Family! It has been a long time since we have spoken, huh??
Thanks for all of your questions and jokes and things...I loved to hear all of your voices!
Just to clear things up, I am in Yonago now. I transferred from Kyoto. Now I am far away from Kyoto. But I have a Japanese companion now! Her name is Tojo shimai, and she is an AMAZING missionary. While transferring, everytime somebody asked me who my new companion would be and I told them Tojo shimai, they oooed and awed and said how lucky I am to be with her. She is the best of the best apparently. I love her to death! She is so happy and cute and sweet and faithful and she expects miracles and then works for them. It will be a good transfer. Also, I love Yonago! The ward--there are 50 primary children! I love it!
Of course transferring and leaving an area with investigators and ward members who I LOVED was hard, but Yonago feels good. When we first got to Yonago, Tojo shimai and I went to the church. We sat down in the chapel and said a prayer together, and we both felt something very good about this transfer. We believe in the power of the atonement, and we know with Jesus Christ, we can perform miracles this transfer. We are excited!
And again, I love Tojo shimai already. We have been able to plan and teach two lessons together, and both were wonderful learning experiences for me. First of all, having a companion who understands perfectly what is being said and can say whatever she wants back is nice, but I think more than that, having a companion who is close to the Spirit loves those she teaches is wonderful! For a big portion of the lessons, I just sat back in awe as she talked with the investigators, got to know them, and connected gospel doctrine to their specific needs. I learned so much from watching her say exactly what the investigator needed to hear at the right time.
Yesterday we taught Ayako chan, who is a 15 year old girl. She is SO cute!! She has a nice big smile that she has on display often...I love it. We read some notes about her that the previous sister missionaries left for us. They said she is very shy and does not talk during the lessons and she would not pray out loud. However, she opened up in our lesson and shared her thoughts and feelings, and she even prayed out loud for us.
It was really really sad leaving Chiaki san and Chisa chan. We were able to prepare a lesson on the Atonement for Chiaki san,(Chisa chan was still at school) and it was powerful. At the end of the lesson, we invited her to be baptized. She said she can not because her parents are against it, but her list of reasons why she wanted to be baptized was amazing. She loves Jesus Christ and wants to follow Him, she believes this gospel is the way for her daughter to have the most happiness, she feels something special when she prays and reads the Book of Mormon and it makes her want to follow the steps in the gospel, she believes what we tell her and believes that baptism is the only way to receive all of the blessings of Christs atonement, and more than anything, she wants eternal life. At least that is what she told us. She said in English, *give it to me! I want that eternal life! Give it to me!* Haha it was funny to see her getting so intense about eternal life, and at the same time, it was so assuring and wonderful to see how the Spirit had impacted her desires! She did not accept a specific baptismal date, but when she found out I was leaving, she was very very sad because she said she wanted me to be there for her baptism and her daughters too! She was in tears for a while, but I promised her that we would meet again (I said hopefully soon, but if not, in the celestial kingdom--so please get baptized!). She finally regained her composure, and then Chisa chan came home from school, and when Chisa chan found out I was leaving, she broke into tears too! It was so sad. I was hugging Chisa chan while she and her mom and Hunt shimai were all standing there crying. So sad. But I know the Lord knows what He is doing, and I was excited to come to Yonago. I cannot say enough how much I love being a missionary. It is the best blessing I could imagine.
Also I cannot say it enough, but this church is true! Jesus Christ lives, He loves us, and He can do all things for us. His restored gospel is on the Earth today, and we are SO blessed to have it in our lives, because it is the way to true TRUE happiness, and to eternal life as families! This is wonderful. I love you all so much.
Thanks for the phone call. Happy Mothers Day!
Love,
Crofts shimai
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