Dear Family,
I love you all.
I just went grocery shopping. The sample today was octopus. I put it in my mouth and started laughing. I do not know why. Probably because I was in Japan eating octopus. It never gets old.
Shout out: MOM!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I love you so so so much.！ お誕生日おめでとうございます！I love you.
Also shout out to America. Sorry for being a party pooper, but because I am in Japan, I cannot celebrate America day. I will celebrate beach day in a couple weeks.
Speaking of Japan, The World Cup is a hit here. All the stores are using it for advertisement. Tojo shimai loves it. She is sad that Japan lost.
I do not know if you remember this, but this week it was the anniversary of my entering the MTC. The night before, I had a dream that it was the night before I entered the MTC. I was packing and doing things just as I did last year, but this time it was in the new house and Jason and Becca and Cameron were there. I fell asleep with Cameron on my lap, and he was so sweet. When I woke up, I decided he was too sweet to leave. I decided I could not be away from my family for so long, and so I did not go on my mission. It was the most REAL dream of my life. The next day was so weird as those feelings kept coming back to me! It was the first time I actually felt that kind of homesickness on my mission. Weird. I love you all to pieces, but I am so glad I decided to serve a mission!! I feel like this is right where the Lord wants me to be right now, and I love every day!
This was an especially great week in Yonago. I LOVE the investigators we taught!!
We were able to have Family Home Evening with the Takekawa family. This is the family with the Japanese father, Ukranian mother and 6 kids!! They fed us great Russian food, then we shared a message, and played a game together. It was one of the best nights of my mission. I feel like the gospel was made for this family! We talked about God as our loving Heavenly Father. I just love this family. They listened and participated so well in the lesson...it was almost like family home evenings we had when we were all young! My favorite part is praying together with the family. The kids love praying with us, and they seem to understand the importance of prayer really well. I love seeing 6 kids in a row with their arms folded and learning how to pray. I know this gospel help this family in unimaginable ways and I am so happy we were led to them!
We also taught Dateyama kyoudai last week. I just love Dateyama kyoudai. I do not know if you remember Dateyama kyoudai. His wife was a faithful, active member. Dateyama kyoudai took the missionary lessons on and off for years but he is very stubborn about baptism. However last year when his wife got really sick, he began going to church with her. She passed away in April, but he still comes to church every week. The ward said missionaries should probably lay off of him because he does not need pressure at this time, but we felt like this time is better than ever for him to accept the gospel. Last time we met with him, we did not intend to teach much of the gospel, we just wanted to talk with him about his wife. He ended up having many questions about the gospel anyway, which we answered for him, and then we closed by singing his wifes favorite hymn. He was in tears at the end and he expressed to us his need for missionaries. We visited again this week and answered more of his questions/concerns about the gospel. His greatest desire is to be sealed to his wife! He is so stubborn though--his biggest worry right now is his grave. He does not know if he should have a Buddhist grave or join with his wifes Christian grave. To me it seems like a no brainer. I talked to him about Grandpa and Grandma Vance. When I heard about his wife the first time we met, I thought of Grandma Vance. She was a cheerful, friendly person who was loved by everybody! I told him that. And I told him he is a lot like Grandpa Vance. Very very nice and close to the Spirit, but stubborn haha. Then I talked about how hard it was when Grandma died, but how even now, 10 years later, Grandpa is able to move forward with hope because he knows they will be together again. The Spirit was strong and it seemed as though a lot of things were clicking in Dateyama kyoudais mind. He really wants to be sealed now. We feel like he is so close to baptism--he just needs to climb over a few tiny little walls and he will be ready to enter the gate to eternal life!
It is so amazing to me how the Lord leads us to do His work. A couple weeks ago I wrote about a less active man named Yanase kyoudai. He used to be very active in the church--a regular temple attender and a branch president! However about 10 years ago he was offended and stopped coming to church. He is the man who let me borrow his violin and after a lot of encouragement entered the church building to hear us play. When we visited him two weeks ago, he was very curious why we decided to visit him. We found out that the reason he was so curious is because after a LONG time of not reading his Book of Mormon, he decided that day to pull it out and read from it. That same day, we visited him! Well, this week, he decided to try pulling out his Book of Mormon again and reading it. As he began to read, he heard the door bell ring. It was us!! We decided to visit him and invite him to church. He came!! After almost ten years of not attending church, he came to church. Not only that, he attended all three hours and stayed afterward to talk with some members!
The Lord is in charge of this work. I see His hand in the work every day. I am so grateful for the privilege to be serving Him.
Have fun this week! I love you!
Love,
Crofts shimai
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