DENDORIFIC (word of the week, by Sister Harris)

This matsuri is by far the biggest event of the year!  EVERYTHING shuts down because EVERY ONE attends the event....

EARLY EARLY run, so we could visit an investigator before he goes to work at 5 oclock

FAMILY!! ALOHA!!   

     Yay! Heimuli shimai and I will still be here in Niihama next transfer!! I am looking forward so much to the coming transfer! Things have been happening here in Niihama. Slowly but surely and we are so grateful to be here. 

     First off, I was finally able to be companions with dear Sister Harris! For a full day she came to work with me in Niihama! My favorite part of the exchange was when we were talking about the atonement. We have both come to understand the atonement on a much more personal level since being on missions. We were talking about how infinite the atonement is, and we realized that because it is so infinite, and because we are using the atonement in our lives, our possibilities are also infinite. That gave us a new hope and drive for the next few weeks of our missions. With the Savior in charge of this work, wonders can and should be happening! 

     We actually did experience quite a few of what I would call wonders last week. On exchanges, we had some time to go housing. We did not know where we should go, but we prayed, stopped somewhere, and began. The second house we went to happened to be the home of a less active member! He has not been to church for about 40 years and his records are not in our branch. However, as we talked he kept looking at the church map we gave him and saying over and over how nostalgic it was. Sister Heimuli and I went back yesterday and he talked to us for quite a while, gave us his contact information, and told us when we can come back! 

     One of our investigators is progressing SO well. When I first came to Niihama and we were planning for C***, she seemed to be very iffy. However every lesson with her has gotten so much better! Last week we decided to read from Mosiah 18 to assess where her testimony is. As we talked about each verse with her, she began to figure it all out herself. She said she wants eternal life and she wants to be part of Gods fold. She knew herself that she must be baptized in order for that to happen, and she knew she must keep the commandments in order to be baptized. Well, coffee is a huge issue for her. She told us if she was able to keep the commandments, she would be baptized any day! So we asked her how she thinks she can keep the commandments, and she said God would help her if she put forth effort. We agreed with her and told her that by reading, praying, and going to church, she could get that help. So she committed to doing all three of those consistently! And then C*** asked us if after church we would go visit her 91 year old mother (who is a member!) who lives in a nursing home. It was so wonderful going to church with C***and then visiting her mother...her mother was so overjoyed! What a sight to see!! I will do ANYTHING to see the joy on her mothers face when she finds out her daughter is getting baptized. 

     The members are getting involved in the work so well. We had a member invited us to the matsuri and to go to dinner with one of her nonmember friends. This friend did not even know the member was Christian, and all night long she was learning things about church that she had never heard about. By the end of the night, she said she wanted to go to church! We also visited another sister whose family are all nonmembers. She told us her husband began to ask her questions about Joseph Smith and she asked us to help her know how to teach her husband! Wonderful! And probably the best was the young woman Y*** chan, whose older sister is less active and parents are both not members. She wanted to introduce us to her piano teacher since we both like music, so we went to her piano lesson with her. We were able to have a great conversation with her teacher, mother, and older sister! Her teacher asked us to please come back and visit, and then after dropping us off at our apartment that night, Y*** called us back and said her mother wanted to take us out to dinner! Then on Sunday, her father (who lives in Osaka for work) came to church! She bore her testimony about the joys that come from this gospel and from missionary work. It was so powerful to hear that kind of testimony coming from a young 15 year old girl! 

     She was completely right. The joys that come from missionary work are incomparable. I had a horrible nightmare one night last week. Somebody handed me a violin and asked me to play. I tried to play my favorite piece, but I could not remember how to play it at all.  After trying over and over, I was frustrated so I tried an easier piece that I have performed a million times, but I could not do that one either. They eventually handed me music to read off of, but I just could not play anything. I was frustrated and humiliated. I knew that since being on a mission, I lost all of my skills I had before my mission. Violin was everything to me before my mission, and I could no longer play it anymore. I woke up in the middle of the night and that frustration was so strong.  I could not figure out why I had decided to come on a mission! I slowly came to my senses and was relieved to find out it was a dream. Then I realized how silly it was that I got frustrated in my dream, because even if my mission did cause me to lose all of my violin abilities, I would not care. If I needed to, I would give up anything for an experience like this. Serving the Lord as a missionary brings me joy that I could never imagine, and it is a privilege unlike any other to see the joy that others experience as well when they choose to come unto Christ.  I quickly got on my knees and thanked the Lord for the privilege to serve as His instrument. I LOVE my mission.

Thank you for your prayers and love. I love you!!! 

Love,

Sister Crofts

Walk with Me--私とともに歩みなさい

Sister Harris from BYU and the MTC

Hunt shimai

Heimuli shimai

Dearest Family,

Big news from last week: I slept in a bed. For the first time since the MTC! The Welchs invited us into their home the night before MLC, so Heimuli shimai and DeKlerk shimai and her companion and I all got to spend the evening talking with President and SIster Welch, eating AMERICAN food that they offered us, and then sleeping like queens in AMERICAN like rooms. Sometimes I do not realized how different Japan is until I get into those American settings. 

My companion: Wonderful! Her name is Sister (Hevynn)  Heimuli. She is part Hawaiian, Tongan, Japanese, Maori, and some other things. Her dad, who came from Samoa, was an NFL player. Her uncle too, you probably heard their names a lot if you were into football about 25 years ago. She is also a professional. She has lived in New Zealand for her dance career, Osaka for her singing career, and Chicago for her broadway career. She also graduated high school when she was 16 so she could get college done faster and begin law school. She will do that after her mission...and she is only 20!! So yes, she is wonderful. But more than all of that, she is a happy, pure, diligent missionary, so I feel joy working with her! 

My new area: Niihama. It is also wonderful! Because the branch is so small, I have been able to pray for each member by name daily, and in just 10 days, I have grown to love them! A big portion of the people attending church right now are fairly recent converts, so we are doing a lot of strengthening work. A member from one of the quorums of seventy, Elder Aoba, is also in our branch. And we have a senior missionary couple in our branch. They are SO sweet and cute!! 

Other big news from last week: there was a baptism! It was a young 19 year old man who the elders have been working with. He was brought into the church through a member friend. His testimony after the baptism was amazing! He talked about the influence the members had on him and how his life changed in ways he never imagined and he was SO grateful for the members who were willing to talk about the church and invite him. He also expressed deep gratitude for the elder who has taught him from the beginning. It was incredible to see the influence members and missionaries had on his life, and it encouraged me to keep being the best missionary I can be forever! 

We had a great lesson with an investigator last week. She asked the missionaries to teach her the word of wisdom, so we did. But because her testimony has not seemed very strong in the past, we tried to talk with her about it in a way that she could understand and apply it. She took it in very well. She did not even question whether or not she should obey it. She already knew she should and she wanted to! She is addicted to her coffee though, so she will need help, but it was great to feel the Spirit getting the message across to her.

Yesterday was district conference, so we met together in Matsuyama with all of the members, missionaries, and President and Sister Welch. We heard great talks about family history. I have always wanted to focus on family history here, especially because the Buddhist culture places so much emphasis on ancestors. The talks gave us more direction on how we can do that, so it was great! And we were able to watch the general womens conference. I just love conference! I am looking forward to next week! 

I feel like we have been receiving a lot of powerful training lately! We had Elder Ringwood come, Saturday and Sunday were full of meetings, and we had a fabulous MLC last week! We talked as leaders about the atonement. Of course, there is a lot to talk about that. But what was said had a great impact on me. We talked about how Christ is with us. He will not leave us and as we live the gospel and obey our covenants, we will be carried and our light will be magnified. It was powerful, and we were able to decide on the new mission theme: *Walk with Me.* I love this theme. It comes from Moses 6. In that chapter, Enoch explains how he came from a land of righteousness (which I feel like I do too) and how he was called to preach the gospel. Enoch also had the promise with him from the Lord that the Lord would abide in him, and he could abide in the Lord, and the Lord extended the invitation *walk with me.* I have felt that promise on my own mission as well. I feel like I am constantly being led to unknown places but there finding opportunities to bless others. Over and over I have had confusions and concerns, and then through the Lords mercy they have been answered. I experience the Lords tender mercies every day and I have had times when I can tangibly feel the Lord walking with me. I know because of the atonement, the Lord can walk with each one of us. As we live His teachings, He will guide us down paths with unimaginable blessings and opportunities. It is exciting to experience that in my own life, but more than that, to help and witness that in the lives of the people here in Niihama. This gospel is true!!

I love you all! Study up general conference well!!

Love,

Kurofusu shimai