Dear Family,
Shout Out: DAD! Again!! I love you so much! Happy Fathers Day! If every father in the world was a father like you, we would have world peace. And the whole world would probably be translated like the city of Enoch.
Also Shout out to Jana! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I was thinking about you on your special day...I love you! Shout out to your husband too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
I am so glad to hear you all had a fun week. You look great in the picture!! Becca and Sarah you have adorable hair cuts.
Every once in a while, I write LONG, fantastic things, and then the email deletes. Sometimes, I rewrite another long email, and the computer crashes. Today was one of those days. I hope you can get just a glimpse of how wonderful my week was with the following excerpt from my letter to President Zinke.
Another fantastic week in Yonago! There is nothing better than missionary work!
This week was astonish the ward week. I think it began on Friday when the entire Takekawa family came to ward FHE. The 6 kids were all sitting in a row, well-behaved, and as each ward member walked into the room, they stared, counted down the chairs, and then stared some more. It was so wonderful having the family at FHE. They looked so happy to be there, and of course I was happy to see them there, and at the end, they said they loved it and asked us to please visit them again any time. Of course there is nothing better than missionary work, but within that, I do not think there is anything better than helping an entire family accept the gospel.
The ward was also astonished again on Sunday. On Saturday night, we visited Yanase kyoudai. He used to be very active in the church. In fact, he even went to Hawaii to go to the temple before there was one here in Japan, and he was an active member in the Bishopric, etc. However about 8 years ago he stopped going to church. Our visit seemed to have a big impression on him. He kept asking why we came, and as we testified to him of Gods love, the spirit was very strong. He was asking us about the ward, and he asked if anybody in the ward was very musical. We both raised our hands. We told him we would be playing the violin/flute the next day at a fireside after church. He plays the violin and flute too! He asked about my violin and I said I was just borrowing one from a ward member but it was not very good, and he offered to let me use his! I did not want to at all because it is a VERY nice violin and he plays it every day and I had an hour long bike ride to get home. As I refused, he said *go ahead, i will just come to the church tomorrow and pick it up.* So of course I took it, and he did come to the church the next day! At first he would not even walk through the front door. With lots of encouraging from us and one of his friends, he eventually walked through the front doors, but he would not go any further. We went and told bishop about him, and he immediately went to greet Yanase Kyoudai. The members around bishop who overheard looked so shocked. They were saying *subarashii!* and giving thumbs ups. After the program, bishop announced to the ward that I had used Yanase kyoudais violin, and the ward seemed SO surprised! Apparently it was a very big deal that Yanase kyoudai was associating with the church. To us, it seems like him lending the violin was just an excuse for him to be associated with the church. As we visited with him, we felt a desire that he has to come back to church. He feels insecure and weak and he is worried about others judging him, but we could sense that desire so strongly and we feel like he will be returning soon.
It is a privilege to be working with less active members. The Spirit can be easily felt with them. I love missionary work!!
This week was astonish the ward week. I think it began on Friday when the entire Takekawa family came to ward FHE. The 6 kids were all sitting in a row, well-behaved, and as each ward member walked into the room, they stared, counted down the chairs, and then stared some more. It was so wonderful having the family at FHE. They looked so happy to be there, and of course I was happy to see them there, and at the end, they said they loved it and asked us to please visit them again any time. Of course there is nothing better than missionary work, but within that, I do not think there is anything better than helping an entire family accept the gospel.
The ward was also astonished again on Sunday. On Saturday night, we visited Yanase kyoudai. He used to be very active in the church. In fact, he even went to Hawaii to go to the temple before there was one here in Japan, and he was an active member in the Bishopric, etc. However about 8 years ago he stopped going to church. Our visit seemed to have a big impression on him. He kept asking why we came, and as we testified to him of Gods love, the spirit was very strong. He was asking us about the ward, and he asked if anybody in the ward was very musical. We both raised our hands. We told him we would be playing the violin/flute the next day at a fireside after church. He plays the violin and flute too! He asked about my violin and I said I was just borrowing one from a ward member but it was not very good, and he offered to let me use his! I did not want to at all because it is a VERY nice violin and he plays it every day and I had an hour long bike ride to get home. As I refused, he said *go ahead, i will just come to the church tomorrow and pick it up.* So of course I took it, and he did come to the church the next day! At first he would not even walk through the front door. With lots of encouraging from us and one of his friends, he eventually walked through the front doors, but he would not go any further. We went and told bishop about him, and he immediately went to greet Yanase Kyoudai. The members around bishop who overheard looked so shocked. They were saying *subarashii!* and giving thumbs ups. After the program, bishop announced to the ward that I had used Yanase kyoudais violin, and the ward seemed SO surprised! Apparently it was a very big deal that Yanase kyoudai was associating with the church. To us, it seems like him lending the violin was just an excuse for him to be associated with the church. As we visited with him, we felt a desire that he has to come back to church. He feels insecure and weak and he is worried about others judging him, but we could sense that desire so strongly and we feel like he will be returning soon.
It is a privilege to be working with less active members. The Spirit can be easily felt with them. I love missionary work!!
Family, I love you so much. Have a fantastic week!!! The church is true!!
Crofts shimai
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