Niihama--新居浜

Dear Family,

WHAT A WEEK!!! 

I will begin by telling you about the conference with Elder Ringwood. From the seventy. It was absolutely amazing! I had been praying and studying to prepare for the conference, and I feel like every word that came out of peoples mouths that day addressed exactly what had been on my mind! The main thing I got out of it is the more we live the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more Jesus Christ helps us live better lives! And I felt the great urgency of this work. I was ready to get to work again just like I felt after leaving the MTC! 

I was also blessed to be able to have an interview with Elder Ringwood after the conference! We talked about my mission and my family and President Welch and things I learned from the conference. He loves Idaho. He told me he would trade any 2 missionaries from Utah for 1 from Idaho haha. At the end I asked him a question and to answer it, he talked about exhaustion exhilaration. He talked about how the best kind of days are those when you get home at night and you are SO exhausted because you have given it your ALL, and even though all you want to do is fall into your futon, it is such an exhilarating feeling, and all you can do is rejoice. He taught me how I can plan and work better in order to feel that feeling even better. It was a great interview!  

Right after the conference, though, things kind of took a twist. I was pulled into a room with the assistants and President and his wife and a few other sister missionaries, and I was told that to accommodate a sister returning home early and the need to train a new sister training leader, I would be transferring!!!! Bahhh!! I do not know if you have sensed from previous letters how much I LOVED Yonago, but I will tell you, it really hurt hearing I would be leaving!! After that I had two days to get back to Yonago, call everybody and meet as many people as possible to say goodbye, and then I was out of there! It was painful saying goodbye and a huge shock to my system (seriously my body reacted...).

One goodbye that I am grateful for was with Nakada shimai. She is the bright less active member who has been completely changing since we first visited her in June. She expressed very deep thanks for coming to her door and showing her so much love and helping her learn gospel things again. She talked about how she had been thinking about church and wanting to change a lot, and how when we came to her, it was perfect timing. She also expressed her desire to change and feel the happiness she felt 30 years ago when she was at church. We had a great lesson about the atonement and Jesus Christ and I do not think my testimony of the atonement had ever been more sure than in that lesson. ( I am grateful for the Spirit.) By the end of the lesson, she made a goal and committed to return to church!! 

Anyway, now I am here in Niihama, part of a little island south of the mainland. 

Let me tell you about Niihama.  This area is the most countryside of all the ones I have been in. There is never anybody on the streets! Just lots of rice fields and factories.  It is a tiny little branch with less than 20 members coming to church each week. It made learning all of their names on the first day pretty easy.  But they only have Relief Society/Priesthood once a month here, so church was only 2 hours! And one of the 2 primary kids turns 12 next month. It is so different than Yonago!

I had kind of a Laman/Lemuel moment. I was sitting feeling sorry for myself. Sad that I had to leave such a wonderful ward family and without even having time to say goodbye coming to this little old place on another island. BUT THEN. The Lord helped me overcome that. He blessed me with such a calm assuring feeling. He helped me feel a lot of love for this area and the people here. I know this is where I need to be now and I am excited to see how the Lord will use me to bless the branch members and investigators here! It is going to be a FABULOUS time of my mission, I know that! 

One thing that I know more than anything else is that God loves His children. I feel that no matter where I am and what is happening. It is a privilege to be serving them as a missionary. 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!! 

Missionary--宣教師

This is what we do in Japan to make our cheeks look smaller in pics!  

Dear Family,

Missionary work is the best. It just keeps getting better and better every week! I wonder what it would be like if I was serving for 100 years. Would it get better and better each week? I do not know. I cannot imagine it getting any better than this! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! 

A week ago we had FHE at the Bishops home. It was a BBQ with members and investigators and missionaries. It was a blast! I do not love the food at Japanese BBQs, but they are fun.  And I love Bishops wife. We have a great relationship with her and lately she has been telling us about her friends who need help and we are working together. There is a lot of joy in working with members! She also told us how comforting it is to know that we are praying for her and her family and friends. Shout out to all Bishops and their wives and to members who are doing missionary work! 

Tuesday we went to the beach to pick up garbage. Japanese people are SO CLEAN, but they do not have garbage cans, and hence, the beach had a lot of garbage. Anyway, we put on our service vests and chose one section to clean, and we got it CLEAN. When we were close to finishing, a woman came up to us and started talking with us. Then her sister and niece and nephew and mother all came and we were talking together, then they started helping us clean up. They were so grateful for us. As we were walking away, we had many other people come up to us and express thanks. They are very proud of the beautiful nature, so they were glad we were helping out. I love helping the people here. They mean the world to me. 

After service we rushed to teach Pat. Pat prayed!! She is still insistent that she is meeting with us not to talk about to religion, just to practice English. But she is drawing so close to Christ. On Tuesday we put on a scavenger hunt for her through the church. It was so much fun, and the last clue led her into the chapel. We had music playing and we sat down together and just looked to the front (we have stained glass in our chapel.) After a few minutes, we asked how she felt. She said sacred and repentant. Then she said she felt like she was sitting in front of a big waterfall, and she was full of wonder. We talked about how that was Gods love for her, and how through prayer she can feel that. We invited her to pray, and she never said yes or no, she just sat there. But we followed up with her a couple days later, and she did it! She said it is not very often at all that she prays, but she did, and she said it was a great experience. I am excited to hear more about it when we meet with her again this week. 

Wednesday was an adventure with Dateyama kyoudai. Apparently he wanted to do something with us that would make us happy, because he knew that would make his wife happy to see the missionaries happy. So he took us to grape vines. Let me explain. We walk into the orchard, and there are grapes hanging from vines. Grapes and grapes and grapes. And he said, begin eating!! So we did. Japanese fruits are amazing. Their grapes taste like grape flavored candy in America. And they are huge. And we just plucked and ate and plucked more and ate more. It was fabulous. 

Better than the grapes was the lesson with Dateyama kyoudai afterward. We went to his house and began to talk about his concerns again. He has always had the same plan: die, accept baptsim in the next world, and ask somebody in his death will to do his temple work for him so he can be sealed to his wife. We have tried many times to tell him that it does not work out that easily. Last time we met, it finally clicked with him. It was actually heart wrenching. When he found out that in order to really be sealed to his wife forever he has to be baptized in this life, he looked in pain. He promised himself he would never be baptized, but he promised his wife he would do what he needs to to live with her forever. I felt like crying for him. He sat there in such deep thought and we could feel the Spirit working with him. At the end of the lesson, he finally said that he decided to be baptized in this lifetime!! That is a step forward!! It is so wonderful to see the Lord working so closely with this great man. I just love it! And him!

On Thursday after meeting with the wonderful Eiko shimai (she fed us pumpkin quiche and pumpkin soup and pumpkin seed ice cream. I could not be happier) we went over to the Yonago train station to talk to people and look for a few less active members homes. We were walking down a street when we saw a poster on one of the shops for *bubble waffles.* they looked divine, so we stopped to get a better look at the poster. Then we looked inside the shop and the person at the register was waving back at us. We went in to talk with her. Turns out, she has a lot of interest in religion, and she is picking us up at her shop next week to take us to her house so we can have a lesson! Once again, my appetite has led us to somebody ready for the gospel.

Friday was a spiritually uplifting day at district meeting. We talked about visions and goals. I love spiritually uplifting discussions. This week will be with a member of the quorum of the seventy. I will have to tell you more about it next week, but I am excited!!

Saturday was also fabulous. We had a lesson with Angel ( a philipine woman), and we decided to show up a little early with lunch. So we made her stew, and she was so surprised to see us with food! We ate together, and she decided to share with us her hot dog spaghetti with some other ingredients that made us so sick. Anyway, we had a fabulous lesson about Jesus Christ, and at the end we invited her to be baptized. She pulled the classic line that I never thought I would hear: But I cannot swim! ha we helped calm her fears about that one, and then she accepted to be baptized. Yes!! It was sincere lesson and I was impressed by her desire to follow Jesus Christ. 

After coming back from her lesson, we were so sick. There was something in that spaghetti. We were lying on our apartment floor just moaning and laughing and rejoicing that she accepted to be baptized but so sick. Her lesson was long and we had another lesson cancel so we had to change our plans, and we just had no idea what to do. We were lying there like sick dogs with no clue how to help the people here. We prayed, and we were still just stumped. And sick. After a few minutes, we finally decided to just go outside and work. We did not take our bikes, we just walked. We went to some houses, tried to contact some less active members, and then we kept walking. We did not know where to go, but I think we were led. We both had a Book of Mormon in our hands, and we were able to meet 2 people who were interested in the Book of Mormon and accepted to take the book and read it! I love testifying of the Book of Mormon. It is so true and powerful. 

I think the Lord blessed us for getting up and going to work, because as we were out and about, we got a phone call from a member telling us that she was bringing her friend to church, she wanted us to teach her, and then we were invited to dinner at her home! At church on Sunday, a cheerful, friendly 28 year old lady came up to us, shook our hands, and introduced herself as Uchida san. She said it was her first time at church and she was excited! After sacrament meeting, she seemed in awe. Deklerk shimai and a member taught her a lesson during 2nd hour and apparently it was such a good lesson. (I was not there because I was translating for an Australian 11 year old. His family of 8 came to our ward because his mother served here 15 years ago. It was a blast to translate for him!!!!) Anyway, we had dinner that night with Uchida san and another nonmember the Ueda family, and it was a wonderful time. Again, when members are involved, it goes by so wonderfully. I am grateful to be in Yonago ward where the members are so faithful and loving and great missionaries! It is a joy to be establishing the church here with them!!! 

Family, this is the Lords work. I see it every day and I feel His hand in this work every day. We are all working together to help others return safely back to our Heavenly Father. The more we serve Him, the more joy we feel. It is a blessing to be alive at this time!!!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and love. :) 

Wub,

Kwissy

Priesthood--神権

Shout out: my dearest sister and best friend!!! I love you more than I love Japan! That is a LOT!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! 

Allllooooha!!! Family!!

Weather: next week should be getting down into the 70s. feels good!

Rice Fields: so heavy the rice plants are all falling over. some are even starting to be harvested! oh how time flies!

Mosquito Influenza: it has passed for the most part. it left my body a little weak. we went to the chiropractor (Deklerk shimai had a leg problem and the chiropractor is a sister in our ward). After she fixed Deklerk shimai all up she offered to do me too! After going crazy with my neck and back for about 15 minutes she was finished and she said my muscles feel like grandma muscles. Tired and worn out. Haha that was embarrassing, especially because she said Sister Deklerks are perfect, and she has been a missionary longer than me! Anyway, I had the wonderful opportunity to receive a Priesthood blessing last week. It was so simple, and I know it came from God. I was able to receive strength quickly, and my hope and faith were strengthened as well. I am grateful for the Priesthood!

Missionary work: BETTER THAN EVER!!!! This week was quite a stretch with some illness and many cancelled lessons and other things getting in the way, but the Lord, in His great loving mercy, still blessed us more than we could imagine, and things in Yonago are moving along so well!!

      It is impossible to choose favorites, but one investigator I was so happy to meet with last week wasOchiai. She is a friend of some of the members, the mother of two, a bible reader, and she likes meeting with the missionaries! Perfect! This week we met with one of her friends at the church and taught the Plan of Salvation. It was amazing because we shared scriptures and asked questions, and the member basically took care of the rest by sharing her own personal experiences and testimony that connected so well with Ochiai. 

     Since being in Yonago I have learned how powerful missionary work is when the members are involved. I will tell you, it is powerful. And also, it is so enjoyable. With changes that President Welch brought into the mission when he came, we have been focusing more and more on being balanced in our work with investigators, new investigators, less active members, and members. The more we balance the work, the more joy I feel. We spent one afternoon biking around with a 70 year old member visiting less active members. That was a joyful experience!

     Another visit that I thoroughly enjoyed last week was with Eiko. She is a less active member who we have been meeting almost every week since I got here. She has opened up and changed so much since I have gotten here, and I have grown to love her so much! We talk about Joseph a lot. In Japan, they call down syndrome people *Angel* (in English). She has especially taken interest in Joseph. She begged for a picture of him, and before I knew it, it was framed and hanging up on her wall! She said she loves to walk by it because it lights up the whole room when she looks at it. More than anything, Eiko wants to feel loved. She says that in almost every lesson, and I love being able to testify with all of my heart that God loves her more than she can imagine. 

     Sunday was definitely one highlight of the week. The two oldest daughters of the Takekawa family, Nanami and MIsora, came to church!!! A family with daughters the same age picked them up and brought them to church. They seemed to enjoy it so much, and after church, we had a young woman activity (at a members ramen shop...we made sushi!!) and the girls took Nana and Mi right in. It was so wonderful to see! I have high hopes for that family!! 

     Well, family, those are just a few highlights of last week. I wish I could tell you all the ways the Lord is blessing us, but there is just not enough room or time to list it all! I am so humbled to be a part of this work. I have high hopes for the future here in Japan... I know the Lord is with us. I know this is His work and it is hastening!! 

     I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! 

Love, Kris

Family Countdown:

Dad: you are working so hard. in Japanese, you would be call an otsukaresama. I bet the yard will look wonderful!

Mom: Do you know how wonderful you are? I love you. So much!!

Jason: Good luck by yourself. Do not inhale that frog egg salad too fast. I think the missionary experiences you are having in Georgia are so great! I bet you are loving it huh?? You and Becca are the most fabulous examples.

Becca: have fun in Florida! Sounds like a great get away!

Cameron: do you like the ocean? you could send me a message in a bottle. I will pick it up tomorrow when I run at the ocean. I bet you like having some teeth now, huh? 

Peach and Jana: How is school and work going? You two sound like busy little bees. Keep it up! I love you so much!!

Ty: Thanks for always sending great emails. That was nice of you for sharing  your food with your roommate. Labeling is a good idea though. 

Sarah: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I remember last year telling you you are so old. Well, you are older now! I hope it is a really happy day! Do you have a cross country meet that day? If so, good luck!

Dan: Wow. You are AMAZING. I saw your piano concerto. WOW!!!!!! AMAZING! Ha. Good work! Except please stop getting so tall...

Joe: I saw your costume. It looks fun! How is your tricycle?

Peter and Grandpa: Thank you for sending me letters. I am always so happy to see a letter waiting for me! 

Grandpa Vance and Grandma and Grandpa Crofts: It is happy grandparents day today. So happy grandparents day! Thank you for your love and support! I love you!!

Nashi! -- 梨

A lady I'm teaching fell in love with Joseph and framed his picture!

Dearest Family,

How are you?? Japan is great. It is the season of pears. The persimmon trees are also starting to get some fruit on them. Yay. I have seen the rice fields go from nothing to big plots of water to little sprouts and now they are all full and laying over from all the heavy rice! It is an exciting time to be here! Oh also there is a big influenza going around Japan from mosquito bites. I got bit all over my legs last week when I was weeding a strawberry field, and now I have a horrible nasty sinus/ head explosion type of sickness. I hope I do not die. 

Other than that, all is well here in Yonago! I will be here for at least one more transfer! The longest I have ever been in an area, and I am so excited! I LOVE IT here!!! I am beginning to be good friends with the old grandpas and grandmas riding their bikes down the streets and the young school kids who walk by us and say *hello!* all the time. The ward members are also people who I am coming to rely on like family. And my dear companion DeKlerk shimai...I just love her! She knows and understands me well and she is pushing me to be better than I thought I could be! 

I do not even know where to begin with talking about the investigators. 

The Takekawa family gets so excited every time we come to visit. And when they are excited, they are crazy!! The little boys run around and climb up the walls and do karate with each other...it is so crazy!! But the parents are really sincere people and so grateful for the missionaries. They are struggling with money and food, but the ward is amazing and has really come to their aid. Last week the bishop, relief society president, and another family all visited at different times offering food and help! I love the church.

Pat is doing great. We sat down with her this week to *speak English.* We told her we had a gift for her, so we put a box in front of her. We said inside the box was the most precious, valuable thing. We said it was so important to us. She opened the box and there was a mirror inside. She just stared. And stared. And stared. Then we sang *Be Still My Soul* for her and shared a scripture, and she stared at those words. Then back at the mirror. Then at the words. It was powerful. For somebody who says she will meet with us to speak english but not to talk about religion, I consider it a privilege to experience such spiritual moments with her. 

I missed out on a lot of the lessons last week because I was in Kobe on Monday and Tuesday and Kurayoshi all day on Friday and Saturday, but they seem to be progressing well, and I am excited to spend another transfer with all of them! 

One thing I am so grateful for is the tender mercies of the Lord. I feel like we are constantly being guided to the right place at the right time. We are constantly having words and thoughts put into our head. We are constantly having things fall into place and people come our way just when the timing is perfect! The Lord is aware of each one of His children, and He has the world in His hands. 

Well, fam, sorry the letter is short. I hope you all know how special you are to me! I love hearing from you each week. I am so grateful for everything you have taught me. I feel your support and love. I love you so much!!

Crofts shimai

What Joy--なんという喜び

Dear Family,

Knee-how! Gain key desk ah? Happy Labor Day. I am celebrating my Labor Day by sleeping today. We having been working ourselves to the bone and I LOVE it!! And the Lord is blessing us WAY more than we deserve. 

    The mission is amazing. There are so many times when the Lord completely guides our thoughts and steps. This week, it brought me to the point of amazement on multiple occasions. For example one night a lesson was cancelled, so we decided to go visit some potential investigators, but before we got to that apartment, I took interest in a really CUTE apartment. I had to go house it. So we stopped, got off our bikes, prayed, and when we looked up, one of the doors opened. It was a young woman and she just asked, *who are you?* We talked to her, and she had so much interest! She is a very religious person already, and she has heard of the mormon church, and she was more than willing to have us visit her again! 

     Another day, we were out searching for a less active members home. We were lost. Yay for Japanese streets. We have an investigator who is very difficult to contact and she never seems to be available for a lesson. While we were looking around and checking our map, she rode her bicycle right by us! She stopped and asked if she could help us. Then we talked with her and set up an appointment for a lesson! 

     Another day, we were visiting less active members. When planning, we looked at the map and they seemed to all live in the same area. We put each name into our GPS and then planned on visiting them one at a time. As we were visiting, we put a name in our GPS that took us pretty far away. We did not think much of it, we just went. The man was home, he let us right in, he was so grateful for a visit from the missionaries, and he asked us to please come back. We thought that was great guidance from God and we went back to the area we were before to finish the names. That night during planning, we realized we entered the completely wrong name into our GPS and that is why he was so far away. I love it when the Lord works with our mistakes to accomplish His work. 

     One investigator who is SO enjoyable to work with is Pat. She is the person who has been coming to Eikaiwa for decades. She said she would meet with us to speak English, on account that we do not speak religion. We are missionaries though. So we met with her and had a lesson about God and Jesus Christ. We thought she would not meet again, but we called just in case, and she set up an appointment! She said it is okay as long as there is not *serious talk*. We talked religion. She really opens up with us. She is searching for purpose and meaning in life. She wants hope. So we talked about religion even more. Then, we thought for sure she would be against meeting again, but she willingly set up another appointment! She also called us Saturday night (we were SO tired and hungry!) and said she had a loaf of bread for us, so we met up with her on the street and talked for a while. She is so fun. We do not know her real name yet. That is our next goal! 

     We had powerful lessons last week. We focused a lot on sharing the message of the Restoration. I feel like that is a lesson that does not get taught enough in this land of Buddha and shrines. But that is the reason we are here! And the Spirit definitely is present as we teach the message of the Restoration. My favorite part is sharing the first vision. This week we were sharing it with Sister Ochiai and her daughter and son. She has been studying the Bible and many other religious books, so she was very interested in hearing about prophets/apostasy/ etc. Her kids were not that interested. But then as we shared the first vision they all looked up and just stared at us. Afterward, the Spirit was powerful and Ochiai shimai expressed her gratitude for meeting with us and giving her the Book of Mormon as a present because she feels like it is an answer to all of her questions. 

     In addition to these amazing experiences, another part of my mission that I LOVE right now is the Yonago ward. (p.s. there is a Yonago ward facebook page with a lot of pictures. It is in Japanese, but maybe you could find it!) I know the Lord is letting me be in Yonago for a reason. I have probably said this before, but I feel like Yonago is the Idaho Falls of Japan, and I LOVE it. The ward members especially!! Yesterday in church the youth did the musical number. It was 2 cellos, 2 violas, a violin, and about 15 singers. I was basking in heaven. I played the violin the week before with the bishops family singing.  Also, on Saturday we attended the second day of the ward campout. We had a mini sports festival, and it was a BLAST! I just love every minute we spend with the ward. I have never felt more love for any people than I do now for the people in Yonago. 

     More than anything, I love the Lord. He is our Savior. He is perfect. He has all knowledge and power. He lives now! Through Him we can find the most comfort, strength, and joy. I am so grateful to be a missionary right now...I get to testify about Him every day! 

    Also, never forget that I love you! More than you could believe probably. I love you lots!! 

Love,

Sister Crofts