensei will be the investigator, or we just watch the sensei teach somebody else. Anyway, I learn VALUABLE things from these role plays. It helps me know how the investigator needs to be feeling and how the missionary needs to be feeling. One time when we were watching Sensei Anderson teach another sensei acting as an investigator, we paused in the middle of it and the other sensei asked us how we thought the lesson should continue. We were all basically trying to understand what had even happened in the lesson because it was all in Japanese, and he said that we should not be focusing at all on what was being spoken. He said we were called to invite others to come unto Christ. We did not receive a mission call in the mail to speak Japanese. It was a call to bring others to Christ, and we happen to be doing it in Japanese. So he said because of our call, we have a right to revelation. He encouraged us to focus on the feeling in the room rather than what was being spoken. HOLY COW the feeling was amazing!! I really did not know very much of what was being said but I felt like I knew exactly what the investigator needed to hear and feel. Yep it was good.

Gym time: This week I started working out with Wells shimai. She is in my district and she is a gymnast for BYU. She is super fit! (Oh p.s. she has kissed more guys than my roommate K'Loni did. Yeah.) Anyway, we work out so hard and I think my muscles are getting huge. Working out feels wonderful.

Meal time: Gross. But we sit together as a zone and I love my enitre zone so we have fun! All the dai sempai are leaving on Monday for Japan!! That means I'm moving up to a sempai. I am really going to miss them! Especially my sister training leaders Anderson shimai and Culotta shimai. We have become great friends and I really look up to them! During gym time on Thursdays, they always to "Treat yourself Thursday" so they eat a bunch of food and tell stories instead of working out. Well this week we joined them for a pickle party! Yum. Haha Culotta shimai and a HUGE FAT pickle and then Shelton shimai had a jar of pickles. Also Shelton shimai has received 3 HUGE packages FULL of food!! So there was a ton of food there. It was a bunch of fun hearing all the stores.

Language study: Self explanatory. We study language. But here's my huge language mistake of the week: I was asked to say the closing prayer in class. I meant to pray for the gift of tongues, which is "igen no tamamono." Instead, I accidentally said "igen no tabemono" which is the food of tongues. I didn't realize I said this until dinner right after class when I was blessing my food and realized I was using the same word I had used in class. Well, I was embarrassed. After dinner, we went back to class again, and I was asked to give the closing prayer again! This time, I made sure I said gift of tongues. However, something about being a Crofts kicked in, and I started to laugh and I could not stop. Ahh it was so embarrassing because our entire district and our sensei were all kneeling down on the floor waiting to go study and I couldn't even finish my prayer because I was laughing so hard. I really did not want to be laughing because I knew it was not good timing, but I really could not stop laughing. Hmph.

     Well, that's the life of a sister missionary preparing to go to Japan! If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. For now, I'll just let you all know that I KNOW the church is true!! God loves us!

Love,

Crofts shimai

Dear Sarah Lynn Crofts!

I love you so much! I think about you all the time! I have only cried 3 times here at the MTC, and every time it was when I was listening to a string instrument and I started thinking of you. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to have you as my companion. It is a great thing to imagine. You would be with me 24/7 and we would eat together and pray together and study together and teach together and share clothes and laugh and have such a good time! Yeah I have fun imagining that. I hope you had fun at girls camp. I hope you keep practicing your viola. I hope you write me a dear elder. I hope you know how much I love you!!

Love,

Krissy

Shiawase

Konnichi wa Kazoku!!

Thank you for all the fabulous dear elders! I am super duper excited to tell you all about this week! I feel like each new day as a missionary is the next best day of my life! So I will just start with last Saturday and talk about each day of this week.

Doyobi...I loved P'day! Our leaders were preparing us for a stressful day, but it was actually very pleasant. We woke up at 5 to do our laundry because our leaders said it would be better. Well actually we did laundry at 7 30 this week and that was better. Anyway, then we wrote and then slept and then got ready and went to the temple! I LOVED the temple! It really is a different experience going as a missionary, and it was definitely a good way to boost me up for this week.

Nichiyobi...Sunday was even better than Saturday! It was nice to not have any classroom instruction, so I could put all my worries about language aside and focus on more spiritual things. We had relief society together with all of the sisters and Sheri Dew spoke. It was an incredible talk! My favorite part was when she talked about how we can be armed with the power of God. In the temple we learn about what this power is and how we can have it in our lives. It was an encouraging talk and it got me even more excited about my calling as a missionary. Sacrament meeting in Japanese was quite the experience! I was actually very impressed with how much I understood after having only 3 days of language classes. I could understand a lot of what the conductor said and I recognized many words in the Sacrament prayers. I knew almost everything one of the speakers said. Then when the next speaker got up, she started speaking fast Japanese, and I was totally lost. I kind of zoned out because trying to focus on what she was saying was difficult. My branch president got up to speak after her and I just assumed I wouldn´´t be able to understand anything he said so I remained zoned out, but then after a while I realized he was actually speaking English. It was a relief! I am excited to see how much more Japanese I will be able to understand this week.

Gestuyobi..Monday was a happy day! Eddy Shimai and I taught our third lesson to Yoshida san, and it was amazing. Not necessarily the lesson, because we still did not really know what Yoshida san was saying at all, but the feeling was amazing. We walked out of the lesson and we both knew that the room had been overflowing with the Spirit. I´´ve heard a lot of missionary stories, so I was aware that the Spirit would be present as we taught, but I did not realize it felt THAT amazing! I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!

Kayobi...Y´´all wont believe what happened on Tuesday. I was in a photo shoot! I got into my classroom and there was a note on my desk saying that I had been selected for a photo shoot and so I should meet in the front lobby at 4 with three different outfits! I had no clue what to expect, but I loved what it was. Another sister, Hermana Allred, and I went off campus to another church building. First, we each got a makeover! A lady did our hair and make up for us, and then a clothing lady came in and helped us put together two complimenting outfits. Then, we went into a room with a table and two chairs and computers, and we had to act like we were using technology to do missionary work. A photographer was just snapping away as we pointed at the computer screen and then looked at each other and smiled and yada yada. Haha it was SO HILARIOUS! We wanted it to be as real as possible, so we made up investigator´´s names and actually came up with lessons to teach them. The directors would tell us things like ´¨okay be less animated now. youre moving your eyebrows too much.´¨ and then ´¨look at each other more with a smaller smile´´ . It was hard not to crack up the whole time. Especially because our investigators´´ names were Konnichiwa, Ola,  and Pepite. So yeah the photo shoot was a blast! Also Tuesday was great because our district played sand volleyball in the morning, we got a new investigator and he is not Asian so it was a lot easier to understand his Japanese, and the devotional was incredible. He talked about what it means to be a real missionary, and how we are part of Gods army and all things will work together for good if we obey and have faith! I love being here at the MTC because I think of times when I had super great powerful wonderful spiritual experiences before I came here...it was probably every 3 months. Now it´´s probably every 3 hours.

Suiyobi...Wednesday was an even better day than the previous! Nothing crazy happened like a photo shoot or anything. I think the reason it was better than the rest is because it was also harder than the rest. The more we learn, the more I realize I have a LOT MORE to learn and there are so many things I feel like I should be doing, but there just isn´´t enough time in the day. Any extra time I have that I would spend helping myself learn the language, I use to help my companion with what she doesn´´t understand. So it was getting frustrated, but, God knows what I'm feeling, and he sent peace my way. Taylor sensei was teaching and he seemed to say the perfect thing about how the atonement applies to EVERYTHING, not just sin, but also frustrations. (I'm not sure exactly if that's what he said, it was all in Japanese. But that's what I got out of it.) Also something hilarious happened on Suiyobi. Eddy shimai and I had to go to a stress workshop. This is the funny part: there was a guy there who had just had surgery so he was BIG TIME drugged up and so out of it. We were going around the table introducing our names and where we are serving and when we got to him, he introduced his name and said he was going to Disneyland. The instructor said that would be neat if he could go to Disneyland, but it's sad that he can't. Well he seemed shocked that he couldn't go to Disneyland and very upset! VERY upset! For the rest of the workshop he just sat there with his mouth open. Haha I could not stop giggling! Nobody else seemed to notice him. When we started doing breathing exercises, I just could not contain myself. And for the rest of the day I was very giggly.

Now for Mokuyobi! First of all, Happy Birthday Mom!!! Thursday was SUCH a fantastic day! Our district had a very spiritual experience in the classroom. We were all overwhelmed and pretty discouraged because we'd been planning lessons and trying to teach lessons and trying to learn Japanese and it really isn't easy stuff to do! But Taylor Sensei pulled up a video and it was our investigator Shibatta san! He was talking about why he continued to take lessons from the missionaries and why he wanted to be baptized. It was because he feel how sincere we were as we taught our lessons, and even though a lot of times he did not know what we were trying to say, he knew that we cared about our message and we cared about him and he wanted to have what we have. It was encouraging to know that even though the language is a HUGE barrier in teaching, the love of God is still with us. The 4th of July celebration made Mokuyobi 40 times better!! We all gathered for a devotional. The most powerful part of me was singing hymns. Imagine being in a room full of missionaries dressed in red white and blue singing Battle Hymn Republic. POWERFUL. And then we watched 17 miracles, and everybody was bawling, and I was just sitting there with a huge smile that I couldn't wipe away from my face because for the first time I could really relate that movie to me! I knew that as I sacrificed and exercised faith, miracles would happen!! And so I was very happy and then we all got to go outside and get ice cream and watch the fireworks!! YAHOO!! I LOVED it! Although I did really miss being with y'all for the holiday. It's just not the same type of celebration without my family there. Also, I miss you guys when I hear music.

Kinyobi: We ran into some sister missionaries from Japan. Well I didn't know they were from Japan because I can't tell (but they had Japanese nametags and I recognized a bit of what they were saying) but I still didn't know so I asked them if they spoke Japanese and they looked at me like I was blonde or something. Hmph. I bore my testimony to them in Japanese and they understood it! So that was good! Also, our investigator Shibatta san became our sensei and Taylor sensei is now going to be acting as our investigator. I am so excited to teach him!!

So, a few more notes:

Shelton Shimai (a sister in my district and in my room) is from American Fork and she knows the Kinders! and was friends with Tosha! and Howard Shimai (another sister in my district) was in my chemistry class at BYU and in Cassi's ward and she wants to be a nurse as well. and Young choro (an elder in my district) lived in Russia before he came here.

I don't reallly know what you would like to hear about my experience here, so just ask me questions and I'll answer them! Now here's the countdown. You don't have to send this off to everybody. i just don't have email.s

Chichi: How is the kidney treating you? Thanks for your letter. Japanese is nothing like Spanish.

Haha: How was your birfday? Did you have red white and blue pancakes? How are your braces? How is tennis? How is the family proclamation? Do you still go out to eat? I miss you. I got most of the pen out of my shirt. In fact I wore that one for my photo shoot! But I would still put a tide to go to good use. I have seen Nate at least once almost every day. The day of the photo shoot I got to eat dinner later so I saw him and we talked for about 5 minutes. He also was cleaning the stairs in my building yesterday and I talked to him for another five minutes! It's great to see him! But he is leaving on Monday. Japanese is fun.

Jas and Becca and Baby: is it a girl or a boy?

Peach and Janna: Thanks for the nice package! It was a great surprise! The electronic dictionary is SO COOL! But I don't understand any of it haha. I figure one day I'll put it to good use, but for now it's just fun to play with. I loved the fruit snacks too. We get food, but most the food in the cafeteria is nasty carbs and so I don't eat a lot and so by night I'm hungry. BUT Shelton shimai got 3 HUGE boxes FULL of food this week!! It's cray cray desu.

Tyler: I love you. Now that I'm on a mission, I realize a bit more how hard it can be. Except I'm not in Mexico with killer heat and stuff. And it's still hard. So good job for being such a hard worker and a great example to me!

Saud: I MISS YOU!!!!!!!! Thanks for sending me letters!! I love receiving mail. The best food I've eaten here is ice cream. They have it on Wednesdays and Sundays and it makes me very happy. The worst food was brocolli. It actually wasn't the grossest thing I've eaten but I was so excited for brocolli because I love brocolli and it looked good but it was all mushy and tasted like phlegm. They do have cookies every day but they never look good. However, they had rice krispey treats one day instead of cookies and they were the best rice krispey treats i've ever eaten. I saw peach twice. He also drew a picture on the board for me once. My favorite part of the day is probably when I'm in class and my sensei starts bearing his testimony in Japanese and I know what he is saying and it feels amazing!! I miss y'all way much. I didn't get much of mom's cooking because we were always going out to eat, but I miss protein shakes in the morning and paninis and quesadillas and homemade bread. My companion is probably jealous of my family because i talk about y'all a ton. Her email is megan.eddy@myldsmail.net. I use my chapstick all the time, thanks for asking. I say prayers about a gazillion and one times a day. In Japanese. It's nice. My blow dryer is great. I use it to stretch out my shoes. I have an hour to get ready because my companion wakes up at 5:50 and I have to wake up when she wakes up.

Danny poo: I miss you too!! I miss sleeping with you and hearing your giggle and seeing your smile and stuff. I would rather lose my lunch on a roller coaster. I would rather stick my bum in the air and shake it like a rattle snake when i'm threatened. I would rather cut my hair with a  weed wacker. I would never cut it. But i cut my fingernails almost every day.

Joseph: thanks for your letter. I laughed til I cried almost.

Carl: thanks for all your letters! Do you know how much I appreciate them? I just gotta know.

Okay bye family!! I love you all!!

Love,

Crofts shimai